What I Wish I Had When I Started Backyard Chickens (13 Years Ago)

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Thirteen years ago, I was still learning how to be a new mom. I was 24, in law school, working part-time. I had just bought my first rickety old farmhouse. I didn’t even have WiFi yet. Amazon was still mailing DVDs to my mailbox.

And somehow, I decided:

“I’m going to raise chickens.”

It wasn’t trendy. It wasn’t aesthetic. It wasn’t content. It was survival.

I did it to save money, to have a cheap healthy food source, and to get by.

I started off with a few baby chicks.

And if you know anything about chicken math… you already know how that went.

Five chicks turns into twelve.

Twelve turns into twenty.

Suddenly you wake up one morning and you have forty chickens.

That’s just how it works. 😂

Back then, I didn’t have Amazon shopping at my fingertips.

I had:

• Whatever the local farm store carried
• A brooder made from whatever could be pieced together
• Buckets. So many buckets.
• A coop built from an old shed.

And then I spent the next decade battling:

• Raccoons
• Foxes
• Eagles
• Owls
• Stray dogs
• A literal bear once

But the worst offenders? My own naughty goats.

Those goats broke into the chicken feed constantly. Climbed things they shouldn’t. Stood on feeders. Chewed what they could reach. They were chaos with hooves. And they loved the kids’ trampoline.

Why I’m Starting Again (But Smarter)

I had chickens for 11 years, in multiple homes, and through many more babies. It was such a beautiful, slow way of living and caring for ourselves.

In my current home, they’ll come back too — after this season of back-to-back newborns and once I have the energy to plan out how to safely raise more hens on ten wooded acres full of predators.

But now?

Now I have Amazon.

Now I have options.

Now I know what actually matters. And I have plenty of big kids to help me.

And these are the things I wish I had access to buy the first time around:

A Real Brooder Setup

Ooh like this one! Everything you need to start baby chicks, shipped right from Amazon. Just add Chicks, Feed, and Water. So easy!

I can’t believe how many years I went, clipping heat lamps to plastic totes or old crates full of sweet peeping baby birds! No more plastic totes and guessing temperatures.

This one looks amazing as well! It comes with a heat plate and full temperature display, food trough- truly an all in one!

If you decide to add a second set of food and water feeders or go with a different setup, I recommend these ones for little precious chicks:

An Automatic Feeder (Because Refilling Gets Old Fast)

When you have 30+ birds, refilling feeders every day is exhausting. Especially when many little hands want to help and a baby is riding in a sling on your back. I will definitely be doing a huge “dump it all” predator proof, automatic feeder this time around. If I had this back then I would have saved myself so much time and trouble, especially on those cold snowy mornings.

If you’re not quite ready for 100 pounds, check out this 50 pound feeder. Just dump in one feed store bag and you’re set:

Hose-Hookup Waterer (No More Soaked Shoes)

Let’s talk about hauling water.

If you’ve carried sloshing buckets across mud in rubber boots (or let’s be honest, sometimes work shoes as you’re rushing around to get out the door), you know the feeling. Cold water soaking your socks. Mud splashing up your legs. Hands straining and arm muscles burning. Ducks quacking at you to go quicker.

Everyone hates hauling water.

Now? There are automatic waterers you connect directly to a hose that use an internal float system.

They refill themselves.

No more daily bucket runs.

No more sloshing.

No more soaked shoes.

This alone is life-changing.

Egg Storage That Actually Makes Sense

Thirteen years ago my eggs went into cartons, bowls, or whatever was clean.

Now there are:

• Weekly egg organizers labeled by day
• Rolling fridge dispensers
• Farmhouse countertop baskets
• Rustic gathering baskets
• Even the cutest little chicken scrubbers for muddy eggs

And how hilarious is this aggressive looking hen hugging your egg basket?

But after a rainy day when hens track mud into nesting boxes and you’re scrubbing 3 dozen dirty eggs at your sink?

You stop caring about cute. You care about clean.

Silicone bristles that gently clean shells without damaging them?

I would have used that constantly.

And once those eggs get scrubbed, store them in the fridge with this rolling egg organizer:

Predator-Proofing From Day One

I’ve heard such great things about this book amongst the “Chicken People”. Even with over a decade of experience, I can’t wait to give it a read before I build again.

Yes, I did it to save money.

But it became more than that. It became a beautiful lifestyle.

It wasn’t aesthetic farmhouse life. It was chaotic. It was muddy. It was loud. It was real. And it was a lot of hard work.

And I’d do it all over again. I will do it all over again. And this time I have another round of littles who barely remember chicken life or have never experienced it, and I can’t wait to see them fall in love just like my older children did.

And yes… I’ll probably still end up with 40 chickens.

Because chicken math never changes. 😂

If you’re starting your first backyard flock — or starting again like me — I’ve linked the things I genuinely wish I had the first time.

Learn from my early mistakes.

Build smarter.

Water easier.

Overbuild your coop.

Lock your feed away from goats.

And accept that five chicks will never stay five chicks.

They just won’t.