My Pet Chicken
So I just finished up a bad bout with the cold/flu/overall crappy feeling. Yes, that's how I spent my Valentine's Day, curled up with a wad of tissue paper and a few dozen cough drops. Luckily, I had a great book to help me pass the time; Made From Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich. In this fantastic book, Jenna dives headfirst into the ancient art of homesteading. From raising chickens to baking bread to sewing her own clothes, this lady tries it all! I was beyond inspired.
Now, I have been contemplating raising chickens for some time now. I am so fascinated by the idea of pets that can help put food on the table. Luckily our new house comes with a big backyard (see above picture). Not a farmyard, per say, but close enough. I am planning a huge organic veggie and herb garden, but now, I think I might be motivated to put some chicken coups back there too. So I ask you...has anyone out there tried raising chickens in their backyard? Was it tough? Did you think it was worth the effort?
Supposedly, urban chicken farming is the new 'it' thing according to this Newsweek article...but I don't know. I am still a bit scared!
Posts
Hey Christine! I love chickens! My family has had chickens since I was in 1st grade. We kept them in a cardboard box inside (with a heat lamp) when they were chicks and loved to hold them and pet them. WHen they got a little bigger by dad made a simple plywood box in the garage for awhile until they were big enough to go outside (probably b/c we live in the country and have to be careful of predators). My dad built the chicken fence and chicken coup and other than that it was easy. We fed them our food scraps and burned our paper, so we rarely had any garbage. Every day we had to go out and collect the eggs. If you don't have a completely caged in area you will have to clip the wings. You can talk to my mom or email her if you have any questions...I"m sure she'd be happy to answer them. I actually sent her a link to your blog a long time ago b/c she's a very crafty woman as well!
Glad you are feeling better! :)
That's a great backyard and a great idea! A word of warning: my neighbors have chickens but they lose them on occasion to the neighborhood foxes that slink around at night. Ahhh, nature.
Yay, chickens! My neighbors have urban chicken... not us yet, but I can imagine them in the future. I might sneak over to take a photo of my neighbors' operation for you. :) Their chicken coop is gorgeous. I know, "gorgeous chicken coop," right? Her husband built it last summer, and it has a sweet little run off the side. When the weather is nice, they let them out to peck around the yard. I think they have about five or six lovely plump hens - the black and white kind. Anyway, the whole situation is great - even with a small yard in town. My mom has always had chickens, too. She lives in the country, so they fit in perfectly. For the past 15 years, or so, she's raised bantam chickens. I'm not sure if you've heard of them, but they are miniature chickens. There are lots of beautiful variates, and they lay perfect, tiny eggs. Hers are really tame - they all have names and they love attention. Anyway, good luck with your decision! I think it would be fun!
So one year I asked my husband for a pygmy goat on my birthday. I've had fish, birds, cats and dogs oh yeah and a turtle my brother lost when I was about 16. Upon realizing that pygmy goats smell just like their bigger kin I opted out and got my first flock of chickens, real fancy ones at that. That was 6 years ago, and we are on our second batch of layers. They are by far the best and I mean BEST Pets I have had, they are not noisy (the guinea hens are) only the roosters make the noise, and are pretty mean too. My husband built us a log cabin coop and the chickens all go back in at night by themselves. We rarely have problems with critters because we have 2 dogs that are often seen napping with the chickens in the dog house.
I, like Malena feed them scraps, not chicken or other meat because that would invite rodents, and in return we get some of the best compost that you just cant buy, perfect for your garden. The yeild and size of our veggies are ridiculously awesome. Plus you get eggs that aren't full of "stuff".
I clean the coop 3x's a year and it never gets real stinky, if you keep layering wood shavings or straw the micro-organisms work on the decomposition and keep down the smell, (I learned that from my local organic chicken farmer, and she used shavings, I prefer straw).
Often you can find pullets on craigslist that are a year or two. That's really the way to go, although chicks are wicked cute, they, like children, require more work. Heat lamps, special feeders, medicated food, etc. And they dont lay for the first 6 months anyhoo. But if you do decide to order chicks go to the source Mcmurray's poultry, they have an awesome selection.
Sorry this comment is so long, if you ever want to talk feel free to contact me.
I don't know you but I found you through craftpad. My family had chickens for eggs when I was a teenager. It started out as a science project then all of a sudden I had 10, then 20. Since we didn't want to kill them, we gave them to friends. My advice would be to not get a rooster...they are very territorial and that's how you end up getting bloody/fertilized eggs. If you do want them to have chicks then you can probably borrow a rooster for a week from a feed store. The rooster would also make neighbors upset, possibly. I loved having the chickens though...my favorite were the black mottled hens and the rusty colored ones...they both produce brown eggs. Yes, as with Malena said, you have to keep them inside when they're small with a heat lamp.
I would advise not feeding them scraps. But, you can grind the shells and put it back in their food (for calcium) if you see that their shells start thinning (during molting). Stay away from feeding them meat at all. Once they taste blood they'll want it more. Sounds weird, but chickens can and will peck each other to death if one is bleeding.
Definitely get a box for them to lay their eggs in or you'll be searching for their eggs everyday. It was tons of fun to see them and predict when their egg laying was going to be each day.
be entertained