Hi,
Does anyone here have any experience raising chickens? How hard is it? Are there any good, honest sites about how to raise them? Can dogs and chickens pass any diseases to one another? How about chicken eggs? Can you easily make sure you know which eggs are fertilized and which are not? How hard is it to keep the baby chicks healthy and growing?

TIA ~~ m

I have been incubating eggs and rearing poultry for many years. first thing you need is eggs from strong healthy stock, second is a good incubator or a good broody hen. A heat lamp for after chicks have hatched and a suitable area for them(easy to clean). you can tell if eggs are fertile at about 1 week of incubation by candling them (shining a bright light through them) not sure about web sites but there are tonnes of books available. it is a really good hobby, very rewarding and satisfying eating your own eggs.
good luck
Ted

yes, lots! Suggest you get Katie Thears hatching & incubation book. However before you get to the stage of actually hatching out eggs, would suggest you get a bit of experience with the adults 1st. you need to decide if you want birds for eggs, for meat, for ornament or for dual purpose (ie egg & table). Will happily give advise on breeds to try or avoid etc. :)

Thank you both for your replies. I am actually researching what it would take to start a farm for B.A.R.F. I don't think there is anything like this is my area (I am in the NW part of the US). I would want the chickens for eggs and also for meat for the dogs (that's the sad part, but to me it's better than feeding them chickens that come from meat warehouses). Obviously I need to start out small, and am planning just to start with chickens and vegetables (Luckily I do have exp. with raising organic vegetable gardens). Everything else for B.A.R.F. would come from wholesale sources, at least in the beginning.

Anyway, so yes, please tell about the best and worst breeds of chicken. Also, how much acreage is needed per chicken??? How much space does each chicken need in their coop? ... well, obviously I need to get some books on this also :)

TY - m

wow...how long is a piece of string? as we say here in England!
Firstly, I doubt you could do it profitably unless you are looking at a huge commercial unit of thousands of birds.
I wasnt sure if you meant it was just for your own dogs consumption or if you were planning to supply others?
If its just for yourself I guess you need to calculate how many birds you require a month. I know absolurley nothing about barf, but I'm working on an average dog eating say, 1 chicken a day.
Firstly, do you want to buy fertile eggs and hatch them under a broody hen or in an incubator? Or, do you want a cockerel to produce your own fertile eggs? Bearing in mind a hen only incubates eggs during the summer months, you will either need a very big freezer, or an incubator! 1 hen would sit on approx 10 eggs & successfully hatch approx 8 or9 chicks. You may be able to repeat 2 or 3 (max) sittings in one season. Therefore to feed one average sized dog for a year you will need about 24 hens, all of which need to produce fertile eggs & hatch them.(unlikely to happen)
Now hens are curious creatures & its sods law that the ones that lay eggs in vast quantities are not usually the ones that go broody! You may therefore have more success with a laying breed and an incubator. however in another twist of fate...laying breeds are not usually table birds, so they will be thin scrawny egg machines! A happy medium may be called for...maybe go for a larger plumper table breed that also lays eggs...not in great quantities, but something like a maran or Rhode Island maybe?
Another idea would be to contact your local egg producer/hatchery & ask to buy all their day old chicks (males) as they are normally slaughtered after hatching. You could probably buy up a thousand DOC's and rear them under a brooder (heatlamp etc). That may be your cheapest method with highest survival rate.
regarding space...well do you want them housed free range pecking in the grass for insects etc or housed in closed sheds? If the latter then you may as well buy your barf chickens from a factory!
If the former, then you will need a few acres!
Another thought is two seperate units..one for eggs & one for meat. there are many suitable hybrids on the market to cover both utilities if you want to do it on a big scale. ie ross table whites for meat and columbian black tails for eggs.
OR you may want to start off with hybrid layers and after 12-15 months (their maximum commercial yield period) you can slaughter them for meat, albeit a little tough/scrawny but Im not sure how fussy barf dog are!? :)basically space etc depends entirely on your set up, ie free-range, sheds etc.etc.
let me know how you get on
sam

Wow - Yes, that is a lot. Now you have me thinking I might try for having the farm with just veggies & chickens for eggs, and then being the middleman for everything else (the meat). I am not far in the process, am just writing the proposal right now, so I am looking for any input, advice, etc. Anyway, my chickens would definately be free range, but now you have me thinking I will keep them only for eggs and find another (BIGGER) free range farm to supply the meat. I don't have the experience, nor do I want a huge huge place.

As I said, I am in the US and here animals raised for food are generally treated terribly (which is why I don't eat meat), and the rumors(?) of what goes into dog food just makes me sad every time I feed my pups. I would like a farm to help make it easier for people to feed b.a.r.f. - but I'm not sure I could take a chicken to a butcher anyway.

So, thanks, you helped me clarify my idea ;).

I can't say I'm professional, but we do own chickens and have had chicks twice. In my (limited:-)) experience, I would also say go for hybrids for eggs. Bantams are good layers, but the eggs are so small they wouldn't be much use;-). You can normally buy chickens quite cheaply; even our pedigreee Light Sussex hen was only £8. What age were you planning on getting them? Younger ones are cheaper, but it will be a while before they start to lay. Older hens are a safer bet, but be prepared to wait a few weeks before they settle in and start to lay.

Feeding them should be pretty easy, our hens get leftover scraps, a bit of corn (not much, we let them forage for themselves to a certain extent) and layers pellets (a neccesity for laying ;-)).
Hope this helps,
Bridget