Chicken Project, Part VI: Chickens Hanging Out

Here are some pictures of the chickens hanging out in the yard and on the back porch. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

The chickens like to stand on the back porch and look into the kitchen through the glass door.

Chicken Project, Part V: Nests

Although we were warned to not expect eggs until the chickens were 6 to 9 months old, they began to lay when they were 4 months old. The first hen to lay an egg was one of the Golden Sex-Links.  Naomi said she heard a "different kind of crowing," went outside, and found an egg in a makeshift nest in the foliage next to the foundation of the house.  The Golden Sex-Link hung around the nest for a while, loudly announcing her achievement.

When the chickens pecked and ate some of their first eggs, I was shocked and a little repelled. The motherly "awwwk" the chickens made as they milled around my feet took on a sinister note.  Even the way they eyed me seemed slightly menacing.

We decided to make a "roll away" nesting box.  Calling upon our knowledge of engineering and physics principles, Naomi and I built our version of a roll away box, which wound up looking like a miniature hen house, complete with slanting roof.  My neighbor, George, came over to witness our egg-rolling experiments.  He must have thought we were nutty, but we could see that too steep an incline caused the egg to roll too fast and break or crash into another egg and break it, but too slight an incline and the egg didn't roll at all.  Ultimately, only a couple of eggs were laid in the roll away box, but the hens enjoyed sitting (and pooping) on its roof.

We had planned to provide 12 nesting boxes (one for each chicken), until we learned that chickens prefer to share just a couple of nesting spots.  Each day, when the hens lay their eggs, they queue up for their turn on the shelves that hold the nesting boxes.  Recently, two Rhodies were scrabbling over who would be first in one box (the most desirable box appears to be the one on the middle shelf), and they both wound up crammed in the same box, one facing inward and the other outward.

Chicken Project, Part IV: Eggs

To entice the chickens to lay eggs in the nest boxes, we used a variety of strategies that we'd read about (e.g., putting egg-shaped rocks or golf balls in the nests).

An exciting day in the Great Pocatello Chicken Project was when the first egg was laid.  Since then, we've received a mini-education in egg variety: color, size, hardness of shells, etc.

When the chickens began to peck open and eat their own eggs, we tried several strategies to discourage them, such as injecting decoy eggs with vinegar or chili pepper sauce.  We found that the best way to prevent egg cannibalization is to simply get to the eggs as soon as possible after they are laid.  This sometimes means reaching under a nesting chicken to retrieve warm eggs.

Two of the most amazing eggs laid so far are the "Frankenegg" and the "PeeWee Egg."  The Frankenegg was extraordinarily large (it's the lower right egg in the carton pictured above).  Naomi assumed it contained a double yolk, but when she opened it, she found a fully-formed, hard-shelled egg inside it.

 

Average egg and Frankenegg                                                              

Surprise!




The PeeWee egg (below) was laid recently.  It's perfectly round and apparently doesn't contain a yolk.PeeWee egg and average egg

Chicken Project, Part III: Nametags

          From the beginning, we've discussed what we would do with the chickens once they stopped laying (or if one of them turned out to be a rooster) and which one of us would be capable of killing them. Hopefully, that day is a long way off.
          We thought it would be funny to name the chickens after various delicious chicken dishes. Perhaps we hoped that the implied threat would stimulate egg production (ha, ha).
          The stars hanging on the indoor coop are chicken "nametags" that were made when I visited my daughter in Florida last June. Mary and I had a 6-hour craftathon one evening, designing and painting the nametags.

Chicken Project, Part II: The Coop

The coop was built on the cheap, with as much salvaged building material as we could find. The inside coop is quite cozy: a corner of the garage is fenced off with 4x4s and chicken wire. A cinder-block-sized hole was punched in the garage wall to create a double-door exit to the chicken yard. A window screen mounted on hinges serves as the entrance for humans.

A former storage closet holds the nesting shelves.  An overhead shoplight set on a timer provides 12 hours of light for the inside coop. This winter, a heat lamp was installed to provide warmth. A thick layer of straw helps insulate the chickens from the cold cement floor. Cleaning the coop is fairly easy, and the soiled straw makes great garden mulch.

The outdoor coop contains a swing for the chickens that Naomi's mother made from pieces of an old bent-wood rocker. Occasionally, the chickens are given run of the garden adjacent to the coop. They love to crouch under a large rhubarb plant and eat the leaves.

Now that winter has come, the chickens go outside less frequently, but they apparently don't mind the cold. For the most part, our winter has been mild this year, except for a few days of below-zero weather. Several days in January have reached 40 degrees (which is warm by Pocatello winter standards).

Ruth posted a comment about predators. The original plan was for the chickens to be in my yard, but because my yard is adjacent to the hills on the west side of Pocatello, it is rife with predators: skunks, coyotes, and snakes, not to mention a zillion neighbor cats and roving dogs. Even in Amanda's and Naomi's safer neighborhood, we dug down about 18 inches and buried chicken wire, anchored by cinder blocks, to discourage predators from digging under the coop. The outdoor coop is inside the fenced garden, which is inside the surrounding yard's fence, so large predators such as dogs are triply discouraged.

The Great Pocatello Chicken Project, Part I

Golden Sex-Link Hen

Last May, some friends and I began the "Great Pocatello Chicken Project."  We purchased 12 chicks, built an indoor/outdoor coop in Amanda's & Naomi's garage/backyard, and set about learning chicken husbandry (or, I should say, "chicken wifery," since this is an all-female project, including the hens).  The chickens were from three different breeds (four from each):  Golden Sex-Link, Barred Rock, and Rhode Island Red.

Barred Rock Hen

We were warned to expect some of the chicks to die, as they are pretty fragile.   When the chicks were only a week old, I took care of them while Amanda & Naomi were out of town.  For two days, the temperature in Pocatello was extraordinarily high, and the chicks (in the incubator box) began a strange whirling behavior.  They flopped on their sides and propelled themselves around, as if they were break-dancing.  Freaked out that they would die while I was "chick-sitting," I brought them to my house (The coop is about 2 miles from where I live.), where I could monitor their environment more closely.  Fortunately, none of the chicks died.

   

Rhode Island Red Hen

Thanks to loving care, good nutrition, and Naomi's careful attention to coop sanitation, the chickens continue to be healthy.  They even began producing eggs much earlier than the experts predicted.