Easy Prepper Companions: The Prepper's Complete Guide to Raising Chickens
An exert from the upcoming eBook "The Prepper's Complete Guide to Raising Chickens"
Easy Prepper Companions
A joy to watch run around their yard and peace of mind knowing that your family’s food needs are secure for years to come, the humble chicken is the best animal that a person preparing for survival after a major catastrophe can raise on their homestead, starting now in times of peace.
If you’re already raising a flock of chickens, then you know about the great benefits they bring to your homestead and food security plan. If you’re new to keeping chickens, then here’s what you need to know: raising chickens and caring for their daily needs is exactly like the care you would give to a parrot, a cockatiel, or a parakeet. Chickens are that easy to raise.
Depending on the breed - which there are over 200 breeds - chickens weigh somewhere between 5 to 15 pounds and they are very strong birds. Their wings are especially strong and their feet will scratch you easily with their sharp, usually dirty nails. You’ve got to be careful when you hold them so that you do not become injured nor let your bird get away from you. Additionally, interacting with your flock regularly will promote a positive relationship and ensure that you don’t startle them when you enter their cage for cleaning or need to move them for an emergency situation.
Interesting Factoid: You must learn how to properly hold a chicken so that both you and the bird don’t get hurt. To learn how to hold a chicken, it’s easier to start while your birds are chicks or juveniles; or with a chicken that’s used to being held already. Practice keeping one hand with a good grip on at least one leg at all times. You should be able to grip both feet with one hand and let the bird rest on your forearm. Use your second hand to keep their wings covered or support the weight with your arm wrapped around the front. Hold the bird's body close to your chest.
If your chicken startles and they start to irritatingly flap their wings, you could lose control of them. If they are getting out of your grip, you should always have one hand gripping a leg (or two). To calm them quickly, you can turn the bird upside down, gripping the chicken by their legs, and the chicken will calm down from the blood flow increase to their head. They can flap all they want and they will not be able to get away if you have a strong hold of their legs. Move them carefully back to their cage and then release their legs gently close to the ground so that they don’t fall nor hurt their wings. It’s essential that you always try to protect the bird’s wings as they can break or get caught up easily.
Always talk to your birds softly, especially when you are handling them, so they learn to trust you and remain calm. Talking to your birds on a daily basis for a few minutes while you check their cage and health will build a stronger trust with your flock. Most breeds of chickens enjoy human company. Chickens and humans have been living in synchrony for thousands of years for good reason.
Other animals such as goats, pigs, cows, and sheep should be considered for the food security plan by preppers who have the space to raise them. Chickens take up much less space than these other animals and if the need arises to bug-out, then you can take your chickens more easily with you. Can you imagine trying to bug-out, hiking miles with a goat in tow? These larger animals are not practical to move in a disaster situation. They are loud and they require a food source and fencing that you’ll probably not be able to provide on the go.
Chickens are small animals, which makes them easy to hide. Smaller smells, smaller noises, and smaller cages to disguise from others who might try to steal your precious food source. Caging a pig or goat takes good strong fencing - how are you going to move the cages (fencing) needed? It would be impossible without the use of a vehicle and roads are likely to be impacted with traffic or dangerous conditions.
Another reason that chickens are the number one animal choice for survival food security is the low food consumption rates compared to the output that you receive from the animal. In financial terms, chickens have great ROI and the egg you receive has great nutritional value. To feed a pig or cow enough to produce a product would take loads of food. And while other types of birds produce eggs like quail, ducks, and turkeys; chickens will produce an egg almost every day, they reproduce easily, and have less space and housing needs than these other birds.
Chickens are the savvy preppers’ best friend when you need a food source that is easy to move, has a high return on your effort, and also provides a funny companion. Compared to other animals that you could keep on the homestead, a chicken is small and provides daily access to a food source. There’s no need to be intimidated by the care of these majestic yard birds and the best time to get started is now in times of peace.
