My Experiences

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My Experiences

My Experiences, (cont’d)

My Incubator

Anyone that knows much about chickens knows that the eggs vary from breed to breed. It was very easy to tell the rock eggs from the red eggs. I gathered some of the rock eggs with cotton gloves so I could hatch some. I had read that wearing cotton gloves kept the oil from a person's hands from clogging the pores in the eggshells. I took no chance and wore a pair. I had built an incubator from plans in a "Farmstead Magazine" I believe but I am not positive which magazine. I put in about 60 of the rock eggs and carefully tended the incubator. In 21 days the eggs began to hatch. This was quite an event in the house and my family really enjoyed this although a wet newly hatched chick really is quite ugly to say the least. I got something over 40 chicks and figured this was my first try so I had done quite well. These were the sex-link and the males had white spots on top of their heads and the females had black heads so I had no problem telling them apart. Baby chicks can't be put in with large hens so I had built a small pen in the chicken house to raise the new babies. Fortunately I found someone to take the males, as I really didn't want to do them in. I don't consider them good meat birds so I wouldn't have raised the roosters for meat.

I had read in a 4-H book that a 250-watt heat lamp was often used to brood chicks. It is placed 18" over the litter for the first week. I did lay a thermometer under it to make sure of the temperature and this lamp is what I used for heat for this brood. It works super. A red heat lamp is recommended as it shows red and if a chick gets scratched and a spot of blood is shows I read that the others don't notice it as quickly. I had no damaged chicks so I had no problems. It worked fine and this is the method I prefer for a small flock because it is easy. It is however, very expensive after using a 40 watt bulb.

Adult Sex-Links

These chicks grew and I was amazed at the quantity of eggs they produced. I didn't get the amount of double yolk eggs I had gotten from my first flock but production was up over 80% continuously. I was very pleased. I gathered the eggs often and had no problems for a few months. I did notice as they were growing that they seemed to peck at each other more than the reds and showed much more aggressive behavior toward each other. It wasn't long and one day when I went to the hen house I noticed that one of the chickens had half his tail feathers missing. I somewhat knew it was much too soon for them to be molting but didn't pay much attention to it. The next day however, this chicken was bleeding around its tail and most of the skin was gone over a small area near it's tail. This was my first experience with cannibalism. I consulted my book and read that "Pine Tar" was one of the recommended remedies for the problem. Pine tar is a black, gooey substance with a strong odor, as I had to go and get a can to treat this bird and another by the time I got it a day or two later. I knew by now that catching a chicken is difficult because they stay approximately a foot from as far as you can reach when you go after them. I also had learned to go in at night and just pick them up off the roost. It is quiet and it doesn't put the whole flock in "panic status". I coated the effected birds with the pine tar making sure to cover the whole wound with this substance and returned to the house.

I did notice that the next day, when the other birds pecked at this substance they would put their foot near their beak and try to scrape it off. I guess it tasted badly enough because it did stop my problem and the birds healed up. This would be my last sex-link hens. They ended up at an auction and I almost gave them away. I had kept them through one laying season so they really were considered pretty much worthless at the time anyway. Fortunately over the years this was my one experience with cannibalism. I should mention that they had way more than the recommended floor space in the building. I have never had this problem with Rhode Island Reds or Plymouth Barred Rocks. I think this is one reason to this day I prefer a pure blooded hen. I do know any breed can be cannibalistic but I also know that the more aggressive the breed the better the chances of this happening. I think this is one of the major reasons I just stick with the old familiar breeds I have had in the past.

The Gift

After this event I thought it might be nice to try a few bantams. I lucked out and a friend had a few he didn't want so I put them in with my flock. They were cute and are so much quicker than the large birds they could easily escape any attacks and flew up to the rafters at night to roost and things were going fine. Once in a while one of the hens would lay an egg but I only had them as pets anyway so I didn't really care.

I had noticed when I had gotten them that some had some crusty stuff on their legs. A very small amount and I had thought it to be some sort of dirt that was clinging to their feet or something of that nature. It wasn't long and I noticed that one of the bantam hens had a much larger amount of this on her feet and was developing a bad limp. I went back to my book. After reading about all the incredible diseases they could get I determined that this was leg mites. The leg mites burrow into the skin on the feet and legs and cause the hen to go lame or worse I guess, I still don't know the eventual outcome. The longer they are on the hen the more of this white, somewhat waxy, mealy, substance is expelled where they bore through the skin, building up on the outsides of the legs.

This happened in the early spring with snow on the ground and it was very cool outside. I called the University of Maine and talked with the poultry dept. or whatever it was and they told me what to do. Treatment included mixing turpentine and linseed oil and dipping the chickens. I was told to dip the whole chicken but I only dipped the legs well into the feathered area as it was so cold I didn’t want to freeze them to death. This had to be done two or three times. I don't remember the exact mix or the times but it was at about 2 week intervals because of the hatching of the eggs of the mites. I made the solution and went to the chicken house and dipped the legs on all the chickens. By this time I had divided the house into two sections so it was no problem to dip on and put it on the other side and then the next so I could tell who had been done and who hadn't. The fun really began when I had to clean and disinfect the house. I had no place to put them so I got a load of sawdust in the truck, let the girls into their outside yard and shoveled all the old litter out. I then took a hose and an old scrub brush and semi-washed the entire inside of the chicken house. I then sprayed it with a solution of Malathion. I am not sure on the spelling but it is close J. This would kill any new mites. I then put the new sawdust into the house and let the chickens back in. Once I got the chickens back in their house I sprayed the pile of old litter with the chemical and although I didn't know what it might do, (it did say it was safe for plants) I sprayed their exercise yard as thoroughly as possible. I guess I should mention that I did let the house dry as much as possible, before letting the girls back in. I got lucky as it rained a good amount that night so I figured the chemical in their yard probably washed into the ground.

It still wasn't over as I waited two weeks and dipped the hens again, then in two more weeks I dipped them again. This fortunately ended my mite problem. My advice is never, I mean never accept chickens from anyone regardless of who it is unless your chicken house is empty and disinfected from your old flock. It really isn't worth it and the experts are telling it like it is when they say not to. Chickens are susceptible to many diseases. One flock can have immunity to a disease but carry some part of it. You put them in with your flock and voila, you have a problem. Doctoring chickens is the most negative thing in raising chickens that I have found so far.

If you wish more chickens to go with your regular flock I have bought day old from a hatchery and raised them, added them to the flock and they have been fine. Naturally they have to be pretty well grown before you mix them. This is not recommended but I have done this probably 20 times and haven't had a problem. Totally disinfecting and cleaning the house and having no old birds is the true recommendation. Sometimes this is not really possible with the small backyard farmer.

A Visitor

It was late afternoon when I got to the chicken house to gather eggs most of the time because it was when I got home from work. I grabbed a large coffee can to put the grain in and walked into the chicken house and dumped the grain into the feeder, then gathered the eggs from the nest and put them in the can. I then picked up the waterer, took it out, washed it with the hose and a brush, filled it and returned to the chicken house.

I put the waterer on the wire mesh box. I use a frame with a wire mesh to let the droppings and litter build up under the waterer instead of in it. Anyway, as I did this I happened to look over and noticed something dark in the darkness under the nest. I went over to the nest and leaned over for a closer look. There, sleeping under the nest was a skunk. I could see it breathing I was so close. I stepped somewhat gingerly back and left the chicken house. Don't know why at that point I was so careful as I had already been banging all around the chicken house. I had even stepped within inches of it as it was under the nest when I had gotten eggs. I was happy I wasn't sprayed and just waited until dark. When Suzie, I called her Suzie, woke up to go foraging at night I went out and closed the door. She hung around a while but never went back in as I was much more careful to remember the small door in the chicken house at night. My wife suggested getting rid of her but she didn't bother the hens or the eggs and wasn't around during the daytime so I just ignored her. Eventually Suzie must have found a better place to live as I stopped seeing her around.

Gertrude's Demise

In the early years of raising chickens people told me about how nasty a rooster could be when protecting his flock and I had listened, maybe even believed it to a large degree. I guess I believed it because I had noticed some aggressive behavior from Gertrude the rooster my son had named and usually kept an eye on him when I went in for eggs or to feed them.

It was summer and I was leaving the door to their house open all the time. I mean the larger "people door" as well as their small door.

I was out behind the house doing something and my 18-month-old daughter had a small pail like a citronella candle comes in, full of cracked corn and was on her way to give some the chickens. She walked slowly toward the door of the hen house and just as she reached the threshold, Gertrude came feet first at her. He knocked her over and fortunately I was not far away and I got there in almost an instant and Gertrude ran and I inspected my daughter. She had a small bruise from one of Gertrude's spurs right under her right eye. Less than an inch and she would have lost an eye. Needless to say I was wild. I took after Gertrude with full intentions of catching him and wringing his neck. He was cackling and screaming and I was running as fast as I could go trying to catch him.

By now my wife had heard the commotion, a couple that lived across the road had heard it and my son and a friend had arrived on scene. I was still having no luck catching Gertrude and I had circumnavigated the hen house about 4 or 5 times and was totally out of breath.

The boys were enjoying this much more than necessary and once my wife decided our daughter was ok she began to enjoy it and so did the neighbors. Here I was trying to catch and take the life from this rooster and everyone was watching me run around laughing hysterically at me.

It didn't take me long to notice all this so I went to the house grabbed the shotgun and I had no trouble catching him with that. He was part of the flock but he had to go. No rooster is worth endangering my family or any other person for that matter. He was the last rooster for many seasons. My wife firmly planted her foot down and decided I would not have another rooster. J I had to agree with her. We bought chicks from this point on.

A Big Change

As I mentioned I really get much joy from my flock. After Gertrude's demise things would not be the same around the yard. We all noticed the changes. My wife felt more comfortable going to the chicken house and things like that so it wasn't, all negative but most of what happened after this did.

One other positive change I noticed was that when I entered the chicken house most of the hens would be on the floor instead of on the roost. This did seem to actually help production. Gertrude was chasing them so badly that they weren't coming off the roost as much and therefore weren't eating as much.

The negative side was when the flock was foraging freely around the yard. I enjoyed it when Gertrude would point out some tasty bug or something else the girls liked and they would come over and eat it. I missed watching him constantly surveying his surroundings to protect his flock. The flock was more complete when he was with it.

The girls settled down and acted more friendly when I was around them and subtle things like that. I found that hens were much more docile without a rooster. They, for the most part, still don't like to be handled and avoid it unless it is nighttime and they are on the roost but much calmer.

I also missed the mother hen with baby chicks as I do let a broody hen hatch eggs once in a while. It is so much fun to watch her outside with her family. I think a brooding mother hen is much more protective of her chicks than even the rooster. I do know that if a dog comes in the yard Gertrude was always the first to get out of the way. He did seem to keep a better eye out for things like that then the hens do.

Daisy

Daisy became the favorite of the flock to the family. My daughter was too young to realize anything about it but my son would hold her as would my wife and I. She would contentedly pick cracked corn from my hand while sitting on my knee without ever biting hard or pecking hard and it was sort of cute. I think it was the fact that she would allow me to walk over and pick her up at any time that made her so special.

We had her for about 7 years and then one day I found her in the nest. She had been dead for a while and under her was the largest egg I had ever gotten. It is said that a sick chicken will not lay an egg so it is safe to eat them. A veterinarian told me this so I believe it. The egg was only a double yolk but would probably be nearly twice the size of a jumbo grade egg. We figured the extra large egg must have done her in. because she was a pet she got special treatment. We put her in a small box and buried her out back instead of just putting her in a grain bag and taking her to the dump.

My Neighbor's Septic

I had the chickens before all but one neighbor moved in.

A new neighbor moved in next door. He was a good guy and we got along well but this somewhat ended and it was a thing where we would wave and such but not friendly in that we didn't do anything together. This slowly deteriorated for some reason and I am not sure why. It got to a point where we didn't speak and still don't really but we don't bother each other. At least we didn't.

He mentioned that a chicken had dug up a flower in his garden. I offered to pay for the flower and he refused and the conversation ended. From this point on I did let the girls out but not as much and I did try to watch them. Occasionally they would get over there though.

I had seen him out yelling at the girls to get them out of his back yard. So I increased my effort and further limited their ranging time.

Not too much time passed, when one day I found a dead chicken near his leaking leach field. I called and asked if he knew anything about it. I thought possibly that his son got rowdy with his BB gun or something as I saw no mark on the chicken and let it go. Naturally he knew nothing about the dead chicken.

A short time later another one turned up missing. I was more upset this time. But I had no proof. I looked for the chicken but this time I couldn't find it. A chicken will seldom venture more than a few hundred feet from their house and usually are easily found in the areas where they forage. They seem to have certain areas and they don't really leave them often.

This passed to some degree and I had settled down and let all this go. I was down at my other neighbor's house talking with him while he did some work on his car and I could see this neighbor with the chicken problem come around his house, pick up a rock, and fling it at the chickens that had wandered into his yard. Well, needless to say I lost it. We had some words and I tried to explain what a jerk he was and that I didn't mind driving them away but I wasn't extremely impressed with his throwing rocks at my chickens especially where I found the dead one in his yard and was missing another.

That evening I got to thinking about it and became really angry. My wife and I decided to get even. The next day I had the town over to inspect the leach field that had turned cesspool and they took some dye to the house because they weren't sure that his septic came out there. I think we all knew better but the town has to follow their procedures. It ended up that the cesspool was bad. My neighbor, who mellowed slightly after this, said his estimate was $8900 to repair his septic. Needless to say I was very happy. I got rid of the stench and health hazard and got restitution for the two girls that I lost. J On top of that the neighbor speaks!

Some of the “girls “at the feed trough.

The litter I am using in the picture is sawdust. It was at the time quite inexpensive, but I only assume the value has risen sharply with the new stoves that use wood pellets as the sawdust is an ideal material to use in making the pellets.