INDIANAPOLIS — If you’re wondering if you’ve got what it takes to build your own backyard brood, Inside Indy is here to help.
We recently visited Agrarian Urban Homestead & Supply on E. 54th Street in South Broad Ripple to cover the basics of backyard chickens. Store Manager Megan Sharp told us that prospective chicken owners should check local regulations before counting their chickens.
“In Indianapolis, they can have 11 hens and one rooster, or 12 hens,” Sharp said. “No more than one rooster.”
The regulations around roosters aren’t just for the birds.
“A rooster can be potentially disruptive to neighbors, so you want to make sure that you have an outlet if you do end up with a rooster that you can't keep,” Sharp said. “There are a number of factors that go into the decision making around which birds to get [and] how many birds to get.”
For some people it’s all about the chicken; for others, it’s the egg.
“A person who is just starting raising chicks might want to think about how many eggs a day or a week they're going to want to consume and look at the breeds that will provide that for them.”
Sharp says that hens usually start laying eggs when they are between four and six months old.
“The rate of laying will decrease by about 20% per year,” Sharp said. “So by year three or four, their productivity has declined quite a bit.”
Sharp says adding additional hens can help offset the reduced egg output. And while output from older chickens may be down, Sharp says to not count them out.
“I have a bird at home who's eight or nine years old who still lays an egg every once in a while,” Sharp said.
According to Sharp, the majority Agrarian customers keep their hens even when they eventually stop laying eggs all together.
“Most of our customers name their birds and even after they stop laying, they’ll keep them and continue to care for them until their natural end,” Sharp said.
But it’s not always about the eggs.
“Some people raise them more as pets and we have specialty breeds or ornamental breeds that would be a better fit in that sense,” Sharp said. “Some people choose to raise birds to provide their kids with a learning experience or responsibility.”
And being a responsible chicken owner does require some work.
“There's definitely some work involved like there is with any pet or animal that you're going to care for, but I would say that chickens probably fall on the easier side overall,” Sharp said. “They're pretty self-sufficient.”
Chickens self-regulate their food intake, which means owners can rely on a feeder. But our feathered friends will need help with a supply of clean water and a tidy coop.
“You do have to stay on top of keeping the coop clean,” Sharp said. “You don't want to bother the neighbors.”
A little responsibility will go a long way toward raising your own feathered flock of chickens.
“I personally don't see a whole lot of downsides,” Sharp said. “Especially this time of year, I'm getting more eggs than I know what to do with. I share those with my neighbors and others in my community.”
If you’d like to learn more about raising backyard chickens, Agrarian offers classes and workshops on a variety of topics including raising chickens. The shop will be hosting new monthly popup markets this year starting in April.
