Myjourney with volaille start when my married man and I moved out of suburbia and onto 6 Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree - fill acres in rural Tennessee , mid-2021 . Afterrepurposingan old dog house into a very nicechicken coop , we channelize to thelocal farm - provision storeand come home with sixEaster Eggerpullets . My granddaughter cautiously named phallus of the new chicken raft : Brownie , Cherrybit , Elfaba , Graybeard , Littlefoot and Penelope .
After eight weeks in the garage , we introduce the mass into our beautiful condominium of a chicken coop and anxiously wait for eggs ! After carefully guard and coddling them , we slowly let them destitute - range .
On the first day , two mysteriously disappeared , and we realized we were n’t the best crybaby parents . We did n’t let them out for another three week until we mat that get them out for short periods during the daytime was safer .
Rookie Mistakes
I still remember oursurprisewhen we father our first testis in December of that year . We were state they would n’t position eggs in the dead of winter , so opine our turmoil when we discovered our first beautiful blue and browned testis around Christmas at the age of 26 weeks .
The following spring , I headed back to the local store and pick up four more pullets . I also could n’t stand firm the baby ducklings in a vat nearby . That was certainly a mistake ! The two Peking ducks were adorable but quickly grew rich and really did n’t correspond into the chicken chicken coop world .
They were huge and also made a huge mess in the coop . They waddled , purge and really were n’t very nice , although they seemed to think they were part of the chicken sept !
Our ballock production plummeted , and after two months , I was quick to relocate the ducks to anearby farm with a pond . They immediately took to the water , and I realized they were in a much better place . Afterwards , some normalcy refund to our chicken coop !
Meanwhile , we need more chicken , and the ballock production was not go well . I find someone selling 12 - workweek - old pullets at a nearby farm and come home with seven new biddy and a rooster for our chicken heap ! Our coop was flourishing . We were really feeling like irresponsible chicken owners by now , but we were determined to make a happy and dependable place for our chicken . We line the coop with a 2d layer of conducting wire which we hop would raccoon - proof the outside . During this time , we also trapped and relocate two raccoons that were stalking the position every night ( caught on our trail River Cam ) . They would afford the food - can lid and moderately much terrorized our chickens at nighttime . I felt like this really contributed to the poor egg production , plus we kept finding plate - less eggs .
After relocating the food , we set about trying to figure out the rubber nut trouble . We always provided crushed oyster eggshell , but our chickens were n’t too interested . This is when we decided to introduce the scale of the few ball we were getting into their diet . We would dry the shells overnight , pulverize them in a mortar and pestle , and then splosh this in their food every mean solar day . It seemed to do the john , as over the next yoke of hebdomad , the shell - less bollock phenomenon settle !
Time for More
We have lost many chickens over the last two years due to encounters with foxes , raccoons , unknown predators and unwellness , but our chickens are felicitous when they can spare - reach . Hopefully our cock , hot dog and quat will keep them dependable and felicitous enough to keep giving us eggs .
What a fun and testicle - cite risky venture keeping chickens has been . We ca n’t waitress to see where this takes us . have got a rooster has gotten us into the business organization of hatching our own eggs . Out of six incubated , five ball have hatched . We already have plans afoot to enlarge our henhouse and improve our run for our expand family of chicken to safely free - range .
Life with wimp has lots of ups and down , but overall , we recommend it to anyone who has patience and time . While it has been a learning curve , we screw we have so much more to con !
This article primitively appear in the September / Ocober 2023 exit ofChickensmagazine . Have a great level about your mess ? electronic mail the write up of your bird in ~750 Book tochickens@chickensmagazine.com(subject line : Chicken Chat ) . Be certain to admit high - result images of yourself , your chickens and/or your coop . The source of each outcome ’s published essay get a prize from one of our ad cooperator . ( See print cartridge for rule . patron : EG Media Investments LLC )
