i was able to get all 6 nesting boxes in the coop yesterday. my friend, michelle who needs her own blog :), suggested that i line them with cardboard. well, we have a lot of cardboard due to my amazon.com addiction so i gave it a try. i had been worried about just how nasty the cardboard would get, but right now i think it's a good option. the hardware cloth with straw bedding seems like it could poke an egg or a chicken. the tarp works okay, but it will probably get just as nasty as the cardboard and is more expensive.
speaking of nasty, with all of this rain, the coop is so yucky! it's a muddy, poopy mess. yesterday, i sprinkled diatomaceous earth all over the hardware cloth floor and we moved the coop to new location. i am much more used to the mess of chickens than i had been, really, but this rain has just put me in a funk!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
dino's got to go
well, our once very friendly and docile bantam americana rooster attacked claire twice yesterday. i didn't see the first attack just saw her running from dino and crying. i saw the second one, however, and gosh, it was just plain mean. he flew up to her face and started pecking and scratching at her. she suffered a small scratch on her chin and was traumatized. i chased dino down, yelling, "bad rooster! bad rooster!"
so my next project is to find out which silkies are roosters and find someone who will do the butchering.
roosters?
so we may have up to 6 roosters in our flock. only one crows because apparently he is the dominant one and keeps the other ones quiet. dino, is a bantam americauna whom we adopted from a homeschooler living in a san francisco neighborhood where roosters are not welcome. heck, i'll take him, i thought! i had forgotten to special order a rooster. this isn't downtown boulder! we are on 5 acres and roosters are welcome here.
when we first took dino in, our chickens were staying at a chicken motel, our neighbor's old chicken coop. we had had several break ins to our coop so we needed to fortify it with hardware cloth. they had an extended stay of about 2 months. when we finally got them back home, i had a rude awakening the next morning. damn, dino is loud! and he is waking up my kids. oh no, i can't make it through the day with over tired kiddos! i was so ready to leave dino down by the creek early one evening. patrick with those big sad eyes stopped me. i took dino back to the neighbor's coop and left him there all by himself. he was there for 2 days while i worried about what to do with him. i am not ready to butcher a chicken yet, plus what would happened if his original caretaker e-mailed me to check in on him? then it happened. another crow coming from our coop one morning. we had two roosters! he had just been afraid to crow apparently because dino would not allow it. i brought dino back. most days the kids slept through the crowing but there were just enough mornings that they didn't. i bought a fan from ace hardware. i told the salesperson my dilemma. i needed a fan to drown out the crows of a small but very loud rooster so that my kids could sleep. she took down every fan from a very high shelf so that we could find the loudest. at first we didn't get the fan speed quite right. i thought i might lose my mind the first morning listening to that noise. i told matt to try the fan on medium speed the next morning. ah, bliss. we haven't heard dino's crows since and we all wake up when we are well rested. but the question still remains. just how many roosters do we have?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
egg eaters
i managed to line 3 milk crate nesting boxes today. one with hardware cloth, one w/ tarp, and one with nothing. after using the hardware cloth, i began to think that this stuff was too sharp and wouldn't be comfy for my chickens or their eggs, so i lined the next one with leftover tarp. that didn't seem to work very well either so the 3rd crate, i left unlined. i zip tied them low in the coop, but still off of the ground. when i tucked the ladies (and gents) in this, they were all on the roosting polls! i want to keep those chickens out of the boxes unless they are laying an egg. this will keep the eggs clean and decrease any chance of the eggs breaking.
i am worried about an egg breaking because i don't want any egg eaters. this would be a potentially devastating problem. i have 30 chickens and if they learn that there is food in those eggs, trouble. especially because i have them in a coop that's too small for them and can't seem to get to the coop to let them out any earlier than 9am, about 2 hours after sunrise. they might get hungry and bored and start eating eggs.
i leared about egg eaters back in boulder when i acquired 3 hens from a local farm. we had lost several hens to the neighborhood fox and i wanted more eggs! unfortunately one of the new hens, in order to show her dominance, started eating eggs. and then they all did! oh my gosh, was i mad! thank goodness, it only happened for 3 days and they all seemed to stop.in order to remedy the situation, i made a point to let them out of their coop as early as possible in the morning and to give them lots of good scraps. but in researching this problem, i came to find out that some chicken owners have butchered their whole flocks because of egg eating. yikes!
i am worried about an egg breaking because i don't want any egg eaters. this would be a potentially devastating problem. i have 30 chickens and if they learn that there is food in those eggs, trouble. especially because i have them in a coop that's too small for them and can't seem to get to the coop to let them out any earlier than 9am, about 2 hours after sunrise. they might get hungry and bored and start eating eggs.
i leared about egg eaters back in boulder when i acquired 3 hens from a local farm. we had lost several hens to the neighborhood fox and i wanted more eggs! unfortunately one of the new hens, in order to show her dominance, started eating eggs. and then they all did! oh my gosh, was i mad! thank goodness, it only happened for 3 days and they all seemed to stop.in order to remedy the situation, i made a point to let them out of their coop as early as possible in the morning and to give them lots of good scraps. but in researching this problem, i came to find out that some chicken owners have butchered their whole flocks because of egg eating. yikes!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
roosting polls and nesting boxes
today i needed to better a fix the roosting bars in the chicken coop because i am getting ready to install nesting boxes for the second time. i had purchased milk crates at the local hardware store (i must add in defense of trying to embody that homesteading spirit, that i tried to get them for free from the dairy company my husband works for but apparently they are in short supply there. at least i went with the local store, but next time, i will try craig's list or freecycle or the salvage yard.) and zip tied them to the walls of our hoop house coop. after trying to fill them with pine shavings, i realized that the holes in the crates would not make this possible.
a few days later i managed to swing by the feed store to pick up straw. the clerk at the store took me out back to show me what a bale of straw looked like--how much straw actually came in a bale for $8-- and then suggested that i could collect the straw that had fallen on the concrete ground for free and handed me a brown bag. wow, how kind, i thought! what customer service! and she didn't make me feel like a dummy, either. corrected me gently when i referred to the straw as hay. shrugged her shoulders when i told her i would just take a bale. my mom was waiting in the car, probably wondering how it was possible that her "queenie" was shopping at a feed store, with a sleeping claire, and we had one more stop to go, plus i wasn't quite sure i could gather quite enough straw for 6 (probably should have 8) nesting boxes. did i tell her i have 30 chickens?
so i thought i was finished when i added the straw and tucked the ladies in for night that evening. i came back in the morning to find straw on the ground and poop all over the milk crates. back to the drawing board.
maybe i could line those crates with cut up left over tarp? yes, tarp! no maybe just a garbage bag would be easier. i asked matt what he suggested. leftover hardware cloth. great idea! he realized that the chickens would quickly scratch through any plastic liner. so out of the coop with the nesting boxes. cut the zip ties and back to the barn where they still sit many days later.
but back to the roosting polls. i did a quick search one night this week on the backyard chicken forum and google to find more info about nesting boxes. ooh, i was tantalized by nesting boxes i found pre-made. how beautiful they looked. no, lisa, do not buy those! thank goodness a few clicks later i found more frugal folks posting ideas about making nesting boxes from items found in the home already such as baskets and plastic wash bins. I noted that one person suggested that nesting boxes be well below roosting polls because chickens will naturally gravitate to the highest perch possible. plus i had learned in boulder that the roosting bar should not be placed over the nesting box unless one wanted their fresh eggs covered in poop. i needed to raise my bars and fix the ones that had fallen already. i managed to do that today. i worried that the roosts would be too high, but when shutting the chickens in this evening, i noted that most were perched on the highest poll. yay!
my plan for the week is to get those boxes lined with the hardware cloth.
a few days later i managed to swing by the feed store to pick up straw. the clerk at the store took me out back to show me what a bale of straw looked like--how much straw actually came in a bale for $8-- and then suggested that i could collect the straw that had fallen on the concrete ground for free and handed me a brown bag. wow, how kind, i thought! what customer service! and she didn't make me feel like a dummy, either. corrected me gently when i referred to the straw as hay. shrugged her shoulders when i told her i would just take a bale. my mom was waiting in the car, probably wondering how it was possible that her "queenie" was shopping at a feed store, with a sleeping claire, and we had one more stop to go, plus i wasn't quite sure i could gather quite enough straw for 6 (probably should have 8) nesting boxes. did i tell her i have 30 chickens?
so i thought i was finished when i added the straw and tucked the ladies in for night that evening. i came back in the morning to find straw on the ground and poop all over the milk crates. back to the drawing board.
maybe i could line those crates with cut up left over tarp? yes, tarp! no maybe just a garbage bag would be easier. i asked matt what he suggested. leftover hardware cloth. great idea! he realized that the chickens would quickly scratch through any plastic liner. so out of the coop with the nesting boxes. cut the zip ties and back to the barn where they still sit many days later.
but back to the roosting polls. i did a quick search one night this week on the backyard chicken forum and google to find more info about nesting boxes. ooh, i was tantalized by nesting boxes i found pre-made. how beautiful they looked. no, lisa, do not buy those! thank goodness a few clicks later i found more frugal folks posting ideas about making nesting boxes from items found in the home already such as baskets and plastic wash bins. I noted that one person suggested that nesting boxes be well below roosting polls because chickens will naturally gravitate to the highest perch possible. plus i had learned in boulder that the roosting bar should not be placed over the nesting box unless one wanted their fresh eggs covered in poop. i needed to raise my bars and fix the ones that had fallen already. i managed to do that today. i worried that the roosts would be too high, but when shutting the chickens in this evening, i noted that most were perched on the highest poll. yay!
my plan for the week is to get those boxes lined with the hardware cloth.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
An introduction
i am excited to begin a new blog about a passion of mine. i am not sure why i feel compelled to be more self-sufficient, but i do! i keep thinking that it may be a passing phase, but it inspires me daily. ironically self-reliance and freedom are integral to the american dream, but i realize how dependent we have become on our government, corporate america, and medical professionals.
I also have a deep yearning to do real work. i have been thinking about life for far too long and participating in activities without real purpose.
most importantly, i want my children to be conscious about their environment and their health. i want them to have practical knowledge and skills.
i am completely clueless about raising my own food. I grew up in suburban new jersey with little connection to real food or the land. various chronic illnesses were the catalysts for taking charge of my health. this led me to traditional diets and the Weston A. Price foundation . my husband worried that my new traditional food ways were yet another fad diet--i had tried several--but after 8 years, i can safely say that they have become a way of life that has led to greater health and awareness about the importance of growing and eating real food.
i plan to chronicle this modern homesteading journey for myself and anyone else out there who like me, lacks experience, but wants to learn. i love talking with people about the journey, swapping stories and sharing experiences, and i hope my blog will be yet another way to connect with people who want to do the same.
I also have a deep yearning to do real work. i have been thinking about life for far too long and participating in activities without real purpose.
most importantly, i want my children to be conscious about their environment and their health. i want them to have practical knowledge and skills.
i am completely clueless about raising my own food. I grew up in suburban new jersey with little connection to real food or the land. various chronic illnesses were the catalysts for taking charge of my health. this led me to traditional diets and the Weston A. Price foundation . my husband worried that my new traditional food ways were yet another fad diet--i had tried several--but after 8 years, i can safely say that they have become a way of life that has led to greater health and awareness about the importance of growing and eating real food.
i plan to chronicle this modern homesteading journey for myself and anyone else out there who like me, lacks experience, but wants to learn. i love talking with people about the journey, swapping stories and sharing experiences, and i hope my blog will be yet another way to connect with people who want to do the same.
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