Chickens

Alright, so there's a bunch of stuff we've already done this year that I really ought to blog about, and I ought to introduce us and explain what this is all about, but it's too daunting so I'm just going to start from now and get to that stuff when I have time. Hi! We are L and A, two idiots who are trying to farm.

Now that that's out of the way -- these are our chickens:



They are two Barred Rocks (the black ones) and two Rhode Island Reds (the red ones). In this picture they are about 11 days old.

We chose these breeds because 1) they're supposed to be good layers (although not necessary the best), 2) they're supposed to be a little more "friendly" than the best laying types, 3) they're readily available, 4) they're supposed to be good foragers, and 5) I wanted pretty chickens.

We bought them last Saturday when they were 3 days old, and it seems like about half the size. They have really fledged out in a week, especially the Rhode Islands. They'll stay in their box for about 2 more weeks, and then move into the chicken coop (depending on the weather, we'll either leave them locked in there with the heat lamp, or let them "loose" in the chicken yard).

The set-up we have them in is a large (about 3x2x2 foot) Rubbermaid container with the lid off. The feeder you can see on the left is purchased, with a pint jar that screws in. It's set on top of a tuna can to raise it up. The waterer is one 8" cake pan set on another (inverted) cake pan, with a quart jar filled with water in the middle for a weight. Not pictured: cheap digital thermometer, a 250 watt red heat lamp bulb in an aluminum clamp fixture, clamped to the repurposed frame of a cheap canvas stand-alone closet. We actually have this sitting in our living room and I've been surprised at how little it smells. We've changed out the litter once.

We would like very much to be able to hang both the waterer and the feeder because the chickens kick litter into the water and climb into the feeder, but so far I haven't come up with any clever ideas for this. We have a larger purchased waterer, but it doesn't fit in the container. We're also going to have to put something over the top soon, or else there'll be chickens in the living room. The Rhode Islands seem to be a little "flightier", but frankly they're all making me a little nervous.

BTW, their names are (from left to right) Avon, Prop Joe, Marlo and Stringer. More chicken pictures can be found here.