What You Need To Know Now Before Getting Backyard Chickens

At first thought, living out your homesteading dreams by getting backyard chickens may seem like a fantastic idea. Who wouldn't love a steady supply of farm fresh eggs? Backyard chickens can also give you natural fertilizer for your garden, eat your food scraps, and lower your carbon footprint because you won't be eating eggs shipped across the country. However, raising backyard chickens isn't all sunshine, rainbows, and tasty eggs — there are a few important factors to consider before you make the leap and add a few new feathered friends to your family.

For starters, chickens aren't exactly the most docile of critters. They can wreak havoc on even the most well-kept home and gardens. They also may not even be allowed where you live, and, if you are allowed to raise chickens in your area, you'll still likely have to adhere to nuisance laws to avoid disturbing your neighbors. Additionally, keeping backyard chickens can require a ton of upkeep in your yard, and you need to be sure that your backyard space is up to the task. Getting backyard chickens isn't as simple as letting them roam free in your garden — they'll need a coop, shelter, and their own designated area to protect the rest of your space. With that said, raising chickens can still be an incredibly rewarding experience and a great way to enhance your yard and garden. Just be sure to keep these considerations in mind before you raise chickens in your yard.

If you have a meticulously well-kept grassy yard or a flourishing herb and vegetable garden, you may want to think twice before letting chickens roam loose. For starters, chickens poop a lot. In one month, just one of these birds can leave behind several pounds of waste. Multiply that by several chickens, and it's possible for your grass to become scorched by the nitrogen in the manure, killing it. It's also just not all that pleasant to step on chicken poo every time you step into your yard, especially if you love walking around barefoot. Not to mention, it can also carry diseases.

On top of chickens being potentially rough on your grass, they can also devastate your garden. Chickens love fresh greens and veggies as much as the rest of us, and left unattended, they may gobble up your harvest. They might dig up freshly planted seeds, eat all the good bugs out of your garden, and crush plants by stomping all over them. It's also possible for chickens to dig up holes in your garden while searching for worms.

With that said, it's not all doom and gloom when it comes to having chickens in your yard. In smaller quantities, chicken droppings can actually be very beneficial for your lawn. And, after composting, chicken poo can be turned into fantastic fertilizer for your garden. In order to reap more benefits than drawbacks from your backyard flock, you'll just need to make sure they're properly enclosed, and take care to keep the chickens out of your garden.

Another important thing to know before getting backyard chickens is that they need a lot of space. Typically, chickens need a coop for shelter and run space where they can roam around in a larger enclosure. At a minimum, each chicken should have 4 square feet of space in the coop and double that for the run. So, if you plan on having four chickens, you need to build or buy a coop that is at least 16 square feet and have 32 square feet of run space for the chickens. That's a total of at least 48 square feet of designated chicken space for a flock of just four birds. If you have a smaller backyard, having chickens may not be feasible. Additionally, some areas have specific regulations on exactly how much coop space each chicken needs, so be sure to check with your local government before you start building.

On top of being sure to give your chickens the space they need to roam, you need to factor in location. If you build your chicken coop and run on one specific spot in your yard, the lawn there will likely die. If you'd prefer to keep your whole lawn alive, you may want to forgo the standard chicken run for a moveable pen so that you can manually control the amount of time your chickens spend on one section of your lawn. With this approach, your lawn will be evenly fertilized, and you shouldn't face quite as much damaged from concentrated nitrogen.

Before you invest your time and start researching how much it costs to add a chicken coop to your home, you should check to make sure you are even allowed to keep a backyard flock in your neighborhood. If you live in a rural community, it's unlikely you'll run into any legal issues keeping backyard chickens, although it's still a good idea to check the local laws and regulations in your area. On the other hand, if you live in a suburban or urban neighborhood, it's very likely your area could have some rules against backyard chicken farming.

To find out if you're allowed to keep chickens, you need to start by researching your local zoning laws. Additionally, you need to double check with your HOA (if you have one) and also consider clueing your neighbors in so they aren't surprised by the newest addition to your backyard. In addition to local ordinances determining if chickens are allowed to be kept in your backyard, they also may impact exactly how you can keep your chickens. For example, many urban areas have laws prohibiting roosters due to the excess noise they can create. Additionally, your local area may have rules governing exactly how much space each bird needs, how many you can keep, and how far away the chicken coop needs to be from your neighbor's home. To avoid running into issues further down the line after you've already invested in your flock and their new home, be sure that you're doing everything exactly in accordance with your local laws.

One last, yet very important, factor to consider is that if you keep chickens in your backyard, they will likely attract pests and predators. Rodents are one type of pest you might encounter if you keep chickens in your backyard. Mice and rats can be attracted to your chickens' food and water. This can cause harm to your flock and bring potential diseases into your garden and home. A few ways to keep rodents away from your chickens include using a repellent like bobcat urine, completely securing the coop so they can't get in, keeping the area clean and free of loose feed, and being diligent about removing the eggs every night.

In addition to rodents who come in search of your chickens' feed, predators may come to your home with the intention of eating your chickens. Depending on where you live and the types of predators in your area, you may encounter predators like bears, fisher cats, raccoons, owls, and more. While these animals not only can pose an obvious threat to your chickens, they can also create safety issues for you and your family, along with any small pets you may have. Additionally, having any excess of wild animals in your yard can have negative health effects and cause property damage you'll have to deal with.