chickens

Chickens in the Snow

~ Grace ~ 2 Comments

When I go out to the chicken coop first thing in the morning I open up their little door and they all rush out.  Usually walking and jumping on each other, trying to cram through the door two or three at a time.

IMGP4301 (1132x1280)-1But the other day when it snowed a couple inches, it took them a few hours to wander out and most of them headed strait for the barn so they could take dust baths, dig around in the fire wood for bugs and harass the barn cats.  That night we had to carry a few back to the coop, they didn’t want to walk back through the snow!

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On Christmas day we received a foot of snow (we blame this on our 9 year old, she was praying for a white Christmas 😉 ) and it’s not melting off very fast.  The chickens now refuse to come out of the coop.  They will step out, look around, fluff up their feathers and jump right back in the door.  You can’t blame them, that white stuff is cold and deep.

With no free ranging going on they have been going through a LOT of feed and water!!  I highly recommend  that if there is any possibility that your chickens can be let out to forage around….let them!!  I’m guessing it cuts the feed costs by half, if not more. (I am keeping track and will let you know exact numbers later). Not to mention it makes for very healthy, happy chickens and more nutritious eggs.   Anyway, I got worried about the hungry little buggers getting bored all cooped up.  Bored chickens are not a good thing, they will start pecking at each other and if it gets to bad the results could be deadly. 🙁  So I cut open an acorn squash and gave that to them, and they spent hours picking at it; the only part left is a thin layer of peel.  The next day we hung up half of a large cabbage in the coop.  They seemed disinterested at first, but when I went out that night to shut the door most of the cabbage was gone.  We hung up the second half of the cabbage the next day.  This one didn’t last long!!  Hanging them up is purely for the entertainment value, (for the chickens, not us….well maybe for us too).  Watching chickens chase a spinning, bouncing cabbage around the coop WAS very entertaining.

IMGP4316-1These little treats seem to be keeping them happy and occupied during these snow bound days.  To my surprise, being stuck indoors has not affected their egg production at all.

This spring I intend to plant tons of cabbage, pumpkins, and squash just for the chickens to have next winter (and maybe enough for us to have some too).

Egg Laying Machines

~ Grace ~ 1 Comment

I was going to title this post “Waiting for Eggs” but in all honesty, we didn’t have to wait!  Everything I’ve read says most chickens will start laying between 5 and 6 months old.  So I was hoping to have some eggs by Christmas, that would be right at 5 months old (and what a great Christmas present).  It was November, cold out and day light hours were getting shorter and shorter.  Hens need 14 to 16 hours of light a day to lay eggs.  So after Thanksgiving I bought a timer so we could plug in a light to increase their hours of light.  I also bought layer feed for them.  Before I could get the light plugged in or change their feed, they started laying!!

Our first 2 eggs!!  A little splotchy, but we were so proud 😉

We quickly got the light put up in the coop and set it to come on at 3am.  I mixed the layer in with the remaining grower feed and HOLEY COW!!  They turned into egg laying machines.  It is now 5 days before Christmas and we are getting 15 or 16 eggs a day from our 17 hens!!  They don’t seem to mind the freezing weather at all.  They have been laying all these eggs by 7:30am and then they get turned out to free range for the rest of the day.

The only problem we had was when they first started laying.  Some of them would peck their egg, (one little hole or even just a crack)….kind of like they were curious.  Then one hen started eating an egg every day.  I would go out to the coop at about 8:30am and find wet straw and little pieces of shell in a nesting box.  I had NO idea which hen was doing it!  This went on for several days and the only thing I could think to do was just get out to the coop earlier before she had a chance to snatch that egg.  So when it was just barely light enough to see I headed out to the coop.  It worked!  No more broken eggs,…not even any cracks!  On most days we even get a double yolker or two.  Now my only problem is what to do with all these eggs!….I love problems like this. 😀

                          Meet Ginger one of our super egg laying machines!

Beware of Barn Cats

~ Grace ~ 1 Comment

I love barn cats!!  We have an old barn that is home to several skittish, fat barn cats.  We feed them some dry cat food everyday but that’s not why they are fat.  They are SUPER mousers!!  I hate mice….I mean really, really, really hate mice.  I would rather be stuck in a hole with a snake than a mouse…I don’t know why?  They just send me into a cold sweat.  So having barn cats is a necessity (as far as I’m concerned).  That being said, little peeps and barn cats are not a good mix.  We knew this could be a problem so we made every precaution (we thought) to make sure the cats couldn’t get to the peeps.

This is not a barn cat, this is “Pumpkin Pie” one of Jo’s pets.  But you get the picture. If this tame, well fed kitten is this interested in little peeps you can imagine the temptation for a large hungry barn cat.

I know; faces that only a mother could love!!  Well, a mother and a barn cat! 🙁  These awkward, month old peeps have little heads that can fit through chicken wire, and they are very curious critters.  So when someone comes up to the screen door made of chicken wire they run over and stick there heads through the wire to check things out.  I thought it was so cute that they would run to greet me when I walked up to the door.  I had no idea they would do the same when a barn cat walked up!!  I went out one night to put them to bed and found a headless peep! 😮 I could only see three others in the coop and I totally freaked!!  Went running to the house and told Digger about the horror show in the chicken coop. He came out and  found the rest of the frightened  peeps  hiding behind the nesting boxes.  The next morning Digger put extra small wire on the bottom of the screen door.  This solved our problem, no more peeking peeps.  A couple months later (after the peeps had done some serious growing!) I decided it was time to let them free range. I was nervous not only about the barn cats but the dogs as well.   I opened the gate and kept my eyes peeled.  To my surprise and delight the cats and the dogs ignored them.  In fact, the only chasing  going on in our barn yard is an occasional chicken chasing a cat or kid!!  The moral of this story is…barn cats + peeps = deadly results.  Barn cats + grown chickens = frightened barn cats.  So keep those peeps in a well protected coop until they can fend for themselves.

Golden Buff Chicks

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When we ordered the chicks we chose Golden Buffs, also known as Golden Comet, Golden Sex Link, Cinnamon Queen, and Red Star.  They lay 5 plus big, brown, eggs a week and are small (around 4 lbs.) and docile hens.  The other great thing about Golden Buffs is  the hatchery is able to tell the sex of the chicks when they hatch by their color.  I don’t want a rooster “YET” so this breed seemed to be the best choice for us.  On July 18th, 18 peeping, puff balls arrived!! The play pen with a heat lamp worked great for keeping them nice and warm.

My girls and I were instantly in love!!  We had a hard time leaving the chicken coop, they were just to much fun to sit and watch.  To my pleasant surprise they were very hardy little buggers.  I thought we might lose a few in the mail or shortly after they arrived but they were all healthy, active and surprisingly loud!

In conclusion we were VERY happy with our little peeps!!  The only bad thing was they all looked identical and trying to name 18 chicks that you can’t tell apart was an impossible task. 😉

 

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