They're getting bigger and multiplying

Chorizo & Honeydew - our two Gloucester Old Spot piglets - are not such piglets any more. They're three months old, and on a diet of grain, peanuts and forage. 

They've been with us a couple of weeks now, and I swear you can almost watch them grow. They arrived weighing maybe a bit over 35 pounds apiece, and have got to be approaching 50 now. 

It took a little bit of work, and a couple of escapes, but I think I figured out the electric fence. Fortunately for me, 1) the pigs will follow me anywhere if I'm carrying a bucket of raw peanuts, and 2) the electric fence hurts like hell, but doesn't seem to do any permanent damage when I shock myself. 

(The secret is in having sufficient ground. The first ground rod I put in was a 4 ft length of re-bar that I happened to have plenty of from our annual pig roast set-up. That was not nearly enough to produce more than a little tingle. So I went and bought an 8 ft. copper ground rod to pound into the soil.  

There's a story my step-father, the Carpenter, told me once, about working with his father to build some fishing cabins up in the woodsy wilderness of Northwest Ontario. His father produced a similar giant copper cylinder, and pointed up a ladder. "Beat this into the ground, boy."  And my step-father climbed up to the upper rungs with a sledge hammer to beat the thing down far enough to get sufficient ground for the circuit. 

Eventually it dawned on him. The rules don't say it has to be vertical. 

I laughed when I pulled my own giant rod of copper out of the bed of my truck and went hunting for my hammer. If it hadn't been for him telling me that story, I would have been on the roof of my barn, trying to get sufficient leverage to pound that thing down far enough to wrap my ground wire around it. Instead, I stood safely on the dirt, angled the rod low enough to get a good whack at it, and knocked it in diagonally, and perfectly adequate to provide the ground connection I needed). 

Chorizo and Honeydew learned pretty quickly that the fence was no longer just a mild tingle, and was to be avoided.  I admit that I learned the hard way to avoid accidental brushes with the fence as well. 

Ever since we did battle with the neighborhood weasel, I had been thinking that we needed to bring in a few new pullets.  I had been hopeful that we wouldn't have to get more chicks this year - we had 24 birds, most of which were still in their 2nd or early 3rd year, and productive enough. But the weasel had cut the population in half in the weeks before we trapped and killed him.  But with the pigs, I just hadn't felt like dealing with the additional effort that baby chicks requires. Brooder. Hardening off. Integrating with an existing flock. Meh.  I just wasn't really looking forward to telling my daughter (the Critter, as we still call her around here), that she was going to be a little low on eggs to sell this year. 

So I had sort of half-heartedly begun thinking about pullets. A couple of times, I've been able to find somone who had young pre-lay hens in the area. The biggest drawback being that you usually end up with a very limited breed selection. But that's how I got our first batch of Araucanas (which lay the easter-egg pale blue or green eggs).

Then, by a stroke of luck, our good friend and nearby neighbor, Terry (of Hencam.com) was ready to sell a dozen of her new young pullets. She had been engaged to find and ready a few hens for an area nursing home, and added on some other hens both to supplement her own flock, and ensure she got a good variety to choose from. That left her with an extra dozen - which was truly serendipitous. 

Terry and her husband were the just about the first peopple I met when I moved to the area, and I knew that she chose birds for variety, health and interest, and that she takes terrific care of all of her animals. 

And as you can see - these young lady hens are gentle and curious, and have settled in to their new homes quite well. 

At this point, we've got the flock integration routine down to a pretty good routine, with a segregated run and temporary shelters. Over the next ten days or so, the two flocks of older and younger birds will live side by side, and get used to interacting through the fence.  I'll keep the older hens active and interested with cabbage, bugs and lawn clippings, to give them plenty of reason to be content despite these new young interlopers in their space. 

And by the end of summer, we'll be back up to the regular production levels to keep the Critter's egg business going. 

Farmer: 0 - Weasel: 1

This morning - as has become my habit this week - I rolled out of bed and went and checked the weasel trap next to the hen house. 

I was pretty confident we had a weasel problem. I was finding 1-2 dead hens in the hen house once or twice a week. Weasels kill for sport. Before I set the trap, I'd walk into the chicken house to find mutilated hens that hadn't been eaten. Or chickens without heads. There's something about the brains and head bits that they especially relish. Like little zombie vermin. They're nasty little creatures.  They can squirm their way into a hole an inch wide, and wreak havoc. 

For three nights, I sealed up the chicken house and set the weasel trap before I went to bed. For three mornings, I went out to discover the bait gone, and no weasel. 

This morning - weasel! 

Here's what I've learned:

1. Weasels smell. 
2. Really bad.
3. Weasels are seriously cunning. Capable of sneaking off with the bait without springing the trap.
4. When a weasel shrieks at me unexpectedly, I jump like a little girl. 

I was filled with satisfactory glee this morning when I found I had finally caught the little murderer who's killed more than a dozen of my hens in the last weeks.  I triumphantly carried him up to the porch and showed him off to my Bride with the righteous satisfaction of Lady Justice. Through the window. It is still cold out, and she was still in her pajamas. (My Bride, that is. I have no idea if Lady Justice wears pajamas). 

I had spoken quietly to the animal control officer at the police station and a few farmers I know about what to do with the vermin after you catch them. I'm not going to just go release them happily into the woods, to see them come back to their old stomping grounds, or find some other person to bother.  Most farmers find a way to quickly kill off the vermin - raccoons, weasels, etc. - that are a constant plague to their livelihood. The most recommended course? A quick shot with a .22 (which I don't own), or drop them into a water-filled garbage can to drown them. 

Because winter hasn't quite breathed it's last frigid gasp up here in the great white land of Yankees, we haven't turned on the outside water yet. So I filled an empty 6 gallon bucket with water, and went out to help the weasel shuffle off his coil. 

I gave the weasel a knowing look, and he showed me his teeth. (That's when I learned #4 above).  I decided I'd reveled enough, and hurried on to the final bit. I was a little bit uncomfortable with this part, but not terribly so. Dealing with life & death of predators and the animals I've taken on to care for is part of the deal. 

I tipped the trap up vertical and dropped it into the bucket. 

Unfortunately for me, I hadn't noticed that the trap doors are held down by gravity. As soon as I tipped it up vertical, the weasel was able to push his way out and jump from the bucket. He left nothing but a blur and a cloud of mocking musk behind him as he dashed across my lawn and disappeared back into the woods. 

This is not over, Mr. Weasel

Reflections on keeping chickens, 4 years on

Tomorrow,  10 new chicks arrive to supplement our little backyard flock. As I mentioned earlier, this has become something of a spring ritual, replenishing the flock to make up for natural losses (predator, sickness, stupid-chicken accidents), making sure we keep a fairly steady rate of lay, and a chance to explore and have fun with the different breeds.  We've managed to cut down on the annual attrition from that first year as we figured out how to fend off the natural predators (we lost 12 chickens in a week once, and the remainder all looked rather emotionally scarred).  This spring's order will take us up to about 30 hens.  If I could send a letter back through time, here are a few of the lessons that I wished I could have known up front: 

• On where you put the coop: If you site the coop at the edge of the property, you will have further to walk with the water bucket in the winter. Through the snow. At least until the children grew big enough for this daily ritual. 

• On nesting boxes: There's a reason all the commercial nesting boxes you see have slanted tops. To keep the chickens from roosting up there. Because if they roost up there, they will poop up there.  And somebody's got to clean that stuff.

  Also? It doesn't matter how many you make. All the chickens will fight over the last two. 

• On coop building: Make sure the door is wide enough for you to fit the wheelbarrow through. Then add another 18".  Otherwise, you will have to climb out OVER the contents of the full wheelbarrow every time you clean the coop.  And you will curse your lack of foresight every time you do this. 

• On cleaning the coop:  You will almost certainly never do this as often as you think you will.  Also: the children will resist doing this, despite the threats. However, it is good for them. Start them with a pair of gloves and the nesting boxes. Use less shavings than you think you should. It will prompt you to clean more often. 

• On predators: They will eat the chickens in various and creative ways. The can be slowed down with decent fencing (bury it a few inches) and some netting, but it will happen. Even the chickens will eat each other under certain circumstances. Other times, a chicken might just die with no obvious cause. You will not be prepared to deal with this the first time it comes up. The children will be mildly grossed out.  But this is not the worst way for them to learn about the cycle of life, and they won't turn out to be axe murderers because of it. 

   Probably.  

• On weather: Chickens almost certainly will not freeze to death. Even with several feet of snow on the ground. They also probably won't overheat. Just make sure there's a reasonable mix of shade and shelter, and check in on the water situation each day, and quit worrying about it. A whole lot of chickens made it through a whole lot of seasons before someone invented heat lamps, warming pans and electric fans.

• On feed: If you want to start an argument between chicken keepers, ask them what they feed their birds.  Given the fact that, if given a chance, a chicken will eat just about anything that has or is currently living, this choice is more about what makes the keeper feel good than what makes the chicken feel good. A diet of layer pellets, compostable scraps and the occasional leftover pig carcass seems to keep ours happy.  

  (Note: I just started an argument between chicken people.)

• On store-bought vs. home-flock eggs: You'll rarely meet anyone who talks about how much money they've saved on eggs since getting chickens. You won't be the first to crack that nut. Between the cost of feed, subsidizing non-layers, the coop, occasional replacements for various birds/equipment/fencing, etc., it's pretty much impossible to beat the price of a Stop & Shop dozen. Some people say home-flock eggs taste better, at least. While they certainly cook differently (a consequence of freshness), I've never been able to taste much difference.  

  (Note: I just started another argument between chicken people.)

  But you will be able to avoid paying the children an allowance for YEARS this way, as they get to sell the   eggs and pocket the money. Which is less efficient than just putting money in their pockets, but at least involves some regular exchange of work/product/money and includes some basic economic lessons in there. 

• On breeds: Get at least 2 but no more than 4 birds that look alike. You will struggle to tell them apart otherwise, and not be able to really keep an eye on which is doing well over time, or tell quickly if anyone is missing.

  Besides, a mixed flock is a pretty flock. 

• On chickens: On the scale of animal intelligence, a chicken rates somewhere just above a not-particularly-shiny rock. One of our earliest losses was because a chicken had gotten its head stuck in the fencing, and broke its own neck trying to get loose. They are, however, full of personality, and once you're set up, they're easier to care for than most fishtanks, with the added bonus of being able to make an occasional frittata in exchange.

Totally worth it. 

Proof that Appalachia trumps every other gene

The Critter, going to take care of the chickens today. 

My people would be proud.

I order my chickens on the internet, like the settlers used to do

Over on my friend and neighbor's HenCam.com (which is a fantastic resource for all things chicken-keeping related, and voted one of the internet's best time-sinks by Country Living and BBC or some such), I shared some thoughts on what we're doing about our flock of chickens this year, and why. 

Since it is a natural follow on to my last post, I thought I'd reproduce it here as well. 

How many new chicks to get this year has been the topic of much conversation at our house lately – we’ve just put in our spring order (chicks arrive in April). The primary purposes of our flock are to 1) provide a living lesson in business and the care of animals for the children (they sell the eggs) and 2) to keep me amused.

Whether you're an old hand at chicken-keeping, or just thinking about getting a couple of birds for the first time - knowing why you're getting them should certainly be an important part of your breed selection. 

With our goals in mind, I always am looking for: a) a steady supply of eggs, and b) a good variety of hens (both egg & feather color). 

I’ve got a no [boys/feathered feet/feathered heads] rule, just because I’m a low maintenance (i.e. “lazy”) kind of chicken farmer. (Roosters make noise that annoy me/the neighbors. Feathered feet and the crazy feathered-headgear birds like Polish hens are high maintenance in care/trimming to keep healthy that I'm not willing to invest time in).  

I’ve also generally shied away from bantam (think: miniature chickens) breeds because I feel bad about the kids selling smaller eggs.

To maintain a flock of around 25 reasonably productive hens, I’ve found that we need to order/replenish about 5-10 hens a year.

Predators generally account for about 2/3rds of our loss (hawks, raccoons, possums, fisher cats) (but mostly hawks), which is just part of the life and risk that comes with free-range chicken keeping.  Plus: while we have been lucky/careful enough to avoid any other serious issues, we always lose a couple per year to other natural causes (egg bound, cancer, etc). 

Then there was the rooster that showed up in last year’s order. He ended up on the dinner table (see the “no boys” rule above).

Chickens can live to be 15+ years old with a luck and a (more than) a bit of care, and our oldest hens are about 4 years old. But they start to slow down in laying after a while, and because of their vulnerabilty to anything with a beak, claw or teeth and their tendency to go from perfectly healthy to death's door with very few indicators, the numbers of backyard chickens that make it into the 5+ age range are definitely a minority. We've also always been pretty pragmatic about our hens: they're not pets; they're production livestock. So with the rare exception that displayed a bit more personality, we take very few extraordinary measures to extend the lives of our birds. (e.g. none  of them have ever been crated for a trip to our veterinarian). 

This year, the Critter and I settled on 10-ish as the magic number. I have bought small lots of pullets (young hens just about ready to start laying) from local(-ish) folks (my bride’s preference), but I was looking for a little more variety this order. And I kind of like getting them as chicks. The kids love that part of the process. However, this limits the places I can order or buy the hens to a very few sellers unless I find someone to share an order.  I figured I’d go ahead and try MyPetChicken.com – I’ve heard mixed reviews, and the cost/chicken is relatively high, but they do offer vaccinated chicks and have a respectable selection, so I’m willing to give it a try.

I think we’ve had around 15 different breeds at this point. I don’t like to have just 1 of any bird generally, so that was a factor as well. We spent some time talking about which chickens had been our favorite and why, and which we were willing to try out and ended up with the following:

• (2) Silver spangled Hamburgs (we just lost our last one to natural causes a couple of weeks ago. We’ve had 5 or 6 over the years. They’re not very friendly – they don’t even socialize well with other chickens – but they are pretty to look at.
• (1) Rhode Island Red (great bird, but a little dominant, as you mentioned)
• (1) Australorp (Always try and keep a few of these in the flock)
• (1) white Plymouth Rock (we haven’t had an all-white hen in a couple of years. This was a special request from the Critter. We’ve got another RIR, so this will be the only ‘single’ in the flock)
• (2) silver Lakenvelder (We’ve never had these before, and selected them just because they looked pretty in the catalog)

For the first time, I’ve also ordered a couple of Golden Sebright bantam hens. We’ll keep back the smaller eggs for our own consumption, and I thought it’d be fun to mix it up a bit.

This will take us up to 30 birds total, but I’m planning to re-design and build an expanded coop this summer. Plus, my experience is that you lose up to 10-15% of chicks in the first 6-9 months (they get sick/die after shipping issues, or they're bred weak, or other random chicken issues). Combine with expected attrition of the current flock, and this should keep our numbers relatively steady on average, and the birds happy. 

By the way, introducing new birds to an existing flock is a bit of a trick. (We lost a couple of adolescent hens to bullying from the older girls before we got the hang of it). Terry's got a good reference with some ideas here. I'll post our method (which has consistently worked for the last 3 batches of new birds) later in the spring.