Feeding & Watering your Backyard Flock

One of the most important things for your chickens is to have fresh WATER.  Their eggs are about 85% water, so if they don't get enough, they won't lay well.  Also,  your chickens will be healthier & grow better with plenty of fresh water.  In hot weather a chicken will drink up to 2 pints in a day!  Make sure the water is fresh, and scrub out the waterers & containers every few days.  If you live in an area where the temps drop below freezing in the winter, it's a good idea to invest in a heater for your waterer.  We have purchased the platform type that the metal waterer sets on top of, and comes on when the temp reaches 32 degrees.  So, remember to check your girls water daily, and you will have a happy healthy egg laying bunch of hens!

Coops & Space Requirements

So now you have your chicks, and they're thriving in the brooder you so carefully set up for them.  They're growing fast, and you need to get their permanent coop ready.  If you're like me, you've read all the books, magazines & internet sites you could find,  so you probably have a pretty good idea of what you want & need.  Here we will go over the basics of coop size, run & run size, and materials.

The first thing that will determine the size of your coop & run is the number & type of chickens you will be keeping.

Heavy Birds (don't cage heavy birds on wire)

• 1-8 weeks, open house 1.0 sq ft, confined housing 2.5 sq ft
• 9-15 weeks, open house 2.0 sq ft, confined housing 5.0 sq ft
• 15-20 weeks, open house 3.0 sq ft, confined housing 7.5 sq ft
• 21 weeks & up, open house 4.0 sq ft, confined housing 10 sq ft

Light Birds

• 1-11 weeks, open house 1.0 sq ft, confined housing 2.5 sq ft, caged 45 sq ft
• 12-20 weeks, open house 2.0 sq ft, confined housing 5.0 sq ft, caged 60 sq ft
• 21 weeks & up, open house 3.0 sq ft, confined housing 7.5 sq ft, caged 75 sq ft

Bantam

• 1-11 weeks, open house 0.6 sq ft, confined housing 1.5 sq ft, caged 40 sq ft
• 12-20 weeks, open house 1.5 sq ft, confined housing 3.5 sq ft, caged 55 sq ft
• 21 weeks & up, open house 2.0 sq ft, confined housing 5.0sq ft, caged 70 sq ft

This minimum requirement chart shows the least amount of space chickens should have when they can't go outside for any extended period of time.  Chickens should be given more space if they never have access to an outdoor run.  

Your outside chicken should run should provide 8-10 sq.ft. per chicken. 

Construction:  There are literally hundreds of different kinds of chicken coops, plans, and ways of re-purposing materials for making coops, but the main things to keep in mind are as follows:

Space, ventilation, protection from weather & predators, roosting space, light, nesting boxes, & a design that is easy to clean are all important. With that being said, you can buy your coop pre-built, build it yourself from a blueprint, or convert a shed or outbuilding that you may already have on hand.  Whatever you decide, your coop should blend in with the surroundings, especially if you have close neighbors that may complain about an unsightly coop.  A simple, but roomy coop will be easier to clean, and should have a people sized door, along with the chicken "pop hole" door.  Both doors should be securely closed at night, to protect the chickens from predators.  Your coop should have at least 1 window, facing south, with a covering of hardware cloth for protection when the window is open.  Your coop also needs adequate ventilation, and this is very important to your chickens health.  Proper ventilation removes dust, gases from ammonia evaporated from droppings, and from carbon dioxide released during breathing, removes moisture from the air, removes heat, and supplies fresh oxygen.  Chickens have a very high respiration rate, which uses up oxygen more quickly than other animals.  Ventilation holes should be along the upper south and north walls, and covered with hardware cloth.  You can simply cut a few holes with a hole saw & cover with hardware cloth, and you can also have a larger hinged ventilation door that you can open & close as the weather dictates.  Your chickens should each have 10-12" of roosting space, so be sure to provide adequate space.  All Chickens roost at night, and keep each other warm on winter nights.  Your roost can be made out of a 2x2, and should be sanded free of any splinters or sharp edges.  Your chickens will also need nesting boxes.  You will only need 1 nesting box for every 4-5 chickens..for some reason they sometimes prefer to all use the same one!  The nesting box should be 12x12x12 for a medium sized breed, and a 10x10x10 will work for bantams.  The nesting box should be kept clean, and have a 3-4" layer of bedding.  We prefer pine shavings, but chopped straw will also work.  Remember, the cleaner the nesting box, the cleaner your eggs will be!  Another important factor for your coop is electricity.  If you can wire your coop with an outlet and a safe light source, do so.  Your chickens will need at least 14 hours of light in the winter to keep laying, and you can put your light source on a timer to come on in the morning to provide this.  It's also nice to have an outlet to plug in a safe fount heater in the cold winter months.  Since we are talking about the coop, we should also talk about bedding, or litter.  The litter can be from many materials, and there are many recommendations, but you will find what works best for you is going to be easily available in your area, and inexpensive.  You can use chopped corn cobs, chopped straw, or pine shavings, just to name a few.  Stay away from cedar chips, as the scent is too strong for birds.  The bedding should be 3-4" deep, and can be totally cleaned out & refreshed weekly, or you can choose the deep litter method, in which you add 1/2 to 1" to the top weekly, and cleaned out totally every 3-4 months.  If you toss in a small handful of scratch or treat every day, the chickens will stir up the bedding for you.  When you clean out the coop, your bedding makes wonderful compost for your gardens!  You can add it directly, or if you have room, start a compost pile & keep adding to it as you go.  Small backyard flocks don't make enough chicken poop to burn your plants, so it's safe to add right away.  

Now we're going to talk about your run.  Your run should be built from treated lumber, as should your coop.  Your run should provide 8-10 sq. ft. per chicken, if they are going to be confined.  If your run is going to be used as a temporary holding area, and the birds are able to free-range, it can be much smaller.  You can build your run with chicken wire, which is fairly inexpensive, but remember, it's also not as strong as hardware cloth, which will keep almost all predators at bay.  Your run should also have a door that can be closed securely and not easily opened by a determined raccoon.  

Keep in mind, while you are thinking of what type of coop you will choose, you also need to choose a location for it.  It's fun to watch your chickens during the day, so you may want to position it to be visible from your kitchen window.  If you keep your coop clean, smell should never be an issue.  Also, keep in mind the distance you will need to carry water, food, and stretch and extension cord for power.  If you have close neighbors, you probably don't want to put the coop on the fence line closest to their house..instead, try to keep it at a good distance.  

I hope you've found this blog post helpful!  There are also countless internet sites that you can visit for coop plans & blueprints.  Thanks for reading, & watch for my next post which will cover feed & water. ~ Alys

              

Getting Started...Simplified!

Once we decided to get our first chickens, we had alot of questions!  What kind, how many, where, when, and on & on.  So, I hit the internet & started doing google searches.  One of the first really informative & helpful links that I found was to the Henderson's "Handy Dandy Chicken Chart".  I actually printed it out and studied each kind of chicken, and kept narrowing the breeds down.  I knew I wanted brown eggs, so I highlighted each of those types of chickens.  Then, I considered the weather, since we live in northern Indiana, I chose cold hardy types from the brown egg layers.  I then just kept narrowing it down until I had chosen 4 breeds that I eventually ordered!  Unless you are very familiar with chicken breeds & already know what you want, I would suggest that you print out the chart & start your research from there.  We ended up with Barred Rocks, Buff Rocks, Rhode Island Reds and Silver Laced Wyandottes.  As of today, they are 17 days old, and growing & changing fast!  Compare this picture of one of our Rhode Island Reds at 4 days old

To this photo taken today at 17 days old

Our chicks have more than doubled their size, and they're loosing their down, and getting wing feathers, tail feathers, and now have patches coming in on their chest and backs.  They eat, sleep, play, then do it all over again.  We ordered 25 chicks, and got 26. (Murray McMurray sends a freebie) We have 2 one quart feeders and waterers', which we refill & clean every morning.  At 17 days old they eat about 1 1/2 quarts of starter feed a day between 26 chicks.  We will have to expand their brooder box soon, and maybe start using the adult feeder & waterer in a week or 2.  Even though we're having a mild winter, they won't go out into their coop & run until they have all of their feathers, which from what I read is between 8 & 12 weeks.  They will then we confined to the coop & run area until they are used to their new home, or about a week.  After that we are planning on free-ranging them.  We have 12 acres, and they will be set towards the back of the property, so the only thing that we're worried about are predators.  Of course, they will be inside a secured coop at night, but we've read about the dreaded hawks that will swoop down and grab a bird before anyone knows that they're around.  We also have coyotes, raccoon's & skunks, so the coop will be locked down every night!

For now they are still in the brooder, and I want to talk a little about that.  The brooder can be made of wood, cardboard, metal, and some people even use plastic storage containers.  The sides should ideally be between 18 & 24 inches high.  You will eventually need a cover of hardware cloth or chicken wire so they can't fly out!  Ours have been flying to the top of our brooder & perching on the edge since about 13 days old! You also need a heat lamp.  Chicks need to have an area of warmth, and an area where they can cool down if they get too hot.  You should have enough room to put the feed & water out of the heat.  You should also have plenty of room for them to scratch & play.  When you purchase your supplies, please get a brooder heat lamp with a ceramic base for the bulb.  You should also have 2 red 25 watt bulbs, in case one burns out.  You will need a thermometer to monitor the heat from the lamp.  You can get all of these things at a farm or tractor supply store fairly cheap.  The first week the temp in the area under the lamp should be between 90 & 95 degrees.  You will need to lower the temperature 5 degrees every week by raising the lamp.  You will end up at about 70 degrees.  Safety is your first concern, so please monitor the temperature closely!  You will be able to tell by the chicks behavior if they are comfortable...if they pile on top of each other in the center of the light, they are too cold..if they are scattered on the outside of the light panting, they are too hot...if they are sleeping in a spread out pattern through-out the brooder, they are comfortable.  We prefer to use pine shavings for their bedding.  Put it about 2" deep the first week, then you can add another 1".  This is clean, easy to walk on, and is absorbent.  Change the bedding every week in the brooder, and carefully stir it up using a hand trowel daily.  We had read that it was necessary to put down paper towels the first day or so, so that the chicks didn't try to eat the wood chips.  We found that we did not need the paper towel...once you get your chicks home, dip their beaks in water to teach them to drink, then show them the food, they were not interested in eating any wood chips, and the paper towel just got wet & messy.  They didn't last more than an hour at our house!

Another thing you must have is fresh water, and food, daily!  Some people prefer to have their feeders & waterers in their coop, and if you have room, and can keep them clean, thats fine.  You can also choose to keep them outside in the run, but in an area that is protected against rain & sun.  If the feed gets wet, it will mold & spoil quickly.  Some people choose to put our just enough feed in the morning for the day, then feed a little scratch in the afternoon.  You may choose to purchase a large feeder, fill it & have it last several days.  There are many options of feeding, and you'll find out what you prefer & works best for you.  Water needs to be available at all times of the day for your chickens, and the waterers should be scrubbed down weekly, as should the feeders.  Also,  it's important to keep the feeders and waterers elevated to the level of the chickens back, this will help keep them clean and prevent disease from the chickens drinking water contaminated with poop.  We prefer setting them up on  bricks or cement blocks, and adjusting as they grow.  You may also hang your them, provided you have something sturdy to hang from, as they can be pretty heavy when they're full.  What to feed?

Layers:  (Pullets are hens that have not yet reached the laying age)

• 0 - 6 weeks - pullet starter
• 6 - 14 weeks - pullet grower
• 14 - 20 weeks - pullet developer
• 20 + weeks - layer feed

One thing that is very important to keep in mind is this:  If you have your chicks vaccinated against Marek's & Coccidiosis, DO NOT feed with medicated starter feed.  If you do, it will render the vaccination useless.  Only feed the medicated feed if you do not have your chicks vaccinated.  We chose to have our chicks vaccinated, as it is a very small cost, and they do it right at the hatchery before shipping.

I hope you find this "getting started" post in my blog helpful!  We'll talk more about Coops, Runs, & space requirements in the next post!

Changes...10 days old

Here is a video of our Chicks at 10 days old.  You can see the changes..most of them have wing feathers and tail feathers.  I can't believe how fast they are growing!  They eat about 1 quart of chick feed a day!

Future Farm Chick!

Our Grand-daughter Grace came to spend the night & help with the chick chores!
We had a fun time teaching her about them. She went from not wanting to hold any to having 4 in her lap! Of course, she now knows how to handle them safely and to wash up after handling them.
Grace also helped us name a few more...only 18 more names to come up with!
Here are some photos of Grace & the chicks!

Happy One Week Old!!

Our chicks are now one week old!

They have grown amazingly fast! They now run around the brooder, roost on their small roost, and a few have even taken a few short practice flights! I never knew how entertaining these little girls could really be. We can't wait to see how they all develop, and the changes that take place every day!

Here are some more photos taken at the 1 week stage. (photo link under construction in this post)

Babies are Irresistible! Safe Handling of Chicks

Who can resist a baby chick? There are a few things to keep in mind, though, when visitors come calling. Keep a bottle of hand sanitizer handy, and encourage everyone who may be handling the chicks to use it first. And ALWAYS wash hands with warm soapy water after handling them. The chicks probably have poop residue on them, no matter how clean you keep their coop, and you don't want the risk of Salmonella, no matter now slight the risk may be. It's also important to remember to not touch your face with your hands before washing.

When handling your chicks, it's always good to let them know you are there before swooping down & plucking one out of the brooder. Say hello first, and slowly lower your hand, palm up & pick them up from the side..otherwise they may think you are a predator trying to grab them from above! Cup one hand around the other so that they don't squirm & fall to the floor..and remember, the higher you hold them, the farther they can fall, so hold them as low to the ground as possible. Teach everyone these things, including children, to protect your chicks.

Your chicks will become used to you handling them, and it will make them more friendly as they grow. They love to have their neck & chest stroked, (gently). You will know it's time to put them back in the brooder box when they start fussing. Here are some more photos Missy & Lauren visiting the chicks.