Raising chickens has become a popular activity for many people who live in big cities. Chickens make fun pets in addition to producing eggs, which are a healthy food source for people.
Do you live in a city and want to learn how to raise chickens? Here is how to do it.

1. Find a place to keep your chickens.

Chickens can’t live in your house. They must live outside. Chickens need space to move around and peck and scratch the ground. They eat bugs from the ground.

It may be hard to find a place for chickens in the city. Some apartments have a backyard, which can be a great place to keep your chickens. But if you don’t have one, try a community garden.

Community gardens are small plots of land that people from your community can use to plant small gardens. They will often let you keep a few chickens there as well.

2. Buy or build a chicken coop.

Chickens sleep in the coop at night. The coop keeps them safe and warm.

3. Buy food and supplies.

You can buy chicken feed online or in pet stores. Sometimes hardware stores sell it, too.

Be sure to get good chicken feeders and water bowls. Fill the water bowls with clean, fresh water. Chickens always need to have access to fresh water.

Get straw for the coop. Spread it around the coop. Chickens like to sleep in it.

4. Buy chickens.

Be aware that you can only raise hens if you live in the city. You can’t have roosters because they make too much noise with their loud crowing.

You can buy chicks online or from a farm. You can buy pullets, which are young hens, from a farm, too. Pullets begin to lay eggs when they are about six months old.

5. How to care for your chickens.

Feed and water your chickens every morning. Let them out of the coop so that they can run around. Chickens don’t like be cooped up all day long.

Clean the coop once a week. Replace the dirty straw with fresh straw and clean the feeders and water dishes well before you refill them.

You must deep clean the coop twice a year because chicken poop has a lot of germs. You must clean out the whole coop and then scrub it with bleach to kill all the germs. Otherwise, the chickens can get sick and so can you. Always wash your hands with soap after handling your chickens.