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The Hen Blog

Move Over Rooster! This Coop’s too crowded.

26 July 2020
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Ten chickens on a roost.
Too many chickens!
 

Roosters Not Allowed

So many chicken lovers live in areas that do not allow roosters. Even though we do not live in a city, but a small hamlet along the California Coast, our zoning allows us to have only 20 chickens but no roosters. A rooster’s crow can be heard for nearly a ¼ of a mile. So with respect to my neighbors I needed to find a home for the rooster I’d adopted.

Here’s the story:

Some inlaws had raised 10 chicks from day-olds. They were breeds known for being calm and tame. The family unexpectedly decided to put their home up for sale and relocate. They needed to find a home for their chickens as soon as possible. Of course, I raised my hand, anxious to get pullets who were friendly, young, and nearly ready to lay. I was able to find a home for my two remaining hens from a previously flock, Roxanne and Zelda. I cleaned and disinfected my coop and had my son pick up the ten 4 month old chickens.

What to do with the rooster?

Now the dilemma. One of the chickens is a beautiful Delaware cockerel (rooster). He began to crow immediately upon arrival. I knew I couldn’t keep the young beauty although I loved this “gentle giant”. I posted on Backyard Chickens for suggestions from the experts.

The advice was:

  1. Kill the rooster and eat him. This is something I just couldn’t do.
  2. Give him away.…This would also probably doom him to a stew pot.
  3. Bundle him with a few pullets. Perhaps someone would want a “ready-made flock”.

Within five days, I’d found a family through Craigslist to purchase the rooster along with three pullets. They had recently lost their rooster and their older hens were not laying as many eggs as they needed. They wanted a “ready-made flock”. I was going to have to sell some pullets anyway. My coop was built for six hens and I really didn’t want the consequences of overcrowding.

I’ve kept one pullet of each breed, a Delaware, an Easter Egger, a Dark Brahma, a Salmon Favarelle, and two Barred Rock. I’m a happy chicken wrangler and I’m sure my neighbors are happy too!

 

Bigger is Better – Chicken Coops

29 January 2019
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I just read a great article on Backyard Chickens on “How Much Space Do Chickens Need“. I realized that they really need as much space as you can give them. We let our hens out of their 8′ x 16′ outdoor run every day for a few hours. They run, scratch, dust bathe, and flap their wings in the open areas even though they have plenty of space in their run to do so.

By giving your hens as much space as possible you will avoid bickering, pecking, and cleaning chores and will have happier and healthier hens. For the exact measurements of our coop and outdoor run, designed for 4-6 hens, see: https://www.backyardhencam.com/2010/03/floor-space-for-chicken-coop-and-runs/

Please read the article at the link above. It may change your opinion on the space you are providing for your hens.

Hens scratching under apple trees.

Hens scratching under apple trees.

Auracana, Ameraucana; What’s the Difference?

23 September 2018
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Ameraucana hen named Zelda with muffs and beard.

Ameraucana hen named “Zelda” with muffs and beard.

One of our hens is an “Ameraucana” (note spelling). She’s black in color and has beautiful streaks of gold among her black feathers along with a blue-green iridescent cloak around her neck that reflects in the sunlight. The Ameraucana breed was derived from chickens brought from Chile in the 1970’s that bore the gene that produced blue-green eggs. These original chickens had no tail. You can tell the difference between the original Araucana and the Ameraucana by noting the tail, muffs, and beard on the Ameraucana. The Ameraucana has small, round, earlobes, or absent earlobes, and their small pea cobs are red.

When we bought our Amerauacana pullet, the breeder insisted she was an Amerauacana and not an Easter Egger. That got me thinking, “What is wrong with an Easter Egger?” Turns out nothing except they have no standard and therefore cannot be shown in poultry shows. According to My Pet Chicken,Easter Eggers are not a breed per se, but a variety of chicken that does not conform to any breed standard but lays large to extra large eggs that vary in shade from blue to green to olive to aqua and sometimes even pinkish. Easter Eggers vary widely in color and conformation and are exceptionally friendly and hardy. Since they are usually quite friendly to children and humans in general, they are a great choice for a family flock. Most hatcheries mistakenly label their Easter Eggers as Ameraucanas or Araucanas (or various misspellings thereof). Easter Eggers do not qualify to be shown, since they do not conform to a breed standard.”

eggs in handWe love our blue-green eggs and will continue to keep an Ameraucana or Easter-Egger so we can enjoy these eggs of a unique color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New feeder-“Grandpa’s Feeders”

6 April 2018
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Box containing Grandpas Feeder" has arrived.

Box containing Grandpas Feeder” has arrived.

Ever since we built the coop and outdoor run 10 years ago, we’ve had trouble with rats and wild birds eating the chicken food. While the feeder is in the covered area of the run, it has been accessible to critters who can burrow and fly into the area. To keep wild birds from eating the food during the day, we used hardware wire to cover the standard chicken wire. That worked for the wild birds. But the rats and mice that make little tunnels into the coop continued to steal chicken feed during the night.

 

To mitigate the loss of feed, we put the feeder into a covered trash can in the evening and take it out in the morning. While the husband is willing to go out at night to do this, I am not. When he was recently gone on a trip for a few nights, I saw how inconvenient this chore was. I splurged and ordered one of  “GRANDPAS FEEDERS“.

The galvanized “Grandpas feeder” metal feeder has a metal plate on which the hens must stand to open the lid. The hens have to learn how to get at their food. The layer pellets are enclosed until they step on the metal plate

properly. Now, let it be known that these three hens are quite bright and I have no doubt they will learn within a week or two, how to work this feeding machine.

Putting together Grandpas Feeder is easy. It takes about 30 minutes.

Putting together Grandpas Feeder is easy. It takes about 30 minutes.

 

 

  • Week One: the feeder is kept open.
  • Week Two: the feeder is kept partially open.
  • Week Three: the feeder is closed and hens must stand on a metal plate to open it and to avail themselves to the pellets.

Take a look at the new “Grandpas Feeder” on the “Live Webcam” and see how the hens are doing. This experiment will be interesting and I hope it reduces the loss of food to the tiny nocturnal creatures that visit at night.

UPDATE 8-2020

Our new pullets have had no problem adjusting to the Grandpa’s Feeder. It makes a loud noise when they step off the platform but this does not seem to bother them. We put a piece of weatherstripping on the flap that shuts down so that we would not have to listen to the sound all day. 

 

 

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