It’s the dream for many: to be able to grow, raise and eat as much of your own foods as possible. In a small holding journey, the first step is often keeping chickens, or other birds, for poultry.
Irish Country Living spoke with farmer and poultry expert Kylie Magner, who owns and operates Magner’s Farm in Moyglass, Co Tipperary. Kylie and her family specialise in regenerative practises and find farming poultry extremely rewarding.
If you’re raising chickens for meat, you’ll find day-old chicks available for purchase at any time of the year. \ Claire-Jeanne Nash
You are required by law to register with the Department of Agriculture. This is mainly so the Department can keep you updated on any outbreaks of disease, like Avian flu. You need to register, even if you’re only keeping one or two birds. You can do so online at the DAFM website (www.agriculture.gov.ie).
Before you buy any chicks, you need to have a safe place for them to spend the first few weeks of their lives.
If you plan on keeping them outside once they’re old enough, you need to have something they can climb onto if the ground becomes too wet.
“(You need) somewhere really secure (for the chicks), like a dog cage or something the cat can’t get into because they’re really vulnerable at that age,” Kylie says.
“Somewhere draft-free, with lots of water, warmth and feed. You need a chick crumb for the first three weeks; you can usually buy that in the local co-op, but make sure you have your feed sorted before you get the chicks.”
Kylie also recommends purchasing a heat pad and age-appropriate water feeders to lower the risk of the chick drowning.
“The heat pad is great for small holders, rather than the lamp, because it’s protection,” she explains. “The chicks like to hide under it and it provides steady heat all the time.”
Other worthwhile investments include pull-along chicken sheds for pasture grazing and electrified chicken fencing, which is good for keeping out predators.
“Electric poultry netting is expensive, but it’s worth it because you’ll be able to use it for years,” Kylie explains.
“If you can hook it up to the mains even better, the higher the voltage the better, to keep the birds safe from predators.”
If you’re raising chickens for meat, you’ll find day-old chicks available for purchase at any time of the year (irishfowl.com is a good resource for sourcing chicks and for general information). These chicks, which are commonly known as commercial broilers, are inexpensive (Kylie pays around 75c per chick; purchasing them in groups of 100; smaller numbers will be a bit more expensive) and mature quickly.
Commercial broilers are the same chickens as those you purchase in the supermarket; the reason why so many go to the trouble of raising their own poultry is to ensure they have had a good life and a good diet, including grass, insects and good-quality chicken feed.
As mentioned, before purchasing day-old chicks, you should have their living quarters set up and chick crumb purchased.
“They won’t eat much as day-old chicks,” Kylie says. “We put the feed out on a bit of cardboard and tap (the cardboard) with our fingers; the chicks think the tapping is their mother and they’ll imitate.”
While organic feed isn’t necessary to raise quality chicken meat (you can buy chicken pellets at any co-op), Kylie has organic feed regularly couriered to the farm once the chicks are ready.
“A commercial broiler is bred to grow really fast; they’re not going to be like a regular hen,” she explains. “Assuming you’re going to get them outside; the benefit (to raising your own birds) is, really, their diet.”
Commercial broiler chickens mature quickly – they are ready for butchering roughly three months after being born. 
If you’re interested in raising heritage poultry breeds or ducks, geese or turkey, they will take longer to mature.
When buying chicks, you should consider how many chickens you would like to end up with. If your goal is to have 20 chickens, you should buy twenty five - this will take into account any potential deaths. The first week of raising the chicks is crucial – they need to be kept on a heat source for the first three weeks of life.
“By three weeks, commercial broilers are fully feathered,” Kylie says. “You can get them any time of year, but if you want a pasture-raised bird, the summer is the only time to do it because of the weather. They need warmer weather to thrive.”
If you’re not interested in raising commercial broilers, there are dual-purpose breeds (for eggs and poultry) which will take up to twenty weeks to mature. In Kylie’s opinion, commercial breeds are “built for purpose” and, in her experience, are the best ones to use.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (www.fsai.ie) has a downloadable guide for on-farm poultry slaughter - this is meant for small quantities (less than 1000 birds per week).
“If it’s just for your own use there aren’t a huge amount of restrictions in terms of processing; it’s just about doing it in a humane, logical and clean way, really,” Kylie says. “I would suggest killing birds in the evening. Its cooler and the birds are a lot more relaxed. Use a killing cone to keep the bird from thrashing about.”
If you plan to butcher the birds yourself, you need the right set-up on your property. Depending on the number of birds to process, a plucking machine can be a good investment, but these machines are costly.
You can process birds the old-fashioned way, either plucking them by hand or by dipping them in hot water, which helps loosen the feathers.
In terms of sanitation, you need to be able to catch the blood and all of the innards of the birds while they’re being processed. This waste and animal by-product needs to be disposed of responsibly. Licensed abattoirs will take in your chickens and do this job for you. You generally bring the birds to them, they get checked over by a vet and then the abattoir returns the meat to you a day or two later. If you’re processing a small number of birds for yourself, this can be an inexpensive way of getting the job done humanely and in a sanitary environment.
It’s the dream for many: to be able to grow, raise and eat as much of your own foods as possible. In a small holding journey, the first step is often keeping chickens, or other birds, for poultry.
Irish Country Living spoke with farmer and poultry expert Kylie Magner, who owns and operates Magner’s Farm in Moyglass, Co Tipperary. Kylie and her family specialise in regenerative practises and find farming poultry extremely rewarding.
If you’re raising chickens for meat, you’ll find day-old chicks available for purchase at any time of the year. \ Claire-Jeanne Nash
You are required by law to register with the Department of Agriculture. This is mainly so the Department can keep you updated on any outbreaks of disease, like Avian flu. You need to register, even if you’re only keeping one or two birds. You can do so online at the DAFM website (www.agriculture.gov.ie).
Before you buy any chicks, you need to have a safe place for them to spend the first few weeks of their lives.
If you plan on keeping them outside once they’re old enough, you need to have something they can climb onto if the ground becomes too wet.
“(You need) somewhere really secure (for the chicks), like a dog cage or something the cat can’t get into because they’re really vulnerable at that age,” Kylie says.
“Somewhere draft-free, with lots of water, warmth and feed. You need a chick crumb for the first three weeks; you can usually buy that in the local co-op, but make sure you have your feed sorted before you get the chicks.”
Kylie also recommends purchasing a heat pad and age-appropriate water feeders to lower the risk of the chick drowning.
“The heat pad is great for small holders, rather than the lamp, because it’s protection,” she explains. “The chicks like to hide under it and it provides steady heat all the time.”
Other worthwhile investments include pull-along chicken sheds for pasture grazing and electrified chicken fencing, which is good for keeping out predators.
“Electric poultry netting is expensive, but it’s worth it because you’ll be able to use it for years,” Kylie explains.
“If you can hook it up to the mains even better, the higher the voltage the better, to keep the birds safe from predators.”
If you’re raising chickens for meat, you’ll find day-old chicks available for purchase at any time of the year (irishfowl.com is a good resource for sourcing chicks and for general information). These chicks, which are commonly known as commercial broilers, are inexpensive (Kylie pays around 75c per chick; purchasing them in groups of 100; smaller numbers will be a bit more expensive) and mature quickly.
Commercial broilers are the same chickens as those you purchase in the supermarket; the reason why so many go to the trouble of raising their own poultry is to ensure they have had a good life and a good diet, including grass, insects and good-quality chicken feed.
As mentioned, before purchasing day-old chicks, you should have their living quarters set up and chick crumb purchased.
“They won’t eat much as day-old chicks,” Kylie says. “We put the feed out on a bit of cardboard and tap (the cardboard) with our fingers; the chicks think the tapping is their mother and they’ll imitate.”
While organic feed isn’t necessary to raise quality chicken meat (you can buy chicken pellets at any co-op), Kylie has organic feed regularly couriered to the farm once the chicks are ready.
“A commercial broiler is bred to grow really fast; they’re not going to be like a regular hen,” she explains. “Assuming you’re going to get them outside; the benefit (to raising your own birds) is, really, their diet.”
Commercial broiler chickens mature quickly – they are ready for butchering roughly three months after being born.
If you’re interested in raising heritage poultry breeds or ducks, geese or turkey, they will take longer to mature.
When buying chicks, you should consider how many chickens you would like to end up with. If your goal is to have 20 chickens, you should buy twenty five - this will take into account any potential deaths. The first week of raising the chicks is crucial – they need to be kept on a heat source for the first three weeks of life.
“By three weeks, commercial broilers are fully feathered,” Kylie says. “You can get them any time of year, but if you want a pasture-raised bird, the summer is the only time to do it because of the weather. They need warmer weather to thrive.”
If you’re not interested in raising commercial broilers, there are dual-purpose breeds (for eggs and poultry) which will take up to twenty weeks to mature. In Kylie’s opinion, commercial breeds are “built for purpose” and, in her experience, are the best ones to use.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (www.fsai.ie) has a downloadable guide for on-farm poultry slaughter - this is meant for small quantities (less than 1000 birds per week).
“If it’s just for your own use there aren’t a huge amount of restrictions in terms of processing; it’s just about doing it in a humane, logical and clean way, really,” Kylie says. “I would suggest killing birds in the evening. Its cooler and the birds are a lot more relaxed. Use a killing cone to keep the bird from thrashing about.”
If you plan to butcher the birds yourself, you need the right set-up on your property. Depending on the number of birds to process, a plucking machine can be a good investment, but these machines are costly.
You can process birds the old-fashioned way, either plucking them by hand or by dipping them in hot water, which helps loosen the feathers.
In terms of sanitation, you need to be able to catch the blood and all of the innards of the birds while they’re being processed. This waste and animal by-product needs to be disposed of responsibly. Licensed abattoirs will take in your chickens and do this job for you. You generally bring the birds to them, they get checked over by a vet and then the abattoir returns the meat to you a day or two later. If you’re processing a small number of birds for yourself, this can be an inexpensive way of getting the job done humanely and in a sanitary environment.
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