It's the hot season again!

 Every year as May rolls around I get anxious about what the summer will bring for us and our chickens. As our chicken keeping time has grown longer our experiences have shaped the way we handle the hot weather. Initially our set up was a 10x13 run with a coop inside and the tarp they sent with the run over the top. The tarp was green, light green, and I thought it looked very pretty on top of the run. We were satisfied with how everything looked. It felt like things were going okay. We got our chicks in October and they didn't go out until it was slightly warming up. We started with 2 Buff Orpingtons and one Easter Egger. Our BO were adorable, personable and even mostly sweet through the feisty teenage weeks. Our EE was hell on wings most of the time. She was a brat during this same teenage weeks, we spent a lot of time sighing and rolling our eyes at her, wondering what we had done in getting her. 

As time went on and the temperatures climbed we started noticing one of our girl's (Cluck Skywalker, we called her Skywalker) wings would droop and her comb was lightening, it was the beginning of heat stress and potentially a heart condition. She was always the most sensitive to heat. We looked at ways to combat it, we bought an outdoor fan, used frozen gallon water jugs and eventually bought a small evaporative cooler for them. Even with all this the heat was intense. We had the coop and run situated under trees but the ambient temperature was over 110 in the summer no matter what we did, and while things were under shade most of the time, that wasn't the case all of the time. There were parts of the day that a portion of the tarp was in the sun. The green tarp. When I would work in there it would be almost 10 degrees hotter up where my head was. At the same time we started to realize our girls would not sleep in the coop, it was just too hot even with every vent open. The evaporative cooler only cooled the ground, so the coop was stifling. The slept up on the roof every night and as mid June hit it was just so, so hot. 

One morning mid-June I came out to check on everyone and let the girls out to free range and only two ran out. I figured Skywalker was in the nest box, but after a few minutes when she hadn't run out to greet me I checked. Not in the box. With dread in my heart I walked around to the other side of the coop and there she was, dead on the ground. When I checked the cameras it showed that at 9:09 pm she had simply fallen off the roof, dead or dying. I don't think I could have saved her, she was completely limp, no flapping or struggle. Everything was silent when she hit the ground. The time between her death and my finding her was probably too long to look into a necropsy and she was literally swarming with ants and flies, it was so heartbreaking. I buried her.  I installed a temperature sensor at the peak of the roof of the run after that.  What I found made me feel horrible. The roof was over 115 at 9pm. The girls were trying to sleep in 115 temps at night! I still don't know how the two we had left had survived as long as they did. I immediately ordered white tarps to attempt to fix the heat situation. Once they were on the temperature dropped by a lot. During the day it was hot but ambient temperature, at night it was almost 25 degrees cooler. Still hot, but maybe not deadly hot. The next step was a larger evaporative cooler. One that was tall enough to cover the roof of the coop. We found one that you could angle the slats upwards, giving the girls the best of both worlds, ground coverage and roof coverage. 

After all these adjustments things were much better in the run. I used the small cooler on the side of the run to give a boost of cool air in the main run area. We got more girls eventually and definitely refined things to be even better for the girls. I placed large (18 inch) drip trays around the run for them to stand in and filled them with about an inch of water. A high pressure mister system was installed on the property and a mister stand was included along with 30 feet of tubing allowing a lot of placement flexibility. With a handy wifi timer plug it goes on and off all day in the hot season. Note that this won't work in a humid environment the same way it does in a dry one. 

I have seen a lot of chatter this year about not mitigating heat for chickens. I hear that it isn't needed or that chickens can handle it. In some cases that might be true, but we buy breeds that are maybe not as heat tolerant as they could be for the environment we buy them in, or it doesn't account for any health issues any one chicken may have that might make them a lot more sensitive to heat. I'm not here to argue with anyone about frozen treats (my chickens just like them) or about whether we should or shouldn't do what we do to bring our temps down. What I do brings the temperatures down to mid 80-s or 90's. It takes it down to high temps in the north, but here it's 115 in the shade and I'll not leave my girls in weather that would easily kill me after enough time outside. My chickens should not live in conditions I can't be in for a few hours either spending time with them or caring for them. That is my stance and after one sweet girl fell off the roof at night at 115 degrees, I'm sticking to it. 

Some thoughts on setting up a run and coop from scratch.

 All of us at one point need to set up a coop and run from the ground up. One resource that has been great for me has been the BYC forums and recently the BYC FB group. That being said I see a lot of posts move past with beginners that want advice to get started. This post is dedicated to them.

A little background about my situation first. The first flock I helped start was a joint affair with a friend on her property. Not realizing how life changing chickens would be for me we started with 3 girls, chicks we ordered from My Pet Chicken that came to us in late October. We are located in Scottsdale, AZ, so our weather is temperate or scorchingly hot most of the year, with our cold weather still being shorts weather for northerners or mid-westerners.  We lovingly ordered our coop, a prefab number from My Pet Chicken and we ordered a 10 x 13 run to put over it, picked the shadiest corner in the yard and set it all up. We attached some hardware cloth to the base of the coop then concreted it into the ground to keep things from digging in. As time went by we added a smaller 6x9 foot Omlet run with an Eglu coop next to the main run in case of illness or for introduction of new birds (which happened because we had two deaths in the first 8 months, more on that in another post). 

There were a lot of lessons learned that first year. The first is that our heat is very difficult for chickens. We had Orpingtons and no good way to cool them off. We had our runs and coops in a low spot in the yard, we had unknowingly put them in a place where water pools when it rains. Concreting our run into the ground was not exactly a bad idea, but it did cause some issues with the placement of the run and with the water issues. I ended up ordering my own chicks for a personal flock that live on the same property, and I had plans to move them to my house eventually and as I have been planning this move I realized I had a set of considerations I needed to look out for. 

1. How many chickens are you planning on having? You really should plan in chicken math numbers. Want 6? Plan for 12 to 24. I promise, this is important. Thinking about what type of community you live in is important too. I'm in the middle of a suburb. I can't have roosters and we do have predators, coyotes, hawks and bobcats. Chances are they are going to be in the run a good amount of time. This is important because a run should be big enough that there is about 10 sq ft/bird. A coop should be about 4 sq ft/bird. I sort of broke the coop rule because it gets so hot here that my birds hate the coop and for the most part refuse to sleep inside. I definitely planned the run to be big enough for 13/14 birds though, even though at the time I only had 6. 

2. This is a good segue into breeds. If you are planning on keeping the girls inside the run often you should look for docile breeds that do well with confinement. Not taking that into account makes for unhappy chickens that will pick on the other members of their flock. 

3. Coops. So much to say here. The prefab ones aren't very good. They just aren't. If you can repurpose a shed or playhouse it will probably serve you much better. If you do go with a prefab from Wayfair or MPC or Tractor Supply make sure and use a measuring tape to give you an idea of how big it might be. Look at all the features and read the reviews. You can also hire people to make you custom ones and one day I may go that route. 

4. What is the climate like? How do I plan for heat/cold protection? If I need misters, how do I provide water and power if a pump is necessary? Do I have enough outlets for an evaporative cooler? Fans? If it's cold, how do I keep their water liquid in the winter? How do I insulate their run if necessary? 

5. Rodents. Enough said. It's very stressful to have rats and mice. Having proper food containers and ensuring that they can't dig and get to any food areas is very important. Planning ahead for this is very important and remembering that if you bring an excess of rodents to your property they will probably try to inhabit your roof at some point because it's close to their food source. So keep your soffits patched and keep the food secure, otherwise it becomes somewhat difficult to sleep with the night time rodent stampedes. 

6. What is going to be on the ground? Sand? wood chips? Plain ol' dirt? That's where forums or the FB group is super helpful. Having people from all over being able to chime in and post pictures about what they use and why. 

7. Cameras. I have a lot of cameras on my girls. It's about peace of mind. Here we have coyotes, hawks and bobcats. Yes, we are in the city, but they are city dwellers as well and an easy meal is an easy meal. Having the cameras can help you understand what you need to do differently because you can see the predator. It also is just fun to watch the girls from time to time. Sometimes I even put one in the coop to see who lays what egg. 

8. Where will I feed and water? What containers will be best? Thus far I have been using these Lixit waterer/feeders in both sizes they offer (32 and 64 oz) and they work fine. As waterers they are a bit labor intensive as they need to be changed every day and the girls get dirt in them constantly. As feeders they are prone to messiness. I have one Grandpa's feeder which is my favorite, not messy, a lot fits in, but it's expensive. Put some thought into your feeding situation and watering, there are so many ideas out there, some in books, some in forums, but do your research and don't be afraid to change if something isn't working for you and your chickens. 

9. Quarantine area. Is there a place for sick chickens? How do I keep them separated? This is something I am actively contemplating right now. I have thought about a separate sick chicken pen, something that will be far enough away that they will not be in direct contact, but can still see each other. I am guessing I will eventually need it. 

10. Nest boxes and dustbaths. My experience with our girls has told me that even with 14 girls there are two nest boxes that get used. I provide 8 but it seems that is a bit much. In the new setup I will provide 4 and with 10 girls coming home with me that should be more than enough.

11. Perch areas. Consider the height of your perches and what they are jumping down onto. If they are jumping into rocks make the perches low. Hitting rocks or hard chips of wood can be a main cause of bumble foot.

For my home project I decided on an Omelet run, mine is about 9x15, so about 135 sq ft of space. My coop is a smaller one, with room inside for probably 6-8 birds, but most of mine like to sleep outside so I doubt very much it will be used for anything but nesting. I bought it because it has mesh all over it. It's so hot here, I don't need girls suffocating inside while they are trying to lay. I have 2 different perch bars for different areas of the run, and I have a new 5 gallon waterer that I am going to try out. For now I am going to try to use the Omlet feeders inside the coop and use an auto door to keep the rats out and the girls in. My coop will be up on pavers to keep rats from digging in and I will probably invest in a grandpa's feeder as well. My run is elevated on concrete blocks and I bought 3 tons of washed mason sand to fill it in. The top will be tarped and the edges will have misters for summer either on a high pressure system or on an orbit hose timer (more likely for this year). 

I'm really trying to use all the lessons I have learned from my first few years to streamline things for the years to come. The challenges here in AZ are very different than most places and chickens really seem like something I should not have embarked on, but they bring a lot of joy and my personal flock is one that leans toward heat tolerance.  Once I am finished there will be an evaporative cooler at the back of the run and one on the side too. I will have a ring of misters around the top of the run to take the heat down a bit in the day. I am fortunate to have a big tree for shade so the girls won't be in direct sun any part of the day. Here's to hoping their first summer home isn't a bad one!

Eggstraordinary Eggs!

Ha! I totally know that is probably the most unoriginal title ever, but I couldn't resist. It was just too easy, or should I say "over easy"? Okay. No more, I promise. 

Eggs. It's why most of us get chickens in the first place. When we think of chickens, the egg really does come before the chicken! I don't know many first timers that think "I want a bird to buy an expensive house for, something I can clean up a ton of poop, pay to feed and worry about things eating them round the clock." So today I figured I'd wax poetic and maybe a bit scientific about eggs. 

First let's talk briefly about Red Jungle Fowl. They are the predecessors to our modern domesticated chickens and they don't lay eggs every day! Our selective breeding has resulted in birds that lay between 100 and 300+ eggs per year, something that is most decidedly not natural. It's why we feed our ladies commercial feed, they would struggle to take in the necessary protein and calcium they need to produce so many eggs, it's also why our modern chickens can sometimes end up with reproductive issues. 

Let's talk about the process for a bit. Chickens lay eggs roughly every 25 hours. Their amazing single chicken ovary (only one matures!) releases an ovum (an immature yolk) about every 25 hours and it heads down the chute and ploops itself into the funnel and then moves into the isthmus where the membrane that you peel of your hard boiled eggs is formed. The shell gland then adds the shell and at the end the bloom is deposited. In the shell gland is where the colors are added, if the chicken has a blue gene it is added early in the process and if the chicken has a brown gene it is added later. Green eggs are blue eggs with a layer of brown on top. If you crack open a green egg the inside of the shell will be blue! The depth of the blue and brown will determine whether the egg is light green or a deep olive green. Neato, right?

There are of course variations in timing and in coloration, but a chicken that lays brown eggs will always lay some shade of brown. A chicken that lays green will always lay some shade of green and so on and so forth. It doesn't mean there won't be weird blips that happen with eggs from time to time, but usually not total color changes. 

The specked brown beauty is our Delaware, the light greenish blue is our Snowy Easter Egger, the light olive green is our traditional Easter Egger (vs. our Blue EE, Snowy EE or our Super Blue), and the white is our Mottled Houdan. I've gotten very good at identifying the 5 different white eggs from general size and shape of the eggs. Certain breeds usually lay certain colors of eggs. All Delawares will lay brown eggs, all Polish will lay white and Easter Eggers lay blue, green or light brown, it's sort of a toss up there. Cream Crested Legbars will lay a blue to blue-green egg. Once you mix breeds you get combos, Olive Eggers are often a Crested leg bar and a Marans that lays a dark brown egg. 

I'll take this opportunity in talking colors to segue in a slightly weird direction towards earlobes. Yeah. Chicken earlobes. Chickens have earlobes and they have colors!  Broadly speaking one can tell the color of eggs by a chicken's earlobes. It's not an exact science by any means, there are exceptions, but it's cool anyway. Chickens with white earlobes usually lay white eggs. Chickens with red earlobes often lay brown eggs. There are blue ear lobes and some of the red ear lobed chickens lay the green and blue eggs. I feel pretty certain that there was a time that this was pretty accurate, but with a lot of our fancier breeds these days the lines are much more blurry. 

Probably you will never ask yourself the question "Do the girls ever poop out weird eggs?". I can answer this even if you wouldn't ask it, and the answer is a resounding yes. There are a large variety of weird reproductive hiccups that chickens can experience, from the temporary to the life threatening. With the increased laying comes increased chances of issues. Some have names, like "lash egg" or "fairy egg" and some don't. Sometimes there isn't a shell, or the membranes of two yolks touch because they are released too close together. Occasionally there are tiny beads of calcium on them. Sometimes they lay into their body cavities, which as you might imagine is bad. We have one on chicken birth control for that, which is a story for another day. She would die a horrible death without the chicken Norplant so we keep her on it so we can enjoy her attitude every day. 

So those are some egg facts! I'll leave everyone with a gratuitous egg picture and hope that I've imparted just a little more info about eggs than you ever wanted to know.

Chicken breeds, gotta catch em all!

 What's in a breed? Lots, as it turns out. Different chicken breeds have different temperaments, different appearances and different maintenance requirements that come along with that. 

There are all different varieties of chickens out there and it's so, so hard not to want them all! I myself want so many that I have a pretty extensive wish list I have compiled and sometimes I just like to look at it and maybe rearrange the order a little here and there...you get the idea. 

For anyone interested there is a great chart in Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow on page 8 that lists breeds and some of their main characteristics. The information is general to the breeds, and not every bird will fit in the descriptions. We have had a few Buff Orpingtons that have not been incredibly friendly, and I know some people swear by the sweetness of their Rhode Island Reds, which have a sometimes aggressive notation. Individual personalities come with the territory I guess. 

In choosing breeds sometimes just trying to match your climate and purpose is a good place to start, are you in a hot place like I am (Phoenix, AZ), or a cold place? I approached it with thought to my extremes. We get incredibly hot here and I was very worried about our girls dying from overheating. I avoided ordering any girls that were noted as not heat tolerant at the hatcheries. I looked at heat tolerant birds and was pleasantly surprised with the variety that was available. Maybe some day I'll live up north and finally check that Salmon Faverolle off my chicken bucket list. In terms of purpose, how important are eggs, and do you want them year round? Some breeds are stellar egg layers, some...not so much. Our Easter Eggers and Delaware are pretty good at laying occasionally through the winter with the eggception being their molt. Our Polish ladies are known for taking long (read: 2-3 month) breaks and so we don't see eggs from late fall to late spring. They are pretty girls that rely on their looks and sweet personalities to pay the bills for them. Broodiness is another thing to think about. Are you planning on hatching chicks? A broody hen can do all that scary work for you and prevent you from a lot of sleepless hours staring into an incubator and playing hours long loops of cheeping baby chicks to your hatching eggs at midnight the last three days of incubation (a scenario mostly based on real life). The flip side of a broody hen is that she won't lay, becomes super cranky and if you can't have a rooster then it becomes a bit of a problem to manage. It's never completely foolproof to plan to have a broody or non-broody hen, but buying breeds that are known to be less broody is a good start. 

Egg color! Before backyard chickens I had no idea there were blue eggs. Or green eggs. Or olive eggs. Or deep, dark, rich brown eggs. I thought there were white eggs and light brown eggs, full stop.  From the baby blue of our Super blue layer from My Pet Chicken, to our dark brown and sometimes spotted egg of our Delaware, it's been fun to collect the beautiful rainbow of eggs that our girls lay. I'd say it's very fair to plan a flock around what eggs you want and since there is so much variety it becomes so fun! In the past few years there have been specialty breeds popping up, bred for specific colors of green or blue or brown, which is a fun thing to explore.

Appearance. I'm so into my Polish girls. Crested chickens are my kryptonite, apparently. I also love the fluffy muffs and beards of my EE's. The beautiful fluffy skirts that Orpingtons and other dual purpose chickens sport make me laugh when they run like English ladies with their fluffy petticoats. I tend to choose chickens by how they look as well as how they might act or lay. It's a delight to watch my big booty girls run to me, bouncing side to side and so exuberant, though the sleek stride of my slender EE's gives me a sense of delight, as I can see a dinosaur running at me every day. My Speckled Sussex is just the most glorious thing in the light, she's a party for your retinas. 

Health. While I almost didn't include this, one of the big lessons I learned is that sometimes chickens come with their own sets of health issues. An obvious example is Cornish cross AKA "meat birds". Cornish Cross are meant to be harvested in 6-8 weeks. Yeah. Weeks. They get huge, they eat a ton and it becomes physically challenging to do things like stand, walk, exist. It wouldn't be a good breed to try to make a pet out of, though some do and put them on diets and they live long and happy lives. Going in not a lot of people might be up to that challenge though, so it's worth noting. Another thing we learned from experience is that there are lines of hatchery Buff Orpingtons that are much more prone to dying of a liver bleed (Hemorrhagic liver disease) if over fed or given too many snacks. We have actually not had any Orpington make it past 3 years old. It's heartbreaking because they are in general very nice birds. Our last remaining BO has severe problems with her reproductive tract, I am guessing another couple years and she will have problems we can't fix. She is currently our last and longest lived Orpington at just over 2 years. Our Easter Egger is our OG girl and is a ripe old 5 year old bird who rules with an iron beak. We have never lost an EE, maybe mutts really are more hardy!

Choosing breeds is one of the first steps of a new chicken owner and when confronted with all the choices (was) can be overwhelming. I remember in the beginning really feeling overwhelmed and worried I would choose a breed that I was condemning to death in our very hot summers. Our first flock's purpose was as pets for us and children too, so was I going to choose a breed that I found out later was aggressive toward people? There are a lot of types of chickens to choose from and weeding out what you "can't" have first sometimes helps. Once you narrow down your A team, so to speak, you can start adding to your wish list. 

Chickens can be so relaxing!

Who doesn't love a good chicken? Not to eat, but to cuddle! There is something so magical about the love of a bird, and their love makes you feel so special and chosen. Before I had any contact with chickens I just figured they would be BIRDS. As chicks they were the sweetest fluff balls that seemed smart and interesting and they needed us so much. 

So back to present day chicken time. Yay chickens! Our first small flock was 3 birds large...or small. We regrettably lost two of our sweet beloved girls before they were 9 months. It was a sad, but necessary lesson and we learned a lot from it. Both that we loved them very much, loss of a chicken is hard even though they are fragile. They have been important for us during the pandemic and they have helped me with a lot of hurdles in my personal life. It has been a very difficult few years and they definitely help with coping with those down times. Sitting with my girls helps me feel peaceful even if it is only for a few minutes.