Feeding Our Backyard Chickens

After getting our four beautiful chickens, it was time to get their feeding in order. We had already purchased a bag of feed for Chica, when we got her at only a few weeks of age.  The feed store recommended Poultry Extreme feed. 

This feed was just a basic starter feed for chicks.  It has all of the nutrients that a chick needs.  We just used the rest of the bag after getting the additional 3 chicks and decided on switching over to an all organic feed.

We chose the Organiq layer crumble feed.  Our hens will be laying soon, so we started them on layer crumble. This feed has a lot of essential ingredients that our hens need. This organic feed has organic corn, soy, wheat, calcium and other vitamins and minerals. 

We also chose to purchase scratch. Scratch is not a complete food for our hens.  It's used more as a treat.  

I know, the bag looks identical, but in better lighting you can see that the scratch bag is a little darker brown.

Organiq Scratch is organic corn-cracked, organic wheat and organic milo.

We sprinkle this outside of the coop whenever we want to give the girls a snack. They LOVE it!

Lady was a little more interested in my finger...Ha! She got me, but it didn't hurt. 

We chose to use the galvanized feeder and waterer.  We set them on pavers just so that they were at the proper height for the hens to eat and drink. We chose not to hang them because they tend to be heavy & although I'm sure the coop would be able to hold them, I just didn't want to take the chance. It's easier for our middle son to change out the food and water everyday this way too!

 Our 4 hens are free range, meaning they are free to roam the yard from the wee hours of the morning until they go into their coop in the evening.  They feed on all sorts of bugs and worms.  They love eating the grass and the grubs that we dig up for  them.  We do keep their organic feed available to them at all times.  We also grew a special garden for our hens in a wine barrel.  

Digging up grubs.

Scarlett is the grub monger. She stands on the shovel as I dig!

We planted our greens in our organic soil and just water it.  We don't treat them for bugs because the hens eat them;) They actually just realized that this small garden exists and it looks way more sparse now a days.  I won't show you that pic;) 

The gate to our winter garden was left open and these ladies went to town on the swiss chard and collard greens. We got lucky...they  must not have been too hungry. Hence, we have been double and triple checking that gate. These ladies would mow that whole bed down in no time! 

I forgot to mention in my last post that along with our pine shavings in the coop, we add diatomaceous  earth. Diatomaceous earth is a fossilized marine plankton that is very sharp at a microscopic level. It's in the form of a very fine talc like powder.  This powder sticks to insects and causes their exoskeleton to get cut and they die. We sprinkle this powder on the bottom of the coop tray before we add the pine shavings. This keeps the bugs, fleas and ticks, etc... out of the coop and off of our hens. It is completely safe for them and even safe to eat. You can find it at your local feed store. 

So far, this chicken adventure has been fun! They are like a part of the family and we look forward to seeing them every morning! It's like a sickness. We laugh at ourselves sometimes because we catch ourselves talking about them and making up little dramatic stories about them when we watch them.  "Oh look, lady has just had it with them and just doesn't want to sit with them." Who are we? Yes, we have lives...lol...but unless you have chickens you don't understand. Like I said ...a sickness! But we love it  and we're enjoying this adventure!

Le Chicken Coop Tour

We just recently moved our 4 backyard chickens into their new coop and they love it! I am writing this post to give you a quick tour of the coop that we purchased at www.mypetchicken.com. I want to  focus on all of it's features just in case you're on the fence on building one or purchasing one. We will definitely upgrade with mypetchicken.com when that time comes! Their coops are fabulous!

"The Saltbox" Coop

This coop was definitely an investment, but so worth it! It took the hub and my middle son about an hour to put it together. The directions were easy to follow.  We set it atop of pavers to keep the wood off of the grass/moisture and also to keep critters from digging under it to get to the feed or worse, the chickens!

        Exterior dimensions: 7'4" wide x 31" deep x 4'3" tall at peak

                                   

                                    Interior dimensions, house: 30" wide x 25" deep

                                    Interior dimensions, nest box: 14" wide x 24" deep x 13.5" at highest

                                   Run dimensions: 39.5" wide x 25" deep (main run) plus 30" wide x 25"                                                                             

                                                                    deep x 18" high under the house

This coop is ideal for 3-4 full grown hens.   I love that this coop has an attached run. The run is surrounded with half inch galvanized hardware cloth.  They are able to bathe and scratch around close to home. It makes it convenient in the rain. They are protected, but still have room to roam.  Eventually we will add to the run, just so  they have more room when they get bigger.

 I'm sure there will be little changes here and there. There are all sorts of different ways to upgrade and make things easier. But for now, this is our little coop!

On one end of the coop there are the nesting boxes. They are kept locked all night so that nothing can get in to steal eggs;)  There is also a vent above the box that we keep open during the day and shut when they are in there over night. 

For now, we have pine shavings in the nesting boxes. These girls are not laying yet, but once they do we will switch over to alfalfa (greenish hay).  Mainly because it's easier to clean out and it's old school;)  

The pull out tray feature makes cleaning out their main living space so easy! The bottom of the tray is deep and metal. The clean out is less often since the deep tray allows for more clean pine shavings. Our middle son has coop cleaning duty so every other day or so he just unlatches the tray, slides it out and dumps it's contents (pine shavings and chicken manure) into the area surrounding our fruit trees. It's great compost for the trees and the pine shavings act as a mulch. No waste here!

There is an adorable plexi glass window. In the mornings the girls jump and peck at the window in excitement! They can't wait to start their day on the range!

On the other side of the coop is the run.  The little ramp is so cute.  It's funny to see them walk up and down. In the mornings, they actually bolt down the ramp! Or bypass it all together and just fly/hop down.  But, they are ladies when they want to be, so once in a while they strut! It's very entertaining!

Inside the coop are two roosting bars. Chickens love to roost! And, believe it or not that's how they sleep! I have yet to see it. These little ladies squish back there into the nesting boxes and sleep there.  Maybe when they get bigger they'll change their sleeping arrangements.

Chickens need to have access to food and water 24/7.  This feeder above, we had in Chica's brooder when she was a few weeks old.  My hub custom wired around the feed canister so that we could hang it. We originally had a water er similar to the feeder but changed it to this galvanized water can. We noticed that the chickens are very messy eaters. They fling their feed all over the place. So, the previous water er was catching the feed and creating a "mash" for lack of a better word, and it didn't smell too good. It left a permanent odor in the plastic plate where the water settled for them to drink.  Hopefully this new water can will work out better. 

My hub purchased two hooks and screwed them in at the ideal height for the water er and feeder.  

Side Note: Notice the the hub's type A personality... perfectly twisted wire. I have to laugh. My idea of twisting wire around so that they hang, looked so different in  MY head. Ha!  

Gotta love him;)

On the opposite side is another vent window. Again, we keep it open during the day and closed at night so that they keep warm.  It's nice to have these vents for when our Southern California summers hit! 

We fill the run with lawn clippings. They love it! They love to eat the grass and all of the bugs! And it's a great way to reuse our lawn waste.

We use these large galvanized feeders and waterers.  There are a lot of different feed and watering methods out there, but I wanted to keep it old school. This method has been around for years! It wouldn't be a "homestead revival" if I did it any other way;)  Plus, they are easy to clean and they look great.  All of our supplies we purchased at our local feed store. CW Feed & Pet Supply. They are very kind and helpful!

These girls are pretty funny to watch. Every evening at dusk, they start to make their way up to their coop. There is a convenient handle on the outside of the coop that slides the coop door shut after everything is latched and locked.

Last one is in!

Goodnight ladies! See you in the morning!

Our Backyard Chickens

Late last summer/early fall, we started talking seriously about getting a chicken which shortly turned into chickens! My hub thought that the chicken manure would be great for the garden. He has always talked to me about how delicious fresh eggs are and how we needed to seriously consider this idea.  Little did we know how much more they could give us!

It all started a week or so before Christmas 2013 when our neighbor came across a baby chick at work. Long story short,  he brought it home knowing that The G's across the street were in the talks about possibly getting a chicken someday. The hub excitedly accepted. And from that moment on, we were the owners of a baby chick. Their son happily named her Chica aka Chicka aka Chigga aka Pewps( that's what the hub and boys call her. That was the sound she made when she lived in our kitchen). and we accepted this sweet fuzzy girl! 

She was only 2-3 weeks old when we got her. She was/is perfectly happy with being around people.  She followed us around and did not like being away from us.

 We made a small brooder out of a rubbermaid tub and kept it in our kitchen so she would  keep warm. We went to our local feed store and purchased pine shavings for her bedding, a small water er and feeder. We would take her out everyday and let her run around in the grass.

We did some research online and narrowed her breed down to an Easter Egger. After we had her for a few days, we knew we wanted more:)

Chica and Evan 

She was about 6 weeks old.

You will need to check  your city ordinance to see how many or if any chickens are allowed in your area. You can check at  www.backyardchickens.com under the "Learning Center" tab. They have lots of information about all things chickens! 

We are allowed to have up to 5 chickens in our area. Roosters however are not permitted.   

Chickens are very quiet animals surprisingly. I'm not saying to disobey your city rules, but honestly the random squawking early bird that lives in our surrounding trees who likes to wake us every morning at dawn is louder than these chickens. I'm sure if you have good neighbors, there shouldn't be a problem.  Sharing those beautiful eggs will probably help too:)

After having Chica for several weeks, we knew we were ready to add to our chicken family.  We started this journey and now we were ready to go full force. No turning back. Chica was already coming up on 10 weeks and we had to get her into a coop soon. Since Chica was already older at 8wks, we knew we didn't want to go the baby chick route. Someday I would love to raise baby day old chicks, but we wanted our chickens to be all pretty much the same age. We decided on getting pullets (teenage)  which are chicks at about 8-10wks. You're also pretty much guaranteed to get a hen, not a rooster at this age. Sometimes when you get day old chicks, there is some chance they will grow up to be a rooster. 

So we knew we wanted more, but where were we going to house them?  We had talked about building our own coop, but upon researching we found www.mypetchicken.com. Their coops are not only beautiful, they are fully functional and make keeping backyard chickens easy. 

We decided on the "The Saltbox" coop with run. And lucky enough, it was on sale!

We built it and let it air out for a few days.  The manufacturer recommended it so that the stain on the wood could air out before we housed chickens inside. 

Around the end of January this year we took our family trip down to see Russell at Chickens Galore in Norco. We researched and liked the fact that he was local and had amazing Yelp reviews. He is known for his patience, knowledge and great selection of breeds.  This place was awesome! Super clean and chicks at all age ranges there. They are so well taken care of there too!

Now was the time to choose. To be honest, I wanted one of each...but we could only pick 3. We decided on 3 on  our way down.  I knew for sure that I wanted a "black and white" one. I have always been a fan of that type of chicken. Don't ask me why.  I have a cute decoration of a black and white chicken above my kitchen cabinets. I bought it when we moved into our house and she's been there ever since:)

We ultimately decided on these gals. From left to right...

Chica- the Easter Egger. She will lay blue/green eggs

Colette- the French black copper marin. She will lay dark chocolate colored eggs. And she has fancy feathers on her feet:)

Lady-the Barred Rock. She will lay a light tan egg with brown spots.

and lastly

Scarlett-the Rhode Island Red. She will lay light reddish brown eggs with light spots. 

We transported them in a dog crate and kept them all in the dog crate lined with pine shavings and got them a bigger water er and feeder. We wanted them to get acquainted and let the coop air out for a few more days. We kept the crate in the garage at night and let them out during the day. 

Move in day! They seemed to love it!

They each have their own personality.  We could sit and watch them all day!  Scarlett (Rhode Island Red) She's very friendly and curious.  

Colette(French black marin)  She is the most "chicken." She steers clear, but her nosiness gets the best of her. She's very sweet. 

Lady (Barred Rock) She is boss when it comes to food.  We go out everyday and dig up grubs and watch her go to town! She steals out of every one's mouths!

You know the saying "birds of a feather, flock together?" Well it's true. Chica was used to us holding her everyday and just being around us. As soon as she joined her sister's she was one of them! She suddenly became skittish like they were at first and ran away from us when we would try to hold her.  She's getting better though. She immediately tried to establish the pecking order. She was so mean to the others. But now they are one big happy family.

Every morning we let them out to free range all day. They love it! They eat the grass and bugs. They find them everywhere! It's amazing!

We got really lucky. Our chocolate lab Marley doesn't seem to be interested in them at all! They are free to range all day without being bothered. 

Amazing! 

We should be getting eggs in a few months when these ladies are of laying age. Today these girls are only about 13 weeks or 3 months. I know they will be great. These ladies are so spoiled! 

I will follow up on how these gals are doing these next few weeks. So far, so good! It's been so easy and entertaining. We are having so much fun! 

Coop tour and Chicken feeding soon to come!

Our Winter garden

 Mid November 2013 we decided to give cold weather crops a try. We've dabbled in tomatoes, peppers, herbs, etc...But, lettuces? Never! Seems so daunting and difficult. But we said 'why not' and went for it. The hub wanted to build a new raised garden bed. We built a shallow one a few months prior for our spring/summer garden. We used scrap lumber we had around. It did it's job, but we noticed that our st. augustine lawn was easily creeping it's way up the the sides and up through the garden bed.  We live in a mid century ranch style home (which I LOVE) and this type of grass has been here for over 50 years!

 Side note: If you have ever dealt with st. augustine grass, then you can sympathize. It takes over! We had freshly laid sod of beautiful marathon grass when we moved in almost 10 years ago. We fought the good fight, but came to the realization that this carpet like slab of lawn is here to stay. Hey, it grows and it's green!

The lawn was one of the reasons, but not the only reason.  When you build your raised garden bed you are able to fill it with a good quality organic planting mix instead of relying on the soil in your area.

The hub was on a mission. He wanted something functional, but also something pretty so the wifey would approve.  He ordered beautiful cedar wood from The Home Depot. Not the cheapest option, but we knew we wanted this garden bed for years to come. So to us the investment was worth it.

He did a beautiful job! I love the way it turned out. The hub has a type A personality, so straight lines and looking put together are his way! I tease him about it all of the time, but it's one of the many reasons why I love him...awww...ok, back on subject. The bed is 4' x 16' x 18"h.

We used Kellogg's organic patio plus soil from The Home Depot to fill the raised bed. We also added two forms of compost, Ecoscraps veggie based compost and Malibu Compost Bu's blend compost dairy based (cow manure). We also added Agrowinn minerals otherwise known as rock dust and John & Bob's Maximize. It adds good "bugs" that your soil needs.  You can find all of these products at your local home improvement store or garden center. To start your garden, this formula is not super necessary. A good planting mix will work just fine and is worth the investment. My hub is just a garden nerd and enjoys this sort of thing. 

The reason for adding all of these products is because you want to feed your soil, not your plants. It's hard to get into that frame of thinking, but it is very beneficial.  When you feed your soil you don't need to feed your plants because the soil makes the food for your plants to grow healthy and happy! 

  We also used our homemade compost. We have a few systems that I will have to include in another post.  Basically we use all of our scraps (old produce that doesn't get used, peels from fruits & veggies, etc...and we feed it to our WORMS! Scraps get fed to worms, worms poop, worm poop is used in our compost tea. Another way is our two part compost bin. And most recently our compost pile.   Our compost piles and worms are fairly new...so we've had to buy bags of compost until our compost is able to catch up to our growing garden. It kind of takes time for it to go through it's process. Hence, why it is so expensive. 

 The bed is irrigated with Dig irrigation drip line. The drip line is hooked up to a timer and filter assembly which is  attached to the water filter and pressure regulator. We also connected water filters to our hoses to water the garden by hand. These filters are skinny cylinders that you screw onto your hose. Very easy. Why so much filtering? Because you need to take the chlorine out of the water.  Chlorine kills good "bugs".  If you have any questions, just ask in the comments:)

Look at that sweet basil back there!!! Yes it gets that big! Love that stuff! 

We put lots of winter greens in. We planted Swiss chard, spinach, ridiccio, collard greens, green cabbage, purple cabbage, purple and white kohlrabi (in the cabbage family) Tuscan kale, celery, parsley and 5-6 different varieties of lettuce. We planted a few marigold annuals in the bed as well. The marigolds attract good bugs into the garden.

In the back bed we added more tomatoes, more Swiss chard, kale, snow peas, sugar snap peas and arugula.

I have yet to sample more than 4 snow peas. The hub goes out to water the garden and kind of goes to town on them. I've caught him before...it was pretty funny :) I don't blame him though...they are delicious!

This is the garden's progress at just about 8 weeks. And that gigantic green blob back there to the right are the tomatoes that we are still getting! It's out of control! We are waiting to rip them out when the weather gets cooler. Tomatoes don't like the cold weather so they will stop producing soon. 

This is the garden at 10 weeks, just taken today! 

We have made delicious salads and greens in our sandwiches with our lettuces. We also made a delicious collard greens recipe! I will include it in a future post soon. 

 It is important to do your picking in the morning. If you wait too late in the day the lettuces tend to seep out a sap that causes the lettuce to taste bitter. The sweetest lettuce is picked first thing in the morning!

We noticed a few...actually a lot of aphids in our garden, just this week.  My husband found a recipe for insecticidal soap that is completely organic. It is Dr. Bronner's  Pure Castile soap (blue label is peppermint, it smells better) found at Target. It is a multi purpose organic soap. It can be used on pretty much anything from body to garden:)You will also need Neem oil, used as a safe insecticide/fungicide in the garden and a half gallon sprayer. 

1 Tbs Castile soap

1 Tbs Neem Oil

Per half gallon of warm water. 

Shake and spray

(add soap last before you mix so you don't get too much foam)

Spray crops in early morning or evening. The soap will be rinsed off at your next watering. Even if it doesn't completely rinse off, it won't hurt to eat it:)

When you are gardening organically remember to use products that are OMRI listed or certified. It will be marked on all organic products. 

We are choosing to garden organically, but you can garden however you wish:)

We are still waiting on some of the crops to mature. We haven't been able to taste everything yet, but we are really excited for when that day comes!