Category: Working with Animals

A Chick Update (Part 7)

If you’ve been keeping up with this series of posts, you know from A Chick Update (Part 6) that the chickens are now in the coop with the older hens and that the hens are doing everything possible to teach them how to be better chickens. A funny thing started happening this past week. The chicks are starting to recognize that the hens sit in a certain manner in the nest box. Of course, like children everywhere, the chicks have decided to emulate the behavior. So, they get up into the nest box, fluff out their feathers, and proceed to sit with the greatest of care. Unfortunately, all of them are sitting in the same nest box for the most part, which was amusing enough when they were smaller, but is absolutely hysterical now because one or two of the chicks usually end up falling out. The chicks will eventually get the idea.

These young hens are experimenting with the nest box, but they're all trying to use the same one.
Young Hens Experimenting with the Nest Box

Today is a sort of graduation day for the chicks as well. As of tomorrow, the chicks will have spent two weeks with the hens in the coop. Not only are the hens getting a bit irritable, but the chicks need to start growing beyond the coop as well. As of tomorrow, the chicks will have the opportunity to go out into the run and get some sunshine, along with a little freedom from the hens. However, I can’t just let them crawl out under the run fence as the hens have been doing for the last while (just so you know, chickens are excellent at tunneling under fences), so I’ve cleared all the brush and made sure that the fence will keep the chicks inside—at least for now. The hens can still get out by flying over the top of the fence. That was my original idea anyway to keep predators at bay.

I’m sure the chicks will be absolutely terrified when I open the run door. Once they get past the usual surprise though, they’ll go outside and run about. They still peep, but it’s not hard to hear them yelling, “I’m free! I’m free!” or the equivalent in chicken anyway.

Trying to get them back into the coop will be interesting. The last time I had chicks, getting them back into the coop consisted of chasing them back up the ramp at the end of the day. Nothing would prompt the chicks to go back inside. The hens may try to help me out, which would be nice. I’ve noticed that they herd the chicks about in the coop. If not, I’ll be out there again with my fishing net to catch any chicks that won’t go into the coop no matter how nicely I ask. After about two weeks, the chicks will get the idea that when I call from inside the coop, it really is time to come in for the day. Everything takes time.

As the chicks continue to grow, they’ll also gain more knowledge of what it means to be a chicken. It’s interesting to think about chickens going to a school of sorts, but that’s how things end up working out. Let me know your thoughts about all things chicken at [email protected].

 

A Chick Update (Part 6)

The chicks are now in the coop. Moving them was akin to watching a keystone cops movie—anyone who has tried to catch chickens knows precisely what I mean. The cage I built is nice because it gives the chickens plenty of space to run. However, getting the chickens out of there when it’s time for them to go is another story. I’ve found over the years that using the end of the brooder insert to corral them does help significantly. Even so, you’ve got to be really fast to grab the chicken, yet really gentle to avoid hurting them.

All the chicks did calm down once I had them in my hand. Picking them up regularly as they grew did help significantly. I’m not entirely sure why they make such a big deal out of being picked up, but having them settle right down is nice. I got them over to the coop one at a time.

Of course, one chick always has to make my life interesting. She deftly flew out of the top of the coop when I tried to get her. So, I had a chick running around the garage examining absolutely everything. I was prepared and closed the garage door. The chick is now frantically running about and the garage door noise didn’t help matters. In this case, I used a landing net, the rubber type, used for fishing. It has a long reach and the rubber net lets me catch the chick without hurting her. I’ve used the net a number of times to catch chickens and never hurt any of them.

The chicks ran into a corner when I put them inside the coop. They looked straight into the corner, probably figuring that if they couldn’t see the big hens, the big hens couldn’t see them. My new approach of placing a hen with a tendency to be broody in with the chicks worked well. She didn’t precisely defend them all the time, but she kept the other hens, especially Violet, from getting too bossy. Both Hyacinth and Daisy took turns watching over the chicks—mothering them sometimes, teaching them at others. Unlike my first experience adding chicks to the coop, this experience is going exceptionally well.

Saturday will mark the one week point for the chicks. I’ll keep the chicks and hens shut up together for two weeks so that they can get used to each other and establish a pecking order. So far I haven’t seen a single instance where a chick has been pecked to the point of bleeding or even lost any feathers. This morning I went in to see several of the chicks trying out the lower nest boxes (they still can’t fly to the upper nest boxes). Even though it will be August or September before they start laying, I like the idea of them getting the feel of things sooner than later.

As a point of interest, the hens will definitely teach the chicks how to behave in the coop. I have changed the feeding schedule so that the chicks are sure to get their fill each day. I also stand in the coop during the first feeding of the day and keep the hens and chicks separated. Otherwise, the chicks have learned that the hens eat first and they eat second. They’re also learning to leave the hens alone when they’re sitting in the nest box. Like all young things, the chicks have a lot to learn and I’m sure now that the hens will teach them (rather than hurt them).

Every time I embark on a new project, I learn something interesting. So far, this chick raising experience has taught me the need to introduce the chicks to the coop earlier, to provide them with a surrogate mother, and to ensure I pick them up as often as is possible. Of course, I’ve known of the need to be fast with a fishing net for quite some time now. Let me know your thoughts about introducing new chicks to a coop using this method at [email protected].

 

A Chick Update (Part 5)

In the continuing saga of the developing chicks (see A Chick Update (Part 4) you last saw the chicks exploring a world without walls. Of course, they felt instantly overwhelmed by all the new space at their disposal. When the full grown chickens appeared on the scene, the chicks were quite beside themselves. Such is the world of chicks. Everything is new and frightening. I keep emphasizing that chicks are suspicious of everything because people seem surprised at some of their reactions.

The chicks are having more of the full grown chickens visit with them (I started out with a Buff Orpington named Hyacinth). In fact, I’m letting the chickens sit with the chicks in their cage, one at a time. I keep looking for ways of easing this whole issue of establishing a pecking order.

Of course, establishing a pecking order brings me to another topic. Up until now, the amount of fighting between the chicks has been minimal, probably because they’re too small to care and because they were grouping together to keep warm and fight off the hoards of perceived enemies. This week I started seeing a little more fighting amongst the chicks. They’re starting to establish a pecking order between themselves. My need to help them through this transition is becoming more important.

Breeds come into play at this point. The Buff Orpingtons are called gentle giants for a reason. First, you can already see that there is a small size difference between the buffs and their fellow chicks. The size different will increase. The Buff Orpingtons (which can come in at about 9 pounds processed weight) will never get as big as a meat chicken (which can easily exceed 12 pounds processed weight), but they will get a little larger than most of the hens in the coop (with an average processed weight of 6 pounds). They also tend to lay relatively large eggs, assuming you can keep them from getting broody. In the fight for dominance though, they just don’t seem to get the idea. The three buffs will end up at the bottom of the pecking order. Then again, in the coop I’ve noticed that even though the buffs are at the bottom of the pecking order (basically because they don’t care), no one really messes with them much either.

In watching the chicks, it’s starting to look like the Barred Plymouth Rock chicks will be the most aggressive. They aren’t completely overwhelming the three Americaunas, but they do seem intent on having their way at the food dish and the watering pan. I’ll have to see how things work out. At this point, I haven’t introduced the chicks to the queen of the coop, a Black Australorp named Violet. She’s loud, she’s bossy, she keeps the other hens in line. I’ll definitely save her visit until last.

I’m still trying to decide on that magic moment to move the chicks from the cage to the coop.  I’ll want to do it soon, before they get too big.  They’ll stay in a cage in the coop for about a week and then I’ll try letting them out.  I’m thinking that if I introduce them to the coop when they’re younger, perhaps the other hens will be easier on them. Let me know your thoughts on raising chickens at [email protected].

 

A Chick Update (Part 4)

This was a week of big changes for the chicks (see A Chick Update (Part 3) for details). The brooder box boards came down and they discovered that their cage is much larger than they thought. Their reaction was to huddle in the corner. Of course, chickens are highly suspicious of anything new. Suddenly, there are no comforting sides to their cage—everything is open. Having an open cage worried the chicks to no end. If you have chicks, you have to think about how scary changes can be for them and encourage them in the right direction, but not get frustrated when it takes time for them to accept the change. Everyone and everything requires time to accept change. I handled the situation by talking softly to them, but I also put their food at the other end of the cage. If they wanted to eat, they’d have to explore their cage to do it. A few hours later I came back into the garage and the chicks where now running back and forth, wings akimbo, chasing each other frantically. It was if they were saying, “I’m free! I’m free!”

Eight chicks of different types at five weeks.
Layer Hens After Five Weeks

The chicks are continuing to get bigger and gain in strength. Most of them can now fly short distances, so I needed to add the top to their cage this week. The top is simply recycled corrugated roof panels from a friend’s roof. They replaced their roof and these particular panels were still in good shape, so there was absolutely no reason to send them off to the landfill. I used other panels as sheathing for my chicken coop. So, now the chicks have a roof over their heads. They don’t like it when I have to move the panels about and will cheep quite loudly at me, telling me how they dislike the noise. I’ve set the panels up so that I provide the minimum of disturbance each day when I feed and water them.

The cage is now covered with a corrugated tin cover and completely open for the chicks.
Opened Cage Using Corrugated Tin Cover

Eventually, the chicks will need to become integrated with my flock—they can’t stay in that cage forever. There is a reason that we talk about pecking orders in life. Chickens can be quite mean toward each other. In fact, during my first integration, one of the new chicks was actually pecked to death by the other hens in the coop. The experience has taught me that I need to introduce new chicks slowly and carefully. This week, I opened the garage door. The hens are free to roam about my property during the day. Being curious and suspicious, they peeked around the end of the garage at the chicks in their cage. After a while, they started spending time in the garage, viewing the chicks. The idea is to get the hens used to seeing the chicks.

I’ve read any number of texts on flock integration and there just doesn’t seem to be any non-confrontational way to do it. The hens must establish a pecking order, deciding who is the boss. However, this time I’ve thought about the idea of placing the hens, one at a time, in with the chicks. When I first place the chicks in the coop, they’ll be in a cage. The integration process will be slow. Unfortunately, despite these precautions, a day of reckoning will come and I’ll have to let the chicks work their way into the flock as a whole. During their first week in the coop, hens and chicks alike will stay together. My goal is to integrate the new chicks with the least amount of trauma.

This week also saw the chicks eating regular laying mash—the same food that the full-sized birds get. The chicks are taking their time adjusting to the new food, which is what I expected. As with all changes, it’s essential to take things slow and understand that all things require time to adjust to change. Let me know your thoughts about chickens and their growing process at [email protected].

 

A Chick Update (Part 3)

People keep asking me about the chicks that I originally talked about in Spring Chicks. They really are cute and they’re starting to get quite big. They’re about four weeks old now. The weather had been especially cold for a while, but things have warmed up, so the heat lamp is off now. The fact that my little birds are getting feathered out quite nicely helps. I still have the sides up in their little brooder box. I tried letting one out in the other compartment the other day and she quickly decided that it might be nice to try to get out. Another week will likely do wonders and I’ll finally be able to consider letting them out into the bigger area.

Eight chicks of different types at four weeks.
Layer Hens After Four Weeks

 

I’m still feeding my new hens chick starter, but I’m mixing in a little layer mash. I want them to get used to the layer mash slowly. Eventually, they’ll get layer mash mixed with some goodies. Of course, I feed the full sized hens all sorts of things and they help themselves to bugs when they’re out pecking about. Good laying hens actually need a diverse diet and given a choice, they’ll find it if you don’t supply it. However, for the short term, I’m keep my little birds on a strict diet to help ensure they grow up healthy and happy.

A funny thing happened this week. I had been feeding the chicks using a pie tin because they weren’t able to use any of the feeders I have. Using the pie tin leads to feed waste because the birds spread it all over their cage and then won’t eat it because it isn’t in the pie tin. You can see from the picture that they now have a new feeder. The round feeder is nice because all the birds can get to it easily. Chickens are suspicious, however, and my chicks wouldn’t have anything to do with that new feeder. A few approached it and jumped back—perhaps it’s a snake, they thought! Eventually, the chicks did warm up to the new feeder, so now it isn’t too uncommon to see one of the chicks sitting on top of the jar containing the feed. (You might wonder why I’m using a glass jar instead of the plastic jar that sometimes comes with the round feeders. The plastic jar flexes, so it comes off the feeder quite easily, which means wasting feed instead of dispensing it efficiently, and it also isn’t as easy to see just how much feed is left in the jar.)

An Americauna chick stands atop the feeder bottle.
Queen of the Food Bin

It’s about this time in their growth cycle that the chicks start to get quite defiant if you pick them up. They want to be out on their own—running about, peeping at the other chicks. When tired, the chicks still pile up on top of each other. Even though they aren’t particularly interested in contact, I’m still working with them. Once they’re up in my hand, they do get comfortable.  I had one fall asleep the other day in my hand and I watched it sleep for a while. The second I moved my hand the wrong way though the chick was up and ready to run about again.

In looking at my weight readings, I find that a meat chicken would be about twice of weight of a layer at this point and probably about twice the size too. Layers definitely grow slower than meat chickens do, so you really can’t compare the two. As they grow, I’m finding that these layers are also getting more and more personable. When I hear loud peeping now, I often know the culprit even without looking into the brooder box.

I’ll keep providing updates as long as people continue to ask me about my new hens. Make sure you send any questions you might have about them to [email protected].

 

A Chick Update (Part 2)

A lot of people are interested in hearing about the continuing saga of my chicks. Last week’s post, A Chick Update, talked about how the chicks are growing feathers and the ways in which layers differ from meat chickens. Of course, chickens are chickens. Layers and meat chickens alike have a certain life cycle. When you first start them out in the brooder box, you leave the heat lamps on 24 hours a day and make food available all the time. However, at some point you need to start changing things or the chicks will never develop properly.

Eight chicks of different types at three weeks.
Layer Hens After Three Weeks

This past week I started turning the heat lamp off during the day. The chicks started sleeping more as a result. I also started withdrawing food during the evening hours. The chicks now have food available from around 5:00 am to 7:00 pm. If I were to make food available all the time, the chicks could overeat and literally die of heart failure. Laying hens have more restraint than meat chickens, so I started withdrawing the food a little later. When working with meat chickens, I start withdrawing food in the evenings by the third or fourth day. Otherwise, you have to start dealing with a condition known as flip, as in, the chicks flip over on their backs, dead. The point is to control food to keep the chicks healthy and also to start getting them into a more natural pattern of living.

Interestingly enough, the chicks can already fly short distances. At least, they can jump from my hand and make a controlled landing back into the brooder box. I had a chick surprise me by doing it this past week. She’s just fine, but I’m paying a lot closer attention now when I pick them up. The lesson is that you do need to pay close attention when handling the birds to ensure they don’t get hurt.

The chicks are still eating chick starter. All chick starter provides your chicks with a high protein feed that’s easy to digest. Some chick starter provides medication to help the chicks avoid getting sick from diseases such as coccidiosis and I highly recommend getting such food because you can find this particular disease in most areas of the world (and definitely anywhere that has seen use for raising poultry in the past). A few chick starters include ingredients to help improve overall chick health, such as improving skin quality so that the chicks do better once you get them outside. A high quality chick starter is most definitely going to cost more than a lower quality product, but using a high quality product also ensures your chicks grow faster, have a higher probability of living until they’re fully grown, and do better once you start getting them outside. You really do want the perky chicks that a good food can provide.

I’ll keep posting updates as long as I continue to receive e-mail from interested parties. Let me know your chick-related question at [email protected].

 

A Chick Update

I hadn’t quite expected the reception my article on the new chicks received, but I’m always glad to receive e-mail about them. The Spring Chicks post caused a bit of excitement because people have some misconceptions about chickens. The first is that all chicks are yellow. Actually, chicks come in a wide variety of colors. In many cases, the chick color is similar to the adult colors. For example, my Americaunas are multicolored brown and so are the chicks. These particular chicks are quite pretty. In fact, I feel they’re the nicest looking in the bunch. However, please don’t mention it to the chicks because they’ll get quite uppity.

Another misconception is that chicks generally grow at the same rate. Layers grow considerably slower than meat chickens. I’m sometimes amazed at just how fast the meat chicken chicks grow. As a consequence, these chicks will remain in the brooder box longer than meat chicken chicks would. The last batch I raised needed almost two additional weeks.

Not all chicks are natured alike either. Meat chickens generally are less intelligent and more aggressive than layers are. However, even layers have differences. For example, I’m finding it much easier to pick the Americauna chicks up than the others. The most skittish of the group are the Barred Plymouth Rocks. The Buff Orpingtons seem less likely to peck their brood mates. Individual chicks have small personality differences, even at this stage in life (and those differences will grow with time).

At this point, the chicks are starting to get feathers. The feathers start at the wing tips and move in from there. At some point, features will start appearing somewhat randomly and the birds will get quite ugly until they have a complete set of feathers. When the chicks have a complete set of feathers, I can remove the brooder box sides and let them roam free. After a few days I can start taking them out into the sunshine (with the roof on the cage, of course). All of these activities depend on the weather and the rate at which the chicks grow.

Watching the chicks grow is always a lot of fun. Thanks for the interesting e-mails you’ve sent my way. Let me know if you require any more information about my chick raising experiences at [email protected].

 

Spring Chicks

I’m still getting up to speed after Rebecca’s loss, so I chose not to raise meat chickens this year. However, my egg customers definitely want more eggs. Over time, my coop has lost a few hens and it never was up to full capacity. I currently have six hens in there and they just can’t keep up with demand. As a result, I’ve purchased eight new laying chickens to add to my coup. You can see them here:

Eight chicks will make the coop fuller.
New Layers for the Coop

The eight new chicks include three Americaunas (multicolored brown in the picture), three Buff Orpingtons (light brown/yellow), and two Barred Plymouth Rocks (black with gray bellies). I’ve had good success with Americaunas in the past. They lay eggs three or four times per week, the eggs are usually large to jumbo, and I’ve only had one get broody on me once. Of all my chickens, the Americaunas are actually the friendliest and seem to demand the most attention.

The Buff Orpingtons are the most consistent winter layer in my coop. I have had them get broody on a regular basis, but they make up for their vacations from laying by laying more eggs when they do. The size range of the eggs from this chicken goes from medium all the way up to a super jumbo that pegs my egg scale. Although they don’t demand attention, the Buff Orpingtons are quite friendly and get along with the other chickens really well.

The Barred Plymouth Rocks are a new addition. I wasn’t happy with the Delaware hens I purchased. They do lay regularly and the eggs are quite pretty (the only speckled eggs I get). In addition, they seem to be the least likely to have problems during the winter months and they lay almost as often as the Buff Orpingtons do. They also tend to waste less food and eat less as well. However, the eggs tend to be a bit smallish and range toward medium. The Delaware hens also tend to get a bit rowdy with the other hens and the worst part is that they tend to be egg eaters. After talking with a number of other people, I decided to give the Barred Plymouth Rock a try.

Because I don’t have meat chickens this time, I had to set the brooder box up a little differently. There are only eight little chicks in a great big box so I set both of the heat lamps at one end of the brooder box. I also placed a metal cover over the other end to help keep the heat in better. The new arrangement is working fine—the chicks are staying quite warm and cozy despite the lack of companions (normally 75 of them).

Brooder Box with Heat Lamps and Cover
Brooder Box with Heat Lamps and Cover

The big thing I’m watching for now is that the chicks continue to remain active and don’t show any signs of being cold. Of course, that means getting up at night as well. At this point, I’m getting up two or three times during the night hours to check on them and I also check on them regularly during the day hours.

Handling your chicks at this point is a good idea. Don’t hold them for long because you don’t want them to get cold or to have other problems that come with a bit too much attention. You do want to pick each chick up every day so they get used to being handled. Make sure you talk with your chicks as well so they get used to the sound of your voice. Tame chickens are most definitely easier to care for and a real delight as companions when you work in the yard. Let me know your thoughts about laying hen chicks at [email protected].

 

All Cooped Up

I normally let my chickens run free during the entire year. They get outside and play games outside while pecking around for things to eat. They really are quite funny at times. One of their favorite winter games is Queen of the Hill. I put a french fry or other treat on top of a snow hill and the chickens race to see how gets it first. The chickens knock each other off the hill and grab the french fry until it’s gone. Of course, the game continues as long as I have french fries to offer them. The outside time is important because it allows the chickens to exercise properly and to gain access to alternative food sources, such as bugs. In addition, getting out of the coop provides them with fresh air and time to interact with their environment.

After seeing my egg production (and subsequent sales) drop to nearly nothing this past winter, I decided to try something out. On truly cold days, I’ve been keeping the chickens in the coop. I’m not talking about a coop with the door open, but with the door closed so that the coop stays significantly warmer. On the coldest days, I’ve been putting a pot of hot water in the coop to partially heat it. As a result of this change, my chickens are laying more eggs—a lot more eggs. In fact, egg production has increased threefold over egg production last winter at this time. Mind you, I’m getting this increase without disturbing the chicken’s natural light cycle by using a heat lamp or other light source.

The results seem consistent. In addition, the only thing I’ve changed is the time the chickens spend in their coop. I did note that there is no increase after a certain point. Keeping the chickens in their coop six days a week didn’t provide an appreciable increase in production over four days. What seems to be the most important factor is choosing days that are especially cold. Right now I’m keeping the chickens in their coop when the temperature falls below 20. However, I plan to keep playing with the temperature to see what effects I can come up with. The chickens might actually do better if I keep them in the coop anytime it’s below freezing, but something tells me that they’ll begin fighting if I do.

What I’m trying to figure out now is how cold is too cold for the chickens. They survive just fine, even if I let them out in relatively cold weather. The thing that changes is the number of eggs they lay. The cold stresses the chickens just enough to stop laying almost completely. I’m still experimenting to find the trigger temperature for this effect. Figuring out the correct temperature is important because the chickens really do need the outside time to remain healthy.

Like many topics related to chickens, trying to find specific temperature guidelines online has proven impossible. However, there must be others who have experimented in figuring out just the right temperatures for letting chickens go outside to play. Let me know your thoughts on the topic at [email protected].

 

Winter Egg Production (Part 2)

I thought I had exhausted this topic with the first Winter Egg Production post. I had known for a long time about the effects of light on chickens. Farmers typically use lights to keep chickens producing during the winter months. Lamps are even used in smaller operations because the electricity is usually less expensive than letting the chickens stop laying. However, the first post pointed out the reasons that I don’t use lighting.

All of my chickens are cold hearty breeds, such as Americanas and Australorps. So, I don’t heat the coop in winter. If it’s an especially cold day, I keep the coop closed. Even though the coop isn’t insulated, it’s extremely wind resistant due to the construction methods used, so it really has to get exceptionally cold to affect the chickens. If you don’t have cold hearty breeds, you must always heat your coop to keep the chickens from dying in extreme cold conditions.

I keep track of the coop temperature as part of monitoring the birds. The trend I noticed is that chickens will lay more eggs when conditions are warmer, even if the amount of daylight falls below the 12 to 14 hour level. In fact, egg production can get to near half levels. For example, my chickens will typically lay 248 eggs in August. With the right winter temperatures, egg production can near 124 eggs, instead of the 63 I normally get. This fact was borne out recently during a warm spell when egg production unexpectedly increased.

My personal research led me to look for verification online. One article, What Minimum Temperature Do Hens Need to Lay Eggs?, actually sets temperature levels for egg laying. The information doesn’t completely coincide with my own statistics, but the author seems to be talking about chickens in general and mine are definitely cold hearty. The eggs you get will depend on all sorts of factors, including the amount of time that the chickens are allowed to wander around outside foraging. Mine are free to roam my properly as long as I don’t see any hawks circling overhead.

There are a number of articles that also discuss the effects of humidity—something I haven’t measured to date, but intend do start doing. So, it appears that my earlier post was a little light on details. Yes, you need appropriate light to obtain decent egg production, but chickens also appear to need proper temperatures and humidity as well. The environment also has an effect on egg laying, as well as the quality of the eggs you receive.

As with anything, the output you receive is directly proportional to the input you provide. Egg laying is a science that is misunderstood by many people who raise chickens. Understanding how to help you chickens produce better eggs is essential if you want to obtain the maximum benefits from your investment. Let me know your thoughts about chickens and egg laying at [email protected].