Busy chickies

I left on vacation for 10 days. Before I left I moved the chickens over to the stall I used for raising the meaties. It gave them a lot more room, which was important because my house sitter would not be able to give the birds a few hours of out-and-explore while I would be gone.

When I left I took the four eggs with me that had been laid thus far. When I came home I had a big surprise in the barn refrigerator.

Not only are both Ameraucanas now laying (all the green eggs) but a few of the brown egg-layers have also started. I'm guessing there are probably 4-5 of the 8 laying now.

I should probably finish the chicken tractor so they have a proper place to hang out.

We have an egg!

One of the Ameraucanas laid the first egg of the flock! During their daily out-and-explore she was spending a lot of time hanging out in the corner of a horse stall.

I had a hunch this would happen soon. My coworker who had 9 pullets in our chick shipment got her first egg over the weekend.

It's on the small side, but what do you expect for a first egg from a 18-week-old pullet.

Attack!

The chickens are progressing with their barn aisle games. I even have them going out into the pasture for short periods of time. But the more I play the games, the more I realize they prefer if I am out there with them.

This morning after riding the horse, feeding everybody, and letting the chickens out for supervised release I started making some phone calls. I was leaning on the pasture gate talking on the phone while watching the chickens mill about.

The next thing I know the Australorp is in my face, flapping and trying to grip the top rail of the gate, all while squawking at me. I'm sure I must have let out a startled yell and scared the person on the other end of the line, not to mention all the goofy chicken noises emitting less than a foot away from my phone.

But surprisingly, once the chicken regained it's balance, it actually sat there on the gate for a while. I actually got to pet it a few times. Then, just as suddenly the bird just hopped down and resumed pecking in the sand.

Close encounters of the poult kind.

New Games

I've been on the road a lot for work lately, which means I still haven't been able to get started on the chicken tractor (maybe this weekend?).

In the meantime, the birdies have been getting a little cabin fever in their mini-coop. Pardon the expression, but to "kill two birds with one stone" I've been encouraging exploration and teaching them to follow me around by playing some games.

First it was Meal Worm Jackpot. That one is pretty simple - put a handful (or two) of dried meal worms in their feeder every morning as I called to them. It didn't take them long to realize I had the "chicken crack." No wonder the packaging says "watch them dance and peck in a frenzy" when you feed it! I tried hand feeding it too but that usually resulted in my fingers getting bitten (or is it pecked?).

Next it was Meal Worm Buffet. That one involved opening the door to the mini-coop and explore the area just outside. Throwing an ample amount of meal worms on the ground certainly helped.

The next challenge was to get them outside the stall area and into the barn aisle. Curiosity took over, but any time I walked by (or the horse nickered, or the cat sauntered into the feed room, or a crow called outside) the chickens would dart right back into their coop area. Capitalizing on the meal worm training I've been slowly expanding the chickens' exploration range by spreading more meal worms.

Which brings us to Barn Aisle Meal Worm Hunt. This fun little game combines exploration, scratching, dust bathing encouragement, and a healthy dose of positive reinforcement. Even better, I've got them headed in the right direction down the barn aisle so when the chicken tractor is built hopefully I can lead them out to the pasture rather than catch-and-carry for relocation.

The game is still pretty simple. First I get them out of the stall area.

Then I slowly start leading them down the barn aisle by tossing handfuls of dried meal worms. I find it interesting that it is usually one Wyandotte and the Australorp that take the role of lead explorer, getting more confident to follow me around.

Then it's not long until the main crowd of the Wyandottes, the Australorp, one Delaware, and the darker Ameraucana start skipping down the barn aisle looking for the end of the trail before settling in to peck and scratch. Meanwhile the other three are usually still hanging back at the first stage of the game.

I only let them out for an hour or so, then it's back to the coop when they aren't showing much interest in the meal worms anymore. I'm trying to reinforce verbal cues, calling "chick, chick, chick" when the meal worms appear and "psht, psht, psht" as I herd them back. Fingers crossed it will all transfer when I move them out to the chicken tractor and later introduce them to limited free-ranging.

A little update

The chickens are getting bigger. They don't all fit nicely on one perch anymore. They think their coop is getting too small. They also think kale is divine.

I need to get going on that chicken tractor. Only about another month until they should start laying eggs.

Getting bigger!

They don't all fit nicely on one perch anymore.

But they still can't quite live without the training perch. I tried taking it away but after a week I put it back. A few of them still start their roosting routine by crouching on top of the waterer before making a giant leap.

More perch training

It's been a few weeks since the pullets moved in to their new mini-coop. The new pad included perches, but the birdies were using them as a daytime jungle gym rather than a nightly roost.

After my co-worker took her nine home last week I thought maybe the group would get a little more adventurous with the extra space. Not so. Instead they spent their nights huddled together on the floor of the pen, in the corner furthest from the window. My coworker told me hers took to their perch the first night in her coop, so I thought a little lesson was in order.

I waited until dusk to carry out the lesson plan. Just enough light to see what I was doing, but dark enough that the birds wouldn't be interested in leaving their new post. One by one I scooped them up and put them on the perches - five in the middle and three on the lower, only because I couldn't reach the top.

I flipped on the barn lights quick to get the horses fed, and one unsettled bird decided it preferred to be on the ground. Lights went back out. Scooped up the errant pupil. Put it back on the lower perch. Then take a picture and hope the flash doesn't disturb them too bad.

Working for elbow-err, wing- room

If I flipped the lights on they pullets would start getting restless and looking at the ground. Rather than risk another repeat lesson the lights stayed off while the horses finished eating (which they were NOT happy about).

Would it work? I went back out about 10 p.m. and everybirdy was still on the perch I placed them.

The next morning I went out early to feed the horses, hoping to catch the pullets on the perch. Two were on the ground, but the others were getting restless and joined them soon.

The big test was that night. Would they take to the perches on their own?

I would say yes.

Now if they could get up there in one flying leap. For now they are still using the temporary perch, about waist high, to leap-frog onto the permanent ladder-style perch. I'll probably "take off the training wheels" and remove the temporary low perch in a week or so. I can only take so many knocks to the head when I duck under it to scoop up one of the birds.

Before and After

Monday was B-Day for the meaties, as in "Butcher Day."

Before

After

Very after (well, six of them)

Thirteen chickens total, average dressed weight of 7 lbs. I haven't had a chance to try one yet but my coworkers who have say they are very tender and juicy.

I'm contemplating the next round already, but it won't be until fall at the earliest.

Operation MiniCoop

Not to be confused with Mini Cooper.

The pullets have outgrown their brooders. I phased out the heat lamp about a week ago. They are big enough to knock over their waterer on a daily basis, and their chick feeders are getting filled up daily with litter. The last straw was yesterday's escape when I didn't tighten down the top netting well enough.

The problem is that for various reasons they are not ready/able to be moved into their permanent adult housing at this time. Among the pullets are thirteen birds I'm starting for other people. One, like me, doesn't have her full coop set up yet. The other has a bunch of older birds so these would have to remain separated for a few more months.

I have a pretty big horse barn, which includes one stall I've already converted to a coop for the meat birds. The logical thing would be to convert another stall to a coop, but I don't need anything quite that large. The solution - convert part of a stall to a sturdier chicken coop. I was planning on having something more storm-ready than a chicken tractor for my laying hens anyway.

Hence the MiniCoop!

First step was critter-proofing the stall windows with chicken wire.

Then I needed to build the fourth wall.

Stand it up and attach more chicken wire. Put in a roof. Build a door.

Periodically stop to wash various cuts and wounds on my hands and apply antibiotic ointment. (I'll spare you that image).

Put down bedding, hang the feeder, place the waterer, and move in the birds!

The only thing missing is a roost system. For now I've moved over the cinder block perches from the brooders.

They're too busy exploring and scratching to notice. But I did have two fly from one end to the other. Finally enough room to spread their wings!

And this morning they were pecking the wall separating them from the meaties. I wonder if chickens know Morse Code.

Perch training

I think they are getting the hang of it.

Unfortunately, the pullets are also outgrowing their brooder. The other one is just as crowded. And messy. And dirty. Think about putting a group of toddlers in a walk-in closet and throwing them fresh food every few hours. Yeah, not pretty.

Time to move up to a new coop. I had the lumber delivered today. There's an empty stall on the east side of the barn. Should give them plenty of room to test their flight skills. in an enclosed space. I can already hear the theme song of the next adventure...

"Well we're movin on up, to the East Side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up to the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie."

 Name that show.

Yum

Four weeks old. Another three weeks to harvest. Just under five pounds each.

Is it wrong that I'm sizing them up to see if they are big enough to stick a beer can up their bum and put them on the grill?

Management Training

Or training management? Not sure which.

Chickies are growing by leaps and bounds. The 'meaties' moved on to their new home last week. And I have already had to expand their space. And add a feeder. And put the waterer up on a higher block. And raise both of the feeders.

And then there are the pullets, or the "peep-a-ronis" as my coworker calls them. Also growing and almost out of space in their brooder. Keep in mind there are 18 of them.

And they are started to perch on everything, which means waterers and feeders covered in chicken sh#t. So after disinfecting the meaties' old brooder the amicable split was on. Well, almost amicable, seems one of my peeps was strongly attached to one of my friend's peeps and because I split them up based on ownership and destination I had a couple of peeping-criers unhappy about the new arrangements.

10 pullets, bigger tank

8 pullets, slightly smaller tanks

And now I know which ones are the perchers (the bigger tank) and the scratchers (the smaller tank).

You would think that given their propensity for sitting on the feeder and waterer and crapping all over both that they would take quickly to life on a perch. Nope.

This lasts for about two minutes, and then just when you think they have preened enough and are ready to call it a night they plop back down into the shavings and go stand on the feeder again.

Another half hour of hand-placing birdies on the bricks or perch followed by curious exploration and a return to the ground.

I'm beginning to sense the origin of the phrase "bird-brained idea."

Moving out

In my batch of chicks are 16 Jumbo Cornish x Rocks. These are a crossbred developed specifically for fast growth and meat production.

Arrival day, three days old

Nine days old (and more than doubled in size)

Eleven days

Thirteen days

Quickly outgrowing the brooder! I had to move them up to the next feeder to keep up with their appetites! Actually, I had an ulterior motive on that - moving day was right around the corner and I wanted them to have something familiar when they headed off to new digs.

Fourteen days old - new apartment!

Back in Business

Or, What the Heck Am I Thinking?

About three years ago I swore off chickens.

And then on Wednesday these guys arrived:

Thirty-four chicks. THIRTY-FOUR.

Not all of them are mine. Just 19.

What the heck was I thinking?!?