Snack Time

I love feeding the chickens kitchen scraps. We have a composter that we use a lot, but it's become quite full since we got the chickens. The material isn't quite processed enough to put in the garden yet, so our city also has "Rot Pots" that you can dispose of food wastes in (including meat/bones/etc that you can't put in a regular composter). But why compost when our chickens love certain treats?

Some treats I've fed the chickens. 

I usually throw it out in the run for them to scratch and pick at. I usually look up the scraps before I toss them out to make sure it's safe for them to eat. As I've mentioned BackyardChickens.com is a great resource. 

Of course, the chickens like getting out on the grass but I don't have time to do this everyday.

I went to the local produce market this morning for groceries, and I asked if they had any "bad" unsellable veggies I could have. They were really helpful and gave me a bag of lettuce that was starting to wilt. Apparently they have a few regulars who pick stuff up, but I think I'll keep trying every few days to see what I can get, you can't beat free! I also bought a few cobs of corn to see what the chickens would do. 

I hung the corn in the run with some rope I had laying around. Mr. Construction also brought a little wire ball that I stuck the lettuce in so the hens could have fun pecking at it. 

New chicks!

We picked up 2 of our chicks today from Fraser Valley Building Supplies! They are both Australorp month-olds.

 We put some soft shavings and a little bit of hay down for them to scratch in. I wanted straw but the store was out. I also put down some diatomaceous earth to help dry out any poop on the coop floor, and supposedly it's a natural insecticide. 

So far the black one seems to be the bravest. She hopped up on my hand, and has done most of the exploring. She keeps jumping around seemingly looking for a way out while the yellow one just cowers in the corner underneath the heat lamp. We lowered the lamp a little because we thought maybe she was just cold. 

Checking out the nesting boxes. I plan to put a some straw in there when I get it. I'm also going to put some golf balls in there when we get our ready-to-lay hens next month. I've read they think the balls look like eggs so it encourages them to lay there too. 

Research.

Well I'm back from vacation and I didn't have any luck finding chicken nipples. However I am going to start work on the coop this coming up Saturday. But since I do not have much to update on I wanted to a post about the research I've done.

The local library has been a huge help! I've borrowed all the books they had on chickens and raising chickens, borrowing is also a lot cheaper than buying. I also have a few books I'm waiting on all about coop design, should be here soon!

Of the books I've read my favorites so far are:

Living with Chickens: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Flock

Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, 3rd Edition

Both really good reads and extremely informative. Living with Chickens was easy to follow and everything was explained in layman's terms. Storey's Guide is a wealth of knowledge, easy to understand, and they even have a section about chicken communication and what their different sounds mean.

I also use Backyard Chickens a lot, there is tons of information there.

I learned that chickens are prone to cannibalism! If they are stressed, confined in a small space, or just bored they will peck at each other. During the life of a hen they will lay between 200-280 eggs and it takes 25 hours for the egg to be produced. If you want you can also get chicken diapers so you can bring your chickens inside. Not that I'm planning on doing this but hey, whatever floats your boat. There are different types of chickens: hybrids, purebreds, meat birds, egg layers, they also come in many different breeds and sizes. You will be surprised at what your research will turn up. It has been quite the learning curve for me.

Chicken nipples....

I am on two weeks vacation with my wife and we decided to go to Calgary to visit my parents. Being Calgary is an agricultural hub in Alberta I figure I would try to find some chicken nipples. I've tried a few places where I live but haven't been sucessful and I know you can oder them online from FramTek or other websites.

After a few hours and several painful calls to SHAW I managed to get the internet work for my parents, I started my search. I had a hard time finding anything. I found many sites with farm supplies, chicken supplies but nothing locally for "chicken nipples". I one place that was local Vencomatic North America, located just west of Calgary. I sent them an email asking if they had any poultry nipples but the email was returned as undeliverable. Disheartened I kept searching and eventually asked my Uncle. He suggested we try UFA. They have a store in Airdire, 613 Edmonton Trail NE, just North of Calgary. We stopped in to check it out. They had lots of chicken supplies but no nipples. The clerk gave me a catologue for Miller Hatcheries. They carry a large supply of poultry products and can also get chicks and starters from them! I've sent them an email and I am waiting to hear back from them. There were no nipples in their catalogue but the had a whole bunch of info about starting chicks, proper brooder setup and cleaning. It was all very interesting. I will wait to see what their email says but as it looks I will be ordering the nipples online.

I know there are waterers out there but from what I've read and seen on YouTube a system with nipples is easier to clean and maintain. This is what I had in mind, just a 5 gallon bucket with a few nipples in the bottom.

Backyard Chickens

I've decided to raise chickens. The wife isn't quite sure of the idea but she is willing to go along and I'm sure she is hoping she won't regret it.

This all started when we went to the local hardware store to get a few things for the house. The store has a feed section where they carry horse tack, feed, and farm accessories. I couldn't help overhearing a constant peeping coming from the corner, so the wife and I went to investigate. There was a giant watering tub full of young chicks (pullets, which I learned about later). They were adorable! We both looked at each other and said we need to get some. We didn't buy any that moment but it started the ball rolling.

We live about an hour east of Vancouver. Vancouver has recently passed a bylaw allowing "Urban Chickens". I figure if they can, why can't I? We talked it over, discussed the pros and cons, even mentioned it to some friends. My buddy was really inclined to help. So I began to search the bylaws of my city. Think I could find anything about chickens? Nope. I ended up reading 300 pages of zoning bylaws. Well I didn't read them all...I read a large section of it and by scanning it I found out the following: To be allowed "chickens" you have to be zoned as Rural, Rural residential, or Sub Urban. I soon discovered that I was zoned for Urban Residential. No chickens. Apparently we are only allowed to have a green house in the backyard. Given the dimensions of the green house it listed, it would be tons of room for 4 chickens. Looking into it more a report was done in 2009 to find the pros and cons of allowing chickens in the Urban Residential Zone. Nothing was changed as council was going wait until the city of Vancouver decided on their bylaws first. Since nothing has been done after Vancouver's vote, I have decided to do it anyways.