Intern

Since my international readers are telling me I don't post enough- this is for you....Although I really don't have fabulous news. You guessed it, we lost "Iron Man".. really- I just lost him. My guess is the hawk, but who knows. Here one day, gone the next. We really had no room in the coop anyway, especially since my friend, Nancy Jane's hens are staying with us for the month. Maybe when the boarders are gone we will try to find some full sized Auracana Hens- no more of this chick rearing business.
On a brighter note, I have gotten myself an intern. Yes, she is an intern at work, but I may also use her to do chores around the coop as well. I have named her Darin and am working on training her now. She is a recent grad and has no other good options, so might as well not just learn marketing (or office grunt work) but also how to clean out a filthy chicken coop. Those are real life skills.

Don't count your chickens

Easy come, easy go.. little yellow hen was cruelly murdered by a neighbor's wiener dog. It was really tragic as she died in my hands. So now the little brown chick- "Iron Man" (my kid has been picking names again)- is lonely in her baby chick house (aka dog crate). I feel so bad as she keep peeping peeping, so now she has a temporary house pass and is running around our den. Since we really don't need 6 hens, I don't want to get a new one, but Iron Man needs company.. Maybe she will graduate to the big hen house tomorrow and just take her chances with the hawk/ cat.
Also... we found a new kind of egg in the coop! It seems that our bantam CooCoo has started laying- finally.. They are small tan eggs. I will take a pic soon. My kid ate the first of "his CooCoo"s egg once I told him there was no chance of it becoming a small chick.

Rock-a-bye Chicken

Here is a pic of Henrietta's eggs. Now if the others would just fall in line we will be in business.

New Additions- Easter Eggers!

I could not help myself. The Quality Feed Store (N. Main- my favorite feed store) had baby Araucana chicks and they should have blue or green colored eggs. So here we go again with the chicks- just when I though I was done with chick rearing. If these two are indeed hens and survive the hawk/ cat into adulthood, then we will have 6 hens! Wow, that is a lot of eggs. I will then be able to quit my job and sell eggs for a living. Get in line people. Look how big the others are now (CooCoo not pictures as she was being pissy)

Quote of the day

"Mom, the egg has poop on it again".. I have now trained my child to wash chick poo off eggs.

Chicken Treats

So if you are wondering what else chickens will eat outside of chicken food, here is a chart of chicken treats.. it seems they will eat almost anything:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart

Flock Getting Bloggy Fame

So exciting.. a fun blog about blogs wrote about my blog. This crazy blog world is so fun.. maybe someday my confidential alter ego can come out of the closet and I can make chicken farming and blogging my full time job. http://houstonblogblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/heights-has-chicken-blogger.html?showComment=1271638249383_AIe9_BElIm5kKQI1oak4EJFLDVVPSW8Hp9GSm9YfpYQ3WGZTuB_ZeBYyF0cCoyLKQdNZGdSdgh71cTxZ0EtKUIBS7mzSRMhREGsIFh8wp3yW84U0KM5MLmARIiIsnCZhzYIWGJMMQkIRl7jRrDfbjw77wRxH1H6uNMetMj8lDpP6Y5vVLHNnSpVxcBCLVFLPSYsR76ngmZxrR8TOwk--P2Z7dd3bBLhgGSs56gFMrY-g3V4EzBw3UV0#c7689203793142840823

Almost a dozen

Darn the life of a working mother.. barely no time remaining for chicken blogging. Still only one laying hen. If CooCoo, who is over 12 weeks, does not start laying soon she may become chicken pot pie.
My 4 year old has become an expert egg collector (now if I could just get him to feed and water the chicks). He has collected 11 eggs (we lost a few to droppage) and he is pretty excited to fill out the whole egg carton.  I don't know why but he won't let us eat any of the eggs until the carton is full. Kind of ruining the point of "fresh" eggs, but they will be fine. I think you can keep them up to 6 weeks or something in the fridge.. someone correct me if I am wrong. I am sure I have kept store eggs longer but probably shouldn't have.

Pay dirt!

FINNAALLLYYY! Big Red Henrietta #2 payed off and laid us our first egg! My kid was so excited to collect said egg and show the neighbor that he accidentally dropped and broke it. He then proceeded to cry for about 20 minutes he was so upset- sad really. He recovered when Henrietta "laid" another (surprisingly cold) egg.  I did not get a photo of the true first egg so maybe tomorrow I will post a picture.

Farewell Claude(ette), hello Henrietta #2

Unfortunately Claudette started crowing. In respect of being a good neighbor, we have returned him to the store and exchanged him for a big fat layer hen (who is not nearly as cute). Hopefully this big red hen will be a good layer. She got loose on the way home and all hell broke loose in the car. My kid ended up with a few scratches but in one piece. He now hates the new chicken. I am sure he will change his tune when get gets to collect eggs every day.

Breed?

In trying to figure out what type of breed the older chicks are (we now only have 2.. I have no idea where Henrietta went- I am guessing neighbor cat strikes again).  After some research I think both of them are Cochins- they have very feathery feet. They should have smallish brown eggs. Here is a link in case you would like to figure out what type of chickens you would want to invest in.. We just get whatever is available at the feed store. Maybe when we get more experienced in this I will order some other fancy chickens.

Waiting waiting

So I figure my bigger chickens must be around 12 weeks now.. not really sure when they hatched, but still no eggs. They don't look fully grown so maybe we have a few more weeks. The anticipation is killing me. I hope we don't hear crowing soon though as that would mean I would have wasted all of that time and effort on a bunch of cocks. Not unlike my college dating years.

New Flock Additions

So we figured we should replace some of the downed members of the flock- mostly to guarantee we have a few laying hens- and also because the Quality Feed Store had a straight run (meaning all pullets or female chicks) of Production Reds. So we got one of them at a whopping $2.75 (expensive for a chick)and also one of a breed called "Black Giant" who is thought by the feed store owner to be "probably a hen"- only time will tell. So now we are back at 5- one grey names CoCo, one yellow named Claudette, one brown smallish one named Henrietta, new baby red named Lucile, and new baby black named Blackie for now.. quite the colorful and fabulous flock. See how big the 3 older chicks are- hopefully they will start laying this month!! You can cut the excitement with a knife around here (not really).

Chicken Sex

So a common question I get from friends is if I need a rooster to get eggs. No, you do not need a rooster to get eggs. If there is no rooster you will just get unfertilized eggs. Then someone asked me the the other day how are the eggs fertilized- inside the chicken (aka Chicken Sex) or once they are layed? I was not sure the answer of this so of course I had to find out.  So turns out chickens have sex.. fairly awkwardly but it happens. Here is a demonstration on youtube:

And then there were Three

Seems we have a "problem cat" who is hunting my flock. On the positive side, there is now only one chickie of each color making identification easy. Rest in Peace yellow chickie #2. I am hoping the three we have left are hens or we will have to start again with a new batch (or spend $20 0n a full sized hen). Now what to tell the kids about the mysterious reduction in chickens? I am thinking that three decided to go on a trip somewhere fun. Wonder if they will buy that. Thus is life on the farm. You have to be tough.

Day 24- And then there were Four

Sadly we have lost two chicks. Yesterday morning we noticed there were only five chicks. My theory is that early that morning one of them got out of their cage (they are able to get through the wire while they are small, but cats can't get in) and was captured/ eaten by a neighborhood cat. It was the brown chick that I think was a rooster anyway. Then later that afternoon while we were around the house and the chicks were freeranging around the yard we noticed there was another one missing. This cat must have thought he has found some easy chicken dinners. We will need to keep a closer eye on these guys now. Rest in Peace, yellow chickie #3 and brown chick #2. Other than "Coo Coo" who is easily identifiable, we have not officially named any of the others. Now that there is only one brown one, she will be named Henrietta.

Just hangin' with the chicks

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.