12 Chicken Care Downloads That are 100% Free

Thinking of getting your own flock of chickens? You aren’t the only one, but there’s a lot you’ll need to know if you’re going to do a good job of it. Yes, chickens are generally easy to care for and they’re extremely easy to get. A quick trip to your local livestock store or Tractor Supply Company and you can come home with a crateful of precious chicks!

But once the “cute factor” has worn off, you’re going to be in over your head. Keep that from happening and make your foray into chicken keeping a pleasurable and trouble-free one by studying up using the 12 free chicken care downloads below.

From choosing the right breed to housing, feeding, dealing with illness, and even slaughtering, absolutely everything you need to know is here.

Chicken Breed Chart

Getting started with chickens yourself begins with picking the chickens. Sure, a chicken is a chicken if you want to think of it that way, but each and every breed has its own unique temperament, build, color, and other essential characteristics.

• How much room does your breed need?
• Are your chickens going to be aggressive or friendly?
• Do they do well with all chickens and other animals or do they need to be kept with their own kind?
• How big do they get, and how big are their eggs?

There’s lots to learn, but there are so many breeds out there it can be intimidating…

Take the anxiety away by referring to this guy who covers most of the most popular domestic breeds out there with just the need-to-know info.

Raising Chickens 101

I know plenty of veteran keepers that started their journey with nothing more than a burning desire to get some birds of their own. That’s it! No training, no obvious qualifications, and in some cases no clue. Talk about learning as you go!

It’s inspirational, sure, but it’s not necessarily the wisest course of action and not what I would recommend. What I would recommend for you is this Chickens 101 download that will walk you through all of the key concepts and the basic requirements, including costs, of acquiring, caring for and raising your chickens.

If you’re having a hard time wrapping your head around everything that’s required, this is going to be both a good reality check and a great onboarding program for you.

You’ll also find a few extra breed recommendations near the end depending on your requirements and desires.

Getting Started with Your Working Chicken

When you visit a link in this article that takes you to a different website where you can purchase something, I may earn a commission. Read my full disclosure for more details.

Once you have the basics under your hat from our previous download, or if you just want to deep-dive the subject, consider checking out this PDF book on raising a working flock of chickens mandatory.

It covers absolutely, positively everything you need to know when it comes to your overall approach, including how many you should be aiming for, what kind of chickens you should get, where you should get them, how to take care of them and, my favorite, all the infrastructure requirements needed to keep them healthy, happy and alive.

Even better, this book is written with a permaculture perspective in mind, and if you want to have your chickens living and indeed working on your property as part of an ecosystem that’s going to help you and your family live the good life, this book is truly indispensable.

100%, totally free as of now on Amazon, but make sure you double check that price before you click by because they are subject to change.

Free Chicken Coop Plans

One thing that all chickens must have, be they in a backyard flock or on a massive mega-farm, is a coop. Chickens need a coop so they can retreat from bad weather, have a safe, secure and dark place to sleep, and also have protection from predators that can and will eat them.

And just like the chickens themselves, there are seemingly countless different coop designs, styles, and sizes on the market made from all kinds of different materials. This is a subject that alone can make your head spin!

I recommend, if you are handy, that you do what so many other homesteaders do and build your own coop. It’s possible to build it with scrap or salvage lumber that you might have lying around right now!

From tiny coops for backyards that don’t take up much room to massive chicken palaces that can hold a jumbo flock, there are lots of different plans at this link that are bound to suit any requirement and any taste when it comes to aesthetics. And, who knows, one might serve as an inspiration for your own design.

Basics for Raising Backyard Chickens, from Utah State University

This overview for the requirements of raising backyard chickens, furnished by Dr. David D Frame of Utah State University, drills down further into the precise requirements of keeping and raising chicks and chickens.

How big does a brooder need to be? How much floor space do they need as they develop into adulthood? Do chickens really need perches in the coop and how much space do they need to themselves on a perch? What about nest boxes? How many do you need and what size should they be?

All of these questions and more will be answered, along with the ever-important short and sweet answers to how much feed you should give your chickens, what kind, and at what age for optimal growth and production.

The author even covers lighting concerns, rodent control, dealing with molting, and being a good neighbor especially if your neighbors don’t own chickens themselves.

Hard-hitting info, but info that you need in order to be a responsible and professional owner.

Considerations for Raising Chickens in Population Dense Areas, Utah State University

Believe it or not, not everyone who wants or gets a flock lives way out in the country. Although chickens are often heavily restricted in built-up suburban and urban areas, they’re still legal in some places. In any case, close neighbors on either side just don’t stop some folks!

This handout, also from Dr. Frame, examines some of the bigger picture problems that come with raising chickens in these population-dense places, including:

• the effects on local economies,
• community impacts,
• noise problems,
• zoning concerns,
• animal control policies,
• waste generation,
• and of course, the impact of this kind of environment itself on the chickens. They matter too, obviously!

Raising chickens in a populous area presents many special challenges, and it changes the importance of others like predator control.

In the country, you might be worried about birds of prey, but in suburbia the biggest predators of chickens are probably going to be dogs and cats! Just one of those things you wouldn’t think about. Even if you don’t live in the city, give this a read; it’s short.

Care of the Backyard Chicken

One of the hardest things for beginning flock owners to get right is simply housing their chickens correctly.

They need the right amount of room with adequate ventilation that will keep them safe from rough weather and also prevent predators from getting in. Sounds simple, but it’s not, because there are many factors to consider…

What kind of ground cover are you going to place inside? How warm does the inside of the coop need to be? How can you ventilate it? How often do you have to clean it? Etc, etc.

This one facet of chicken keeping, more than anything else, tends to trip people up and this handout on backyard chicken care covers it thoroughly and clearly.

And also has plenty of other info for caring for and quarantining new acquisitions to your flock and a few considerations on nutrition and food safety. Another info-packed handout, and a short one that is well worth the read.

Nutrition for the Backyard Flock, University of Georgia Extension

The difference between amateurs and professionals is a matter of accountability, most times. Nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to the nutrition of chickens.

Anyone can easily learn what chickens eat, because they’ll eat just about anything, and you don’t have to go far on the internet to see people recommending that you just feed them scraps and a little bit of feed and scratch every now and then and call it good.

Your chickens might survive that way, but they won’t thrive and if you’re counting on them to be productive you’re setting yourself up for failure. A much better plan is to understand, exactly, what kind of calorie and nutrient requirements your birds have.

From protein and fat to various vitamins and minerals, understanding and meeting these benchmarks will supercharge the health and productivity of your birds, making them happier overall and also making your life easier.

This PDF from the University of Georgia covers, in detail, the nutritional requirements of chickens and also gives you a nutrient concentration guideline for your birds through all phases of life.

Home-Produced Chicken Eggs, Colorado State University Extension

What’s the best part about keeping chickens yourself? Those farm-fresh eggs, of course! I think everyone understands the basics of this process: chicken lays egg, you collect the egg, and then you eat the egg. Simple, right? Yes, but also deceptively complex and failure-prone.

Did you know that if you wash a chicken egg it might be more likely to spoil, or you can even cause problems with the egg by washing it incorrectly or at the wrong temperature? It’s true.

It’s also true that the collection and handling of eggs will expose you to plenty of chicken poop and an increased likelihood of foodborne diseases unless you are following proper procedures at all phases of collection, preparation and storage.

The bottom line is that you want to stay safe while keeping your eggs fresh and edible for as long as possible.

This handy hand-out from Colorado State University will tell you absolutely everything you need to know when it comes to collecting, handling, and storing your own home-produced eggs.

Processing Chickens, University of Kentucky

Collecting eggs is one thing, but getting a quantity of fresh chicken meat is another. There’s no two ways about it, if you want to slaughter your chickens for meat, you’ve got to know what you’re doing – and it’s obviously an ugly and, if you don’t know what you’re doing, risky job.

These skills have been handed down in cultures around the world for countless generations, but for those of us living in the West, most of us are completely out of touch with exactly how dinner is prepared when it is still on the hoof.

This guide from the University of Kentucky will help you remedy that, and I warn you that it does not pull any punches concerning what happens to the chickens or how various processes are performed: The photos are clinical, but graphic.

Nonetheless, the step-by-step format and high-quality pictures are excellent and should give you the confidence you need to do a professional job during slaughtering.

Small Scale Poultry Processing

Slaughtering a chicken now and then to keep your own freezer full is one thing, but doing it on a larger scale, as part of a business or a side hustle, is another thing entirely.

Logistics matter, and looking at this guide for small-scale poultry processing will help bring you up to speed on the necessities of processing large numbers of chickens.

Timetables, required equipment, manpower considerations, supply material concerns, and a lot more are all covered. Of special consideration for some of us is chilling carcasses for subsequent packaging or use.

This is one of the most informative and well-written guides on the subject I have found for the layperson, and all the terms used within our easy-to-understand.

Pay very close attention to the list of references at the back for further study and consultation, and there are additional links to various extensions from other universities on related topics.

Common Poultry Diseases and Their Prevention, University of Maryland Extension

The sad fact of the matter is that, while chickens are hardy and adaptable birds, they’re still quite vulnerable to many diseases and injuries. Diseases, particularly, are always going to be a constant problem, be they caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, or something else.

If you are always going to consult a vet every time your chickens have a sniffle or seem a little bit off, you’re going to be throwing a lot of money away.

Worse, some problems start off looking relatively innocuous but could be the herald of an outbreak that could annihilate your flock and even neighboring flocks!

Terrible diseases like Newcastle, bird flu, mycoplasmosis, cholera and bronchitis can be hell for your birds and spell major trouble for you- or even make you sick!

It’s tough to look at, but brushing up on the causes, symptoms and outcomes of these diseases will give you a leg up on fighting them and, hopefully, saving your birds.

Also, hopefully, it gives you a guide and list of procedures to consider when determining whether or not a disease is actually related to an infectious agent or an environmental stressor. Don’t miss this one!