keeping chickens newsletter€¦ · · 2017-02-25i keep putting a good amount of pine ... we...

Keeping Chickens Newsletter

Published March 2013 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com


If you know anyone who may enjoy this newsletter please let them know that they can subscribe at: www.KeepingChickensNewsletter.com

March 2013

Vol.1

Hi Welcome to my Keeping Chickens Newsletter. Thanks to everyone who has sent in their keeping chickens tips, stories and photos etc. - as usual, if you have anything chicken related (tips, photos, stories, questions, coops etc.) you'd like to share in future issues of the newsletter or blog posts then just email [email protected] and I will do my best to answer / include them. Best Wishes Gina



Subscriber Letters

Bev : We live in the city and have a small backyard. . We don’t even know anyone who has ever had chickens! Got 3 day old chicks at Thanksgiving, which means they are a little over 2 months old now. We live in Albuquerque, NM where is freezing at night and sometimes gets as high as 50’s or 60’s during the day. We started the chicks in the closet, and have moved them to a bigger box now. My husband has had it with all the dust and smell now that they are older (didn’t seem to smell the first 6 weeks). I keep putting a good amount of pine shavings in the box. He wants them outside yesterday! If we put a heat lamp in the chicken coop outside, will they survive the freezing temps?

My Reply : By 5-8 weeks old chicks usually will have their adult feathers, but will not be as hardy as fully adult chickens. The general guideline is to drop the supplied warmth by 5 degrees every week so by 5 weeks old they still need to be kept at around 75 degrees, 6 weeks 70 degrees, 7 weeks 65 degrees, 8 weeks 60 degrees etc. The temperatures are just a rough guide and the chicks should be able to move away from the heat if they want to (as in nature, with a mother hen they can run under her wings if they get cold but move around freely when they want to as well). As long as they can be kept warm enough and are safe it doesn't really matter where they are. Obviously with heat lamps in the coop you also need to ensure they won't fall or get knocked or perched on by any daft chickens. Colin : I have a problem with a noisy Barb-duccle bantam cockerel .... my neighbour doesnt like its crowing. We bought three hens and the cockerel with the intention of breeding them. Is there any way to keep it quiet at night ..we have blocked any light from getting into the coop we also cover it with a duvet and tarpaulin at night to help reduce the sound and light from getting in. He still crows. Do you have any new ideas we could try before we are forced to get rid of him by environmental health. We live in a semi-rural environment with fields behind and waste ground beside us. The coop is a good 800-900 feet from his property. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Look forward to hearing from you. Colin Lewis My Reply : If it is the nights/early mornings that are the problem then because roosters tend to really stretch themselves up to crow some people have found that letting the rooster sleep in a cage/pet carrier at night stops the crowing or at least subdues it. The rooster must obviously still be comfortable and not cramped in any way, he just won't be able to fully extend upwards for a full-out crow. Hopefully that might help.



Dorothy : Hi Gina: Your readers may want to know how to "boil" eggs and shell them without their tearing all to pieces. First, really fresh eggs are not for boiling--just will not shell well. But I have learned a way. That is, don't boil them, rather steam them!

I use a colander inside a pot with an inch or two of water in the pot. First though, puncture a pin hole in the end of the egg. Place the eggs in the colander, turn heat on. When the first sign of steam appears from the pot, set the timer to 10 minutes. Remove the eggs and place in cold tap water. They will peel quite well.

Note: Grocery store eggs are often several weeks old at purchase time. That's why they usually peel well. Your steamed eggs will peel even better if they are at least a week old. I hope this tip is helpful. Dorothy Beth : Your last newsletter was very interesting. I could particularly relate to the reader who's chickens are up partying all night long as a result of the heat lamps. I live in Canada, just along the northern Vermont border and we have also installed heat lamps that are attached to a thermostat to go on and off so that the chicken coop is kept around +5 Celsius. My chickens have also been up at all hours of the night as a result of the heat lamps during cold snaps. I am thankful that this week the weather has turned warmer and their heat lamps are off. Hopefully this means a more well rested and healthier chicken. But I am curious as to the impact of apple cider vinegar added to warm water on the chickens health. I have never heard of this before and would much appreciate it if you could enlighten me as to the benefits. My Reply : One use of apple cider vinegar I know of is to help make them less suitable as hosts to internal parasites but I think there are supposed to be general health benefits as well (for humans as well as other animals, not just chickens). If you did give apple cider vinegar it should not be in a metalic container because of the acidity.

200 Eggs a Year

Chicken Care Guide

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

http://www.self-sufficient-life.com/Keeping_Chickens/200eggs-ChickenCare.htm



Pat : Hi Gina, Enjoyed your newsletter once again. I always read it from beginning to end. Sometimes I even learn something, ha ha! Enclosing a picture of our beautiful Buff Orpington Rooster. He was so gorgeous but his enormous feet were scarring the hens. We had to get rid of him and that was a very sad day. The hens still have not recovered their beauty but day by day I can see new feathers showing up. We have 13 hens and yesterday we found 13 eggs. So I don't think they are missing the rooster at all. We mail ordered our chicks last June, and the Roo was a mistake I guess. We also have White Jersey Giants and Rhode Island Reds.

We so enjoy caring for our girls. The cold spell has made it a little difficult to keep the water from freezing but we just go out to the coop more often and check on them. When the weather gets down to 15 degrees, the water freezes. I plan to buy a 2nd water station for next winter. I will alternate them. Bring the frozen waterer inside to thaw and clean fresh water out in the 2nd waterer. Keep up the good work, Gina. You are appreciated. Peace be with you, Pat G.



Gaenor : Hi Gina, I am hoping someone can help me with this problem, I have recently acquired 3 chickens from a neighbour, we built a two story coop following advice from your web site, having the nesting boxes high up near the roosting poles. Two of the hens are fine coming up and down with apparent ease, however one hen (big red we call her) goes up fine of her own accord in the evening, but appears afraid of coming down! We thought this could be that she didn’t like how steep our ramp ladder was, and so we made another one and now have two at different angles running up one after the other. She’s still the same though! and only comes down if we lift her out, or if we open the top hatch/door to check in the nesting box for eggs, then she will jump up and then hop out, so she’s not actually afraid of heights as such, just going down the ramp on the inside. I can’t understand why she is having so much trouble but the other two seem fine. It worries me to think that if we go away for a couple of nights she will be stuck up there the whole time!!

I don’t know if she is laying or not, I can’t tell which are laying, but we only get 2 eggs a day. She doesn’t actually sit on the nest as such, she just sort of hangs around the perches, and she certainly doesn’t mind you holding her, in fact she



almost jumps into your arms as if asking to be lifted out! They all had a problem with scaly leg mite when we first got them, which we have treated, the old scales have mostly dropped off with new pinkish skin appearing. Here’s hoping someone has some idea of what is going on, and how to help, she certainly doesn’t seem ‘broody’ as she doesn’t actually sit on the nest or any eggs, just hangs around there. Gaenor of Raglan (New Zealand)

My Reply : She might be a bit apprehensive of going down the ramp at the moment but once she gets brave enough to try will be hopefully get better (seeing the other two using it might help her get braver). You could also try setting her on it near the bottom when you are giving her a lift and see how she reacts to just walking off the end, then perhaps if she is ok with that start her off halfway up and so on until eventually she is comfortable using the whole ramp. Food can be a good incentive for most things and so a bit on the ramp or at the bottom of the ramp might also help encourage her. Another possibility if she is happy going up but not down might be due to the hatch opening (perhaps making her crouch in a way that makes her feel off balance as she is coming through). 3 Days Later… Gaenor : Hi Gina, thanks for your suggestions, I tried the food on the ramp thing – she looked and ‘talked’ but didn’t actually come down, so once again I opened the top (by the nesting boxes) and she hopped up there and then jumped out into the open herself – so didn’t actually need to be lifted down that time!

My husband opened their pen to let them free range the next morning, rather than me, and he just left Red up there, she stayed up in the roosting area for a few more hours, but then she came down on her own! – I think she was just thirsty or hungry, and then after feeding from our penned in feeding area (from the ‘chookateria’) she happily joined the others outside scratching around for bugs!

So now she’s coming down all on her own, not actually with the other two ‘early birds’ but just a little later. I’m so glad she’s got used to the ramp, and all is well now.

Thanks again, it really did reassure me, as I was at a loss with what to do and actually thought there was something wrong with her. Regards Richard & Gaenor

http://www.self-sufficient-life.com/1/OffGrid5



Teresa : How soon after a chicken lays do you need to get the egg to incubate, I have a new incubator and I've never used one before I'm going to try my hand at it. thanks for your news letters My Reply : They are best set within two weeks of being laid (in nature a broody hen adds to her nest over several days until she has a clutch). They should be collected daily as usual and stored (not in a fridge) until ready to be put into the incubator. Also, it is a good idea to have the incubator running for at least 24 hours before you put anything in it to check it is stable.

Ten Acres Enough How A Very Small Farm May Be Made To

Keep A Very Large Family

Ten Acres Enough is a self-sufficiency classic written by Edmund Morris, and is his personal story of his journey from city businessman to farmer. In this book Edmund details the first 3 years of his 'back to the land' experience and explains honestly what worked for him and what did not.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

Gary : Hi Gina these are my Rhode Island Reds with their hens. I also keep Silkies. We live in a very cold part of the UK the Caingorms with temps down to minus 20.

http://www.self-sufficient-life.com/TenAcresEnough/selfsufficientliving.htm



Joy : I so love your newsletter. I too appreciate your readers, who come from all over to show their appreciation of poultry, and the tips and pictures.

I sure wish my family was more appreciative of my hens. My boyfriend and my son just do not really like them, although my boyfriend did build a small coup for me and at first they both liked watching them. But as they grew they lost interest and complain about the poo, and the noise. But they still like the eggs. How rude! I have had my 6 hens for a year now and I still love them, although I don't get to sit with them and pet them as much. I'm too busy just trying to run my household. I do give them treats and clean up poo all the time. Thought I'd include a few pictures of my girls, my first egg and a "fart egg" I got. It's been a very interesting journey and I've learned so much. I've learned I like barn animals rather than the usual pets like dogs and cats. What's that about??

Has anyone else experienced their hens pecking at the house? I think my hens were "knocking" on the house to get my attention. It was funny at first, but I



ended up having to run netting to keep them away from the house cause they pecked the paint right off the house and even a small piece of the siding was gone. I know the paint didn't have lead in it because I had recently painted the house so the paint was new, but I was still worried about them ingesting paint chips and what could go into the eggs because of it (noone got sick). But long term I'm not sure. I had to go back and re-paint the whole back of the house where they pecked. Now my back yard looks stupid with netting running down the middle of it, but it works. I wonder why they were doing it. The back yard is really pretty big, so there is plenty to do back there, and I'm out gardening a lot so I don't see how they are bored. They have a large run too separate from the yard, but it doesn't have grass to nibble so I gave them the yard to enjoy during the day. I hate to put them back in the run exclusively because they help with bugs and I don't have to mow the grass . Thanks for any ideas you might have. Joy From Paradise, California

My Reply : Quite a few subscribers have mentioned the hens trying to get into the house or just gathering and peering in at windows and patio doors so it probably was them wanting to get to you. They may have discovered accidentally that the paint chipped off when they pecked at it, but now they know they probably would do it again if it can be pecked off as it is entertainment for them and generally they just love to peck at things. They shouldn’t come to any harm if it is an animal safe paint but obviously the situation is still not ideal for you. I don’t know if there is perhaps some kind of spray that might deter them – hopefully someone reading this might know of a way to stop them and let us know

http://www.tedswoodworkplans.net



Leslie : We get our 4 month old Australorps in another week or two, depending on the weather. We have to establish and build new raised beds at the farmhouse we rent now but once we start putting the manure into the compost, we might actually be able to use some at least in the garden by August this year and we'll try to get some that is already composted to turn into the new gardens to start them off. We couldn't grow much for tomatoes last year because we were moving all spring and into summer (3 mos). The plants we had in pots just didn't do that much once we got here. I have seedlings sprouting on our back porch

now that will become our greenhouse until they are big enough and the weather is good enough to put up our pop-up green house. We will have an even shorter season here in the mountains so we need to get everything off to a good and quick start. We're really looking forward to getting our hens and the eggs they will be supplying us with in a couple of months. I want to get some silkie hens and I am not sure about a roo, I don't know if a roo would be very noisy as most roos are, don't know if silkies are less noisy, but I don't think we can mix them in with the Aussies. Any thoughts on that? I am aware that the silkies would have to be full-grown so I'm gonna either try to get full grown or close to it, unless I get chicks nearer to summer and am able then to raise them. Let me know what you think or know about that. I attached a picture of the coop and a pic of the Aussies we're getting. They're actually show quality but I really don't mind! I like beautiful birds! We're also getting an Americanna for the colored eggs. Our grandkids will just LOVE that when they come in August. I love your newsletter! Thanks for sending it, it's a blessing, especially for the first time chicken owners like us. Thank you! Leslie Komar



My Reply : I have seen people with both Australorps and Silkies in the same flock and there hasn't seemed to be a problem with that. Sometimes there can be problems with standards and bantams in a flock together – partly because when there is a big difference in size there can be a tendency for any chicken naturally to want to peck at something if it is a lot smaller/weaker, but it can work both ways and I have also heard of bantams terrorizing the standards so I am inclined to think it depends a lot on the breeds as well. As a breed Australorps are relatively docile and calm. Silkies are also a lovely docile and calm breed and can often go broody. One potential issue with Silkies specifically is that they have a hole in their skulls so if they do get pecked or knocked a lot there is more danger of serious damage. It is also very hard to tell the sexes apart so unless they are already laying eggs you may accidentally end up with a rooster even if you do get them at several months old.

----------

Debbie : TJ our dog, loves hanging with his peeps! Debbie Andrade, Gilroy, CA



Margaret : I enjoyed the questions Mairi was asking. I think chickens are much more in tune with us than we think. I took a trip in the fall and was gone 3 weeks and my hens quit laying, I thought it was because my husband was using saw shavings instead of straw but even after they put straw in, they were not getting eggs. As soon as I got back and started doing my daily rounds, we had loads of eggs. I think they know our voices and what is familiar to them. When they have someone different caring for them that is unfamiliar they behave differently. I think they know our specific energy and can sense that change. I think they can express affection as well. I have a little banty hen that always wants to come out and sit on my shoulder while I'm feeding everyone. I loved Gody's story about her chickens and roosters. That is the one thing that is difficult when you breed your own chickens, having more roosters than you expect. I have several roosters and most of the time they get along just fine. There is definitely a "pecking" order and one dominant rooster in the hen house. His name is Crazy Neck and he is Araucana and he is the main man. All the younger roos seem to know not to mess with him. They mess with each other every now and again but they all seem to do well together. I know that I have had a least 2 more hatch recently. These are some pics of our new babies most of which we have already sold. This fluffy little one is a keeper. We think one of the houdan roos mated with one our silkies.

This little one, I'm pretty sure is a rooster and I hope he is. We sold his daddy but have his granddaddy and this is a nice line of old English banties. The people we sold his dad to, came back a week later for another rooster because something took him. I was glad that these little guys hatched and I think there may be a brother too, which would be fine because these are some of the sweetest roosters I have ever seen. Some times I'm happy to get roosters if it's the right breed.

keeping chickens newsletter€¦ · · 2017-02-25i keep putting a good amount of pine ... we...

Documents