I find it interesting the response my chickens have to t he new chicks. Whenever i feed and water the chick they go to the end of the pen curious as to what is making all that noise.
They have bhai ecome incredibly jealous of the chicks also. They are used to having mu undivided attention. They growl and make all kinds of noise to let me know they were here first.
I did notice that the food i was given for chicks was not actually chick food. It's important to know what to look for when getting food. I know i ordered chock food but i wasn't used to the new bags and misread what i was getting. Unfortunately, i think i lost 6 chicks because i had the wrong food. 7 if you count the chick that i lost before the new chicks came to live with us.
By october, i should be able to start selling eggs. That will be nice.
City Chick Farmer
Saturday, March 7, 2015
New chicks
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Growing greens
I have been working on providing the greens for my chickens so that to they stay healthy through our grey winter days. I have sprouted oats and they didn't want the greens; they wanted carrots. They do like Brussels sprout greens so i'm going to try to mix the oat greens with the Brussels sprout greens.
They are growing. At the end of the month I will have a rooster to roast and two to sell. The smaller two will make better yard roosters, I think.
They still love the alfalfa and the worms so I at least have good protein besides their food to give them.
I used to play my videos for them, and I think they miss that, so I'm going to take music out to them. They sure are curious when the Coast Guard helicopters go over us. We are in the flight pattern.
I still laugh at how my mother-in-law's dog won't go out to go poetry in the yard when the roosters are crowing. Comical.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Nesting boxes
My dad made these beautiful nesting boxes for the hens. During our storm, we hung them in the pen. The chickens treated them the same as the perches. I had to take them up to the boxes. Now they seem quite comfortable with them. Someone is nesting in them; although, I find my roosters tend to do more of that than the hens. What a funny group they are.
I put way too much hay in the pen so they are having a blast scratching through it. I'm not sure what they are searching for. I feed them, but they are hard at work.
Is there a chicken whisperer who can help me understand my crazy birds?
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Sprouting oats
I cleaned the pen today since the power was out and it was raining. When I opened the bag of oats the chickens started singing. It was the funniest thing.
I started the oats soaking so we'll see how that goes.
I also found out that grated carrots worked wonderfully to keep the chickens in the pen while I cleaned it. This is very good to know because they think there's food out there and I don't want them to get hurt.
Giving them oats is a pain in the neck. Well using the same whole oats anyway. I read that you can't, or shouldn't, give them the shells. So without anything but a rolling pen to crush them so it took me an hour. Or two. I lost track of time.
But they loved them so it was worth it.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Chicken nutrition
Because I live in rain country and have ridden and helped take care of horses, I have been looking for ways to give my chicken vitamins and minerals.
I read that they will eat anything so you have to be careful what you give them. My growing room for vegetables is limited so I will have get creative, but it was recommended to give them greens for nutrition because it is less harmful to them.
It was also recommended to sprout oats. Since I have never done this it will be interesting. The Grange only had a 50 lbs bag so I have lots of room to make mistakes.
I did learn that my chickens love ground up carrots.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Building a temporary pen
My father and I have been building a temporary pen to hold my chicken until I can repair the area they will be living in. It has been quite an adventure. As soon as we started putting the chicken wire on the four pieces, it started to rain.
My cat, Binx, supervised the laying out of the wire. We tried using some old fencing but the staples wouldn't go in far enough to hold it on. So we got some chicken wire, and Binx decided, as all good supervisors do, that he would govern from the safety of the carport
Once we realized it was easier to work with on its side, plus the use of a power stapler and motivation of the rain, we got the individual pieces finished quickly.
The out side of the pieces are fenced so that when they are put together they will create an inner pen with perches that will allow me to create a nesting area for the hens when they are old enough.
So tomorrow I will clear out their area, and we'll put the pen together.
This spring they will go outside so I can start growing some more chicks. It's a process. But the eggs will be worth it for sure.