Building the chicken coop - things to consider

At this point, here is what I have to say about chicken coops if you build from scratch:

Give it 4-5 square feet per bird and then add some more because you will get more chickens.
Ventilation ventilation ventilation - without it being drafty.
Make sure the roof extends far enough out so it does not rain in.
If you build from scratch -  use cement blocks 2 feet deep at the bottom and the deep litter method
Make sure your coop is absolutely pretator proof, this includes against weasels and diggers.
For wire, use hardware cloth.
Don't put stuff along the edges of have spaces rodents can hide.
Nest boxes off the floor gives the birds more floor space. slant the roof.
Make the roost higher than the nest boxes.
Make a safe covered outdoor run.
If you plan to do gardening - consider letting the chickens out in section, rotating so plan ahead on where you build.
Shade is good.
Don't use cedar.
Allow for option to partition into a main coop and rooster section with separate exists into separate outdoor areas,  and a broody section if you ever intend to raise your own. If you have young birds, it helps to have another section for them.
Have a way to separate a sick looking bird.

Getting help with building the chicken coop Easter weekend April 2012. And more videos about chickens and gardening here 


 

Chickens can change your World - HCCML 3

... and so can anything you love enough - or that has touched you deeply enough.

Having fun, doing what you love is compatible with respecting the earth and it's beings!

So, they (them chickens) got me writing again. Why am I doing this? - This writing about this particular topic  - again ? Because I had some inspiration earlier this morning, as in an entire post in my head, and now I can't quite remember but started to write anyway in case it all comes back to me.

I think part of wanting to write again about why I am going this is because I have not yet internally solved (ie accepted) this dilemma of the general unconsciousness of humans and what they do to this planet and each other. I still believe that humans can wake up and start caring and stop abusing ....  if only enough would --- or that at least those in power could and steer it all with true knowing and compassion and without GMO foods and mega pollution. I still envision a world in which humans live in harmony with nature. At least get your life and the animals close to you on track of health and happiness.

So here I am doing this chicken gardening project and there are some very practical reasons why -  which most people can understand or value and which can change their world & perception.

• get chicken help providing fertilizer and tilling help in a vegetable garden.
• making sustainable use of land, which I do not own, that is otherwise just laying there unused.
• getting the best eggs - and proven more nutritious than any supermarket egg can ever be - healthy food for you and your family.
• learning about what it really takes to provide for your own food - at least some of it.

I am learning more and more how big money has used and misused large sections of land and people,
to walk my talk the best I can - but at least being consistent.
Keeping chickens for you  might be a means to get your children in touch with animals - to get to know them so they may have a change to love them - to make them aware that eggs do not grow in the store and maybe even that hot dogs were made from tortured animals in most cases.

Inspire others to become not only more aware, but take action where they live.

and THERE is is beginning to touch on the first point again - inspire others, help folks to wake up just a bit more and feel empowered to change their own life and world towards health and happiness to include the living earth - wake just a bit more from where they are.

I have seen what others do both online and in person. A lot of people do a lot of good - but when you look at what is happening to the planet - many more need to come on board, many more need to start taking action to the best of their ability - locally. Think, feel and connect globally - act locally.

I got raised roman catholic and I (sort of) remember this parable: the master had to go out of town and he gave his servants money to work. One got 1 dinar, one got 5 and the other one got 10. When he came back, the one with 10 dinar came to him and gave him back 20, the one with 5 dinars gave him back 10 - and the one with 1 dinar gave him back 1. So the master asked what happened: and the servant said he buried it to keep it safe but didn't use it to prosper.
So ...ehm - I don't know what the master did ...but the message was: you MUST use what you have and what god gave you. By this are meant your talents and means. Those who are given much, return much, and those who are given little, return little - BUT ALL ARE CALLED to use what they are given and double it and prosper. So for me this means: DO WHAT YOU CAN WHERE YOU ARE with the means available to you to the degree you can take it today. Burying things is like this: Albert Einstein. “The world is a dangerouss place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

Or, to speak with gxaaxx: "Just say no to apathy". 

Have you ever considered that you are depressed or angry because your are NOT doing what you are supposed to do? Because your scope does not include your love, your purpose for being here?


Find the passion which opens your heart. Ask the universe/God with all you have to show you what that is - if you don't know it already - and give it a few weeks, never forgetting what you asked for - and be prepared to give it all you got when it is shown to you.


Some say if you do what you love that is wnough - I say: do what you love for the benefit of all beings everywhere.
It adds a twist to do what you love that is needed by the world.

It is not enough anymore to just do for yourself. If you read this, you got the means - even if you only got 1 dinar. The whole world is available to you via the internet. You can do something - find out what - and it does not cost you any money either.

I happen to love nature, dogs and birds especially, and trees and plants and  ....don't get me started :). I love other things too, but it is different.

So there are lots of folks loving other things, but let us just stay with those who have a bit of conscience and consideration or who consider themselves on a spiritual path and those who are wanting to awaken.

Awakening happens in stages for most folks, it includes the mind heart and body and willingness, drive  - your soul has to actually want to. You can push the river there - but - you never know who you can reach with what you do - and a tiny shift in this Universe may have huge consequences elsewhere, even if you never know it.

So if you open your heart - and you can do this by watching a number of videos about what happens in commercial animal food production and allowing to feel that pain -  you know your heart is open when you FEEL - so open you heart and then get your mind involved to check out the truth and numbers and environmental impact your supermarket egg production have on the earth and your health and your wallet (hint: taxpayer subvention) for example. ...


I guess the question is: at what point will you change what you do? At what point are you awake enough to not be happy and fooled or satisfied with pretty pictures alone? At what point do you feel enough to not want to just go along but find passion which also contributes to well being the earth - What will it take to want to leave a world for your grandchildren that can still be inhabited?

At what point is it not just about YOUR better life and health, or YOUR family's property and vacation - but at which point do you care enough to include the larger you in who you are?

Because, between spiritual realization and scientific discoveries - we ARE all connected - it is all one.

Now is that what had popped into my head earlier? No, but I'll work with it.

Water and our dependency on electricty

scary - more soon

The importance of water - and chicken ignorance?

One day old chicks at the waterer

This is a somewhat comic one. I was reading in the one book I can recommend without any hesitation that speak about keeping chickens: the small scale poultry flock. In there Harvey U. talk about the importance of water for your chickens - and to make it available where they actually are needing it. He gives the example of cornish hens who would rather DIE than walk 10 feet  to water that is sitting in the sun.

So I believed him and I have water in the 3 areas the chickens can spend their time. I observe where they actually DO drink, and change the location if they never go there or if there is no water missing after several hours. I did also notice, when they were 4 weeks old and we had a real hot spell,  that they were laying panting in the heat of the afternoon. I sat in the coop/shade and decided to feed them water with a dropper. I say their learning process and also, many of them seemed to love taking the water from a dropper. .....  even as they were standing right next to the water. Some also started drinking after getting a taste of the water from the dropper. Not sure what it is about their thirst mechanism -  and that is so I don't say that chickens are water-supply stupid or lazy :). Maybe it is some kind of thing where only the one with the strongest drive are meant to make it in case of a drought? Who knows, but whatever the reason, there is something to be said about keeping very vigilant to provide water where it is needed at all time. Nat only do chickens drink a lot - they also need to have water in pretty close proximity of where they are being kept.The special attention on drinking and available water did bring home something else too.

Observation is the key - HCCML-2

Observation - you can learn so much just be observation. For example: for 2 weeks now the chickens have been happy in the greenhouse run and never bothered to go to the door or tried to follow me. However, in the last 2 days, and they are 5 weeks today, they seem interested in following me out  of that space. Luckily I planned the next enclosure and started working on it, though there is quite a bit more to do. Coincidentally, they are growing into the needed size not to so easily fit through the fence which is going to be out there. In fact, I am gonna try to stretch it for another week.

The point is, observe and listen - it might tell you more than any verbal explanation ever can. Because, let's face it, all generalized information might not precisely apply to you and your flock. But your flock will tell you when it is time.

Bald spots underneath - you can see it in certain movements

Another point for observation: for the past few days, the chicks look pretty much fully feathered, but when I get a look underneath the outer layer of feathers, I can see bold spots, like on the neck and some under the wings. At first I only saw it on 1 chick, but now it is many of them. It seems that the baby feathers fall out before all the others are in. Since they get chick starter, worms, eggs and greens, I seriously doubt that is it nutritional. The reason I mention it is because I read on a blog post, where someone asked if his 4 week old chicks can go outside (it was COLD out there) and he sent pictures of his chicks - they looked like mine, miniature fully feathered chicks - but - when you observe them move - the bald spots shine through. LOOK underneath - and you'll see the bald spots. I cringe when he was told they are ready to go out there ...and out of the brooder/coop they were gonna get thrown. It could be that the cold exposure will speed up the feathering out process, but chicks that age can also still easily die from exposure.

It all just confirms: look and listen, observe and trust your intuition to do the right thing for your chicks, no matter what anyone tells you. learn from the best  and even then, how do you know "they" know better? Just like any other path, do your due diligence, verify for yourself.

How has that changed my like? I don't know, only that I need to spend time observing - and that, because I want to do what is best for them, I will take that time. And here is where you realize an inner strength which no one can take away from you. You do the best you can for your chickens, and to do that, you spend time with them, you observe them. There is no substitute for that. In fact, I am now convinced that had I looked more closely on day 2 and 3, I would have caught the pasting earlier and the runt Fayoumi would not have died. Can you do that as a farmer who has hundreds of chickens? I don't know - but that is that farmer's life :). Maybe his chickens are giving him/her other lessons .....

How chickens changed my life - HCCML-1

A visiting friend's first experience with chickens on her back :)

1 - Someone suggested to me yesterday to write a blog, like a book,  about: "How chickens changed my life" because he'd never seen me this happy. I recalled how it started, and reminded him - "You know, it started with Skye". "Yes yes, but still write about it". Just the day before while working in the kitchen and then collecting kitchen scraps for the 4 weeks old chickies - I heard myself say: my current happiness is derived from seeing the chickens happy. And by happy I am not trying to put human emotions and such on them. Happy chickens are are doing chicken things in a healthy, non crowded way, like foraging about in the designated yard. They make happy noises, they are healthy. Yes, they are only 4 weeks old, and puberty has not hit them, nor has breeding season, therefore, so far, they are trusting, curious,  love what I bring them as well as roost on me. Are there other things to make me happy?  Yes, when a dog in the shelter finds a good home, when there are news of a habitat being protected, when folks wake up and their lives are more free - and they can possibly turn to include the earth and her creatures in their awareness. When people get a lot out of a workshop to make their lives easier - or to wake up a bit more

But it is the everyday chicken exposure, that is pure delight and energizing - and in fact - makes me happy. I should say that I LOVE birds, have loved birds since I can remember. To sit there are just observe them move -  could do it for hours. I suppose most people nowadays would think that is crazy and a waste of time, Most people get bored regularly - I never do. There are not enough hours in the day to do a fraction of the things I am interested in. Like a friend told me a LOOONG time ago: "Life is like a supermarket. You get a cart to fill up. You can get anything you want - but you can't have everything".
And boy oh boy (girls too) - is that ever true.
A few years ago I learned, though did not practice, that serving others, working for the benefit of sentient beings - can be fun. having been raised in Germany, this "having fun" thing was a bit alien to me. But that notion has crept up periodically and again very recently. It is not the essential necessity of humor - no, it's actually fun. And strictly speaking, it is still not about having fun - except that is is fun - and I LOVE working with chickens. So far, I have not yet had to deal with the rooster overpopulation - I'm working on it.

So far, when I sit with them - I am happy. Nothing is missing or amiss. I love those chickies. I LOVE them.

So welcome to this label thread of the chicken garden adventure.

4 Chicken breeds - some observations

Forage dish in the brooder, day 2

When deciding which type of chickens to get, I asked for a recommendation from someone in the area and I went online as well.

Here are the characteristics I was looking for to start with:

heat tolerance
good forager
egg layers
not too broody

The first chicken breed that was
recommended was: Buff Catalana, however,  they were already sold out till July from the place I was going to get them, so I started with assorted light chickens, Mediterranean if possible, which I originally thought to get as the second batch mostly for fun and variety with at least some of the desired characteristics.

I got 4 different kinds of chicks, 25 in a straight run (they sent 2 extra), and I am still discovering which is male or female. They are currently 4 weeks old:

11 Blue Andalusians (4 black, 4 splash, 3 blue)
6 Sicilian Buttercups
5 Egyptian Fayoumis (1 died at day 4, after pasting)
4 Golden Polish

I wanted the chicks not to be freaked out every time they saw me - so I spent a lot of time in the coop, where the brooder was and hand-fed them treats.

Buttercup  chick

Buttercups -  from day 1, they wanted to be close to me and did

Baby chickens - things to know

this brooder for 27 chicks lasted 1 week -
then we moved them to a bigger space, about 4 times the size.
they are still in that space at 1 month, but at 3 weeks
 also got to go outside into a covered run during the day. - and they love that!!!

drinking - when you bring them home, and as you take them out of the box one by one, dip their beaks gently into water - get them to drink , before setting them into the brooder. always make sure they have access to water where they are.

your brooder - a predator safe,  enclosed and ventilated space with water (not deep, they can drown) and food (chick starter and semi cooked veggie treats are good, little insects too), litter (kiln dried wood chips, no cedar), a warming bulb in a brooder lamp - red is good, and things for the feet to get exercised ...branches of various diameters, nothing slippery or flat to prevent injury to their legs. give them some grass with earth on it, give them a forage tray to scratch around in. you might want to put the food and water not directly under the lamp. if your chicks explore about all over the brooder - your doing good. temp should be 95 the first week, go down 5 degrees per week after that - though it seems they feather out faster if they get to go outside early on.

after a week or 2, move them into a bigger space, or, if your brooder is big to begin with, you can wait 3-4 weeks. if the weather is warm enough - they will be ready to go outside for part of the day at 3 weeks.(if not before) - caution - chicks are very small and will find any opening to a larger or unsafe space. not only that, while they are good at getting out - they mostly will not find their way back in.

keep it interesting for them, spend time observing them.

pasting: little chick's vent can get poop stuck on it making it impossible to poop any more. this is deadly, meaning they will die and even if you catch it, the chick might be weak and not make it. once weak at such a young age, it is difficult to recover. this is mostly something in the first week of life.
be vigilant and use warm water to help get things unstuck.

pecking - chicks peck out of curiosity, heat stress, not enough space stress, boredom and establishing pecking order. nothing need to be done about the curiosity other than have only chick safe things around, nothing much can be done about them establishing a pecking order - as early as 2 weeks, everything else - observe and handle it. chicks can be pecked so badly they can die.


getting wet - dying from exposure after getting wet can be deadly - no rain or morning dew early on.

handling - establish a sound, like gently banging a metal pot or something, before you call them with your chicky chicky sound to give them treats. this conditions them  to that sound = treats/food and makes it easy for another person than you to later call them for feeding. offer food from your hand early on, and handle them gently. once  on the ground, walk around them  with your tai-chi chicken walk. fond a phrase/sound that will mean: it's ok. you might want to do stuff around them and then give them treats - positive association.

feeding - chick starter and other stuff. after about 3-6 weeks, grower feed is ok, or - continue chick starter and let them forage till they start laying, then layer feed or make your own. imo - if you feed organic, and expose them, as much as possible, to things a mama hen would - medicated feed should not be required for the homestead and pet chicken. immunity to coccidiosis happens naturally and is desired.

grit - small stones necessary if you feed anything other that chick starter.

hygiene - clean is good, sterile not only not necessary - it is not desired.

dusting -  something chickens do to keep clear of mites and lice and such - and they seem to like it too. if no dusty ground is available, provide a dust box.

nothing wrong with playing music for them, even if they will be outside and free range ;)

remember - chicks LOVE to scratch and dust-bathe - giving them a chance for both will make for happier chickens. giving them something else to explore other than each other will make for healthier and happier chicks.

Helpful websites

Trying to figure out the new and not so improved blogger workings for tagging and labeling - so i added all my categories to this post


Back Yard Chickens - very good on many topics

The Small Scale Poultry Flock is a book - LOVE it. It is comprehensive, practical and organic with a 30 year background. Best book if you want to combine poultry and gardening - here is the website themodernhomestead.com poultry main page


Sandhill Preservation chicken catalog - i got my chickens from them and love them. You do need patience, and THEY ALSO HAVE HERITAGE SEEDS - I am happy with the chickens and wish to support them too, so I think eventually I will order seeds from them also. Here is a review site

Chickens at the post office

 Until I got involved with chickens in 2012, I did not know they can be shipped. They do quite well for a day or 2, and even thought there can be losses apparently, mine arrived well. I did pay for express mail thought - for the chicken baby's sake :). Here they are at the post office.
Sandhill Preservation has a detailed list of what types of poultry can be shipped where and how (best to ship)

WOAH - The chickens are at the post office - May 22, 2012 - ready or not, here they come.