I got my first chickens a year ago, I bought different types so that my youngest could name them and they would be easy to differentiate. We have a ton of predators here with coyotes, birds of prey, foxes and huge snakes. So I keep them in a very very large coop which I had to snake proof after one got in and strangled a youngster :( But now it is Fort Knox, nothing is going to get in now!).
They are so funny and a real joy to hang out with, the Rhode Island Red is super sassy but actually craves attention , she pecks at my feet but I pick her up and cuddle her :)
I have 2 Sapphire Blues, never heard of them before, but they are super sweet!! Already planning that if we have even worse of a food crisis, I’m going to borrow a rooster and hand out chicks to the whole street so everyone can start breeding them. In that case, having such a diverse gene pool will be a big benefit! My girls are lavender orpington, sapphire blue, rhode island red, australorp, plymouth rock, and easter egger. I also set up a rain barrel with a water circulator with a pvc pipe that enters the coop so I don’t have to haul out there water every day, and a huge hanging food hopper with organic feed. I throw in fresh food scraps daily too.
So many people liked my comment (I’m honestly a bit amazed), that I feel like I should tell you that I found many of the best features to make a coop as easy to run as possible on a website that sells super expensive coops, called Carolina Coops. I’m not affiliated with them in any way, but they have many things added to their coops and have a youtube channel about the installation of their coops. It’s where I learned about the pvc pipe to the rain barrel for fresh water for my chickens. And with the big food hopper, if life gets in the way, I can skip going out for a day or two. I’m very busy with 3 kids and the youngest has special needs, so I spent a lot fo time studying how to make the coop as easy to manage as possible and to still reap the most reward. I know that prices are incredibly high right now, but I think there are people out there who can do this without much cost- the ideas are all there!
Great Primer on how to raise chickens! Farmyard chickens lay Vitamin D rich eggs! Unfortunately, most of the 70 billion eggs consumed in the USA have little or no Vitamin D. In fact, they add Vitamin D to the chicken feed, so the chickens don't break their legs! Personal space for the tin barn raised chickens don't exist and antibiotics are used to prevent mass casualties! Then you wonder why we have antibiotic resistance!
Great write-up! I would add that sprinkling some diatomaceous earth around the coop every so often also aids in keeping the mites and pests down, without harming the chickens. Regarding predators, be sure your coop/henhouse has plenty of ventilation, even in cold weather. Chickens expel a LOT of moisture, which builds up in enclosed spaces. For overhead protection from predators in your run, the netting or a closed roof are highly encouraged. A raptor will dive right through an opening ( 4' opening in our case) and strike one of your hens in a flash.
Also, don't be afraid to cook those roosters; they're delicious! Just be sure to "wet" cook them, such as in a crock pot, since their meat is lean and will turn to boot leather if you attempt to cook like hens.
I'd just add that it's food-grade diatomacious earth for this purpose. Some people may not know that the stuff people buy for swimming pools is different and potentially toxic. Food-grade is easy to find in garden centers.
Yes! This should be added to a dust bath in the winter if they cannot access some fresh, dry soil for themselves. During the summer or other times, chickens will make their own dust baths and the diaotomaceous earth is not necessary.
When we were kids and recent immigrants to Canada, pops decided to relive his Eastern European peasant childhood and buy land and get chickens.
So one night my 8yr old younger brother went down to the barn and after 45 minutes didn’t come back. So my dad went to investigate. The damm rooster had him trapped and he couldn’t escape the barn.
Living in a rural area, I appreciate the way a rooster protects the hens when they're free ranging. I got a little bantam rooster to act as sentinel. Though he was still cocky, he did his guard job and was far less threatening to the hens and me.
Given I always have Plan B, my solution for not having to take care of chickens is being friends with our neighbor at our weekend lake house. She has 42 chickens this year because she bought chicks late last summer. She also has a garden and as we have gotten to know each other better, when I go over to buy a dozen fresh eggs, we talked about freeze drying food. So, I researched it and boom! I got mine last week and tomorrow I will be doing my test run freeze drying the last of the cabbage and brussle sprouts from our home garden. Once I feel comfortable with the process I will begin freeze drying my neighbor's eggs. She got a rooster this fall and I love to hear him in the mornings. News at eleven...
We have chickens. We call them our little ladies. I like brown sex link chickens. They lay large eggs and lay year round. We also have an Ameraucana which bluish green eggs. She is a pretty chicken. Gold tipped feathers. She isn’t as productive or her eggs aren’t as big as the brown sex link’s are.
The first year we had gotten eggs we got a road island red. It was growing into a beautiful chicken. The colors were bright and she was huge. One day my son came in to my room and said “mom what is that sound?” So I opened the door and heard the beginnings of a cock-a-doodle - doo. Our Miss Scarlet suddenly became Big Red.
I was raised on a farm, we had every kind of farm animal you can name. So, this substack was like a trip down memory lane.
Rodents, just the mention of them, ugh! Off topic, but I have a Boxer dog and a Tabby cat that both use the doggie door and can roam about in the fenced backyard. Kitty Kitty, yes that’s his name, has began bringing us gifts into the house through the doggie door. He catches moles, stuns them, then chases when they regain consciousness. Usually the next morning we find half of a mole next to the kitchen sink. Sometimes the tiny carcass is laying on the deck outside the doggie door.
Cats are good to have around to catch field mice so they don’t come inside, but never imagined I’d need to worry about him catching and releasing the vermin inside!
While Joe has evidently advanced into an age-related dementia, she seems to have regressed into infantilism. I don't know which condition is more ominous for a purported leader of the free world.
I generally avoid mocking people for their ailments or shortcomings. It's rude and mean. But they are at least co-authors of a democide, and I count that as at least an equivalent faux pas.
If you look closely at 44 you realize he has not the ability to manage a little league team. He has been steered by others his entire career, perhaps beginning when he failed out of Pepperdine and somebodys big bucks got him into Columbia
I remember when the rodent was a state senator, and voted against, or just "present" for laws that would make gun crimes within 1000 feet of school a higher felony, and then the rodent voted for laws that would ban a gun store within 5 miles of a school
these rodents just want to kill more poor people, period
and I no longer feel sorry for the poor people that keep voting for these rodents
if you vote for the cesspool, enjoy the pestilent shit you will swim in
The floating eggs reference took me back. My aunt had been a popular school teacher in the little Western Pennsylvania town where she spent her entire life. Although well educated she was a country girl at heart and a wonderful lady. She was one of the last strict Women’s Christian Temperance Union members. Family gatherings were definitely alcohol free and she ruled her six children (some WW II vets, some engineers and some corporate executives) with a gentle, but firm hand. The barnyard had an old log on end with a hatchet and a stock pot on the stove for laying hens that were well past their egg laying days, no hard feelings, soup stock was just part of the barnyard chicken’s and some rooster’s cycle of life. The chickens were free range with a hen house at night. These chickens had a habit of hiding eggs. Me and some of her grand kids, who were my age, were occasionally tasked with finding eggs. The floaters were OK, but those so old they exploded when touched were downright scary! Those were good days!
I remember grandma teaching me how to properly kill Sunday dinner, clean the bird, cut it up and soak in salt water overnight. I detested the gore, but loved her pan fried fresh chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and homemade buttermilk biscuits. As a child I never sat down more than the time it took to prepare a huge pan of string beans to get them ready to cook. I was a small girl, no fat all muscle! We grew all of our food. She had 2 of those huge chest freezers and 2 closets with shelves built to store veggies we canned all summer. I’m getting teary eyed missing that wonderful time with my grandmother. Such good memories.
Brings back great memories of my chicken flocks as a youngster in the 70s. My pet black minorca was named Ronnie and would come fly up to let me hold her when called. Also recall the horror of coming home from church one afternoon to find our English Pointer had pushed open the coop and spent the day executing my small flock of white leghorns.
I had 3 Rhode Island Reds free range, couped at night. One day my mutt dog started chasing one of them. They were zig-zagging and I was running and yelling at my dog to stop. That chicken spotted the opportunity to fly up into my arms to safety! I was amazed. Loved those birds.
Delightful essay! Great start, worth considering, should the farmers oppositions prove unsuccessful. If the projected food shortages materialize, this option could make life more livable.
Additional considerations for city, suburban dwellers:
Live in a suburb with a homeowners association I try to avoid. That said, in a city or suburbia and maybe even a state - start with checking for rules and regulations at all applicable levels. Note that the ruling bureaucrats at each level may present issues. Check re sources of supplies to meet your flocks needs. Assuming you get all green lights, check with/ about any neighbors views. Still good, you may want to check to find the possibilities for a vet and pet sitting service (ours does do chickens).
Then, ones own feelings:
I love eggs (allergic, but would look for a way to cope). Eating my pets likely would be insurmountable. Re a need for a lifelong commitment. Our zoo kept chickens. Unfortunately some met their fate as appetizers for the aged tigers.
Heard the Malone rooster comment during a 'Fallout' filming. Healthy fellow 🐓
I suspect my HOA is the same. However, in the event of a food crisis and supportive (future customers ?) neighbors one might manage an accommodation. Have 2 good sized hawks that visit when it's really cold. I do worry for the wellbeing of my mockingbird. It was by flying into the window 4xs today
On the other hand there are several suggestions on protection here.
Really! Sounds heartening! My MB is about 1/4 to 1/3:at best the size of the hawks. My other name for it is crazy bird. I'm really sorry for it, but haven't come up with a way to help.
Awesome essay‼️ My son built a nice coop out of scrap lumber for his 4 laying chickens. They are definitely social and when he or my wife are outside, they follow them around. They free range one or two days a week, otherwise they have an enclosed and covered area outside their coop as we have several hawks who hang around.
chickens are good for kids. When I was little, living in Thousand Oaks, CA on an acre, I found a Rhode Island Red wandering the the neighborhood and brought her home. Henny Penny. I developed a real attachment to that big old hen.
I got my first chickens a year ago, I bought different types so that my youngest could name them and they would be easy to differentiate. We have a ton of predators here with coyotes, birds of prey, foxes and huge snakes. So I keep them in a very very large coop which I had to snake proof after one got in and strangled a youngster :( But now it is Fort Knox, nothing is going to get in now!).
They are so funny and a real joy to hang out with, the Rhode Island Red is super sassy but actually craves attention , she pecks at my feet but I pick her up and cuddle her :)
I have 2 Sapphire Blues, never heard of them before, but they are super sweet!! Already planning that if we have even worse of a food crisis, I’m going to borrow a rooster and hand out chicks to the whole street so everyone can start breeding them. In that case, having such a diverse gene pool will be a big benefit! My girls are lavender orpington, sapphire blue, rhode island red, australorp, plymouth rock, and easter egger. I also set up a rain barrel with a water circulator with a pvc pipe that enters the coop so I don’t have to haul out there water every day, and a huge hanging food hopper with organic feed. I throw in fresh food scraps daily too.
So many people liked my comment (I’m honestly a bit amazed), that I feel like I should tell you that I found many of the best features to make a coop as easy to run as possible on a website that sells super expensive coops, called Carolina Coops. I’m not affiliated with them in any way, but they have many things added to their coops and have a youtube channel about the installation of their coops. It’s where I learned about the pvc pipe to the rain barrel for fresh water for my chickens. And with the big food hopper, if life gets in the way, I can skip going out for a day or two. I’m very busy with 3 kids and the youngest has special needs, so I spent a lot fo time studying how to make the coop as easy to manage as possible and to still reap the most reward. I know that prices are incredibly high right now, but I think there are people out there who can do this without much cost- the ideas are all there!
Sounds like you’ve got this!
mmmmmmmmm, chhickens....
Why did the chicken cross the road??
It was to far to walk around!
Great Primer on how to raise chickens! Farmyard chickens lay Vitamin D rich eggs! Unfortunately, most of the 70 billion eggs consumed in the USA have little or no Vitamin D. In fact, they add Vitamin D to the chicken feed, so the chickens don't break their legs! Personal space for the tin barn raised chickens don't exist and antibiotics are used to prevent mass casualties! Then you wonder why we have antibiotic resistance!
I do feel a kind of reassurance in knowing there are still people keeping this way of life alive.
in addition to the free pen chickens so many keep in Western NC, we also have a lovely turkey population coming back.
These guys are free forest turkeys.
Great write-up! I would add that sprinkling some diatomaceous earth around the coop every so often also aids in keeping the mites and pests down, without harming the chickens. Regarding predators, be sure your coop/henhouse has plenty of ventilation, even in cold weather. Chickens expel a LOT of moisture, which builds up in enclosed spaces. For overhead protection from predators in your run, the netting or a closed roof are highly encouraged. A raptor will dive right through an opening ( 4' opening in our case) and strike one of your hens in a flash.
Also, don't be afraid to cook those roosters; they're delicious! Just be sure to "wet" cook them, such as in a crock pot, since their meat is lean and will turn to boot leather if you attempt to cook like hens.
I'd just add that it's food-grade diatomacious earth for this purpose. Some people may not know that the stuff people buy for swimming pools is different and potentially toxic. Food-grade is easy to find in garden centers.
Good advice! I use diatomaceous earth to keep ants at bay. No chemicals needed.
Yes! This should be added to a dust bath in the winter if they cannot access some fresh, dry soil for themselves. During the summer or other times, chickens will make their own dust baths and the diaotomaceous earth is not necessary.
Dr. Malone! WoW! EXCELLENT info on the in's and out's of life with chickens. You are truly a gentleman farmer and chicken expert!
Hopefully this info will become a chapter in a forthcoming book.
When we were kids and recent immigrants to Canada, pops decided to relive his Eastern European peasant childhood and buy land and get chickens.
So one night my 8yr old younger brother went down to the barn and after 45 minutes didn’t come back. So my dad went to investigate. The damm rooster had him trapped and he couldn’t escape the barn.
The rooster ended up as a soup chicken. 🍗
The older I get, the more I understand why roosters wake up screaming!
How I solved the rooster problem.
Living in a rural area, I appreciate the way a rooster protects the hens when they're free ranging. I got a little bantam rooster to act as sentinel. Though he was still cocky, he did his guard job and was far less threatening to the hens and me.
Well that was fun!
Given I always have Plan B, my solution for not having to take care of chickens is being friends with our neighbor at our weekend lake house. She has 42 chickens this year because she bought chicks late last summer. She also has a garden and as we have gotten to know each other better, when I go over to buy a dozen fresh eggs, we talked about freeze drying food. So, I researched it and boom! I got mine last week and tomorrow I will be doing my test run freeze drying the last of the cabbage and brussle sprouts from our home garden. Once I feel comfortable with the process I will begin freeze drying my neighbor's eggs. She got a rooster this fall and I love to hear him in the mornings. News at eleven...
I enjoyed your epoch Tv last night.
We have chickens. We call them our little ladies. I like brown sex link chickens. They lay large eggs and lay year round. We also have an Ameraucana which bluish green eggs. She is a pretty chicken. Gold tipped feathers. She isn’t as productive or her eggs aren’t as big as the brown sex link’s are.
The first year we had gotten eggs we got a road island red. It was growing into a beautiful chicken. The colors were bright and she was huge. One day my son came in to my room and said “mom what is that sound?” So I opened the door and heard the beginnings of a cock-a-doodle - doo. Our Miss Scarlet suddenly became Big Red.
Sorry we have golden sex link chickens not brown sex link chickens. I always call them brown sex link because they are brown.
Thank you! We are ready to dive in.
I was raised on a farm, we had every kind of farm animal you can name. So, this substack was like a trip down memory lane.
Rodents, just the mention of them, ugh! Off topic, but I have a Boxer dog and a Tabby cat that both use the doggie door and can roam about in the fenced backyard. Kitty Kitty, yes that’s his name, has began bringing us gifts into the house through the doggie door. He catches moles, stuns them, then chases when they regain consciousness. Usually the next morning we find half of a mole next to the kitchen sink. Sometimes the tiny carcass is laying on the deck outside the doggie door.
Cats are good to have around to catch field mice so they don’t come inside, but never imagined I’d need to worry about him catching and releasing the vermin inside!
"Anyone who has had to catch a chicken, knows that they can and will outsmart the average human." Ok then, Kamala need not even bother trying.
And she is a heartbeat away from 1600
Indeed she is.
While Joe has evidently advanced into an age-related dementia, she seems to have regressed into infantilism. I don't know which condition is more ominous for a purported leader of the free world.
I generally avoid mocking people for their ailments or shortcomings. It's rude and mean. But they are at least co-authors of a democide, and I count that as at least an equivalent faux pas.
Comes down to if her strings pulled by same as 44s (as are bidens)
the depth that Obama has shoved his claw up Joe Brainstems ass has to be a gastronomical disaster, among others
If you look closely at 44 you realize he has not the ability to manage a little league team. He has been steered by others his entire career, perhaps beginning when he failed out of Pepperdine and somebodys big bucks got him into Columbia
I remember when the rodent was a state senator, and voted against, or just "present" for laws that would make gun crimes within 1000 feet of school a higher felony, and then the rodent voted for laws that would ban a gun store within 5 miles of a school
these rodents just want to kill more poor people, period
and I no longer feel sorry for the poor people that keep voting for these rodents
if you vote for the cesspool, enjoy the pestilent shit you will swim in
The floating eggs reference took me back. My aunt had been a popular school teacher in the little Western Pennsylvania town where she spent her entire life. Although well educated she was a country girl at heart and a wonderful lady. She was one of the last strict Women’s Christian Temperance Union members. Family gatherings were definitely alcohol free and she ruled her six children (some WW II vets, some engineers and some corporate executives) with a gentle, but firm hand. The barnyard had an old log on end with a hatchet and a stock pot on the stove for laying hens that were well past their egg laying days, no hard feelings, soup stock was just part of the barnyard chicken’s and some rooster’s cycle of life. The chickens were free range with a hen house at night. These chickens had a habit of hiding eggs. Me and some of her grand kids, who were my age, were occasionally tasked with finding eggs. The floaters were OK, but those so old they exploded when touched were downright scary! Those were good days!
I remember grandma teaching me how to properly kill Sunday dinner, clean the bird, cut it up and soak in salt water overnight. I detested the gore, but loved her pan fried fresh chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and homemade buttermilk biscuits. As a child I never sat down more than the time it took to prepare a huge pan of string beans to get them ready to cook. I was a small girl, no fat all muscle! We grew all of our food. She had 2 of those huge chest freezers and 2 closets with shelves built to store veggies we canned all summer. I’m getting teary eyed missing that wonderful time with my grandmother. Such good memories.
I am saving this post. Informative, practical, and positive. I really needed it today.
Brings back great memories of my chicken flocks as a youngster in the 70s. My pet black minorca was named Ronnie and would come fly up to let me hold her when called. Also recall the horror of coming home from church one afternoon to find our English Pointer had pushed open the coop and spent the day executing my small flock of white leghorns.
I had 3 Rhode Island Reds free range, couped at night. One day my mutt dog started chasing one of them. They were zig-zagging and I was running and yelling at my dog to stop. That chicken spotted the opportunity to fly up into my arms to safety! I was amazed. Loved those birds.
Delightful essay! Great start, worth considering, should the farmers oppositions prove unsuccessful. If the projected food shortages materialize, this option could make life more livable.
Additional considerations for city, suburban dwellers:
Live in a suburb with a homeowners association I try to avoid. That said, in a city or suburbia and maybe even a state - start with checking for rules and regulations at all applicable levels. Note that the ruling bureaucrats at each level may present issues. Check re sources of supplies to meet your flocks needs. Assuming you get all green lights, check with/ about any neighbors views. Still good, you may want to check to find the possibilities for a vet and pet sitting service (ours does do chickens).
Then, ones own feelings:
I love eggs (allergic, but would look for a way to cope). Eating my pets likely would be insurmountable. Re a need for a lifelong commitment. Our zoo kept chickens. Unfortunately some met their fate as appetizers for the aged tigers.
Heard the Malone rooster comment during a 'Fallout' filming. Healthy fellow 🐓
Enjoy a great day
Ever Bestest ♡♡♡
Out homeowners say no chickens. Also we have a resident hawk that picks off the occasional patron of our bird feeder
I suspect my HOA is the same. However, in the event of a food crisis and supportive (future customers ?) neighbors one might manage an accommodation. Have 2 good sized hawks that visit when it's really cold. I do worry for the wellbeing of my mockingbird. It was by flying into the window 4xs today
On the other hand there are several suggestions on protection here.
Given what as a kid I have seen done to hawks by mocking birds……
Really! Sounds heartening! My MB is about 1/4 to 1/3:at best the size of the hawks. My other name for it is crazy bird. I'm really sorry for it, but haven't come up with a way to help.
Will keep fingers crossed.
Awesome essay‼️ My son built a nice coop out of scrap lumber for his 4 laying chickens. They are definitely social and when he or my wife are outside, they follow them around. They free range one or two days a week, otherwise they have an enclosed and covered area outside their coop as we have several hawks who hang around.
chickens are good for kids. When I was little, living in Thousand Oaks, CA on an acre, I found a Rhode Island Red wandering the the neighborhood and brought her home. Henny Penny. I developed a real attachment to that big old hen.
They are more amazing than one believes. He calls them his little dinosaurs LOL.