Day 6

The chicks are still doing wonderfully. As of yesterday, we moved the hutch indoors, and moved them to that. They seemed to be loving it almost immediately. Plenty of room to 'spread their wings', and far less chance for them to escape just yet. The heat-lamp provided a bit of a problem at first, but we solved that one quickly. When we close the lid, we simply move the lamp to the front of the lid, so that it shines in through the front mesh. It makes it a little harder to maintain a steady temp, but the chicks don't seem to mind, and it is still staying the proper temperature in there. The 'warm area' just moves from one spot to another.

Settling into their new home

They love the extra room, and have already begun to 'coast' across the floor. They love roosting on the perch, as well; however, it's a bit high for them to reach on their own. If we hold them near it, they're more than happy to step onto it and hang out there for a few minutes before jumping back down.

Banding one of the Cornish Rocks

Another problem we encountered: immediately upon moving them to the hutch, the big dog and both cats took to sitting right in front of the hutch and watching the chicks [with the dog drooling the entire time!]. One of the cats even figured out that, by hiding under the hutch, she could reach up between the metal tray and the front boards, and put her paw on the mesh bottom. Thankfully, I laid a piece of cardboard down that covers most of the bottom, and spread the bedding out on that; the cat has NO chance of reaching the chicks. But I still placed another sheet of cardboard across the front to deter them from trying that trick.

Snipping off the zip tie so that they can't pull it tighter

The cats have been caught throughout the day, sitting on the buckets and watching, but they haven't even tried going over the top. I don't know if they even realize there IS an opening at the top. Let's hope they don't get curious! The buckets are holding the cardboard in place, so I can't remove them from the arrangement just yet. After setting it up, and observing the other animals for a few minutes, I realized this whole plan may not have been a great idea: we managed to do the equivalent of placing them in a deli case!! Now the other animals have a much greater opportunity to watch them and decide which one they want!

Doesn't seem to care about the tie at all

This afternoon, we started to 'band' the chicks' [refer to my earlier post, for identification purposes], and I discovered that the rubber-bands wouldn't work. Half of the chicks' legs are already so large that the bands would only last a few days before we'd have to remove them. So, I fell back on another recommendation I received: plastic zip-ties. They'll have to be monitored somewhat closely, and when the ties are becoming too tight, they'll have to be cut off and replaced with larger ones. But, thanks to the emerging characteristics of each of the chicks, we only had to band three of them.

Banding one of the Isa Browns

I've done a bit more research, and I've determined that the two brown pullets are Isa Browns. We already knew that three of the yellow ones were Cornish Rocks. I have been unable to determine what breed the fourth yellow one is; the pullets that we chose from were supposed to be a mix of Isa Browns, Rhode Island Reds, Black Sex Links, or Barred Rocks. However, none of those breeds seem to be yellow as chicks. Barred Rocks & Black Sex Links seem to be mostly black; Rhode Island Reds and Isa Browns are named that for a reason... but I have no idea about the fourth one. Nevertheless, her wing feathers are becoming more and more pronounced, and she's going to be beautiful; I only wish I could figure out what breed she is!

They've already lost interest in the ties

The only downfall I've really noticed to having them in the hutch: every few minutes, I hear noises that I am convinced mean that the cats have gotten in their. I jump up and run into the room... only to discover that it's just the chicks, fluttering from one end to the other or trying to get up to the perch. It's funny, but I hope I don't become too used to it; if that happens, I'm sure the cats would be able to eat at least a couple of them before I catch them at it!

I expected to get the plan for the coop and run done this week; however, since it's going to be at least two months before they're hardy enough to be outside, I'm not going to rush it. I can't just forget about it for now, though; if I do, it's practically guaranteed that they'll be ready to move outside, and I'll be standing around saying, "Uhhhhh... now what?"

Beautiful wings

I need to do some more research: at this point, I'm mainly interested in feeding specifics. All sources indicate that chickens love greens, among other things. I need to find out if this is to be done only once they're adults, or if the chicks would do well with a little added leafy greens in their diet.

I've run out of actual information; so I'll just let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Tomorrow: a trip to the used bookstore to look for reference material!

 

The undetermined breed

Days 4 & 5

Everything is still going well. The chicks are getting bigger every day [sometimes it seems they're visibly growing by the hour!], and they're doing wonderfully. I'm really starting to get used to the whole process, while still not being too attached to the birds themselves.

I finished reading "Keep Chickens! Tending Small Flocks in Cities, Suburbs, and Other Small Spaces" by Barbara Kilarski. Overall, not a bad book, and I did learn a few things; however, this book is more geared towards people who want to keep chickens as pets (outdoor ones, but still pets). I get the impression that this woman sees her chickens as companions; the eggs are just a perk. So, not quite the situation I'm in; we do intend to eat even the hens, eventually. But worth a read. I might have to go check a couple other area libraries, since this appears to be the only non-fiction book about chickens in our local library. Oh, and the used bookstores; I must visit those soon, too.

A few of the chicks are getting their feathers already; they all have at least a few wing-feathers (some have more feathers than down left on their wings). At least two of them are already getting tail-feathers. Also, we may have determined which of the yellow chicks is the pullet. The two brown ones are definitely pullets; until now, the other four all looked identical. But three of the yellow chicks have white wing feathers; the fourth has white feathers with black splotches on them. It has also started getting feathers on its lower legs, while the other three have completely bare legs. I'm not positive yet, but we'll see.

Beautiful wing feathers!

All sources indicate that their bedding should be changed daily; however, so far, I'm only changing it every other day. It seems to be almost entirely clean after only a day, and I hate to disturb them every single morning needlessly. I'm sure it'll become more necessary to change it daily once they get bigger (and produce more poop!), but for now, every other day will work fine.

I'll have to start looking for a bigger box for them soon. They're already starting to jump high enough to 'peek' out of the box, so I'm thinking they only have another day or two in that one. We originally discussed putting the hutch in the basement, as they have a couple of months before they're okay outside. But I realized this evening that there's more than one argument against that. For one, the hutch is light-weight, and it will be simple to move; however, our basement stairwell is narrow, and it would be a pain to haul it down there, only to bring it back up a few weeks later. The second reason, and the more important one: if they're down in the basement, they'll hardly ever get any attention. The basement has a horribly low ceiling, so none of us really like going down there unless we have to; therefore, the chicks would NOT be as 'humanized' as they should be.

A few of the chicks also seem to be maturing very quickly. According to the research I've done, chicks shouldn't be able to balance enough to 'roost' on perches until they're around 3 weeks old. However, at least 3 of our chicks have already started to roost on the dowel I put in the box. They also seem to like clinging to a single finger when we hold them, almost like a parakeet or other pet bird.

I finally accepted today that I will not be able to buy chicken legbands locally. As all the internet sources I've found only seem to sell them in large quantities, I've elected for a secondary option. I bought a package of hair rubber bands (sturdy ones, not the flimsy, cheap ones!), in assorted colors, and will simply 'band' them that way. I would still like to try tracking their growth, so if I can make this rubber-band idea work, I'll start in the morning.

David made a very interesting point yesterday: Currently, we're using an oven rack to protect the chickens. Later, we'll be using one to prepare them!

Tomorrow, more photos, and hopefully more real information.

Ordinance? We don't need no stinking ordinance....

Forgive the poor choice of words, I'm simply furious right now. This morning, I spoke with someone at our township office. She pulled up our property records, and muttered to herself, "Less than half an acre.... zoned as R3... the keeping of fowl is prohibited." What?! She then went on to say that we are "permitted 3 small animals", which "could include one chicken, one dog, and one cat". Ok... so I can't keep chickens, but I can keep ONE chicken?

First, let's address the numbers portion of this. One chicken would get rather lonely, unless it was a house pet, that is. I do not have any desire to place a diaper on a chicken, and I certainly don't want to devote 50% of my time to cleaning chicken poop off my floor, so that is not an option. Keeping a single chicken in an outdoor setting would actually be bad for it; lonely chickens tend to have bad attitudes, poor health, and generally don't do well.

And, does this mean that, if I had no other pets, I would be permitted to keep three chickens? Well, wouldn't that fall under the definition of the "keeping of fowl"? So where does that leave me? I have no idea.

I joined a forum this morning, devoted to the keeping of backyard flocks (http://www.backyardchickens.com/), and found references to the Michigan "Right to Farm Act". I have since read through this act, and it seems to provide protection for our situation, as long as we are selling at least a portion of the product that we produce -- obviously, in this case, eggs. I can't seem to make heads or tails of the actual legal-speak in the document, but one interpretation from the forum was that it doesn't matter if you have 100 acres, or 1/10th of an acre; if you place a sign out front, offering eggs for sale, that should be enough to satisfy the law. State law superseding local ordinances, this seems to be a second line of defense for our case.

I almost mentioned to the woman that it was ludicrous to hear that, while we aren't permitted to keep a few chickens, the people down the block have pigs... but I stopped myself in time. I don't know for a fact that those pigs are permitted, and I certainly don't want to cause trouble for someone who is obviously not causing problems for anyone else.

The other day, I spoke with the mother of one of my kids' friends, who also keeps chickens. She lives in the same township, and said that she was told a few years ago that they were permitted to have two. So, now that the nearest city has started to permit chickens, the rural township we live in doesn't allow it anymore? That makes no sense! But, I realized: perhaps her lot is larger than ours. Or maybe because it's in a different neighborhood, perhaps it's zoned differently. I pulled up township property records, and discovered: not only is their property under the exact same zoning as ours (R3, whatever that means), their lot is only .02 acres larger than ours. So there's absolutely no reason for this determination, in my opinion.

I know the right thing to do would be to begin taking steps to change this ordinance, or at least find out how/if I can get an exception. But I really don't know at this moment. I will update on this subject as warranted, but for now, I think I'm placing myself in a hold pattern; let the information sink in, and consider further steps.

If anyone knows of any sources of information, or has suggestions on how to dig up the information, feel free to let me know in a comment. :)

Day 3

The chicks are handling their new life rather well. They're not thrilled with being picked up all the time, but they accept it. According to all sources I can find, they will have a much better temperament if they're handled on a regular basis (one source said to allow the kids to handle them whenever they want). If they're used to being handled by humans, then they'll even be likely to follow us around the yard when they're not penned in.

Last night, I went to the farm store to look for legbands, for identification of the chicks. No luck finding them, but I did pick up a brooder-box thermometer. The chicks do seem to do a wonderful job of letting us know when they're too warm or too cold (huddling together under the lamp if they're too cold; moving out to the edges of the box if they're too warm), but I wanted another way to ensure the box would stay at the right temperature.

For the first week, the box is supposed to be kept at a temperature of 90-95 degrees; each week thereafter, the temperature should be reduced by around 5 degrees. I placed the thermometer in the box, and it confirmed the chicks' behavior: it hovers right around 92 degrees. So the thermometer isn't really a necessity, but it can't hurt, either.

I changed the bedding this morning. Rather than trying to work around the chicks, I transferred them to the box that we used to transport them home. I was stunned to realize they've already nearly doubled in size, in only two days. I shouldn't be surprised; after all, we bought 3 day old chicks, and they were already FAR bigger than could've fit in an egg.

Upon removing the old bedding, I discovered that the waterer wasn't sitting very well on it; a good amount of water had dripped out and soaked through the papers on the bottom of the box. I will have to try to adjust the layout accordingly.

I still haven't decided on a design for the run that they'll eventually live in outdoors. I need to get on that, and get started building it. Normally, I would think (and all my sources advise) that this should be done before you even buy the chicks. However, I know our arrangement will be fairly simply, probably something small enough, and light-weight enough, to move around the yard. This way, they'll be given regular access to new scratching ground, as well as fresh sources of bugs and worms to dig up.



Whatever the design, it will include this hutch we purchased. I love the look of this little thing, and we certainly couldn't build one for the price we paid. It even has a sturdy metal tray underneath it to catch waste, so I can slide it out and empty it right into the compost. In addition to the perch, it has an asphalt-style roof, which I'm sure the chickens will love to perch on in warmer weather. An easy-access door for retrieving eggs and good sliding bolts on the large front door pretty much sold us on it. I also have a sheet of plywood from a previous project; I'm going to use this to build a few nesting boxes to place inside for egg-laying purposes.

I've found several designs that look pretty good. I simply need to compare them, and apply the design features that we want to use for our coop.



I'm going to speak to our neighbors in the next week or so, if I can manage to catch them outside. I don't think there will be any issues there; of our three immediate neighbors [both sides, and directly behind], one house is vacant and one is inhabited by someone we've actually spoken to only 3 or 4 times in the 7 years we've lived here. I'm sure he won't have any issues, either; a couple of years ago, he stopped mowing his back yard, simply because he never uses it, and didn't see wasting the fuel to mow it. When he did so, he made sure to speak to us, and ask that, if it was an issue for us, to please let him know. He even said he was fine if our kids wanted to play back there whenever we liked. The third neighbor is an older couple, who have multiple dogs, and love their gardens. When I spoke to their adult son, he said that his dad always wanted to have chickens. So again, I don't foresee any issues. But I will be sure to tell them that, if any issues arise, to please not hesitate to let us know. We don't want our flock to be a problem for anyone.

And now, it's about time to put the rack back on the brooder, and head for bed. I'm going to spend a good portion of tomorrow working on designs for the coop and run, so I need to get some real sleep.

Day 2

I've always loved waking up in the morning to birds singing. I was amused to wake up this morning to chicks cheeping inside the house. It was a wonderful wake-up call! I will say: I still don't think I'm attached to them, but I am getting attached to having them. ;)

Last night, David was a little unsure of the way we had the heat-lamp set up, so he made a modification. He placed a huge c-clamp on the top of the shelves by the brooder, and hung the lamp from that. This will reduce the heat absorbed by the wooden shelving unit, and also make it a little easier to adjust the height of the lamp. It will also cancel out the frustration of the rubber clamp-covers sliding slightly on the wood. We'll see how well this idea works.

The kids have been holding the chicks at various times throughout the day, and have (mostly) been diligent about washing their hands afterward. I've never been very pressed about those waterless hand-sanitizers, but I think I may buy some to keep by the brooding box; it makes more sense than washing hands thirty or forty times a day (or more!), especially when you consider that it's five or six people, each washing their hands that many times a day!

I've continued to check on the chicks throughout the day, and they seem to doing wonderfully. I slid a wooden dowel through holes on the ends of the boxes, to provide a slightly raised place for them to roost, if they choose; I also placed a couple of pieces of scrap wood in the box for the same purpose.

I took one of the kids to the library, and decided to step in and see what books I could find on caring for chickens. I was amazed to discover they have preciselyone book on raising chickens. One. There were at least 15 on raising horses, several on pigs, numerous books on rabbits, but only one about chickens.

I thought about setting up a system to weigh the chicks regularly to track their growth; however, without a way to 'tag' them without any harm, I don't know of any way to distinguish between them all, which would negate any way of truly tracking progress. Edit: After a quick search, I found the following link: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080508205247AAc6DJM  I think this means another trip to the store! :)

Later edit: I went back to the store, only to find that they do not carry these tags. They might be able to order them, but I'll have to check the catalog first. If not, there are other farm stores around where I can check.

Since I have now spent two hours working on creating this blog (the original blog was on a server that apparently doesn't allow comments from users -- ??), it's time for bed. More updates tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

How Did This Happen?

As I've said, I've been considering raising chickens for a couple of years now, but I've always managed to talk myself out it. I have no idea what I'm doing, what if I get into it and then find out I can't handle it? Why on earth would I want to claim responsibility for any more living beings than those for which I already provide care?

I've read magazine articles, online articles, and newspaper articles on caring for backyard flocks. I did internet searches looking for specifics, compiled vast amounts of information, and generally scared myself silly with the amount of information there is to know about caring for chickens.

I didn't even have any idea where to buy chicks. I assumed that I'd have to go through a mail-order business; I was definitely leery of having these tiny little things shipped in a box, and hope they would arrive safely.

Then, a friend of ours visited a local farm store and fell in love with the baby chicks. After a few days of consideration, I decided to go, look, and do more research. I was adamant that I was NOT going to buy any chicks until I was confident that I could do this right.

Thirty minutes after entering the store, we were walking out with six baby chicks, bags of feed and bedding, a heat lamp, antibiotics to protect against upper respiratory infections, and feed and water dispensers. We also had plans to return later in the day (when we had more room in the car) to purchase a chicken hutch for when the chicks are a bit bigger.

Regarding the medicine: I am not one to jump on giving animals preventative medicine, just because the salesperson said I should; I have not yet used them, and am unsure whether I will or not.

The chicks we chose included 3 pullets (from a random selection of breeds that could include Isa Browns, Rhode Island Reds, Black Sex Link, or Barred Rocks), and 3 Cornish Rocks (for meat). I still need to do some checking to see if I can determine what breeds the pullets are, or whether I'll have to wait till they're bigger to answer that question.

Upon returning home, we scavenged a large cardboard computer box for a temporary brooder. We lined the bottom with paper, and spread 2 or 3 inches of pine bedding across it. After filling the water and feed dispensers, we transferred the chicks to their new home.

 As it is still rather chilly outside, the brooder is presently sitting in our living room, away from windows and drafts, but in a well-trafficked area, so that I can remember to check on them regularly and keep track of the condition of their bedding, food, and water. Our brooder stand is an old dresser that had the drawers removed; the box sits on top of the dresser, and all the supplies fit neatly underneath to keep it organized.

The dresser is presently located next to a tall set of shelves, onto which we clamped the heat lamp. Originally, the lamp was fairly close to the box; after a few hours, I saw that the chicks were hiding around the edge of the box because it was a little too warm. I began gradually moving the lamp up the shelves to moderate the temperature in the box. Once the chicks were comfortable enough to curl up under the lamp, but not all huddled together, I knew we found the right height for now.

The chicks are a little skittish, but they began adapting to their new home very quickly. The kids are able to pick them up for a few minutes at a time, and they stay fairly calm, albeit a bit adventurous. They seem to enjoy climbing up arms and trying to jump from hands, so the kids are quickly learning to keep a close eye/grip on them.

David and I picked up the chicken hutch from the store, as well as more pine bedding. It's currently sitting outside, while we consider various plans for building an outdoor home for the chicks once they're big enough. One suggestion that we received was that the hutch could be placed in the basement. While I like this idea, I don't think we'll be using it. Our basement stairwell is simply too narrow to easily move the hutch up and down the stairs as needed.

In addition to the chicks, we presently have two dogs and two cats in the home. One of the dogs is a beagle with a very nervous disposition; she has no problem confronting dogs in her territory, but she is terrified of the cats. I don't think she'll have any interest in the chickens, but we'll watch her to see how well she adapts. The other dog is very interested in the chicks, and seems to wonder why we won't let him play with these adorable, fuzzy little squeaky toys. He will definitely bear watching. And the cats will definitely be watched, as I'm sure they would love to try playing with the chicks whenever anyone isn't watching.

To ensure the chicks' safety, especially at night when there's no one to keep an close watch, I re-allocated a metal rack from the oven to place over the box; masking tape holds it in place wonderfully, and will ensure that the cats can't find their way in. I was careful to make sure the tape doesn't have any loose ends that the chicks can chew on. Better safe than sorry. I almost dismissed this idea, as I will not want to use the rack in the oven after this; there's simply too much concern about possible bacteria, etc. However, I realized we almost NEVER use both racks in the oven at the same time, so it would be perfectly fine to just get by with one. If nothing else, I can always find another one later on to replace it.

And thus ended the first day of this wonderful venture. Late in the evening, I went out for a "girls' night out", and returned home after everyone else was in bed. I was absolutely amazed to fully realize: "Holy crap... I have CHICKENS!" I am currently overcome with both awe and sheer terror. So far, the awe is winning. ;)

Let's Get This Party Started

Let's start off with a little bit of background. I have never lived on a farm, never even touched a live chicken (until yesterday), and, aside from some fairly limited research, have no idea what I'm doing. But the idea of raising chickens has stuck with me for a couple of years now, and we decided to give it a shot. By "we", I mean myself, my husband, and our kids.

I could list the reasons for our decision, but I'll just stick with a couple of them. I think it would be an amazing experience for the kids; I'm more than willing to 'try and see' if the home-grown meat and eggs live up to all the hype (I'm fairly confident they will!); overall, I'm really hoping that it will turn out to be a cheaper option than store-bought. Not counting on that one, but hoping. I will also be keeping very close track of all expenses and monetary information, in order to really crunch numbers and make a serious comparison.

My husband is mostly going to be a helpful bystander in this process. He's more than happy to help out when I need him, but he's leaving the project management in my inexperienced hands. The kids range in age from 14 down to 7, and are (mostly) excited about the idea.

However, this new venture has not been well-received by all. My oldest daughter is not happy about this, and had a micro-meltdown yesterday when we informed her that the chickens are not pets, and will eventually find their way to our dinner table. We talked to her about the plan, and told her that she is most certainly allowed to "peaceably protest". Peaceable protesting can range between declining to assist in chicken-related chores, to refusal to eat the end results. Non-peaceable protesting includes, among other things: trying to hide the chickens, attempting to release them to the wild (she was also informed of the specific reasons why this would be worse for them than our plan), and temper tantrums.

After seeing the eldest daughter's reaction, I was worried about how the 7-year-old would react. That turned out to be pointless. We explained the situation to her, and, to get her thinking things through herself, I asked her, "What do chicks grow up to be?" ... "Um... chickens?"  "And why would we want to have chickens?" Her eyes lit up, and she said, "Chicken nuggets?"  Okay, I don't think there will any problems there. At least not until it's time for the first ones to be slaughtered, that is.

We live in a suburban/nearly-rural area in southwest Michigan. We don't have a lot of space, but it's more than enough for a few chickens; we live on a little more than a third of an acre. It's a fairly quiet residential neighborhood; mostly quiet because several of the nearest houses are vacant.

I definitely should have checked with our township to be certain that chickens are allowed; I do feel rather stupid for not having done that before buying the chicks, but if the people down the block are permitted to have pigs, and people who live in another part of the township are permitted to breed llamas, I'm confident that it's not an issue. I will be calling on Monday, though, just to be sure.

And thus begins the adventure....