A to Z Challenge: C - Chickens

Part of being ready for any emergency that might happen is knowing where your food is going to come from. If you have space on your property you should own some sort of livestock. I've seen people own rabbits but the easiest livestock I know to raise are chickens. They don't need a lot of space to survive and they will eat the greens you don't eat in your yard. You can also feed them chicken feed from your local feed store.

If you decide to raise chickens you need to learn as much as you can about them. It is very easy for chickens to catch diseases from other birds. You want to avoid contact from your neighbors birds or birds that you bring in from a supplier until you know the chickens are healthy.

I don't usually raise roosters because they make a lot of noise and my neighbors live pretty close. Hens are awesome because they lay eggs. You can figure one hen can lay one egg about every to every other day. I think this is the best reason for owning chickens. The eggs give you protein and many other nutrients you need to survive each day. If you have 4 to 6 chickens you will have enough eggs to feed a family of four for several years as long as your chickens are healthy and fed.

When your chickens get old enough and stop laying eggs then it's time to use them for their meat. Many people get attached to their chickens and treat them as pets. This makes it difficult for them to be killed and used for dinner. This is a hard fact of life to learn where your food actually comes from. It's my opinion that kids should be taught this lesson early. they might get attached to certain animals, but that animal is there to feed the family and they need to know that.

Have fun with your chickens. If you have a fenced in yard you can let them roam around. I've known farmers who let their chickens roam all over their yard without a fence and they come back because they know where they are being fed. The only problem with this is you have to worry about wild animals killing your chickens, eating them. They are easy prey and because they flock together it's simple for a coyote, wolf or even a neighbor's dog to pick one off.

If you can visit a friends homestead who owns chickens, this is the best place to learn how to raise them. You can see what your friends do and build upon their knowledge. If you can learn from them, I think the first-hand experience is better than any book you might be able to pick up. Learn what they do and mimic what works