Tales from the Coop: Yard Chickens

Our little ladies have quickly outgrown their coop. We haven't had time to upgrade the structure for them yet, so our previously chicken tractor bound hens have gone wild!

We let them out for a few hours a day to stretch their wings and roam for bugs.

It also gives Mr J more opportunities to commune with the chickens. He thinks he is part of the flock and loves to hang out in shade with them!

I haven't been worried about the chickens flying out of the yard until today. We have a four-foot fence around our yard, and they haven't shown much interest in flying until recently. Today they decided to roam further than ever! If they keep this up, then I will either have to learn how to clip wings or build faster.

Chicks: The first full day and night outside

Dinosaur feet

Braving the ramp

Eliza posing for her close-up

Ruffled feathers

A golden hen in the sun

She's slowing changing colors

The last to lose her baby feathers

We finally finished some of the added security features to the coop this weekend. Though we are worried about unknown predators, we are a little more concerned about the predators that live in our house. Specifically, a small toddler boy who would love nothing more than to hug a chicken and two very patient dogs who have been wondering when we're going to let them eat the snack we've been raising in the laundry room.

The chicks weren't so sure about using the ramp, but the large black hen, who seems to be top bird, went for it eventually. She's not only physically the largest hen, but she also seems the most curious about us. She likes to get very close to the camera - too close for me to focus on her - and peer at me with one eye. I wish I could capture it on film.

Chicks at 4 Weeks

Photographing chickens is much harder that you would think. Since they are flighty (ahem) they tend to not stand still. This last picture is of my favorite chicken. We are naming her Eliza after Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady. Doesn't she look like one of those crazy ladies with the huge hats at the horse races? She is a white crested black polish. They aren't supposed to be the smartest chickens (on a sliding scale I'm assuming), but she's charming anyway.

We also signed up for the CPS Energy Windtricity program this week. As of May 1, we are 100% wind powered. I had been meaning to sign up for this program, but it slipped my mind. The recent coal mine disaster reminded me that in addition to the environmental cost, our energy sources have enormous human cost. I'm glad San Antonio is offering this option. I know there are some problems with bird and the windmills, but we have to start somewhere. If we don't support the green energy options, it will be hard for the utility companies to make a case to expand the programs.

My Easter Eggers

Amongst chicken enthusiasts, Easter Eggers (EE) refer to chickens that lay green or bluish green eggs. An EE is a cross-bred chick with one parent being an araucana, a pure-bred breed of chickens that lays green eggs, and another chicken.

My baby chickens are Easter eggers for another reason. They have been helping us eat all of our leftover Easter hard-boiled eggs. My father-in-law thinks that I am raising cannibals. The truth is egg whites are one of the first treats that chicks can handle eating. Embryonic chickens find their nutrients from egg whites so it makes since that young chicks would enjoy them and be able to digest them easily, too.

Finished Chicken Coop!

Here is the finished coop!

It took a few weekends, but I am finally done. It was my first attempt at chicken coop building, but I am pretty proud of it. There are two main parts to the structure: the coop and the run. The coop is the small green shed in the far end of the picture. That is where the chickens will be closed into at night and where the nesting boxes are. The run is the screened in area that allows the chickens to have fresh air and ground access. The run is necessary because we have several birds of prey and small mammalian predators in the neighborhood that would love a little chicken snack. A small ramp (not pictured) connects the coop to the run.

Here are a few of the cool features.

1) Mobility - It is designed to be movable by one person, and I have been able to move it around the yard. If a dolly is under the coop-end, the 1.75x6 board that runs the length of the structure can be used as a handle/lever to pick it up. I will try not to get all science teacher on you and lecture you about how it is a compound machine. Just believe me, it is and I wanna splain.

2) Roofing - The metal roof on the coop has a slight pitch that will divert water off the side of the coop. It will reduce the mud factor for chickens and egg-retrievers.

3) Egg Door - The rear wall of the coop has a small door that we will use for egg retrieval.

4) Overhang - The coop does not extend to the ground. This gives the chickens a more secluded, shady spot that will come in handy during the Texas Summers.

5) Recycled Materials - Jenny and I are trying to keep our global footprint as small as possible. This extends to the coop construction because many of the materials I used we reused from other projects. In fact, all of the framing for the coop and run were recycled display shelves from a Cost Plus World Market that was going out of business. They practically gave us the material.

Chicks at Three Weeks

Sorry for the delay in the pics. Here are chicken pictures from earlier in the week.

Here are the chicks on their first day out in the coop. We are taking them out for a little bit everyday.

Mr J loves chasing them around the coop and talking to them all about being a chick!

Biscuit and Huxley were very curious about the new additions to the yard.

Chicks at Two Weeks

We've had the baby chick two weeks today. They are really big and funny! I'm an animal person anyway, but I've never had much affection for birds. These ladies are very charming and cute. They are getting some longer feathers in so we can start to see a little more of their final breed. We've had to add some extra chicken wire and we're planning to get a bigger space for them soon.

The chicken condo modified for indoor flight.

I flap my wing at you sir in annoyance with your picture taking.

Not a bad wing span for a two week old chick.

Giving us the butt as they drink water.

A coy over the shoulder pose while dining on strawberry tops.

Chicks at One Weeks

This chick figured out how to jump out of the bucket shortly after we took this picture. These are the six we are keeping for good!

Wednesday Dinner: Broccoli Stirfry

We got three huge bags of produce from the CSA this week. Yum!

The farmer market on Saturday was also packed with beautiful produce.

This week in our CSA we received: Cauliflower, Broccoli, Garlic Chives, Spinach, and a HUGE head of bok choy.

In other sadder news, one of our top hat chicks died last night. She was looking pretty pathetic yesterday. We tried reviving her with sugar water and a paste of the chick food. She perked up for while, but didn't make it through the night. One of her sister top hat chicks died last night with another family. They might have just been weak chicks, but we're nervous about keeping them all healthy. The Backyard Chickens forum has been super helpful with people quickly answering questions.

Broccoli and Garlic Chives Soba Noodle Saute
Make 4 servings

8 ounces soba noodles

Boil a large pot of water and through the soba noodles in. Cook for 5 minutes or according to the package directions. Rinse quickly under cool water in a colander.

1ish pound of broccoli cut into small pieces
1 large bunch of garlic chives or 2 bunches of green onions
3 carrots
2 garlic cloves
thumb sized piece of ginger

Chop the broccoli tiny and the chives in large chunks. Grate the carrot or slice it very very thinly. Grate the ginger and garlic on a large hole microplane zester or mince. Heat a skillet with a tiny bit of oil until very hot and dump all the ingredient into the pan. Stir fry very briefly until the broccoli is bright green and the carrot is soft.

1/4 c tamari or soy sauce
1/4 c brown rice vinegar
2 T sugar
3 T toasted sesame oil
1-2 big squirts of Siracha
1/2 c water
2 T cornstarch

Combine all the ingredients except the cornstarch in a small bowl. Combine the cornstarch and 4 T of the liquid mixture in another small bowl to make a smooth paste. Wisk the paste into the rest of the liquid mixture. After the broccoli is cooked, pour the liquid mixture in and cook briefly until the mixture thickens and the cornstarch is no longer opaque. Add in the noodles, take off the heat and toss to combine.

We've made this with bok choy, mushrooms, regular onions...it's really a pretty forgiving recipe. It's also super fast and packs well for a lunch. We also normally baked tofu that's previously been frozen and pressed, but we didn't have time tonight.

Bringing Home Baby

After months of thinking about chickens, they're here! And I'm terrified. They are so cute and tiny. I feel like a new parent all over again. Are they cold? Are they hot? Are they dying or just sleepy? Why are they doing that? Aaaccck.

We ordered the chicks from McMurray's Hatchery. The chicks are only shipped in bunches of 25. If they are shipped within 24-48 hours of hatching, they don't need any food or water for the journey. All 25 chicks fit into that little box! We ordered the chickens with another family and they kindly picked them up from the post office.

We'd setup our little chicken area in the laundry room with a brooder light, water, and baby chicken feed. They need to be at 95 degrees for the first week. Each week, you decrease the temperature by 5 degrees. So far, so good. They are happy, if dopey looking little ladies. Like all baby animals, they are mainly sleeping and eating.

We thought about ordering from a few other places but McMurrays seems very reputable and all the chicks look very healthy. We could also buy all females which solves the problem of what to do with the unwanted male roosters. I was very pleased to learn we didn't need a rooster for eggs. I don't want to be the problem children in the neighborhood.

These little ladies are part of the ornamental layers collection. McMurrays offers the variety pack which included more than 5 different kinds of birds. We selected 10, 5 to keep and 5 for another friend. We're very excited to see what breeds we got.

Right now, they are hard to differentiate. We have a few that have ornamental leg feathers and two with top hats. The chick in the picture above to the right appears to be a Phoenix or possibly a Dorking. We definitely have one Dominique. We probably also have a Sumatra.

I'm pretty positive the little girl to the right is a White Crested Black Polish. I'm not willing to bet at this point but we're going to try and keep one of each to have a variety. I can see why people become chicken fanciers.

I thought 5 was a lot, but now that they are here I want to keep them all! No matter the breeds, they should lay a variety of different colors of eggs. After 4 to 6 weeks indoors, they will be ready for the outside world.

Our biggest concern is getting them through the first few weeks healthy and happy. The dogs aren't very interested, but we're keeping the door locked just in case. Mr. J is very interested and has been talking about the baby chicks all afternoon and evening. Just so you know, baby chicks say "Cheep, cheep" and you can only touch a chick with one finger. He got very upset with his Mama when she picked up a chick. It's hard to have to explain the rules to these dopey adults all the time.