Does anyone currently raise chickens in there backyard? If so can you offer any tips or suggestions to me and my family as we venture into doing this in our backyard. The cleveland county extension office has a deal where you can hatch chicks and raise them up, they rent you an incubator for 8.00 and you buy the eggs in batches of 30 for 3.00 per batch. They said that it is highly unlikely all 30 would hatch so we are going to hatch them and raise them up to a certain age and then find homes for all but 3 or 4 which we have decided to keep in our backyard for eggs. So if anyone has any background or knowledge about raising chickens in the city in a backyard I would appreciate any advice you want to share as well as any ideas for a chicken coop how to build one size needed for 4 chickens etc.

Thanks

If you only want three or four, you would be better off waiting until spring and going to either Lumber 2 or Atwoods and buying live chicks. They usually only run a few dollars a piece. Then you won't have an excess to get rid of.

My father in law raises chickens on his land and all I know is I am spoiled with free-range organic eggs and now donot want others.

I know he must have about 30 Anaconda's. He puts dummy eggs in the nests to encourage laying. He doesn't like to keep more than one rooster because they fight too much ( I love a rooster's crow in the morning!) He has an automatic feeder for them. Trick seems to be to keep other animals from getting them - hawks, possums etc want to kill them. So he says if you try for 12 you'll probably get to keep 6. If you get pullet size you'll have better chance of keeping them... recommends Mary's Swap Meet on 23rd & ~ MW Blvd. Saturdays. You gotta collect eggs everyday or chickens will set on them and they'll develop. I'll bet you can google for good instructions all arouond!

My wife bought chicks from McMurrays (?) online and they shipped by mail. She's ordered a few time and they have a good survival rate, I think only 2-3 have died in the first few days. We bought some from a local (not a store) and 50-75% of them died in the first few weeks.

We build them a house with nesting & roosting areas. A pen to try to keep other animals out, and a gate so they can roam the yard. Hawks & coons seem to be the biggest threat, but if you net the top of the pen and don't leave outside acces open overnight they should be ok.

A heat lamp & water heater in the winter, and on some days we had a fan in the pen to cool it off a bit.

Can't beat fresh organic/free range eggs!

Good luck

If you live in Oklahoma City, Moore or Norman City limits, it's illegal to raise chickens on your property. Must live in an area that's designated agriculture.
I'm glad they have this law on the books, the thought of chicken's/ rooster's waking me up at the crack of dawn or scratching/pooping all over my yard, driveway, sidewalks and cars is frightening.

This is from OKC's Municipal Code:


§ 8-41. Confinement of livestock and domesticated fowl required.
It shall be unlawful for any person who owns or harbors any livestock or domesticated fowl other than homing pigeons to fail to securely confine the same to property owned or controlled by him.
(Ord. No. 23145, § 2, 10-3-06)
http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=14500&sid=34

I've known people with pet ducks and chickens and its perfectly legal to keep them in Oklahoma City's limits, provided they are confined to your property and under your control.

There is actually a movement to change laws in other cities to allow citizens the right to keep a limited number of hens in their backyards to collect eggs.
The Craze for Urban Chicken Farming | Newsweek Project Green | Newsweek.com (http://www.newsweek.com/id/168740)

Bobby821, Though I'm no fan of a lot of your posts (especially the tipping one), I say go for it.

Food means more when you know how it is produced, and where it comes from.

Actually, it IS illegal to have chickens in Oklahoma City limits unless you have them on at least one acre. The code jstanthrnme is citing is true, but it applies to the one or more acre folks. The code you're looking for is under animal raising activities(?).

We had a few banty hens last year. The neighbors loved them, and they were contained in our back yard, but we ended up getting caught when one of the patrolling city guys saw the coop through our fence while driving by. We were cited and had to get rid of the girls. If you don't, they fine you every so many days and can impound the animals.

We're not the only ones that this happened to, and we've been trying to fight to make chickens legal in OKC, but that has resulted in receiving citations on a regular basis for pretty much anything you can imagine. They've even taken pictures over our privacy fence and cited us for "clutter" for having fish aquariums back there that were in the process of drying after being washed. It's a touchy subject, apparently.

My grandparents had "silkies". I really liked them. They were great for Oklahoma as the winter didn't seem to bother them and they'd lay eggs year round. The best part was they were pretty tame and would come right up to you. They have weird feathers and cannot fly, which is pretty useful as they never wander far from the feed and nests. People would drive by and stop and ask what they were as they don't look like any chicken most people have seen.

We tried one summer several years ago to have a couple or three layers in our backyard in a coupe called a 'Chicken Chalet' - A-frame pen with area at the bottom for them to scratch and peck and area up top for them to sleep and roost, with two nesting boxes for the eggs. After the murder of the first four, one at a time, and the fifth was eaten whole and the sixth was just torn up in one night, we surrendered. Possum was the likely culprit - but he was a darn big one - ripped the locked door of the chalet off its hinges - screws out of wood! Would have loved to have them... the females are quiet and if you take care of them and move them around the yard, there's no smell. Good luck, though, keeping them alive.

There was an article in this weeks Gazette about raising chickens in OKC city limits. Apparently if you have less than an acre is is against city ordinance. There is however an online petition started to try to get the ordinance changed. If you are interested, and a city resident, you can sign here.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/allow-chickens-in-oklahoma-city
They are trying to get 1000 signatures and to date only have 109.

The last petition had more than 1000 signatures and it was tossed out if I remember right. They put up a new place online for people who want chickens www.okcchickens.com (http://www.okcchickens.com). They talked about it in that article.

Chicken raising is an agricultural activity, and does not belong on a clty lot. If you want to raise chickens as anything but housepets, and that means in your house, like a dog or cat, then you need to live in the country. Its only fair to your neighbors.

or inside the city on a lot at least one acre in size, as per the city ordinance. Not many of those in a lot of neighborhoods though.

Chicken raising is an agricultural activity, and does not belong on a clty lot. If you want to raise chickens as anything but housepets, and that means in your house, like a dog or cat, then you need to live in the country. Its only fair to your neighbors.

I totally agree. I lived next door to some folks who raised chickens. They even had them on an acre and they were still annoying as hell. Butchering day was also quite fun to be near. You want chickens, move to a farm. Don't be selfish and an irrititant to your neighbors.

My neighbor has chickens, and they're so quiet that I wouldn't even know that they were there had he not told me.

Rude/selfish/annoying people are the ones who leave junk in their yards, have outside cats, or let their dogs bark all day and night.

People who are inherently ignorant about chickens are the ones to flip out and think of big farms and other unrelated kneejerk visions. It's not their fault; they just need to be educated. The people who are FOR urban chickens tend to be intelligent, professional, health conscious people.

Partying neighbors, drive-by's on the rental side of the block, barking dogs, street racing, neighbors fighting at 2am, loud music, loud cars...all of these...loud and disturbing to say the least.
But chickens? And of all things...hens?
Its unfortunate that many folks have neither the experience or open mind to know or understand that chickens, for the most part, are very quiet.

Roosters, understandably, are an entirely different matter.

Its strange that some folks here have stated those desiring chickens in the city limits are selfish and irritable, and just not fair. Then, the next logical step is to cite some minor offense or rare occurence that brought them to that conclusion.

Using that same logic for the majority of us responsible and courteous to our neighbors, which includes sharing the blessings of fresh eggs, I would counter and say that it is equally unfair, unjust and selfish to limit all those who are responsible because of the few that were not.

I met the lady who started the petition a few weeks ago. She is not getting much support (or dissention) from the city council. She asked for people to please call their city councilperson and suggest a public meeting on the matter.

well first off, ya have to know your chickens
.
Not all are created equal. For example, White Leghorns, great egg machines but very very flighty and noisy.

Campines, not so many eggs but a rather quiet bird. Buff Orps, large birds and great egg machines, docile and quiet but dont get two roos together.
Welsummers, beautiful and quiet bird and good red egg layer.
Silkies, dont have feathers per say but soft silkie hair. They lay small eggs and will sit on a rock ALso very quiet. Bantys are very noisey, kinda like small dogs, also got to show off and squak at avery thing

If ya wanna sneak some hens into your back yard, do your research, go to some chicken sites, like back yard chickens and some of the hatchery's. Learn the birds and their personalities and you can get a quiet little clutch of 3 0r 5 and no one will know.

If ya really wanna PO your neighbors, get some gueines,,,,,,,,,,

Give em a good back yard to prowl in and chase buggs, and you cant go wrong.

Get the wrong chicken for the area and you will regret the decision.
If you want meat birds, dont go for egg layers and vs vs.

Hope that helps.....................

per carls jr, chickens dont have nuggets.

per carls jr, chickens dont have nuggets.

Now that was FUNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY:LolLolLol

Now that was FUNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY:LolLolLol

Then why aren't they called chickenettes.

Actually, chicken nuggets start out as a paste that looks like gray Elmer's Glue. Look up "mechanically separated chicken" if you doubt me.

If your kids saw what the Clown makes those nuggets out of, they would never eat another Happy Meal again, I'm betting! :omg:

A new survey of Oklahoma City residents found that nearly 70 percent support urban chickens | OKG Scene.com (http://www.okgazette.com/p/12776/a/6423/Default.aspx?ReturnUrl=LwBkAGUAZgBhAHUAbAB0AC4AYQB zAHAAeAAslashAHAAPQAxADIANwAyADkA)

Great answers and I'm glad to see all the people that brought up the law. What I noticed no one has mentioned using the 4-H guidlines for chickens. This would help map out expenses and need for heat and light. There are chickens for meat and chickens for eggs. Chickens do not lay eggs all year long with out a little fancy heat lighting and timers and they also need nest boxes. While you can get little Banties, they fly and have small eggs, they are tough little birds and eat lots of bugs, pairs have been used in organic farming. However the biggest issue is feed in any operation and the costs are getting higher by the month. With weather, crop damage, higher number of horses being fed since the shut down of processing plants in US, and corn being used as fuel, feed for animals is high and all small farmers must consider the cost with any future plan for a farm of any size. So with this said I might suggest that this family look to see if there are several families in the area that are interested with the proper acreage or if there is a school FFA program that might serve the same purpose for several families to raise and care for a larger number of chickens?

Where to buy local eggs? any ideas?