ChickiWiki

From IckyWiki

Background

In May of 2006, Paul expressed an interest in getting a bunch of free range chickens to eat bugs around the yard. His plan was just to let them all loose and kill them all at the end of the summer.

I knew I might get too attached (although I've never had chickens), so we decided we'd better have a coop to hedge our bets in case we needed to keep them through the winter. Paul said 'I don't want to be involved in any of that, you plan it out and we'll get some next year.'

One day my mom and I were walking out back and she said we should turn the old shed (which we hadn't opened more than a few times since we moved in 8 years previously) into a coop. It had the advantage of being already built, plus a skylight and screen venting. It would just need to be finished.

http://erkkila.org/gallery2/d/2831-2/4011.jpg

So we forgot about it for about 2 weeks. Then an old college friend of ours said a friend of his had some spare bantam chicks which we could have cheap (bad chicken pun) within the next couple of weeks.

Why are we doing this? As I said, mostly bug removal and just the fun of having chickens roaming around. I don't expect to get many eggs from them--they'll probably lay them all over the yard, and besides, these are bantams (small). I probably won't feel like butchering them, especially since they're not going to get very big and we'll need them in the coop just to keep each other warm over the winter!

The Coop

Having never had chickens before, our first stop was this farm site in Vermont, which was a nice, non-threatening introduction to chicken keeping. Also picked up a couple of books from Amazon.com:

The conversion of the shed occurred over a few weeks. Some pictures of the process are here although I wish I'd taken a few more 'before' shots.

Emptying the shed

Read what we found here. When we started, it was creepy, dark, and pretty gross in there.

Insulation

We used fairly thin (1/2 inch maybe) foam board from Lowe's. We just cut it to fit in between the framing and glued it to the walls and ceiling. I still need to do the door, but we plan to convert it to a dutch door so I'm waiting til that's done.

Coverup

This was necessary not only to keep the chickens from pecking the foam, but also just to cover up the really yucky wood underneath. My mom and I attached thin, finished, white paneling to the ceiling with thin nails (harder than it looked by a long shot), then 3/4" plywood to the floors (which were rather sloped and very flexible) and 3/8" (I think) plywood to the walls with screws. We applied caulk to the leaky skylight.

Finishing

We put some molding on the corners and edges where the gaps were bad (mostly to keep bees/wasps out as there had been many wasp nests before). Inside, we rolled one (thickish) layer of glossy pale yellow paint on the walls. It looks sorta like an egg inside with the yellow walls and white ceiling; this seemed appropriate. Outside, Paul slathered a coat of Behr house and fence stain (barn red) on the walls, eaves, and trim.

My mom and I (mostly my mom) replaced the torn screens at top and added some missing trim.

We took off the lock (which could only be kept in the locked position with the key out) and put on a simple latch; we'll fix this later when we convert the door.

Paul and I (mostly Paul) put down some stone around the front and one side to keep the mud down, and a few rocks near the door for easier entry.

Furnishings

For a roost, my mom supplied an old bed headboard she was about to get rid of. It's got lots of dowels and looks like they'd like it (we'll see). We attached it to the wall and the beam with brackets and a chain.

For nest boxes, we got a number of plastic crates--probably more expensive than wood but I hoped it'd be easier to clean later.

One heat lamp. The new chickens weren't quite grown yet and it could still get chilly; plus we'll need it for winter.

One plastic waterer, courtesy Country Max, set up on bricks.

One six-sided bird feeder, set up on the (lying flat) legs from the headboard, just to get it off the ground. As they grow I might need a bigger feeder but this works for now.

Done!

http://erkkila.org/gallery2/d/41447-2/100_1713.jpg http://erkkila.org/gallery2/d/41712-2/100_1764.jpg

To do

Since we plan to free-range, we're not going to have a fence for protection from predators. My plan is to cut the coop door in half like a dutch door and leave the top half open during the day, so they can fly over and in if necessary (the door will be closed at night, assuming they come home). Of course, we can't do this til they're big enough to fly. We're planning on having bantams, which should be able to fly over if necessary. Might work, guess we'll see.

We'll have to insulate the door a bit better and figure out what to do with the screened vents in the winter.

That extension cord is for the heat lamp. We won't need it much more this summer, but it may be in the winter depending on how well the insulation works and how many birds we have left. We're hoping to run electric to the shed before then.

In the winter I'll probably have to cover up one or both of the screened vents.

Chickens

Our friend Jim has a friend Jackie in Pennsylvania. Jackie has a small farm and had a bunch of extra chicks:

<jkk> and they were dropped off at Jackie's feed store
<jkk> some lady had received them as a joke
<jkk> and she didn't know what to do with them
<jkk> so she brought them in and gave them to Jackie
<jkk> the lady was apparently horrified
<jkk> and just didn't know what to do

So we got a straight run (mixed male/female) of 19 bantams, probably Old English and Cochins (it'll be more obvious when they fledge out exactly what they might be). I'm not terribly familiar with chicken breeds but they're freakin' adorable at this stage (about 7-8 weeks old) a few more than half have feathered legs (the cochins, I think) and the rest are bare legged and have sorta 'wild' bird markings (gray and brown bands, etc.) They arrived here in Jim's van on June 4, 2006.

We might be getting in some Araucana bantams later, if Jackie can snag a few. When we first thought of doing this I thought immediately of the chickens at a friend's grandparents' house in Palo Alto, CA (back in junior high--we lived in Concord, CA at the time). Those chickens laid green and blue eggs. With any luck I'll end up with at least one hen that lays those eggs in the henhouse and not all over the yard.

Our Gallery is and will be constantly updated with new pictures, assuming this project isn't a complete disaster.

http://erkkila.org/gallery2/d/42940-2/100_1973.jpg http://erkkila.org/gallery2/d/42965-2/100_1978.jpg http://erkkila.org/gallery2/d/42400-2/100_1886.jpg

Bedding

I threw down a cube of wood chips and covered it with straw. I'd imagine in a few weeks I'll be shoveling it down to wood and starting again, and in the meantime maybe covering with some more straw or chips.

Feeding

I'm starting them out on medicated chick feed. I'm not sure where I'll go from there, maybe laying pellets. I've been tossing a bunch of cracked corn into the bedding every time I go out...keeps them happy and stirs up the bedding.

Things they've liked so far:

apple
- they run around with apple skin in their beaks, eagerly pursued by their buddies
banana
green beans
dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries, cherries)
slugs
caterpillars
earthworms
mosquitos
greens (grass, dandelion, clover)

We also took them outside in batches and put them in a pen (a couple were small enough to run through, still!) where they ate bugs and greens.

I gave them a gypsy moth caterpillar one night, but found it in the watering tray the next morning. ew. Paul threw them some earthworms which they stared at, then one of them grabbed one and ran around with it. Then the rest of the worms got grabbed.

I'm hoping when they get older and go outside they'll live more off what they forage (BUGS especially).

And Dogs

Sobe's interested. Too interested. Hope they run fast and roost in a tree if she gets loose again.

Icky's agitated around them. Doesn't know what to do around them, is a little afraid of them, mostly avoids them.

Grep barks at them but they are pretty much as tall as her already so if anything I'm more afraid for her.

Neat stuff

Jim showed us a neat way to carry them...pick them up by the feet, upside down. They panic at first, then sort of spread their wings out and nearly go to sleep!

When they find a sunny patch they lie down almost on their sides and spread a wing out.

Counts

See ChickiWiki/Ro(o)ster for more info. Most of the original set are gone now.

Name Candidates

The presence of this section probably means nobody will be killed intentionally at the end of the season. Current names are listed above; these will be for future replacements

The checkout lady at Home Depot said she always wanted a chicken named 'Hennie' so I said I'd name one that (and we did)
My mom says if we do that, another has to be Penny (a red one). We did this too.
Bediddle
M'boy
Hawkeye
Fajita (next few with a Hispanic theme, as we are referring to them as 'the chicanos')
Loco
Nacho Libre
Jefe
Guero (any white one) (from Justin)
Choke
General Tso

Keet/Guinea Fowl Names

Michael Keeton
Buster Keeton
Keet Richards
Diane Keeton