Four eggs a day!

Three months later....
The magnificent rooster went to a good home - a nirvana with 40 hens for him to service. That was in November. It is February now, and the hens are laying regularly. Their eggs are gorgeous: light chocolate-coloured shells, with bright yellow yolks inside. We let the chickens out in the morning when we leave for work, then corral them back in at the end of the day. They happily peck their way around the yard, leaving plenty of fertilizer everywhere.  Kouya the puppy loves to chase them and pin them down, so I can't leave her out in the yard alone with them. I don't think she quite knows what to do with them when she catches them, but it is great sport for her. 

Eating like Adolescents

The chickens have become big eaters. They seem to prefer the meal that we buy at Borden's Mercantile, but they also run to me every time I come outside, thinking I must be bearing 'treats'. I give them  vegetable and fruit scraps, or stale bread. They are constantly hungry, just like our teenage boys!

The Chicken Tractor Palace

The Chicken Tractor project began in July, roughly around the time we got the chicks. We wanted a moveable chicken coop that would keep the chickens safe from predators, but mobile enough so that it could be moved around the yard easily. It also needed to be relatively light but strong, easy to clean, and provide some measure of shelter and warmth in the winter. The finished tractor is 10 feet long by 5 feet wide and 3 1/2 feet high. There is an insulated nesting box at the back, with a lift-up top lid and fold-out doors for cleaning.

Scott found a plan online which he quickly discarded because it just didn't work. The finished product is based on trial and error. And according to Scott, it was the materials that dictated how things went together. 
Almost all of the materials are recycled. The wheelbarrow tires, frame, stainless steel, and Tyvek are all re-purposed. The entire structure is wrapped in diamond mesh to prevent predators from digging underneath.  Purchased materials are pressure-treated wood for the frame, some plywood, hardware, tractor tires, and the diamond mesh, for a total cost of about $300. The chickens 'walk the plank' to get up to the nesting box area. The plank is an old galvanized steel refrigerator rack, covered in children's play foam.

We also bought a large waterer from Buckerfields and found an old feeding can that holds several days' worth of food. The tractor is also wired with a GFCI so we can plug in the waterer when the temperature gets below zero.  The tractor palace will keep them cosy all winter long!

Now they have names!

At the dinner table tonight we decided to name our chickens. When they were chicks, they were easy to tell apart, but now it's hard to tell who is who. The rooster is obvious, but I was reluctant to name him because he probably won't be around for long. Tristan suggested we call him 'lunch'. Here he is:

Because of their colouring, I wanted to name them after different types of beer. Now there are two light-coloured ones and two darker ones. The two lighter ones are called Amber and Belgium, while the darker ones we named Guiness and Mead.  I think Amber is the friendliest and boldest. She is always the one to come over first when I take the door off and offer feed from my hand. Mead is a bit cranky, and tends to just peck at my hand instead of feeding.  Here is Amber:

Chickens at Large

On a nice warm sunny weekend in October we set the chickens loose in the back yard. They were sooooo happy. They scampered around from one end of the yard to the other, and pecked away with pleasure. They tended to congregate near the gate into the side yard. We are not sure why, but  our theory is that there  must be some tasty morsels there. They tend to scavenge about as a pack. The rooster sticks close and occasionally puffs up his feathers and antagonizes one of the hens, but generally they leave each other alone. I was worried about getting them back into their chicken tractor, but as the afternoon drew to a close, they made their way back in by themselves. A couple of them ran around the outside a few times, confused as to where the entrance was, but eventually they found it and hopped inside. Then I tucked them in for the night.

Twelve weeks old

Our chicks now look like chickens - except that one is definitely a rooster. Now we have to decide what to do with the poor fellow. I followed up on a rumour that the Victoria Lavendar Farm would take him, but I was told that he had 200 roosters and refused to take any more. He told me gently that the most humane thing to do was to take care of it myself. There are 'fowl exchanges', but most of those are finished for the year. Another suggestion was to put an ad on Craig's List. I probably wouldn't get any money for it, but at least someone might take him off our hands.  My husband was joking about what we would do with it, but I haven't been able to see the humour yet

. I have become attached to these beasts, and don't really relish the thought of one of them having an early demise. We will hang onto him for a while. He hasn't started crowing yet.

Chicks in a box

They are sooooo cute when they are first born. Ours hatched on July 3rd, and were delivered to us on July 4th. My sister joked that the U.S. Independence Day was the day I lost my independence. So far it hasn't been too bad. We can leave them with water and food for a while and they are fine. They even fertilize the lawn for us!