Tag: Rhode Island Red

The Chicken Chronicles

There is not a whole lot of new things happening with the chickens.  The biggest news right now is the babies (Welsummers) and the older ladies (Rhode Island Reds, primarily).  The Reds sure do pick on the Welsummers, so much so that they Welsummers stay in the coop away from the other hens.  This week we have taken the step of putting the babies back in the baby coop and a separate run when we can.  It doesn’t work so well when it rains, which it has been doing this week, but it is nice to get them outside.

One thing that is encouraging is to see the Welsummers testing one another.  No, I don’t relish the fact that they are establishing a pecking order amongst themselves, but I do like knowing that they are getting tougher and stronger, which means they will be able to hold their own with the older ladies soon enough.

The biggest problem with the Welsummers is they are roosting on top of the nesting boxes, and in fact they stay there much of the time, which means their droppings are falling into the nesting boxes.  We have to make changes because of this.  It isn’t hurting anything, but it is making the eggs more dirty.

One of the nice things about the hens right now is how they are fertilizing the garden for us when they are out running.  I like one way I have heard it said: chickens are a compost factory that just happen to lay eggs.   Surely they are not providing all the compost we need, but they are helping.

The Chicken Chronicles

Well, I meant to post this last week, but for some reason I forgot about it.  So, you will get last week’s post and an update to last week’s post.  🙂

Another week, another chicken problem. It seems Red has hurt her leg somehow. Red, by the way, is any one of the Rhode Island Reds, as we cannot really tell them apart. Anyhow, we have had to separate her to keep the others from picking on her, and to keep her from trying to go up and down the stairs in the coop. We’re also giving her half a baby aspirin at least two times a day. Right now she is avoiding standing on that foot, but I cannot see anything wrong with it. That leads me to believe she might have sprained it somehow.

 In other chicken news, we built a small coop for the babies (the Welsummers) so they can start staying outside all the time. The silly girls wouldn’t go into it the first night though, acting like young kids the first time they try to camp out. 😀 We finally decided to bring them in after listening to crying for an hour. Maybe they will get used to it decide to sleep in it. It won’t be long until it is time to integrate them with the rest of the girls.

 We had a good week of laying both weeks, including one day where all of the older birds laid eggs – that hasn’t happened often at all.

This week’s update: Red is doing much better.  She is now back in the coop with her sisters, and while she is still favoring her leg, she is much, much better.

Since last week, we have put ankle bracelets on three of the Rhode Island Reds, and amazingly we can now see who rules the roost!  There is one of them, tentatively named Pink (because of the pink bracelet) who is obviously at the top of the pecking order, and it seems Blue (you guessed it, a blue bracelet) who seems to be #2).  The Easter Eggers seem to not really care either way, but they do recognize Pink’s authority.  It’s funny how we could never notice that without some identifier of who was who.

The most exciting news this week, and a far change from what I expected given the update above, is that the babies, the Welsummers, ran into the big girls’ coop one day when they were out running around, and they showed no interest in coming back out.  The older ladies are picking on them some, but they seem to be holding their own, so this is where they will stay.  🙂

The Chicken Chronicles

There’s not a whole lot of new news this week with the birds other than their egg production is really going up.  This week we had 53 eggs, with the Rhode Island Reds laying 23 and the Easter Eggers laying 30.  That is 5.3 eggs per week per bird, and I am expecting that to go a little higher.  Go ladies!

Speaking of birds, check out the Welsummer chicks!  They are really growing!  It won’t be too many more weeks until we can begin to put them outside, and I think they will be more than ready.  By this time the container we are keeping them in is getting a bit crowded for them.  I cannot wait until these ladies start laying.  They are supposed to lay a beautiful dark-brown egg.

Welsummer Pullets

Welsummer Pullets

Oh, I shared a picture of the new portable run last week, but I wanted to share another with the birds in it.

Portable PVC Chicken Run

Portable PVC Chicken Run

You will notice the ladies checking out the milk crate, which I had hoped would be a good make-shift nesting box in case one needed to lay an egg while in the portable run, but they rejected that idea.  We’ll have to find something else today.  While you cannot see it in this picture, they love the roosting bars in this run.  I added them more for stability, but I am sure glad I did now.

As I mentioned yesterday, you are not going to want to miss tomorrow’s post.  My youngest son has drawn a comic which I think you will all enjoy.

The Chicken Chronicles

Whoa! Spring is here!  As I said yesterday, you can tell it in the weather, and the ladies must be able to also.  They are really increasing egg production!  We now are getting 8 eggs a day most days again.  Here, the totals speak for themselves.  The Rhode Island Reds laid 20 eggs and the Easter Eggers laid 30 eggs.  That is a total of 50 eggs or 5 eggs per bird per week.  Not bad!

Speaking of birds, the Welsummers are really growing!  It is hard to believe that they will have their feathers in just four more weeks, but I guess that should make sense, as we saw tail feathers for the first time a few days ago.  I cannot wait to get them out with their sisters in the pen, though I suppose that is some time away.  As I understand it, we will need to allow them to get to know one another first so they don’t get injured by the older hens.

Yesterday I wrote about the new run.  I have a few chicken projects underway, this being one of them.  The idea was this: a portable run that is lightweight, yet strong.  It must also allow the hens plenty of space so they can stay in it for long periods of time without overcrowding.  I must be able to move it at least once a week to keep the grass from being destroyed in any one area in the yard.  So, here is what I came up with:

Portable PVC Chicken Run

Portable PVC Chicken Run

This was made with 1″ PVC pipe, 2″x1″ fencing, and a 14’x14′ piece of bird netting for the top.  It is 10’x10′, which is more than enough run room for the fourteen total birds we have.  It is best to give them 10 sq. ft. per bird, which this is short of, but combined with what they already have and the movable nature of this, it will work.  Once you see the next project, you will understand why I say that.  A last minute addition was a roosting bar made of PVC on the inside.  This not only gives the birds a place to roost, but it adds stability too.  I don’t know what it weighs, but one of my sons and I can move it.  It is easier with four people though.  I am sure my neighbors are wondering how much more stuff I will put in my yard, but that’s okay.

As I said above, I have a few projects underway.  This was one of them.  I would also like to extend the chicken run under the coop on the south side, but that is the last project.  Before that comes, I have another secret project that I will share as I get closer to doing it.  Many of you already know what it is though, as you have seen others doing it and have shared it with me on Facebook.  😀

The Chicken Chronicles

The ladies have had a great week this week.  The warmer weather and the lack of snow has meant they have gotten to have time out roaming the yard.  With the completely saturated ground, the worms are abundant right now, and the hens act like they are starving and at an all-you-can-eat buffet!

Last week I was so excited to post the Unbelievable Egg Video that I totally forgot about the other big news of the week: we have new chicks!  As I wrote a few weeks ago, I wanted a couple of more hens.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t buy them in quantities of two, so we ended up with four.  We decided to go with Welsummers, which sound like a wonderful bird.  They are known for being more intelligent than the typical chicken, and they are great foragers.  Even more exciting is the fact that they lay a very dark brown egg!  I can’t wait to add that to the mix of eggs!  We will certainly have no shortage of eggs now.  😀

Welsummer Pullets

Welsummer Pullets

One of the other interesting things about Welsummers is that you can determine their sex by a couple of feather pattern characteristics,  First, a Welsummer pullet (young hen) will have a well defined triangle on the top of their head, and they will also have “eyeliner” coming out from their eyes.  If these characteristics are faded or not well defined, it is a cockerel (young rooster).

Back to the topic of eggs, this week was another good egg laying week.  The total was 39 eggs, with the Rhode Island Reds laying 18 eggs and the Easter Eggers laying 21 eggs.  We are quickly approaching the point where we can start giving eggs away to the neighbors and family.  In fact, we gave a few away this week.  I really enjoy blessing folks in this way, even though it is something small.

 

The Chicken Chronicles

As I wrote yesterday, this has been a hard week.  The weather has been far less than desirable, which has meant that our chicken coop has had the tarp over it all week long.  That usually takes a toll on the Easter Eggers, but they actually had a pretty good egg laying week.  The totals ended up being 20 for the Rhode Island Reds and 20 for the Easter Eggers, but that is not the big news for the week.  The toughest part of the week may not have been the weather, it may have been the day a hen had to lay this egg!

The Giant Egg Compared to a Quarter

The Giant Egg Compared to a Quarter

The Giant Egg in an Egg Carton

The Giant Egg in an Egg Carton

Look at the size of that thing compared to the others!  It is monstrous!  In fact, it was nearly 3 times as large as a typical egg.  If you are like me, you want to know what is inside of that thing though.  Well, you get to find out.  I videoed the cracking of the egg, revealing something you may not be expecting.  Check it out!

Candidly, I hope that is the last monstrous egg I see, but if nothing else, it made for an interesting video.  🙂

The Chicken Chronicles

This has been another week that the chickens have wished would end.  The ladies are so tired of this bitter cold weather, and they have learned that they don’t like snow, not even a little bit.  We have however, been able to lift up the tarp some and give them some light, which has helped a little with the egg production.

I can’t remember if I have shared this before, but we have one, Cinderella, who is a guard of the eggs.  If we check the nesting boxes after they have gone into the coop to roost, she will rush over there and peck at our hands as we are checking for eggs.  This makes it exciting, let me tell you.  🙂  Hearing her run over to the boxes reminds me of the velociraptors in the kitchen in Jurrasic Park.

Blondie, the Guard Chicken

Blondie, the Guard Chicken

The egg production, as I said, was up a little this week.  Not much though. Here are the numbers:

  • Total eggs: 32
  • Rhode Island Red: 20
  • Easter Egger: 12

Not too bad.

This week we are planning on getting two more hens: Welsummers.  You know what a Welsummer Rooster looks like, and you may not even know it.  Cornelious, the Kellog’s Corn Flake rooster, is a Welsummer rooster.  Anyhow, they are supposed to be excellent, friendly birds that are intelligent and great foragers.  Most of all, they lay a very dark brown egg.  I can’t wait!

The Chicken Chronicles

As you probably read yesterday, this has been a whopper of a week with bitter cold to winter weather.  The ladies are about sick and tired of it.  😀  Even though they can get out into the snow, I don’t see where they have chosen to do so, and I am sure they are ready to change that.  Look at the looks they are giving me!

Easter Egger hen giving me the stink eye

What Are You Looking At?

Speaking of the Easter Eggers, they really are either the smarter of the two breeds we have, or they are weaker.  Check out how they huddle together at night on cold nights:

Easter Eggers Huddling Together

Easter Eggers Huddling Together

That is actually five birds, though it only looks like three or maybe four.  There is one totally covered by the others and another partially covered by the others.  They are hanging out over by the water dish, which is where I have my heated growing mat that keeps their water from freezing.  Silly birds.

I am please with how the birds are doing though. We had temperatures down to -9 F this week and even without heating the coop there was no signs of frostbite.  In case you are wondering why I cover my coop, look at the next picture and see the blue around the window near the roosting bar.  That is a place where wind would easily blow into the coop and could cause frostbite.  I hope to fix that this upcoming spring or summer.

I guess since I have showed two pics of Easter Eggers, I should show at least one of the Rhode Island Reds, well at least they are in the picture.  They really are a more aggressive bird, and I think they are just plain tougher.  Here they are eating upstairs on a bitter cold day:

Feeding Time

Feeding Time

One of the “fun” things we have discovered lately is that when we check for eggs late in the evening, someone, we think Blondie, will come peck at our hands.  I am not sure if she is playing, getting broodie (haven’t seen her sitting on eggs), or if she is just protecting the nesting box from what seems to be a predator.  Who knows, but it makes getting the eggs and adventure.  😀

Speaking of eggs, my assumption was correct, the egg production fell off this week for the Easter Eggers.  The totals for the week were 19 Rhode Island Red eggs (a few less than normal) and 10 Easter Eggers eggs (a big drop from last week).  In short, the Easter Eggers are proving how much they are daylight dependent when it comes to egg laying.

Speaking of an adventure, I think we may get a couple of more baby chicks in a week or two.  The local co-op is supposed to have baby chicks in next week, and if they have any interesting, winter-hardy breeds that are different from the two we have, we may get a couple of new ones.  I am thinking perhaps Welsummers.  I would like to add a couple of birds, or at least one, a year to keep the egg production somewhat stable.  I am not ready to order them though, I don’t think, as that can get expensive.  I should know something next weekend or the weekend after.

The Chicken Chronicles

Whew, the cold weather is back again!  If you read yesterday’s post, you already know that we have a doozie of a week happening, with a big snowfall yesterday (total of over 8 inches at my home) and some bitter cold temperatures coming.  This resulted in us wrapping the coop with a tarp again to protect the birds from the wind that may come in through my less-than-windproof coop.

Our Coop Wrapped in a Tarp

Our Coop Wrapped in a Tarp

Speaking of that, my aunt brought up a good question the other day.  She can recall growing up not having to do anything special for the chickens in the winter, and I can’t remember my grandpa doing anything special with his henhouse.  So why is it I feel I have to?  Basically it boils down to this:  I am not worried about them surviving the cold.  There is plenty of chickens that make it even in -30 degree weather, but you do have to worry about frostbite.  My Easter Eggers have no waddles or combs to speak of, so I don’t worry about them, but the Rhode Island Reds have waddles and combs that are a larger and more susceptible to frostbite.  They would survive, no doubt, but it is introducing a possible health issue which I don’t want to have to deal with if I can avoid it.  The answer is this: keep the wind and moisture down.  Fortunately I have good ventilation in my coop, perhaps too much, which is why I choose to insulate it further with a tarp for the bitter cold: to keep the possible drafts in the coop to a minimum.  So far our hens haven’t suffered any frostbite that I can see, so I will continue doing this when temperatures are down in the single digits.

Covering the coop this week will probably result in a decrease in the Easter Eggers egg laying.  In fact, their egg production has gone down this week, though I think they laid during the middle of the night twice this week, which ended up meaning the eggs broke and hens ate them.  That could have added 3-4 more eggs to the list, which would put in more in line with the normal production.  This week the totals were as follows: 22 Rhode Island Red eggs and 13 Easter Eggers, an increase of two for the Reds, and a decrease of six for the Easter Eggers.

I was surprised that none of the hens ventured out into the snow yesterday, or at least not that we saw.  I did see what might have been footprints in the snow, but it had already snowed enough more that I couldn’t tell for sure.  They didn’t stay in the coop either, but they did stay in the part of the chicken run right under their hen house, rather than venturing out into the new northern extension.

I don’t mind a good snow like this once a winter, but I do wish it weren’t accompanied by the terribly cold temperatures.  We are now expecting -8 F later this week, which is very cold for our part of the country.  So cold, in fact, there are numerous warnings going out to folks in preparation for the possibility of busted pipes.  In short, this is not something our infrastructure is really built to handle.  Praise God it is just a day or two, right?

Just in case you are interested, I did take some pictures of some of the song birds eating on our deck rail yesterday.  I am particularly fond of the Cardinals, how about you?

The Chicken Chronicles

As mentioned yesterday, this was a big week with the chickens – the annual changing of the litter!  (listening for hens everywhere to start cheering)  It isn’t quite as gross as it sounds.  We use the deep-litter method with our hen house, which means I fill the coop with a very thick layer of oak leaves once a year.  During the year the hens poop in it, stir it up, aerate it, tear it up, and cause it to compost.  This means you never really have a strong smell, but instead you have soil being built.  However, you must change that out periodically, not only for the hens, but for you to have the benefits of it.  This past weekend was that time.

Okay, here is what it looked like before we began:

Year-Old Chicken Litter

Year-Old Chicken Litter

IMG_5372

You may notice it was not thick everywhere.  That is because of the hole in the floor.  The silly ladies knock the leaves down into the bottom of the coop, into the run, over time.  I typically then use a pitchfork to move it from the run back to the coop to keep a good thick layer there.  I haven’t really stated it yet, but as I understand it, the thick layer is essential to give enough dry brown material to keep the stench down.  It is really much like composting.

I first moved all the old chicken litter out of the coop and the run while the ladies were out stretching their wings:

Chicken Litter

Chicken Litter/Compost

You can see how much compost this created in a year, and this is far better compost than you might get from any store.  It is all organic, all homegrown.  I know what is in this compost, and I know it is good.

I then took a large pile of leaves that were good and dry, and I move them into the coop and run.  I know this looks like it would be uncomfortable for the chickens, and it may be, but it won’t stay this way for long.  I happen to think they enjoy it though, digging through all this new material looking for any sort of life (read: bugs) that might be in it.  As I said, it won’t stay this way for long though.  Soon the leaves will become shred under their constant picking and foraging, and it will pack down.  Anyhow, here is what it looks like in the coop:

IMG_5376

Fresh Oak Leaf Chicken Litter

Fresh Oak Leaf Chicken Litter

I also put it in the run because I need plenty of material to add to the coop throughout the year.  It is essential to keep a thick layer there.  As the litter in the coop runs this, I will scoop some from the run up into the coop.  Believe it or not, this will all be smashed down to a thin layer in just a few days.

The only other thing going on with the hens this week is a bit of an upswing in egg product.  Last week was eggs, whereas this week we had 29, and 9 of them were Easter Eggers!  If we compare that to last week, we see the Rhode Island Reds laid the same amount (20) and the Easter Eggers upped their production by 7 eggs!  Go Easter Eggers!  It won’t be long until we see those numbers really jumping up.  I am very anxious for that.

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