The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 26 - Hen Fever

I love reading about chickens. There are some good new books and some great websites. One book mentioned ‘Hen Fever’, referring to the obsession with fancy breeds. Country gentlemen William Randolph Hearst commissioned Julia Morgan to design an elaborate poultry house for his estate, La Cuesta Encantata, in San Simeon. It has since been refurbished as a house for the present day ranch manager.

The first American Poultry Show was held in 1849 at the Public Garden in Boston. Daniel Webster was an exhibitor! Poultry shows were very big.

In some of my books there are sections about preparing for a poultry show, including ‘how to wash’ a chicken. Which I thought was hilarious until recently when one of the girls had a problem…and I ended up giving her a warm bath.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 25 - Early to Bed

When the days are shorter the girls aren’t laying. That’s fine, they still contribute to the compost pile. This morning we had leftover spaghetti and warm oatmeal with raisins because it was cool. They have been going to bed before I get home so breakfast is the big meal now.

We tied a tarp over the run to keep some of the rain off the girls and the soil in the run.

I did notice ‘someone’ had tried to dig under into the run in a few places. So glad I sprang for enough hardware cloth to line the floor of the run. We dug down a foot, laid the hardware cloth, then covered it back up with soil. The girls can still scratch and dig without touching the cloth, and no one can burrow under and up into the sanctum sanctorum.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 24 - Synching Our Schedules

The girls are good with the morning schedule, generally breaking the fast between 8 and 8:30 (no more sleeping in for the Food Lady). I did have two mornings when I needed to get up and out by 7:30…and they weren’t very enthusiastic about it. I, of course, was all chipper because I was going to see them, so I put their food out, opened the coop door, and called hello….nothing. I lifted the roof to check and they both lifted their heads, “Seriously? It’s still dark…”. They always make me smile. In my researching I found that up until World War I, poultry in cities and suburban areas equaled half the human population!

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 23 - Reality Check for Beginners Answers from the Chicken Whisperer

Q: How many times a day do you feed your hens?
A: The chickens are checked most mornings to ensure they have crumble and clean water. I say most mornings in that after 19 years with chickens, I confess to missing a day here and there. But, the chickens are ALWAYS checked on when the weather is hot or we have stormy weather. Extra food such as kitchen scraps and garden weeds are offered as they become available.

Q: Any beginner mistakes to avoid?
A: Don't keep the coop too clean in winter. Some passive composting of bedding and manure helps keep some warmth in. Stop severe pecking and feather pulling bullies immediately. Some birds are too aggressive and should be separated away from the rest or be rid of. Egg eaters may need to be ‘culled’ if you have one, but if you get there early enough to collect the eggs that may prevent the broken egg.

Another coworker found that his Araucana/Ameraucauna mix laid green eggs and his other chickens would eat them, because they were not brown like the rest. Americaunas have can ear tufts and beards, lay light blue-green eggs and have a tall tail.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 22 - How the Chicken Whisperer’s Journey Began

Q: What got you started?
A: I was into permaculture and edible landscaping. I was growing/studying herbs for medicine, I was a mushroom hunter. Chickens seemed a logical next step. Maybe was is the wrong verb because I still very much believe in being as self sufficient and sustainable as possible.

Q: Why do you have chickens?
A: I keep chickens to create compost from their bedding and manure, I spread my pile every spring all over the garden. The chickens have almost entirely eradicated the earwigs, sowbugs, slugs, and snails from my yard. They have also eradicated many plants. If you let your chicken have free reign, you had better protect your favorite flowers. I also enjoy tasty, fresh eggs.

Q: Were there chickens around when you were little?
A: I did not have chickens growing up but my father did. They kept a backyard flock for meat and eggs at his home in Los Angeles during the depression.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 21 - Friends with Chickens

One of my co-workers has chickens and has been a great, patient resource for a “beginner’ like me. I call her the Chicken Whisperer. Here are some of my questions from the last year as I prepped for the girls’ arrival.

Q: How long have you had chickens?
A: I have kept chickens for 19 years.

Q: How many do you have?
A: Right now, we house 4 egg layers and have a fifth as a family pet. The difference is the pet chicken is carried about, held and petted much like a cat by my son.

Q: What breeds do you have now?
A: Right now, I have a Rhode Island Red and her daughter whose father was a crazy Bantam rooster named Monsieur Cheep Cheep. The other 2 egg hens are Wyandottes. The pet is a Bantam cross hen.

Q: Do you start them as chicks/eggs/pullets?
A: I have started all my chickens from chicks. Peu Peu, the banty cross daughter was obviously an egg. It was very exciting for my son to count the days before the egg hatched. On September 23rd, 2006.

Q: How many have you had at one time?
A: We have had as many as 9 at one time. I started with Araucanas but have had Brahma, Australorp, Rhode Island Red, Wyandotte, Bantam and Buff Orpington.

Q: Do you have a favorite breed?
A: My favorite breed is the Buff Orpington. They are gentle, good layers, and take to penning well.

Q: M'sieur CheepCheep is a great name, any other memorable names?
A: We have hadTeeco, Pica, Buffy, Pecker, Grandma Chicken (she lived 15 years, one of the original Araucana), Oreo, Dots, Fireball, Speckles, Blackie, Christmas Chicken (as a young chicken, she was placed in the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, nestled among the ornaments. She slept there all night for my son to find in the morning.), Redhots, Chicky, and the Magical Jumping Chicken.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 20 - Peeps with Personality

Each girl has a different personality but they get along well. They travel in a pack of two, attacking the lettuce piñata, or inspecting the garden. Louise looked up yesterday and couldn’t see Thelma (behind a clump of blue oat grass). She stretched her neck up and clucked “Hello? Anybody here?” Thelma clucked back and Louise rushed over to where Thelma was scratching
Thelma’s cluck is deep, it almost sounds like a duck quack. She is lot more vocal than Louise. She follows me as I clean the run every day, clucking the whole time. She now tolerates a few pats on the back. Louise on the other hand, is still molting, and thinks I’m an axe murderer. I’ve only seen one of them peck at the other once, but they have lots of room, and plenty of food, so not really a lot to fuss over.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 19 - Chickens in our past

My mom mentioned that my grandmother raised chickens. They lived on a farm in the Midwest and usually had about 2 dozen. She bought the baby chicks in town. Before my mom started school she used to help feed them the mash Grandma cooked for them in the morning. Grandma sold some of the chickens and some of the eggs. All the farms had chickens, vegetable gardens, compost piles, and fruit trees. Everyone canned their own veg and fruit.

As I talk to other chicken enthusuiasts they tell about their parents/grandparents keeping chickens here in San Francisco…how did we get away from something so fun and satisfying?

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 18 - Friends

My friend stops by to help in the garden. The girls crowd around him to see what he is doing, hoping for bugs.

I love watching them climb around or hop on something with those comical big feet. They come right over to an open hand, knowing there’s a treat. Love it! Louise’s appetite has returned and she comes to the food bowl again.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 17 - Ladies with Attitude

Dinner is usually served between 5 and 6, but the closer it gets to 6 the more attitude I get. Lots of chirrups, some jumping, “Where have you been? Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?”, such entitled ladies!

I choose take-out now based on what I can share with the girls. They like different things too, and if the menu hasn’t changed in a few days Thelma comes up and looks me in the eye….her silence says volumes.

She is tolerating more pats on the back now, and just moves away when she’s had enough touching. Louise on the other hand has totally lost it while the molting is going. She’s not eating until after I leave and scurries away at the slightest movement. I wonder if she feels as bad as she looks?

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 16 - Feathers!

Louise is acting differently, more skittish, she’s usually the calm one. After talking to a friend I realize she’s going into “molt mode”. They do that in the fall. She has stopped laying eggs…..

…and is definitely molting. She looks like she went to bed with wet hair and woke up all rumpled. Some feathers are just hanging at weird angles and there are brand new feathers coming out on the back of her neck. When she stretches her head out her neck looks a little ‘porcupiney’ with all the new pinfeathers. When she does her shakeout now at least a dozen feathers drift away……the run looks like a snow storm some evenings.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 15 - Scratch That!

The girls come out for a wander in the foggy afternoon after work. They nibble the annual grasses I purposely left around the garden for them. Then they start pecking the soil around the raised perennial beds, using their beaks like hoes to move the soil. I decide to help with the bug hunt by turning over pots and rocks to uncover slugs, etc. The girls come right over and start pecking and scratching, because the Food Lady always finds bugs.

When Thelma sees me lift a jumbo pack of sedums she come right over because now she knows there are always slugs and baby snails in the crevices underneath. After she dispatches all those bugs I set the plants down. Thelma uses her large feet to scratch at the plants and turns the jumbo pack over and checks again for bugs. Hmm…must move innocent plants later. The scratching instinct is so strong, I can’t imagine how caged birds live without soil.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 14 - Fog

Our Bay Area weather doesn’t seem to bother them.... The run is next to a small hedge so there is protection from the wind. I use redwood soil conditioner in the pen to keep the sandy soil from compacting or blowing away.

Thelma is the talker, she makes a questioning ‘rrr? rrr?’ sound and looks at me accusingly. I think she thinks breakfast should be more than three courses (fruit, leftovers, greens). She plops out of the coop in the morning and starts scratching the soil. Louise always heads for the lettuce piñata, preferring to start the day with a light salad. They inspect the fruit offered and sometimes turn the saucer holding the fruit over when the scratch instinct kicks in. Peck peck, scratch scratch…it’s actually very entertaining/relaxing to watch this ancient rhythm.

Then it is personal grooming time, they have a little shakeout and start preening their feathers. This rather unusual movement looks they’re rubbing their head against the base of their tail on their back. They are actually moving oil from the uropygial gland to coat their feathers. This helps prevent the feathers from becoming brittle and helps with insulation and waterproofing.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 13 - Free Range Fun

The girls get out in the yard a couple of times a week, around four or five in the afternoon. They jump up on the gorgeous rich earth of the veggie bed (not fenced yet) and scratch with gusto. Sometimes I try to do a little gardening while they wander, and if I find a bug I’ll hold it out for whoever’s fastest (Thelma). If I try to plant a little seedling they come over to investigate. They see the planting hole and say (I’m paraphrasing here) “I can dig that hole for you” and join in with great enthusiasm. Seedlings go flying, they scratch dirt on each other, all great fun! For not being lap-chickens they get up close and personal while I’m gardening, crowding up against me to check out the planting, stepping on my arms or legs to get in close to the action. They do chomp down on young tender green shoots of wayward grass, some of the dandelions…and they trim back new growth on the beets. Hmm. Must fence off veggie bed soon. I shake the scratch cup and they come back into the run for dinner, easy-peasy.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 12 - Food

Last year I took a drive to Half Moon Bay Feed and Pet Supply to check out the supplies needed and the costs, since I couldn’t find any in SF. This year I did find a feed shop in Tam Junction that carries organic feed and other supplies. Chickens need a healthy balance of fats, carbs, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Commercially prepared Organic Feed is available in crumble or pellet form.

The girls’ main diet is organic chicken crumble, which is available all day in a hanging food dispenser. There seems to be a lot of fine particles in the crumble, next time I’m getting the organic pellets to see if there is less waste. The 50lb bags run just under $30. They also get grit, which contributes the grinding element needed in the gizzard to break down grain and insoluble fiber. Chickens who free-range every day pick up little stones as they forage all over. Chickens who only free-range occasionally need grit sprinkled in the run. They also receive ground oystershell, which provides calcium for a nice thick shell.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 11

We finally put up deer netting above the fence to keep the girls from taking an unexpected plunge next door. It is practically invisible, yay! It was such a hot day when we secured the garden this week, I sat down in the shade of the run to cool off. My friend looked at me from the other end of the garden and gave the command “Release the birds!”

I unlocked the door and sat down again, then pushed the door open from the side. (I don’t want the girls to associate a human standing at the door with playing in the yard). They plopped out and came over to peck in the dirt around my feet. Then someone’s little brain thought ‘Wait a minute, there’s spinach here someplace’… and off to the veggie bed where they happily ripped away at the spinach (it had bolted so why not?). They basically stayed in a small part of the garden and came back to the pen readily when I shook the cup and put out dinner. I can’t wait to let them out again.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 10

They got out! One Saturday after I fed them in the morning I forgot to lock the door to the run and went off to run errands. I came back, took a nap, and while I made their dinner thought to myself ’Hmm, the girls are quiet.’

I came out the back door with dinner and the ‘scratch cup’ to find them standing in the veggie bed. They looked up as if to say “You’re here!” I replied “and so are you!” They came toward me expectantly and I shook the scratch cup. “Come on ladies, time for dinner” I said as I went to the run. They quickly followed me, hopping over the step into the pen. Dodged a bullet that time, never again. I have to secure this yard.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 9

Since the girls arrived already a year-old from a free-range flock on the peninsula, they are not lap-chickens. I’ve done some hand-feeding to establish that “open hands” means some kind of food (bugs, scratch, fruit). Closed hands mean no food. I’ve only caught and picked them up once, to put them in the coop the second night they arrived. That was traumatic for all concerned and after speaking to other chicken owners found that chickens put themselves to bed, just before dark. I didn’t read about that part while I was researching but anyway this works for us.

Another free-range owner told me he puts their scratch in a plastic cup and shakes it at nighttime. His girls all come running when they hear that sound and happily follow Pavlov back to the coop. I tried that technique and it works very well. The girls will jostle in to get close to dinner and don’t mind brushing up against me (the Food Lady). Once Thelma went behind me at dinner, found a paper towel sticking out of my pocket, yanked it and started shredding it. Now she always goes behind me to check, and once yanked on the white shirt sticking out from under my sweatshirt. Thelma will also jump up on my leg if that gets her a better position on dinner.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 8

Why did I get the girls? Two reasons, first to have a constant source of chicken manure to enrich/feed my sandy soil and second for the company. I have to go into the garden every night to feed them, so after feeding I’ll putter; weeding, planting, grooming, watering, etc. I do enjoy sitting in the run talking to them while they eat, they are endlessly entertaining…but the gardener in me sees things to do.

They know that once I’ve left the run I generally don’t return, and they go about their business of pecking and scratching…instead of standing by the door waiting for me as I garden. But I do really want their company in the garden so my friend and I are working on a solution to free-ranging in a secure environment. I don’t want my jumper Thelma to go over the fence…and down into my neighbor’s garden. What if he’s not home? How can I safely climb up the fence (or the blackberry bushes from the behind neighbor) with a chicken under one arm?

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 7

Another behavior they seem to enjoy is something I call “ripping and shredding”. If I sit and hold a head of leaf lettuce by the base they rip off pieces enthusiastically and swallow them. If the lettuce leaves are laying on the ground or in a dish the reaction is a muted “What’s the fun in that?” When chickens free-range they rip off little bits of grasses and weeds they find and there is some resistance as they tug away. Sometimes I will dig up clumps of weeds, put on my gloves and let them go to town. Thelma always nips a gloved finger, Louise never does. I don’t react to a nip because I don’t want to encourage Thelma to draw any conclusions……

The girls now have a lettuce piñata! I bought one of the large cylindrical suet cages we carry, hung it from a cross beam and fill it with leafy greens for them, they love it. Thelma still jumps up trying to rip/eat the lettuce as I load the suet cage…impatient girl. They don’t mind that the piñata swings and turns a little, they crouch underneath it and pull bits off from below too.