Chickies!
Okay, I'm slightly revitalizing the old blog here to write about my chicken keeping.
So on Friday we got some chickens! 21 day old Buckeye pullets. Cute little ladies that we picked up at the farm and took home in a cat carrier. I had been told that they could just stay in a cardboard box with wood shavings until they were bigger but they were so cramped with their feeder and water-er that I immediately began to improvise something for them to hang out in outside until their chicken ark is built (which is like a chicken tractor with roosts/coop on top). I had some garden fencing up for my tomatos last summer so I just moved it to make a circle and threw a canvas on top to protect from ariel predators.
These chickens. They quickly figured out that they can squeeze through the 2 inch wide openings!!!!!!! My neighbors thought if we just made the bottom-most ones too small they couldn't do it so I wove some wire through the bottom rung and it seemed okay. Night fell, morning followed.
Saturday morning we put them back in after their night in the box on the porch and left for our meeting. We came home around 1pm and they were gone and there was a cat skulking in the yard. I freaked out but Anthony was calmer and found the first two chicks hiding in the hostas, and then one in each neighbors yard. I could have cried with relief. I'm really glad they were smart and hid! But stupid to leave their nice safe pen!!!!
So then we got some netting we had used on our bat house and put that all the way around the garden wire, and they happily stayed in until 8pm or so when I put them in the box for the night.
BUT TODAY I FOUND TWO OUT OF THE PEN AGAIN!!!!!!!!! I thought it was tighter than fort knox! I have NO IDEA how they got out, there doesn't look like a single spot they could squeeze through. However, I still did my best to plug the largest gaps between the ground and pen (I put the pen half over an unused garden so they had some dirt to scratch in, and half on grass and there is a wood beam at the garden edge) and I hope they will all be in there when I check again. THE DRAMA.
They are growing so fast that I know this can't possibly be a problem for long but since they still aren't big enough to defend themselves much I obviously worry about them escaping and being eaten!
However, just watching them is so funny. The first night one of them caught a pretty big worm but couldn't eat it--the others were chasing her so she couldn't put it down and peck it into manageable pieces and it was too big for her to just swallow. She was so perplexed. They are also fun to watch take their little dirt baths. They snuggle into little dry patches like a dog on a bed. If I wasn't so worried about their staying in their pen it would just be all fun and games.
A couple practical things. We got a small feeder and waterer from a local farm shop, as well as shavings and food. I've read the most important thing is to make sure their food and water supply is clean, they have space, and their sleeping area is clean, so I'm going to dump the old shavings and give them fresh ones today. Upkeep seems easier and cheaper than taking a chicken to a vet!
That's all for now, and hopefully our ark will be built soon. I'll post some pics too at some point.
So on Friday we got some chickens! 21 day old Buckeye pullets. Cute little ladies that we picked up at the farm and took home in a cat carrier. I had been told that they could just stay in a cardboard box with wood shavings until they were bigger but they were so cramped with their feeder and water-er that I immediately began to improvise something for them to hang out in outside until their chicken ark is built (which is like a chicken tractor with roosts/coop on top). I had some garden fencing up for my tomatos last summer so I just moved it to make a circle and threw a canvas on top to protect from ariel predators.
These chickens. They quickly figured out that they can squeeze through the 2 inch wide openings!!!!!!! My neighbors thought if we just made the bottom-most ones too small they couldn't do it so I wove some wire through the bottom rung and it seemed okay. Night fell, morning followed.
Saturday morning we put them back in after their night in the box on the porch and left for our meeting. We came home around 1pm and they were gone and there was a cat skulking in the yard. I freaked out but Anthony was calmer and found the first two chicks hiding in the hostas, and then one in each neighbors yard. I could have cried with relief. I'm really glad they were smart and hid! But stupid to leave their nice safe pen!!!!
So then we got some netting we had used on our bat house and put that all the way around the garden wire, and they happily stayed in until 8pm or so when I put them in the box for the night.
BUT TODAY I FOUND TWO OUT OF THE PEN AGAIN!!!!!!!!! I thought it was tighter than fort knox! I have NO IDEA how they got out, there doesn't look like a single spot they could squeeze through. However, I still did my best to plug the largest gaps between the ground and pen (I put the pen half over an unused garden so they had some dirt to scratch in, and half on grass and there is a wood beam at the garden edge) and I hope they will all be in there when I check again. THE DRAMA.
They are growing so fast that I know this can't possibly be a problem for long but since they still aren't big enough to defend themselves much I obviously worry about them escaping and being eaten!
However, just watching them is so funny. The first night one of them caught a pretty big worm but couldn't eat it--the others were chasing her so she couldn't put it down and peck it into manageable pieces and it was too big for her to just swallow. She was so perplexed. They are also fun to watch take their little dirt baths. They snuggle into little dry patches like a dog on a bed. If I wasn't so worried about their staying in their pen it would just be all fun and games.
A couple practical things. We got a small feeder and waterer from a local farm shop, as well as shavings and food. I've read the most important thing is to make sure their food and water supply is clean, they have space, and their sleeping area is clean, so I'm going to dump the old shavings and give them fresh ones today. Upkeep seems easier and cheaper than taking a chicken to a vet!
That's all for now, and hopefully our ark will be built soon. I'll post some pics too at some point.