Living With Chickens

8/12/2019 Living With Chickens

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CONTENTSAcknowledgments .. .......ixIntroduction ........xiChapter tThecharmof chicLzens .......1Chapter z \XlhereYourChicl


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ACKNOSTLESGKfENTSFon vaNy RnAsoNS THIS BooK o\rES ITs EXISTENCE to the patience,persisrence, and good humor of AnnTreistman ofThe lyons Press. Many thanksalso to Geoff Hansen for his photographs and friendship, and The MountainSchool of Milton Academy in Vershire, Vermont, for the use of their space.

Many friends and acquaintances have shared their chicken experienceswith me and helped in other ways, but I had particularly valuable assistancefrom Gerry Coleman, Alex Keats, Bob Machin, and Mary Hays.

Iinally, many thanks to MaryAnn Dub6 for her design, and to Kevin lynchand Chris Mongillo at Lyons for their hard work on the production of this book.

-Jev Rossrrn

TlfeNfS AR_E DUE TO CHICKEN FARMERS Carrie Maynard, Tom Powers andIianne Thomashow the Vermont Bird Fanciers Club, author Jay Rossier, andespecially editor Ann Treistman at The lyons Press.

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INT'RODUCTION

\Welcome to the wonderful world of poultryin general, and chickens in particular. Jay Rossieris right on target when he says, "Chickens have a charmthat will affect even those with no bird experience." That was me-as a younghusband and father in the r97os, I had absolutely no bird experience.

How I wish we had had a book like this when we first started with poul-try. Our involvement with chickens as a family began with our four-year-olddaughter's prayer, "Thank you, God, for the milk we get at the store, and theeggs we get at the store. . . " Determined to help Shara and her little brotherlearn where eggs came from, I purchased six day-old chicks from a flockowner who had placed an ad in our local paper. \(ouldn't you know it, four ofthe six turned out to be roosters, but Mandy and Mindy, two Ameraucana pul-lets, became important members of our first flock. At about the same time, Ifriend gave us a dozen fertile eggs, which we placed into a homemade incuba-tor-a small aquarium covered with a piece of plywood that had a light bulb

and a thermostat mounted on it. Even as anfl '|,1"Xr,r;rrq'r 'i';rltrrtrlrrrr'trt " abrolute novice, with that contraption I goti rli, r,r, ll,,, riri l,r,i, threeoftwelveeggstohatch. "Daddy,one of,,,i,, r',,,r1,,'ir',i,',, thccl-ricl


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the Charlie who provided the eggs. Much to our daughter's chagrin, CharlieOne-Eye turned out to be a girl, and an excellent layer. Next, I orderedtwenty-five day-old pullets from the Murray McMurray hatchery. \7e were offand running in the chicken business.

At that time we lived in upscale suburbia, but I could and did meet all cityhealth codes. I was determined to be a good neighbor, so we kept no roosters,and I made sure that there were no rodents or nasty odors to offend our neigh-bors on three sides. Fascinated by all the different breeds we saw in the hatch-ery catalogues, we kept saying, "Oh, we justmust have some of those." By now,our flock was providing far more eggs than our family could consume in ahealthy way. \(hat to do?

At first we gave away our excess eggs to friends, who clamored for more. Iquickly saw the potential for our daughter's first exposure to capitalism. Hermother purchased a small egg scale (which now proudly decorates a shelf atthe farm), and Shara set about to weigh each egg, selling them by weight, justlike the grocery store. Her trademark was one colored egg from Mandy orMindy (Ameraucanas usually lay green or sometimes blue) in each dozen.Some folks bought a dozen just to get that colored egg to show their neigh-bors and friends. rilZe always had more buyers than eggs to sell. And I shallnever forget the day our daughter said to me thoughtfully, "Daddy, we need totake in a little more money than we have to pay out for feed." our six-year-oldhad learned through life experience what I had paid big bucks to learn inEconomics ror at college. Our flock grew to as many as fifty-five pullets andhcns ir-r strburbia.

()n rr whirn wt- r-rrtc'rr.cJ orre o[tlrosc McMurray pr-rllets, a Bearded Buff1..r,,',1 l'trlish, in rr l,rcrrl shorv. Sht'w()n Il('sl oli llrr.ctl rrrr,l (1hlm1-riolr( lorrtitrctrt;rl (ll,rss. As I rvrilr't1,,'s,'rr',,r,ls I ,rtrr lottliilll' li'rrtlly'rt tlrt'lroIlrytlr.rt "( l,rl,lrr'" \\'(rrr.rl llr,' ,1r,'rv I lt.rr l.rll \\'{'('rrtr'r,,1 Ir,'r rtr onr li'\,r., Sl.rlr'lr,rir

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Poultry Show, and she wonagain. Now we were hooked,not only on backyard poultryfor meat and eggs, but on stan-dard-bred poultry for exhibi-tion as well.

At these two poultryshows we met many nicefolks, dedicated poultry breed-ers, who introduced us to the

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Anrerican Ponltry Association and a book called Standard of Perfection.-Ihesrln,l,rrd dcscribcs eacir bird of every breed and color variety in minutetlr.trril,:rntl [r,rrrltly jurlgcs rrsc thrrt s(rur(lill-d, wl-rich c]ct:rils the perFect bird,rvlr,'tr jr.lliirrli hir,ls in ( ()r))p('titi()n. Wt' ;rlso l,',tt n,',1 lh:tl, in :ttltliliotr ltr';lrolrll l)oulll1,r lttl':; tlr 1,,'llt lrrtl \\/trttlt,rr,,l I),rll,r:;, llt,'t,'rr,,'t,'1,,'trllty, ltrlts

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in Abiiene, tVaco,Cleburne, Terrell, andWichita Falls that spon-sored one or two poulffyshows each year, and allof these were within easydriving distance ofourhome.

By that time, we hadmoved south of town toan acre in the country.The first order ofbusi-ness had been to build apoultry building thirty-six feet long by twelvefeet wide and divide itwith chicken wire intonine pens, each four feetwide. Over a few monthsI had selected Bearded\fhite Silkies, \7hiteCrested Black Polish, andSingle Comb \7hiteIeghorns as my breeds ofciroice, and purchased

Iuro or. llrt,t, l.r',',',ling lrios (rr lt'io is lwo 1t'rlrrlcs rrncl :r rnulc) oFcacl-r vatietyl'll(, 1)()l)l('nlir(lc irrr rrlr;rlor j,,;rv('\viry l();r ()n(' lrtrn,lr',',1 ('ll1l slill ;rir', whit'hJ,,rvr'\\'.r\,lr,,r llrt,',' lttttr,ltt'rl r'liJl lot1,',1 .,,,,,lltlrllllillit lttttrittt'. ittr ttlrtlot.

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\[hat had started out as a plan for six to ten layersto provide fresh eggs turned into breeding andexhibiting chickens at ten to fifteen shows a year,and hatchir-rg four to five hulrdred bar-rtam chick-t'trs t'rrch ycrtr.

'l'lrt'lilst lr,rtrltt'y slrotv lirr lltt' M:tl,,tt,'s w;ls l)r(rl1'th:rlr thirty yt'rtts rt11t', ittrtl Irlrr r;lill lt,,,,lir'rl ott t ltir [,'t,,t, t,,'tt'r illrllrlItitrl' l)l\/ r]t'( ollrl l\\'il \'("ll l('l lll 'ls

INrnoDUcrroN i xvii KPresident of the American Poultry Association, Inc.,the oldest continuous livestock organization in NorthAmerica, founded in 1873 at Buffalo, New York.

Our family has great memories of our timetogether with the birds, whether breeding and rais-ing chickens at home, or showing the grown birdsin competition. Our son and daughter eventuallywent away to college and have their own lives now.My wife says that two of her children outgrew thechickens, and the third one (guess who) is stillfooling around with them. The grandkids headstraight for the incubator when they arrive atGrandma and Pawpaw's house to see what is inside.You can't tell them it is empty. They have to see forthemselves.

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If you are interested in learning more about theAmerican Poultry Association, Inc. and the resources

we have that might be of interest and help to you, I invite you to visit our web-site at wr.vw.ampL+a.eem. My involvement with the APA has led me from back-yard flock owner to breeder and exhibitor of standard bred chickens, to generallicensed poultry judge, to being elected the 4orH president ofthe APA inMulch, r998. l1 you irrc lt'tohitrg for an animal project for your children or1ir';ur,l,'hil,ln'r't Irut h,n,t'lirnitt'tl sPrrt-c rrnrl finlncirl l'csolrrccs, n trio of standardlrt,',1 , lri, l(r'tlr or ;t nl(',rl l)('ll,tl lrtoilr'tc,ttt t'xt t'llt'trt ()lr1i()n\. 1'lrt'liitls rvill l,'lrrn

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i xviii l.+ IrvrlrG .lrrrrr CutcKENsresponsibility and accounta-bility just as well from chick-ens as they would fromcaring for a cal{ pig, orsheep. The APA/ABA JointYouth Program is outstand-ing, in my biased opinion.Please let us know if the APAcan be of service to you inany way.

It is a privilege to beassociated wirh Mr. Rossierand Lyons Press in bringingthis volume to novice poul-trymen and -women. I pre-dict your chickens will bringyou as much meaning andjoy as Mindy and Mandy andCharlie One-Eye and all theothers have to two genera-tions of our family. I hopeyou raise some excellentbirds whether for meat, eggs,exhibition, or all of the:rbovc. IJcst wishcs at'td mucl-r slrccess witi-r yorrr flock

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CHAPTER ONEThe Charm of chickensout0

are nlt keeping tfem,gf course, to make or evep3save monql. You are not keeping fem as pets.

You are keeping themJor the simple pleasure oJ theiy'conganJand the beauty and tsstine? o;f their eggs nnc[n

gtheir meat Ylu are rais{ng'ffiem because yu *itfuto strike a mode[fblow for the liberation gf

ghe ffiffen-and, indeed,gf atf living rhings o, ,orfr. 22-CHlnr,ss DaNrBr, lNn Pacr Surrn,The Chichen Bool


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4''V+ I-rvrl.rG \rrrrt CHTcKENS Tnr CHARM oF CHTcKENs

Ir orrr tlrc storc. If wh:rt you wrnl is

seemed to me then to be stupid, fearful,and aggressive. They are full of sharppoints from their beaks to their toesand move in a distinctly jagged way,jerking their heads more like a reptilethan a bird. In the farm-animal depart-ment, I liked cows, which are massiveand deliberate. And warm.

But chickens have a charm that willaffect even those with no bird erperi-ence. In short order I began to appreciatethe rich colors and textures oftheir various plumages, their weight and shape.They are stately, dignified, and industri-ous creatures that take their work ofscratching and eating and laying and set-ting seriously. Furthermore, they have agenuine, if somewhat detached, curiosityabout us) and are happy to work along-side us in whatever we busy ourselveswith outside.

Of course, the eggs and meat theyprovide is superior to what you can get

home-grown animal protein, you'll soon dis-r'ovt'r th:rt th


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') 4V LrvrNG \rrrrr CrlTcKENs Tsr CHARM or CHrcr(ENs "5r:Slnorr Xe.n

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.., Cor.rnBefore you get started, make sure that there are no local zoning laws thatmight end your career irr chicken husbandry before it even begins. Make a callto your town clerk or city council to find out the regulations in your town. Inaddition, it's always a good idea to broach the subject with close neighborsbefore diving in.

Wlrlr Krxns oF CrlTcKBNs SHoULD YoIJ Knnp?Your choice ofwhat kinds ofbirds to keep depends first and foremost onwhether you want meat or eggs, or if you are simply buying them for yardornamentation. Some are fnore appropriate for meat, some are better for eggs,and some were bred to do both tolerably well. once you know what you wantfrom your chicken, you can begin to imagine some of its characteristics: size,temperament, and looks. There are chickens bred to be attractive for showing(some of those get to be pretty silly looking, although this is, of course, a mat-ter of taste). There are breeds suited for cold weather, others which preferwarm; some with relaxed dispositions, and others that can be nasty but deli-cious. You should take these factors into account when deciding whichchicken is right for you. \Zhen choosing your breed, don't be surprised to hearfellow poultrymen talk about "the Standard." They are referring to theAmerican Poultry Association's publication, Standayd of Pert'ection, whichdescribes each breed in detail. The Standard is used in judging at poultry showsand to help chicken breeders improve their flocks over time by breeding forpreferred charac teristics.

A breed is a group ofrelated chickens that has the same general size andshal-,e; shares tire same skin color, number of toes, ar-rd pl-rmage style; and haslh,.s:urrc stylc of'cotrb, rvlrir'h is tht'l'lt'slry, spiky, r't.rl lopknol on lhc, lri, ltt'tr's ltt';rtl,

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In order to talk about different breeds of chicken, it might be useful toknow the names of the parts of the chicken. Above is a diagram showing theparts of a chicken used when people are talking about what makes one breeddifferent from another.

M rilr, Ee cs, oR Borrr?Some breeds have been selectively bred over the years to emphasize meat-pro-ducing characteristics. Others have been selectively bred to be exceptionallyprolific egg layers. The females of the meat breeds will certainly lay eggs, butp


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It is wise therefore to raise laying breeds for eggs and meat birds for meat.A third option, however, exists in dual-purpose breeds that were popular rooyears ago when the economics of small-scale agriculture required breeds inwhich the hens would lay many eggs but their male ottpring would flesh out asquickly and efficiently as possible.

Mnar Einr;sJersey Giant, Brahma, Cochin, and Corr-rish are a few examples of meat breeds.the bird bred for modern factory farming, however, is called the Cornish-RockCross or Rock-Cornish Cross, which is the product of a Rock mother and aCornish father. The Corr-rish-Rock Crosses are large birds with huge appetitesand little interest in getting any exercise. A ciricken drat walks around scratch-ing and exploring very much is using feed energy for those activities instead offor making meat. These birds grow to a good size (about 4 pounds) in a shorttime (from 6 to 8 weeks) and are very efficient converters of feed to meat:about z pounds offeed for every pound ofmeat.They are therefore the cheap-est means of producing frying or roasting chickens for your freezer. A1so,because their feathers are exclusively and entirely white, their skin is cleanerlooking than colored birds that may appear to have black dots all over themafter they are plucked.

L,tvrr"lc Hr, llsHens bred especially for laying are designed to put their energy ir-rto eggsand not into body mass, and so are , EIS:sorlcwhr( srnlller thrn birds brecl forrrrt.rr t.'l'lrt.y lrt'r1i n l;ryi nq :r I i t t lt''r()()lt('t llr,rrr tlt,' t))('.tl ('t,ltr,rl 1,t1t1,,,,;,'I'r,,,l. ,rl ,tl,,,rrl ,, nrolrllr'.,,1 .l',

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t8F LrvrNG \rlrrrr CurcKENsinstead of 6. \fhite leghorn is the most comlnon and most productive mod-ern laying hen. A leghorn will consume less grain per dozen eggs and willproduce more eggs over the course of ayear than the dual-purpose or meatbreeds. \7hen they are about r8 months old, chickens begin to shed theirfeathers, or molt, in order for new ones to grow in. During this time they willstop laying for a few weeks to a few months. Modern egg-laying breeds havebeen bred for shorter molting periods and thus produce more eggs in a year.

Duar-PuRposn BREEosThe dual-purpose breeds are what we now think of as the old-time breeds-such as New Hampshire and Rlode Island Red-that were developed inEngland and America in the rSth and rgth centuryr At that time (and right oninto the middle of this century), Bo to 90 percent of American households keptchickens to supplement their diet and their annual cash income, as it was easyto sell extra eggs locally Before mass-production methods came to agriculturethe goal was a hen that laid well for as long as possible and that produced off-spring that would flesh out well for the stew pot or roasting oven.

The hens of the dual-purpose breeds-such as New Hampshire,Rhode Island Red, Orpington, \Tyandotte, Dominique, and PlymouthRock-do not lay as many eggs in a year as the leghorn or other single-purpose egg-laying breeds. The cockerels, or male chicks, don't gain weightas quickly or as cheaply as the Cornish-Rock Cross or other single-purposemeat breeds. But the dual-purpose breeds are attractive to many backyardpoultry enthusiasts because they are sturdy and attractive, and are moreself-srrfficient tl-ran tire sirrgle-purpose breeds-meanir-rg that tirey are morewillirrg to f intl lirocl lirl tht'rrrsclvt.s il'tlrcy Iravc room to rolrrl otrtcloors.'l lrt'y:tls,' Ir:tvc lltt'troslrtlriii ;rp1rr':rl ol;r litnt'lrt.li,rt'rrrotlt'r'rr intlLrstrirrl:rgli-, rtllttt,' ll('(,rlr',('11,,'1' .tt{'lrl lrl(,,1il, ltt,'r' rrrltt,li lrr lrr'rr';r.rl ltt ntilrl('t t' trr,., lr

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anized poultry production, many are considered endangered species andneed to be used productively in order to be saved from extinction.

SrzEThis is the greatest distinction that separates one breed of chicken fromanother. A breed is either a "bantam" breed or it is not a "bantam" breed, inwhich case it is a "large" breed. The large breeds, simply because they are largeand therefore produce greater quantities ofmeat and eggs, have historicallybeen given more attention in terms of breeding for production. Presumablybecause they are miniature and therefore cute, bantams are thought of as showbirds first, although pound for pound they can produce as well as many of thelarge breeds.

Occasionally large breeds are referred to as "srandard" breeds. This can leadto confusion on the part of beginners who will more often hear the phrase "theStandard" used as shorthand for the American Poultry Association's Standard ofPerfection, or the description of a particular breed in it, or another standardpublished by a particular breed organizarion.Large BrecdsLarge breeds produce more meat and eggs than bantams both because they arebigger and because they have been bred to produce more meat and more andlarger eggs. The reasons to keep a large breed over a bantam are entirely a mat-ter of taste. People who keep large chickens instead of bantams are the typesthat would choose a retriever or German shepherd over a springer spaniel.llrllllrltll\'l'ltt'tt lrtvt'l.nrllrl.ly rrlrv:rys bt't'rr srnirll,'rchickt'ns,:rrrtl :r [rir-tl rcscrnbling thcSillirr l'rcr',1 ol lr;1111,11;1, lri, [,'tr tur]s trl) irr llr,'1,,1' r,l Nlrrrr,, I'olo irr llrr. r ttlr

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century. The name bantam is from Bantam Island in the Dutch East Indies,which was a meeting point for the trade routes between Asia and the west in therzth cenrury. The native fowl of the region were used by the sailors as a source ofmear and eggs during their voyages, perhaps because smaller bitds were easier tokeep in the smaller living spaces aboard ship. It was common then to call anysmall birds "bantams," wfiether t[ey originated on Bantam Island or not'

Bantams are anylvhere from one-quarter to o1e-fifth the size of a large breed.Although there are a number of "true" bantam breeds without full-sized counter-parts, in many cases bantams are miniaturized versions of large breeds developedduring the rgth and zoth centuries in America and Europe. Bantams eat less ar-rdare both willing and able to forage for grass, bugs, worms, garbage, and anythingelse in their line of sight. The eggs of bantams are quite noticeably smallet, butthere is nothing wrong with small eggs if you are eating them yourself at-rd dontneed to sel1 them tirrough a distributor in order to make a living (as yout counter-part in the r94os and r95os did). About three bantam eggs will make as big anomelet as two regular-sized eggs. On the flip side, bantams fly throughout theirlifetime, unlike the larger breeds, which lose much of their abllity and interest inflying when they mature. It is therefore harder to get bantams to go just whereyou want them to go. They are also a little more high-sttung than large breeds.

l-t:ox"cPart of the charm of chickens is certainly the vivid coloring and patterning oftheir plumage and their vadous and occasionally spectacular configurationsof cornb arrd plumage style. Tl-re wl-rite-1i'lrtlrcl-c


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A \T/O}LN AB R.OOSYERSYou noN't NEED RoosrERs ro cET EGGS, BUT you Do need roosters toget chicks. Ifyou decide you want your layers to raise chicks (or lust want thisoption, as letilized eggs are perfectly fine to eat-more on this in Chapter 7),you ll need one rooster for every ten to twenty hens. If you have more than one,they will fight until they establish a pecking order and then will generally stopdoing damage to one another. You dont need to be afraid of them-they are notusually given to attacking people-but you can certainly choose the ones tokeep based on their temperament.

Roosters add to the interest and complexity of your barnyard whether youwant fertile eggs or not. Colorful and dramatic, they will also help protect thehens against predators. They do, however, make a lot of noise, and whether thisis seen as a positive or negative attribute is another matter of taste. Contrary tothe message conveyed by Saturday morning cartoons, roosters crow at any andall hours of the day, not just in the morning, and it will be worth consultingwith any close neighbors before subjecting them to what for many is a pleasantringing in the air that epitomizes country life.

This ringing is now one of lhe legends sutrounding mywedding. one of myearliest get-rich-quick-with,chid.qs scher-nes had to do with growing cockl fortheir hackle fe athers which, I had heard, if sold to a fly fisherniaq fot - y.1)'r1g,were worth several times what a roasting chicken was worth. $flith youthfulanticipation I filled the wood shedlchicken coop withfifiy3qckerels Li\g,every,chicken, they started ou1:very cutq and.{u7zy,'4nd w-e.thoug$t no more aboutit than that. A week before I'was 1o be married in the, 4c.kyat{l,' immediatelyadjacent to the coop-theyallfou,nd theirvoiceq at'once arrd'began crotving.The combined decibels of fifty crowing cocks made it impossible to carry on aconversation inside the coop, and it wasnt much better outside. In desperation,the day before the wedding r killed the five loudest cocks, and they all fellsilcnt for tl're next 48 hours while they reestablished the pecking order. Thervctlrlirrg wcnt off pcr:fi'ctly---cxccpt firt the rain, lrut thaf is arrothcr story.

Trrr CHARM or CrrrcKENs

}Iow MEnv Gnowx Cnrcxnns Do You Nnnn?You want to have more than just one chicken because they are social creaturesand-like you and I-won't thrive without companionship of some of theirown species. \(hether you have a rooster or not is another question (see side-bar), but two laying hens with or without a rooster, or two meat birds, is theminimum. The number you choose beyond two will depend mostly on howmuch product you want in the end.

\(hen it comes to meat, the questions are: How much freezer space do youhave? How many chickens do you wish to roast, fry, stew, cordon bleu, or fricas-see and serve up to your family in a given period of time? How often does yourfamily eat chicken? Every other week? This means that twenty-five chickens is agood round number for the average family to attempt, if you have freezer spacefor them. Plan on a long day at the end with two or three helpers to butcher allyour chickens (see Chapter 8), or find someone locally who will do it for you.

If you are raising laying hens, you'll want to consider how much you likeomelets and how much refrigerator space you have. Because you keep layerslonger than meat birds, and because their production is not consistent year-round, that figuring is more complicated. At the height of the summer layingseason, each hen will lay an egg each day, and ifyou have not saved up a supplyofused egg cartons to package them in and cart them offto work to give or sellto your enthusiastic coworkers, the eggs will displace much of the contents ofan average-sized refrigerator before fall. \Xrhen the chickens begin to molt andthe weather cools into the winter, production will slow to a level you can con-strrnc and rnay fall below that during winter, when the less hardy breeds mayst()p luyinr ultogct hcr-.

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consumption in the United States. To carry this family through the winter andprovide a few eggs for the r-reighbors in summer, you should add a couplemore hens, and because marauders can strike without warning, you shouldadd another as a spare. For a normal family, then, half a dozer-r layers is anappropriate and very manageable number.

These figures are for adult birds-you'Il need to take mortality rates ofchicks into account ifyou decide to acquire your chickens at an earlier stageof life. A hatchery won't send fewer than twenty-five chicks because theyneed to keep each other warm during the journey to your post office. Ifyouask them to send half laying hens and half meat birds, you can plan on put-ting ten or twelve broilers in the freezer in a couple months and having a lotof eggs in about 6 months. Decide ahead of time what you will do with thesurplus eggs (see Chapter Z on storage options)' and start keeping your usedegg cartons now. Consider asking friends to hoard theirs for you as well.

WurcH Couns Frnsr? ANn \VHSRE CAN Ytlu Gnr Ir?once you decide what kind of chickens you want and how many you need,you'll need to figure out at what stage of your chickens' lives youd like to getinvolved. \(ill you start with eggs for incubating, day-old chicks, pullets (femalechickens less than a year old) that are about to start to lay eggs, or hens ayeat or

more old? Each choice has its advantages and dis-fl advantages, including cost and convenience,

which |11 briefly discuss here. Specific instruc-tions on incubating eggs, raising chicks, andsclcctirrg adtrlt birds rre found in later chapters.

tnt tthrrlirrg Ii'r't ilizt'tl t'ggs is stittrt'wh:tllil( l(y r lit:;l litttr', lri, li,'tr l,ltltlt't i,lll ('ll)('( I

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only about 50 percent of his eggs to survive intoadulthood. Flowever, it can be richly rewardingto know your birds from the time they breakthe shell open and crawl out of it soggy andhungry-not to mention cheaper than buyinggrown chickens. You can buy fertile eggs forhatching from a mail-otder or more local hatch-ery. This method of raising chickens requiresthe most equipment. You will spend more than$r 5o.oo for a small incubator with an automaticegg turner. Still, the younger you start yourbirds, the larger and more profound your expe-rience of chickendom-and life on earth ingeneral-will be.

If you want to have the excitement offluffy chicks without the efforts of incubatingeggs, you can buy them from a hatchery viaU.S. mail, find a local hatchery, or buy them inthe spring from your local feed store. Thismethod is cheaper per bird than buying growrlchickens, and it eliminates the big question ofwhether the eggs will hatch. But growingchickens to maturity is still a hazardous busi-ness-only 70 to roo percent of chicks surviveto adultirood.

St:rr-titrg wirh lrtrllcts or',rtltrlts will allow yor-r to erse irrto the wholet.lrit lit,rr 1.r1sitr1i htrsilr,'ss sl,rivly Ytrtt trlty lt,'sttr'1.r'isctl ltl h6rv ll.rttlly cIicltt'tls,il( ltVlhJi rvjllrirr,r:,lrotl rll';l,ttrr i llr)lll \r()lll ll()lll('

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19/98

ilSAiqglg'trK KW#Where Your chick ens WilI tiv ehe sncestors aJ the domestic white -eg varietielwere-jungle dwrl{irs, and sorryht safery and resr Lttlrhe high lineb of n tre 0r in rhe seffision of t"fie

underbrusl't. . . . ''r{ie hrsusing af poukr2 is neceQary, hawever,for t6'ere hal{6een a grneral enfeebletnent of mast poukry sfocks, which is th,: penalty we'{tavc to 1,ay-for breeding under unnatursl conditions,-for in-breeding to -f{x

0esired finracters, antlJor using in tfu breedingfofi, fficinens whitfr,though tfir.;, shaw the raciel rype tu the highex degree , are aJtat fie lettstfir inn

.terms of botlifu vigor andvitalitT.artifrcial protection is necessaryrc gfsrgirh'is gencral ,rrfrrhlr*rrt. P?

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You will want to provide a home for yourchickens for two primary reasons: (r) to keepanimals that would eat your chickens (before you do)away from your birds, and (z) to moderate the climate for them, as extremes of

heat and cold can make your chickensfl r,r, t,,, " I r r.,.

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20/98

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out. Another chicken farmer friend decided that what hewanted to look at every day out his kitchen window was an octa-gon-shaped hen house- a gazebo with a little cupola on top. Hesoon regretted this plan when he realized how much time andeffort was involved in cutting, framing, and siding such strangeangles and how difficult it was to get the pieces to match up cor-rectly at each ofthe eight corners. Yet another keeper I knowwas visiting Peru some years ago and was intrigued by a smallstone structure about waist high, with a hole in the front andlarge stone rolled to the side. At night when the chickens wereinside, the free stone was rolled in front of the hole to seal outpredators.

INrrrlr. DnsreN CowsrnnnarroNsEvery chicken coop needs to have access to light and air, a wayto keep the chickens in and the predators out, and a roofto pro-tect the birds from inclement weather. In addition to providinga home for the chickens, the coop should be a place that youcan tolerate spending time in, because you'll be going inside to

feed, water, collect eggs, and, occasionally, clean. Ideally, you'Il be able towalk in and shut the door without crouching or stooping.

Keep open the possibility of having separate compartments in the coop,too. You'lI probably wish for this one day for any of a number o.f reasons,incltrcling oppottur.rities to house chicker-rs of different ages apart, give brood-rrrg Irt'ns:r 1-rlivllt'sp()t l() sit on tl-rcir cggs, rnd allow the statt of a batch ofrrr,.rrl lrirtls rr,lrt'rt'll',' l,ry,''s ( in)'t st('lr ()n llr('r)r. I1'yotr split yolrr ('o()p itr lwtt,yr )ll I ll( | r.,l'lr' \'olil { rl Jl li tr,; trr,t ll1'l,,l,l

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ciples ofpoultry hous-ing. Ihadaneighborwho let his birds havethe run ofan aban-dor-recl car in r pastlrte.

'l'hc clrr l-rlt] rro glrrss ir-r ils witrt]ows iur(l n() lrrrt-list'rrts. Ilrt. lrilrls r,,",t'ul iu unclortl lltt.ottg,lt llrt's,itrtl,tt's;urrl lrri,l tlrt'ir,'1'1',:; in tlrt'trur,li,u,lr,.rr.it u,;rstlrrllerience has taught me that too much room isbetter than too little. I started with two dozen layers in about anB-by-B foot area, which was a bit crowded even before a humanentered to gather eggs. A,fter Mr. Raccoon carried off half thechickens, I discovered that the remaining hens, their eggs, andmy shoes, remained clean and the coop remained a relativelypleasant-smelling place. Because my coop was less cramped, thelitter stayed dry and comfortable for the hens, and the coop wasboth pleasant to be around and easy to clean out for me.

Rrcess rroR lr+s llrlrosIf you have the room, I would encourage you to let your birdsroam as free as possible, within reason. Chickens that can spendtime outside need less floor space inside. Keeping chickens on range, which isto say in a field ofgrass, can benefit both the chickens and the grass ifthey dontstay in one patch too long. You can create a shelter on wheels so you can move itevery day or so to a new patch. You can either fence them in with portable elec-tric fencing or let them go, knowing that chickens dont tend to wander too farfrom the coop. Grass farmers make a low flat pen that keeps the birds confinedin an area limited to a few square feet per bird in ordet to precisely controlwhcr


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{30K lrvrNG wrrrr ClrTcKENS

to an inside wall comes when it is time to shovel out the manure. I still havevertical z-by-4 studs exposed on the inside walls of my coop, and so have towork my shovel around them. An inside wall-say of p\'wood, even if only afew feet high all the way around-would make it easier to scrape the floorclean.

TrlI FroonThere are basically three choices for the floor: dirt, wood, and concrete. You willfind many experienced chicken people that will swear by each of these options,passionately preferring one over the other. One will most likely appeal to youmore than the others.

DirtA dirt floor is cheap and easy to do, and has worked for many chicken farmersin many cultures. Simply build on your ground-if there's grass there, it willsoon turn to dirt. It is harder to shovel chicken manure off of it, however, and itwill turn to mud if the soil underneath is not gravelly or sandy enough to drainwell. You can get a sense of this by digging a small hole on your chosen site andadding water.

WoodAny old boards r or z inches thick, in widths as narrow or wide as you can buyat a lumber yard or scrounge from the dump, will make an acceptable floor foryour coop. Underneath your planks you will need supporting joists, usuallyabout z-by-6,which thernselves rest on something at tire corners, whether cin-cler blocl


25/98

{{fuKEKPXNGPRKSATOTI,S OUTAI,L or youR OpENINGS-THE wrNDo$rs rHAT opEN as well asthe vents near the tops of the walls-need to be covered with wire thatwill keep out the local predators. Weasels and mink will easily crawlthrough the. holes in r-inch chicken wire, and a raccoon in my neigh-borhood once grabbed a young chicken weighing a pound or two andpulled him, one bite at a time, through the r-inch holes. Now I use gal-vanizedhalf-inch screen (or hardware cloth, as it is called at the hard-ware store), which not only has smaller holes than chicken wire but isstiffer and won't bend as easily. The same raccoon pulled so hard onthe wire while pulling on that dead chicken that he pulled out two ofthes/s-inchArrowT-5o staples I had used to attach the wire to the post.Now I use /"-inch real wood staples that I drive.in with a hammerinsteadof ahouseholds14p 9gun, ,1.,::, ...1., , ,Even with these precautions, raccoons might get in. Any poultry-m an will tell you.ihat iacqq.ons are' the.'srhartest ;nirnalsl oii g arthafter dolphtni; an,ilalthoogh they can't fit tlroughthe hiri{.i'of.open-i1gF. fhaia,1.*eqqel can;'the1,:ale doggiilit@. *a p '"in err, -ing fhey ditnk fi4d t t.e- fiisl yqar,thelr rnay firid'the iieCond.or, thiid'.ry.

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26/98

\Wlr.roo {/s\(indows and other ventilation holes are nec-essary for air and light, for both you and yourchickens. After all, you both have to be ableto see and breathe when you are in the coop.

Proper ventilation is critical for thehealth of a chicken. Chickens give off moisture, heat, and carbon dioxide asthey breathe, and more moisture and ammonia rises from their manure as itmixes witir the litter. These chemicals, dust, and various airborne pathogens canharm the birds if they reach high concentratiolls-which occurs when there istrot adequrfe air excl-range.'l'he best way to assurc prop('r vcntila(ion is to ptrt asct it's o{'holcs ot slols 'tbottt (, inr'lti's in ,li'rt,r,'t,'t'ot (, ilrcltt's rvitlt'rrctoss lhclolr ol lltt' trot llr ;ttrrl :;r,ullt tt,'tll:;,,l yorr ( ()ol) l lrr':;r'rvill l,t,,r,i,l,' tlirllr;rl ( llrss

It's important to keep your birds cool in summer. Chickens dont sweat, andwith their feathers and relatively small surface area, they are not equipped tocool themselves as easily as other domestic animals. They will begin to sufferwhen the air temperature gets to about 95 degrees. You can tell they are toowarm when they begin to pant like a dog.

In short, it's better to err on the side of too much air than too little. Thefirst coop I had was nothing more than some standard r-inch chicken wire sta-pled to a couple ofupright z-by-4sin the northeast corner ofan old woodshed.The doors and windows of the shed had long since been removed, so ventiladonwas not a problem. The wind and even a fair bit of snow blew in, depending onthe season.

Make windows that can open completely for warmer seasons, although becareful as to how they stay open-flat surfaces can prove disastrous. \(herever achicken can sit, it will, and it will poop there as wel|. If windows tilt open, makesure they lie vertically up or down when they are open. I saw a coop once withwindows that were hinged on the bottom and had a chain attached to the ceil-ir:rg on top. The chain was just long enough to hold each window parallel to thefloor. They opened into the coop like an old ironing board might have droppeddown from the pantry wall or the way a changing table opens in a public bath-room. They provided a series of tabletops for the birds to sit on all summer, andthey were a real mess.

In the wintet, unless it is bitterly cold, you still should leave the south-facing air holes open. Dont be afraid to rely on common sense. If it smellsnasty in there, your cirickens probably leed more air, and perhaps more litteras well.

Wirrtlows provitlc tnorc th:tn air- -clir-ect srrr-'light in tl-re coop helps fightlrrrr'tr'r'i:r :rn,l Ii,.,'1r lll(' ( (r{ rl) ,l, y ,rtr,l ('v('rI wllrlr. ll'yotr hrrvt' rr t'trltl witrtct- wlr,'tt\rou ,l(',rt,,l ll','l,il,l';,rt, llr:;l(l( lll ,1 t1"t,,1 \\/('('l(:;;ll lt litltr', llrcy rvill lt,''l l'it

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27/98

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28/98

Some people place a pan covered with wire mesh underneath the roost sothat droppings fall through the mesh and accumulate in the pan. This methodallows you to take a significant portion of manure out of the chicken housebefore it fouls the litter or your chickens. You can keep your birds clean withless litter. Chickens spend many hours on the roost and create a significantbuildup ofdroppings there. You can also arrange chicken wire on either side ofthe ladder/roost holder to keep the chickens from getting underneath, wherethe droppirrgs are heaviest. The pan and grate need to be cleaned every week orat least every month, depending on how many chickens you have. Keep inmind that any system that doesn't allow the birds to mix the manure in withtheir bedding is a system that requires you to handle unadulterated manufe on aregular basis. It also might create more smell and attract more flies'

LrrrEn M,q.NaclMENTI think it is more effective to allow mofe rather than less floor space per bird,lay in 5 to ro inches of litter on the floor of the coop, and 1et the birds haveaccess ro all of it. They will stir their own manure into the litter with theirscratching, particularly ifyou throw them some ctacked corn or other grainoccasionally. Add more litter as it seems necessary. \(ith the right ratio of chick-ens to litter, the manure will virtually disappear and over time even begin tocompost right underneath the chickens. \(ith a thick soft layer ofbedding,their feet and legs suffer less strain, and the slowly composting litter will evenproduce a little heat if left alone all winter.

Nrs'r'rNc BoxusI lt,ns lilit. to luy cggs in :r clt'rrn, srrli,, pliv:rlt' 1-tl,t,,', Ittrl tlr,'y rvill pttt llrt'ln.jttslitl)out ;ltly\vltr,rr,irrlltt'toolr,il yt,tr Ir't'l,lltr'ttttoltlittr',1 llv,'rlil t,tlltt't tlol t'ool,llollllll lltr'll,'r,t ';,',tt, llilrl', l,,t tlr,','1i1i, llr rl'llllll (|l \\i(rt"'') \\""'tl "lt'rVtttlir ilt

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chopped sffaw or whatever it is that you put between the floor and your birds, Isuggest you build-or find, or buy-a nesting box. A nesting box is simply abox, a little bigger than a chicken, open on the front, that gives the hen a com-fortable place to lay, with the added bonus that you both know where to findthe eggs. And you may find more than you expect, as the hens will share theseboxes. You need iust one box for every four to five birds. They only use themonce a day to lay an egg, and they are not territodal about them.

The general requirements are that a box be about a foot deep and a footwide, with an opening about a foot high in front. The exact dimensions arenot critical, but it should have a steep-pitched roof(try 45 degrees) so thebirds don't sit on top of it and mess it up. Some people hang a piece of burlapdown over tl-re front of the box to protect the birds'modesty, as if the nestingbox wcrc r chatrgiug toom in a clothing outlet store.To keep the eggs clean,rn,l llr,'birrls cornlirrt:r[rlt', yorr wilnl to kcep littcr itr the boxes, whic]r is elsieril.tlr,'r't.is rr li1r,rlr.,ul .; irrr'lrt.s lriglr rrt tttss tlrt'lrollotl of'lltc rrpt'ttittg in 1r'olrt,,1 tlrr'l,r'x

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29/98

nt :- .*f\t t I"t'w *{*':"&l,r.,,- \ 'i\ii The main point of the nesting box is toprovide some peace ar-rd quiet for the layers.A hen we had once had ignored a more opennesting box we had made for it itr the cooparrd took to laying its eggs in a kind ofden askunk had dug out several years beforeunder the front porch. It was nothing but ahollow in the gravel, but it was way back inthe corner against the house foundationunder the floor boards. It was private andprotected. one neighbor of mine keeps fif-teen Araucana layers that all use the samemakeshift pair of nestir-rg boxes he made bytaking a couple ofboards offthe front ofanold butter churn and dividing it down thecenter with another board. This conttaptiondid provide roughly a square foot offloorspace for the birds to nest in, but it was atleast twice as tall as it was wide, and his birdsdidnt seem to mind. As long as the hen isntcrowded and she can get in easily, almost anysize will do.

Finally, there are additions to the boxesthat are entirely personal preference.

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Living With Chickens

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