Urban Chicken Video

We borrowed a friends video camera for the store and decided to practice filming using the hens as our subject.

Eggs Over Here, Eggs Over There

All three Chickens are laying eggs. Bringing us to about 15 eggs a week. It took us a couple of days to figure this out because Dorothy, the Golden Laced Wyandotte, is not nearly as vocal as the other two hens. So when she started going through the egg laying ritual we didn't quite recognize it. She also decided that she would lay her eggs in her own little nest, right next to garden plot #1, and not in the coop house.

We let our hens free range around our yard during the day, so we started to notice that they have began laying eggs in odd places, other than their coop. If they are locked up during the day they will lay their eggs in their boxes. However if they are out all day they will lay them wherever they see fit. For Dorothy that is a little next she made by the garden. Rose on the other hand, started to lay eggs in a shelving unit that holds our water purifier unit.

This random egg laying does add a little excitement when we get home from work, because each day we get to have our own little egg hunt.

We've Got Eggs

We are proud to announce that our Rhode Island Red, Rose, has become a Hen. Yesterday morning, right after we got our dog back, we noticed that Rose was acting a little more peculiar than what is normal for her. The other two chicks were free ranging around the yard, while she scratched and yelped from inside the coop house. I went to check on her, and low and behold there before me sat our first brown egg. We were so excited, as we have been waiting nearly 6 months for this day to come. We don't know if she laid the egg the day before, with all the commotion of the missing dog, we didn't even check, but about 30 minutes later Rose started acting up again and bam, out came egg number two. Both the eggs are pretty small, which is to be expected with the first eggs, the good thing is that the shells are nice and hard. Most farmers will tell you that the Hen's first eggs could have very soft shells that could break easy. We have been feeding them crushed oyster shells fora about a month, with their normal grit in hopes to harden up their shells. So far it has worked well.

We decided to fry our eggs, and eat them with vegetables from the garden.

The Green pepper, the tomato, Green onion, and Serrano pepper came from the gardens. The toast & the banana came from the market.

The other two chicks will most likely start getting motivated to lay eggs of their own. These yard birds have been interesting pets and good garden helpers, but now that they are laying eggs they are definitely earning their keep.

Hanging Out

We added a few extra perches in the chicken coop so that the chickens could get off of the ground if they wanted.

Every morning we catch them hanging out on their new perches. They like to sit up as high as they can and cluck away at each other. So far they have been quite a treat. We are expecting our first set of eggs in the next month or so. Can't wait.

Garden Chronicles :: Chapter 5

So far all of our garden plots are doing great. The celebrity tomatoes in our first plot are getting huge.

Our second (new) garden plot is taking off as well. It is hard to believe that we planted it only two weeks ago. We have a pumpkin plant that is taking over the entire South West wing of the garden plot.

Because we decided that we wanted to do an organic garden, we have yet to use any insecticides or growth hormones on our plants. Nor have they needed them. We just open up the chicken coop and let the girls do their thing.

They know how to climb in and out of their coop when the door is open to make their way into the garden.

Once they are in the garden the start foraging around for worms and insects.

When they are all done gardening they will make there way back their coop, climb back in and relax.

 

Chicken Wing

The chickens are coming along just fine so far.

We finally finished their coop and opened up the coop house for them to start exploring.

Blanch, the Plymouth Rock, so far is still the friendliest and most adventurous of the three.

She will eat straight from your hands. She actually got the other two to come around to eating from our hands as well. Kind of like the trend setter for the group.

Rose, the Rhode Island Red, is the second friendliest. She is also the sneakiest when it comes to snaking food from you hands. She pals around with Dorothy, the Golden Laced Wyndot. Dorothy appears to be the leader of the crew, however she is the most timid and afraid when it comes to being held.

This is a view of Rose leaving the Coop house, down to the run.

All three of the little ladies practicing laying eggs in their house.

 

A Night Out On the Town

The chicken coop is almost done, or at least 95.76% of the way there. Last week we built the doors and secured down the latches. The chicks are getting so big we decided to go ahead and move them into the coop. Last night was their first night out on their own. The only thing we have left to do with the coop is to finish off the coop house. Since the chicks will not be able to reach the coop house for another couple of weeks we decided to build them a make shift shanty with a hodge podge ceiling and card board walls. It slightly resembles some of the places the Indians lived in in Baja when I was a child. This way they can get out of the weather elements and stay warm under the light.

We didn't think that they were going to get much sleep became of the insects attracted to the light. It was actually quite entertaining for us last night watching them hunt down files, June bugs and anything else that dared enter their layer. We have learned that they are all very good hunters as they can catch a fly in mid flight. So needless to say clumsy flying beetles stand a slim chance of survival. Once one catches an insect, the games begin. They don't just sit there and eat it quietly, but actually quite the opposite. The one who catches it will start chirping and running around the coop trying to play keep away from the others. We think that they learned this game from our dog Judah, we know he likes to fancy himself as the 'King' when it comes to the game of keep away.

We checked on them a couple time last night just to make sure nothing else found it's way in the coop with them. I had read one of the most upsetting things about owning a pet chicken is if something gets to them in their coop. Owners get so attached to their hens that it becomes difficult to raise them again after finding what a cat or raccoon does to them if they get in the coop. I took every precaution I could to make sure that they are in good and safe. Since this is our first coop, I can only hope that I took it a little overboard.

I was glad to see that they were all fine the next morning.

So was Judah.

 

Backyard Chicken Coop

It was time to get serious about building the chicken coop. Either we built in time for the chicks, or the chicks would need it before we had time. Finding a place to put the chicken coop was our first obstacle. We have a great yard but not a whole lot of space to work with. We decided to go with a semi built storage shelf by our office nook where we kept our composters. Coming up with the plans was easy once we started jotting down our ideas.

Keeping with the simple logic, we decided to build our coop in two parts. A good poultry house protects the birds from the elements (weather), predators, injury and theft. Poultry require a dry, draft-free house. This can be accomplished by building a relatively draft free house with windows and/or doors which can be opened for ventilation when necessary. It is also necessary to build the coop on high, well-drained areas. This prevents prolonged dampness and water saturation of the floor of the coop and outside runs. Allowing an adequate level of space per bird also helps keep the humidity level in the coop to a minimum. The first part would be the actual coop house, where we would keep the nests for our future eggs. This section we would put in an elevated area. The next part would be a chicken run. This is the area that the hens will be able to cruise around and play in the dirt.

We started out by cleaning out the designated area, and building a frame to get an idea of what we would be working with. We wanted to keep as much as a natural element to the coop as we could, so we worked around existing branches and structures already available.

Once we got the frame up, we started to add the chicken wire. We built the chicken run area large enough for us to stand in. This will help with cleaning out the area in the future. The wire mesh we are using has a 1" wholes. This is the recommended size for chickens. We also learned that it is much cheaper to by the wire mesh that they use for roofing. It is the same stuff that they sell for chickens. It is just marketed for a different use, and comes in a larger roll. The wire mesh we purchased is 20 gauge, 36" wide and 150' long. We will most likely only use half of what we purchased, but can use the rest in the future around our garden.

When building the actual coop house, we needed to make sure that the hen's will have adequate space for movement and exercise as well as areas to nest and roost. It is recommended for egg laying hens to have 1.5 ft of space inside the coop, and 8ft of space in the run. We will also add perches for them to hang out on. With these chickens, we will provide 6 to 10 inches of perch space per bird. We will also provide them a nest. You should always provide at least one nest for every 4-5 females in the flock.

This is what the view looks like from inside the coop house, looking out to the run.

Slowly but surely it all starts to come together.We still need to add a pen door, as well as make sure everything is tight and secure from predators. Once we are done it will be important to remove any loose or ragged wire, nails, or other sharp-edged objects from the coop. We will also eliminate all areas other than perches where the birds could perch more than 4 feet above the floor. These extra measures could eliminate any injury to our birds and may prevent damage to the coop, as well.

Once the coop house is done, we will retrieve our eggs from this door. We decided to leave the existing wood structure for the back wall to their house. This way they can enjoy some old old ivy vines for natural decor.

We built a raised floor in the coop area to assist in the ventilation as well as the cleaning and the collection of their waist for composting. The floor is built with the 1" chicken mesh, raised about 4 inches off of the floor. We will place a large tray down below for easy collection of their waist before they move in.

This is a view from inside the chicken run area, up to the coop house. We are about 90% percent done with the coop. We should be finished with it by next week, giving us a few days of tweaking it out before the chicks will be ready to move in.