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. 

Nesting

Since Houdini the escape artist is laying and probably needs some privacy, I decided to divide the nesting box in two. According to Backyard Chickens, one box is good for 2-4 hens. Originally we built only one large nesting box, but they don't seem to use it much.

Nesting box, before

Houdini laid her egg in this box which is probably big enough for 3 chickens at a time. I added a divider so now it looks like this:

Nesting box, after

I also read that chickens prefer a roost bar in front of the box to jump onto before going inside. There is a 2x4 there now as you can see, but I might add something more substantial in the future. 

View from outside coop-lid lifts up for easy access to eggs.

I also put this flower pot with straw in the coop to give them something to nest in.

Another nesting area in the other corner.

Success! Houdini jumped right in to the smaller box, scratched a bit, then settled in. 

Penny jumped into the other side of the box, but was nosy and wanted to see what Houdini was up to.

 So she just barged in! Not sure if Houdini really appreciated it, but they stayed in there together until I shut the coop door. We'll see how many eggs we get now!

Edit: 2 hours after I made the nesting box I checked inside and there was already an egg! I would call this modification a great success!

Egg number two!

Today started at 5 am. My wife had to go to work so I got up to make breakfast (just a homemade egg wrap that we made a bunch of and froze) and got her coffee ready. Once she was fed and out the door I let the chickens out. I set up my portable fences and dog kennel to give them some grazing time. Since I am working nights I did a few chores then went back to bed.

I was awoken at 11:30 am by something squawking-not extremely loud, but noisy enough for me to notice. It was the same sound she was was making last time an egg came, so I think that played a part in me getting out of bed. I went down to check and I found the escape artist who I have name 'Houdini' under our BBQ. I promptly got her back into the run and hoped she wouldn't get out again.

While she planned her next escape I got an old hanging basket and remove the hanger. I figured if she wouldn't use the nesting box maybe she would use it instead. I filled it with a few heavy rocks (so it wouldn't tip over) and straw. I took it back to the coop and found Houdini in the nest box making a nest. I still put the hanging basket in the coop, hoping it will get used one day, and went to finish my tea. I checked in on her around 12:15 pm and sure enough egg number two had arrived! Perfect shape, no crack, still warm and a little smaller than egg number one.

No clue how she got out of this???

Houdini and her second egg

Egg 1 on top, egg 2 below is slightly smaller, weird...

New Chickens, First Egg!

I picked up the hens on Tuesday from the local feed store Buckerfield's.

There was a lot of excitement when I got home! Rum and Coke were terrified of the newcomers and spent most of the time as far away as possible. Once the hens had adjusted to the coop they proceeded to peck at and chase Rum and Coke, adding to their fear.

I would suggest to anyone getting hens to get them all at once. We didn't go this route because we wanted 2 different breeds, but in retrospect it wasn't the best idea. Watching them establish their pecking order can be hard to deal with as there was a lot of "ruffled feathers"! There was a lot of clucking and running around the first day. The second day was a bit calmer but Rum and Coke were still being bullied. If the hens were in the run, Rum and Coke were in the coop, and vice versa. This lead me to build a mini feeder and put in a bowl of water at the end of the run so Rum and Coke were not kept away from food and water.

The mini feeder is on the right.

I've been extremely excited about the new comers and so have the dogs. I was hesitant at first letting them mingle but so far so good. Angus is pretty good but when they get annoyed with him and try to run away, he likes to chase. There has been no problems yet and he is starting to mellow out now that we have had them for a few days. Of course, we always supervise him closely so the hens aren't in danger.

Our coop is holding up really well with the new residents. I have to fix one of the hinges on the large door of the run. The screws came out, so the door needs to be remounted and reinforced. I will be adding a door at the north end of the run so the ladies can go and enjoy the lawn I have been growing for them. It will be enclosed with chicken mesh so I won't have to be as diligent in supervising. The main door on the coop is extremely heavy (~70 lb) and I am trying to figure out how to remedy that. My friend has suggested we get tailgate shocks to help with opening and closing. I've also thought about moving the hinges so that it swings open to the side, as opposed to lifting, it but I think it's too heavy for that. I will keep you posted.

Before

After (the north lawn is on the left)
I also built a little ladder and a surround so they can get some grass occasionally. They love it!

 The door with the broken hinge is open

 Inside 

Coop with hanging feeder and waterer

The chickens enjoy exploring the back yard and grazing on the grass. I have boards that I can set up to fence off how far they can wander and to keep the dogs out when I am not supervising. Rum and Coke are pretty used to me picking them up by now, however the new ones are harder to catch. I let them out the other day and it took me 25 min to get them all back into the coop. I even caught my sister herding them with a stick. I built a ramp and it only took them 20 min or so before they started using it. I do have an escape artist on my hands. As soon as I have one of the doors open she will attempt to get out. Any possible opening and she is there. 

What are you looking at?

The escape artist! She has the largest comb and I read somewhere that if there is no rooster one hen will take on a dominant role-including growing a bigger comb and wattle, even crowing! I hope not...my wife works shift work and will kill me!

We got our first egg yesterday! I thought it was going to happen but wasn't too sure. Then dominant hen started acting really weird; she was pacing, squawking, and just acting plain miserable. We had them out in the yard, penned off, but she just kept getting out. I rounded everyone up and put them back in the coop, hoping she would calm down. The wife and I went out to get groceries and half an hour later I get a call from my sister and she is telling me that we have an egg!! The moment we were waiting for had come, we have homegrown eggs! No eggs from the other ones yet but that should come, one is a good start.

The egg and her producer (the escape artist)

It had a hole in the top. The membrane on the inside wasn't broken so nothing came out.

Rum and Coke

The girls are getting bigger and more bold. They still make quite the fuss when I wake them up and put them to bed. Slowly but surely I guess. They have adjusted to the dogs; Angus still thinks they are a play toy but hopefully the novelty of live toys will wear off.

I am feeding them growing mash, dandelions, and table scraps. I sure surprised the neighbour yesterday when I asked for all the dandelions she had just picked. She wasn't to sure about it but after I explained they were for the hens she agreed. I think they enjoyed all of them as they ate most of the greenery and spent the afternoon picking over them. It has been fun watching try different things I throw out at them. I think I will try hanging raw corn cobs in the run next.

I have a portable dog pen which I have been using for the girls to let them out on the lawn. They really enjoy scratching in the grass and fighting over stuff they have found. Once they get bigger I will most likely let them roam the backyard freely but for now they get the pen, it makes it a lot easier to catch them and put them back. They haven't quite adjusted to being picked up yet.

We are due for some excitement in the upcoming weeks. Our 4 ready to lay hens should be getting here soon, so until all the ladies get settled I am sure there will be an adjustment period. We are looking forward to fresh eggs and more hens to care for.

Our two girls. Names haven't been decided - Rum and Coke or Beavis and Butthead?

 Angus watching like a hawk. Trying to figure out what makes them move.

Week 1 with the Chicks

Its been a week! The excitement has worn off a little but my wife still accuses me of acting like an 8 year old with a new toy. I can't really blame her as I am pretty gun hoe about the chickens and the fact that I have two living in my backyard, with 4 on the way.

They seem pretty well adjusted but are still pretty skittish. As my father in-law pointed out "they are called chickens not braves". Once I get the coop open the tend to go hide in one of the corners or the jump up into the nest box to get away. I've been visiting daily and pick them up and hold them for a little bit, trying my best to get them used to me. Slowly but surely. We haven't named them yet and I am not sure if we will, but there has been some suggestions. I like Blackie and Chicken Little, my sister wants to give them exotic names, the wife and a friend seem to like Beavis and Butthead. No decisions have been made yet and I also have to consult Mr. Construction so I will keep you posted on the name issue.

The coop seems to be working out great. I have left the chicken door open durning the day a couple of times but the chicks seem content to stay in the coop under the heat lamp. They do wonder around the coop exploring but I guess the run is just to scary to enter quite yet. I am sure that will change once they get some company other than me and the dogs. I am thinking of adding eaves troughs to the coop. As when it rains it runs down the sides and into the run. Not a lot but enough for me to want to do something about it. This also gives me the opportunity to create a watering system for the hens. We do not really need on but the creative wheels are turning and I want to try it out. I hoping to use the gutters to direct the water to a bucket with chicken nipples and have a self watering system. I am going to try and keep this as low cost as possible.


This YouTube video gives you an example of a rainwater system with nipples like I talked about here.

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.