Category Archives: how to raise chickens

Ding! Dong! The chickens are gone.

I’ll say it again, I loved my chickens. Their personalities and their various noises were terribly endearing. The appeal ended there.

I’ve blathered on and on about the destruction of my yard while they were only being allowed a couple hours of free time each day; The poo that mounded up wherever they were able to place themselves; The worries about salmonella contamination in my house.

It was just too much.

Keeping chickens in a typical suburban-sized backyard is just plain crazy if you desire to have fresh eggs from chickens that get to forage for grass and bugs. If you are good with keeping them penned up 24/7, the problem of their destruction is solved but there goes the benefits of their getting to forage.

Anyway: I. Am. So. Glad. They’re. Gone.

I’ve been working hard in my backyard.

Remember when I shared what they’d done to this bed?

Now it looks like this:

Instead of there being chicken droppings under all of the furniture, there is now only dirt and spider webs. It’s funny that spiders webs are now a bonus by comparison.

And do you notice the pretty flowers in the planters? Those would be gone, too.

I’ve also taken this last month to make some much needed changes to a horrid section of walkway at the far edge of the deck (near the flowers at the far end).
Here’s a shot of what that area was basically like.

I spent a couple of days putting in the pavers (which we’ve had lying around for the last few years) and then the ground-cover plants. I also gathered up some of the extra rocks from around the yard and built a planter along the fence. Right now it’s just filled with this crummy sandy soil. Next year I’ll tackle filling it with good stuff.

My hope for the new walkway is that the ground-cover will fill in and keep that area (and the house) from getting all sloppy with dirt during the winter when Lando is tromping in and out.

The ground-cover plants I chose are able to handle light foot traffic and full sun. I chose several kinds. Creeping Thyme (which was already growing in a pot so I moved some to this are), Wooly Thyme, Irish Moss, Corsican Mint, Baby Tears, and Blue Star Creeper. The mint smelled wonderful when I was planting it.

Because I’m frugal I bought 4″ potted plants and gently tore off portions and spread the planting. The goal is for them to fill in all of the dirt area around the paving stones by the end of summer.

I planted the Blue Star Creeper right up against the bottom of the large step so that it won’t get stepped on and will be able to bloom it’s pretty little flowers.

OH! I almost forgot to tell you about the new garden! It occupies the spot where the coop and run used to sit plus the grass area next to them.

We had our first home-grown salad today. Right now my garden conatins mixed lettuces, rainbow chard, kale, tomatoes, zucchini, oregano, cilantro and asparagus.

I need to stop now. My son and I are going out for coffee! Hope your summer is going well!

Bye Bye Birdies!

The one-year-chicken-adventure has officially been terminated.

The girls and their coop/run  went to live on a small farm.   I’m happy.  They’re happy.   Their new owner is happy.   It’s a win/win/win.

I do miss their charming little noises  and their not-so-charming noises, too.

I miss the eggs.

That’s the end of my “What I miss” list.

The “what I don’t miss”  list is much much longer!

The poo.    Everywhere. (I decided against offering photoGRAPHIC proof)

The desolation of my flower beds.

The slightly unpleasant smell.

The early am mandatory venture to the backyard to let the poor girls out of their house.

The poo.  Everywhere.

The regular drive to the feed store to buy yet another 50lb bag of feed, 1/2 of which they would refuse to eat.

The poo.  On the door mat, where they liked to preen every evening after ravaging the yard for morsels.

The worry about bringing salmonella into the house.

The scrupulous cleaning of the kitchen every stinkin’ day because I hated the thought of chicken poo being IN THE HOUSE.  I’m no clean freak, but I do know about health risks involved with chicken poo.    *shudder*

Batman and I are glad we had chickens  and we are glad they’re living happily someplace else.   We’re also pretty happy with the two large compost piles that are enriched with that wretched poo.

Coming soon:  photos of the new and improved yard two weeks after chicken departure.

 

 

Chickens. Can’t live with ‘em…

So, I spent the last year raising my four lovely hens. We started out with three and added the fourth later.

The beginning

A couple weeks later

The girls when they were three weeks old.

Batman begins building the coop and run.

And Hermione makes FOUR.

The chicks move into their new home.

A small foreshadowing of what was to come (in terms of yard desolation)

The chickens and the kitty.

Sure! They do eat bugs. AND EVERYTHING ELSE!

The first egg.

Cute little chicken-themed items and some thoughts on keeping chickens in the house.

The first snow.

The second snow and this time the amount was more than a couple inches.

Now that it has been basically a full year, I have decided I’ve had enough of the joy that comes with having chickens in a small yard. I love my chickies. I really do. I love the eggs. But then there’s the list of what I don’t love; chicken droppings in multiple piles all over my back deck and even on the chairs and tables *shiver*, utter desolation where once there grew green lush plants like hosta, bleeding heart, hydrangea and *sobbing* peony (these silly birds even ate the roots of my peonies!). They’ve even decimated the lawn. I’ve had enough.

We are giving the girls to a friend who has a yard about four times the size of mine. I think they’ll be quite happy there and they’re just a few blocks away and I will have visitation privileges. ha

So, the adventure of having chickens has been fun but I’m really ready to have flowers and a pretty yard again.

Bring on spring!!

Winter isn’t for chickens…bawkbawk

I missed my chance to get a great shot of their first reactions to six or seven inches of the white stuff. This was our first real snowfall this winter. We’d received a couple inches here and there but really NOTHING compared to a normal winter.

So, on this brisk morning, after shoveling a path across the deck (i think it’s important to note that this was all done in my jammies), I opened the coop door at a little after 7a.m.

and nothing happened.

Nobody scuttled down the ramp to the food bin.

Nobody was squawking about whose turn it was to go first out the door.

There was just silence.

Concerned that the four of them might be chicken-pops still clutching their roost bar, I crouched down to get a glimpse inside.

All four ladies were standing silent… just inside the coop door craning their necks to peer out.

The boldest of the lot is Lupin and I couldn’t even convince HER to come out.

To help you visualize what was happening, here’s a photo of their little doorway. Their coop door slides down to close for the night. When it is open it is up inside the coop.

The top of the run is covered with a tarp to keep the floor fairly dry.

These next shots were taken after much melting had occurred but there’s still enough white stuff left to cause three of the four to be reluctant about venturing out of the run.

Annabelle seemed to telepathically communicate - "NOPE"

Nugget and Lupin are the two that are the most intrepid. They’re the least able (genetically speaking) to handle the cold and they’re the two who seem the most at home in the snow. They are also the two that will literally fly across the yarn at the merest glimpse of me.

I have taken to calling them my fan club. They love me. awwwwww

Yes. They're pecking ice.


These two were actually eating ice. Eating. Gobbling it up. I warned them about brain freeze. Typically – I was ignored.

My March Project: Learn to knit socks!

I bought yarn. (this isn’t exactly the color I got…photos to come in next week)

I got a book.

I ordered the 40″ circular needle.

Now I’m impatiently waiting for the needles to arrive. It’s been five days already.

WHAT’S TAKING SO LONG?!

…meanwhile it has snowed. A real snow this time. Six inches. The chickens were so funny when I opened their coop door and they saw all the white. The four of them stood poking their heads out but not stepping out. It would have made a great photo. Naturally, I didn’t have my camera handy. When I opened the run, later in the day, to let them run in the yard they flew quickly across the snow and huddled together in one of the chairs on the back deck. They stood around and ate snow and held up one foot at a time. Silly girls.

I ended up picking them up and putting them back in the run. I spread a full bale of redwood chips in the run and it was much nicer for them to stand on. They didn’t object.

I promise to try and get a decent photo or two of these funny chickens in the snow.