A Christmas Surprise!

We took a chance and left our ladies home alone for a few days. We thought we might need a sitter, but because they weren't yet laying and we had a big enough waterer and feeder, we thought they could make it on their own.

I have to admit, it was very stressful for me. I can't tell you how many times I imagined arriving home to a coop full of slaughtered chickens, or worse(?) no chickens at all! I'm pretty sure I had at least one dream about them while we were away. It's a little silly.

Well as soon as we arrived home, before anyone else had even undone their seat belt, I was out and racing back to check on the chickens.

Yes, they all survived. In fact, I think they were getting used to being alone. They all seemed a little unsure of my presence in their run. I opened the door to their coop to make sure their water and food wasn't sitting their totally emtpy (it wasn't) and to my suprise I noticed that the nesting box had seen some activity. The straw and woodchips had been neatly rounded around the edge and most of the fake eggs had been moved or disappeared. Cool!







Even better, as I got my head closer for a better look I noticed that one of those fake eggs was not a fake at all! It was almost identical in color and size to the paper ones I had placed in there.




So after weeks of waiting, one of our hens has begun to lay eggs. It is still just one hen laying, so far she lays for two days and then takes a day off, but the others are sure to follow in her footsteps soon.

I had wondered why our first egg was so large when I had read that most people find that the first few eggs are small. We soon found out that this first egg actually had 2 yolks inside! The subsequent ones have been quite a bit smaller.

So far my daughter has been the only one to taste them- and the verdict is that they are "delicious, and a little sweet."

Getting ready for eggs.

The anticipation is killing me! I can’t wait for the day when I walk out to visit the hens and there is a pile of beautiful brown eggs in the nest to greet me. It shouldn’t be long now!

All the sources say that hens will begin to lay eggs between 18 and 20 weeks of age. Some say that this may be later if hens reach this age while it is cold or they are molting.

The hens are 18 weeks old this week, just in time to greet the lengthening of the days on December 22nd. Is this the perfect set up for getting hens to lay eggs for Christmas? Well we think so!

While waiting for the ladies to start producing we made them some super cute Christmas stockings and purchased some nesting eggs to place in their stockings (and shortly after in their nests!). We found some super cheap nesting eggs at Hobby Lobby. The eggs are coated paper mache and were 35 cents each. At that price I won’t mind when they get all dirty!


Below:
As the ladies head in for the night, Maggie stops to have a look at the stockings.

Due for an update?

The chickens are now 16 weeks old!! I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed. They still seem like babies to me, although they have certainly grown quite a bit!

I’ve been wondering if they are going to continue to grow or if this is their full size. When people come to visit them they marvel at how big they are which makes me think they are full grown. But when I see pictures of full size hens I think, “my ladies can’t be full size, can they?”

Whether they will be bigger or not remains a mystery, and honestly I don’t notice how big or small they are anymore. There are only two hens that I still allow to perch on my lap and they can both fit fine so who cares how big they are!

On that note: there have been some changes around the coop. Nora and I used to visit the chickens everyday. We would sit in their run, they would sit on our laps, etc… Well, the weather has gotten colder, we are letting the ladies free range in the yard more often, and over time some of the ladies grew indifferent to being held and sitting on laps. Alice, the Speckled Sussex, will still sit on my lap for hours if I let her and Francis, the Dominique, is trained to jump up on my lap when I tap my knee. The others just kind of hang around, and although they are friendly, they do not enjoy sitting on laps or being held. We have graciously accepted this.

The girls LOVE to be out in the yard. We made them a fenced area to roam around in and they would stay out there and sun bathe all day if we let them. We generally, however, only let them roam around when we are home as we do have a neighborhood hawk and other birds of prey. The hardest part about this is getting them all back in the run when their time in the yard is over. As soon as you get a few in, you turn to go get the rest and the few you had in are out again!

I have come up with two strategies for getting the hens back in the run. The first strategy is: wait until the sun goes down. The ladies have trained themselves to go in the coop to roost at night. I find that often when I go to close them in at night they all stare at me from the roost as if to say, “it’s about time you came out and shut the door!”

The second strategy I learned from my in-laws. My mother in law told me that if you pick up the lead hen and put her in first then the others will follow. Well my immediate reaction was- we don’t really have a lead hen! But each day I would try this technique with a different hen and eventually on the day I got to Jane, sure enough all the other hens slowly followed her in. Fascinating!

Here are some pictures of each of our 16 week old hens:



Alice, Speckled Sussex.
Check out that crown and waddle! Alice is the loudest hen, she makes groaning noises every time we get near her, but she is also one of the sweetest. Totally content to sit on my lap for as long as I’ll have her : )



Francis, Dominique.
Love this lady! Francis has the cutest noises- a very low trilling, very distinct from all the others.



Lizzie, Delaware.
I once stayed away from Lizzie, (she has managed to peck both Nora and I in the eye twice!) but I have since started to enjoy her again. As long as I remember not to get too close to her she is quite pleasant. Always interested in knowing what’s going on, her curiosity is quite humorous.



Maggie, New Hampshire Red.
I don’t have many good photos of just Maggie (that's Maggie on the left). She is quite skittish and keeps with her companions. She really is a sweet hen.



Jane, Black Australorp.
This photo shows Jane in a most flattering fashion. She has the most beautiful irridescent sheen to her black feathers. Jane is definitely one of our biggest ladies- second in comb and waddle size to Alice.

Loud Noises and Maggie the Protector Hen

My most recent chicken related pursuit is to determine whether my chickens are hens or roosters. They should all be hens, but sometimes things appear that make me curious. For example, around 2 months they all had small bumps that appeared just above their feet. Are these spurs? No, it turns out many hens grow these small bumps, but it is only on roosters that they grow into inch long extensions. Our hens have bumps, but they are just that- bumps.

Recently the ladies have starting to make real chicken noises rather than just peeps. I had a bit of a scare last week when I picked up my favorite hen Alice and rather then her normal long hum sound she made a couple short clucks followed by a long groan. Was this her attempt at crowing like a rooster? In a bit of a fright I rushed her inside to the kitchen where my husband was making dinner and said to him, “listen to this! Does that sound like a rooster noise to you?”

This was followed by a frantic google search for chicken noises, to try to figure out exactly what kinds of noises hens make vs what kinds of noises roosters make. Remember, I did NOT grow up around chickens or even close to a farm, so I really have no idea what to expect. Well, it turns out that hens are able to make some pretty loud noises, especially when they are about to lay an egg (do a youtube search, it is very funny to hear!).

Feeling once again quite content that indeed all my chickens are hens, I put the girls to bed.

The very next day, while getting ready for dinner, I heard loud noises coming from the back yard. “What on earth is that noise?!” I exclaimed. Imagine my surprise when I opened the back door, peeked out, and found Maggie was the creator of such a racket! There she was making the exact noise I had heard just the evening before and associated with the noise that hens make just before they lay an egg. Was Maggie going to lay an egg?

I called to my daughter and husband, “come look at this! Do you think Maggie is going to lay an egg? She’s only 3 months old!”

After a minute or two of shock and amazement, and some logical thought, I remembered more about what I had read the day before about hens making loud noises. They make these kinds of noises before they lay an egg AND when they are frightened. Hmm…

As I scanned the yard for predators I noticed peering from under the bushes directly across from the chicken run a small cat. Maggie, who for a long time was the biggest hen, but has since become one of the smallest and we assumed the least dominant hen, was showing that her role was still the protector hen.

The loud noises continued for a little while. The kitty was very curious about these large birds, and continued to peer at them even after the hens were locked up in their coop. Eventually the cat moved on, and the girls went to bed putting an end to an evening of excitement.

Some More Coop Adjustments

After some thinking and reading, we decided to make a few small adjustments on the coop.

The first adjustment was to stagger the heights of the roosts. The rational for this is simple, the old roosts were at the same height, but they were higher on one end than on the other. This caused the chickens some distress when they attempted to roost because they wanted to be on the high side, but had trouble settling because the roost was uneven. This made for a very cute sequence of events when they ALL tried to be at the top. Funny chickens! I also thought it would be helpful to give the ladies a more step-like system to get to the highest roost.




I have to say this is what was originally recommended, but we didn’t want to create division in our flock so we resisted. Our roosts are, however, long enough that all the ladies can fit on a single roost. Consequently there is rarely pushing or fighting over the “top spot” because their really isn’t a “top spot”! Perhaps I am too optimistic, but I have to say that although all our girls have different and unique personalities, there doesn’t appear to be a defined pecking order. The order seems to change daily, and they seem to share the responsibility rather than fight over it.

Another adjustment:
After some reading I thought that perhaps our nesting boxes should have a cover on them. The literature suggests that they prefer a space that is dark, and because there was a window directly over the nesting boxes it would be rather light in there- perhaps too light for laying. We wanted to make sure that even with the cover the hens still had plenty of room inside and that the lid could be opened from the back (where the window opens for egg retrieval).




The result very much resembles a Tuscan villa. If that doesn’t encourage the hens to lay I don’t know what will! We’re looking forward to finding our first eggs nestled in the hay.

Also notice we've upgraded the ladies to an adult waterer and feeder. We decided to go with metal- mostly because we are trying to get away from using plastic, but also because I had heard that metal is preferable for several reasons.

1) Metal is more durable. Many people say that their plastic feeders and waterers fall apart after a few years. Handles break, closure don't fasten correctly, etc...

2)Metal doesn't allow light to get in. This is important for the waterer, because if light were to penetrate the waterer there is a good chance the waterer will soon be filled with algae. Not impossible to clean, but kind of a pain.

We chose a feeder and waterer that is large enought to feed and water our hens for 2-3 days without needing to be refilled. Note: one reason we loved the idea of chickens was that we could go away for a few days and not have to find a babysitter for them.

Also of note: Instead of purchasing the $30-$50 water heater for below the waterer, we will be attempting to use a bird bath heater (cost=$7)directly below the waterer bottom. We'll let you know how this works once it is up and running. We are still quite warm in these parts.

All that said, we decided that the chicken nipple waterer was NOT a success: some of the ladies loved it, others refused to use it. Lets face it- it is not natural for chickens to drink this way! We did decide, however, to keep the rabbit water bottle up and running in the run. All the hens use it without complaint and it provides them with another source of liquid while they are not in the coop.

Chickens as Pets

We’ve been reading about a recent lawsuit that occurred in the next town over that involved keeping chickens.

You can read the details here: www.niskayunachickens.com/Nisky_Chick_s_Story.html
What we find most intriguing was this section, as described by the owner of said chickens:

“During all the months and through all the appearances, the Town never cited a single Town Code violation. Their stance was it is not possible to have a "pet" chicken. They can only be farm animals, and we are not a farm.”

This is especially interesting to us because although we have had our chickens only for a few months, we consider them our “pets”. Some raise them strictly for eggs or meat, however many consider chickens their pets. We even purchased our chicks from a website called mypetchicken.com!



In defense of chickens as pets I have a few pictures to share. Our ladies are 10 weeks old in these images. Might I point out that these hens voluntarily jump on my lap when I sit in their run and shortly after settling in on my lap they fall asleep there. Also of note is the friendly behavior they exhibit to my overly affectionate 4 year old daughter. Certainly any animal who is willing to snuggle with a 4 year old is worthy of being called a pet!




Lastly, I’d like to just comment on how interesting it is that we are allowed to call just about anything else that is an animal a pet including lizards, turtles, snakes, rabbits, ferrets, etc…
Why is it that when you keep an animal on your property that provides food in return for your care it is no longer considered a pet? And what exactly is the definition of pet?

The owners of the chickens in the previously mentioned article have now created a “Micro-Farming Initiative” in hopes that the town zoning laws might be changed to allow residents to keep chickens. Bravo!

If you live in Niskayuna, would you consider supporting this movement?
See the website for more information: www.niskayunachickens.com

Dead Hens?

Our ladies just LOVE the sun! For the most part, the chicken run is shaded all summer because it has a large tree canopy covering it. In these late summer, early fall days the sun has started to reach the edges of the chicken run, offering these young ladies a glimmer of warmth on a chilly day. It is very strange watching them lay in the dirt or grass with one leg and wing stretched out! I have to admit, if you didn’t know what they were doing, you might think that some sort of chicken massacre has occurred.

More Details on the Coop

We were warned that the hens would destroy whatever green thing existed in the coop within 2 weeks of moving out there. I never imagined that this would actually happen, but it’s true! After about a week, when we had noticed that what little grass and weeds we had there was now just about completely destroyed we decided to take action.

You’ll notice a ladder like contraption on the ground of the coop with plastic hardware cloth over it. This is a clever little contraption for growing grass. It allows grass to grow up through the plastic hardware cloth so that the chickens can eat it without destroying it with their scratching talons.

Underneath the ladder is grass seed covered with woodchips and manure from the chicken coop. It germinated in about 4 days and because of our steady Autumn rains, it grew quite quickly. The chickens continue to fertilize the grass patch each time they poop over the hardware cloth. I have never seen such happy grass!

Here is a picture of the grass in its first days (and Alice and Francis having an encounter!).




We’ve since removed this contraption from its first location and have moved it to the other side of the coop to grow more grass. In the meantime the chickens have managed to destroy the previous locations grass in about three days!

This is a picture of the grass after day one of the device being removed!




I also wanted to point out that even though I was worried that the girls would never learn how to get up on their “big girl” roosts, they have successfully gotten up their and I’ve even found them all sleeping up there at night. Success!

Seven Weeks Old!

Wow, how the time has flown by! Daily the girls are looking more like adult hens. I just love when they lie down and fluff out their feathers to make that beautiful round hen shape.

The girls love their coop, but love it even more when we go out in the morning to let them out of the coop. We love to watch them take turns flying out the coop door as if to say “good morning world!” It’s no wonder that these feathery creatures have so often been depicted in books and movies- they are such animated little creatures.

Each of the ladies has her own unique personality and is maturing at different rates.


Francis, Dominique



She is our little baby. Francis, although now about the size of the other girls, will be the smallest of our hens. Her breed averages around 5 lbs at adult age, the other hens are considered heavy breeds and will average 6-7 lbs. After reading about chicken breeds we were hesitant to get a Dominique because what we had read indicated that she would be unhappy in our small coop and run space and would be the most skittish of the birds. Francis is just the opposite! She is very docile, affectionate and sweet. She is the only chicken that freely lets our 4-year old pick her up and she will fall asleep on whatever lap she is placed. The other hens adore her and treat her like their little sister, they even fall asleep with their necks draped over her body.



Jane, Black Australorp



What a beautiful bird Jane is growing up to be! She has started to develop her adult feathers which glow an iridescent blue and purple. We call Jane the mama hen (or is she a rooster?). She is always on the lookout for danger and stretches her neck out tall to make sure all the other hens are safe. She seems to be one of the largest of our girls, especially when she lays down and fluffs her feathers.



Lizzie, Delaware



I have to admit, I had some reservations about Lizzie when she was a chick. Her constant pecking at the other girls and pure stupidity when it came to food could be irritating at times. Now that Lizzie has matured she is one of my favorites. She loves attention, and refuses to be the last chicken to settle down on my lap. She is the one who jumps on my back when given the opportunity and one of the first to greet me in the morning.



Maggie, New Hampshire Red



For the longest time Maggie ruled the roost. She was the largest chick and remained the largest until just a couple of weeks ago. She is now about the size of Francis, although definitely more “meaty” than Francis. Maggie is terrified of our resident chipmunk and runs franticly at first site of the little furry beast. Because of this we’ve been trying our best to install updates to the run to keep “Chippy” from getting in. So far we have been unsuccessful.



Alice, Speckled Sussex



Alice’s place on this list in no way indicates her favor in my heart. To most visitors Alice seems the most detached from the group. In many ways she is, she likes to roam around alone, she enjoys being outside even when the air is chilly, and she doesn’t spend long periods of time at the feeder (although you wouldn’t guess that by her size!). I think I like her so much because she reminds me of myself- content in the silence of solitude. She is a little hard to catch (still!), but don’t let that confuse you. She sure does love to cuddle on your lap or arm or back. Alice is still by far the most beautiful of our birds, her speckled color patterns are a fingerprint of God’s creative beauty.

Moving into the Coop

It is now mid-Septmeber and it has been warm enough here in upstate NY that we've been able to move the chickens into their (now-finished) coop. I'm happy to say that they are LOVING their new digs and we are happy to have them out of the house! It is so much more natural for them to be outdoors.

Here's the girls enjoying a dust bath:






They are learning a lot about their neighbors (not the human kind, but of the animal variety). I often find them having stare-downs with our resident chipmunk and we have noticed the local hawk spending an unusual amount of time in the large tree in our front yard. Clearly the chickens have noticed the hawk, or at least sensed its presence because when we go to check on them they are huddled in the corner of their coop. Poor girls, we hope that the hawk will soon realize that our coop and run are secure enough to keep him out!


More pictures of the coop:

After a Weekend Away.

We were able to enjoy a couple of days at the lake house with my parents and left the chickens at home to fend for themselves. When we arrived home we were shocked at how they had grown! They are REALLY starting to look like hens now!

I think I would call this stage of their lives "little girl" stage. They are growing more and more independent, but still love to snuggle on our laps. All five of them fell asleep on my lap the other day (note: that's a lot of chicken for one lap!).


In this picture you'll also be able to get a peek of the brooder where they've been living in our basement (generously loaned by the Hurst family). In order to make sure they had enough food while we were away we constructed the feeder seen in the picture out of 2 trader joes coffee cans.


Some new pictures at 4 weeks:


Alice, Speckeled Sussex




Francis, Dominique




Maggie, New Hampshire Red




Lizzie, Delaware





They just love to preen themselves!

Coop Building, Part Two

Additions to the coop this week were:
Siding (very creatively made to cover all necessary spots with what little we had on hand)
Roof Paper
Linoleum Floor placed over ¼” hardware cloth.
Vents
Nest Boxes
A ramp to the 2nd story (it has since moved from the location pictured here, closer to the nest boxes).
A door!







Still to do:
Place the roosts.
Add waterer and feeder.
Add roofing.
Add windows and a screen to the door.
Assemble the run.
Paint (you are going to love our mural!).

End of Week Three

I can't believe how these girls have changed over the last few days! They are looking and acting more like chickens everyday. Here are some pictures from a trip outdoors the other day:



Jane




Maggie




Alice




Lizzie

The Coop, Part One.

After lots of research, reading and looking through design books, drawing and gathering materials we began work on the coop.

Our goal is to make the coop in the least expensive way possible. We hugely support the reuse of materials and creative use of salvaged goods. We try to be as "green" as financially possible (although being green is often the less expensive way to live anyway- we like this!).

We were feeling discouraged with our attempts until (after a little prayer and patience) we had some success. I had been driving down to Claverack a few days a week to work on an archaeological dig for work and on my way would pass a forestry supply store with a HUGE pile of wood and sawdust at the end of their driveway. When I finally made the call to inquire about the wood and received the response that it was indeed free I was exstatic! I gathered wood from the pile for several days, a pretty dirty job but no more dirty than working in the dirt all day!

Adam also returned home one day with 4 pallets he had discovered and some plexiglass panels that had been salvaged from a local shop that was closing (these would become the floors and windows of the coop. Adam also made a craigslist discovery of a man who was tearing his deck down and we were able to get some 2"X4"s for free from him.

We continued our materials gathering with a trip to the ReStore in Menands where we took home 5 free closet door panels and we purchased 2 doors (one for the coop-$10 and one for the run-$8), some hinges and handles (total $5?), and a couple of vent covers($2 for both).

We found some materials in our garage that we'd use on the coop including roofing paper and some siding.

The only materials we purchased new were:
Chicken wire and hardware cloth for the coop and run.
2"X4"s and 4"X4"s for the run construction.
Linoleum sheet flooring for the floor of the coop.
Sheet roofing.

Below are some pictures of construction from the first weekend: