Beautiful Life of Zig Zag Zoom

Today was the first of the culling for the season. We slaughtered and dressed five Roosters today. It was the first time I actually did the killing and cleaning. My cousin Kenny came over and taught me how to gut them and dress them. I was trying to bring a little calm to the chicken yard by eliminating some of the more aggressive Roosters.

My sister and her husband are coming for a visit so we are planning a big chicken barbecue tomorrow. We split the chickens in half and are marinating them in a sauce called State Fair dressing. The roosters were just under 16 weeks so they should have a great taste.

One of the parts of today I did not want to do was to kill the hen I told wrote about a few days ago that the dog attack. The first two days after the attack it seemed fine; however, either it was attacked by the rest of the chickens or it ended up with an infection because it could not get up. I separated it for a couple of days to try and save it but it was getting worse. I hate to see any animal suffer so I put it down today.

That’s it for now from the chicken coop. Please feel free to drop me a comment or two!

Yesterday I had to do a rescue of one of my roosters. It is a pure Aracana rooster and he is a wimp. One of the other roosters from this year’s batch attacked him and had him pinned under a board in the barn. I had to break the board free to free him. I decided to take him out of the same area as teh new chcikens and put him with last years’ hens. He got beat up by them too.

He is a beautiful rooster but he has no courage. He tried to get back in with this years chickens so I decided to try it and three of the chickens attacked him really bad. I had to take it out again and put back with the hens. He seems healthy and is quite big but I am not sure why they are all picking on him. I had already decided prior to this that he was the one rooster I was keeping to breed with but now I am not sure. I will have to see if he starts to get along with the next couple of weeks. He is 14 weeks old so maybe he will get some courage as he comes into his own.

On the note of roosters, I am hearing another crow from the barn so I will soon be able to confirm at least two roosters plus the one I rescued which is not crowing yet but has a definite rooster tail. I am counting what I think is

I mentioned in one of my earlier post that one of the chicks this year has a crossed beak. We have thought of culling it but it seems to eat fine and is growing as good as the rest of the other chicks. It has become super friendly and I have nicknamed it Twisty.

Yesterday, I went out to let out the chicks and Twisty flew at me and landed right on my shoulder. I have never seen a chicken do that and thought it was crazy. Last night when I went out to shut them in for the night, I was bent down to try and get them to all come in and Twisty flew up and landed on my back and ran up and down my back.

Now the little thing is so crazy that it jumps right into the feed can when I walk in the coop. I guess it must have learned that to survive with a disability it must be braver than all the rest of the chickens. My wife and I was laughing last night because we said it is so crazy that none of the others will pick on it because they are scared of it.

Unless the beak becomes a major problem as Twisty grows or it turns out to be a rooster, I believe that Twisty will have a life long home in the family chicken coop.

Other news from the chicken coop:

The four bantam chicks we brought home last week are growing good. They are still in a brooder in our kitchen and they are super active. Every time we do anything in the kitchen, they are right at the little window watching us. They are cute little buggers.

The second batch of Plymouth Rocks we brought home last week (including twisty) have finally fit in with the first batch of chicks and all 36 are growing like weeds. Of course the first batch is growing much faster than the second. Kenny said the first batch was hatched by the moon cycle and old timers say they will grow faster and hardier. I am not sure if that is true but the first batch at the same age was twice the size of the second batch. Kenny hatched a batch for himself at the same time as my second batch and they too are growing slower than the first batch. There may be some truth to the moon thing.

I have two of my older hens who have quit laying. They are my one year old Araucana hens. I can not figure out why they are not laying. It is odd because they both quit about three weeks ago and have not laid an egg since. My five barred Plymouth Rocks are two years old and they are still laying regular. They all seem healthy and the Araucana hens still go into the nesting box but they leave me no egg.

Anyone have any idea what might be wrong?

Well that is all the news right now. Feel free to leave a comment or two to let me know I have live people reading my blog.

Our silly cousins did it again. They hatched 10 Bantam eggs that they got from a guy they know. They have no idea what breeds they are and the have no plan to keep the chickens. Guess who is taking some of them? That’s right, it is me. My sill wife, who was a chicken hater when I first started raising them, has decided she wants four of the smallest ones.

She started by only wanting two but her cousin Darlene suckered her in. She gave told Karen that the four smallest ones are friends and does she really want to separate them. It worked so we will be bringing home 4 more chicks. I still have to pick up my other 10 from Darlene next week. That will make a total of 41 chicks this year. Geez, I must be crazy.

I am still trying to sex the first batch and trying to decide what to do with the roosters. I might raise them for meat. Another options is to take them to a small animal auction we are going to on May 18th. The third options is dropping them off at a local farm or just lets them free range. He takes all you have and lets them have free run of the farm. I will let you all know when I decide.

I would love to hear from other people who raise chickens. Drop in and leave a comment and if you have a blog or website, leave that in the spot on the comment box and I will visit your site.

Thanks to all my readers and I see the traffic increasing each day. I am planning a small give away in the coming weeks so please check back for that.

I wanted to share some pictures of my chicken coop and the new rooms I added for the new chicks.

This first picture is the inside of the coop. This was just an old shed attached to my big barn. I used it for a couple of years as a goat barn and now it is my coop. Notice the old wood stove, that is where the hens like to sleep. I built a nice new set of perches and they have never used them. You may notice one of my girls heading for the exit after laying an egg.

This is a pictures of perches I built, as I said, they do not use them. You may notice the babies sunbathing in the back ground.

This is a picture of the two doors to the outside one for the older hens and one for the chicks.

This the inside room we built to house the chicks. This was taken before the chicks arrived.

This is the outside room fully fenced to keep the little ones in and any hawks out. This was built inside of the regular chicken pen which is 58 ft x120 ft. It gives plenty of pasture area for the older hens and will be great for the little ones when they grow up. This use to be the goat pen.

Here is the picture of the double nesting box that we had for our seven hens. I have put together a new one to hold all the new hens when they start laying. I came out to check eggs when I found the hens all cozy in the box. They stayed long enough for me to go get the camera and take these pictures. One of the brown ones is tucked in the back on the right side.

That gives you an idea of what my chicken coop looks like. It also shows you that chickens adapt well to any housing as long as it is safe and secure. This one works well to protect them from both predators and the elements. It is not fancy but there is plenty of of room for the chickens to have a good time.

If you have a picture of your coop, please share them by leaving a link to the picture in a comment.

A couple of days ago I brought the baby chicks home. They are four weeks old today and growing like crazy. They are active little creatures who try to climb my legs every time I visit their pen.

Our cousin Kenny decided I could have his first batch of chicks so I now have 27 chicks and 10 more at his house which are just a week old. I am trying to figure out how to sex them. They are mostly Barred Plymouth Rocks. I have read as much as I could find on how to sex them but I am still not sure which is which when it comes to pullets or cockerels. If anyone knows for sure how to determine the sex at four weeks, please leave a comment and let me know.

I have been quite busy getting ready for Spring. My brother in law and I built a new addition to the chicken coop. We built chicken wire covered rooms both inside and out to accommodate the chicks till they are old enough to mix with my older hens. I am busy planning the garden and waiting for my neighbor to get the garden tilled. It has been unusually hot for this time of the year. We have been in the 80s most of the last few days. That is June weather normally here in the North Country of New York.

What do you have planned for the Spring? Leave a comment and let me know what is happening with you.

Our cousin Kenny has been hatching eggs for us and yesterday was hatch day. I gave him 11 of our eggs to hatch and out of that we had 9 chicks. They are so cute! Eight of them are black and one is yellow with brown strips. I am pleased that I had such a high rate of hatching.Kenny hatched 21 of his own eggs and he got as of last night 11 hatched and four that had peck holes in them. Below is some pictures of the new babies.

This is what is left of the babies former home. Mine were the blue shells.

This is all the little babies but one. We had one still in the incubator waiting to dry off.

This is the chicks sitting on their food.

Nine of the eggs I gave Kenny were a cross between a Plymouth Rock Rooster and Arcauna hens. Two of the eggs were from my neighbors flock and they were a cross between and Aracuna Hen and who knows what rooster since they have several breeds. I believe the yellow may have come from one of those two eggs.

I just took 14 more eggs to be hatched so we will see how many more we get.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of the baby chicks. Also wish me luck that they are a majority of hens.

Last week I collected my chicken eggs as usual. Of course this time, they were not for eating, I gave them to my wife’s cousin to hatch out for me. I am excited to get new chicks in a few weeks. I have a rooster who is a Plymouth Rock and the hens are the Araucana breed. I am excited to see what the cross will look like.

I was given all my chickens last year and I got the rooster and my five Plymouth Rock hens from my wife’s cousin and one of the hens was the rooster’s mother so we decided not to mix those for hatching. My two Araucana hens are no relation so that is why we used those to breed for new chicks. I gave my wife’s cousin ten eggs last week and I am hoping for at least five new chicks. He also said he will do another batch from his eggs, all Plymouth Rocks, for me in April so I have more chicks. I am hoping for about 12-15 hens this year when I am all done.

I would like enough to supply my house with a dozen eggs, my wife’s parents with a dozen, and my wife’s brother’s family with a dozen each week and have a couple dozen eggs to sell to offset feed cost. My goal in the future would be to raise enough to have a supplemental income for our farm.

Right now my five Plymouth Rock hens have not laid any eggs for a few weeks and I am not sure why. They went through moult and started to lay but now have quit. The two Araucana hens lay eggs just about everyday and one egg is white and one is bluish green. If the others do not start laying, they may be stew meat in the fall.

I will write more here when the chicks are born and I am hoping to be able to sex them early so I do not have a yard full of roosters. Wish me luck and stay tuned for more news on the baby chicks.

Well my hens have finally finished their long moult and they have started laying again. I have 7 hens and I was getting one egg a day but I am now up to between two and three a day.

It has been cold and since i have no electricity in the barn, I do not have a light for them so I am happy with the amount I am getting.

I am hoping to add another dozen hens in the spring to up my production. I am thinking of starting to sell fresh eggs once the production is up.

It has been in the 30s for a week or so and it has made it easier to take care of the chickens. Last night it hit below zero so i had to go back to thawing the water everyday.

Well that is all the news from the hen house for now.

Take care and if you are dealt a poor hand, say “That Blozzz” and move on!

I started raising chicken this past summer and it is fun and everyday I get nice fresh eggs. They are one of the easiest animals to raise and require only minimal care.

I allow them (except) in the winter to free range on a nice fenced area. One of my first concerns was that they like to fly out of their area. I had thought of clipping their wings but I watched and only one of the breeds I have fly out and they stick right in the main yard then fly back in shortly after. Because of that fact, I decided to forgo the wing clipping.

Chickens do need to have food and water at all times and if they do not have access to small rocks, you need to add grit for them to be able to digest their food. They also need a safe shelter to protect them from the elements and other animals. Any place will do, I use an old shed that was built on to my main barn.

If you plan to hatch the eggs you need a rooster. If you are just using the eggs for food, hens do still lay eggs without a rooster but they will not be fertilized. I chose to get a rooster even though I do not hatch the eggs. I thought he would be good protection when another animal comes around.

At times, I feel that getting a rooster was not my best idea. He protects too well and in the fall I went out to the barn with shorts on and he attacked my leg. Let me tell you, roosters can do damage and they do hurt. I was lucky he just got two good cuts on my leg before I kicked him off. He was headed to the guillotine before my wife convinced me to give him another chance. I pardoned him from death row but now I have a 2×4 handy and he has learned who is the real boss of the roost.

The one thing I learned about raising chickens is that if you read too many books, you will spend all your time worrying about problems. I have one good book and use it as a reference guide. Otherwise, you can learn everything you need to know by just doing it., it is really easy.

Collecting eggs must be done daily. If you have new hens expecting to start laying (approx. 23 weeks from birth), make sure you look everywhere for the eggs. I made really nice nesting boxes and the older hens have laid their eggs in them. I have two newer hens who just starting laying and they laid everywhere. The first bunch of eggs, I found on a high shelf in the barn (12 in all). Then I found them under an old wood stove. Now they lay on the floor in a corner. I guess they do not like the boxes I made. Well at least they lay in the same place everyday now.

The chickens love treats and they eat many scraps like apples, apple peelings, pumpkins (chopped up), tomatoes, zucchini, and more. They for some reason do not like broccoli or any of the cabbage family.

The downside of raising any animal is the winter. The last few weeks it has been in the teens down to below zero and it is a pain to change the water everyday and collect eggs when it is so cold. The chickens also hate being cooped up but that is part of the life.

My farm is also a no kill chicken farm, they are here for eggs and as pets. We are looking at raising for meat in the future once I get some experience in doing so.

This post should give and idea about raising chickens and I will include future posts on the topic.

Remember when the manure in life gets too much, just say “That Blozzz”, and move on !