Tops Items for Raising chickens

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If you’re new to homesteading, it can be a bit overwhelming to figure out what you actually need. Depending on your goals and what you want to do, just about every homesteader I know or have come across on other blogs get into chickens first. When we first moved onto our homestead, we were actually gifted a hen and a rooster! It was the greatest house warming gift we ever received.

They are probably the easiest small farm animal to own and care for, aside from our bees. That being said, you need a few key items to protect them, care for them, and nurture them.

Clean food and water access are obviously necessities that no one can go without. Depending on how many birds you have, will greatly impact the size of everything you invest in. Cost is always a factor but when you’re in it for the long haul, you have to look at all equipment as an investment so cheapest isn’t always best.

The two items not found below but is absolutely a necessity if you intend to raise birds from the time they’re chicks is a heat lamp and thermometer! They cannot regulate their body temperature for the first few weeks so you need to keep them warm. We have a few of THESE and simply replace the bulb when burnt out.

The options I’m providing are items we actually use and have on a daily basis for the past few years! We raise a lot of birds for both eggs and meat so we have several of each item and they’ve all served us well.

Item #1: Feeders

There are a lot of feeder options, but this simple feeder like the one above is great for keeping your feed and grains a bit off the ground and cleaner so debris is less likely to continually clutter your feed. We’ve used a few of these for our birds and it’s been great. You can also try a longer, metal feeder like THIS. This is more expensive but it is very durable. We use two of these when we raise meat birds.

There are also automatic feeders (and waterers) you can research and go with. We personally haven’t used those. While we raise quite a few birds, it’s not so much that we need anything automatic. We’re fine walking the property throughout the day to check on food and water, but it’s completely personal preference.

Item #2: Waterers

Now that you’ve got a feeder, you can’t forget the waterer. We have used some of the plastic ones like THIS and it’s worked just fine. The biggest complaint I have about plastic is how quickly mildew and gunk builds up around the base. I’m not against cleaning on a regular basis but when your chore list is long, I’m about efficiency. We invested in a metal feeder which we still need to clean but not nearly as often! We also have a lot of birds so we have a larger 5 gallon waterer which helps us reduce the number of times we need to refill during the heat of summer.

The one downside to a waterer this large is how heavy it can get when filled. To mitigate that, I just fill and wheel to wherever our hens are in the wagon.

Items #3: Shelter

Biggest thing to consider here is if you want a fixed or mobile shelter plan for your hens. We like to rotate our birds daily so for us, we use “tractors”.

We have tried a few different options here and for us, what has worked best has been creating larger, mobile chicken tractors which we’ve built ourself. We had quite a few predator issues so we decided to enclose and move our hens every morning and evening to keep them safe. We did have a small mobile coop that we would use a mobile fence for but our hens would fly right over and get themselves in trouble with something or our sheep and dogs would get tangled up in the fencing occasionally so we eventually retired that and switched to fully contained large mobile tractors.

You can find plans for one the tractors we’re currently using HERE. I built this about a year a go and it’s still working just great. The only modifications we’ve since made was adding wheels, nesting boxes, and some additional light weight siding for added protection from the elements. A quick Pinterest search will yield you TONS and TONS of ideas and plans though.

We did use a coop like the one below for about a year, however, it is definitely NOT meant to be moved. It is definitely great if you intend to keep your birds in one spot. It was a family affair moving this thing every single week and it ultimately led to it falling apart on us and reduced to being used for scraps for other coop projects.

Ideal if you want a fixed coop option.

Something else we tried was using a large cage like the one below. This worked really well for our meat birds. We moved it a few times and it is heavy to move but it’s held up really well and we’ve actually repurposed it a few times for other things. So this is a versatile investment that would work just as good for raising birds.

Versatile option that can be used to house your birds if needed! See what we did with it in THIS POST!

Item #4: Nesting Boxes

Building nesting boxes with a few pieces of plywood is a really quick project! If you’re not comfortable doing that just yet, you can certainly invest in some! It can be as simple as using old plastic crates like THIS or purchasing pre-built boxes like THIS.

Either works just fine. Rule of thumb we have always followed is 1 box for 3 hens to determine how many boxes we need. I know some other sources put it more but that’s been working for us. Even though we have plenty of boxes, I still find our girls all prefer to share the same box all the time. Whatever works!

Item #5: Feed

Finally, whatever you decide to feed your birds is entirely up to you as it’s personal preference. We have always opted for organic feed, chicken scratch, and table scraps to our birds. Whatever you decide to feed, read the ingredients. We tried Dumor and Purina brands but ultimately switched to a local feed store and purchase theirs. Our hens stopped laying during peak season but when we switched brands to the local feed store, they started laying again. After some research, my husband had found one of the brands switched main ingredients and that’s what we attributed to the decline of egg production.

You can also certainly make your own. We have not done that yet, but whenever we pull that trigger, I’ll certainly share our experience!

Hopefully this gives you plenty of a foundation if you’re getting into raising birds! Happy homesteading!