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! 

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? 

Newfound Chicken Knowledge

Becoming chicken people has been quite the adventure, and both of us have learned loads about backyard chicken-keeping. Because we were quite naive, much of our new knowledge probably is common sense to some folks, but to us two former city dwellers, nothing about chickens was common sense before having our own feathery peeps.

A few  morsels of new found knowledge include:

• Chickens have sex. I honestly did not know that. I thought that somehow, some way, the roosters inserted something into the hatched egg that made a chick. Now that I know, I'm dreading the day that Zappa and Marley's hormones kick in. I'm worried about my little hen ladies. I'm finding the idea of our cute little peepers doin' the deed very disturbing. I hope I'm not home to witness the first few rounds. 
• Chickens like cheese. With Carmen, the cat, being so obsessed with cheese that she can distinguish the word from "treat", and with the chickens' love for cheese, I wonder if any of our  CSA cheese share will be left for the humans. 
• Chickens can start having eggs at a very young age. I've read that egg-laying can begin as early as 16 weeks old, though most start laying a bit later than that.
• Chickens can fly quite well, at least our Bantams can. Zappa has flown halfway across our yard.
• Chickens need to slowly be introduced to new flock members. Currently, we're teaching Zappa, our first rooster, that Andy is actually the alpha male in this yard. Zappa bullies and picks on all the newer chicks, hens and roosters alike.
• If chickens eat onions or garlic, it will spoil their eggs.
• Most chickens roost when they sleep.
• Hawks really don't care if people are around. They see chickens, and they think lunch. A week ago, we had two land in our yard - we were not even 20 yards away.
• Chickens, when played with regularly, are very affectionate. Today Zappa sat on my lap, soaking up compliments and chicken massage, for over thirty minutes.

Chickens make great pets! And hens lay eggs!! Everyone should have a backyard chicken!!

Here are some of our chicken moments:

Zappa and Ani coming out of the coop for the first time.

Ani is well...a chicken! She's scared of everything.

Ani and Zappa = natural pesticide.

Now, they are too big to let alone and free in the garden;

they also want to eat our plants. 

Marley (previously know as Fiona)

She is a he. Figuring that out was quite the drama!

Loud and boisterous Janis.

She's pretty sweet too.

Ella ~ she is, as Dave Matthews would say, a lovely lady.

Among our lessons this summer... it's hard to sex a chick, and therefore, we ended up with two roosters. We thought we'd keep them both, but later learned that the ratio for roosters:hens should be 1:5. We tried finding a sanctuary for little Marley, but in the end decided to build a smaller coop and run for Marley and his ladies. We also are expecting three (previously sexed) Easter Egger day-old chicks this week! Easter Eggers are cold-hardy hens with sweet dispositions. Plus, they are exceptional layers that lay colored eggs. Perfect for our nieces and friends' children at Easter time.

We are anxiously awaiting our new babies.