Livestock: Chicken Thoughts

Winter is fast approaching. This has me considering how the chickens will fare in the coming winter. Generally, Rhode Island Reds are supposed to be pretty hardy. That said, the laws of nature still hold true in my yard, despite my best efforts. I've also got a two week vacation set squarely in the middle of winter which has me thinking of "automation." Lastly, I've been thinking forward to next spring and beyond.

Automation and winter go together. Partly, I can see water changes, feeding, etc. will be less than enjoyable at 20 degrees with high winds. Ideally, I would have a hopper feeder which can hold several weeks of food. Water is a huge concern for me. I've read stories of chickens dying from dehydration in a little more than a day. Plus, the engineer in me wants a level.of redundancy. Right now, I'm thinking of a heater under the existing waterer plus a heated dog dish plus some sort of coop heating. Then, I will have someone come by twice a day to check on them when I am away. Still, it would be nice to have a multi-day supply just in case. Maybe I'm making too big a deal of this.

Beyond water, I was thinking about automation of coop opening and closing. If I could automate the opening there would only be one daily task to offload, when needed.

Totally unrelated to winter, I've been thinking of the future. Specifically, I've been thinking about sustainability and forage management. The current plan is to shift around the run fencing to provide new forage while letting other areas regrow. I figure that I can rotate their run continuously so they have fresh greens all the time. In order to do that, I have to come up with a 3+ season pasture management plan which I can use on a 30'x15' area for 6 chickens. What was that about over thinking things?

Livestock: Chickens 1 Month To First Egg

The chicken prequel article took many words. The buying and first month posts took lots of words also. After that point, not much happens until they start laying eggs. They settled into their new home quite nicely. Their run is a slightly irregular rectangle about 10' x 15'. Before they moved into the area, that part of the yard was a compost pile, a potato bed, grass, chickweed and wild strawberries. After a month and a half, it was nothing but dirt. They didn't seem to care, although treats were much more appreciated once their run was bare.

My recent research shows that treats can be complex or simple. Mostly, we fed them anything that was leftover, not fatty and not salty. Fortunate for them, July to October are the best months to be a chicken (I would imagine). We fed them corn cobs, carrot tops, peas, weeds, and other miscellaneous things. One time, I fed them some leftover fish which they gobbled up. Common advice recommends that treats shouldn't make up more than 10-15% of their diet. I have no idea if that means by weight or by volume. For that matter, I don't even really know how much they eat by weight or by volume anyway. Despite being totally unsure of these metrics, I think I do a pretty good job of meeting that percentage. Basically, from what I have read and things that I read between the lines, you can give chickens pretty much anything in moderation. I try to keep their treats protein-rich so that I don't dilute their feed. Other than that, I don't really think about it.

So what else happens in the early life of a chicken? Not much other than growing. But boy do they grow! The biggest problem I had was dealing with their waterer. When I moved them to the coop, I got a big (expensive) galvanized waterer. Apparently, 5 of the chickens learned how to use the roost. One preferred to roost on the waterer. Every morning I had to swish out a bunch of chicken poop. Every evening I had to swish out a bunch of litter so they wouldn't have to go to bed thirsty. Eventually, that little lady learned that the roost was better and I haven't had problems since. It was pretty comical the first night she jumped to the roost. I closed them in for the night and saw 3 chickens heads in the window, where there were usually 2. She apparently decided that she wanted a window seat.

I suppose I said I only had one problem with the chickens, and technically, that's true. I did, however, have a problem for me, caused indirectly by the chickens. Chickens make a lot of poop. No problem, we compost kitchen scraps, so poop and litter will just give us more compost. Well, that's good in theory. My previous composting was a hands-off approach. I just kept piling things in. In spring, I would move all the uncomposted stuff from the top to the side and pull out all the good compost underneath. Initially, I was doing the same thing until the previously mentioned problem occurred. The problem was flies. We have always had occasional flies, but they never reached nuisance level until we got chickens. The problem was, even after I started turning and covering the compost, we already had a cycle of fly breeding going on. No matter what I did, I couldn't get rid of them until the weather cooled in Sept. I'm going to have to come up with a solution to prevent that next summer. Sitting on the deck became a frustrating experience.

One of the hardest parts of this period of time in chicken raising was the waiting. We got them for eggs. Sure, I didn't expect to have a break-even point happening quickly, but I couldn't help but wonder when they would start laying. The books said to make sure you have the nest box in place no later than 18 weeks. Well, that's something to do while I wait... Check! Well, it's at least fun watching the kids feed them weeds through the fence. Hmm, any eggs yet? Nope. How about now? Nope. When the *!$% are these things gonna lay eggs. The coop and the fencing and the chickens and the equipment and the litter and the feed just keep ticking red dollar signs in my head. Plus, the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) eggs only run through the end of October. Maybe some internet searches will give me some better ideas about when they will lay.

Well, according to my research, chickens (generically speaking) start laying between 18 weeks and 1 year. Laying breeds usually start early and most sources consider Rhode Island Reds to be laying breeds. Most of the specific references to Rhode Island Reds which I found had people getting eggs right around the 5 month mark. Well, one morning, precisely 136 days after they were born, I went out to the coop to let them out into the run, refill their food and check their water. I was talking to my wife, who happened to be holding the baby. As I opened the coop door, there on the floor was a totally unexpected egg!!!

I suspect (OK, I agree with my wife's suggestion) that the egg was laid by a chicken on the roost. Apparently, we weren't the only ones surprised by the first egg. Every egg she laid after that has been in the nest box. Now, if only she would convince all her friends (sisters?) to join her in making our breakfast.

There's a lot of room in that carton.

Livestock: Chickens - Raising to 1 Month Old

Chickens grow fast. They have been specifically selected over generations to grow as fast as possible with as little food as possible. Within a very short time they go from cute and fluffy to this:
It should be obvious from this picture, but they are outside after only a month of living. At about 2 weeks, they started jumping up to the top of the waterer. The top of the waterer is almost precisely half way out of the fish tank that they were living in. A quick trip to the dollar store got me three cooling racks which fit perfectly over the top but still allowed for air circulation. That said, they were only going to get bigger.

As I mentioned in my previous chicken post, we cancelled the coop order. That means the race was on. I had to build a coop faster than the chickens grew. My wife took the kids out of town for the weekend and I started building. The big lessons learned? Building something square and true on a grass covered slope is an exercise in futility. I ended up with everything relatively square except the top, front is about 2 inches wider than the bottom front. The other lesson is that it's a pain in the ass to build a structure where the trim doubles as the structural framing. Consider how impossible it would be to build a house by tacking up the exterior trim tor itself and then filling in the walls from the inside. Needless to say, I got it done with much frustration and copious amounts of swearing. I think it turned out pretty nicely.



One thing to note, I didn't finish the nest box at this time. It's ideal if it's not accessible so that they don't think it's a good place to roost. Speaking of roosts, that was something else I didn't install. They wouldn't have been able to reach it at 1 month old and I wasn't quite sure of the configuration either.

Livestock: Chickens - Part 1 (Baby Chicks)

If you read my Chicken Origins post, you know why we now have chickens. That said, I now intend to explain how one goes about getting chickens, raising chickens, harvesting eggs from chickens with absolutely no experience. It all started with a book. Actually, I suppose it all started with 5 or 6 books. I personally liked Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens. My wife felt it was geared towards someone starting out in a commercial/farming venture but that was part of what I liked about it.

After devouring most of the books cover to cover, we considered our sources for chickens. Every bit of advice recommends not buying eggs and hatching them. Given my luck with starting seeds for the garden, this seems like good advice. Actually, I can't see ever trying to hatch eggs for anything other than meat birds. There is too much risk and variability. You could end up with 20 chickens or no chickens. We considered buying some pullets from the local county fair, but that would mean waiting until August (and like everything, we wanted them NOW!). We could try to find a local farm, but that seemed like more of an adventure than a process. Plus, there was the added risk of bringing in infected or infested chickens to our virgin yard. In the end, we decided to get day-old chicks. For what it's worth, I wouldn't have done it any other way. How adorable are day-old chicks? I think day-old ducks might be slightly cuter, but baby chicks are pretty freaking cute.

So, how does one get day-old chicks? Well, in our case we mail ordered them. My wife placed the order, so I have no idea what the hatchery is. She initially placed an order for a coop, nest boxes, and chickens from some place in Texas. They delayed the shipment for two weeks because the nest boxes were back-ordered or something. The order was promptly canceled. We didn't want to deal with an unreliable source. After my wife revealed that she didn't really like the coop we ordered anyway and she really liked one she saw on a website, it was resolved that I would build a coop. A new order was placed with the previously mentioned unknown hatchery for 5 day-old chicks. We really only wanted 3 or 4 chickens. Everything that we read said that it was quite common to have one chick die in shipping or shortly thereafter, so the minimum order of 5 seemed perfect. As it turns out, the hatchery must have read the same books, so they sent 6 instead of 5. Guess what? All 6 arrived safe and sound, happy as little, fluffy, yellow clams.

We decided to buy Rhode Island Reds. This was almost a given for many reasons. First, we wanted we wanted something that gave a decent quantity of eggs. Second, we wanted something with decent meat in case we found chicken raising unbearable. Rhode Island Reds are listed as dual-purpose breeds in most books so they fit the bill. Of course, it would almost be sacrilegious to have anything other than RI Reds in Rhode Island. Plus, they are touted as being friendly, peaceful birds which is a plus when you have two small children.

So, how does one receive live baby animals? Well, they are sent through the US mail. The post office calls you when they show up. You take an extended lunch break so your wife doesn't have to try to lug two kids to the post office to pick up live birds. Then, you consider not going back to work because they're just too freakin' cute. They came in a small but very heavy weight corrugated cardboard box with plenty of air holes. There was some stiff straw of some sorts pressed into the sides and bottom of the box. The experience at the post office was an interesting one. I told the guy that my wife got a call that they have our live birds. He goes in the back and after a couple minutes, I hear a faint, "Peep, peep, peep." It got louder and louder until he put the peeping box on the counter. It was certainly one of those moments when you are absolutely certain that everyone in the place is staring at you in either horror or amusement.

I drove home from the post office with said peeping box. We had their temporary home all set up for them. We decided to use an old 29 gallon fish tank with a layer of softwood shavings (covered by a paper towel for their first few days). They all drank right off the bat. After a few hours, they had even found the food. We had a 75 watt infrared bulb to keep them warm which we got at the pet store. We had that in a cheap clip-on reflector which we got from Home Depot. Taking the temp with a digital instant read thermometer, it was 92 degrees right under the light, tapering down to the low 80s at the far edge of the tank.

6 Baby Chickens Born June 1st 2010

Livestock: Chickens: Origins

In medias res is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning.

We have chickens. Most people who post about animals start from Day 1 or earlier and detail all their exploits. I had the though about doing that, but never got around to writing anything detailing my activities. Oh well. Better late than never, right?

So, the background: I am really interested in self sufficiency. If I could live off-grid AND keep my day job and live relatively close (minutes, not hours) to the beach in New England, I would be happy. One impediment arises almost immediately. Land prices around here are ridiculous. I couldn't even hope to put my hands on an acre, let alone the 100,000 square feet (about 2.5 acres) of land that my town says I must have to be able to produce agricultural products. Good luck convincing animal control that a cow or a couple pigs are pets that you plan to eat. In fact, a few years ago, a kid with a mental disorder (autism, I think) had his therapeutic pet miniature horse evicted because the family didn't have the right to keep horses. That said, a miniature horse isn't much bigger than a dog. To attest to this fact, a family down the street has one and they were walking it in a field, and from a distance, I though, "Holy crap, that is one huge dog!"

Which brings me back to my topic, I have chickens even though I technically don't meet the minimum criteria for keeping them according to my town. I figure, the guy down the street has a freaking horse, so...

So, how did it begin? Well, about 3 years ago, we signed up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program at a local farm. It was a pretty good deal for what we expected to get. Our production from our gardens in the backyard was somewhat underwhelming. We signed up for eggs and veggies. The only thing keeping us from signing up for the meat was that it was so ridiculously, insanely expensive that it wasn't worthwhile for us. We participated for a couple years, but like everything, the price went up. We planned to cut back to just eggs for the summer. My wife had the idea that we could put the money we would have spent into improving our gardens and it would give us far more production than we could ever hope to get from the CSA.

That left us with a good supply of vegetables, plus eggs. The self-reliant side of me, however, couldn't leave well enough alone. I just couldn't get over paying store prices for low grade meat. If only there was some way to grow meat at home, on a quarter acre house lot. I thought about leasing land. I thought about buying a fully fleshed out animal and having it butchered. I thought about buying a bow and arrow, teaching myself to hunt and going out to try to take down a buck. All of these options have pros and cons. All of them are still in the back of my mind for consideration at some point in the future.

What really kept gnawing at me, however, is that I like the thought of co-located production and living facilities. If I have the animals in the back yard, I can raise them, care for them, and butcher them, all myself. After thinking and thinking and thinking, I had the thought that small animals would be the way to go. My first thought was chickens, followed by ducks as an alternate. I had land in one town which required 2 aces for horses but 5 for chickens, so I figured an alternate preliminary plan was a good idea. I looked into the ordinances and was discouraged to learn that my town considers chickens, turkeys, ducks, cows, sheep, goats, horses, grains, and honey as agricultural products which require 2.5 acres. Well, that's annoying. Seriously. Commercial places raise chickens in cages where they can barely move, but I have to have 2.5 acres?

I took another churn of my brain and another read of the ordinance. All of a sudden, it popped into my head that rabbits are supposed to be good eating and they were not listed as being agricultural. I convinced the wife enough that she tentatively agreed with me. I picked a book up at the library and read it cover to cover. I started to price out equipment and figured out the return on investment (ROI). Needless to say, either it would take a long time to make back the equipment purchase or we would have to eat a lot of rabbit. What does rabbit taste like anyway? Well, that was really my wife's concern. Sure, we have chicken and/or beef once or twice a week, but she never even tried rabbit.

I was hovering somewhere between keeping it on the back burner and just calling it a crazy scheme (the only kind of scheme worth having). The last pockets of interest were still occasionally bubbling to the surface though. On one of these occurrences, my wife through out a crazy scheme of her own... "Why don't we just get chickens? The guy down the street has a freakin' horse."

One rule that I have found to be inviolate in lasting relationships. People either have complimentary roles or contradictory roles. In other words, one person is full of crazy schemes and the other person is the sane, rational one who points out the obvious. I am said crazy-scheme-guy. I have a wacko idea. My wife brings me back to reality. That's the way things work. One reason I say the rule is inviolate is that bad things happen when Mrs. Sanity throws a little crazy of her own on the table. In this particular case, we ended up with chickens.

A few of the details: We ended up getting Rhode Island Reds. We wanted something that was hardy. We also wanted something that was somewhat of a dual purpose breed, in case the neighbors ratted us out and we had to eat them (The chickens, not the neighbors). We planned for 4, but ended up with 6. The have a nice split level coop and a run which is a pretty good size for a decent life as a chicken. I'll get into some more specifics about what we have and the process of getting them in my next post. As it is, this post is already really wordy and keeps getting wordier (hey, spell check says that's a real word) as I type.