Dlog

Early spring 2010; We have decided to raise chickens. Here we go!

This blog/page will be updated periodically.

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BREEDS

After some research, (which means the internet, friends, and a few different suppliers of all things chicken-raising,) we have decided on these three breeds; a Golden Laced Wyandotte, a Barred Plymouth Rock, and an Ameraucana. We got the first two on Monday. Today I am going back for the third. The Urban Farm Store, (2100 SE Belmont St, Portlan, Oregon) didn’t have the Ameraucana chicks in when I went to get the set up, and I was pretty set on having one of that breed. (It is okay to add to a group of two or more, but being social animals, they get reallllly lonely if you get them one at a time.) The Urban Farm Store also only sells sexed chicks, unless otherwise noted, so we are at least 95% sure we got hens instead of roosters. In the Portland city limit you can not have any roosters, and you can only have three hens per city lot.
(Breed Info / Portland Chicken Law Info / Urban Farm Store)

OUR CHICKS

This photo has the Wyandotte on the left, thePlymouth Rock on the right. I did my best to adjust the photo so we could see the chicks more clearly. They are under a 250 watt red bulb and in a big cardboard box lined with pine shavings. (Never EVER use cedar. The chicks can be overwhelmed by the smell. (Just imagine being raised in a room lined with vaporub or something.) Also in the box are a feeder and a waterer. Half of the box is covered with a piece of cloth to create a shaded area; a cool zone. It isn’t really cool, so much as cool-er. The chicks have to be kept warm, but also be able to regulate their own temperature a bit. At first, 95 degrees, then each week 5 degrees less, (by raising the light) until the temperature in the box equals the temperature outside in the yard. They will be ready to go out to the coop at about 2 months old. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. They are plenty interesting and incredibly cute right now.

The Barred Plymouth Rock seems to be the dominant one. She is definately louder. And wherever she goes, the Wyandotte follows, then sits. We know nothing of how a pecking order is established, only that one is. Anyway the Plymouth Rock will likely be the largest bird. They average 7.5lbs. (The Wyandotte 6.5, and the Ameraucana 5.5.) I have heard tho, that size doesn’t necesarilly denote dominance.

Here is the Ameraucana chick. She is 2 days old in this pic. She was so loud on the way home, and then quiet when put in with the other two chicks. She seemed worn out from the journey. Within minutes of being in the box she was dozing while standing up. She kept wobbling back and forth until almost falling over and then waking up a bit. After a breif nap the other chicks finally came over to investigate, mostly by walking by very close and rubbing up against her. Now they are all three inseperable. No obvious change in the pecking order, but the Ameraucana chick has no issue with climbing on top of the other two to get to the food or water. Not that she has to. She just does.

NAMES and PERSONALITIES update

March 30th, Teressa holding Loretta, the Barred Plymouth Rock. The chickens are now 5 weeks and a few days old. Loretta, we feel, is the calmest, most curious of the 3 chicks. She will poke her head up to see what we are doing when we are near the brooder. Wynona, the Wyandotte, least likes to be picked up, but doesn’t mind being held once she’s in your hands. And Patsy, the Ameraucana, makes the biggest show. She is a little… dramatic. She jumps around alot, often landing on the other two.

THE COOP

I started building the coop last weekend. I am working on a modular design. We are renters and want to be able to take this coop with us. So it will consist of 3 parts; the chicken house, the stand for the house, and an enclosed run. In these drawings, the house does not not make an appearance. We are also considering allowing them to roam in between our house and garage. With a bit of work that can be enclosed but not covered.

The decision to raise the house off the ground has two origins. 1. Predators. More on that later. 2. More real estate for the chickens to run. The stand for the house obviously needs to be strong and stable. I am making frames for the chicken wire so that they can be removed easily, for cleaning and moving. They also add stability at the bottom of the stand.

Here are some cell phone pics of the current state of the coop. It has been a ton of fun figuring this out. The green window will open for access to the inside for cleaning or whatever. On the back end is where we hope the chickens will sleep and lay eggs. There is an extra layer of particle board there for a bit more insulation. There will be a door that lifts there for easy access to that section.

You can see the chicken’s door framed in the lower right of the front. I am holding out for a window to put across the top of that side that will open a bit for ventilation in the summer months. (Will be a nice architectural detail as well.)

The run is framed, but there is no roof or wire on it, or any of the setup, just yet. That is a last step.

More soon. We only have 3 weeks until the chicks are ready to go outside…

Here are pics of the current state of the coop. Sarah gave me the horizontal window on the front. It is the same color as the one I got from the Rebuilding Center! I had to trim a bit from each end to get it to fit, and it is hinged on the bottom. This one will be chained at the top so that it will only open a little bit for ventilation later in the summer. The other window opens on the right. It is for access for cleaning. I would worry about the chickens’ privacy except that the whole coop will be behind the garage, out of sight and definitely not in the foot path of any strangers.

Eric helped me with the board-and-bat on the front side. And he helped me square the whole thing up, which makes him a lifesaver. I am working now on the rest of the siding, then on to the back of the coop for the lid that allows access to the brooding boxes. That is where we will get to the eggs. I put the roof on last night just before the rain came through. We need a layer of tar paper, and then I think we are going to use cedar shakes for the roofing. It will look pretty classy, I think. No progress on the run. But thanks to Doug Kelly for scoring me a nice amount of chicken wire for free!

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This weekend, two full days of chicken wire. Do you want to know something in this world that is inherently unfriendly? Chicken wire. I felt like Luke Skywalker when he was wearing that blind helmet and trying to defend himself against that random floating ball that kept dancing around and shooting him in the ass. Chicken wire is poky and sharp. And it comes in a roll and wants to stay in that roll. I have a ton of scrapes and scratches and tender fingertips after dealing with that stuff.

Anyway, it looks freaking amazing. I used a diferent kind of wire fence or screen for the top angled parts. (Partly because I was so DONE with the chicken wire by that point.) It offers a nice visual break from the octagonal pattern.

I had to shorten the whole run. I had worked so long on the house that I stopped paying attention to the run and the house’s dimensions shifted after the initial on-paper design. That’s okay though, because I love the way it looks.

The corrugated roofing is not attatched, or trimmed yet. I had to cut it a bit lengthwise, and it is brittle and I will have to be careful.

Tonight, hopefully, I will finish the roofing. As it sits in these photos, the tar paper is started. And I have a bundle of cedar shingles for the final layer.

After that it is all finishing details like the chain for the window, and other clasps. And then some final trim work. Then to place it behind the garage… and put chickens in it.

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Here are some awful cell phone pics of the coop in place behind the garage, and two chickens in it. (We lost Patsy, the Ameraucana, to a dog. Sad day.) There are still some peices to finish, but it has chickens in it! Better pics coming soon.

And now, finally, some better pics. The bricks are not placed “officially.” We will have to remove them, level the ground, and then re-place them. I am hoping that the bricks will help to disuade a critter from digging. You will see 4 Chickens. The two new chickens are Buff Orpingtons, a breed that lays well in the winter. We named the more assertive one Ginger, referring to her color. And that naturally led us to Marianne for the other one. The first few days saw some working out of the pecking order. Now everything seems fine, though it is hard to tell if there is a “top chicken.” Loretta, the Barred Plymouth Rock, and Ginger, one of the Orpngtons, seem to be the two dominant ones. But it seems to be a shared roll. And really there is little actual conflict in the coop. Sometimes Ginger runs back and forth with little regard for who is in her way. That raises a bit of ire, but once the others get out of the way and just watch her spaz out, there is no muss. The most obvious behavior exhibited by the chickens regarding alliances etc. is that occaisonally either the orpingtons or the other two will remove themselves to the house. Anyway, when we come around the corner with a handful of scratch or vegetable choppings, they forget all but the treats.