A Chicken's Life
As promised, pictures of our little chicken house. The irony is this: a couple of years ago, Pirate Guillermo and I drove from San Jose to Chicago to visit family for Christmas. On the trip we noticed that all through the midwest, there were tons of farms and on every farm there was an attractive, neatly kept house - nicely painted, a garden, trees planted out front. And for every lovely, snug abode, there was a ramshackle, tumbledown, pathetic-looking barn.
I felt like I could really understand that mentality. After all the time and effort it took to get this chicken coop together and fit for habitation, when it came time to paint, Pirate Guillermo and I just looked at each other and said - to heck with it - it's not like the chickens care!
Here's another thing. When we ordered the chickens, we ordered what were called "straight run," which means that they were not sorted by sex before being packed. In theory, this means that we should have had a pretty even number of hens and roosters, but I think we've been duped. See the buff orpington on the right? Look at his face. Unmistakeable red comb and wattles, and they're appearing on four out of five of our buff orpingtons. The other one has a much smaller comb, no real wattles, and is about 3/4 the size. This means that we have four roosters and one hen. Oops.
The rainy season was coming and we didn't want the chickens to be stuck inside all the time, so with the help of Pirate Guillermo's mom, we got a big hunk of corrugated fiberglass and built a little shelter. Their water is under there, so that the chickens can act just like we do during the day - hang out by the water cooler and gossip, and then stomp around outside spreading muck.
And here is the muck they're spreading. The chickens LOVE compost! This means that we take the seeds, parings, leftovers, etc. and put them in the "chicken bucket." In the morning, Pirate Guillermo takes them out to the chickens when he opens up their coop to let them out. It gets them out in the morning, knowing that they're going to get a treat. Today's treat - baby carrots that were getting soft, the tops from the beets, celery and bell pepper ends and squash rind. It's haute cuisine de poulet!
And here's the long view of the chickens in their yard. The yard itself slopes pretty sharply, so that it drains well at the top and doesn't stay too muddy. The straw at the bottom means that even at the bottom, the chickens don't wander around in the mud. The second-most popular gathering spot - under the ladder leading into the coop - is in use right now, with most of the chickens hanging out there.
And, for those of you with questions - no, they aren't laying eggs yet. They're about 6 weeks old and won't begin laying until they're 4-6 months old (depending on breed). We'll do the first butchering in January, so we have another 4-6 weeks to figure out which of the other birds are roosters, as I don't relish the thought of a yard full of roosters. I don't imagine the hens are that thrilled over the idea themselves.
I felt like I could really understand that mentality. After all the time and effort it took to get this chicken coop together and fit for habitation, when it came time to paint, Pirate Guillermo and I just looked at each other and said - to heck with it - it's not like the chickens care!
Here's another thing. When we ordered the chickens, we ordered what were called "straight run," which means that they were not sorted by sex before being packed. In theory, this means that we should have had a pretty even number of hens and roosters, but I think we've been duped. See the buff orpington on the right? Look at his face. Unmistakeable red comb and wattles, and they're appearing on four out of five of our buff orpingtons. The other one has a much smaller comb, no real wattles, and is about 3/4 the size. This means that we have four roosters and one hen. Oops.
The rainy season was coming and we didn't want the chickens to be stuck inside all the time, so with the help of Pirate Guillermo's mom, we got a big hunk of corrugated fiberglass and built a little shelter. Their water is under there, so that the chickens can act just like we do during the day - hang out by the water cooler and gossip, and then stomp around outside spreading muck.
And here is the muck they're spreading. The chickens LOVE compost! This means that we take the seeds, parings, leftovers, etc. and put them in the "chicken bucket." In the morning, Pirate Guillermo takes them out to the chickens when he opens up their coop to let them out. It gets them out in the morning, knowing that they're going to get a treat. Today's treat - baby carrots that were getting soft, the tops from the beets, celery and bell pepper ends and squash rind. It's haute cuisine de poulet!
And here's the long view of the chickens in their yard. The yard itself slopes pretty sharply, so that it drains well at the top and doesn't stay too muddy. The straw at the bottom means that even at the bottom, the chickens don't wander around in the mud. The second-most popular gathering spot - under the ladder leading into the coop - is in use right now, with most of the chickens hanging out there.
And, for those of you with questions - no, they aren't laying eggs yet. They're about 6 weeks old and won't begin laying until they're 4-6 months old (depending on breed). We'll do the first butchering in January, so we have another 4-6 weeks to figure out which of the other birds are roosters, as I don't relish the thought of a yard full of roosters. I don't imagine the hens are that thrilled over the idea themselves.
posted by Aoibheall | 11:36 AM
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