The America Raises Poultry Project and the Farmlinks Poultry Resource Network,
one of the world's most trusted providers of online resources for raising poultry, presents:
If you're looking for information about raising poultry, or more specifically raising chickens, look no farther! As the predecessor of one of the world's highest-rated website for raising poultry, the Farmlinks Poultry Resource Network has some of the best information on raising poultry.
On this page you'll discover a few quick tips and how-to-raise-poultry articles detailing all you need to know to be successful at this amazing hobby. We'll also point you to some other great poultry resources, like poultry message boards and other poultry links. So what are you waiting for? Grab a sheet of paper and a pen to take notes, and join us as we present to you the Ultimate Guide to Raising Poultry (or "How We Can Help You Raise Chickens and Raise Poultry").
This article comes in 5 parts. It is not meant to cover every topic of raising poultry, but it does provide an excellent overview of the basics of this fun-filled hobby. For a complete look at every aspect of raising poultry, sites like poultryOne.com and The-Coop.org can be incredibly helpful.
Part I of the "Guide to Raising Poultry": Before you begin raising chickens (and raising poultry in general), you'll need to arm yourself with the valuable information you need to make your venture a success. There are many great poultry books and resources available in our Amazon.com Associate store. Some of our favorites include the guides written by Gail Damerow, which are easy to understand for any beginning hobbyist. When buying through our Amazon.com Associate store, a portion of your purchase goes to support this website and doesn't cost you a penny more!
If you would rather not buy your own poultry book, which we strongly encourage, then check to see what books are available through your local library. This is an often underestimated resource, which your librarian would love to help you with! You can also use great Internet resources* like poultryOne's own "Guide to Raising Poultry" for additional help. The advantage of online resources is that the information you find is often more up-to-date than printed books. Just be sure you're using a website that is updated often and is well-known and trusted. For example, although The Coop is well-known, its main pages have not been updated in a long time. However, it's message board is still running strong and is a great reference for any poultry enthusiast!
Not sure where to start in your search for excellent sites on raising poultry? First, visit big names like this one for raising chickens. Wikipedia also has some great articles on raising chickens, including an article on The Chicken as well as How To Raise Chickens. Finally, visit the Open Directory Project for a list of human-reviewed websites.
Once you buy your books and bookmark your favorite poultry websites, read read read! There is a wealth of information readily available and just waiting for someone like you to come along and pick it up. If you're a beginner, start with books like Gail Damerow's Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens. It's easy to read and understand, and covers many varying topics. Once again, any and all poultry books that you might want can be found in our book store.
*A quick search on Google or the Open Directory Project will yield many great websites on raising poultry that you might now otherwise find. Other useful search tools include Yahoo Searches for Raising Poultry and AltaVista. To find the resources you need, simply search for "raising poultry" or "raising chickens".
Part II of the "Guide to Raising Poultry": Now that you've armed yourself with knowledge about this exciting hobby, you'll need to take the next big and important step - Decide what you want to raise! Many people start off wanting to raise chickens, while others are looking to start a brood of geese, ducks, quail, or other types of gamebirds. Because raising chickens is one of the most popular topics, we'll focus more closely on that subject.
Raising chickens is fun and rewarding. Your efforts are quickly rewarded with the funny antics of the chicken and fresh, healthy eggs. However, people often rush off and buy their birds before getting everything ready at home or on the farm. For the sake of your sanity, and the chickens' health and well-being, set everything up ahead of time.
First, determine how you're going to provide housing for your chickens. Most people opt for small, wooden coops. Building such a chicken coops is not too hard, although it can be rather time-consuming. We've found an excellent article on chicken coops and chicken housing which we recommend all our visitors to read.
The type of cage/building that you decide to use also depends on the environment and weather in your area. Be sure to take all these into consideration.
Once you've got your house, you'll also want to educate yourself on other elements of the hobby like the different aspects of feeding chickens. Wikipedia also has a great article on feeding chickens too!
Part III of the "Guide to Raising Poultry": Now that you've got everything set up, it's time to buy your chickens! You can either purchase them through a trusted online vendor like Murray McMurray Hatchery (you can request a free, full-color glossy catalog!) or through your local feed store. You can also check this page on where to find chicken hatcheries in your area. Whether or not you choose a local hatchery or feedstore, we recommend that you give them a call anyway. They'll be able to give you tips and information specifically for your area, like when you might want to turn on the heaters or when extended lighting might be needed. Building relationships with local farmers would also be a good idea.
Some sites for raising poultry also offer the ability for visitors to "swap" or buy poultry and other stuff from each other. If you decide to obtain your chickens through such a method, double check that 1) the site is a credible one and 2) you can trust the member/visitor that you're buying from. These swap/classified ads often depend on the honor system. In the end, it might be more to your advantage to simply buy from a reputable hatchery.
Before your buy your chickens, you'll first have to decide what type to get. Are they for eggs, for meat, or for both? Commercial strains like the White Leghorn are great for layers, Cornish Cross are fast-growing for meat birds, and old-fashioned, dual-purpose breeds like the ever popular Rhode Island Red or Barred Plymouth Rock are perfect for both eggs and meat.
Part IV of the "Guide to Raising Poultry": This is the most exciting chapter - The part where you're actually raising poultry! Keep on reading, keep on getting advice from other poultry hobbyists and farmers, and don't stop consulting websites like The Poultry Connection or poultryOne.com. And remember, there is no better hobby than raising poultry and raising chickens!
This sentence concludes the "Guide to Raising Poultry", courtesy of the America Raises Poultry Project and the Farmlinks Poultry Resource Network. For further information and countles articles and tips about raising chickens, visit our main sponsor - poultryOne. poultryOne is the newest brainchild of the knowledgeable team that first brought you the complete Farmlinks network. Top-rated and award-winning, we know you'll love poultryOne! It has been ranked #1 by Altavista and Yahoo, Top 3 by Google, #1 by the Open Directory Project, and "Reviewers Rave" 5 Stars out of 5 on Amazon.com (as of 2/2/2006). They have our full approval!
Mission Statement: The Farmlinks Poultry Resources Network provides quality, free raising poultry information for the modern poultry farmer. Our mission is to educate poultry farmers everywhere about the basics of raising chickens and all aspects of raising poultry. Some of our top-rated poultry resources include: guides to raising chickens, articles on raising poultry, FREE chicken articles, beginner's tips for raising poultry, information on raising chickens, free poultry information articles, raising poultry frequently-asked-questions, articles on raising chickens, chicken breeds pictures, all about poultry, raising poultry information articles, and information for breeding chickens. Designed especially for poultry hobbyists like you, we offer guides to raising ducks, building chicken coops, all the raising chicken information you need to know, building poultry cages, chicken cages and coops, guide to building coops, building poultry and chicken roosts, gathering and washing chicken eggs, information on poultry diseases, caring for roosters, culling hens, pullets, library for raising poultry, a beginner's guide to raising poultry and culling cockerels. Got a poultry question such as How do I raise poultry information?. Well, we've got poultry information answers! With everything from starting a hobby poultry farm, caring for chickens and poultry, breeding poultry, farming, organic poultry, building chicken coops, guide to raising chickens, building easy and simple chicken coops, and building coops, it's no wonder that we've got even more award-winning information on raising poultry and raising chickens information! All our popular resources are completely FREE (such as our free poultry publication and chicken articles)....the Farmlinks Poultry Resource Network is the ultimate online information guide to raising poultry and chickens! If you're looking for a complete database of top-rated poultry information (such as our FREE chicken articles and poultry articles), look no further. Since 1999, the Farmlinks Poultry Resource Network has been setting the standard for providing top-rated articles and resources on raising poultry...and its only getting better!