Pet Parade: Backyard Chickens Fun and Healthy

UPI.com ^ | March 7, 2010 | Marty Englert

[Clay Moore]

Hens get rather loud for a few minutes while they are passing the egg. Otherwise you probably won’t notice the noise.

[metmom]

Chicken coops REEK......

[Vigilanteman]

I'm a former chicken farmer and are well acquainted with rooster habits. They do crow repeatedly when they are awake. They do not crow until dawn (or if someone turns on a light) once they are bedded down for the night. I actually enjoy the sounds of roosters crowing much as I enjoy the sounds of hens cackling when they lay an egg. To me, it shows an inspiring zest for life and a way of thanking God for a new day.

As for as that crazy, scared look in the eyes of hens, I think it has far move to do with the sexual proclivities of roosters than sleep deprivation. They're worst than human males as they never can seem to get enough.

[Lazamataz]

In a prior life, did you write for the Jack Benny Show?

I AM JACK BENNY

[humblegunner]

I have a little stripey cat who is also in favor of chickens in the yard.

[Lady Jag]

Eggs and chickens are good.

[Titan Magroyne]

Handsome coop! Did you sink the hardware cloth into the ground to stop tunneling predators, or is that what the half-buried tombstone cement border is for?

As other posters have mentioned, I am considering chickens for the eggs & rabbits for the meat. I just wonder if feed, health care & efforts to prevent predation cancel out the savings from grocery shopping.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Backyard Poultry magazine is very informative and lots of fun. I highly recommend to anyone who keeps chickens or intends to.

[teenyelliott]

Grocery schmocery, it’ll make your life more interesting, and your food will taste better. :)

[Viking2002]

Exactly - hence the term, 'flew the coop'. If anyone needs firsthand proof, go chase down and try to catch one.

[Bean Counter]

Thanks! It took about 2 months to build and it wasn’t terribly expensive.

It has a 2’ wide hardware cloth apron buried around the perimeter so nothing can dig into it. It’s based on six 10’ 4x4 treated posts that are set in concrete, so it’s very durable, windproof, and pred proof. We have coyotes here in the neighborhood that feed on cats and squirrels, and would love a big fat chicken dinner. Lots of egg-eating ‘possoms too. With our predator load here, it made sense to be as thorough as possible. The border along the front just keeps the yard out of the front of the run.

Did you catch the water barrel on the back? It collects the rain from the roof so the girls are never without clean water...

We expect to get about 4 eggs a day from the flock once they start laying, and that is plenty of eggs for our family and our friends and neighbors. Feed is pretty cheap and if you keep a clean coop you generally keep a healthy flock. The run is sand and stays perfectly dry and that helps dessicate everything the chooks leave behind. I also put a bit of feed=grade diatomaceous earth in the sand which accelerates the process and kills any bird lice and mites.

Besides, keeping chickens is as old as man, and it is a lot of fun and quite rewarding to boot...

[TheOldLady]

Looks like chicky ate all the cheese that was within reach and only a little of the bun, LOL! Cute.

[TheOldLady]

Ha ha ha! In Chatsworth, CA, we had neighbors with peafowl. What a racket. We thought someone was being murdered the first time we heard it. They were three blocks away!

[Bean Counter]

[Titan Magroyne]

I’m sure, but my life is ‘interesting’ enough as it is. I’m trying to hold onto my home after downsizing.

Were I raising a family, especially male children, I’d be more concerned about additives & hormones. For only myself, eh. *shrug*

[Titan Magroyne]

Yup, I'd noticed the rain barrel in back, & wondered how it was coordinated with the gutter. You've done a lot to make your coop as self-sustaining as possible. I appreciate the sand base & inclusion of diatomaceous earth, now that I know about it.

It's obvious a lot of thought & planning went into your coop, & I thank you for sharing that with me.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Fine coop, very well done.

[mrs. a]

“Do you realize how many people actually think chickens can’t fly?”

Alice Cooper thought they could fly...once...

[Bean Counter]

I used about ten large sheets of graph paper to plan it out. Just a number 2 pencil, a good eraser and a clear plastic drawing scale is all it took. Pretty easy cheese, and I was amazed at how inexpensive this project was, compared to some of the prefab coops that are out there on the market. Backyard chickens dot com has all of the design criteria you could ever ask for, and there are a million different ways of building a coop, and most of them are pretty good.

We also took 2 months to build our coop, and spread the cost out so we could pay cash for all of our materials. No charge cards, no loans and no interest! I also purged my shop and garage for as many materials as I could find to re-use, paint in particular, and that saved a ton of money too.

The other motivation quite frankly is preparedness. If all else fails, we have hens and hen fruit as long as we can feed them, and we have that taken care of as well. In a barter economy, eggs are a valuable commodity....

[Titan Magroyne]

True, good job!