To be neighborly..... I agreed to be a part of one of the neighbor kids school projects. She wanted to raise chickens...in her apartment bedroom. I agreed to take said chickens when the project was complete. She was only going to get 6. She got 12. I told her mom I couldn't keep that many so they found a home for 3 of them. 3 days ago I became the proud owner of 9 new chickens. 2 cochins, 4 wyandottes and 3 silkies. They are, of course, delightful. Being a school project they were a bit over-nurtured . The first full day in their new home, they would not come out of the integration coop until almost 3 pm. They were afraid of the dirt in the pen. One of the chickens, a beautiful and brave silkie kept poking his head out of the door. He was the first one to venture out. He explored the environment and then let the others out of the coop. The first one out was a tiny black silkie that Jimmy has taken a liking too. He named it Arnold. Arnold is irrepressible. He/she was the second one out and hopped all over the pen with the white silkie following it around to keep it out of trouble. After a few minutes, they all came out. By bedtime they were all having such a great time playing in the dirt that Jimmy and I had to manually return them to the coop. They complained for a good five minutes after we shut them in. The very bright student's mom told me that at least three of the chickens were roosters. After watching them for three days I 'm pretty sure we only have one rooster. The Brave white silkie. He herds and protects. He is the first one out and the last one in. He is the Mighty Gannicus! All hail Gannicus!
I'll need to be finding a home for at least three or four of the babies. Or Jimmy will be wearing his tight face and muttering under his breath 'we don't NEED 21 chickens!' He will be right of course! He's good with any of the new chickens finding a new home ....except Arnold. He has taken a liking to Arnold. He loves Arnold's pluck! Last night over dinner we talked extensively about who stays and who goes and what kind of a time line for integration that we have. Gannicus stays! He is my rooster replacement for the Indomitable Hashtag. I asked Jimmy last night " What if Arnold is a rooster as well?". He groaned and got a very pained look on his face. Then in an unprecedented move said ' well...silkies are so small that no one will notice two roosters.' At that moment I gave Arnold to Jimmy. "Congratulations! Arnold belongs to you!" says I. Jimmy can no longer use the argument ' They're your chickens!'
I took a photo of the integration coop. It is an old plastic garden shed that we modified. It is a perfect temporary summer home for new girls. There are no roosts. Roosting happens when they move up to the big girl house.
For the next week the new girls will remain penned up and separated from the old girls. They can see each other and interact but no pecking can happen. Next week I will make a small hole in the fence so that the new girls can come in and out as they please but the old girls will not be able to follow them in if they need a safe place. Also next week the two ancient reds will be retired. Not only are they cranky and mean but they are beginning to have health issues. Week three Jimmy and I will be redesigning and rebuilding the inside of the big coop. When I first began backyard chickening I didn't know what a well designed coop interior should be like.. I now know that no part of the roost should run over the top of the nesting boxes and all roosts should be at the same level or they will poop on each others heads all night! Once the coop is redesigned and repainted on the inside, the integration pen and coop will be removed. There will be a good week of squawking and screeching while they all find their place in the order of things.
I read an article in the Seattle newspaper last week that said the animal shelters are filling up with chickens that are too old to lay eggs (or began crowing). Managing your flock is very important. You really only get 3 good years of laying out of a hen. If you want to keep your egg production high you should bring in a couple of new hens every couple of years and retire the oldest ones. If you absolutely can not bring yourself to retire the old ones...Well, you might want to rethink the whole thing. Maybe the $5 dollar a dozen, free range eggs at the co-op aren't such a bad deal after all. If your OK with retirement.... Backyard chickens are a great choice.
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| The Mighty Gannicus! |
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| Silkie Rooster....Gannicus |
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| Integration coop and pen |
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Chicken Coop
to be redesigned and repainted |
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| Black Silkie chick, AKA Jimmy's first chicken, the plucky Arnold |
