Chickens are a popular multi-purpose stock among preppers,
and we’re seeing more and more non-preppers raising them as well.
They provide us with eggs and meat, and help to minimize ticks, termites, fleas, rats, mice, flies, fire ants, small snakes and even scorpions.
The beauty is, they don’t care what stage of development their tasty bug is in. Egg, larval, or adult … if they find it, they’ll eat it.
They’ll also help your garden by eating weed seeds and providing you with high quality manure for compost. Just allow access to your garden before you plant your crops and after you harvest and they'll do their job nicely.
They provide us with eggs and meat, and help to minimize ticks, termites, fleas, rats, mice, flies, fire ants, small snakes and even scorpions.
The beauty is, they don’t care what stage of development their tasty bug is in. Egg, larval, or adult … if they find it, they’ll eat it.
They’ll also help your garden by eating weed seeds and providing you with high quality manure for compost. Just allow access to your garden before you plant your crops and after you harvest and they'll do their job nicely.
But before heading out and obtaining chickens, it’s important to understand what your needs are, what certain breed of chickens
are best for, and how to optimize their benefits.
For example, not all breeds are good layers, some are meatier than others and not all breeds are good survivors.
You also need to understand and decide on whether your intention is to coop, free-range or combo your chickens in order to find the best match. It's not enough to say you want "egg layers" or "meat birds". As with all prepping, you have to have a plan. And a plan with chickens means getting the right breed(s) for your needs and setting your birds up for success.
You must consider what it is you are looking for and then consider their requirements and your ability to satisfy those requirements. Shelter, cleanliness of habitat, waste collection, food, water, shade, lighting, ventilation, coop dimensions, insulation, nesting, and protection from weather and PREDATORS are some of the factors you must take into account.
Understanding your environment is key. How big is your yard? Do you have dogs or cats? What about your neighbors? Are there fox, raccoons, hawks, owls etc.? All these things affect your choices of breeds, quality of life, as well as the health and longevity of your flock.
You should also consider the temperament of the breed you select. Some breeds are more aggressive than others. Some are flightier than others, some are louder, some are broodier etc. Again, think about what you need and what they need. Can you have a mutually beneficial partnership?
Here are some breeds I recommend that should help you in deciding what breeds are good for your specific preps.
Popular Prepper Breeds
American Game Chicken. Low coop tolerance. Really flourishes in combo or free range environments. Medium to good layers. Average white eggs. Frequent brooders. Will deliver lots of biddies. Extremely smart, very flighty, and hardy. Can tolerate all climates. Can be aggressive, especially with other roosters. Very protective. Full of personality, fun and noisy.
Varieties include: Many different colors. Strains include: Hatch, Kelso, Albany, Sweater, Whitehackle, Claret, Roundhead, and Butcher.
Ameraucana: Aka Easter Egg Chickens. Good for coop, free range or combo. Very good layer. Lays average to above average blue (shades of blue) or green (shades of green) eggs. Calm and non-aggressive. Cold weather hardy.
Varieties include: Brown-red, Buff, Silver, Black, Wheaten, White, Blue and Blue-wheaten.
For example, not all breeds are good layers, some are meatier than others and not all breeds are good survivors.
You also need to understand and decide on whether your intention is to coop, free-range or combo your chickens in order to find the best match. It's not enough to say you want "egg layers" or "meat birds". As with all prepping, you have to have a plan. And a plan with chickens means getting the right breed(s) for your needs and setting your birds up for success.
You must consider what it is you are looking for and then consider their requirements and your ability to satisfy those requirements. Shelter, cleanliness of habitat, waste collection, food, water, shade, lighting, ventilation, coop dimensions, insulation, nesting, and protection from weather and PREDATORS are some of the factors you must take into account.
Understanding your environment is key. How big is your yard? Do you have dogs or cats? What about your neighbors? Are there fox, raccoons, hawks, owls etc.? All these things affect your choices of breeds, quality of life, as well as the health and longevity of your flock.
You should also consider the temperament of the breed you select. Some breeds are more aggressive than others. Some are flightier than others, some are louder, some are broodier etc. Again, think about what you need and what they need. Can you have a mutually beneficial partnership?
Here are some breeds I recommend that should help you in deciding what breeds are good for your specific preps.
Araucana. Similar to the Ameraucana. Flighty, extremely hardy, excellent
foragers, docile, smart and protective. Good for Coop, free range or combo. Good layer but has "lethal" gene which causes approximately 1/4 of it's chicks to die in the shell. Blue eggs. Calm and non-aggressive. Varieties include: Black, White, Black breasted red, Blue, Buff & Silver.
Cornish Game. Slow, docile, easily handled and easily confined. Excellent for cooping. Noisy, and less active. This bird does not defend itself well. Cold hardy and broody. Moderately early maturing. Light brown, below average eggs. Meat bird. Not recommended for a mixed flock.
Varieties include: White, Dark, White laced, Red and Buff.
Leghorn (yes like the cartoons). Flighty, full of themselves, noisy, nervous and spirited. Good for coop, combo, but loves free range. Mostly non-aggressive. Prolific layer, heat tolerant and rarely broody. Matures quickly. Large white eggs. Varieties include: White, Light brown, Dark brown, Black, Red, Buff, Black-tailed red, Columbia, and Silver.
Varieties include: White, Dark, White laced, Red and Buff.
Leghorn (yes like the cartoons). Flighty, full of themselves, noisy, nervous and spirited. Good for coop, combo, but loves free range. Mostly non-aggressive. Prolific layer, heat tolerant and rarely broody. Matures quickly. Large white eggs. Varieties include: White, Light brown, Dark brown, Black, Red, Buff, Black-tailed red, Columbia, and Silver.
New Hampshire Red. Not flighty. Competitive and can be aggressive. Very curious. Does well cooped, free range or combo. Good layers and frequent brooders. Nice breed for dual purpose egg layer/meat producer. Tolerates heat and cold well. Average to above average light brown to dark brown eggs. Varieties include: Light brownish red.
Rhode Island Red. Similar to the New Hampshire Red. Not flighty. Can be very aggressive but calm. Very adaptable to coop, free range or combo environments. Prolific layer and rarely broody. Also a dual purpose breed. Cold and heat tolerant. Above average rich brown eggs.
Varieties include: Red.
Coop Construction
You should always have some kind of shelter for your chickens regardless of the amount of freedom you plan on allowing them to have and your coop will also serve as the initial acclimation point when you first bring your chickens home. Regardless of their future run of the property, the first four weeks or so should be spent living in that coop. This ingrains in them the feeling of a home base and safety.
Chickens need to feel safe especially the ground dwellers or mothers whose biddies have yet to master perching, and a permanent coops fills that need nicely.
Your coop should be designed for the type of chicken you have or are planning to raise. For example; all coops should have roofs, walls (wire/plywood etc.), doors and predator protection, but slower, fatter egg layers that aren't very flighty (or aren't flighty at all) should have coops with ramps or stairs. The idea is to get your chickens off the ground when they are resting/sleeping or laying.
Here's an example of a small coop with a ramp (and a chicken run).
If you're breeding fliers and you don't use ramps or stairs make sure your perches and shelves are sturdy enough to take the ups and downs of your birds and large enough to fit nest boxes you can add or remove. It's advisable to build stalls or pens your hens will use to help segregate herself and her biddies until such time that she has taught them to perch. Usually about three weeks.
Here are examples from my coop. I prefer to use natural perches.
Remember that you don't want these stalls to be enclosed. You want your hens to be able to look around and you don't want to create "caves' or "blind spots" for snakes to hide in. Your coop must be a sanctuary or your chickens will abandon it.
Your coop should include predator protection from above, all sides and even below if necessary. I know a lady that built her guinea coop on top of chicken wire. Then she added two feet of dirt on top of that.
Although I breed Game Chickens that are free range,
I do have occasion to have to lock mine up over night due to hens sitting on nests or with biddies.
My coop has 18 inches of chicken wire in the ground, tacked to the frame around the entire perimeter. This will keep any stray dog(s) from digging under the coop. I also have chicken wire across the top under the roofing panels. Again, this will keep predators such as raccoon or fox from climbing up and over.
Here's a tip: If you use 1 inch chicken wire and plan on having biddies, you need to line the bottom of your wire with a 1/4 inch mesh at least a foot tall. Small biddies will walk through 1 inch wire leaving your hen without the ability to protect or shield them. And, those biddies may forget how to get back in.
Here's a picture of mesh lined chicken wire in one of my coops.
One alternative I use, is 1/4 inch rabbit wire in the sections where I have nest boxes and biddies.
Here's a picture of one of my hens with her biddies in my other coop with rabbit wire.
Another option I recommend for larger flocks is to divide your coop so you can isolate any bird(s) you may have to. Occasionally you may have a bird(s) get sick or in cases of more aggressive birds, you may have to keep a bird away from biddies or keep roosters apart.
Make sure your barrier is solid. Roosters will fight through wire and lose toes and/or beaks.
Here's a picture of an isolated rooster on the left, with hens and biddies on the right. This rooster wasn't aggressive, but he was quarantined for a couple of days while being wormed.
Here's a picture of the door between coop sections (while under construction). Notice that when closed, birds on each side can not see each other.
Here's a small coop with run and accessible nest boxes at the end. Like the earlier example, hens get ground time inside the wired complex, and nest in the walled off area off the ground. In this example, you simply lift the lid up at the end where the nest box is and retrieve the eggs.
This style is excellent for a couple birds.
By now you should have an idea of what you're looking for. Cooped, free range or combo birds. Egg layers, dual purpose or meat birds.
Whether you want fat, slow ground dwellers or sleeker, fast flighty birds, your chickens will depend on you for support. The better you support them, the more they'll do and provide for you.
If you do this properly, it'll allow you to have multiple breeds for multiple purposes. My birds coexist very happily and prosperously. They are one big happy flock that include dual purpose game chickens, layers and even Guineas.
Additional Info:
Treat your chickens well. Make sure they have plenty of water and supplement their grazing with cracked corn or chicken scratch. Treat them with bread or meal worms. You can train them so try calling to them as you give them their treats. They'll remember.
Remember that they all have their personalities. If you pay attention, you can learn their habits, their likes and their dislikes. Don't be surprised if you discovered they've trained you back.
I have a friend whose roosters don't start crowing until they know she's awake. Mine will come to the back door when they want some bread, and if they have biddies that have yet to start perching, they will cackle non-stop in the evening until I go and close them in for the night.
Don't be offended if your free range or combo flock starts roosting in trees instead of in the coop. That's what they do (maintain your coop, they'll still use it).
Don't be shocked if your roosters spar, chase or down right fight with each other (maybe to the death).
That's what they do.
Don't be upset if your rooster rapes your hen(s).
That's what they do.
Don't panic if your flock celebrates by cackling after a hen lays an egg.
That's what they do.
I can do this all day. The bottom line is, there is a lot to know about chickens but now that you have the basics, you will enjoy learning the rest on your own.
Regards from Liberty33
Whether you want fat, slow ground dwellers or sleeker, fast flighty birds, your chickens will depend on you for support. The better you support them, the more they'll do and provide for you.
If you do this properly, it'll allow you to have multiple breeds for multiple purposes. My birds coexist very happily and prosperously. They are one big happy flock that include dual purpose game chickens, layers and even Guineas.
Additional Info:
Treat your chickens well. Make sure they have plenty of water and supplement their grazing with cracked corn or chicken scratch. Treat them with bread or meal worms. You can train them so try calling to them as you give them their treats. They'll remember.
Remember that they all have their personalities. If you pay attention, you can learn their habits, their likes and their dislikes. Don't be surprised if you discovered they've trained you back.
I have a friend whose roosters don't start crowing until they know she's awake. Mine will come to the back door when they want some bread, and if they have biddies that have yet to start perching, they will cackle non-stop in the evening until I go and close them in for the night.
Don't be offended if your free range or combo flock starts roosting in trees instead of in the coop. That's what they do (maintain your coop, they'll still use it).
Don't be shocked if your roosters spar, chase or down right fight with each other (maybe to the death).
That's what they do.
Don't be upset if your rooster rapes your hen(s).
That's what they do.
Don't panic if your flock celebrates by cackling after a hen lays an egg.
That's what they do.
I can do this all day. The bottom line is, there is a lot to know about chickens but now that you have the basics, you will enjoy learning the rest on your own.
Regards from Liberty33
