Things You'll Need
- Chicken coop
- Laying box
- Chicken feeder
- Chicken waterer
- Plastic Easter egg
- 1 Aracauna rooster
- 8 Aracauna hens
- Laying pellets or crumbles
- Incubator (optional)
- Brooder
- Chick starter and grower
Instructions
Build or purchase a chicken coop with bird netting over the top. If you are breeding chickens, a chicken coop makes finding the eggs easier. Make sure you place a laying box in the coop. Milk crates work well for laying boxes. Put one in a sheltered area, turn it on its side and put a thick layer of hay inside. Place a plastic Easter egg in the hay, so the hens know where they should lay the eggs.
Place the male and females in the coop together. Don't be surprised if the birds fight a little bit, or peck each other. Aracaunas are calm birds, so they fight less than other chickens when you put them together the first time.
Fill a chicken feeder full of laying pellets or crumbles, and fill a chicken waterer. Put both of them in the chicken coop. Change the water daily, and fill the food container regularly. Chickens require a lot of water and protein for producing eggs.
Remove the eggs from the laying box daily, and place the eggs in the incubator once a week. Store the eggs in a cool, not cold, dry place until you place them in the incubator.
Keep the temperature between 97 and 99 degrees. Eggs take at least 21 days in the incubator before they hatch. The hens hatch the eggs naturally if you leave them in the coop, but when they go broody, they stop laying eggs and get aggressive.
Move hatched chickens into the brooder. Maintain the heat at 95 degrees the first week, and lower the temperature 5 degrees each week until you get the your outside temperature. Then, turn off the light. If it's really cool in your area at night, continue to turn the light on only at night so the chicks don't get too cold. Move chicks out of the brooder after they have all of their feathers. The chicks are about 6 to 7 weeks old when their feathers are ready.
Add the chicks to the chicken coop in large groups. If you add small groups, the chicks get pecked by the older chickens as a new pecking order is arranged. Keep harvesting, hatching and brooding chicks until your flock reaches the desired size.