Breeding chickens in the country for beginners

Breeding chickens in the country can be a great way to always have your own environmentally friendly product on the table. However, for beginners, growing broilers in the country can be an occasion for many questions, from the legal aspects to breeding and keeping birds.

Breeding chickens and broilers in the country

Legal breeding issues

neighbors chickens at the cottage – this is nothing more than a spreading infection, lice , ticks and a way to attract rodents, therefore, when solving the issue of raising farm birds in a summer cottage, many private farmers doubt whether the law allows keeping in a private cottage, for example, 30 or more hens.

Current legislation provides an opportunity for members of horticultural partnerships to keep animals on the land plots provided to them in an amount that would ensure compliance with all sanitary s rules and without prejudice to the neighbors.

It is forbidden to keep cattle such as horses, cows and pigs in summer cottages, but it is better to breed rabbits, goats, lamb and farm birds to get meat and eggs from it to the country house with written approval received from nearby neighbors, enclosing a site for them and equipping it with an outbuilding at least 4 m from the borders of their plots.

In this case, the building must meet the requirements of fire-fighting measures and environmental protection rules.

Stand remember that the livestock to their summer cottage may not be a commercial base to start breeding chickens within the horticultural partnership can be only for personal use. Provided that small-scale poultry breeding is carried out exclusively for individual consumption, approval with veterinary supervision for cottage farming is not required.

Breed selection

In order to make the right breed choice for breeding at the cottage, you need to know that all chicken representatives are divided into 3 main lines, depending on their productivity.

1. Egg layers are distinguished from the total mass by egg laying rates, are small in size, they have early maturity, in bringing the egg about and are beginning to bear at the age of 4-5 months. The maximum weight of the chicken is up to 2.2 kg, the cock – up to 3.0 kg.Egg hens are active throughout the day, require large areas for a paddock in search of food, and are distinguished by good appetite. Such breeds include Russian white chickens, Leghorn, Golden Czech, Andalusian, White-tailed red, Hamburg.
2. Meat chicken broilers are large in size, gain weight intensively, have good taste characteristics of meat. They can be grown during the spring-summer season, which will be enough to gain weight. However, their egg production rates are significantly lower than in other areas. Among the meat breeds, broilers, Cornish , Mechelen chickens, Brahms, Langshans, Kokhinkhiny stand out.
3. Meat-egg or universal produce average productivity in both meat and eggs. As they grow older, these representatives lose their initial egg production and then go to slaughter. Among the universal ones are the Kyrgyz gray breed, Tsarskoye Selo chicken, Lakenfelders, Sussexes , Chubaty hens, Yurlovsky birds , Velzumeri and Moscow white breed.

The most popular among summer cottages are laying hens that will regularly supply fresh eggs. Among the advantages indicated by summer residents, keeping chickens in the country in the summer is their unpretentiousness and stable immunity.

For beginners, the process of breeding chickens and broilers in the country is recommended to start with unpretentious breeds, which are best brought up to 30 pieces.

Subtleties of acquiring poultry

You can buy the necessary breed at the poultry farm or agricultural market, however, the most recommended option for acquiring poultry for raising chickens in the country house is for beginners to buy from breeders. They will be able to give useful tips on raising and keeping poultry, caring for them and feeding procedures. In addition, the risk of acquiring sick or unvaccinated hens is minimized.

The suspiciously low cost of chickens should alert you first.

Poultry experts recommend buying heads use caution and it is better to pay attention to the following external aspects:

• the bird should be alert and active, not wilted or lethargic,
• hens should not sit on their paws, remain standing position,
• no discharge from the eyes should be observed,
• crest near the cock in and the hens should be bright red, unless the breed provides for a different color,
• the plumage is smooth, clean.

Pay attention to breathing, which cannot have a smell and should to be uniform. It is also worth checking the bird for the presence of parasites in the feather cover.

The age of the bird is not unimportant, it can be determined by beginners in several ways:

• Birds are extremely rarely involved in winter brood because of the rise in price .It should be counted 5 months (this is the average age of young animals) from the day of purchase, if the brood is in the winter, then there is likely to be a hoax here.
• Before buying, it is important to study the photos of the chicken paws of old chicken and young animals, after which when viewing in person, pay attention to the paws of the proposed individuals.
• Young growth is distinguished by the brightness of the scallops and lobes, these parts of the body of the young bird are warm to the touch.

The beginners are most troubled when acquiring chickens, which are selected taking into account some features:

• the chicks must have a reaction to the voice or noise (knocking),

• at the sight of a treat, the reaction of the chickens is quite quick and active,
• the feather cover of the chicks has a smooth and even structure.

A place for the house

A comfortable stay of birds in a summer cottage depends on the correct choice of a place for an outbuilding and an equipped corral.

In addition that the place for placing the chicken coop should be selected at a distance of not less than 4 m from the borders with neighboring land, it should be sufficiently illuminated nym throughout the daylight hours, but it is not exposed to direct sunlight. The dryness of the soil layer is of no small importance, therefore it is not recommended to build an outbuilding for breeding and keeping chickens in the cottage in a lowland or in a swamp. Not suitable for placing the house on a piercing wind and under trees.

The place that is inclined will be most favorable: rainwater will not accumulate, but will depart, leaving the soil layer of the corral to dry.

When planning the size of the site do not forget about the need to arrange a place for walking birds from such a calculation of the pen, that 1 square hen or cockerel requires 1 square. m.

Building a house

To build a chicken house should be such that on an area of ​​2 * 3 meters from 1 to 2- will feel comfortable x dozens of hens. At the same time, the quality and fundamental nature of the structure depends on what period the selected breed will be kept.

Spring-summer breeding

The content of chickens starting from spring and summer suggests that insulation is not required from the house and a simple shed with a roof or a canopy that can protect birds in case of bad weather and a shelter is suitable as a place to live the hens. No additional lighting is required in the summer.

Year-round chicken breeding

Breeding the stock of chickens in a summer cottage throughout the calendar year will require the construction of an insulated structure to keep livestock during winter cold. It is necessary to provide heating that would keep the temperature from 11 to 22 ° C.If in the summer there is enough natural light, then in the winter they often resort to artificial lighting to maintain daylight hours up to 18-20 hours.

Interior arrangement

Among the recommendations that give professional poultry houses, size parameters of the internal arrangement are important:

• the height of the chicken coop should be within 2.2 m,
• perches are made at a height of 1.1 m long from the calculation for 1 layer per 15-20 cm of space,
• the window is also placed at a distance of 1.1 m from the floor, it is better if its size is 0.5 * 0 , 5 m with a chicken coop area of ​​1.5 * 2.0 meters, with an increase in the area, the number of windows increases,
• the floor is lined with sand mixed with shavings
• for free exit of chicken from the chicken coop a half-meter wide hole is made.

Equipping the nests is of no small importance, especially if the owner intends to breed and grow the egg breed. As a nest for raising chickens and laying an egg, you can choose a box or independently make a structure with a width of 0.5 m and a depth of 0.6 m, which is covered with straw or hay. How it looks right, you can watch the video. One nest is usually enough for 3 layers.

Feeding and care rules

Often, beginners encounter with a lack of knowledge in the field of proper bird feeding, it is therefore recommended that beginners, when raising chickens in the country, purchase ready-made mixes selected according to the age of the laying hen.

Among the basic rules for feeding poultry is two meals a day, subject to the availability of fresh herbs.In the diet of birds should be:

• grain of 2 types – 45 g each in spring and autumn, 40 g in summer and 50 in winter,
• crushed grain of 2-3 species – 55 g in spring and autumn, 60 g in summer and 50 g in winter,
• meal and cake – 12 g throughout the year,
• bran – 10 g throughout the year,
• boiled potatoes – 20 g each in summer and autumn, 50 g each in spring and winter,
• yeast – 3 g each year,
• carrots or silage – 40 g each in spring and winter, 20 g in spring,
• grass or greens – 10 g each in spring and winter, 50 g in summer and 30 g in autumn,
• flour (meat and bone, fish) – 5 g each over nii year,
• reverse – 20 g each in spring, autumn and winter, 30 g summer,
• shell rock and chalk – 4 g throughout the year,
• salt – 0.5 g each year.

Cereals are considered the most useful. Birds themselves prefer mash – a mixture of vegetables, feed and herbs. The intake of necessary vitamins is provided by fresh grass and herbs.

One individual eats about 185 g of feed per day on average. Depending on the breed, this indicator can be either lower (in egg birds) or higher (in broilers).

To look after chickens in a summer cottage means vaccination, regular visits to birds, and detection of cases individuals and isolate them from the main livestock. Smoking care also includes timely cleaning and disinfection.During the maintenance period, the availability of drinking water should be monitored.