[Mark is 11 years old and turned this paper in for his English class on ‘how to write instructions.’]

Mark “Chicken Wing”

Though it seems complicated, raising chickens is a simple and fun thing to do. You could do it as a hobby or as a large-scale chicken farmer. The benefits of raising chickens are: 1) You can get fresh eggs every morning. Store bought eggs can be up to 2 month old. Grass fed chickens lay eggs that are higher in omega-3, which is a good vitamin. 2) You can have fresh chicken meat that you have raised yourself. 3) Chickens cans be good pets. 4) Their waste is good fertilizer for the ground or garden. 5) You can feed chickens your scraps. (As long as it’s not meat.)

New heating plate that mimics Mama chicken. Chicks run under plate to keep warm and can run out to eat

If you are interested in raising chickens you will need: chickens, a starter container for the chicks, chicken wire, chicken feed, feeder, waterer, heat lamp, several two by four pieces of wood, several pieces of long and strong sticks or branches, nails or screws, and hammer or drill.

Early morning visit to the local Post Office

First, you will need to buy or get your chickens from somewhere. If you want to get your chicks from a hatchery I would recommend Meyer Hatchery or Murray McMurray Hatchery. You can get them as newly hatched chicks or as pullets (older chickens). A large hatchery like Murray McMurray has about one hundred variety of chickens. You can choose egg laying hens, meat birds, guinea hens, or turkeys. They can be ordered in advance and they shipped by the U.S Postal Service by priority mail. The chicks can come in the mail, because right before the chicks hatch, they absorb their yoke, which will last up to 72 hours, where the chick doesn’t need to eat. You can also get them from your local feed store, like Tractor Supply or Aroostook Mills. The advantage of ordering locally, is that you don’t have to pay for shipping, but you don’t have a big selection of chicks.

New Cornish Roasters

Next, you would need to build or buy a pen for your chickens. If you get chicks you can get a brooder kit, or use a large container like a kiddy pool or a large rubber-maid tub. Line the container with newspaper and paper towels for the first week. The paper towel needs to be textured so that the chicks don’t slip and get “spraddle leg.” You can also use a rubber lining like one would use in their kitchen cabinets. You also need a heat lamp for the first 8-10 weeks. The first week the temperature of chicks need to be 95 degrees F. The next few weeks you can change the temperature by lifting the heat lamp higher and higher. Reduce the temperature by five degrees each week until you reach the same temperature as the outdoors (around 60-70 degrees). Then your chickens would be ready to be moved to an outdoor pen.

First batch

In your chick container, you will need a feeder and a waterer for your chicks. If you get the chicks from a hatchery, you should dip their beaks inside the waterer as soon as you put them inside the pen, teaching them to drink. You should buy chick starter food which should have 18% protein in small crumbles or mash (not pellets). You should fill up the chicks’ water and food as needed and change the paper towels when they get very dirty. After the first week, you can put down wood chips in the container to absorb the chicken waste. Then change the wood chips when you can smell their waste building up.

Once your chicks outgrow the kiddy pool and no longer need the heat lamp, you can then prepare an outdoor pen. For full-grown chickens you will need roughly three square feet of space per chicken. You can also put your chickens in a shed or a barn, if you have one. Use two by fours to make a frame for your pen walls, then staple chicken wire to the frame. Make sure that you have sealed walls and a roof, so that predators cannot get in. You can let your chicken “free range” during the day, but latch them into their pen at night.

Lastly, build a roost, or a place where the chickens can climb up to sleep at night. A simple roost can be made of several long branches. Lay the branches down like a ladder and screw or nail them together. Lean the ladder up against the pen wall.

First batch now Mama chickens

If you have egg laying hens, buy or build a nest and collect eggs daily. If you have meat chickens, feed them twelve hours on and twelve hours off when they are over three weeks old. Meat chicken are usually processed when they are two to three months old. Egg laying hens will start laying eggs at age 6 months and will lay in their prime at age 1-2 years old.

Fresh eggs!

Raising chickens is a fun way to learn responsibility. You can enjoy seeing your own eggs at your own table and eating them. You can also sell your fresh eggs. Raising chickens is a fun thing to do.

Chicken handlers