Chickens and Ducks




By Makayla Kachlein




	Most people think of chickens and ducks as food, but you will never think of them in the same way if you raise them. Because they are just like cats and dogs, they all have personalities of their own. We have raised poultry for 6 years, and I started Poultry 4-H last year, I have loved learning more about chickens, ducks, turkeys and even pigeons! There is so much to learn! Chickens and ducks are great easy animals to take care of !!!!




	Food You can get chicken food at most feed stores. You also can give them scratch which gives them something to do during the day. Most scratch is manly made up of corn, which is bad for some birds. Chickens also love seed blocks which also give them something to do. They also should have water all the time. We normally put minerals and electro lights in the water once a week, or every other time you fill up the waterier.


	There are So many breeds of chickens and ducks! But here are some of the most common breeds
Some of these breeds come in bantam and standard, Some breeds only come in bantams, and some only come in Standard.	Chickens Araucana Australorp Brahma belgium Cornish Cochin D'Uccles Faverolles Houden Modern Game Orpington Polish Rhode Island Red, White Silkie Sussex	Ducks Apple Yard Aylesloubury Bali Call Cayuga Crested Hookbill Indian Runner Magpie Muscovy Orpington Overberg Pekin Rouen Saxony Welsh harlequin




Nesting boxes This is a Buff Laced Polish, she is probably laying an egg! Chickens need a place to lay their egg, or you will be finding egg all over! So, when you build you coop, buy a coop, or if you already have a coop you will want to build nesting boxes, if you only have 5-10 chickens than you will only need about 3-5 nesting boxes. The more birds you have the more nesting boxes you will need.






Coops This is a chicken coop, this is fancier than it has to be, chicken coops can be really simple, as long as they have: nesting boxes, a feeder, a waterier and roosts. Chicken coops should not be to small, or over crowded! Duck coops also can be simple, they can be the same as chicken coops, but you don't need roosts and the nesting boxes can be on the ground.







Chickens and duck should be able to be lose every now and then, because it gives them a chance to eat bug and plants which they normally don't have access to.

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