Getting Started with Chickens

I’ve thought a lot about what advice I would give to someone thinking about keeping chickens, or just getting started, and the first thing that comes to mind is “do it!”

I live in the part of North Carolina that was recently affected by Hurricane Helene.  My family was incredibly lucky to have not sustained any major damage, and we were only 8 days without power (to put this into context, the storm hit on September 27, 2024.  Today is October 31, and there are still many without power). 

Grocery stores lost all frozen and refrigerated food. They were closed entirely for many days. I cannot express the peace of mind that came from knowing, despite everything, we have a source of fresh protein every day.  Our flock was safe (due to solar powered electronet fencing). Rain barrels kept them watered.

This is an extreme reason to keep chickens, and hopefully a situation you never find yourself in.  

Taking away natural disasters, I would still tell you to do it. 

It’s peaceful.  It’s joyful.  There is nothing like fresh eggs and chicken TV. 

Also, it doesn’t have to be time consuming. 

I currently have my flocks in two separate enclosures.

Feeding both flocks this morning, checking water, and collecting eggs laid late yesterday, I spent six minutes. 

I’ll go out again this afternoon to top off feed again in the big run (there’s 35 birds - my smaller flock has six, and their food only needs filling every couple of days), and to collect eggs.  This will probably take me another six minutes.  Maybe 10 once a week if I need to fill their 5-gallon waterers. 

Now I want to tell you about my setup, why I do it the way I do it, and what I use so I have more time to enjoy my birds, and less time doing chores.  (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you use my links to purchase the items, at no extra cost to you, which is a small way that you can support my little business. I do NOT however recommend these products because of the kickback- I recommend them because they make my chicken tending chores So. Much. Simpler. 

So here’s my advice:

Set up infrastructure first.  There is an upfront cost to this, and I know you’re probably thinking “but what if I invest all this money, then I don’t like keeping chickens?!” 

Well, if you’re thinking about keeping chickens, and you set it up so it’s simple and relatively stress free, it’s likely you will absolutely love keeping chickens.  If you don’t, then turn around and sell it all. I promise you, there is someone with a flock who would love to scoop up your ElectroNet and coop second hand. (Also, there’s a reason why you almost never see ElectroNet and quality coops available second hand…)

How the chicken portion of my homestead is set up:

For years I had stationary coops, and stationary runs.  Despite doing everything right (covering the top, burying the fence), I lost birds year after year. Sometimes just a few, sometimes entire flocks. Additionally, the runs just turned into giant mud pits.  Straw was expensive to cover the muddy ground every day.  My hens didn't have any good fresh grass or bugs to eat (and letting them out to forage unprotected contributed to their losses). I had to hunch to get in (quality fencing tall enough for even a 5’1” tall human to walk upright is expensive). Predators can rip through chicken wire. It’s pretty much worthless to keep chickens safe.  

Last spring I finally said enough is enough, and I invested in solar charged electronet fencing, and built my first wheeled coop, and I will never go back. 

This is the Starter Kit I purchased. I opted for the 48” tall fencing, but you can get a starter kit with 42” tall fencing at a lower price point.  I added an extra run of 48” tall fencing so the main run could be larger to accommodate a really big flock.  Extra 42” tall fencing can be purchased as well. 

Both of the starter kits include one 100 foot run of fencing, a solar charger and battery (with an AC adapter if you need to charge the battery from the wall), a grounding pole, a voltage tester, and poles to hold up any saggy areas of fencing or support corners. 

You can always add more fencing later (to reduce the burden of the up-front costs), or to accommodate the extra foraging space they’ll need due to chicken math. 

Since I made this switch, I have only lost two birds.  Two young meat birds that we did not make sure went into the coop at night, and they were snatched up by an owl. Since making that fatal mistake, we make sure to put young birds in the coop regularly until they learn on their own (usually just 2-3 evenings of assistance, then they figure it out on their own). 

The combination of the movable electronet fencing and the wheeled coops I make here at Feathered Fortress Coops have many benefits, which I will list below. 

1. Chickens do most of their pooping when they’re roosting at night.  The coops designed and built here have 1” welded wire fencing for the floor, allowing this poop to fall through (no shoveling out of coops for you!).  When you roll the coop to a new location every few days, it spreads out the waste to keep a single spot from getting burned up, and spreads out the fertilization in your yard.

2. With the ease of portability of the electronet fencing and wheeled coops, you can rotate foraging pastures for your flock.  How often you do this will depend on your flock size, the run size, and the time of year.  Less often with larger run-to-flock ratios, and in summer months when grass grows fast.  

3. I no longer have mud pits. My chickens are happier and healthier because they always have fresh grass (and the insects that come with it) to forage in.

4. The mowing I now have to do is minimal. I just move my run to let my chickens forage in different parts of the yard to eat down the grass (and let the previous run area bounce back).  The time I spend mowing has been reduced from an hour and a half every 10 days in the summer, to about 15 minutes once or twice a month. 

I spend a few more minutes on chores on the weekends. Maybe 15-20 minutes to scrub out waterers, and restock straw in the nesting boxes. 

Watering my flocks used to be a daily chore until I switched to these 5-gallon top-filled water jugs. In my large flock I’ll refill it in the middle of the week (they go through more water in warmer months), and dump, scrub out with a kitchen sponge, and refill on the weekends. 

I do fill feed daily.  I use these feeders with the rain hat to keep the feed dry.  

I love feeding my birds every day.  It’s a lovely start to my morning, it requires me to check in on them regularly, and I can pretend its me they come running to (and not the feed) when I step into their run. 

That said,  I am currently researching feeding stations that can hold days, maybe up to a week's worth of feed, and be out in the weather, so my family can go on backpacking trips without needing to hire someone to check in on the birds every day. 

Chicken keeping and homesteading is a work in progress, and every day I’m looking for ways to simplify the process while giving my flock the best life possible. Please see this post for infrastructure requirements for different flock sizes.

If you’re already keeping chickens, I would LOVE to hear tips and tricks that work for you.  If you’re new to chicken keeping, I’d love to hear the questions you have.  Comment below!