Chicken n' Children

So the chicks have become a plaything for the kids. Here I was thinking that we were saving a few chickens from a miserable existence in a too cramped cage. Maybe that would have been safer for them. So far they have been handled and harassed by my kids and the neighbor kids. They have been pushed down the slide, forced to swing in the swing, and chased constantly around the yard in a game they call "chase the chicken". Here is the baby chasing them around:

Finally finished!

After two weekends of hard work, sweat, and a little blood, we are finally done with the coop. Many thanks to my husband, my neighbors, my parents, and Vince for helping out with the
project. The chickies seem to like it so far. Has this project been worth it? That has yet to be seen.

First Blood

It was inevitable. I finally drilled into my finger. Thankfully it was fairly minor and we were able to continue with the coop building without much downtime. Days without incident- zero.

Warning

This is how we discipline in our house.. I show them what their fate is if they misbehave. No more problem chickens after this demonstration.

Day 8- Freeranging

Sorry to my avid readers- all 3 of you- since I am not posting more frequently. My day job is getting in the way of my chicken rearing. I am a little worried that my chickies are not going to imprint on me so I took the day off to work at home and let the kiddos have some outside time. Since it has been rather cold lately they have been in the garage in my dog's kennel with their heat lamp, but finally it is sunny and beautiful so we are taking advantage. Here are some pics of the chicks, I think they are getting bigger:


Here they are helping out with the blog...

Day 5- Imprinting

My 4 year old named his chicken Coo Coo. It is the largest of the 6 so he has determined it is the "mommy" of the group. It pretty much pecks the other ones and pulls it's own feathers out- very much like the mommy of this house- like he said, coo coo. So in order to help these chickies imprint on us we are trying to handle them and talk to them daily. Here is a pic of Coo Coo imprinting on our dog Dulce.

Day 4- Big Day

Saturday was a big day for the Heights Chicken Project. Not only did we almost build the entire coop but we also acquired 6 baby chicks. Although we were only planning on 2 to 3 chickens, our neighbor kids came with us to the feed store so everyone had to have their own chicken. I figure we have a 50/50 shot of each one being a hen so hopefully a few roosters will turn up and go back to the store as our coop was not built for 6 hens (nor do I know what to do with 6 eggs/ day). We won't know if they are hens or roosters until they start crowing or laying eggs- it is very scientific. Supposedly some people can tell the difference at the baby chickie age, but I have yet to figure that one out. Below are pics of the kids in the feed store and our 6 chicks.

After getting the chicks, we set to work building the coop de resistance. After realizing most of our power tools (not that we had that many) had been stolen we borrowed the neighbor's much better power tools. I have never used a nail gun or a table saw before but now I have seen the light. Never before will I be able to use a regular ole hammer again. And how fun is a table saw? I amazingly did not even cut any appendages off. I may have found a new career as a carpenter (as long as nobody looks too closely at the finished product). Here is the progress of the coop build:

Front wall being built out of recycled shutters and a plastic window material.

Interior with shelf for the nest area and ladder for roosting.

Mostly finished coop. Side is made out of recycled ship lap.
We figured if the kids were misbehaving we would send them to the coop too- so we checked to make sure they would fit.

So far the costs of the project are:
Chicks- $2 each + food & water bottles= $37
Power tool replacement, heat lamp, misc wood- $161 (I am debating whether power tool replacement should be included in the project cost- I think not)
Back to hardware store for more stuff- $30
So backing out the power tools I am guessing we have spent about $100 on chickens and coop materials. Humm.. that is still a lot of money.. maybe it will pay off when we start our all egg diet and save on other groceries.

Proof is in the Egg

In doing some research on my new venture I found these handy charts on the advantages to free-range (pastured) eggs vs. factory eggs. I knew they were better for you but did not know the exact science. So here you go.... of course it must be true because it is on the internet.

Day 1- Getting Started

After trying to find a cheap and decent looking structure that would work for a coop and not finding much that would work I have decided to attempt to build my own. If I had my way and unlimited funds I would invest in The Eglu which has been described as "the i-pod" of coops. However doing some quick math, it would take well over 200 dozen free eggs to recoup the costs of this baby. So instead I researched where to get some cheap (or free) building materials for my simple design as I am determined not to spend over $100 on this coop. To my delight I came across the City of Houston Reuse Warehouse (www.houstonreuse.org) which opened in early 2009 and accepts donated construction material that would otherwise go to landfill and offers then to non-profits for FREE! What? Raising chickens for my family's personal consumption does not qualify as a non-profit you say? Well, a few strategic calls to my church and their full support of my project (after promises of free eggs) I am now a card carrying 501-c-3. To stay on the up and up, I promise to use my coop as a community education tool for urban chicken raising and provide free eggs to the egg-less. When I pull into the warehouse on North Main just north of Crosstimbers I can't believe my luck. It has everything anyone could need to build almost anything... even down to the chicken wire. Keith and Dave there are super helpful (Keith even raises chickens so had some great advice). I got a bit excited with all the possibilities so my original design will have to be modified a bit to incorporate some shutters and some cool plastic window material. So 300 pounds of lumber, wire, metal roofing, plywood, and clapboard later I am well on my way to a funky urban coop. Now I just need to recruit someone who knows how to build stuff.

The Quest for the Egg

So as I am prone to getting bored in my 30 minutes of free time between working, raising two boys (three if you include my husband) and house tending I figured I needed a new project. When my husband heard of my new idea he kindly reminded me of all the "projects" I had started of late that may or may not be completed and may or may not have been complete disasters (all a matter of opinion). On top of my itch for a new project we have recently watched Food, Inc and read "The Skinny Bitch" on the topic of how nasty our food industry is and of course that makes you want to change your eating habits (at least for a few weeks)....So my new project is to raise a few hens so we can at least know where our eggs come from and not encourage the inhumane treatment of chickens. This is actually not our first soiree into chicken raising as we had 4 hens (5 before "the incident with the dog") pre-kids and before we moved and they turned out to be excellent pets and delicious eggs. So here I go with my journey to build a coop and acquire 3-4 hens to provide us delicious and healthy organic free-range eggs.