Ten Commandments for Raising Healthy Chickens
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Curious chicks step from their brooder into a bright new world.
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MOTHER's veterinarian is back again, with tips that can
help anyone raise his or her own backyard flock of
hens and roosters by following the . . .
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By Randy Kidd
Chickens are, in my opinion, ideal livestock
critters for the beginning homesteader or backyard farmer.
More and more folks are discovering that raising their own
poultry can provide them with all the fresh eggs they could
ever want —and lots of tasty fried, roasted,
or stewed chicken as well—frequently for a
fraction of the commercial variety's cost!
What's more, the homegrown cluckers won't reach
your dinner table filled with growth stimulators, hormones,
antibiotics, and whatever else goes into storebought
poultry these days. And their eggs will actually be
fresh . . . with rich yellow yolks that stand
right up in the frying pan.
In addition, a backyard flock can provide a good supply of
manure for the compost pile or garden, and you can even use
your friendly fowl for pest control (especially in
the fruit orchard).
And, perhaps most important of all, it's really pretty
easy to raise chickens. In order to establish your
own flock, you'll just have to set aside a bit of space,
build a small coop, obtain a few birds, and follow my ten
commandments of poultry care . . . five of which are given
in the following paragraphs, while the other five will
constitute a second article, in MOTHER NO. 68.
I. RECOGNIZE YOUR MARKET
The kind of chickens you select will depend upon your
purpose in raising them. Today—thanks to the
ingenuity and selective breeding efforts of scientists and
poultry fanciers—the birds are available in all
sizes, shapes, colors, and feather patterns (there's a
total of 350 different combinations). But generally
speaking, chickens can be divided into four main
classifications: the egg-layers, the meatmakers (broilers),
the dual-purpose birds (meat and egg producers),
and the exotic or exhibition breeds.
Each general type of fowl is represented by
various breeds, which in turn comprise several
varieties apiece. Breed is a term used to
categorize a group of individuals whose characteristics can
be passed on to future generations. A va
riety—on the other hand—is a class of birds,
within one breed, that differ from other
varieties of that breed . . . usually by only one
characteristic. For example, the Buff Orpington and the
Black Orpington are of the same breed (Orpington),
but are different varieties within that breed (the
differing characteristic in this case is color:
one variety is black, the other is buff).
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