There are certainly more pros to backyard poultry farming than cons. Actually, if we think about, there are almost no cons, the whole thing is a net positive. In this article we will look at the advantages and disadvantages of backyard poultry farming from our very own experience.
Some key advantages of backyard poultry farming:
- Produce eggs and meat
- Learning about chicken farming
- Produce chicken products in a method of your liking
- Produce manure for your kitchen garden
It is also worth noting that all backyard poultry farmers who we’ve spoken to agree that the practice is a net positive. For them, the time and money it takes to raise a small flock is nothing compared to the benefits they accrue.
What is your take on backyard poultry farming?
Backyard poultry farming
In our view, backyard poultry farming refers to the raising of a small flock of chicken for the self production of poultry produce. Additionally, this may involve keeping chicken in a small space in your homestead.
You may also refer to backyard poultry farming as hobbyist farming. That is because raising chicken thus is not done for commercial gains but mostly as a hobby, even if there are accrued benefits.
Typically, backyard poultry farming can be done on a shoestring budget. This is because chicken are one of the easiest animals to raise and maintain. Particularly, if you are raising a heritage breed that is well acclimatised to your region.
Pros of backyard poultry farming
Quality poultry produce
The first advantage of backyard poultry farming that comes to mind is that you can produce high quality chicken products on the cheap. That is, besides chicken feed, if necessary, water and supplies, once you set up a small coop going, you will be raising your chicken at a low cost.
There is not much to do with a small flock besides feeding it, cleaning after it, and collecting the eggs. Chicken pretty much take care of themselves.
Know your food
Additionally, you can produce the exact produce quality that you want. That is you can raise a backyard flock conventionally or organically. Typically this would mean you know your food: the way it is raised, and even harvested.
Learning about poultry
One of the biggest advantages of backyard farming is you get to learn a lot about chicken and chicken farming in general. This would particularly be interesting if you intend to become a commercial poultry farmer down the line.
One thing that we at Kukufarm think is most overlooked is poultry records keeping. In our opinion, if you’re raising chicken, you should ensure that you’re not simply pouring money into a drain.
You should track mortality, expenses, egg production rates and manage flock vaccinations, just to say the least. You can use Kukufarm to do all that and more. Get it on GoolePlay and AppStore.
Still, there is a lot to learn about poultry farming including brooding, feeding and nutrition, poultry systems, poultry diseases, treatments and vaccinations, harvesting and so on. Furthermore, you will also learn about challenges associated with poultry farming and how to overcome them.
Poultry farming definitely has its own ups and downs and is not for everyone. Therefore, backyard poultry farming would be a good place to test the waters, and to learn the ropes. You can think of backyard poultry farming as training ground for commercial poultry farming.
Manure for your kitchen garden
For animal lovers, or poultry lovers for that matter, backyard poultry farming is a win-win situation. You get to raise your own flock in conditions of your own setting, and get to enjoy seeing your flock grow.
Moreover, if you have a kitchen garden or the like, you get manure on the free. Furthermore, you can feed your garden and kitchen scraps to your flock to supplement their feeds.
Backyard poultry farming is budget friendly
Last but not least, you can get started on a small budget. For starters you can build a small coop with scrap materials, and start raising your own chicken. Of course, if you intend to raise a big flock, you would need a matching budget to buy chicken feed.
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DIY
If you’re into DIY, you will enjoy raising chicken in your backyard even more. Since you can always find small bits to build for your chicken coop e.g. nesting boxes, perches, automatic coop doors and so on, you are likely to have some interesting DIY projects.
Moreover, you may find the idea of fermenting chicken feed interesting to you. That is, if you are into DIY and experimenting.
Cons of backyard poultry farming
To be honest, we think backyard poultry farming is one of those things that is a win no matter how you look at it. However, there are a few things you’ve to keep in mind if you decide to keep chicken.
Poultry noises
If you’re not a morning person, then having roosters in your backyard coop might not be your thing. Usually, roosters crow in the morning hours, from around 04:00 AM, and you may find that as a nuisance. Even worse, if you have neighbours that might complain about such matters.
Laws and regulations
Of course, you would still have to look into local laws, including your HOA rules to see if you can raise backyard chicken. In that regard, your interest in raising chicken would depend on applicable laws and regulations.
Predators and pests
Lastly but not least, as we done already mentioned, keeping chicken, and having poultry feeds will attract certain parasites, pests and predators to your farm. Respectively you will need to figure how to apply biosecurity measures in order to secure your flock and homestead.