ygritte
Chirping
Weird title right? Well it's my business name- and I thought why not have it be the name of my mini farm as well!
I sell mostly crocheted items, but will break out to raise alpacas and sell my own fiber/yarn as well in the (hopefully) near future.
Anywho, already off topic,
. I wanted to start my own thread to tell my experiment of backyard chickens! This site has been a great resource to not only learn how to raise chickens, but also help shape my philosophy on it.
So! I'm a first time chicken owner, proud owner of 5 chicks all different breeds. I have no idea what breeds I like, I just knew I wanted decent egg layers or could maybe be dual purpose, were docile and cold hardy. So we'll see who becomes my favorite (FYI so far it's Rue). I know I shouldn't judge a whole breed of chicken by one bird...but life isn't fair.
Rue a Welsummer- 2 days
1week (on the right)
Banksy- Jersey Black Giant- 2 days
1 week
Fat Amy- Buff Orpington- 2 days
1 week
Nimoy- Silver Laced Wyandotte- 2 days (She's such a cutie, but not very photogenic yet)
1 week
Riker- Ameracauna- 2 days
1 week
Everyone loves to roost (Banksy didn't make it in the shot, but she loves it too... trust me
)
3 weeks in and everything has gone smoothly. Had minor cases of pasty butt, but once I double checked my chicken anatomy and realized what I thought was a little leftover umbilical cord was actually dried poo things got muchhhhh easier in that account. No one is striking as a big bully or as the one everyone picks on they just seem like happy chicks who have horrible aim while flying. My new favorite channel is definitely chick TV, I can just watch them for hours and have made a habit of picking them up and checking their vents, wings, feet on semi-daily basis. Yes this socializes them, but it also trains me... I'm adjusting to the squawking and then the instant calm down when I turn them on their backs (so crazy to me still) and I no longer think I'm traumatizing them every time I walk in. I've been taking them outside daily, and have no idea how people leave them in their brooders for 2 months... they are so full of energy and I can see their joy in being outside, and then their content in going back to their nice warm brooder to sleep it off. I've put grass/dirt from my backyard along with some sand (grit) for them and they are really taking on to it. (YAY little foragers). I started giving them greens to pick at at only a few days old. I saw people warning not to, but it didn't make sense, since chicks would do that if they were raised by a mama hen why not in a brooder? Initially it was just to give them something to peck at I didn't cut it up or anything, now they love the wheatgrass I give them on top of the other grass I already put in there. I'm about out of starter and am trying to decide how to proceed, there's part of me that wants to make my own grower mix, but I'm leaning towards saving that for when I switch them to layer feed.
Where I'm at philosophy wise- I plan to move semi-soon to about 5 acres so I would love to have more chickens at that point and really want low maintenance birds for laying and meat. I thankfully came across Beekissed "The Road Less Traveled"( https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-horrors-anyone-want-to-follow-their-progress ) and have learned a lot about the difference between chickens as livestock and chickens as pets. From the get go I've leaned towards them as livestock (very very well taken care of livestock) and even though I know she would frown upon me having this small of a "flock" this is my trial run to see if I want to do this on a larger scale when I do have the space to allow me to. I have my first batch of fermented feed (FF) cooking in a mason jar on my counter top as we speak, and have given my girls Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) in their water since they were 3 days old. Even though we only have a large backyard I'm not confining them to their coop/run. I've constructed a 4 by 10 hoop house that is very moveable so they have a different spot daily to forage, and then they can "free range" (I understand that's not really a thing on less than 1/2 an acre, but it is what it is) under my supervision. I'm working on training my dog, Codee, a 9 year old German Shepherd mix to be more protector, less predator. I'm not sure if I'll ever trust her, I've read horror stories, but I think I must if I want to free range my chickens down the road. That seems to be the only reliable form of protection for the setup I want to have (IE I do not want Fort Knox of Chicken Coops).
Codee with the babes- Shes been pretty good so far, a couple of "mouthings" but shes becoming less and less intrigued by them, and is very responsive to my commands, so I'm cautiously hopeful.
So there's my experiment thus far. Feel free to comment, I'm mostly treating this as a blog to save my non chicken friends from having to listen to me go on and on and on about these awesome creatures, but I will gladly take any help I can get! Thanks for reading
I sell mostly crocheted items, but will break out to raise alpacas and sell my own fiber/yarn as well in the (hopefully) near future.
Anywho, already off topic,
So! I'm a first time chicken owner, proud owner of 5 chicks all different breeds. I have no idea what breeds I like, I just knew I wanted decent egg layers or could maybe be dual purpose, were docile and cold hardy. So we'll see who becomes my favorite (FYI so far it's Rue). I know I shouldn't judge a whole breed of chicken by one bird...but life isn't fair.
Rue a Welsummer- 2 days
1week (on the right)
Banksy- Jersey Black Giant- 2 days
1 week
Fat Amy- Buff Orpington- 2 days
1 week
Nimoy- Silver Laced Wyandotte- 2 days (She's such a cutie, but not very photogenic yet)
1 week
Riker- Ameracauna- 2 days
1 week
Everyone loves to roost (Banksy didn't make it in the shot, but she loves it too... trust me
3 weeks in and everything has gone smoothly. Had minor cases of pasty butt, but once I double checked my chicken anatomy and realized what I thought was a little leftover umbilical cord was actually dried poo things got muchhhhh easier in that account. No one is striking as a big bully or as the one everyone picks on they just seem like happy chicks who have horrible aim while flying. My new favorite channel is definitely chick TV, I can just watch them for hours and have made a habit of picking them up and checking their vents, wings, feet on semi-daily basis. Yes this socializes them, but it also trains me... I'm adjusting to the squawking and then the instant calm down when I turn them on their backs (so crazy to me still) and I no longer think I'm traumatizing them every time I walk in. I've been taking them outside daily, and have no idea how people leave them in their brooders for 2 months... they are so full of energy and I can see their joy in being outside, and then their content in going back to their nice warm brooder to sleep it off. I've put grass/dirt from my backyard along with some sand (grit) for them and they are really taking on to it. (YAY little foragers). I started giving them greens to pick at at only a few days old. I saw people warning not to, but it didn't make sense, since chicks would do that if they were raised by a mama hen why not in a brooder? Initially it was just to give them something to peck at I didn't cut it up or anything, now they love the wheatgrass I give them on top of the other grass I already put in there. I'm about out of starter and am trying to decide how to proceed, there's part of me that wants to make my own grower mix, but I'm leaning towards saving that for when I switch them to layer feed.
Where I'm at philosophy wise- I plan to move semi-soon to about 5 acres so I would love to have more chickens at that point and really want low maintenance birds for laying and meat. I thankfully came across Beekissed "The Road Less Traveled"( https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-horrors-anyone-want-to-follow-their-progress ) and have learned a lot about the difference between chickens as livestock and chickens as pets. From the get go I've leaned towards them as livestock (very very well taken care of livestock) and even though I know she would frown upon me having this small of a "flock" this is my trial run to see if I want to do this on a larger scale when I do have the space to allow me to. I have my first batch of fermented feed (FF) cooking in a mason jar on my counter top as we speak, and have given my girls Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) in their water since they were 3 days old. Even though we only have a large backyard I'm not confining them to their coop/run. I've constructed a 4 by 10 hoop house that is very moveable so they have a different spot daily to forage, and then they can "free range" (I understand that's not really a thing on less than 1/2 an acre, but it is what it is) under my supervision. I'm working on training my dog, Codee, a 9 year old German Shepherd mix to be more protector, less predator. I'm not sure if I'll ever trust her, I've read horror stories, but I think I must if I want to free range my chickens down the road. That seems to be the only reliable form of protection for the setup I want to have (IE I do not want Fort Knox of Chicken Coops).
Codee with the babes- Shes been pretty good so far, a couple of "mouthings" but shes becoming less and less intrigued by them, and is very responsive to my commands, so I'm cautiously hopeful.
So there's my experiment thus far. Feel free to comment, I'm mostly treating this as a blog to save my non chicken friends from having to listen to me go on and on and on about these awesome creatures, but I will gladly take any help I can get! Thanks for reading
