Raising Backyard Chickens

 The number of people raising backyard chickens is on the rise. Are backyard chickens a novelty or a trend of the future? Many cities and suburbs around the nation are taking up the chicken debate and passing ordinances to allow chickens in urban areas. What is the draw to chickens? For many it is simply an extension of their desire to become more sustainable.

Back in the 1800’s chickens foraging freely throughout neighborhoods was the norm. For many people choosing to raise chickens is a part of a desire to be less dependent on others to supply their food. Home gardening has increased with the drop in the economy. Chickens often fit into a more sustainable life style. Chickens are very beneficial pets. Chickens are great at eating insects from your garden, they supply you with fertilizer for both your lawn and garden, and they give you eggs! You can’t say that about a pet dog or cat.

Unfortunately chickens are not always accepted by others as dogs or cats tend to be. Before deciding if raising backyard chickens is for you, there are several things you need to research and take into consideration. Although many cities are becoming chicken friendly, others are not. Before you start your venture you need to check your local city ordinance to see if chickens are allowed within city limits. Some cities have specific requirements as to coop placement, number of birds you can have, and the size area in which you keep them. Some also require you to notify neighbors and apply for permits. Many do not allow roosters. If your city does not allow chickens as pets you can become active in changing the regulations. Many groups have worked together to get the city ordinances of many cities changed over the past few years as the novel idea of backyard chickens has taken off.

BackyardChickens.com was started by a web developer, Rob Ludlow, from California whom has chickens as pets. He started the web site as a source of information for other chicken enthusiasts as well as a social outlet to gather tips and information from other owners.

Once you have determined that you are allowed to have chickens within the city you need to consider what breed of chicken is right for you. There are many tools you can choose for selecting chicken breeds. Mother Earth News recently launched a Pickin Chicken iPhone/iPad app. Henderson’s Chicken Breed Chart is loaded with information on various breeds including how well they lay eggs, the size and color of their eggs and also their personalities.

When choosing chickens as pets you want to look for docile birds that adapt to well to living in confinement. You want a breed that can be handled easily and isn’t going to make a lot of noise to upset the neighbors. If you choose more than one breed of bird you need to do research on how well they will get along with other breeds.

While researching the various breeds of chickens available you should also look for a reputable hatchery. Iowa has several hatcheries you can choose from. Some require you to purchase more birds than you will want, so you may try to find a group to place an order with. Hoover’s Hatchery was recommended to us and we were able to go together with two other families to meet the minimum requirement for shipping. You can also purchase birds from a local farm store in the early spring; however, the types of breeds available are limited.

If you are new to raising chickens, before you place your order for birds you should do some research on how to care for the animals. We found the book Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens extremely useful. It contains information on a wide range of topics regarding raising chickens. It’s one of the most complete resource books we have found.

In preparation for your birds you need to decide where you will keep them. Many people getting birds for backyard pets choose to order birds in the spring and keep them in the house until they get four to six weeks old and develop their feathers. If you are going to keep them in the house where will you keep them? Baby chickens need frequent care and cleaning up after. They not only need food and water, but require heat and light for warmth.

Feed for you chickens is something else you have to consider. Chickens require different types of food depending on age, and purpose. If you are wanting your hens to lay eggs as they get older, you need to make sure they receive laying rations of food. There are many brands of feed. Some companies also produce organic feed for chickens. If your local supplier does not stock organic feed, and it is something you are interested in, just ask if it is available to order. I found Theisen’s can order organic chicken feed for me and it doesn’t cost much more than non-organic. The organic feed I use is a complete mix which means I do not have to give them a calcium supplement as I would normally have to do if I used non-organic varieties. Be sure to look at the label of the feed you choose to make sure it is age appropriate. Age varies by brand. Many have a starter for newly hatched chickens, and then you progress to finisher and finally layer, unless you plan to use the birds for meat. If this is your plan then you need to use broiler feed instead of layer.

Working on a coop is something many people do while the chickens are being housed indoors. Once they have gotten old enough it’s time to introduce them to their new home. There are many things to consider when building your coop. Does it have access to electricity? Is it easy to clean? Does it have enough space to house the number of birds you plan to get? Do you have an area for an outdoor run? If the weather is cooler, how will you keep them warm? Insulating your coop will help to keep them cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

Coop placement is another consideration. Some city regulations require coops be a specified distance from neighbors. Placing the coop where you can keep an eye on your chickens is a good idea. It also makes it more convenient when gathering eggs and taking care of them if it isn’t too far away from your house. Although you may not have the predators within the city such as coyotes to worry about, you do have neighborhood dogs and cats that would like nothing better than to make a meal out of your chickens. Making sure your coop is fenced heavily will help. Do some research on ways to make your coop more predator safe. Locking up your birds at night is another good way to help keep them safe.

Your chickens will help clean bugs from your yard. They will eat extra produce from your garden and in turn supply you with eggs and compost! Living in an urban area you need a place to dispose of their manure. It’s not a good idea to place it directly onto garden beds because it can harm the plants. Instead, place their manure into a compost bin to decompose. Having more than one bin is a good idea so you can alternate using them. While one is composting, you can continue to add items to the other one. A more detailed article on composting chicken manure can be found at (http://seattletilth.org/learn/resources-1/city-chickens/compostingchickenmanure).

Whether you choose to use organic feed, decide on a breed that will lay white, brown, or even Easter colored eggs, I’m sure you will find your chickens will bring you extreme joy. Each chicken has his or her own personality and watching their personalities evolve is exciting. They will follow you around the yard, jump to get a treat, come when called, and as we have found, even mimic the sounds of other animals. We have one that can bark like a dog and recently another one has picked up on it as well. They also have started to make a sound like a cat purring.

Holding your chickens and paying attention to them from day one will get them used to your care and contact allowing for more of a bond than you could imagine. Growing up in the country we had chickens, but never as pets. I had no idea how attached I could become to a chicken until we got them. The rest of my family included. Watching them grown and develop has brought us more joy than we could have expected. Being allergic to dogs and cats is one of the main reasons we opted for chickens. Now we choose chickens. Not only are they beneficial to our garden, they don’t bark and keep us up at all hours like the neighborhood dogs do. In addition we get to eat fresh eggs every day! You can’t say that about a dog or cat!



Taking Out the Trash

How many of you take out the trash simply because it is trash day?  I used to be one of those people.  I would go around the house and gather the trash out of each can to be taken out to the curb.  I use trash bags in each trash can or often recycle plastic grocery bags.  Note***I know some people use waste baskets without a bag and simply just empty the basket.  Personally, I don't want to handle the trash more than I have to.  There is a reason it's called trash, and picking it out of the trash can to place in a bag later just grosses me out.  I know, just dump it right.  Well, there is always some piece that doesn't seem to want to come out and you have to grab it anyway.  Not for me, but to each their own.  

Gathering all of the trash bags was something I did weekly.  I wanted to make sure we had all of the trash.  I was always afraid we may have extra the next week.  We are allowed one trash can per household.  At times the trash can was very full.

As time has gone we have slowly cut back on our trash.  With being more conscientious of what goes into the trash I have been able to extend the time it takes before it is necessary to "take out the trash".  I have been able to go two weeks and more depending on the trash bin location before I have to take it out.  

I have always recycled and recycle as much as I can.   I started recycling before they had curb side recycling.  Our recycle bin is always full.  I hate seeing items that can be recycled simply discarded into the trash. 

I have also started composting more items versus throwing them in the trash or down the garbage disposal.  This has helped cut back on using trash bags as well.  By simply not throwing any food items into the trash, it has helped cut down on odors that may arise, and allow me to actually fill the bag before discarding.  

One idea I had never thought about I learned in my Sustainable Living Course is a way to reuse large plastic bags.  You know the ones paper towels come in when you buy them in the large mulit roll pack.  You have to be careful and cut the end open so you don't put a hole in the plastic.  Once you have used all of the items in the bag, simply place it in your trash can as a trash bag.  Simple idea right!  We are going to end up throwing it in the trash anyway.  Why not give it a second use before doing so? Funny thing is my grandmother most likely did something like this and we always thought she was being tight.  She was actually just being frugal and not wasting things.  She is probably looking down at me and chucking at the things we have started to incorporate into our daily lives.

This summer, on my quest to simplify things more, I purchased another compost bin. I already had one, but we were not very diligent about using. It seemed every time we added items to it that meant it would take longer to break down before we could harvest the compost.  Now with two I can alternate the bins. One bin is almost ready to harvest, and the other I am still able to add new items to be composted.

In addition to purchasing a second bin for outside I decide to purchase a compost pail for inside.  The pail has a charcoal filter in the lid to help destroy any odors.  I really like it.  You don’t have to line the bin with a bag if you don’t want to it just simply means washing it. It is dishwasher safe too!  I choose to reuse a produce bag to line the pail so all I have to do is grab the bag and go dump it into the large bin outside.  I have a feeling I am really going to like it this winter when it’s really cold and no one will want to go dump the compost. 

If you don’t recycle yet, I hope you will start.  The less we have entering the landfills the better it will be for our children in the future.  Many things can be placed in the recycle bin.  Check with your city regarding recycling and trash collection.  By recycling and composting items you will end up with less trash to haul to the curb!  This day taking out the trash isn’t as bad; I often think we are missing something because the trash can is barely half full.  

A good book to read is Green Living for Dummies. It was one I had to purchase for my class that actually ended up having a lot of great ideas.

Our Worm Farm

Worm farm, sounds yucky doesn’t it? That was my initial thought when I first read about worm farms. And the reaction I get from some of my friends.  It’s not as bad as you may think. 

Our worm farm adventure actually started a couple years ago.  I was starting my square foot gardening and worm farm information kept popping up everywhere I looked. After learning worms were great for fertilizing your garden, I decided I wanted to start a worm farm myself.  

I purchased a Styrofoam cooler, worm bedding, and food.  All I needed to start the project was the worms.  We initially thought we could gather our own worms from the yard to get started.  The problem was, our worms only came out late at night, and we weren’t about to go outside in the dark to try to catch the amount we would need to start. 

After spending the time getting my square food gardening started, I didn’t have time to take on a worm project, so it got pushed aside.  The cooler, along with the bedding and food, slowly migrated to the back of my basement. This is where they sat until recently. 

Once we decided we were going to be purchasing chickens, I again started thinking about worms.  Initially I thought I could feed some worms to the chickens for protein.  I did further research to see how difficult of a task this was really going to be to get started.  I had no idea they would take awhile to multiply.  I found many helpful sites such as:

Create your own Worm Farm 

Making a Worm Farm 

wormfarmingsecrets.com

I was starting to read how others kept their worms in simple plastic totes and was almost ready to go buy a Rubbermaid tote.  Then I remembered the Styrofoam container I had purchased a couple years ago.  I figured my husband had disposed of it, or placed it where I would never find it.  To my surprise it was still there, buried in the back of our basement with the bedding and food next to it.  I didn’t read the bedding directions before I left for the store on my search for worms.  If I had, I would have noticed the bedding needed to be mixed with water and set for awhile before adding the worms.  I stuck the worms I purchased in the refrigerator and proceeded to prepare the bedding.  The next day I placed the worms into their new home. 

I ended up purchasing night crawlers.  I only bought one package because I wasn’t sure how well they would do.  I have read night crawlers are not the best choice since they don’t “eat through” the compost material as quickly as red worms.  Unfortunately, the only worms available to purchase at that time were night crawlers.  You can purchase red worms online, but by the time you pay for shipping they can become rather expensive.

After a few weeks I realized the worms were doing well and thought we should get more to expand the farm.  This time when I went to get more the store had Canadian trout worms.  They looked small and red, but I wasn’t sure if these were the “red worms” I was looking for without researching. Until I could research them, I decided just get two packages of the red ones and another night crawler.  I now have almost 100 worms in the cooler. 

Just before adding the new worms, I harvested some of the dirt and replaced it with new bedding.  I added more bedding this time since there was going to be more worms living in the container.  The pre-packaged bedding mixes contained food already added and you can purchase granules to feed to them as well.  These things are found in the hunting and fishing departments of most stores.

I actually liked the first brand of bedding I purchased. It was called Magic Worm Bedding (http://www.magicproducts.com/bedding.htm)  When compared to the second package, which was Brown Bear, it was much better. The package of Brown Bear seemed to be ground up newspapers with a lot of dust.  The Magic Worm Bedding looked like actual dirt when it was all mixed.  The Magic Worm contained less dust, which is nice when you are mixing it in the container.  I felt I should have been wearing a face mask when mixing the Brown Bear mixture.  I might the next time. 

In the meantime, I will be on the lookout for the Magic Worm Bedding and stock up on when I find it.  Many sites will tell you to simply add newspapers, topsoil, straw, or manure to your worm farm to start it.   I didn’t have access to all of the materials and let’s face it, I live in town, and I wanted something simple and easy to use.  Thus the reason I chose the boxed bedding. 

The worms have been eating through left over lettuce rather well. Lettuce seems to disappear faster than anything else.  I also give them scraps of fruit such as pears, apples, and bananas.  The bananas I mashed almost into a liquid.  The other fruits I cut them up as small as I could and actually tried to mash them a little as well. I was reading they have very small mouths and have a hard time eating large pieces of food.  Some sites recommend actually putting the food into the blender. 

Now that the chickens are eating scraps, I have a dilemma.  Do I give scraps to the chickens, worms, or add to the compost pile?  Most of the time, the chickens win; unless it’s something they don’t particularly care for, or it has gone past the edible stage. 

You can buy a fancy home for your worms if you desire.  Most average around $100.  I found many people using Rubbermaid totes or simply a trash can dug into the ground and buried.  I prefer not to have to go to all of that trouble and expense.  I keep mine in my basement where it’s cool in the summer, but not too cold in the winter. 

I am hoping they will start to multiply soon.  I have noticed the bedding is starting to look darker and resemble dirt more than it originally did.  This means they are eating through the bedding and consuming the food we are adding to the bed.  Many sites discuss worm tea; however, with the cooler I am not set up to drain liquid from the farm.  I will have to be happy with harvesting part of the bedding every five weeks or so for my garden.