Ch-ch-chickens!

[layla]

... ow. Arms hurt. Feeling very wimpy now.

We built a chickenhouse on Sunday, and today I drove into town and picked up two chickens (a rooster and a hen) from a co-worker of mine who had offered them to us. (He had to get rid of the rooster because of housing covenants where he lives.) Hopefully they'll be joined by another chicken or two before the summer is out ... assuming we manage not to kill these two.




The basic chicken house, nice and tight to keep them from freezing into chickensicles.


Added a roof and a coop.


The rooster and his lady in their new digs.


Lucky is intrigued. So far, the dogs are being very good dogs and, while curious, aren't causing problems. I had to yell at Izzy once (I have no idea what happened; all I know is that she vanished from my sight and suddenly the chickens were kicking up a ruckus in their pen and Izzy came scuttling my way when I yelled at her, looking guilty) but ever since that fracas, the dogs seem to have written off the chickens as "crazy human things" and are mostly ignoring them.


Their very first egg in their new home!

Comments

[naye]

What a neat little coop! The house looks very cozy. And- wow, nice egg! Yum.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

It came out wonderful - weathertight, insulated and cozy! And the stupid chickens won't go into it! They slept out in the pen last night. I even tried to lure them in with a trail of feed. We put them in the house to start with, and after figuring out how to get into the pen, they flatly refuse to go back into the house. Maybe they blame it as the source of their woes. I guess I'll just keep attempting to bribe them with feed. Luckily we designed the house so that part of the roof overlaps the pen; the idea was that they'd have somewhere outside they could go in the winter, but it also gives them a place to get out of the weather until they decide to stop being ... chicken about the house.

[(Anonymous)]

YAY CHICKENS! One more step down the path towards self-sufficiency.

Your girl must be an old veteran -- that's a mighty big egg!


And that's also a very sturdy coop. Orion builds 'em strong! (and with duct tape.)

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Self-sufficient except for chicken feed. :D I was joking with Orion that we'll be totally set for eggs after civilization collapses ... until we run out of feed.

The duct tape was actually ... me. That was when we reached the "screw it, good enough" portion of the evening. I could have cut bits of wood and nicely fitted them around the inside of the chicken door. Or I could flash it with duct tape. Guess which one!

[acoustic-rob.livejournal.com]

...what happens in the winter? Little bitty potbellied stove, or is it chicken dinner time once the evening temperatures drop below freezing?

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Heat lamp. Theoretically, in a small tight chickenhouse they can keep it warm on their own - we never used any kind of heat for the chickens in the part of Alaska where I grew up, but it's colder here; the temps in Southcentral AK are more like upstate NY cold. People tell me that chickens do better in Fairbanks if you run a heat lamp in their house when it drops below zero.

[tielan]

Neat! I've always wanted to get some chickens, but I don't think we're allowed to in our area, and there isn't much space for them to scratch around in...

Still!

Are you going to feed them mash or feed, or are you going to feed them household scraps (possibly supplemented by feed).

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Well, we've got a bag of feed, and I'm sure we'll be feeding them whatever chicken-edible scraps we have, which ought to stretch the feed a lot! They do need at least some commercial feed so they get enough nutrients and calcium, but it'll also be a good way to dispose of old vegetables and such.

[tielan]

It's the "household disposal unit" aspect that's primarily attracted me, I must admit. Plus your own source of chicken manure for the garden. And, of course, eggs!

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

nice and tight to keep them from freezing into chickensicles.

That little bit of wood is going to be enough to prevent freezer burn when the great cold sunless dark comes?

(Keep in mind, I live where we once went 350 days without it hitting 32f.)

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Apparently some people use heating lamps when it gets *really* cold, and we may end up doing that. For the most part, though, livestock are able to generate enough heat in a small space to stay comfortable. (After all, wild birds live outside during the winter and they do okay!)

[pamola.livejournal.com]

My wife will be so jealous. She wants to raise chickens, but as we are in town, it is against the law to keep domesticated fowl. She will keep helping out at the Wildlife Rehabilitator (can you believe someone in town government tried to say that the Pelican run contained domesticated fowl?) to placate her bird nuturing fantasies.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

I actually got the birds from someone who has been keeping poultry in defiance of their neighborhood's regulations. The neighbors have been willing to turn a blind eye to the hens (Alaska is often pretty cool like that) but the crowing rooster was really too much to ignore, and had to go before someone called Animal Control on them.

It would be awfully cool if you were able to figure out some kind of compromise! I wonder if you could get away with having a few chickens of an ornamental breed and raising them as pets?