Chickens, 2

Off track for a bit, but this is important to me and the
path to my own flock. Here we are, new
flock of chicks, protected by barbed wire, infrared lasers and guard dogs. Chickens are quite social, I’ve found. They like to be hand-fed and be cuddled, I think. Matilda races to the open door when I come in
and roosts on my shoulder. I tagged her
right leg with a blue band so I know which one she is. So far, no chicken deposits on the shoulder
to report but I’m sure the odds are that it will happen. These animals eat everything. They are not vegetarians – they like bits of
meat, fat and even their own eggs. I had
read that feeding them egg shells helped with their calcium needs but what I
did not consider was that the taste of egg would entice them to eat their
own. Oh, and yes, they do that. We had a challenge with one of the Black
Rocks in that she’d lay her egg and then promptly turn around and eat it! We stepped up the timing for checking the
nests for eggs, even reaching under roosting hens to retrieve any eggs they may
have under them.

They continued to be eating
machines and we were going through 50 pound bags of layer feed every 10 days
(it is now every 7 days). This diet is
augmented with cracked corn, crushed oyster shell and produce from our garden
and grocery store’s marked down section.
I found they liked corn cobs and all kinds of bugs, especially dragon
flies. Having the pond right behind the
coop proved pretty handy as insects were plentiful.

My ladies did not start to lay until late August. I remember talking to Doug Heath about his
flock as they started to lay on Friday, August 13. I’d sit out in the run on a trash bag covered
lawn chair gently coercing them to give us eggs, but nature had to take its
course. Daughters Samantha, Virginia and
Victoria came up for a visit before the ladies started giving us eggs. All in all, I began to realize that for the
first time in my life I discovered my passion - raising these chickens. How lucky am I?

They “came into” the lay.
Every morning, noon and afternoon I eagerly made my way to the coop and
run to see if I could claim The Prizes.
Early in September I was getting about 10 eggs per day. I took pictures of the first eggs in the
nesting boxes, on the kitchen counter and in the frying pan, and, of course,
posted them on Facebook. I’d been
waiting for this for practically my whole life and if I said it didn’t bring
tears to my eyes I’d be lying.

With winter fast approaching my new concern was how the
chickens would fare in the cold weather.
Everything I had read said both breeds were hardy and could
withstand cold. Conversely, the bigger challenge to chickens
is heat. (Their normal body temperature is 103F and when outdoor temperatures
exceed 70 – 75F a fan might be needed to help circulate air inside the coop.) I
still went out each day and opened the run door to see if they would come out,
but by late October they were no longer very interested in the great
outdoors. They would come out, but did
not stay long. Chickens are sensitive
to the amount of light they are exposed to and in order to keep them laying I
had to provide an artificial source of light.
A 100 watt incandescent lamp was mounted in the rafters and that seemed
to do the trick. They were up to about a
dozen eggs each day. I just prayed
they’d keep it up.