Chicken-Keeping Advice

Cardi B, a hilarious flock member

 I'm working on a grad school assignment around multimodal literacies, and when I paused to think about something that I've become quite literate in during my adulthood, chicken-keeping came to mind quite instantly. I'm grateful for this assignment because it has brought me back to this blog, which for years, I've been telling myself to come back to -- mostly because when I blog about sustainable living, I am more attune to it and because blogging gives me a reason to write, which without reason, I often put off even though it brings me peace and joy. 

Today, I'm going to focus on advice that I would personally give to new chicken-keepers after 13 years of chicken-keeping with my husband on our little homestead right outside of Madison, Wisconsin. 

Getting Started:

1. Obviously, check the ordinances for where you live. The last thing that want to do is purchase and fall in love with some chicks only to have to rehome them. Many cities are expanding their chicken allowances: Madison, Wisconsin now allows 8 hens. 

2. Get the Marek's vaccine. I've posted about this before, but it is something you can easily add on. We lost an entire flock. Also, don't get chicks from an unknown source. This is often how chicken diseases are spread. 

3. You'll need a brooder. Make it more spacious than you think because the chicks grown quickly! If you're adding to a flock, pullets need to be nearly the same size as your existing chickens in order for a safe transition. 

4. Bond. Spend lots of time handling the chicks. The more time, the better for your long-term relationship and ease of handling for illness, vet appointments, and so on. 

5. Make sure your coop is predator-proof. Get a hawk-proof netting. Use hardware cloth rather than chicken wire around your run. Put pavers or garden-beds around your run to prevent digging predators a way in. 

Day-to-day maintenance:

Beautiful Adele, with space to play.

1. Continue that bonding as often as time allows. 

2. Did you know that you can freeze eggs if you get too many? You can! Simply crack them open into a Ball jar and write the number of eggs inside. Pop into the freezer. When your hens are molting or not producing eggs, these will come in handy! 

3. Feed them healthy table scraps. Most veggies and fruit are okay, and the they not only make your chickens healthier, they also make the eggs more nutritious. 

4. Make sure they have space to run and play. Whether that means that you give them time to run around your yard each day or you have an amazing run, healthy and happy hens need space. 

5. Close your coops every night. No matter how secure that you think they are. 

6. If it's too hot outside, make sure you're problem solving. You can spray down the outside of your coop with cold water. You can give your hens frozen veggies or fruit. Make sure there is shade and that you're giving your chickens enough water throughout the day. 

Other things I've learned:

Day-old chicks

• If you're anything like me, you don't want to contribute to the violent death of any animal. When
  we order only female chickens, we must think about what's happening to the roosters. It's not great. If you have space, you can have a bachelor pad of roosters as long as there are no hens in sight. Something to consider! I, like most people, assumed that roosters could never coexist. 
• Chickens purr when cozied up on your lap, near sleep. How cool is that! 
• Chickens tend to molt in the fall --> you'll notice that many of their feathers are gone. It is quite painful for them, so avoid picking them up during this time if possible. 
• They dust-bathe. It's adorable. 

Have fun with your chickens! They are a pleasure to have! I love talking chickens, so feel free to post questions! 

A Feast for Our Chickens, 2015

This New Year's Day, we decided to celebrate the lives of our backyard flock chickens. Inspired by Heartland Farm Sanctuary's Feast for the Turkeys event, we made up a meal in which the chickens were the honored guests rather than the main dish.

We halved a few Delicata squashes and filled them with a mix of cranberries, beets, carrots, kale, yogurt, and Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Cereal.

One half squash for each chicken

We spread them throughout the run.

 As you can see in the pictures below, our chickens were delighted. Rocky, the rooster, expressed  his excitement by getting a case of the hiccups.

Our youngest chickens, hatched on August 18th, are a bit more skittish around us than any of our other chickens have been. Surrounded by squash goodness, they hung out around us this morning as they enjoyed their feast. What a treat for all of us!

Happy New Year!

New Brooder Equals Unrivaled Space

Our friend Fjud spent his Sunday building our chicks a bigger brooder. Because we got the chicks so late in the season and because winter here is so brutal, we are going to  have to keep these babies inside a bit longer than we have when we've gotten them before, in the spring or early summer. Not wanting them to get crowded, we proposed a sort of inside coop/brooder to our construction-savvy friend. He was up to the challenge.

This is what former chicks and the newbies have resided in....

Now, check out their new digs....

Notice the perching bar to the left.

Easy access to allow chicks out to play. This will be useful for introductions to the big hens, too.

View upon opening the above door.

View of entire operation

We couldn't be happier with the results. This is a project that will benefit us for all future poultry endeavors. Thanks, Fjud!

A Flock in Chaos: A Tumultuous Week of Backyard Chicken Keeping

Spindy, on one of her in-home nights

This week, we put down Spinderella (our favorite hen), got a set of 4 baby chicks, and buried one of said baby chicks. It was a tumultuous week for the flock and for its owners.

Back in July, Spinderella began acting lethargic, not excited for the mealworms or cherry tomatoes she so loved. We found a local vet who often works with hens; she diagnosed Spindy with fatty liver. She predicted that we may have called too late, but she gave us instructions to feed Critical Care (actually made for guinea pigs) through a tube twice daily and to give Spindy some R and R inside. We followed instructions, and Spindy's crop got nice and full.

Some TLC

As soon as we put her outdoors again, Spindy began riding a roller coaster of health. One day, we thought she was better; the next she spent the day puffed out under a tree. When the heat index increased on Friday and Saturday, she began floundering around, unable to stand. Even in the air conditioning, she was panting, and we knew it was time.

To all of those hard-core farming types out there, this is where we former city-dwelling, inexperienced, overly compassionate and sentimental homesteaders fail. We took Spinderella to the emergency vet and paid to have her put to sleep via injection. I rationalize this expense by remembering why I wanted backyard chickens to begin with: to give animals who provide me with food a happy life, filled with dignity. There is just no way either my spouse or I have it within us to end her life in the more traditional methods, though we have discussed seeing if we can buy the injection supplies needed for future situations. At the vet, both of us felt the pain and stress of putting a pet down, which to me, means we had succeeded in giving Spindy the type of life I had wanted for her.

On the other end of the week, on Monday, the 18th, four chicks hatched at My Pet Chicken and were shipped our way!  Their fuzzy little bodies are a delight to anyone!

Our friends' kids have flocked here this week, and we've personally enjoyed watching these little ladies grow feathers and flutter around. Our flock is comprised of hens with musically-related names, and this year we let our nieces and friend's daughter name the hens.

We have a:

Eleanor Annie Cosette (Eleanor for Eleanor Roosevelt - strong woman; Annie for Annie Lennox, Cosette from Les Mes)

P!nk

Katy Perry

One of the chicks, our Buff Orphington, didn't make it.

RIP Little Taylor Swift

We came home from dinner (the same day on which Spindy was put down) to find our little chick face-down in the brooder. We are unsure what happened, but we suspect heat. It was a sad day around these parts.


For now though, we'll enjoy the sound of our little peepers singing away in their brooder...and so will the mammals

Cocky Rocky, the Rooster

Rocky and Spinderella (pic from last fall)

Rocky, the rooster, is exhibiting his cockiness a little too frequently. The moment one of us opens the coop door for the hens in the morning, Rocky hops out and waits to say hello to his hens. Each lady peeks out and ponders whether or not the joy of the outdoors is worth risking being Rocky's favorite gal of the A.M. Eventually, each of our lovelies decides she'll face the danger, but what a way to start the day...every day.

Lucy-poo has never fully gotten her feathers back from last fall's molting. Unfortunately, I don't see her feathers growing back anytime soon. Rocky's feet grab onto her sides, exactly where her bare skin is already showing. Her neck is also nearly featherless. And I think her skin is getting sun-burned.

Check our her  neck too.

Up close. Poor Lucy!

What to do?  I called our chicken doctor, and she assured me this is all natural. I guess so, but I wonder if this is really too much. Do I need more hens? Should I separate the hens from Rocky for a while? I've hesitated in doing that because it is summertime, and there is not a lot of shade on either parts of our run.And after all, despite Rocky's exploits, I really do love the guy.

Chicken people and non-chicken people, help! Am I being too sensitive, or should I protect my ladies from their overzealous roo? 

When the Parents are Away, the Kids (Hens) Will Lay

We spent the weekend with family at a cabin which sits by a pristine lake. When we arrived home this afternoon, we found two beautiful brown surprises. Sadie, our barred rock, 5-month-old hen laid her first two eggs!

Sadie, today's star!

Right now, her eggs are as small as Janis' eggs. Janis is our Polish bantam. We anticipate that the size of Sadie's eggs will bypass Janis' by the end of the month.

In order: Janis', Sadie's, Sadie's, Spinderella's, Spinderella's

 In other news, the family of bunnies living by our raised beds are going to town on our tomatoes. We're all for sharing and happy co-existence ...but, come on! The tomatoes!?!?!  A fence is going up tomorrow.

In the meantime, the chickens are happily reaping the benefits of those pesky rabbits.

The chickens enjoying the aftermath of the rabbits' feast.

Rocky crowing in delight. 

Heat Wave: shade for the chickens and "Spearjitos" with raspberries for the humans

Wisconsin is under an "excessive heat warning" for the better part of this week. I like the heat, the sweat, the lethargy I feel when it the heat index is +100. My chickens, on the other hand, are not fans. The poor ladies and their gentleman have serious needs during the dog days of summer. Like dogs, chickens don't sweat, so they cool themselves off by panting; their mouths were agape today, and their eyes seemed to be pleading with us.

We are by no means experts on this topic, so if you have more suggestions, please share. However, we monitored our flock all day, and we took care of them by doing the following:

• We filled their water containers with ice and water and updated with ice throughout the day.

• We gave them extra dishes of water.
• We fed them frozen "treats." We simply had put a few pieces of fresh fruit in the freezer early in the morning, and we also took out some frozen veggie scraps that we had been saving for stock. As the treats thaw, they get soft, and the chickens are delighted to eat them.
• We provided them with shade. The vines and trees we planted in their run are now providing some, but in prior years, we'd put up a tarp on parts of their run to provide a bit.
• We sprayed their run and their coop with cool water. Our chickens don't seem to really enjoy this process when it's happening, but they get over it quickly as they realize they're not quite as hot.
• We took them out for a few hours into a much more shaded area of our lawn. This seemed to actually be the pivotal moment for them today as they eventually settled down to rest in some random spots of sand.

The chickens cannot be left to fend for themselves on days like these. Depending on their breeds, it is dangerous to leave them to their own devices. We have Easter Eggers and Barred Rocks, which are both heavily feathered birds, suitable for winter climates such as ours. In the midst of a seven-day heat wave, however, all their hardiness is a call to action for us. Here are some pics from our Sunday afternoon spent with them under the trees.

Notice Rocky's gaping beak: a sure sign your chickens are HOT!

About an hour into the Sunday afternoon respite under the trees, the chickens seem a bit more comfortable.

Even Franklin, the dog (under EXTREME supervision) got to hang with the chickens.

Prudence is contemplating whether to make the trek over to the sand. She ponders that the sand bath idea is a good one indeed.

As for the humans, we picked raspberries and spearmint and made and enjoyed what we're happily naming "Spearjitos." This drink is adapted from the commonly known Mojitos, but why spend money on mint when you have spearmint growing in your own backyard, right? Over the last week, we've experimented with the best recipe for these, using club soda or tonic water and varying amounts of the other ingredients. By far, last night's version was the best. To make your own "Spearjitos", try this:

Ingredients:

white rum

spearmint

limes

tonic water

sugar

Instructions:

1. Inside serving glass, muddle together spearmint (around 1/4 cup per glass) and limes (around 1/4 of a lime per glass) and a Tbs of sugar.

2. Fill glass with ice (on top of muddled mixture).

3. Add two shots (or more!) of white rum.

4. Top off with tonic water. Club soda works too, but the drink isn't as tasty (in our humble opinions).

5. If you have them, top with fresh berries.

6. SERVE!

..and, of course, the doggie got lots of water and attention all day as did the kitties.

One Big Happy Coop

Quite easily, our little peepers have moved out of the house. We, the human parents, are officially empty-nesting, while the teens are out having a ball in the spring time living it up inside their brand-new big run. No looking back, no calling home, no remorse or sadness. Leaving the confines and safety of the big house came to them as easily as drinking a large glass of wine comes to me.

Nope. The chickies have adapted quite well to their orange and pink coop, and they seem to love their new dormies too.

We do live right next door, but you'd think they'd miss us...a little!?

Hanging with the fluffy-haired Janis. With hair like that, will she warp their young minds?

On Friday, the 13th (goodness gracious!), we left the awkward adolescents out past dark and then simply put them in the coop right after Spinderella and Janis had gone in to roost. The next morning, they all sauntered out and have enjoyed their freedom ever since. Sure, when we visit, they give us the obligatory affection we seek, but for the most part, these chickies are doing pretty well without their parents. We convinced ourselves they'd need us to intervene as they navigated the big, old world of strangers, but nope - that's gone well too. We ran out to protect them from the first day's storm, but they had managed that without us as well. It appears they've grown up.

We're happy they're doing well even though we miss their little "Night, night" sounds. We knew we'd have to let go someday; we just didn't think they'd be so casual about it!

One of the big kids showing the newbies how it's done.

Pretending to care that I'm about to visit.

A Glimpse of Spring

Finally, finally yesterday we had a nice spring day. Temps were in the 60s, there was a slight breeze, and the sun was shining brightly. Carrots got planted, gardens got tilled, and chickens got exhausted!

Our plants got a bit of fresh air.

Janis and Spindy explored the new coop.

Spindy and Janis explored the tree limb pile (after taking a nap in it).

The bee hive continued waiting patiently for its inhabitants.

The "babies" got out too!

Rita/Rocky perched on Andy's shoulder.

Sadie relaxed.

Lucy-Poo and Prudence enjoyed bugs and grass.

Even Benson and Tucker enjoyed a sunny siesta.

The humans got Chardonnay and yummy Easter leftovers. What a wonderful Sunday.