Everything you ever wanted to know about keeping chickens at home. This site will show you the basics of keeping chickens; What type of chicken should I get? What shall I feed them? What should I house them in? How many eggs will I get? and lots more. So if you've ever asked 'How do I keep chickens at home?' I will show you how easy it is and how much fun it can be :)
Thursday, May 03, 2012
Keeping Chickens - A Death In The Family
Not so when it comes to saying goodbye to a chicken.
“Well that’s dinner sorted out, then.” is the common response or “Curried or casserole?”
But our chickens are pets – and you wouldn’t eat your pet, would you? Also, to be pragmatic about it, they’re laying hens, which means they’re pretty stringy and, by the time they go to the great chicken coop in the sky, are also rather old and tough.
Even if we weren’t vegetarian, there would be precious little to do with them apart from making stock. But it does prompt the question of what do you do with chickens when it’s the end.
Although hens can live to a relative old age – I’ve heard of them living up to 10 years – a shorter lifespan is much more common. The little brown hybrid laying machines, which have been bred over the years to pop out an egg on a daily basis, have correspondingly short lives. They’re lucky to make it to three or four years, although some miraculous birds last a while longer than that. Pure breeds, which take a break from laying for a few months each winter, and which only lay every couple of days, can expect to live longer.
All of this means it’s inevitable that the chicken-keeper will face a death in the flock sooner rather than later, so it’s as well to have a plan. I’m relatively unusual in the rural area where I live in that I don’t treat my little flock as livestock. That means that I even take them to the vet when they are ill. This, I might add, is greeted with some incredulity among the local farming community (and sometimes at the vet’s, too).
In particular, people seem to think it very odd that I’ve taken hens to the vet to be put to sleep – that’s really not the done thing in the country. But what are the alternatives? In the three years that I’ve been keeping chickens, I’ve lost four – and, as I write, one of the current 11 is looking a bit wobbly on her feet.
The first casualty when I started keeping chickens was Agatha, one of the three ex-battery hens which arrived in November 2009. She didn’t quite manage it to a year out of prison, but it’s actually amazing she lasted as long as she did. From the start she was always a bit hopeless, really. Her bottom – rather than being fluffy and clean like the others, and despite regular worming – tended to be matted with poo, which we regularly had to cut off with scissors so that she wasn’t dragging round this great faecal weight. That meant we also used to spray her bare bum with gentian violet spray to stop her being attacked by the others, for whom a bright red bottom is like a rag to a bull.
Agatha was also too slow to get any of the treats which we threw into their run, which inevitably meant she was hand fed corn and other titbits so that she wasn’t left out – I told you they’re pets. Despite all that, she seemed to have a happy enough life, although she rarely laid an egg. Around nine months after we got her, however, she started to look miserable and unhappy and hunched up. She was probably aged less than two and a half at this point. A trip to the vet confirmed she had a blockage from which she wouldn’t get better, so we said goodbye.
The next two had the consideration to fall off the perch (not literally) while we were away, leaving my lovely chicken-sitting neighbour to cope. The first death was expected – Wonky had been looking a bit, well, wonky, for a while, with a recurring limp for which she was under veterinary attention (don’t even ask about the bills); and the second wasn’t a huge surprise. The most recent also involved a trip to the vet and another fatal injection.
So why do I go the pricy vet route? I personally don't want to wring their neck or chop off their head as they are my pets and deserve more respect than that. If you think I'm being soppy, then try and kill a chicken yourself. It's not a pleasant experience and if don't wrong, can result in a lot of stress for the chicken and the executioner. I think they deserve better than that.
Of course sometimes death isn’t intentional. One friend lost a chicken to her lurcher dog (who was well and truly walloped with a Wellington boot and is now the hens’ best friend). The dog had left the chicken half-dead, so my friend had to finish her off with a meat cleaver and was traumatised for days. I admire another friend along the road who, having decided to breed chickens for the table as well as for eggs, has taken on the responsibility of killing them herself. My feeling, largely, is that if you eat meat you should be prepared to kill it – or at least not try to pretend that the killing part doesn’t happen. (And I know that’s easy for me to say as a vegetarian).
Given that my little flock isn’t intended for that route, however, I’m happy to outsource the task to ensure that there’s as little suffering as possible – yes, for me as well as for the chicken. But what to do with the little chicken corpses? Would you be surprised if I confessed to having a little hen graveyard, with individual headstones lovingly carved, for each of my girls who have gone to the great coop in the sky? No, don’t be silly – they’re double-bagged and put in the bin. They might be pets, but I’m keeping chickens and I'm not that soppy....although it might be different when my favourite hen Ena goes ;)
Monday, March 19, 2012
Hatching The Best Laid Plan For Keeping Chickens
Monday, March 12, 2012
Raising Chickens - Jennifer Aniston's New Friends Are Chickens
We all know that former Friends star Jennifer Aniston is a dog lover, but now it seems she has discovered the joys of raising chickens.
Jen found she had inherited a chicken coop on the new property she recently purchased, and it included a flock of chickens!
The former “Friends” actress seems to be taking their care very seriously, and commented that she's really enjoying the company of her new feathered friends. She said, “They’re very social animals, and they like it when you visit them with a cup of coffee in your hand. They also love pasta.”
More than a few people have quit eating meat once they get to know their chickens up close and personal, so I wonder if Jen will soon be announcing that she is a vegetarian now she has started raising chickens of her own and getting to know their individual characters?
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Build Your Own Chicken Coop or Hen House
There are many chicken coop plans available to buy online, but the ONLY one I recommend is Bill's excellent ebook, which provides you with no only the best chicken house plans, but really great advice on every aspect of building and maintaining it.
But don't take my word for it. Read the genuine testimonials from a couple of very happy customers below...
"Have you been planning to make a cozy, comfortable and tidy coop for your chickens? Well, follow the guidelines in this wonderful resource! My chickens are happy with their new home! Bill's book helped me make a well-planned, easy-to-clean-and-maintain coop for my chickens. I got practical tips on locating, positioning, protecting and maintaining the climate in the coop. Like me, it will help you too to choose the appropriate size, building design and materials for construction. This book not only helps you save while you build, but also enjoy the freedom to customize the coop to your individual specifications and needs. With valuable inputs on light and ventilation, I was able to ensure that the coop position was such that it allowed enough light in, but did not make the coop draughty. I particularly enjoyed the creative and innovative ideas thrown in about building low cost nesting boxes with material lying around the house. It set me exploring my own creativity and resourcefulness! An informative and easy to follow read, this book will guide you in building your own coop at a fraction of the cost of purchasing one! " Rachana Misra - Go Green Farms™ Owner
Raising Chickens From Eggs Is Child's Play
Friday, February 24, 2012
How Raising Chickens Changed Our Life For The Better
Raising Chickens - Keeping Chickens
A few years ago Donald Keller and his wife, Sarah Bailly said they wanted to live an agrarian lifestyle that was eco-friendly as well as self-sustaining. They maintained a garden and grew some of their own food while in New Orleans, but their new adventure really began three years ago when they started raising chickens in their backyard.
Their personal passion simply for “good food” was the initial motivation for taking on raising their own poultry. There are many published studies indicating that farm-raised chicken not only tastes better and is healthier than poultry mass produced in a plant, Keller said.
Initially, raising each clutch or “batch” became a matter of trial and error, he said.
“We did a lot of research about keeping chickens, but no amount of research could have helped us to really know what we were up against,” he said. “It may have been a good idea to work on someone else’s farm first.”
But their laborious operation is starting to bear fruit. Less than a year ago Keller and Bailly moved to rural Iberia Parish to create Bayou Farm.
They began the poultry business on property of owned by a family friend who had relocated to Iberia Parish from New Orleans for business.
Keller calls it a modest operation, but the small business now has nearly 1,000 farm-raised laying hens on the Darnell Road property, and the couple are beginning to eye other business endeavors such as cultivating farm-raised eggs and raising sheep, as well as continuing to keep chickens.
The operation is touted as “considerate animal husbandry and wise land maintenance in South Louisiana.”
The farm requires non-stop maintenance, Keller said, but the way of life has become just as fulfilling as it is tedious.
“It’s about being outside first and foremost and working for yourself,” he said. “Connecting with the earth and being hand in hand with nature instead of trying to force nature or trying to bend nature. We thought, ‘Let’s instead try to cooperate with it.’ ”
Bailly was working on her master’s degree in English and teaching while they were living in New Orleans. But, she said, she is better off a “writer than a teacher” and has taken on the Iberia Parish farm full time with her husband.
The two sell their homegrown products in farmers’ markets in Lafayette and in New Orleans and the newcomers are still tapping into the Teche Area.
“We really love raising chickens here,” Keller said. “Acadiana overall just has good culture, food and good people with character. Everyone is willing to help out.”