Let’s Talk Chickens

Today was time to clean out the coop. It gets kind of messy and the husband was thinking it was getting smelly. Hot summer days will do that. Our girls are broody and messy. They frequently poop into their food bowl and they love digging around on the floor of their yard. I try and keep the water and food bowls clean by changing them out every other day. We need to come up with a better method because most people talk about changing theirs every few days to a week.



I brought Gizmo with me because she’s cute and adorable and was begging me to take her outside. She loves to spend time out in the sun. She also thought it was pretty fun to watch me wrangle the chickens and scoop poop.





I armed myself with some rubber gloves and scooped the old pine bedding into a bucket then dumped it into the compost. I started a new compost pile for the chicken stuff. Then I filled it back up with fresh pine shavings. The chickens were really happy about this. They ran around in the coop while I clean up the yard a bit. I added more mulch and sprinkled this compost granule stuff. It’s supposed to keep everything clean and non-smelly. I think it works pretty well. They also got their first bit of grit. They have dirt and mulch to pick at in their yard, so I think they've been getting sufficient grit, but I added the real stuff (bits of granite) just to make sure they were getting it.





The girls are still on chick crumbles. I have been patiently waiting for eggs/their food to run out so I can switch them over to layer feed. We also have oyster shells on standby. We've been telling people for a while now that eggs are supposed to be coming, so it’s been a long wait. They are 18.5 weeks old now, making them right around the age at which they lay eggs. Of course I will let you all know when it happens!







These girls sure are purdy. The photos don't show it well, but they are shiny beauties with silken feathers. I can't say enough good things about having the chickens. They are so much fun to have around the garden. If only we could keep their names straight!

The Chicks at Two Months Old

The chicks are looking more and more like chickens! They are nine weeks old now and living outside. The transition to outdoor living happened rather quickly. They were wearing out their welcome in the house so we just decided that there was no perfect time to take them out and went for it last weekend.



We were cautious parents and tried to show them around their new home, which is a palace compared to their makeshift two-box brooder. It took them awhile to find the ramp going into their coop and the location of the food and water, but they seemed pretty content. They finally ended up huddling up in a corner in the coop and we were happy to see them all still alive the next morning!



I've talked a bit about their coop here, but I kind of wanted to tell you about how it is holding up. Mike affectionately refers to the coop as, “A piece of crap.” I wouldn't go that far, but I don’t think too highly of it either. I knew going into this that the pre-fab coop was going to be cheap and not very well insulated. I knew that tweaks would be needed to make it inhabitable for our chicks. But, I also wasn't planning for the water issues that we are already having. The roof on the coop leaks in certain places, so we already have to think about what we need to get it ready for winter. As the chicks get older, we are also going to have to work on the ventilation in the coop. Right now it is functional, but we definitely need to get creative to fix some of the little issues it has. If we had the money to make a sweet coop, I would go that route. In the future, we have our eyes set on a little shed (we’re talking way down the road, folks, like 5-6 years from now) that would rest in a large play yard.



We have the feeder and waterer hanging on a wooden garden stake that we found at Lowe’s for $2.99. It seems to do the trick for now. Since the chicks are constantly growing, this also allows us to adjust the height when necessary.



Our girls like to spend time in groups. I usually find a group huddled in the coop in one of the nesting boxes and another group under the coop in the play yard. It’s good to see that they stick together and keep each other warm. They definitely get friendly when you approach them.





Over the weekend we gave away two of our babies to a friend of a friend. I’m a little said to break up the group, but at the same time, I know they are going to an excellent home where they will be well taken care of. So now we are down to four.



I need to be better at remembering to take pictures. The chicks have been enjoying a diet of chick grower feed with some treats mixed in. They started out loving meal worms, but have lately been bored with them. Things that they have consumed recently are: lettuce leaves, grass shoots from the garden, and some meal worms.



Leela seems to enjoy seeing the chicks. We cautiously keep her on a leash and this picture was taken with Mike carefully holding onto her collar so she couldn't get much closer. After all, she is a dog and her instinct is to chase and kill (although we could never imagine our sweet Leela doing so!) small animals. Gizmo also goes down to the coop from time to time and checks out the chicks. They are about the same size as her now and she seems to play nice.

Overall, we've really enjoyed our chicks outside. It is fun to go out to the garden and visit with the girls. They are good company for when I am gardening, too! It smells so much better in our house and the coop doesn't seem to smell much either (although if we ever get any 90+ degree days, I might change my tune on this one). The chicks have a ton of room to run around in now and I think they are much happier out there, being in the fresh air and living (almost) free range.

6.5 Weeks Old and a Chicken Coop

Our little chickies are all grown up! Since the weather was so rough last weekend, we're still keeping them inside, but they will be moving out soon! Probably another week or so. They are doing well and are still a group of six. That’s another reason why they haven't moved out yet. We want to be sure not to ruffle any feathers of our neighbors by letting out six chickens when we’re only allowed four. Funny enough, there isn’t a limit to the amount of birds to keep indoors.

In preparation, we have their coop all ready to go!

We purchased this coop from Wayfair a couple of months ago. I wished we would have waited because prices have dropped significantly! This coop was the biggest one I could find for the price and I still think it’s really tiny, but it fits in our garden really well.

The assembly was super easy and I did it myself. Underneath the coop we laid chicken wire which we pinned down to the ground and the coop with u-shaped garden stakes. We covered that with garden cloth and dirt. After a little research, Mike decided to go with pine shavings for the bedding. We'll see how that goes for the first couple of months and then evaluate. I know some people also use hay or straw, wood chips, mulch or even just dirt.

If you look closely, you can see that the wire is coming up from below the coop. We tried to make this nice and secure. I'm not expecting this to mean that the chicks are completely safe from predators, but hopefully combined with the garden fence, we can keep foxes and raccoons away from our chickens.

The coop is nice because it has three nesting boxes for our girls and is fairly roomy inside the hen house. There is also a pull out tray for easy cleaning. It’s fairly flimsy so I think wheels in Mike’s head are already turning for the design of a future coop (in 4-5 years, hopefully). We were worried that we wouldn't get a home-built coop done in time (plus the cost of materials vs. prefabricated are nearly identical so getting a pre-fab coop was convenient) and with everything else we had planned for the garden, it was a good idea to buy something that we could put together in just an hour. We'll be keeping you updated on how the coop is working out for our girls.

Anyway, back to the chicks. We kind of missed a straight up six week update, so this will cover both six and seven weeks. Their development is kind of slowing down so there isn’t a huge difference between weeks anymore. They continue to grow, but their colorings are starting to stick as are their love for socializing! They become more and more friendly each day. We love watching them run around and get a kick out of hand-feeding them their snacks. It’s becoming fun to hold and pet them, as they aren't squawking and fussing as much. The flock has really become part of the family!

Most of the photos are of Penelope, since she is the most outgoing of all the flock. She runs to me every time I see her. Dorothy and Lucille also get a good amount of visiting time as well. The other three are a little more standoffish, but they won't say no to a treat!

Well, that just about does it for the six and seven week update! Before you know it, they will be living outside and laying eggs. Check back later this week for more updates on the garden and house - we've been really busy over here making everything purdy!