Raising Chickens

 So you want to raise chickens? Congratulations on taking the step to owning a little bit of food freedom! Keeping chickens for egg production is a great way to ensure you have a protein source on your homestead, doubly so if you process them for meat. There are a multitude of ways to raise chickens and you can save a lot of time and money if you research them before you invest. I’m happy to share how we raise our chickens now and the mistakes we’ve made in the past. The main areas to consider in chicken keeping are shelter, food, space, reproduction, time, health, and clean-up.

SHELTER

There are so many cute coops popping up around the farm stores! They aren’t cheap although some of them seem to be cheaply made. Knowing how many chickens you’re going to keep and what types of predators are in your area will help you decide how big of a coop you need. 

When we bought our first little flock (3 hens of unknown age) from the local auction, we didn’t have a proper coop. They were sheltered in a dog run with a dog house for the first week or so. But I knew we would be getting more chickens before that first week was up. So DH built an old-fashioned coop out of repurposed tin, discarded house doors, and scrap lumber. Twelve years and dozens of chickens later that old coop is still standing. We added a concrete floor (to make clean-up easier) and a small automatic door (to make life easier) but otherwise, it is exactly the same. It provides shelter from the elements, a place to roost at night, nesting spots for egg laying, and a feed storage space. We hang our feeders in there to keep the feed dry and there is always fresh water inside and outside.

FOOD

Even though I toss them garden and kitchen scraps, most of our feed comes from the farm store. We buy enough 50-pound bags to last a month. We use pelleted feed because there seems to be less waste than if we feed the crumbles. Hanging the feeders helps to deter rodents from coming into the coop to sneak a meal.

SPACE

Free-range is a term that gets thrown around a lot in the chicken-keeping world. According to the USDA The claim "Free Range" can be used on any meat or poultry food product. Before we built the pen (called a run) we let our chickens have true free-range of our little acre. We lost dozens of chickens to predators (wild and domestic) during that time. How much space your chickens need is subjective to how you want to raise them. Cage-free and free-roaming simply mean they aren’t kept in a cage. It doesn’t mean they have access to the outdoors. 

REPRODUCTION

Most hens’ egg production drops off after 2-3 years. At that time you will have to introduce new layers to keep your egg supply at the same level. It’s best to have a plan for the older hens, too. We generally process ours for meat at age 2. If you can afford to continue feeding hens that aren’t laying, that may be a good option for you. We prefer to use our birds for nutrition. In order to procure new layers, you have several choices: buy layers, buy chicks to raise, or hatch your own chicks. If you choose to hatch your own, you will need to have a rooster to fertilize your eggs. Otherwise keeping a rooster is only beneficial for protecting the hens. We like to keep a rooster and hatch our own eggs. This prevents the risk of introducing an illness through new birds being brought into the flock. We have had to deal with a few “mean” roosters, though. They didn’t get to stay after they showed their true colors but if we didn’t have the plan to process them in place, it would have been a tougher problem to solve. Before we started keeping a rooster, we were spending a lot of money on chicks every time a predator wiped out the flock. Now we have extra protection and a steady supply of chicks.

TIME

Keeping chickens is not a hard labor task but requires a time commitment. Before we installed the automatic door, we had to let them out each morning and lock them up each night. They need daily food and water checks. You have to collect the eggs at least once a day- more in the wintertime if you don’t want frozen eggs and in the summertime, if you don’t want them to go bad faster. 

HEALTH

Chickens can and do get sick. In our area, vets do not treat poultry. Medications and treatments are on the shelf at the farm store but diagnosis and dosage are self-taught. Be prepared to ask neighbors and web crawl for answers. We’ve not had to deal with a major illness but things like mites have sent us down some Google rabbit holes for treatment options and preventative measures.

CLEAN-UP

Chickens POOP. Standing, sitting, roosting, and laying are all excellent opportunities for a plop of poo to land wherever they may be. In some instances, like after an 8-hour sleep session, the poo will be piled up. You will need to have a place to put it. No matter what type of bedding you have down on the coop floor, that will also have to periodically be cleaned out. Ammonia build-up from droppings in the coop can make your birds sick. It can make you sick if you don’t wear a protective mask while you’re scooping it up. Have a plan. We compost our litter and manure. Since it is a hot manure, we pile it for a year before we put it in the garden. 

Chickens can bring a lot of positive experiences and benefits to your homestead. Hopefully, this list can help you be better prepared to enjoy all the good things you will get from being a chicken owner!

Chicken Math and Journal Update

If there was an award for the most blog posts about the cost of raising chickens, I bet I'd get nominated. Seriously. But remember at the beginning of the year when I said I was going to get more serious about keeping a records journal? Well, I've been sticking to it and today while I had my knee propped up with the ice pack (brrrr) I distracted myself by doing a little chicken math.

First I added up the cost of all the feed we've bought from Jan.1st to May 31st. Then I counted all the days in that time period. I did some fancy division and discovered that our cost per day for chicken feed was $1.50. Then I averaged up all the eggs we've gotten from our 3 laying hens. Two! We average two eggs a day. That means those eggs are costing us 75 cents each!

Now, does this upset me? NO!!! Because I also know that in that time frame, I've fed 10 chicks-free after store rebate- that are almost to laying age (except for the 3 roosters in the bunch which will get a ticket to freezer camp) and 5 Silkies.  I'm hoping to sell Silkie eggs and chicks now that they are beginning to lay regularly.

That handy dandy journal has been so helpful! All in one place I have breeding dates, planting dates, amount of daily harvest, what I've bartered, what I've sold, what I need for next year, AND what I need to give up. Whew! What a great thing!

Adding Chickens to Your Homestead?

So you're ready to add some livestock to your homestead and everyone has said to start with chickens. Great idea! Maybe you're here because you want to know what you need to do to get started. Another great idea! Do your research before you bring a  single fluffy butt home!

First, you need to decide what you expect to get from your chickens. Are you wanting a lot of eggs? Will you be eating the birds? Are they going to be pets or entertainment? Once you know what you want, you can hit the internet to do your research on breeds. Take into account your weather conditions year round and then look into the coop you need for adequate shelter, size, and protection from predators. By the way, are your chickens going to be fenced in or allowed to free range? The predator population in your area is going to play a big part in that decision. Ask your neighbors or local extension about predators!

 I really can't add anything to all that expertise. BUT I do think it's important to also prepare yourself for how owning chickens can change your life. I can add my own experiences to help you mentally meet the challenge and make sure you're up to the daily added responsibilities of owning chickens if you follow these simple instructions. Ready? Here we go...

Step One: Buy some eggs. Like a lot of eggs. Take the maximum number of eggs you expect to get from your hens in one day(one per bird) and multiply that by fourteen. That's two weeks worth of eggs in your fridge. So if you have 3 hens X 14 days = 42 eggs. Now, try to eat all those eggs while imagining 3 more eggs being added to your fridge daily. Start collecting egg recipes and imagining how you can use up all those wonderful eggs!

Step Two: Find out how much chicken feed is at your local feed store and the recommended feeding amount per chicken per day. When you've figured out the daily cost of feed, imagine paying that in the wintertime plus the cost of how many eggs you will need. Molting in the fall or spring will also cause a drop in egg production.

Step Three: Set an alarm everyday for two hours before sun-up (if you will have a rooster.) Plus- set one for the time you will be letting the chickens out of the coop and also for the time they will need to be locked back up. Make arrangements to be home everyday at that time. Every. single. day.

Step Four: Put an egg in your pocket and "forget" it's there. Leave it there for the entire day. You'll never let that happen when you get chickens? Of course you won't.

Step Five: Attempt to open every door in your home with 2 eggs in your hand. Because you know what happens if you've properly completed Step Four.

The rest of the instructions only apply if you decide to free range your birds.

Step Six: For every 5 steps you take in your yard, assume you've stepped on a "land mine" and must now wash or change your shoes.

Step Seven: Rip out every plant in your garden. Or you can skip this step and go straight to...

Step Eight: Purchase or build a fence for your garden.

Step Nine: Play hide and seek. Try to find every place a nest of eggs could fit.

And finally,
Step Ten: Remember that all the previous steps are much more fun when you have fluffy butted hens to watch. Yes, there's some responsibility but the rewards are so worth it!

The Price of Free Range Eggs

Trying to put a value on our free range eggs is almost as difficult as finding out what free range really is. The USDA defines free range poultry as any that has been allowed "access to the outside."*  Well, it doesn't get much broader than that, does it? All of my chickens have access to a little run outside their coop. But I don't consider them free range until they are outside the run since the run has been picked and pecked and scratched bare.

Is there a difference in free range vs cooped up eggs? Yes. It really is simple to compare the look and taste of the eggs. As far as nutritional value? I don't have a lab on site to test them, but I know what we prefer to eat- the dark orange tasty eggs not the pale yellow bland ones. Confining our birds to the run for 3 days is all it takes to see the stark difference. How much are they worth?

After the coop is built and the feeding and watering equipment is purchased, other costs can sneak in. We run a light in the coop during the months with shorter daylight hours. And we purchased an automatic door opener for the days when we are unable to lock up the coop at night or open it in the morning. Our waterer sits on an electric base in the wintertime to keep the water from freezing. Besides all the electricity to run these things, time and money was spent installing them. How much was that worth?

Last month our flock was attacked twice by a neighborhood dog. All totaled in the end? We lost over half our flock. Most of them were 4 month old pullets, young birds that were going to start laying in the next 8ish weeks. How much were they worth?

Some we had bought as chicks and some I had faithfully turned every day in an incubator (because our mama hen had been taken by a hawk) for 30 days til they hatched. I had started out all of them on non-medicated chick feed and carefully monitored for illness over the long summer of bird flu. I cleaned and replaced the low allergen bedding regularly. I taught them to trust me and come when I called with scratch grains and treats. They had learned to eat their fare share of the store bought feed when it was too rainy or unsafe to venture out for their daily diet of bugs and sunshine. How much were they worth?

I don't think there really is an answer to their true value. To me, they were priceless. But now I'm finding myself questioning my next move. Do I replace them? Can I face the thought of starting from day 1 with a tiny peep just to know I may be picking up its dead carcass before it even reaches laying size? Do I keep the remaining birds forever on lock down (as they are right now?)  Do I want to put good money into raising birds that are going to lay eggs  I wouldn't even want to buy at the store for a much lower price? How much ARE they worth?

These are some tough questions I'm asking myself. But that is part of this homesteading venture, finding what is right for us and sharing our experience with others.


*USDA Food Safety Information

Eggs and Watermelons

My chickens have been under attack! Some have been taken by a bobcat-yes, we've seen the tracks- that's roaming the neighborhood and some (my favorite momma bird especially) have been carried off by a hawk. So numbers are down and I don't have a hen that will take care of hatching for me. As soon as the ban on bird public poultry sales is lifted, I'll get another Silkie hen from the Amish auctions. But until then I'm back to using the old incubator.

Yesterday was our annual Watermelon Sunday at church. Our county is famous for watermelon and we enjoy it every year- young and old.

 
After church we had a full day of prepping for the upcoming week- which has already started while I sit here tapping on a laptop. I guess I'd better get to work!

Jail Break

Every morning I'm greeted by a hen running up the path to meet me. As soon as I get close enough for her to be sure I'm going to follow, she turns around and races back to the gate of the chicken pen. There she waits for me to open the gate and let her back in. Every. Single. Day.  I don't get it... she's on the roost every night so her escape has to happen after the little door opens in the morning. WHY? Why does she have the urge to jump the fence, just so she can fret to be let back in? Hmmm, to get to the other side, maybe?

Mocking the jail birds

Gobble and Cluck, Skin and Pluck

Where did all the men go?

We did our fall butchering and now we are down to 3 guys on the place: Chase the Wonderbeagle, Elvis the crooning rooster, and Moose the pygmy goat! Woo Hoo!!

If you flash back to April, you might remember the turkey experiment. I stuck some commercial day-old turkeys under the Silkie hens to see if they would raise them- and they did! What an experiment!!
I learned right away that commercial turkeys are not for me! They eat...a lot. And they poop...a lot. That's it, all she wrote. All of them (2 hens and 1 tom) were bigger than we wanted them to be.  I can't imagine how big they COULD have gotten. The feed cost was staggering. Was it worth it? Yes, but just for the learning experience. If I ever raise turkeys again, they will definitely be a smaller, heritage breed. Yes, they cost more but I think the feed cost savings will prove to be beneficial.

Since we only had a few birds to butcher, we didn't get out the turkey fryer/scalder to dip them in. We decided to try our hand at dry plucking. OUCH! That was another lesson learned the hard way. My fingers ached for 2 days after. We also decided to butcher the 2 extra roosters while we had out the equipment and time. After struggling to pluck the turkeys, we tried our hand at skinning the first roo. I've heard it makes the whole process easier and faster- but not for us. We stumbled along and finally got the first one done. But the second one got plucked! Lots of lessons learned in case there's a next time!

Tom turkey (finished out at 28.5 lbs)

The Best Part of Waking Up

is the smell of fresh coffee wafting up the stairs!
 Unfortunately the last two mornings I have been rudely jerked out of my soft slumber by the strong, pungent smell of a skunk. UGH!!! It's a lingering odor that is still in my yard when I go out for morning chores, sometimes an hour after I've woke up. Of course I could do without the inconvenience of the smell, but even more worrisome is the fact that a predator is hanging around my rabbits and chickens.
 My animals are locked up but a predator (possibly a skunk, it left a strong odor) has gotten into my rabbit cages before- by going through the feeder opening. Since then, we've switched to feeders that hang inside the cage and eliminated the hole there. And a few weeks ago, I discovered a possum inside the chicken coop. It killed my two just-hatched chicks and one of the pullets before I found it. The possum was dispatched but I've not figured out a way to make the coop more predator proof. The only way I could figure the possum got in was through the little door- in broad daylight! The rabbit cages and chicken coop are inside a fence but there are gaps around the gate that a small predator can get through and some branches of a pine tree outside the fence hang over the inside. Soooo we aren't 100% tight. And I'm 100% worried.
 This morning as I was walking out the door, heading to church, I heard the most awful screeching coming from the chicken coop. The automatic door hadn't opened yet so my mind was picturing all my birds locked up with a chicken-killing skunk. My heart was in my throat as I took off running for the coop. My purse went flying across the yard and I ripped my skirt on the gate as I raced to save my flock from the evil skunk! Before I opened the people door, I grabbed a shovel to kill the monster and peeked in the window to locate my enemy and make a plan of action. What I saw was... all the birds were clucking and flapping, lined up waiting for their door to open- except one. That one was doing a dance like I remember learning in middle school, strutting, and trying his best to break the glass with his high-pitched shrieks  crow. Just crow.
 So, I put the shovel up, retrieved my purse, went back inside to change my skirt, and made it to church with 2 minutes to spare.
 I guess as soon as the farm store opens, I will be buying a trap. Meantime, I'm sporting earplugs til that rooster learns his do re mi's!

Feeding the Neighborhood

Remember when "chicken feed" was a term for something that didn't cost a lot? As in, "I bought it for chicken feed?" We e e ell. Chicken feed is a pretty penny now. And I'm not talking about fancy organic, high in omega shmega feed. Although I WISH I could afford to feed them that. No, we get the cheapest the farm store has to offer. And it still costs so much that I seriously cut down on the size of future flocks when we switched from free range to a run. Yes we can keep more birds alive in the pen, but we have to balance out the costs. You can't get chicken feed for -umm- chicken feed anymore.

I've been really frustrated at the amount of feed we've had to buy for the past several weeks. We cut back some more on the number of hens (and one mean old roo!) and kept only one layer, the 3 Silkies, and our little flock of 10 pullets. And still we are going through almost 50 pounds of feed a week!?! Where in the world could they be putting it?

Well, today, I changed up my routine a little bit. I had to run to town this morning for a medical test and I slept in too late to feed before I left. So I ran down to the coop as soon as I got home and guess what I discovered... a party at the chicken feeder! There in broad daylight were approximately 10 little birds (swallows? starlings?) circled around the feeder. They swooped out as soon as they realized I was there, stopping on the other side of the little door. I think they were demanding a refund from the Silkies that were guarding the entrance.

Now that I've had my "ah-ha" moment, it's time to figure out how to solve this expensive problem. Any suggestions?

Chicken Generations

 I think our chicken plan is starting to come together!

 We still have the old girls that are laying less frequently. Their turn for freezer camp will be here next spring. Remember the little playpen we hobbled together in the mud a few weeks ago? It was filled with Aracauna chicks from the auction and the one Barred Rock I managed to hatch in the incubator. Here they are, all feathered out and scratching in the chicken yard.

 About the time the old girls are butchered, these should be starting to lay. Any that turn out to be roosters will be accompanying the old girls to camp. 

 We still have Boston to do the mating chores for now. He's attacked me once so he won't be around much longer. If you recall, we purchased a silkie pair for broodiness. The rooster, Elvis, is still serenading us every morning-and all the doggone day- so he might be next in line for Boston's job. The hen died in an accident. I hated to lose her, she was my one hope of never having to buy chicks or hatch eggs again. Well, DH took pity on me and bought me a couple more silkie hens. They just started laying 2 months ago and a month after that- one of them went broody! I slipped a black marans egg under her to go with her tiny silkie egg and yesterday she hatched her first peeps! 

  

 Notice the egg? There are three more under her. I'll probably take them away if she stops doing a good job of raising the chicks. But for now, she's doing fine. I had to dodge her beak a few times to get the little peeps out from under her for a picture. She was glad to see me go! And I'm doubly glad to see my chicken mommy duties passed on to a more capable (and willing) partner! 

Poultry Prison

Our power is back on! Unfortunately, during the outage we had to cut the line that opens and closes the automatic chicken coop door. Since the outage  happened while the door was open, we had to manually close it. Once electricity was back on, the motor wound the line up inside the housing- something that hopefully DH can repair when he returns home. Meanwhile, I'm spending a few days out of town and my critter sitter can't be there every evening to shut up the coop. Sorry chickies- this Hoosier Girl would rather be safe than sorry!

Incubator Hatch

First there was a pip

I'm bustin' outta this joint

Then there was a peep

 What kind of place is this you're runnin' here?

Our very first incubator hatch! Since this is a second-hand incubator, I only put two eggs in it for a trial run. The other egg didn't hatch so off to the auction I went to get the rest of our spring starter flock.

Now listen up- I was here first, see? That makes me the boss, see?

Please Allow Us

to introduce ourselves...

New roosters! I guess since we've had them over a month, they aren't really new. But I'm just now getting time to share the news.

 Yes, there are two. The one on the left is a Barred (Plymouth) Rock. I like this breed for their calm temperament. They don't often get their feathers ruffled! They are also cold hardy which is important because our Indiana winters are so unpredictable. This one made himself at home right away. 

 As soon as we put him in the pen, DH informed me that he was naming this one. All of our roosters have been named by me but, according to DH, their names have not been "manly" enough. So I gave him the honor of selecting this guys' name. Meet "Boston" who was actually named before the terrible bombings but is living up to the Boston Strong image!

 And the little guy on the right is a Silkie. He was purchased at the same time as Boston, along with a Silkie hen. Silkies are also very calm birds but their main purpose was to put broody characteristics into our flock. A lot of modern chickens have had that characteristic bred out but Silkies still tend to go broody and I really would prefer to get my chicks the natural way. Unfortunately the hen was injured and we lost her. But I have great hopes for the Silkie rooster (he's still very young right now.) And because he appears to be all decked out in his silky white jumpsuit, I named him "Elvis."  I'm really looking forward to hearing Elvis sing when he's bigger.

It's For Your Own Good, Chickie

After the cleanup from the chicken massacre, we made putting up a fence around the coop our biggest priority. I was sick and tired of losing perfectly lovely hens, hens that were reaching their laying prime, that we'd fed and cared for from their first little peeps.

Before we started the fencing project, we reassessed our goals and made some adjustments:
1. Just because we like them doesn't mean we need to keep enough to provide eggs for half the county. Yes, I enjoy sharing them but the cost of feed is going up....
2. Even though the auction has become a ritual date night, we don't have to get our fresh stock there. The few times a hen went broody and hatched one of our own eggs, provided entertainment and less work for us.
3. Keeping the chicken area of the yard small will give us room to have a pig pen "someday."
4. Guineas are fun but if they aren't going to be used for pest control in the yard, we don't need them.

With those thoughts in mind, we fenced off a small area for the chickens to roam and only bought a Barred Rock rooster and 2 hens to supplement the 4 hens that survived the attack. We also purchased a pair of Silkies for their broodiness tendencies. Unfortunately the hen was injured and didn't survive, leaving us with 2 roosters (we will see how that works out!) If we get the chance to add some meat chickens later, the area will be a little cramped but not for long and not unbearably so.

As for the birds, I'm not sure how they feel about their loss of freedom. The adjustment to the new ones went well-possibly because they were still traumatized by the attack. Laying has started getting back to normal and we're watching for the roosters to get amorous. We've already been graced with some awesome crowing. Once things have settled down, I'll introduce them to you!

And with that, 2 more goals for 2013 have been met! It was pushed onto the front burner a little sooner that we planned but there is a blessing in there- none of our little free rangers had access to the gmo corn that the big farm neighbor is planting in the field this year! (Good for us all!!!)

Another Poultry Massacre

 Remember this horrific day? Me, too. It was unforgettable. But I learned from that mistake. Yes, I learned to keep a close eye on my automatic coop door timer. Now my birds get to free range only during very specific hours. They don't get out for fresh air and bugs until enough time has passed in the morning for all predators to have left my place. And that door locks up tight at the first hint of dusk. We run an automatic light in the coop to lure them in to roost before dark. Foolproof. Or maybe not.

 Yesterday evening, I was still waiting on the snow/sleet mess that was heading our way. So I went out and filled my critters water buckets and feeders-in case I couldn't get out to do it first thing this morning. But most of the bad weather missed us and I did make it out early.

 The coop door wasn't supposed to be open until 3 hours later. I was quite surprised though, to see a hen hanging out in the yard. She was soaking wet and shivering. So I rushed over to herd her in through the "people" door and that's when I discovered the little automatic door-- open. The rope that raises and lowers the door had snapped in two. The door had been open all night. I had 3 scared chickens on the roost. And I had dead chickens and guineas everywhere. Another disaster.

 We don't raise our poultry as pets. They have many jobs here-bug control, compost, eggs, and meat-all depending on their age. One of the benefits of raising our own meat is knowing how it was processed. DH does an excellent job of making sure all our animals leave life in a humane way. But these birds, all at different ages and therefore having multiple tasks, didn't get that chance. And I'm left with mixed feelings of
    1) guilt for failure to protect an animal entrusted to my care, and
    2) deep anger at whoever let their dogs out to run loose on my property last night

 I do understand that sometimes a predator will take an animal to eat. And I trust in God's wisdom in setting nature up to be that way. But this was a senseless killing-for fun, sport.

 I also know that some dogs can't control that prey drive that makes them do this kind of thing. I have two Beagles who would love nothing more than to play this game. But they can't. Why? Because my state has leash laws. It's illegal for my dogs to run at large. I wish all the "country folks" in my area knew and obeyed that law-sigh.

 So now I am even more anxious to get that chicken fence done as soon as possible. I truly was in love with the idea of free ranging our hens, even accepting the idea of losing one or two to predators occasionally. But losing whole flocks at a time is unacceptable. So, hurry up Spring, I've got fencing to do!

Gossip at the Water Cooler

"Don't look now, that guinea is checking out your butt."
"Pshh, in his dreams."

"Did you see how much pumpkin that Buff Orpington ate yesterday? "

"Yeah, she's getting a little too fluffy, if you get my drift."

"Say, I heard that Hoosier Girl has been checking out roosters."

"OMG, I heard she even put it on her Christmas list!"

"Reckon she will get another handsome one?"

"I certainly hope so." 

"Hey, I found where the secret stash of sunflower seeds are."

"Girl, don't hold out. Lead me to the goodies!"

Just Wondering

With the cooler temps this week, my thoughts have shifted to cold weather supplies. I know I'm running low on sweaters and skirts. I like to get them second hand instead of paying new prices (I like to think of it as pre-shrunk bargains.) I am also wanting to try my hand at roasting my own coffee beans and I've heard an easy way to try that is with an air-pop popcorn popper. Something else to look for in a second hand store. So I decided to take the day off and do some thrift shopping.

 But before I can run off, I have to take care of the morning chores. First I feed and water all the inside critters. Then I head out to feed all the outside ones. After all the feeders are filled, I collect up all the water containers and bring them to one spot. There they get rinsed, filled, and redistributed (except for the weekly scrubbing with bleach water.) Anyway, every time the water ritual begins, the chickens line up to watch. Who knew watching a hose pumping water into a bucket could be so entertaining?? But the curious thing is, those same chickens who watch the dumping of yesterday's water and the filling of fresh water, will wait until I take the waterer back to the coop and AS SOON AS MY BACK IS TURNED, they swarm to the puddle of old water and guzzle like they've just crossed the Sahara and found an oasis. WHY??? I know they drink the clean water later, it's never full when I empty it. What's so great about the yucky water that's pooled on the ground? I, and all the other wacky chicken owners in this world, may never know.

 So now (after a long day of perusing 5 different thrift stores) I've returned home with a very nice bunch of new-to-me winter clothes but no popcorn popper. I don't get it. I must have donated 4 or 5 of those to various charities in the last 30 years (we don't much care for air-popped corn but they sure did show up under the Christmas tree a lot!) I know they used to line the shelves at Goodwills and Salvation Armies with air-poppers. Where did they go??? I, and all the other wannabe amateur coffee roasters, may never know.

She's a Daddy's Girl!

 You may remember my rant from last July about the dog attack that took all my cockerels and pullets for the year. I didn't mention it at the time but all of those little birds were Araucanas. A few days after the attack, one of the little cockerels found his way back home.


 So I have an Araucana rooster, but no Araucana hens. 







But I do have some Black Marans hens one of which we call "Mama" because she likes to go broody.


<

And a while back, she gave us the pleasure of  our very first born-at-home chick! 

She's a gorgeous lavendar/gray mixed breed hen now. Since she is a mixed breed, we were curious to see what kind of eggs she would lay (super dark brown, Marans or blue/green, Araucana) And we have just found out that she is an Easter egger! She presented us with a wonderful green tinted egg!

Mama's egg on left, green tinting didn't show up well in picture.

What Do Chickens Eat?

  When we first started on the chicken journey, we planned to feed the minimum amount of layer pellets we could get by with while letting them free range for the majority of their diet. Of course if we could save a little more on the feed by tossing out some kitchen scraps, then that wouldn't be a bad thing. But what chicken scraps would they eat? Would they turn their little noses up at something that would then lay rotting in the yard until I finally nagged until DH couldn't take it  convinced DH it would be a good idea to remove the offending "stuff"? >>shudder<< HA! I repeat HA! Every since the first trip out with a bowl of scraps that was cautiously tossed out for the little dears, it has been impossible to walk out the back gate with any thing that remotely resembles a food container and not be stampeded. Those birds love EVERYTHING. And they literally send a shoutout to any of their friends who weren't lucky enough to see the goodies coming.
 Now, if I read your thoughts correctly, you're thinking: MAYBE those Hoosier Chickens are being underfed at Hoosier Girl's place. Maybe they can't find enough to scratch up around that little acre. Maybe someone is holding out on the layer pellets. HA! Trust me, these birds are not suffering from malnutrition in any way, shape, or form. They. just. like. to. eat.
 Not only do they scratch up bugs, and devour scraps, and force Hoosier Girl to make a weekly trip to the farm store for more pellets, oh no, they have also discovered the all-you-can-eat buffet in my garden! So this year, we did a little preventative maintenance- a border fence.

Sooo my dear friends. what I have learned in regard to the question posted in the title is: a better question would be, "what won't chickens eat?"  Hopefully the little fence will deter them from the plants that will be going in here.

Proverbs 27:23  Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.

Rooster, Pullet, Cockerel, Hen

 Way back in November we set up a chicken dis-assembly line to thin out the number of birds we would have in the coop over the winter (and to have some meat in the freezer over the winter.) Way back in October, we started sorting the birds according to "keep" or "go." We kept the decision pretty cut and dried. I wanted only one rooster to "keep" and all the other roosters would "go" along with all the RIR hens that were over 2 years old. We had bought a large flock of day old assorted Black Marans chicks at the auction in the spring so we had a large group of pullets that would begin laying any time and our older Barred Rocks were still good layers. Add in the extra Buff Orpington hen and the ducks and we had plenty of hens. Which meant we had plenty of eggs! Of course, in order to make the decision regarding each bird, we had to sex them. Which should have been an easy task at the age they were. Right?

Sir Dudley-keeping watch

 BUUUTTTT one of the Marans was a pullet/cockerel. I mean it really depended on who you asked. If you asked the DW on the homestead, she would say it was a cockerel for sure. However the DH on the homestead really liked the copper coloring on this bird so he declared it was a pullet. Now, this particular DH held the top position on the dis-assembly line. So the pullet/cockerel lived on.

Marans hen and chick

I'm sure you know (if you have any experience with old married folks at all) that the argument did not end there. NO WAY JOSE! Every day, the DW would say to the DH, "I really do think you're hen is a rooster." And everyday the DH would reply, "I will believe it when she does something roostery." ROOSTERY???  All rightey then.

 So the DW waited until the darned pullet/cockerel started learning to crow. Then she pulled her DH out into the yard so he could see for himself. And the DH said, "but honey, some hens crow. I still think it's a hen."

Mixed flock

 So the DW waited some more. And after she had witnessed the hen/rooster "doing the deed" with a hen or two, she again pulled DH out into the yard so he could see for himself. And the DH said, "hmm. I guess you were right."

Liberace

 That is why the DW has a rooster named Liberace- for his flashy coloring (and the uncertain beginnings of his sexuality.) And Liberace will get to stay as long as he and Sir Dudley can get along. Really, what DW in her right mind would want to execute anything she can keep on hand to remind her DH that SHE WAS RIGHT?