City people like chickens. Chickens make fun pets. They also lay eggs, which are good to eat.

Many city people now keep chickens. Do you live in a city? Do you want to keep 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. They need 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. You can keep chickens in a backyard.

There are also community gardens. These are small plots of land. People from the community can plant small gardens on this land. You can also keep chickens there.

2. Buy or build a chicken coop.

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

3. Buy food and supplies.

Buy chicken feed. This is food made for chickens.

Get 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.

You can only have hens in the city. You can’t have roosters because they make too much noise.

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

5. How to care for your chickens.

Feed and water them every morning. Let them out of the coop.

Clean the coop each week. Replace the dirty straw with fresh straw. Clean the feeders and water dishes well. Then refill them.

You must deep clean the coop twice a year. Chicken poop has a lot of germs. You must clean out the whole coop. Then you must 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.