Attentive mother
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Attentive mother |
What do some people find fascinating about chickens? It can't be their intelligence because we have bred most of that out of them. Could it be their many pretty varieties or perhaps because we are often able to associate their behaviors with our own - hen pecked, pecking order, chicken (scared), (a pretty) chick, a rooster (pride), crowing (boasting), etc.
Shortly after we bought the house, we went to the 4-H fair, purchased chickens from the kids and kept them in a coop we built in the garage. Eventually, we constructed an outdoors pen behind the garage with entryway and ramp to the inside. We didn't have a rooster as we were afraid he would disturb the neighbors. We found out that without a rooster, the hens did not treat each other very well, a lot of squabbling and fighting. The lowest hen in the pecking order led a miserable life! After deciding to try having a rooster, life in the coop became much more tolerable for all the hens. He has a powerful calming effect on the ladies. That doesn't mean they are afraid of him. We had one rooster who could never keep feathers on his chest because the hens would pull them out and he let them. Why they liked him this way, was only known to them.
Eggs
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Relaxing in the nest |
Eggs waiting to be collected |
The main reason for having chickens is to have fresh eggs. Who knows how old the eggs in the supermarket are. Some say that having fertilized eggs is more healthy. Selling the extra eggs to our friends helps pay for the feed. The fact that our chickens can get out and walk around all day instead of being forced to remain in a cramped cage also improves the quality and is more humane. We make sure that their feed contains no animal byproducts. People immediately see the difference in the color of the yoke and many taste the difference also.
When away from home, we feel guilty having to throw away table scraps as this is their daily treat which they look forward to each afternoon. Having a large vegetable garden means that all the weeds, old or unused parts of the plants and caterpillars picked off the plants are happily consumed by them.
Broth
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Roosts are made of small diameter trimmed trees |
While some like old hens, we do not. However, when boiled with herbs and spices, the resulting broth can't be beat. My wife freezes the broth and when she says we need more chicken broth, I know what that means. The first poultry that I killed was a turkey when we were living in South America many years ago. It was Thanksgiving up in the USA and I wanted to have a real turkey dinner. We bought the turkey at the 'mercado' or marketplace and brought it home live in a burlap sack between us in the bus. After fattening it up a little more, we killed and cleaned the bird and invited friends over for a 'North' American Thanksgiving dinner.
My belief is that we shouldn't have chickens if we are not capable of doing the whole process. Years ago we had friends who let their chickens die of old age because they didn't have the heart to kill them when no longer productive. Our young daughter was playing with one of their old hens and carried it over a puddle of water whereupon it had a heart attack.
There are many ways to butcher a chicken but the most humane way I have found is the method usually used in processing plants. We place the bird upside down in an inverted home made funnel with its head sticking out the bottom. A sharp knife to the throat kills it and it's position allows the blood to drain out. Once drained of blood, I tie string to it's legs and dip it into a pan of very hot water which loosens up the feathers. Now the carcass is tied by the strings to a horizontal post to easily pull out all the feathers. There are always fine hairs left which are carefully burnt off using a propane torch. The bird is then given to my wife who guts, trims and washes it well. Now it goes into the pot for broth. I never liked cutting a chicken's head off with an axe and watching it run around for a while minus it's head.
Roosters
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Godzilla |
Our favorite rooster has to have been Godzilla. He was one of the mail order light brahma chicks we ordered after building the chicken house and starting to raise chickens again following a few years hiatus. The breed is large, white with some black feathers and white 'stocking' feet. They are quiet, good layers, can be used for meat and will sometimes brood eggs and care for the chicks.
Mother hens scratch the soil and upon finding something, make a unique cooing sound to call the chicks to eat. When we bring up table scraps and throw them into the pen, the rooster runs to the food but rarely eats it. He makes the same cooing sound, picks up food, throws it back down and watches the hens eat. Eventually, he will eat some if it himself. This behavior is not isolated to a particular rooster. The pen has its own small terrace and stone walls. The roosters like to stand up there watching their harem. They usually don't allow serious squabbling among the hens. Don't think they are brave enough to protect the hens though. One evening, I found some of the hens huddled in a corner of the pen and the rest in the coop. A skunk had gotten in and was calmly eating the feed. It knew I was there but took it's time and then moseyed over to drink water before leaving. I had to watch how he got out in order to fix the breech in the fence that it had found. Where was the rooster? He had the intelligence to hide with the hens that were in the coop!
When the chicks grow and we end up with more than one young male, we butcher the others for the meat when they reach the right size. It is cute to see the young roosters trying out their squeaky voices and sparring with each other. The remaining young rooster eventually challenges the older and wiser one. The winner (usually the older one) gets or keeps the harem and the looser mopes around hoping the old boy will die of old age which eventually does happen. The winner keeps an eagle eye on the other in case the second one gets too close to the hens as sometimes happens.
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Most roosters take good care of their hens |
If we allow a broody hen to have chicks, she must be separated to incubate her eggs in peace. After they hatch, it is fun to watch her care for the chicks and see the chicks climbing all over her. Eventually they must be returned to the chicken yard. If she is high up in the pecking order she will be able to protect the chicks from the curious and, perhaps, dangerous other hens and the rooster. On the occasion when Godzilla was the king of the roost, we reintroduced the mother hen and chicks. It became apparent that she was not high up in the social order and the other hens were pecking at the chicks. All of a sudden, Godzilla ran over and chased the other hens away! That evening after dark, I went up with a flashlight to see if the mother had dared to take her brood up the ramp into the coop. She had decided to sleep under the ramp and who was sleeping with her and the chicks? There was Godzilla!
Years ago, while our children were still in school, a young rooster somehow got into the pen with the hens. When we found him, he had a bad head wound. We treated him but now had to keep him away from the hens and the young chickens as well because chickens are attracted to an open wound and peck at it. We had to leave him outside, supply him with food and water and hope for the best. Well, he loved his freedom and was scratching for food everywhere. He got in the habit of following the kids out to the front yard where they got on the school bus. The driver got a kick out of it. Later, he was introduced back into the chicken yard and was afraid of all the hens and, of course, the old rooster. Eventually, his turn did come and he did an excellent job.
When another was a chick, he was rejected and badly pecked by his mother. He survived and we raised him with his sister. When he came of age, he was very cruel with the hens and they constantly tried to escape from this vicious fellow. Needless to say he was still young enough to go into the stew pot!
Chicken House
A few years ago, we decided to have foreign exchange students from Europe. The students would stay for a school year, study in the high school and take part in all the senior activities. The spring after our first exchange student arrived, our daughter, now through college and working, proposed having chickens again. We were willing but did not want to have them in the garage as before. I decided that the area of the garden with all the big stones would be the ideal place to build a chicken house. We agreed to go 50-50 purchasing the materials and building the structure.
In a book about caring for chickens, I found a drawing of the kind and size of building we wanted for a flock of thirty although we usually have only around twenty. It is 12' wide x 8' deep x 8' high in front and 5' in back. The sloping shed roof has a large overhang in front and back, allowing it to remain cooler in summer and keeping the rain water away from the windows. Inside, the area is divided by a screened door and wall into an 8' x 9' area for the chickens on the western end and a 8' x 3' area for storage of hay or shavings and food on the east end. When baby chicks arrive in the spring, the brooding area is set up here. The door to enter the chicken house is in front and enters into the storage area. The screen door then opens into the roost and egg laying area. The remainder of the screened wall also supports a four bay nesting area for the chickens to lay the eggs. Long (round!) roosting poles stretch across the room. There are two screened double hung windows on the tall south facing side of the roost area and, on the north side are two wide windows only 1' high, hinged on the bottom and always partially open summer and winter. The rear overhang protects these windows from the weather. The west wall has a rectangular entrance only just large enough for a big rooster to squeeze through. A section of the wall on this end is hinged to open into the chicken pen allowing the old hay or shavings to be easily tossed out into the chicken yard. There are 4" of insulation in the walls and roof and the floor is a sandwich of plywood with 2" of styrofoam insulation in between.
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CADD drawing showing framing layer |
Based on the design in the book, I made measured drawings using a CAD program. The sub floor consisted of a frame of 2 x 6's which would be placed on a pier foundation. As I said, that area of the vegetable garden had rocks which were too large for me to move. I took advantage of them to use as the bases for the piers. First, I laid out the outline of the sills in string at the height the floor frame would sit, which was that of the highest rock.The string outline included the joists between the four sills. Knowing now exactly where all the sills and joists would be, I built up the rest of the piers starting from the large rocks and using smaller rocks and mortar. I made sure that each pier would end up under a joist and that the tops of all the piers were level with each other.
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South facing poultry house with |
North side has two small windows |
two large windows left open during the summer |
which are left slightly open even during the winter |
With the help of our daughter and exchange student, we built the 2 x 6 frame of sills and joists on top of the pier foundation. Although the rocks on which the piers were built are in a random pattern under the frame, they do support the rigid frame very well, the structure above
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Poultry pen protected from rain and snow |
being quite stable. Next, exterior plywood was screwed to top of the frame. On top of the plywood, 2 x 4's (full size, not nominal) were laid, wide side down, around the outside (like a picture frame) and screwed to the base . The 2" thick styrofoam insulation was placed inside this frame and the second layer of plywood placed on top as a floor. The wall framing was assembled, then the roof joists and then the exterior plywood sheathing for the inside walls. After the insulation was applied, the exterior siding consisting of 14" x 1" (rough) vertical pine boards was attached. For the roof, exterior plywood was used, insulation applied between the rafters and then a plywood ceiling. The kids worked very hard and were proud of their work. Much of the framing and plywood were recycled from the roof platform and crane which had been used in the construction of the fireplace chimney the summer before.
The next step was to build a large pen so the chickens could get plenty of exercise outside.The garden is surrounded by a heavy duty 2" x 4" mesh fence 4' high. At the back of the garden, the fence runs along the top of the terrace wall. Part of that became the rear of the pen. The 5' high wall plus the 4' fence made the rear of the pen 9' high. This slopes down to 6 feet at the front where it is attached to the rear of the chicken house and extends another 10' to the south. There, a door opens into the pen. The resulting space is about 12' deep x 20'wide. 2" x 4" x 12' 'rafters' supported a chicken wire roof to fully enclose the pen. Chicken wire was also placed 6" into the soil except at the rock walls to prevent animals from digging under.
At times the pen would become very muddy. Eventually, I decided to cover the pen with 4' x 8' sheets of transparent corrugated plastic roofing material. To do this. I had to add 2 x 6 rafters to the smaller ones and a cross support and two posts. The roof now has to support the snow load. The sheets are attached to the rafters using battens on top and long stainless screws through to the rafters.
With a roof on top, we now feed and water the chickens in the pen all year round instead of in the house. The chicken house stays cleaner much longer now.
Raising Chicks
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" I think we're too big for the brooder" |
"Food, we want food" |
Expecting the hens to replace themselves has not worked out. We have tried incubating the eggs ourselves and, when we have varieties of hens that will lay on the eggs, have let the hens do it. Both cases have resulted in almost half being males. The easiest method has proven to be buying the chicks mail order.
In this way, we get to experiment with different varieties of chickens, are able to order the quantity we wish, don't have to worry about the mother hen, introduction into the flock or having too many males. We purchase from Ideal Poultry because they allow us to buy a smaller quantity and have a good choice of varieties.
The chicks are ordered for arrival in April or May. We choose the variety or varieties and the quantity, usually 16 females and two males. In this way, over half the flock gets replaced each year. If the rooster is good, he will die of old age but we must always have a younger apprentice ready to take his place.
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Young chicks in the brooder |
Two days before the chicks arrive, the brooder is prepared. The storage area of the chicken house is cleaned out and an 18" high wall attached across the front to form a pen. The sensor bulb of an indoor-outdoor thermometer is situated in the center of the pen floor and the thin tube protected by a board. The thermometers on the wall register the temperature of the room and that of the area directly under the heat lamp where the chicks will be. The lamp is turned on and raised or lowered until the center of the floor registers 100 degrees and then left on. Wood shavings are spread across the floor. A special medicated feed for baby chicks is purchased.
When the post office calls, we retrieve the container of chicks. Some postal workers are fascinated by the chicks and some have said the chirping drives them nuts. Air mailing of chicks is based on the fact that they do not need to eat or drink for three days as they still carry nutrition from the eggs within them. Most of the chicks will find the food and water by themselves but some need help. It is not unusual for one or two chicks to die in the first day or so. The lamp is adjusted up or down between day and night to maintain the 100 degree temperature in the center. The chicks gather in there when cold and move to the outside when hot. As the chicks get older, the heat lamp is raised higher until they do not need it at all. After a month or so, the chicks graduate to a second kind of feed without medication.
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Growing chicks in their intermediate pen |
When the chicks are able to escape over the gate, it is time to transfer them to a larger pen. They are still too young to be placed with the hens. I built a 6' diameter, 4' high pen of chicken wire with chicken wire over the roof and also buried into the soil. A tarp protected the roof and three sides from the sun and rain. There, the chicks enjoyed jumping, flying around and climbing on the large rock in the pen. When the chicks are large enough to eat the layer pellets and run from the hens, they are introduced to the chicken pen. It is a necessary but traumatic time for them. By Thanksgiving, they should should be laying and it is now time to start culling out the oldest hens.
For years the system worked well. Then one summer, a few days before the fourteen chicks were going to be transferred to the large pen, my wife went up the garden and thought it strange that the small pen was still. Upon investigating, she found all the chicks dead or missing. There had been a massacre. The only chicks left in the pen had been eaten or were intact except for their heads which had been bitten off. There was a hole dug under the fence. The animal had tried in various places and had finally found a spot where the buried chicken wire had rusted through and no longer protected the chicks. We do not know what kind of animal it was but it was fairly large and wasn't satisfied with filling it's stomach but in killing all the chicks which were the size of a large partridge.
New chicks were ordered and we started over again with only ten chicks. This time, I abandoned the small outside pen and built another into a corner of the large pen which was protected with much stronger fencing material. We couldn't understand how the chicks, now about the same age as the previous ones, were disappearing. First it was one and then two and then three. The last time, a few feathers were left around the fences. An animal, small enough to fit through the 2" x 4" mesh, was killing the chicks a few at a time and had the strength to be able to pull the large chicks through the mesh and carry them off.
I don't think it was the same animal as butchered the first chicks because the methods used were different in each case. The only animal that I know of small enough to squeeze through is a weasel. It did not go after the larger chickens because they could not be pulled through the mesh. Eventually though, it could have killed and eaten the hens right inside the pen or gone inside house through the little entrance. I didn't wait of course. I spent a day covering the pen with a second layer of the smaller mesh chicken wire and checked all the buried wire. Between our gardens, the orchard and the chickens, a game (battle) goes on between us and that wild world around us as to who is going to get the fruits of our labor. Obviously, it is often not us.
Having acquainted you with some of the experiences we have had over the years with the chickens, perhaps you can now understand why some people find chickens fascinating.
Contact: info@manninghouse1860.com