Chicken Sneezes!

This video of the girls catches Butterscotch Sneezing!  Turn up your volume!

Oreo All Grown Up

So I went to the Mission Hills Nursery thinking they might have some chicken feed because they have a couple chickens at the site that run around and free range.

I saw one of the chickens there, a Plymouth Rock, and she was a big girl!  I imagine this is what Oreo will look like when she grows up.

Big girl at the nursery

Talk about some big hips

My little Oreo -- who just learned how to jump for a treat today

Victory Garden

I saw this neat graphic that I wanted to post here.  It was on a blog asking "are you a typical victory gardener"?

http://redwhiteandgrew.com/2011/06/14/are-you-a-typical-victory-gardener/

Chicken Books

Here is my library on chicken raising:

"City Chicks:  Keeping Micro-Flocks of Chickens" by Patricia Foreman
"The Working Chicken" by Anna Hess
"A Chicken in Every Yard" by Robert and Hannna Litt

All good reads....

Chicken Waterers

I'm not using the traditional waterer with chicken nipple, like this below.

  Chicken Waterer with Nipples
http://www.chickenwaterer.com/BriteTap-Chicken-Waterer-and-Cooler-Combo-Pack-p/bt100-2gal-combo.htm

I'm using regular pet store rabbit (or small animal) waterers, like you see in this picture below.

Rabbit waterer

As you can see, I've also got a bowl of water in here.  I was worried, in the beginning, that they wouldn't know how to use the hanging waterer, and in the first few days the birds were too scared of me that I couldn't pick them up and teach them.  However, Oreo (the little one) learned immediately how to drink out of the rabbit waterer with no help from me.  So I didn't have to worry about her.  Eventually Butterscotch picked it up too by watching Oreo, but it took a week.  I just now removed the bowl of water from the cage because I see them going to the hanging water and not using the bowl.  So now there's a bit more space available in the cage, which is nice.

I had to use these rabbit waterers, instead of the large hanging chicken waterer (with nipples) because these rabbit waterers could hang on the outside of the cage (yay more room!) and hang at an angle (since the coop is a triangle).  The chicken nipples have to be pointed directly downwards (so you have to hang them above the chicken's head) or else they leak.  The rabbit waterers can pretty much be hung at a variety of angles and they won't leak.  So I like the rabbit waterers alot better.

I think the rabbit waterers put out less water than a chicken nipple per peck.  But I think the girls just have to peck a bit more to get their full drink.  And I think it's worth the extra room and cleanliness.  And as you can see, I've hung two waterers, at different heights, since the two hens are pretty different in size.  These rabbit waterers are glass bottles, so I don't have to worry about plastics contaminating their water.  So I'm happy!

I think this is the one I got from the pet store:

Rabbit waterer
http://www.drsfostersmith.com

Work Today

What did we do today?  We put handles on each end of the tractor, to make it easier to move around.

Handle on one end of tractor

Another handle

Then, just for good measure, we added a cabinet knob.  This knob was taken out of my girlfriend's house during a remodel.  I asked her if she had any leftover knobs, and this is what she gave me.

Lovely gold cabinet knob

My laundry sure is stacking up.  This is the second time today I've been pooped on.

Poop magnet, I tell ya

What to Feed Chickens

What should you feed your hens?  It's not very straight forward.  I suppose once you know, it's straight forward, but the first time I was at the feed store (City Farmers Nursery) I realized I didn't know what I was supposed to feed them.  I finally bought a few pounds of what Farmer Bill recommended, and by the time I needed more food, I'd forgotten which one I had originally I bought -- so there I was again at the store, trying to figure out what age they were and what I was supposed to feed them.  So here I've made a little chart for you:

Starter
Starter feed is for the baby chicks, up to 8 weeks for chickens you intend to be layers (egg producers, rather than chicks you're raising to eat).

Grower
Grower feed is for the teenage girls, about 8 weeks to the time they start laying (4-5 mos).

Layer
Layer feed is for the ladies who are laying eggs (4 or 5 mos and on).

Scratch, Mealworms, Oyster Shells
These are all treats for the lovely ladies.

I found a great site that sells non-GMO, organic, no soy and no corn feed: Scratch and Peck Feeds

Scratch and Peck Feeds

So what am I feeding my hens?  They are 9 and 11 weeks now, so Grower feed.  I bought organic grower (Kruse brand) from City Farmers Nursery.  But I just ordered some Scratch and Peck online organic, non-GMO, no soy, no corn.