Chicks Update

The chicks are now about 13 days old, and as their appetites increase, so have their feathers. The wings are the most apparent. They can now fly over their feeder, and seem to do it as a bit of a competition sometimes. They line up and each give it a shot, much like a diving board at a public pool. If they don't get a good start they end up landing on it, instead of over it. Also, at night, as their light attracts flying insects, they have begun flying a bit to catch them. Its more like fly-jumping, but it makes for good chick exercise if you ask me, and not to mention putting a small dent in the flying insect population.

In most recent days, the chicks have started sprouting little tail feathers. They are showing signs of combs on the tops of their beaks, and their beaks themselves have grown a bit...but the rest of their body is still covered with fuzz, and they still cuddle together when it gets cold. We put grass clippings in the enclosure about every other day to keep them busy, and feed them worms from our yard. They enjoy the smaller worms right now, as they are easier to gulp down while the other chicks are trying to steal it. The larger worms just last longer in the pen, and gives the less aggressive birds in the pen a chance at a treat.

I am trying to hand tame them as well. I try and hold a few chicks a day, and put my hand inside their dwelling whenever I'm checking up on them, just so they are used to me. So far they have been easy to care for, lots of fixing the water dispenser as they kick litter into it when they scratch, but nothing major. I cleaned the litter out of the whole pen while the chicks were in it one day, and they were pretty traumatized. They were standing in the corner all bunched up with their necks stretched upwards, chirping violently. I'm hoping the next time I clean it, they will be large enough to go into their coop and explore for a while.

Chicken Food

The coolest thing about chickens...is they eat everything. I think there are a few things you should keep away from them, like snails and slugs because they tend to choke on the slime, citrus because they don't like it, avoid feeding onions and garlic to egg layers because the taste transfers to the eggs, and cedar shavings because ingesting large amounts could kill a chicken. But mostly they eat anything.

Your basic chicken diet consists of proteins, carbs, greens and some calcium...in the natural world it's Insects, Seeds/Grains and Leafy stuff like grass....On a free range farm its Insects, Soy or Milk supply the protein and calcium (and Meats from dinner scraps), Seed from the land, and harvested grains such as Corn or Oats, and they free range on fresh grass, fruits, berries and leaves as they peck around the farm. Which is also important, because the chicken will peck and eat small amounts of pebbles and sand that are collected in the Gizzard, to help grind the seed before digestion.

Pre-Fab chicken feed comes in 3 styles, Mash (fine powdery stuff), Crumble (like Grape Nuts), and Pellets (a bit larger). Size of feed is relevant to how you want your chickens to behave. I read the pellets are wasted less and generally given to the adult chickens, and that the mash is used to keep chickens busier. They all have a balance of the Protien-Carb-Greens-Calcium-Grit all built in, but can still have trace amounts  of bi products and contaminants. A 50lb bag of Pre-fab feed runs under $20...even here in Juneau, Alaska. The rule about how much chickens eat is: 12 birds will eat 50lb bag of feed in one month. For the beginner, such as me, I really just chose this Pre-fab feed to really make sure my first batch chickens aren't malnourished, and gave me more time to erect the coop and fences. I have this idea that eventually I will be smart enough to cut costs on feed by making my own. I am finding out now that what you feed a chicken, depends on what you plan on doing with that chicken...and how 'organic' you desire your flock to be.

A quick general feeding pattern for an egg laying chicken is different than a chicken you raise for meat. Also you can keep a laying hen as long as it produces the eggs (generally 2 years, but some say it depends on diet, and the chicken itself), and the meat birds are ready in about 8-10 weeks. Here is this handy chart I found online, but what it doesn't explain is the carbs. So in general; Protien = Energy for meat or eggs, Carbs = the building blocks for meat and eggs, Greens = Vitamins and complex amino acids. So the 'Developer' given to laying hens is basically higher in carbs than the 'Layer', which is higher in Calcium, for better Egg shell production. And the meat bird "finisher' is also higher in Carbs as to build more meat on the bird before slaughter. You can skip the Finisher and Developer stages, and all you will do is wait a bit longer for the bird to get there.

Lots of folks simply just add their own cracked corn or rolled oats to the layer feed and its home made 'Developer/Finisher'. Pound for pound, cracked corn and rolled oats are much cheaper than the Pre-fab food. Here is a cool fact, Cracked corn will raise the body temperature of your birds more than the oats will. I will probably feed oats in the summer and corn in the winter as a treat they would forage in the scratch area. Also, I hear, coming into your chicken's realm with treats such as this really help to tame your birds, and get them used to you and other humans to be around them.

I would like to finish this off by reminding people that I am not an expert on chicken nutrition, nor should you use this as a guide. There are plenty of resources out there to help you fully understand the feeding cycles you should have for your chickens. This is simply a gathering of the information that is freshly being researched by me right now. And as revelations hit me, I will be posting them here. There are many schools of thought, and some chicken farmers go to extremes to provide truly 'organic' meat and eggs like making their own feed mix for a particular climate or season, or replacing water with milk to produce thicker egg shells etc.

I know what some of you are thinking....if chickens eat anything, and basic elements of food are cheaper, why don't you mix your own feed for the chickens and go fully organic? This is a very complex adventure, as it requires learning the Dairyman's Square rule, and also having enough chickens to keep this bulk feed on hand before it goes stale, which all feed does. I assume that would be a topic for another post, many months from now.

Medication and Antibiotics

I was feeding my chicks the other day and found the word "medicated" on the chick starter bag...hmmm. Then I was looking over my receipt from the hatchery, and I see my chicks were vaccinated. I looked into some of the diseases common in chickens and found the following ailments.

Marek's Disease
Infectious Bronchitis
Fowl Pox
Laryngotracheitis
Newcastle Disease
Fowl Cholera

Some vaccines are general vaccines given to the birds as a precaution, and others only need be given if there is a nearby outbreak or if you see warning signs in some birds, and will be used to save the birds who have not contracted it yet. I assume the vaccination they gave my chicks at the hatchery was a kind of bulk vaccine like most cats and dogs get. I sent an email to the hatchery to see exactly what was given to them, and I will update it here.

So why is the chick starter medicated if they received the vaccines? Because of our little friend Coccidiosis. Coccidiosis is a common parasitic disease of poultry which affects the digestive tract and is primarily found in chickens and turkeys. While the chick is young, it is very vulnerable to this parasite, because their immune systems are very fragile. The antibiotic added to my chick starter is Amprolium, which helps the chick survive the first couple of months, then you move off the starter and the chicken will live on without needing the medication.

Anti-Biotics in adult chicken feed is a different story. As every farmer has his/her own style this is a difficult thing to really define if this is the right thing for your flock. Anti-biotics in feed eventually comes through in the eggs and meat the chicken provides, which minimizes the effects of Anti-biotics as a whole. Mass production hatcheries are now slowly lowering the amount of anti-biotics they put in chicken feed to stop it from passing on to those who consume their eggs and meat. And its generally going out of style. But as small operations go...the smaller your operation is, the less you will need Anti-biotics. Sick birds can be quarantined until they bounce back or perish. Also, proper conditions and general cleanliness is a safe bet against most common ailments. Yet if you have 300 birds in a small space, this may be harder than you think. As I only have 5 birds, Im going to attempt to not use Anti-biotics at all in my adult feed, and may buy a small bag of it, or some additive when they seem sick.

I know what some of you are thinking...why not use seed instead of this pre-fab food? That is a question for another post.

Why Chickens?

The big question is why chickens and why now? A few weeks ago, I had no idea I wanted chickens. I thought they would be smelly and noisy, and I would need some remote homestead to raise a decent flock. I also thought they would be hard to care for, with all the droppings and buying the straw and supplies needed. I even read a recent article in the paper that boiled it down to this: "Its cheaper to buy your eggs at the store". Then we went to the Haines Fair on a family trip and stayed at our friend's place, Carlos and Sierra, who had chickens for a spell before a bear came over for lunch.

First of all the Haines Fair had a petting zoo with a few very tame chickens. And my son Nicholas was into it, to say the least. He brushed off the Alpacas and Ponies and was pretty much in the pen, with chickens, whenever he was allowed. He wasn't like most of the kids, poking them in the face and bugging them. So eventually the chickens would climb right up on him one or two at a time. Boy, Nicholas really likes chickens, and they like him....hmmm reason number one to get chickens? They will make great pets for my son.

Still, I had no idea I would be farming chickens at this point. Then we went back to my friend's home and Sierra showed me her coop on the 3rd day I was there. I didn't even notice the coop was there for 2 days...no smell. Sierra told me about the Plymouth Rock Chickens, how they were quiet, didn't fly much, laid about an egg a day even in winter, and where to get them. She also said there is nothing better tasting than an organic free range egg, and cleaning the coop isn't that difficult if you use pine shavings and straw. So much for my theory on them being smelly and noisy. In short, yes its cheaper to buy mass produced eggs at the store, but if you have laying hens, you will have fresher better tasting eggs at about the same cost as buying organic free range eggs. So reason number two to get chickens....better eggs.

Now I just had one mental obstacle left...Will I have the space to raise these chickens?, and am I allowed to? A quick call to the City Office and spoke to a lady in "Regulations"...and she stated my home was in a zone where 6 hens could be kept, and no roosters. Simple enough. Then I did a bit of research on what kind of space they need to live comfortably. Seems chickens only need like 4 square feet to live in. I have a giant back yard...plenty of space. I theoretically could fence off my side yard and have 40 chickens?!? Cool! So reason number three to have chickens....We have the space and we are allowed to.

 
Im only a few days into it and all I can say its not that hard. From what I have read in my region the big problem is predation. Bears, Minks, Owls, Ravens and Eagles are the culprits in my neck of the woods. I hear mice, rats and even smaller birds can cause problems too, but so far its been smooth.

Baby Chicks Arrive

Bought 5 Barred Rock Pullets from Cackle Hatchery. (Pullets: A female chicken between the ages of 1 day and 12 months). Most places will have a 25 chick minimum order, and for the backyard chicken farmer who is only allowed 6 hens, it really didn't work out. Cackle Hatchery will send as little as 5 chicks, which is the main reason I went with this hatchery. I would have loved to buy from an Alaska Hatchery to keep things local, but they didn't have any available until spring, and I wanted fall chicks.

The Barred Rock Hens or AKA Plymouth Rocks, are bantam dual purpose birds. (Bantam Chicken: basically a smaller sized chicken). They are fantastic birds for our climate as they are good egg layers in the cold weather, and are also good for roasting. All chicks are healthy and eating and drinking. Two days in and no visible problems with the chicks. We have them in our chick box, with a 120 watt flood light about 20 inches off the bedding...and its hot, like 100 °F hot. And we put cardboard around it to keep out the drafts.

We didn't want to wait until Spring to get these chicks. As it would be a year before we would see our first egg. So we opted to buy these later in the summer, August. We hope the chicks will have full plumage before the weather gets too cold. We hope to have our first eggs by New Years Day.

Building Our Coop

We live in Juneau, Alaska and the weather is wet and cold for most of the year. I am going to try and document our chicken coop disasters and successes and maybe we will make mistakes others can learn from and help some other South East Alaskan chicken farmers. I pulled the picture above from a pre-fab chicken coop operation, just to get basic design ideas. I liked that this unit was of a good size, yet still somewhat mobile, and it looked like it could handle some snow too.

Our Coop is framed in 2 x 2 common wood, Inner walls are made of particle board, roof and other surfaces are sheeted with plywood. I covered the nesting area and roof with tar paper and then covering it with metal sheathing. Have not insulated it as of yet. With a heat source installed in such a small space, it may not be necessary to insulate. I plan on putting in some thermometers to make sure my chickens are comfortable, and make sure its not too hot or cold in the roosting area. But I made sure its windproof, and vented it well. I could also insulate it next spring if I have trouble keeping it warm this winter.

Above is my son Nicholas, our Chicken Wrangler here at our farm. We want to have a name for our farm, but haven't decided on one yet. This is our nesting box and roosting area for our chickens. As you see there is a light wired in, and we have moved it around quite a bit trying to find the best spot for it. Dimensions of this area is 5ft high x 4ft deep x 3ft wide, and has a potential for 6 nests...but that's up to the chickens. Im no expert on chickens, but have researched that chickens don't need alot of space...3-4 cubic feet per chicken is all they need in general, and you only need to provide each chicken with 1 square foot of roosting space. My entire coop is 256 cubic feet, with a nesting/roosting box that is 60 cubic feet, which more space means happier healthier birds.