Coop Project: Maken the Plunge & Getting Chickens

[Rock Home Isle]

I found this Elk Horn Sumac seedling growing in my backyard this spring so I thought that I would transplant it to a better location. I potted it up but the pullets and the ducks kept stripping the fresh growth from it. So I put it on a 5 gallon bucket and hoped for the best. Well now after a few weeks and some good growth, I think that this poor little seedling just might make it.

Its now just high enough that the flock is leaving it alone.....they look at it each day...but now they leave it alone.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I haven't said this in awhile...but it needs repeating, "It is great having chickens again."

 

[PAChickenChick2]

Loved following this thread =)

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Chickenology: Simple Training of the Flock

Conditioning your pullets to be interactive with people is much more easily accomplished when it is begun when they are chicks in the brooder. A few days after the chicks have hatched, make a point of handling the chicks each and everyday; gently hold them and pet them each in-turn...they need to get used to being handled and held so that when they are older they will not respond negatively to your presence. Get them to eat their chick feed out of your hand a few times each day...once they associate you with food, they will come to you whenever you enter the yard. I also make a series of soft clucking sounds so that I will be able to call them when they get older.



When my pullets were first feathering out and going outside in the yard for the first time, I showed them where to find bugs and grubs in the garden (well so did the ducks, but I showed them the garden)...now the flock follows me as I walk about the yard doing my chores. If I find a bunch of moths or bugs...all I have to do is tap the ground a few times, in a pecking motion and they come running in to gobble up whatever food I have found for them.



If the flock consists of older birds, the process of aclimating them to you is more difficult, but not impossible. You may never be able to pick them up and hold them without them getting excited, but you should be able to feed them and have them come to you. Having control of your birds and being able to call them is a minimum amount of control that all poultry handlers wisely need to have over their birds. If you can't call your birds to you, then I would advise that you reconsider any attempts at free-ranging your birds, even in the relative safety of your backyard. When you get adult birds from another source and if these birds were chased and abused by their previous owners, then they may never fully trust you. Chased birds may never come to you when you need them too. The only birds that I have ever had big problems with were "started birds" or "adult birds" that I acquired from others. I have never had behavior problems with birds that I raised myself from chicks.

When training adult birds, you will need to make the effort to go out to the yard several times each day...morning and afternoon will work....and always bring a treat for the birds with you. You want the flock to think of food when they see you coming to the yard. Make a sound each time that you give them a treat...make the same sound each time. You will be able to use this sound later to call them when you want them to come to you, or more importantly when you are trying to get them into their coops & runs ahead of a storm or some other emergency. (I make a soft "Puck Puck Puck...Puck Puck Puck" series of sounds when I feed my girls and when I call them. My kids used to laugh at me, but then they found that this series of sounds also works for them when they go out into the backyard to call the girls).

If the chickens won't come to you initially, then simply toss the treat to them and kneel down close to the ground while they eat it; toss the next treat closer to you, always working the birds so that they get closer to you. Don't stand when you are trying to tame or train a flock of adult birds; your height over them will already work against you by causing them to be cautious of you. More than anything, you are trying to instill "trust" in these older birds. Poultry are naturally fearfull of things from the sky and you don't want them to be intimidated while you are trying to train them...The goal is for the birds to be calm and trusting whenever you are in the yard. So don't stand while you work with them, until you have instilled a level of trust in them.

Each time that you go to the yard, you must bring a treat for them. Casually work the flock so that they get successively closer to you to get their treats. Don't make any sudden movements or talk loudly around the flock while you are working with them. Given time, they will learn to eat from your hand if they want to get their treat. Chickens behave a lot like sheep and all it takes is one bird to trust you enough to eat from your hand and here they all come.

Be patient and in a week or so...they will come running to you each time that they see you. They may suddenly stop at a distance as they assess what you've brought for them, but the fact that they are coming to you indicates that you are no longer a threat (or not as much of a threat). When they start coming to you, they are starting to trust you. Soon they will follow you as you walk about the yard.






When you are trying to move the birds; to herd them into a specific location. Move slowly and use your arms to guide them. NEVER try to herd them until you have established trust in the flock. When you want to turn them, stick your arm out infront of you while moving along with them, this will cause the birds to change their line of movement to a direction opposite of your arm movements. NEVER chase the chickens, ALWAYS move slowly and smoothly. Chasing your birds will detsroy their trust that they have in you, and regaining that trust is going to be a very hard row to hoe. Never chase your birds...nothing good will come of it.

Ducks are much easier to herd than chickens. I have 2 ducks in the flock. These ducks were raised with the pullets from the time that they all were all just a few days old. The pullets follow the ducks where ever they go. So, I herd the ducks when I need to move the flock and the pullets follow the ducks. If you want to herd your chickens regularly then start a few ducks with your chicks when you begin your flock.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

My Opinion of the Buff Orpington

The Buff Orpington is a great breed for the beginner and experienced handler alike. This breed has a friendly disposition and easily adjusts to changes in their environment. If properly accustomed as chicks, through daily handling, the Buff will be a very tame & trusting bird. If we could apply human traits to chickens, I would say that they seem almost happy to see the owner and will come at a run when they see the handler enter the yard. They are a talkative breed, clucking continuously to each other and the handler as they forage and go about their daily business. Because Buffs have fairly good forageing skills, they make great workhorses in the fall if allowed to enter the garden after harvest. A few of these birds can turn-over an amazing amount of debris as they root around for leftover produce and grubbies.

Though not strictly a production breed; Buff pullets are reliable layers of large brown eggs when provided with a proper diet and care. The breed is known as a good layer during the winter months and is quite cold resistant; these are wonderful qualities in a chicken breed. The Buff is simply a pleasant animal to maintain.

The breed, however, is not a strong grower, but will gain weight at a consistant rate. If confined to a run & fed only a commercial feed they will gain quicker; but these birds do enjoy their freedom to roam and forage the confines of the property. The finished birds are heavy framed, and could serve a dual purpose of both meat and eggs. If purchased Strait-Run, the Cockerels could easily be intended as the meat birds while the Pullets are retained for egg production. Again keep in mind that they are not a fast growing breed, but they are steady in their growth. If the Meat & Egg approach is your intention, you will get better weight gains if you separate the two sexes after they have feathered out and are on range or in the run; otherwise weight gains will be inconsistant and the meat birds will need to be processed as they reach weight instead of of being more efficiently processed all at once.

Buffs are not very good flyers, as are some of the lighter breeds. This makes it a simple matter to fence off gardens and areas where you don't want the birds to scratch about. A simple 3 to 4 foot high fencing should work in most cases.

The trusting charactor of this breed can easily be destroyed and lost if the birds are chased or mistreated at all, but that could easily be applied to most any breed. Chickens don't like to be run ragged.

If you are looking for a solid reliable chicken breed for your home flock...there is a Bonus to found in the Buff Orpington.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Each morning my wife and I get up at +/- 5:00am and go for our morning Walk. Its not a huge walk, its about 2 to 2 1/2 miles. When we get home we have a cup or two of coffee together, talk, then we start our day. While we were sitting and chatting this morning we both heard a very distinct garbled crooning sound coming through the window from the backyard...this wheezing gurgling sound was repeated a couple of times while we sat there and listened.


If you've ever maintained a "complete poultry flock", you know exactly what that series of sounds was......Pecker is trying to "Crow".

DANG! I was hoping that we would have had more time.

 

[akovia]

Despite my most fervent wishes, it looks like this chicken has come home to roost. Darn it!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Despite my most fervent wishes, it looks like this chicken has come home to roost. Darn it!

I looked over the images on that link that you posted and was quite excited that MAYBE "he" was actually a "she"...No...He's a "HE"...DANG.

Now that Pecker is trying to crow...I need to find him a home pronto or find another less desirable solution.

 

[akovia]

Arroz con pollo?

 

[Rock Home Isle]

We had the Tree Guys out of Milliken at our home to trim the trees yesterday. These guys do a fantastic job...I'll post a few "before & afters" of the Cotton Wood Tree. The flock spent most of the day in the run and once the workers showed up...they hid under the coop. They are such ....chickens.

After the work was done and every body left, I opened the run and let the flock have the yard for a few hours before dark. We went to a ball game and watched my son play against Thompson Valley.

The ducks have recently decided that going into the run at night is for chickens....for the last 4 nights I have had to round them up and herd them into the run after dark so that they will be ...reasonably....safe. They won't go into the coop and I am letting them sleep in the run at night.

I'm getting nervous about these ducks...I just know that something is going to happen.

I need to build them a ground box coop or take the time to put them in the Chicken Coop every night....Or teach them to go up a ramp and put themselves to bed each night.