How much time should you allocate if you are planning to raise chicken at home?

What I am referring here is the actual time needed to take care of the daily chores.

Just like any other household pets such as dog, cat, gold fish or parakeet, you will need to allocate some time every day to take care of them.

To have bantams in your backyard, you begin by spending time preparing their living area such as the chicken coop and the grass for the birds to forage.

If you are good with hand tools, you can get a DIY chicken coop plan and then build the housing yourself. That will take you maybe one or two weekends.

To save time, you can just purchase a chicken coop off the selves. But doing so will cost you some money. It is a trade off if you want to get the birds in quickly.

The actual time you have to spend looking after the chicken ranges from 15 to 30 minutes in the morning or evening. Most probably you will spend longer because it is so much fun observing their antics.

If you use an automatic feeder or waterer, you may have to check on the flock once or twice a day. The feeder might get stuck or water spilled all over the chicken coop.

If you have hens laying eggs, you should check on them once a day to collect the eggs. Preferably do this in the morning and you’ll have fresh organic eggs for breakfast. It is best to design the chicken coop with easy access to make the eggs collection process fast and easy.

All in all, you don’t need a lot of time and attention on the chicken in your backyard. They are pretty self sufficient.

Make sure the chicken coop area is enclosed to keep predators such as dogs, cats, raccoons, large rats away from the birds.

There are many advantages of raising your own chicken at home. The best benefit of having your own chicken is the fresh organic eggs that you can gather every morning for breakfast.

But do you have what it takes to have a chicken coop with lots of bantams running in your backyard?

The following are 3 basic requirements anyone should have if they are planning to have poultry at their home.

1) Construction time.

Do you have time to build the chicken coop for the birds?

Building a functional chicken housing can take some time. You need to acquire a proper chicken coop plan and then finish the construction before you get the chicken.

Just like any home improvement job, you have to plan how much time you are willing to put into the project.

How’s your building skill?

Your knowledge on handling building material and experience will also determine how much time you have to devote to the project.

2) Preparing the right living space.

An adult full-sized chicken will need a minimum of 2 square feet of floor space for shelter. If the bird cannot go outside during cold climate, it needs at least 3 square feet of internal chicken coop space to run around.

Here’s a quick space estimate for 4 hens in your backyard. You need to have 2 feet by 4 feet and the outside pen another 2 feet by 6 feet so that your total space used would be 2 feet by 10 feet.

Obviously, if you have more chicken, the space required will increase. Make sure you have sufficient space for the chicken coop in your backyard.

3) Capital investment.

Finally, you need money buy the chicken. Rooster, hen and chicks are not really expensive. Unless you are planning to get the rare breeds, the budget to purchase the bantams are quite small.

Adult hens that are healthy and capable of laying eggs cost less than $10. Chicks of most breeds cost a few dollars only. If you have other friends breeding their own chickens at home, you may get the chicks for free.

In my last blog post, I wrote about how to confront with the restriction when planning to raise chicken at your home. Some places do not allow you to keep chicks due to certain local by laws.

If you are really determined to have your own chicken at home, you can present your case at your local planning commission meeting.

It is always best to go to any necessary meeting well prepared and organized. Try to anticipate any questions or concerns that may be asked by the committee and have good responses for them.

At some point during the meeting, be prepared to compromise on certain issues such as the size of the chicken coop, the number of birds allowed, conditions on cleanliness etc.

If you need help, check with other people in your community who have experience in local government administration. They may have a better understanding on how things are done in your community.

Get their tips and suggestions on how to approach the officials who have the power to amend a law or grant a variance.

How far do you want to go to present your case so you can raise chicken at home?

Some people may want to go all the way. If you can afford it, you may hire an attorney to represent you. Most of the time, home owners will want to handle it on their own if they can.

If possible, get the support from other people who think it is a good idea to have chicken in their own backyard. A concerted group request at the local town meeting carries more weight and zoning codes may be amended to fulfill their request.

You may also get support from farmers, poultry leader, veterinarian, home science school teacher to speak on your behalf. They can talk about the benefit of raising chickens at home.

Another approach you can take is to draft a proposed law or ordinance in regards to raising chicken at home and get people to sign a petition in support of it. A few hundred signatures on the draft can go a long way during the committee meeting.