Hobby Chickens
Keeping chickens has become quite popular. With the goal of greener, fresher food it is a great way to supplement your dietary needs with organic food. However, keeping chickens does come with its share of issues, especially for the chickens.
My husband and I have had chickens for years and have found out through mistakes the cost of losing them. Milton comes with its fair share of predators, such as coyotes, fox, raccoons, opossums, snakes and hawks, just to name a few. Trying to protect our flock has been a tried and true endeavor so I would like to share some of the successes we have had to help others keep their chickens safe and healthy.
Free ranging chickens is a wonderful idea but unless you can stand guard over your birds chances are a predator will get them. That being said many coops are too small for the amount of birds people buy and the wire can often be too thin. We have found that the gage of “chicken wire” is not strong enough to prevent coyotes from tearing through. Find a wire that is thicker and the holes are small enough the chickens can not stick their heads through. Be sure to cover the top of your coop with wire and not a bird cloth or netting, both are very easily ripped by opossum and raccoons. Fox, coyote and dogs will dig to get inside the coop. When building your coop it is a great idea to bury one to two feet of wire along the sides of the coop so if a predator starts digging it will run into wire rather than have success into the coop. In addition to the wire, we built planter boxes around the outside of our coop as an added layer of protection.
Chickens need sun and shade just as other animals do and our coop is in full sun. We took advantage of the planter boxes and planted sunflowers and other tall growing plants that would provide shade as well as treats for the chickens. Since our hens do not get to free range we feed them the grass clippings from mowing the lawn. If you are bagging your grass for garbage this is a great alternative. When we have remnants from fresh vegetables we feed these to the chickens as treats but you need to be aware of which vegetables are healthy for your chickens and which are not.
Having a rooster will fertilize the eggs if you are looking to breed but the hens will lay non-fertilized eggs without a rooster. Collect your eggs daily, this will prevent snakes and rodents from trying to enter your coop to steal them. The shell of the eggs are often fragile and providing oyster shell as a free choice treat will add calcium to their diet which will harden the shell. Be sure to provide fresh water for your flock, they will drink more than you think, especially in the heat of the summer. Buy a quality feed, remember what you are feeding them will determine the health of the eggs
I hope this helps if you have backyard chickens or it has been on your wish list. They can be a lot of work to get established but it is certainly worth it when you are enjoying your fresh, delicious eggs!