Choosing Breeds

A little research on breeds ahead of heading to Wilco for your chicks will make the decision process a little easier.

With hundreds of different breeds to choose from, there’s a lot to consider. Are you interested in the look and color of the bird? How about the egg colors they lay?

Raising Healthy Chicks

Baby chicks can be purchased during the spring and fall from farm supply stores like Wilco stores or your local farms. Wilco buys its chicks only from hatcheries that participate in the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) where significant tracking takes place to ensure the health and safety of the chicks.

Wilco’s chicks are also vaccinated for Marek’s disease which is one of the most common and contagious diseases in chickens. All Wilco chicks start on Chick Boost, which helps the chick in developing a positive bacteria culture in its digestive tract.

Setting Up a Coop

Raising backyard chickens can be a rewarding experience that requires careful planning and research. Before you bring your flock of chicken’s home, you need to think about the type of chicken coop you’ll need.

Coops come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles. Choose from pre-built versions or use your carpentry skills to build your own.

Nutrition

Chickens are omnivores that can eat nearly everything in sight. They’ll munch on plants, insects, veggies, fruits, and all your kitchen scraps. Chickens on a farm may sustain themselves on the spilled feed from other animals. They’ll even snack on fly larvae.

Chickens require water, carbs, fats, proteins, minerals, and vitamins, just like us. Fill your chicken’s waterer twice a day. Water can not only help with digestion, but also with temperature control.

Your First Eggs

Getting your first eggs is one of the most fun and rewarding parts about raising chickens.

From the moment you open the doors to your nesting boxes to storing your first eggs for later use, our extensive guide takes you through the moments leading up to your first eggs and beyond.

Ongoing Poultry Health

Raising chickens can be a lot fun but caring for chickens comes responsibility.

At some point in your homesteading adventure, you’ll have to deal with a sick chicken. Chickens are vulnerable to a wide range of diseases and disorders. Knowing how to identify a disease early can help manage the symptoms and prevent an outbreak in your flock.

Poultry Beyond Just Layers

Raising chickens is more than just a fun way to raise and grow food. Pretty soon, you’ll become attached to these loveable and silly creatures. You’ll come to cherish the early mornings and evenings during feeding and even cleaning the coop weekly.