Buried Treasure...Blooms....and eggs?

I was out in the yard the other day tackling an area that I have avoided. Reason being I just didn't know what to do with it. There were weeds 10ft high (well almost) as well as a small grouping of trees that were left after the builders cleared my lot but they are not healthy and really I should just cut them down and dig up the roots. However, that is just way too much work for me to deal with and I am a bit of a lazy gardener, so I have just ignored it and ignored it. Yesterday I just couldn't ignore it anymore! It was driving me nuts and I had to tackle it. It was such an eye sore and sitting right behind my beautiful rose bed too. So I grabbed my shovel, lighter, hose and rake and went to town! All the rain we recently received had softened up the ground nicely. I burned all the dried weeds and leaves from last year and overturned most of the soil pulling out any fresh weeds by hand. I dug out some kind of wild shrub that was ugly....that was rough on my back but I did it. While digging I discovered some buried treasure!

OK, so it isn't the kind of treasure one hopes to find but it was kind of fun seeing what my shovel would happen upon next. I found a weight, a measuring tape, and a few light fixtures but no gold, silver or precious jewels. Maybe next time?

Here is the ugly area...

Told you it wasn't pretty! The pine tree shares the property line with my neighbors behind me. When we put our fence up to the left of it we stopped there because the neighbors wanted to take the tree down...themselves! That's another story...

They ended up leaving the tree and finished the fence last year. There is a run off area the runs the length of our backyard that leads to a ditch with a bunch of rocks you can just make out in the photo. Weeds LOVE this area and I HATE it.

So here is my plan for this area... I want it to be an area that needs little to no attention and a bit of a natural look. I decided to leave the trees for now, though one may come down. I chose those purple azaleas you see in the picture above. There are only three but this variety grow huge fast! They will easily take over that entire area in a few years. I decided on a Confederate Jasmine to climb the pine tree to both conceal  it, as well as for its scent. It grows by leaps and bound here and climbs on it's own. When it bloom, OH MY the smell...just heavenly!

I wish I had taken a picture before I did the work because it was even uglier. I love before and after photos don't you? I will just have to settle with the ones I have. When I get it all planted and mulched I will taken an after picture. The real difference of course will be in a few years when it has filled in.

In the meantime...

I love to have fresh flowers in the house and so I picked these up the other day on my grocery shopping trip. Milk...check...bread....check...flowers....check!

Pretty aren't they?

Oh yes, the eggs! Keeping chickens is not for everyone. Most people want the fresh eggs but would rather buy them from someone else and not bother with taking care of a flock of hens.  Not me! I enjoy watching my chickens out the window everyday or watching them after I have let them out in the yard as they run around scratching for juicy bugs and grubs. But there is just something to walking out your backyard to collect your own eggs, especially when you have a couple Easter Eggers delighting you with pretty colorful eggs!

That's all for today! Happy gardening, chicken keeping or whatever it is you enjoy doing!

It's so hot out you could fry an egg!

For much of the country we are dealing with extreme temperatures and many of us are really feeling the heat! Many of us know to take precautionary measures for ourselves as well as our pets. If you keep chickens this goes for them as well! Chickens have a normal internal body temp of around 109 degrees. This is great for the cold weather but they can easily get heat exhaustion and die if you do not provide them means to stay cool. As you can see with Henny Penny or Lucy above (which ever one it is) she is panting much like a dog does and is also holding out her wings both of which help to cool her body down. I thought (though many of us have already been enduring record temps this summer) that I would show you some ways to help keep your flock as cool and comfortable as possible.

• It is really important that you provide them with some sort of shade. This could be a tree, a tarp or even better I found this stuff called Coolaroo Shade Fabric. This can be found on line such as Amazon.com or for those with Sam's Club memberships they have a large roll of this for around $35. This comes in several shades and though it allows light through it blocks up to 80% of UV rays and considerably lowers the temperature under it. Their are several ways to attach this as well depending on the need. I planned on doing this at the start of summer but this summer has been insanly busy which is why I haven't been on here lately.
• Make sure they have cool fresh water everyday. Adding lots of ice will also greatly help to keep the water cooler longer. I often when temps reach into the 90's change their water by mid afternoon because it can get quite warm to even hot. I also try to keep water both in the coop as well as in the shade in the run. The water container can be anything I use a large pink chip bowl left over from my daughters birthday as it is easy to fill and clean out.
  
   
•  Another thing is a mister. This can be the attachment to your hose or an actual mister. I have used for the last couple years a mister that I bought at Lowes but I just went out today and founf one of the nozzles is not working so I rigged up the mister from my hose attachment and it works just fine. This also really helps to cool the air down and the chickens seem to enjoy it.  I have mine near the coop door which I have left open to provide as much air circulation as possible. For some reason though it is hotter in the coop then tend to stay inside. It may be that the sand in the coop is cooler then the sand outside. Or perhaps they are just not too bright! The picture is foggy because the lens kept fogging up on me.

• If you have the means to run a box fan or another type of fan out to your coop this is also another great way to cool down the coop and your hens. In my old coop I put it along the outside of the run in a cool spot and they loved sitting right in front of the fan at high speed. IN my new coop I have it in the coop above them pointing down but I am not sure it does a whole lot of good that way. I am going with another plan for next year. The fan does help with flies too which is nice little bonus!

Those are just a few tips on keeping your hens as cool and comfortable as possible in these extreme temps like todays 99 with a heat index of up to 111 degrees! They will still pant and hold their wings out but this is just their way of helping themselves to cool off. Giving them some cool treats like ice cold water melon will be a special treat and my girls sure do love them some nice cold water melon!

Just make sure they have plenty of water and a place to get out of the sun at the very least. They can overheat. Also their are breeds that do better in hot weather just as their are breeds that are better suited to cold weather or rather I should say can tolerate the heat or cold better then other breeds.

Another thing to remember your hens may stop laying when temps soar and this is completely normal just as they stop laying when they molt. If a hen is stressed they will often stop laying for awhile but this should pass. Just keep your eye on them and learn what is normal behavior and what is not. You can also give your flock vitamins (come in powder form that you mix with their water) that you can get at your local feed and seed or tractor supply. If you are unsure what it is as someone and they will help you. It is much like giving them gatorade. Another thing that is really good for them is organic applecider vinegar but do not give them this in a metal water container plastic only. You may want to check about this with the vitamins too. If you want to know more about the vinegar just shoot me an email and I will be happy to let you know more about it and how to go about givig it to your flock.



 



Stay safe and cool! God bless!

Meet my "Girls"

I don't believe I have ever formally introduced my "girls" to you so here they are ...

This is ginger the last of my 3 original hens. She is also I am sorry to say the least handsome of the bunch. Her and Hannah (my favorite of the original 3 and also the one who died a few months ago) were like two peas in a pod. They did everything together, went everywhere together, even slept side by side. Ginger seems lost without her. She is the top of the pecking order and always has been but keeps to herself these days.

This is Henny Penny or at least I think it is but really I have no clue! I can tell all my hens apart but somewhere along the way I lost track of my 2 Rhode Island Reds. They look almost exactly alike and I don't know which is the true Henny Penny anymore. This isn't the most flattering picture of her either. It is hard to catch a good up close still picture of a chicken on the go with my camera! I threw down some carrots to try to get them a little less on the move but it didn't work very well.  Anyway Henny Penny as you might have already guessed is where the name came from for my blog. Rose cause well I LOVE roses and cottage mostly because it sounded nice all together but also because I love cottage gardens.

This is Lucy, at least we will call her that because again I have no clue which is which. Henny Penny and Lucy are very noisy hens that lay large brown eggs almost every day. They are also very beautiful hens with that gorgeous copper red color (well at least I think so anyway). 

Meet Emma...one of my two Plymouth Barred Rocks. Emma is a very curious hen and likes to follow me around the yard whenever I let them out. She is also a very noisy hen, maybe the noisiest even. She can be a bit of a bully sometimes to my two sweet Easter Eggers and is #2 in the pecking order. I love her though and she enjoys being held and petted.

Though not a good shot of her this is my other Barred Rock, Ethel. It is hard to see in this picture but it is really easy to tell her apart from Emma. She has a deformed comb and wattle for some reason. Her comb is short and nothing like Emma's though it should be and her wattle (part that hangs down)which you can see in this picture is much shorter on one side then the other (in fact you can't even see the other side). Both Emma and Ethel are excellent egg layers and lay light brown eggs regularly.

This little girl is Prudence (named after Prudence Island in R.I) one of my Easter Eggers. They are called Easter Eggers because of the fact they lay pastel colored eggs. They are not pure bred but are actually a cross breed with the genes of either an Ameraucana or an Araucana which are pure bred. If you want a pure bred Ameraucana or Araucana you must get them from breeders because hatcheries do not carry them even though they sometimes list them as such (though you should also see them call the Easter Eggers along side because that is really what they are). They all have the cute little fluffy cheeks (muffs) and/or beards. The EE's look very close to the pure bred Ameraucanas but what sets them apart from the Araucanas is the tail end as they are rumpless. This gives them a very unique look. They all however lay the blue or green eggs and sometimes even a light pink. I just adore them! They are a bit flighty, but very sweet and mild tempered.  They are also much more quiet then the all of my other hens. They even squeak when another hen pecks at them. The bad thing is because of there small stature and timidness they are at the bottom of the pecking order and get picked on or shall I say pecked at.

Last but not least we have Patience (named after the other island in R.I). Again I love both my Easter Eggers! Both lay beautiful turquoise blue eggs. Which is such a treat when collecting eggs!

Here are some random pictures of them...

Henny Penny and Lucy or Lucy and Henny Penny

Emma

Oops you caught being where I'm not supposed to be!

Gathering around the ol' watering hole.

Checking out the nesting box...

Excuse me pardon me here...I want this box so move on out sister!

No wait I changed my mind I want whichever box you want so out you go Prudence! (this went on for some time back and forth, whichever box Prudence chose Emma would get up and move into her box kicking her out. This is what you get for being bottom of the pecking order!)

Look at that adorable fluffy chicken butt! I just adore chickens tushes don't you?!

Ahhh, an afternoon at the chicken spa with my friends!

There you have it, now you have met all my "girls" so in the future you will know whom I am talking about when I mention their names.

Chickens have taken over my herb bed...

Don't you just love it! I love chickens! This is one of my two herb/tomato beds that I haven't gotten around to planting yet. I just don't have the heart to at the moment because everytime I let them out this is where they all go to and glory in the nice cool soft dirt. Sometimes like in this video they are all in there at the same time and right up close to one another even though there is plenty more space. I took some pictures and a video so you can hear them as they take there bath (there is a sprinkler going in the background,sorry). I have read many times where first time chicken owners would panic when they saw a chicken do this because they thought it was dying. It does look strange if you don't know what they are doing. So here they are my girls..enjoy!

How they don't get dirt in their eyes beats me!

They close there eyes and roll their necks and heads in the dirt.

And there you are chickens all bathing together! Well all except Emma who in every picture is standing there watching them but I guess didn't feel the need to bathe. Maybe she took one before bed! lol She just scratched about.

Goodbye my dear sweet Hannah

My dear sweet Hannah had to be put down yesterday morning. She was only 4 years old. She had I firmly believe, a condition known as internal laying or false laying. There is no cure for this and sadly it is common in high production hens. Hannah was a Red Star or Sex Linked chicken which is a cross between either a Rhode Island Red/New Hampshire and Barred Rock/white Rhode Island/Silver laced Wyandotte or Delaware. Those hens that they are crossed with are high egg production hens bred to really put out eggs. If you click on the link you can read a little more about the condition. It really is a sad and horrible way to die. They stop laying external eggs but their bodies still produce eggs (no shell) and build up forming a mass inside their bodies. This eventually suffocates the bird pressing on its organs. The only way to tell for certain if your hen has it is to open them up after they die which I have no desire to do. However all her symptoms point to it.

A year ago she and another of my hens Ginger stopped laying pretty much at the same time. During the past year however she acted perfectly normal and content as all the other hens. Their was however one thing I started to notice...she was getting heavy. Well 2 Sundays ago after we got home from church I noticed her standing legs spread apart and standing alone and not moving. So I go outside to get a closer look and she seemed to be breathing slow and heavy. I felt her underside and where it should be narrow it was large, swollen and hard. Not good. I honestly didn't think she was going to live to see another morning. Next morning she was outside and alive, this went on for a week getting progressively worse day by day. Here is the hardest part about owning chickens...

You might as well understand now for you new chicken owners that chickens though they may be your pets are not like other pets. Yes, chickens can live upwards to 10 or more years but that is if nothing gets them before hand. There are many things that can happen to chickens. They are bred for food and eggs and not pets. There may come a time to where you must make the hard decision of whether or not you are going to end their life or not. I have lost two hens, one died suddenly on her own and the other is Hannah whom I felt it was best to end her suffering....

For a week I agonized over whether or not I should kill her. She hardly walked but she was still eating and drinking. The last 2 days she went down hill fast. She didn't come out of the coop and didn't move from the spot I found her in. She was laying there gasping for breath eyes closed. It was so sad and horrible to watch her slowly die like that. I should have done it sooner but as I said it is not easy to do what I felt was best. I told my husband to shoot her. Their are many ways to cull (kill) a bird and I have read them all in case I needed to do it. But for me I just could not bring myself to do any of them. I think if I had a huge flock of chickens that didn't have names and weren't considered pets I could do it. I wanted to be sure it was fast and painless as possible. So he took a .22 rifle and took her behind the shed and shot her  in the head and it was over just like that. As I said it was not easy but I couldn't stand to watch her suffering like that, eyes closed gasping for breath. So now she isn't suffering and is buried among my roses.

Chickens are prey animals and because of that they do a very good job of hiding their pain so they don't look weak and stand apart from all the others. This is why watching and observing your hens everyday is important, you can get to know what is normal and not normal. Every hen is different but if you should see anything even a little different pay close attention because many times once you really notice that they are not acting right it can be too late. Like I said they will hide it for as long as they can. In the case of Hannah there was nothing that I could do to save her anyway. I have had several cases in a few of my hens to where I have had them in a kennel in my bathroom nursing them back to health. One was for 3 months! Others may have put her down but I wanted to give her a chance and she ended up making a full recovery. That is another good point...chickens are pretty resilient and can bounce back given some time and care.

So goodbye my sweet girl! You will be missed!

Eggtra Special Eggs

These beautiful eggs are what you could be enjoying everyday! Large pretty colorful eggs!
 These are upside down (wish I turned them right side up for the picture) because I have read they last longer that way...who knows. Now isn't that so much better looking than boring little ol white eggs? Which by the way cause I get asked this question many times...brown, green, blue, pink, or white..it makes no difference at all on the taste or quality of the eggs. Egg color is determinded by breed and that is all. I wish I also had a picture to show you the difference both in the size of the eggs but also in how much richer the yolk looks verses pale yellow and how nice the whites stand up verses the runny whites of a store bought egg. I still say hands down that backyard eggs are far better then any store bought eggs you can buy. Yes, even the so called "cage free" birds. Cage free simply means they aren't kept in small cages but are allowed to roam a chicken house though they are still pretty packed together. They are kept indoors unless otherwise stated on the carton. Don't be fooled by terms they give...if you really want to know eggsactly what you are buying, do a little research. There are so many types these days and if you buy grocery store eggs (which hey, there is nothing in the world wrong with buying reg. store bought eggs) and want a better tasting egg then there are some you can buy at the store that do taste and look better then regular eggs. I had fresh backyard eggs for 3 years from my 3 original hens and all of the sudden 1 died and shortly after the other two hens stopped laying (that's another story). No more eggs till my chicks were old enough to start laying. Well after you have gotten used to eating eggs as I have I just could not get used to eating the regular white eggs you buy at the grocery store. I'm telling you they are that much better!   So I bought the more eggspensive eggs can't remember which ones I ended up going with but they were ok till I could get fresh eggs from my backyard again. You can also probably find fresh farm eggs at your local farmers market too...I have seen a guy selling them at mine, though you will pay a little more for them. What is so nice too about getting eggs right from your backyard is you know what your chickens are eating for the most part...though sometimes that can gross you out...ok moving on...hens just lay better eggs when they are happy and free to do what chickens love to do. Do a test, get yourself a farm fresh/backyard egg and then a regular store bought egg. In two seperate bowls crack each egg and you will see eggsactly what I am talking about!

Raising Chicks part 1

In the back is a Easter Egger  and up front is a Barred Rock

I know this is probably a bit late but I wanted to post on raising chicks for those first timers. It really is very very easy and a lot of fun too. Here is the basics of caring for young chicks and as always should you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or email me and I will do my best to answer your question.

Here is a list of things you will need before your chicks arrive..

• chick waterer- 1quart( I had a 1 gal. so I used it but be careful one of mine almost drowned. You could place those sooth round stones along the base to keep that from happening)
• chick starter- can get this at your local feed & seed or Tractor Supply- DO NOT buy medicated if your chicks have been vaccinated already. Chick starter comes in regular or medicated. If your chicks have not been vaccinated then it is probably a good idea to get this. However if you are ordering chicks from a hatchery I recommend getting them vaccinated, it is very cheap!
• I also recommend purchasing some grow gel when you order your chicks or you can purchase it separately, this gets them off to a good start after their rough journey through the mail.
• chick feeder or  you can buy a plastic or galvanized round bottom that screws onto a pint or quart sized canning jar
• heating lamp with reflector and either a white or red 250watt light bulb. Red is best as it is easier on their eyes making it easier to sleep and helps prevent picking/pecking.
• something to put them in (a brooder which can be bought or homemade), chicks like hens need so much space per bird, 2 sq ft per bird (chicks grow very fast and will need the room). You can make a little smaller but you will soon find the need for space and may need to move them into something else. Now a brooder can be as simple as a large cardboard box (I used 2 cut out one side of each box and duck taped them together), a small child swimming pool with something high going around the sides (chicks can jump pretty high!), even plastic storage bins. Anything is fine as long as it as high enough sides or something to put on top to keep them from getting out. I put a window screen on my box to keep them from getting out.

This picture shows the half of the brooder that was out of the heat lamp and had the food and water. The green stuff is the grow gel.

Rhode Island Red

Now the day your little ones arrive should should get them into their new home under the heat lamp. The heating lamp is very important. They will tell you that it should be 90-95 degrees for the first week and then subtract 5 degrees every week till you get to 70 degrees. Well  to make life simpler just follow this tip..start it out about 2 feet above the floor of the brooder. Make sure you have an area from them to come and go from the light/heat as they need to. How I did it I had two cardboard boxes one had the heat lamp the other did not and also had there food and water. They would go in and out when they needed. You must make it so they can get out of the heat. Now as to adjusting it just let your chicks tell you when they are too hot or cold. If you find they are always under the heat lamp then move it a little closer and again if you find them staying out or near the edge of the heat lamp then raise it a little. You should see them happily going to and from this lets you know they are good to go. I wish I had better pictures of the entire brooder to show.

 Once in there new home go ahead and if you have the grow gel give them this and no water or other food for the first hour. The grow gel provides important nutrients and hydration to day old chicks. It is bright green so to attract them to it. I remember mine ate it up like nobodies business!  This should only be given them on the first day. After one hour of the grow gel go ahead and give them water. After day one start them on chick starter for at least the first 8 weeks. Then switch to a grower/finisher till about 17 weeks and then a complete layer. Layer feed can come in crumbles/mash or pellets, organic, or homemade, the choice is up to you however I prefer the $13 bag of Demor laying crumbles/pellets.  Chicks should also be given some grit but not the kind for adult hens,go to your local pet store or even super market and get the kind for pet birds as it is much finer. Then switch to a crushed granite when they get bigger. The grit is swallowed and kept in there crop to help grind their food.

A good bedding for chicks is pine shavings as it is absorbent and and they can't eat it but you can use newspaper though I have read people advise not to as it can cause them to slip and mess up there legs but I know friends who have used it and no problems.

* One other thing that is really important to keep an eye on is what is known as pasting up. This is caused by poop which is a bit runny or loose at first and it forms a crust on their bottom preventing them to go to the bathroom. I had this happen to a couple of mine a number of times. What you will need to do if this happens is get a warm wash cloth and gently keeping rubbing their bottom till it is washed off. After a few days you shouldn't have a problem with this.

A few others things to consider...

On warm days you can let them out in a small confined area under supervision.

Rhode Island Red really feathering out now spending some warm afternoons outside.

A small roost bar in the brooder if possible as they will start to want to perch at night.

They are a little older here getting wing and tail feathers in , you can see the roost bar in the background now.

That's pretty much it for a while. If you are not introducing them to an established flock then at about 10 weeks you can move them into their new coop. If you still have cold nights then you should continue with a heat lamp at night by then they should have most of there feathers to help keep them warm. If you are introducing them to an established flock for the first time I have some tips that might help to introduce them into the flock with as little stress as possible..that will be in part 2.

 Enjoy them, they grow so fast and oh are they ever so cute to watch! Often when someone was missing from the family it was because they were with the chicks! lol They are so cuddly too. Oh I miss when mine were that small. Watching them grow, getting in their tiny little wing and tail feathers, then watching them just starting to scratch like the big girls and even start trying to take a dust bath (which can be really scary at first as you think something is wrong with them but they are just fine). They are a joy and boy do they make some noise! We kept ours in the hall bathroom as we had nowhere to keep them. There cheeps are very loud and that was only from 6!  

Want to know just how noisy hens can get sometimes?

For the most part hens are very quiet and make a low sweet contented cluck cluck. They also make a sort of song (or noise depending on how you look at it, lol) when they have laid an egg, though I have seen them make this same song if you will even when they haven't laid an egg. When they see you coming with food they often "talk" all excitedly about what goodies you've brought them. Some are just more vocal then others, like my Emma. But sometimes they can really and I do mean REALLY make some dreadfully loud noises. Usually one starts and others join in and it is loud! This is one reason I suggest NOT getting chickens if you are not allowed to have them. They are not quiet all the time and it only takes one upset neighbor to turn you in if they know you're not supposed to have them.

It is actually much much louder in person! I have had several of them go on like this for an hour! This time it all started with several fighting for the same next box even though I had 3 other available. Two fighting for a spot behind the door even! Crazy chickens! There are quieter breeds of which Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks are not part of. They are very vocal hens. The Easter Eggers (Amerucana mix) are pretty quiet docile hens. The one in the nest box kept getting bullied out of her box by the Emma the Barred Rock standin next to her. I love most of there noises but when they start in like this they really drive me crazy! The only way to finally shut them up after an hour of carrying on was to throw some scratch in the run and most of them flew out and happily and quietly ate it then settled down after awhile back to there peaceful and contented state and the others to lay their eggs in peace.

When you got to go you got to go!

                                                             Lay an egg that is!

I found this blue egg last week when cleaning up around my hydrangeas. That is an egg from Patience one of my Easter Eggers (the other Prudence was brooding so it had to be her). Here she is...

The coop is only about 10 yards away but I guess she was too busy pecking and scratching around for bugs that she didn't feel like walking back across the yard to lay it in the nest box. I threw the egg away because I wasn't sure just how long it had been there. I don't let them out of the run everyday so it could have been there a week or more before I discovered it. This does bring up a good question though. If I let my hens free range will they lay in the nest boxes? The answer to that is yes and no. Chickens are creatures of habit for the most part. My hens are in there enclosed run for 90% of the time. They have a large spacious run and have plenty of room to run around without being on top of each other. I feed them scraps and weeds and give them a scoop of scratch (cracked corn and grains) everyday. So for them the coop is right there and when the need to lay comes they hop right into a box and lay. This is there normal routine everyday so when I do let them out and they need to lay an egg they will still go back to the coop and lay there egg. Normaly anyway! However, hens who free range for 90% of the time are not used to being confined to their coop and nest box area. Often what happens is like what happened to Patience she's away from the coop busy looking for bugs and will decide to just scratch out a nest in the ground or leaf litter and lay her eggs in the woods or under a bush or something like that. That then becomes there habit and will often even use the same spot. You still may have some who will go back to the coop to lay her egg but you will also have many hens who choose to lay them in an area like Patience did and you may or may not find them. I have a friend who has a large flock of mixed chickens who she would let free range. Her home is surrounded by woods and that is where the chickens would often go looking for food. She told me she started getting fewer eggs. Well it wasn't that her hens had stopped laying but that most of them were not coming back to the coop to lay them and eggs were being wasted in the woods because she couldn't find them. She eventually stopped letting them free range and started getting eggs again as they had no choice now but to lay them in the nest box.

 There are some tricks you can try to get you free range hens to lay in the nest boxes. Most hens will lay sometime in the morning to early afternoon. You can either try to keep them in the run till then and then let them out to free range hoping that most of them will have laid before you let them out. You can also try keeping your hens in the run for a period of time hoping that it will become a habit to lay in the boxes and then let them start free ranging  and hope that they will come back to the coop to lay. Another thing you could try is to set our nest boxes in an area you know they like to go to, say the edge of the woods or something, and hope they will come to lay them there. Chickens like a quite safe place to lay there eggs so this may attract them. Or you could just hunt for them like an Easter egg hunt everyday and then guess as to whether they are fresh or not! I prefer to keep mine in a run where I know they are safe from predators and where they can lay there eggs where they belong.

Sand, pine shavings, or even dirt for the chicken coop/run...is one better than the other?

Is one better than the other? Well if you are asking ME ,yes, however I am sure there are plenty of other people who would argue differently. But since this is my blog and I'm asking the question..I'll tell you why I think that one is better than the other. Again, I am going off my results based on where I live and what I've tried, your results may be different.

 For the first 3 years I had my chickens I used pine shavings in the coop and had a dirt run. It only took me a year to have both drive me crazy! For me a large part of my frustration was the fact the shavings were forever spilling out into the dirt run making everything messy and hard to keep the run clean. The shavings mixed in with the dirt which was often soft and freshly turned up due to the girls taking dust baths. Then I found it difficult to clean the poop out of the coop without removing too much shavings. As a result I would end up removing most of the shavings and replacing it with new shavings. I also did not like the sound of deep litter method or whatever you call it. Adding more shavings on top of the poo just didn't sound clean, or smell good and it just sounded plain gross! So I would end up having to buy large bags of pine shavings. It was just a pain in the rear anyway you slice it and I was sick of it. Again this is me we are talking about here. I wanted a solution but didn't know what to do. So I stuck it out and dealt with it. The other thing I would get frustrated with was the dirt run. Reason being chickens like to dig nice large holes with which to take dust baths. What happens is they don't just make one but many. The dirt in the rest of the run becomes hard and compact and the dirt in the holes gets dispersed around the run and hardened and now you have holes everywhere and no dirt to rake back into the holes. Then it rains, and it rains, and now you have tons of mud holes. The chickens, though they have nice fresh clean water in the coop to drink, decide they like the nasty dirty muddy water instead. Just not good!

 So a year ago we decided to get more chickens and in doing so the small coop would have to get larger. So since it would be built from scratch I wanted to change some things that didn't work for me and see how I could make the new coop and run better and work for years to come. I did some research and came across an article about using sand in both the coop and the run. Hmmm, interesting! The sand they were talking about was a coarse river type sand, more small pebbles then fine sand. Something I can't get here. However I read some folks saying they used construction grade sand from their local landscape/dirt yard because they too couldn't get the coarser sand. So I thought great I will give it a try. So I lined the new coop floor with 2 layers of very thick plastic the kind that come in huge rolls in the paint section. I bought the thickest one they had. I doubled it and stapled it up 3" from the floor all the way around then put the plywood on top of that for the wall. Bought a half yard enough to fill the back of our pick up and shoveled 3/4 of it into the 8x10' coop. Started it in the run but ran out (on my list of things to finish this week or next!). I have now had the sand a full year and let me tell you what a difference it has made!! I love the sand!

 Reasons why I think sand is the best way to go...It is super fast and easy to clean. Most of the poop is under the roost (chickens sure make a lot of poop at night!) with some scattered here and there in the rest of the coop. I bought myself a kitty little scoop and a 5 gal. bucket and once a week I sift it out like a cat litter box. The poop sits right on top for the most part, the sand dries it out, and it scoops right up. Takes me 5-10 minutes to clean out the coop. Now because I am sifting the poop out I am hardly removing any actual sand so after a year I may need to only replace about a bag of sand worth and that is it. No waste! The poop goes into the compost to be added to the garden. Because the sand really helps to dry the poop (sorry to keep using this word but I don't know how else to put it) it actually cuts down on the oder big time! Shaving used to get wet and smell but not with sand. If can build up a little ammonia at times but just get a bag of stall lime (it is extremely important to get the right lime which is the kind used in horse stalls and not the kind for your garden!) and spread it around the coop mainly under where they roost for the night. This "sweetens" it and greatly cuts any ammonia smell. Another good thing to use is diatomaceous earth (food grade if you can get it, look for it in your local feed & seed if they don't have it ask if they can get it) it should be spread around in the coop, run and even nest boxes. This will kill any fleas, mites or other soft bodied critter because though it is super soft to you to those little bugs it acts like sharp glass cutting them up and killing them. You can even mix a little in the chickens feed too to help with internal parasites. Another thing with sand is the chickens really seem to love it as well. I think in the shade of the coop it is cool to them in summer. They spend a great deal of time in there coop in the hottest months laying in the cool sand. When is is raining for several days and they can't get outside to take a dust bath they will do so in the sand of the coop. They couldn't do that with shavings.

Sand in the run is also equally good. It drains far better than dirt does. It doesn't get compact like dirt does and that is good because as I said earlier chickens love to dig out big holes and trenches to bathe in and then you are left with holes and the dirt around gets hard so you can't rake it back. Sand allows then to scratch about and take dust baths without leaving giant holes which turn into mud holes when it rains. The sand can easily be raked back into place. Also just like in the coop the poop dries out in the sand and for the most part just dissipates but if you do need to rake it out it is very easy to do. I just love it and I think you should give it a try. My sister adopted 3 chickens and she too was tired of the shaving making a mess and being difficult to clean. She made the switch and says she too is happy she did. I really think you would never go back!
*I want to post some pics but right now everything is so ugly out so I will wait till spring to post some pictures for you to see.

Getting started with your very own backyard chickens...

So you want to keep chickens but perhaps aren't sure where to start? Well first thing first...have you checked with your local zoning board or HOA if you have one? If yes and your approved, then let's move on!

The internet is a wonderful tool with lots of free information right at your finger tips. I do recommend doing some research if you haven't already. You can find great information about specific breeds for example. You might not know that some breeds do much better in heat or cold then others do. If you are interested in raising them for meat there are specific breeds for that as well. Some are good for both egg and meat, they are dual purpose hens. Maybe you would like some more as little pets and are not interested in their eggs. There are some that fit that description like Bantams or Silkies. Then there are ornamental breeds. Breeds that lay pastel eggs.  These are are some things you may not have thought about and should consider before getting chickens.
You might also consider whether you want roosters or not. Many people think you must have a rooster in order to have eggs. Nope. Roosters only fertilize the eggs, they are not required to get eggs. Next do you want to raise chicks or but them as pullets (young hens that are just about to start egg laying). I have done both and I must say that raising them as chicks is so rewarding and fun. If you don't have the time to deal with taking care of chicks then I suggest going with started pullets. You can either buy them locally (feed stores, paper listings, or Craigslist are excellent places to look) or you can buy them from hatcheries online. Note though that if you want pullets and plan to buy them through hatcheries you will be limited as to what breeds you can get.

Once you have decided what kind of chickens you want and whether you want chicks or pullets. Next comes the coop and run. A coop can be fancy or practical, cheap or expensive. It really is completely up to you and your budget. How small or large it is is important however and that all depends on how many hens you plan on keeping. Chickens need a minimum of 2 sq. ft per bird in the coop and at 8-10 sq.ft outside/run per bird. They spend most of there time outside so making sure they have enough room is very important for happy chickens. If you live in an area where you get a lot of heavy snow then you should consider increasing the sq. footage inside as well. The reason they need a certain amount of sq. feet is prevent pecking and bullying and make happy chickens. If you only have a small amount of space in which to keep them then don't consider more than a few hens. A 6x8 shed converted into a coop for instance can hold a much larger number of hens. Remember you must also consider outdoor space in what is called the run unless you plan on free ranging you chickens. More on free ranging later. Backyardchickens.com has some wonderful photos of coops (some even give how they built them) from folks from all over the country. You can also buy books or go to the library for ideas. My first coop design came from there. It was called the playhouse coop. I only had 3 hens at the time, the coop and run were all under one roof. It worked for the time being but when it rained the inside area was only big enough for them to roost for the night and lay there eggs. Something else to consider. Yes, they were covered but it still would get plenty wet inside depending on the wind. Also you might want to think ahead..chickens are very addictive...trust me! I always heard build bigger because you will want more. Yup! You will and unless due to restrictions you will get more...it is only a mater of time! 3 years later I added 6 more to my 3 (sadly by the time the coop was done one of my hens suddenly died) and guess what that meant? Right...I needed a bigger coop and run. This time I thought ahead and made sure it would be big enough to add more if I wanted or rather if my hubby would let me! lol
(Check out my future post on coops and runs with more details on what to consider)

Once you decide on your coop/run design, what are you going to use for bedding? Well I think the most popular and widely used is pine shavings. I have used it for 3 years and it does the job. However I have since switched to sand both inside and out and what a difference it has made! I will never go back to shavings again. Sand is much cleaner and easier to use. A kitty litter scoop and you quickly sift the poop right up. The sand also helps to dry it up making it easy to sift and not waste bedding. Sand also greatly helps at keeping the smell down as well. The chickens also seem to like it. I think it is cool and in summer the hens spend much of there time there. As for how often to clean your coop...well that depends on how big it is and how many hens you have. I clean mine out once a week but you may have to do it sooner or you may get away with a little longer. A clean coop is the best thing for healthy happy hens. I recommend at least once a week. I have an 8x10 coop and 8 hens..I could get away with 2 weeks but I like to try to make sure I do it once a week.
Food and water requirements. Laying hens need laying pellets or crumbles found at any local Feed & Seed store. They are usually sold in 50lb bags. Laying hens need a complete laying food for proper egg production and contain everything they need like calcium which is necessary for shell development. If free ranging you hens most of their protein and nutrients will come from the bugs and grass they eat but you still need to provide them a laying feed. You may also want to supply crushed oyster shells where they can get some when they need it. The oyster shells have the calcium they need. If you notice your hens shells are thin try giving them a little oyster shell and that should do the trick. Another thing you may want to provide your hens with is crushed granite. Since chickens don't have teeth they store small pebbles in their crops and at night when they have settled in for the night those pebbles help grind the food. If they are free ranged they will most likey find these on their own. Water is extremely important and they need a lot of water for good egg production. Chickens do drink a lot of water and this must be checked daily. Be sure to provide them fresh clean drinking water. In winter check it to see if it is frozen and in summer especially if you live in areas such as South Carolina with our hot humid summers you need to check twice a day. Our summers are so hot and those poor "girls" are panting and holding their wings out....they are not happy campers. I like to fill there waterer with lots of ice cubes everyday and every afternoon. I like to keep a 3 gal. waterer in the coop and a smaller one outside. In summer their water evaporates quickly plus the chickens are drinking much more water so check often!

Chickens are fantastic garbage disposals. They will eat almost anything you give them. They will love you for it too! When I open the backdoor or call them...girls!...they come a running to see what yummy treats I have for them. There are some things you should avoid giving them and that is meat products, onion and garlic. You also shouldn't give them moldy or bad food.

I almost forgot about nest boxes! This is pretty important...all those lovely eggs need to be layed somewhere! You need about 1 12x12 box for every 3 hens. However, they will most likely try and use the same box as everyone else. I have 4 for my 8 hens to which only 6 are laying and they use 2 boxes and even then most use the same box. I have even seen two in a box! They are funny that way. They will most of the time either wait till the one is done or cluck telling them to hurry up and get out cause she wants her turn, even though there are 3 other boxes. Go figure! Though I have sand in the run I use wheat straw to line their nests. I check for eggs a couple times a day as they don't all lay in the morning. I store the eggs in the fridge after collecting them.

That is about it! Keeping chickens is very easy and they require little. Keeping there feed and water containers clean and providing clean water and food (depending on the size of your feed container and amount of hens you might might only have to fill it up once a week), clean coop and run (I also rake this out every 2 or 3 weeks) and that is all. Then just enjoy them and love them! Most like to be held and enjoy being with you. Some of mine like to follow me around as I garden. If you have further questions leave a comment and I will try to be sure to answer your questions.

Is keeping chickens in a small suburban neighborhood possible?

I think I have always been a country girl at heart. Always wishing I had grown up on a small farm with horses, sheep, a cow or two and a flock of chickens. Even now I still wish I had a couple acres to have myself that small farm I always wanted. Will that ever happen...probably not.

I might not ever be able to have the sheep, cows, or horses but the idea of keeping chickens has stuck with me for years. In fact long before I actually thought it was really even possible. Years ago I was watching Martha Stewart and the episode I caught was about her chickens. I saw all the beautiful colored eggs and her wonderful coop and oh the chickens! After that I truly dreamed of someday having some of my own.
Well one day years later almost a year after moving into our first house I was in Cracker Barrel when something caught my eye. It was a book on urban chicken keeping! I thought seriously you really CAN keep chickens in a suburban neighborhood!! My husband wasn't with me at the time but when I got home I couldn't wait to tell him the good news. Unfortunately he thought I was nuts and wasn't so keen on the idea. So I started researching about what it takes to keep chickens and coop designs. I found a fantastic web site called www.backyardchickens.com full of helpful information and a terrific forum. So I started talking to my husband about it again now fully informed. I showed him that we could build a small coop that would look nice and keep a few hens. How they wouldn't take up much room at all and we could put them right along the back fence and out of the way. To my surprise he said ok!! So right away we found some neat coop plans and got to building meanwhile I bought 3 young hens (RedStars) who were just starting to lay and they were on the way! I was so excited to finally have chickens of my very own! So they arrived Hannah, Abby and Ginger, all safe and sound and put them into there new home. We adored them and couldn't believe how much better tasting there eggs were too! Three years later we got 6 more as chicks and raised them, adding to the 3 we already had. They are very addicting let me tell you...ask anyone who keeps chickens!




Now I must say that though it is possible to keep chickens in an urban/suburban neighborhood every county, city or neighborhood has different laws or rules. More and more cities are allowing folks to keep a small number of hens as it is becoming more popular and folks are fighting to have laws changed to be able to keep a small flock of backyard hens. However there are still some who require a certain amount of land or have strict requirements to keep them. Then there are some especially folks living in neighborhoods with HOA's that forbid keeping chickens. You will need to call your local zoning office to find out what there laws are on keeping chickens. I strongly advise you to mention them as pets as this seems to make a difference for some reason with certain areas. HOA's are a different story as they are usually very strict. I don't have an HOA and will never live in a neighborhood that has one for that exact reason. It never hurts to try though and you may just be the one to help educate them on keeping chickens and change the law or rule. Now there are some keeping chickens illegally. I don't advise it. You will quickly become attached to them and if caught (they can be a little noisy at times) they will make you get rid of them or possibly fine you. If they don't allow them in your area try to change it, many are doing just that. Most folks are very uneducated about chickens and think they smell and attract rodents or can carry or bring disease. I suppose that can happen if not cared for but so can other animals. Most people who want to keep backyard chickens do it because they love chickens as I do. They do make wonderful pets. Many enjoy being held in fact. Most are sweet tempered excellent with kids and are very amusing to watch. They make excellent garbage disposal as they love kitchen scraps and leftovers. In return for a small bit of space and some love reward you with delicious tasting eggs every or almost every day. That's without the help of a rooster I might add! Yes, no rooster needed! I will post on what it takes to keep chickens and how to care for them in another post.





To the right is a couple of eggs from one of my beautiful Easter Eggers and Rhode Island Reds. What a treat to find these everyday!