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Keeping Chickens Newsletter
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
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July 2012
Vol.1
Hi
Welcome to my Keeping Chickens Newsletter.
Thanks to everyone who has sent in their keeping chickens tips, stories and
photos etc. as usual, if you have anything chicken related (tips, photos, stories,
questions, coops etc.) you'd like to share in future issues of the newsletter or blog
posts then just email [email protected] and I will do my best to
answer / include them.
Best Wishes
Gina
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
Subscriber Letters
Tom : Your last newsletter had a report from Mari regarding a fox attack. I am
plagued by urban foxes and they have no fear of humans. Normally my girls are
behind electric chicken netting and a double line barrier of normal livestock electric
fencing running at a height of four and ten inches. While moving the run from one
part of the garden to another, I let the chooks out. A fox dived amongst them and
took the first one from between my feet. Chasing it, I made it drop the bird in order to
escape, but it didn't actually run away. It merely doubled back and tried it's luck
again with another one. Now I was the one running round like a headless chicken as
the fox dodged up and down the hedge between me and my next door neighbour,
nipping out to grab another chook when I was looking in the other direction. Each
time I got within a couple of feet of the fox, it dropped the chicken but I was unable to
coral the birds and keep the vermin at bay. Fortunately another neighbour was having
building work done and three guys hopped over the fence. They managed to drive off
the fox while I rounded up all but one of the birds and put them in the chicken house.
The fox came back twenty minutes later and made a grab for the last one, a Silver
Sussex. Luckily for both of us she's a substantial lady and although she lost a lot of
feathers from her back I was able to rescue her from the fox too and Charlie only got
a mouthful of black feathers.
The local council will not remove urban foxes, in spite of there being five living on a
smallish building plot and under a couple of neighbours' sheds. I had thought foxes
were territiorial, but these five seem to get along together, despite living close enough
together to share a bad case of Mange (only the old dog fox looking healthy but I
think he doesn't actually live underground with the others). Sadly we have misguided
neighbours further up the street who actively encourage the brutes by feeding them by
hand or leaving food out for them.
The point is, however, even letting them out under "supervision" won't necessarily
stop a fox attack although it can limit your losses to one bird/attack. Tom
Peg : I have had my chickens a year now and did not realize how they would tear up
flowerbeds!...I did fence most of the flowerbeds off with what I had on hand, 18 inch
poultry netting and 24 inch woven wire. In some beds that could not be fenced I laid
poultry netting or woven wire on the ground over the area then anchored it with wire
stakes or rocks. A chicken would only try once to scratch in the area and never come
back! Problem solved!..
200 Eggs a Year
Chicken Care Guide
CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
Haider : This is some of my Aseel hen pictures.
Katie : I love your newsletter and reading about other people's chickens from all
over the world. We fell in love with chickens two years ago and now we have
around 20, all different.
This is Lucky. She escaped on the day
we bought her and it went down to -12
that night - we were sure she'd die, but
the next morning she popped out of
wherever she'd been hiding with frost
on her feathers but otherwise fine ...
but she hasn't done that again ;-)
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
We've probably got the most unusual "chicken coop". We converted the Boot
when the kids grew out of it. Its made of fibreglass - we've had no redmite in it
in two years. 14 of the girls sleep in there, the bantams up top and the large fowl
at the bottom. The Dog Kennel doubles up as an isolation pen and its where we
put new chooks for a week or two so that they integrate into the flock without
fighting.
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
This traditional wooden coop is what we started with. After all, we were only
ever going to have a maximum of four chickens... !!
I love the Egg Skelter I bought on eBay (UK / US). It takes the headache out of
which eggs to use up first.
This is Chloe on sale at Holsworthy Market in Devon when we bought her. She
laid three eggs in the following 10 days, which we were told would be fertile
because she had been running with the cockerel.
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
When I got home, Dotty was broody,
so we put all three eggs under her and
one hatched! So this is my freebie
chick, Ellen.
Keep up with the good work!
Katie Rourke
Berkshire, UK
Dowding.
Ascot,
Di : Hi All, Here are some pictures of my three girls we have had them for over a
year now. They were 20 weeks old when we got them in April 2011. They have
always appeared happy and healthy! Even laying in the winter most days, which
we weren't expecting. We are novices and are learning all the time!! Sarah Hetty
is a Speckledy, Daisy is a Road Rock and Jemima is a Blue Ranger. Many
Thanks Di X
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
Washing chickens – I have put a guide to washing chickens by D.E. Hale on the
blog here :
http://successwithpoultry.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/how-to-wash-chicken.html
How To Make A Hen Saddle
Simple Sewing Project
CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS
Mari : I love seeing all the pictures and reading the stories :) thanks for doing
this :) attached is a recent picture (sepia) of part of my remnant flock. BTW-My
flock will be expanding to 25-30 soon plus the guineas. So I am seriously
considering a LGD for my situation. Looking at the Akbash or Kangal Turkish
breeds. I sure enjoy watching my chickens.
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
Shawn : Just read my newsletter and as always, LOVE IT!!! Three years ago I
survived a Wallenberg Stroke. I had to learn to walk, see and control motor
skills. the first year was difficult even though recovery was going quickly. The
second year was even more difficult as we did not see the milestones like we did
in the first year. This is when my neurologist strongly suggested a hobby. Well
I'd always wanted to raise chickens so I began by reading everything I could get
my hands on - magazines, chickens for dummies, online articles, etc.
Morning ritual!
In January of this year I decided it was time to begin my new adventure into the
world of chickens! My husband, and care taker, took me to numerous places
looking at chicken coops. We found the one we both loved and began. The
runner was actually built weeks before the coop arrived!
Gathering at the feeder! On Fridays they get "special stuff" veggies and fruit!
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
Once the coop arrived I spent a week installing a ceramic tile floor, nothing was
too good for my girls. I bought a sizable hamster cage at a second hand store and
prepared it for my first arrivals. With everything in place, I was ready to buy
chicks! Pumpkin & Peaches (Golden Comets), Pickles & Pearl (Buff
Orphington's) and Henny & Penny (RI Reds) were first to arrive. Once the girls
were old enough to move to the coop, which was the longest night of my life!
We then added Leather, Lace, Wilma, Betty, Oreo & Cookie (Silver Lace
Wyandotte's) to the family. These girls are now in the quarantine brooder in the
coop and will be transitioning out this week. Then we are going to add 12
guinea's.
My grand daughter who loves the girls as much as I do. She calls them all "nay-nay's babies".
I only hoped for half the joy and happiness raising these ladies has brought me!
My stress levels are down, my grandchildren are learning first hand about
"babies" and growing and tending to chickens!
Kindest regards, Shawn Denise Vaughn, Greer, SC
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
Our brooder
Scott and Vicki : We have lots of wildlife roaming near our property (raccoon,
opossum, deer, turkey, cougar, etc.) Polly and Anne (Australian Shepherds) keep
most of the critters out of the fenced area of our yard. They cornered a raccoon a
week ago outside the fence and Polly is still healing a nose wound. The chickens
roam free during the day and we finally started leaving the dogs in the yard with
the chickens. They don't even look at them twice. The dogs usually want the
bread scrapes I feed the chickens or the cottage cheese. The dogs also eat
chicken poop. We asked the vet about it and she said that dogs in the wild will
eat 20% of their diet in some form of dung and not to worry about it.
The girls being watched over by Yoda the cat. Although he's taken too many little
birds in our yard, plus moles and chipmunks, he's never tried the chickens.
We lost 2 birds to egg binding this last year. One Buff Orpington and one New
Hampshire Red. Sad, but a fact of life on the farm. We also have an unbreakable
brooder. We use to put her in cold water, lock her out of the hen-house, etc., but
now we just let her brood. We'll throw her out of the hen-house and she'll eat and
drink some, then right back to the box she goes. She has a nasty temper when
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
brooding and the other birds don't like it. She puffs up and makes aggressive
noises. The other 5 birds are giving us 4 eggs a day on average.
About hen-house bedding. Like many people we use the wood pellets, but I've
found I like to spray new pellets with water. The pellets swell and turn back to
sawdust. Then, I use a kitty litter scoop to pick up the chicken poop. I shake the
scoop and the sawdust filters through leaving the poop to be thrown in a bucket
for composting. This way we're not throwing a lot of wood pellets away. The
hen-house is clean and we save on pellets. Keep up the good newsletter, Scott
and Vicki, Mohawk Valley, Oregon
Chris and Jennifer : We enjoy reading your newsletter, we are new to chickens
and we thought we would share our success with breaking a broody Buff
Orpington. She had just been laying for about a month and suddenly she did not
want to leave the nesting box. Our first attempt to break the broodiness was a
morning and afternoon dip in a bucket of water. No change. Then we started
removing the nesting box so
she could not get in and set on
the nest, it made no difference
if there was an egg in the box
or not. After about 2 weeks
of that we went to plan C.
We used a small live trap
from Harbor Frieght to isolate
the offending (slacker hen) ,
we feed her tasty treats (stale
pastries) and kept her isolated
in the pen for 30 hours
straight suspended from a
tree. After removing her from isolation, voila she was back to her old self. Now
we are just waiting for her to start laying again. I have attached a picture of our
coop. Thanks! Chris and Jennifer Dale
Janet : Does anyone have any information on taking care of hens with an
impending storm? I live right in hurricane territory and if a storm came, I would
have to leave. I worry about how to care of my hens. I don't know any other
chix people around here to ask. Janet, Fernandina Beach
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com
Keeping Chickens Newsletter
Glennis : Hi Gina, I've been following for a while now, and haven't had anything
to share but sad tales of raccoons getting my hens, until now! For some reason,
hens seem to love kitty litter boxes...the enclosed kind. My girls prefer them
over all else...as you can see. This morning, I found a "litter" in the litter box!
I knew this mama had a clutch of
eggs beneath her. Our other banty hen
came out with 2 Buff Orpington chicks
last week (surrogate mama). I got a
surprise when I looked in on her this
morning...I could see half a shell at the
back of the box. When I lifted her left
wing, I found a tiny little peepster
looking up at me. When I lifted her
right wing, I found 3 more!!
She's a sweetheart, and let me lift her
up...we counted 6 babies...SO far!
They're preciously tiny...these are
all banty chicks. I see a couple of the
Orpington eggs are still in the
nests...we have 2 nests going. We'll be
waiting to see what happens next! Best
wishes, and thanks for the great
newsletter!! Glennis, Oroville, CA
Ten Acres Enough
How A Very Small Farm May Be Made To
Keep A Very Large Family
Ten Acres Enough is a self-sufficiency classic
written by Edmund Morris, and is his personal
story of his journey from city businessman to
farmer. In this book Edmund details the first 3
years of his 'back to the land' experience and
explains honestly what worked for him and what
did not.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS
Published July 2012 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com