Cleaning the Hen House

Keeping backyard chickens does not have to be complicated or difficult.  If you're able to let your chickens out in a run or to free-range, it's even easier.  An important part of having chickens is to provide them with a shelter that is safe, draft-free and clean in order to keep them healthy and productive. 

Keeping Chickens in the Winter

In southwestern Pennsylvania, our winters can range anywhere from mild to blizzard conditions, dipping into the 'teens at times. Keeping chickens during the winter months is really not any more difficult than the rest of the year.  You just need to be attentive, observant, committed, and provide what they need--the same as the rest of the year, right?  Except that, the needs are a little different in the winter.

Maple Grove Chickie-Babes are Meyer Models

Meyer Hatchery Catalog

I am so eggcited (tickled pink, actually) that the Maple Grove Chickie-Babes are models for the Meyer Hatchery Catalog.  The photo above shows two of our Chickies representing their breeds in the new catalog: "Henny Ha-Ha," our New Hampshire Red and "Aussie Umbra," our Black Australorp.

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Brooding Chickens

  
We received our second brood of chicks from Meyer Hatchery. This is what they looked like when they arrived, only one day old. Such cute little fluff balls!  For the first month we kept them inside the house in this large plastic storage bin with pine shavings for litter. Since we were keeping them indoors, we didn't use a brooder lamp as is recommended, but we did keep them in a small, well-heated bedroom where we could close the door and keep them warm and draft-free. We placed their brooding box next to a heating register and used a thermometer to check and make sure the temperature was just right for them. I'm not suggesting this is the best way to brood baby chicks, but I am saying we have successfully brooded two flocks in this heated room without a brooder lamp.

Why Chickens Take Dust Baths

Any chicken keeper can tell you it's a pretty common sight to see chickens laying or rolling around in the dirt. It's called a "dust bath."

Eggs of a Different Color

Photo by Newlyweds Blog

People sometimes make the common mistake of thinking that white chickens lay white eggs and brown chickens lay brown eggs. In actuality, most egg shells are formed white with a layer of color pigment (usually some shade of brown) added in the late stage of egg production.

Maple Grove Featured in Your Chickens Magazine

Your Chickens magazine has been very popular in the United Kingdom, "packing every issue with real life stories and expert help and advice from chicken keepers for chicken keepers.  It is THE magazine for back garden henkeepers"   In February, Your Chickens will be available in the United States for the first time, and I am so pleased to announce that Maple Grove is featured in this premier issue!  

We are very excited at Maple Grove about introducing our Chickie-Babes to the United Kingdom and the United States through Your Chicken magazine. I hope you'll head out to your local Tractor Supply Store in mid-February to pick up your copy. You can sign up for a hard copy or digital subscription at the Your Chicken's website. Be sure to visit the Your Chickens Facebook page and tell them Maple Grove sent you.

Best wishes and happy reading from the Chickie-Babes!

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Why Chickens Eat Grit

Della Barker and Buffy Sentinel are foraging on the stone sidewalk.  Besides nibbling on
chickweed and grass, they will pick up little granules of stone to aid in digesting their food.

A chicken's diet should include plenty of available grit.  Not "grits," the corn-based porridge commonly served in the South, but "grit"--tiny hard granules of stone or sand.  Chickens don't have teeth, so they pick up food with their beaks, swallow it, and store it in their crop.  The crop is a vital organ located just beneath the neck against the breast, just to the right of center. The food is stored in the crop before passing down to the small stomach and gizzard where it is broken down and digested.  When a chicken's crop is full, you'll see a bulge in the chest area.

Print Your Own Egg Cartons

We keep chickens for the fresh nutritional eggs.  With six hens, we get four to six eggs a day, more than we need for our personal use.  We don't sell our eggs, but we love to share them with our family and friends.  We think it's fun to give them a carton or half-carton of eggs with our homestead's name printed on it.  We buy printed cardboard cartons, but rather than pay extra to have them customized with our name, we add  it to the cartons ourselves with  a rubber stamp that we had made and an ink pad.  We cut small blocks of wood to fit inside the lids to give us a firm surface for stamping.  Those we give eggs to always get a kick out of seeing "Maple Grove" stamped on the outside of the carton.  There are many places where you can buy egg cartons and rubber stampers.  We purchased our stamp kit and cartons at EggCartons.com.  (We don't receive anything in return for mentioning them; it just happens to be where we shopped, and we pass that information on to our friends.) I have since seen egg cartons at Tractor Supply for half the price.  Shop around for the best price.  Happy stamping and sharing!

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Egg Laying Breakthrough

We had an egg-laying breakthrough at Maple Grove this week!  Four out of the six chickens that were hatched in April are now laying.  Just when I thought that the three delayed layers were going to hold off until after winter, Henny Haha pulled through seven weeks behind the three who were already laying. We still have two who are not laying, but we're currently getting four eggs a day from six chickens. In the middle of November, we're very happy with that!

If you're still waiting for your spring chicks to lay, don't give up yet.  The tell-tale signs of them being ready hold true, so watch for them.  A couple of days ago, I saw Henny coming out of the nesting box, and yesterday she squatted for the first time when I approached her.  Today she joined the big girl club and laid her first egg.  Yeah, Henny--way to go!  You can read more about signs of hens about to lay in my post on Egg Laying Training Week. 

Vintage Nesting Boxes

"Buffy" setting in the nesting box.

Our nesting boxes were gifted to me by a friend, which makes them extra special.  She retrieved them from her aunt's old vintage hen house.  This is a simply constructed box with four compartments, two face boards to form the frontals of the nests, and two perches for the hens to use for support when entering the nests.

Since this relic was old and dirty, we gave it a good power-washing and disinfected it with a natural enzyme disinfectant to kill off any mites, lice, fleas or ticks that may have settled in. (We used Manna Pro Poultry Protector.)  We left the boxes out in the sun to thoroughly dry out, and then we screwed them onto the wall of our hen house.

We filled the nests with straw and sprinkled them with diatomaceous earth, which is safe for chickens but effectively controls all sorts of pesty bugs, such as cockroaches, ants, earwigs, silverfish, fleas, crickets, millipedes and centipedes. We also sprinkle DE on the floor of the hen house.

Since hens like their privacy when laying eggs, I made curtains for the boxes out of old vintage seed bags.  I cut them to a suitable length and hemmed them on a sewing machine so that the hens wouldn't get their feet caught in any frayed edges.

I like vintage.  I like re-purposing old things. I like "free." And I really like my chickens!

Chickens and Children

I keep a small flock of six hens for the fresh, nutritional eggs they provide for our family.  They are beautiful, interesting creatures who entertain us with their antics and amaze us with their instinctive behaviors.  I love keeping chickens. It would be easy to think of them as pets; I've even given them each a name.  First and foremost, however, I always keep in mind that our chickens are barnyard (or backyard) fowl.

Egg Laying Training Week

Chickens don't need to be trained how to lay eggs.  By God's perfect design and creation, this happens quite naturally without our intervention.  Chickens don't need humans to teach them how to lay eggs. But, God did give humans "dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth.” (Genesis 1:26).

So it's not out of necessity, but for our convenience that we train chickens WHERE to lay their eggs, so that we don't have to have an egg hunt every day, looking among the shrubs and flowers and brush to collect our investment.

As my young chickens approached 22 weeks of age, I knew to start watching for signs that they were ready to begin laying eggs.  I knew this, because it's like clock work, this amazing design.  It is, indeed, amazing that a hen releases an egg yolk that grows in size as it travels down the oviduct, is wrapped with the egg white, then a membrane, then the shell.  Finally a color pigment is deposited on the shell before it reaches the vent and is released.  And this re-occurs about every 24 hours in a normal, healthy hen.

Breakfast of Champions

Everyone benefits from eating a good breakfast, including chickens!  The Chickie-Babes look forward to beginning each day with a wholesome breakfast. I mix up and store this combo in a clean 5-gallon bucket with a lid.  Then each morning I serve up a large scoopful to the Babes.

Breakfast of Champions

• 7 lb. cracked corn
• 5 lb. sunflower seed hearts
• 5 lb. Manna Pro Poultry Conditioner (contains flax seeds)
• 3 lb. rolled oats

Hey Mikey, they like it!

The Chickie-Babes are some healthy gals.  Year-round they receive a daily regimen of layer mix with added calcium, and most days they free-range so they can forage for greens and insects.  This little treat in the morning increases their health potential by protecting their digestive and immune systems and giving them a boost of energy. These photos were taken when the Chickie-Babes were 15 weeks old, before they began laying eggs.

The evidence of excellent health is a brightening of color and shine in their feathers, eyes, wattles and combs.

Fast-forward seven weeks.  These beautiful pullets are 22 weeks old in this photo and have just begun to lay eggs.  They are healthy and energetic.  When I bring their breakfast to them in the morning, they get excited, and the chow it down.  Their coats are smooth and shiny, and I would say their healthy breakfast has contributed to their vitality!  

In the winter, since there is not as much forage available, the Chickie-Babes get a scoop of the Champion mix in the evening too. This stimulates their digestive systems, which burns some digestive fuel and helps to keep them warmer through the cold nights.  (Tip:  I also can lure them into the hen house anytime I want to by leading them with a little scoop of the mix.  They love it!)

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Talking Chicken

Not so many years ago, it was very common for people to keep chickens in their yards. Most people had them.  My grandparents did, and since I got chickens, my Dad loves to tell me chicken stories from his youth. I think most homes back then had chickens, and all of the men and women knew how to raise and feed them, gather the eggs, slaughter and clean the fowl.  During the World Wars, there was propaganda encouraging people to tend chickens for the war efforts.

Free-Range Chickens

If chickens are able to run free and forage at will, that is really the ideal situation for happy, healthy chicks.  Not every setting or situation is ideal for free-ranging though, and the decision has to be made with a great deal of fore-thought.  Our chickens are some pretty happy gals because they get to free-range all day.  We have one of those ideal settings.  We have three acres for them to roam on; our hen house is centrally located on the property, so they pretty much stay within our boundaries.  (Chickens will usually roam within about 200 feet of their roost.)   While no area is ever predator-free, our setting does not have a high-pressure predator threat.  It's always a risk to let chickens free-range, just like it's a risk to let your cats run free or let your dog off a leash.  It's a personal decision that each flock owner has to assess and make.  I've kept free-range chickens for many years without incident and believe it's the right thing for us.

 I'm willing to take the risk of letting our chickens roam because they are happier, healthier chickens in the long run, and the eggs they produce are more nutritious. I do take some precautions and responsibilities, however.  I don't let them out if I'm not going to be home, and when they are out, my ears are tuned to listening for unfamiliar or alarming sounds.  One day I heard them squawking, and I ran out to investigate.  They had run under a pine tree for safety, but when they saw me in the yard, they ran from the tree to where I was standing as if they knew I was their guardian and protector.  I pay especially close attention to their whereabouts at dusk, because that's when night predators become more active.

When the chicks were first moved into the coop, I didn't let them out for a couple of weeks so they would feel at home there. Now that they free-range, I don't let them out until about 11:00 in the morning.  I go and visit them at the run each morning with a good breakfast and let them spend the morning hours in the coop and run so they can take care of their nesting duties and develop attachments to the comforts of their home.

In the afternoon, I let them out to free-range.  They develop a routine, and at any given time of the day, I am pretty sure where they will be.  They have their favorite foraging spots, their favorite shade spots for resting, and their favorite dirt pits for dust-bathing.

After free-ranging for several hours, when the sun goes down these weary girls head back home. It's like clock work.  If I'm in a hurry and want to speed them up a bit, I go down to their coop ahead of them.  They are used to me giving them food there, so they come running when they see me heading in that direction.  When I feed them I always say, "C'mon chickies, pretty chickies."  They are very familiar with that call and associate it with food, so I can always get them to come by calling out.

When they arrive "home" in the evening, they go in the house on their own.  At the beginning, I had to sort of herd them in by just standing back a distance and slowly moving in toward them.  Now I just have to stand there.  They know the drill and fall in.  Chickens appreciate and respond very well to consistent routines. Who says chickens can't be trained?

When they go inside their house, they might pause for a drink of water or a bite of layer mix, but then they go out into the run for a bit.  They're not quite ready to "turn in," but they are ready to relax.

As much as these gals love to free-range, they also love their run.  That's where they get their breakfast, and that's where they like to go in the evening and relax on the outside perches.  It sort of reminds me of how I feel in the evening when I finally get to sit in the recliner chair and let my breath out.  You know that feeling of unwinding at the end of the day. That's what chickens like to do too.

And when dusk turns to dark, they go inside the house and climb onto their roost for a good night's sleep.  They like to cuddle close together, and they all want on that top perch.  I've noticed that Buffy seems to be their quiet, gentle guardian/leader. She's not aggressive in her leadership, but she is very watchful.  She is always one of the first to arrive at the house but stands outside the door until everyone else goes in.  I think she does a head count.  When they climb on the perches, she will stand back and let them all find their places, and then she will squeeze in.  Ruby, the RIR is usually the one who will scoot over and make room for her.  I always do a head count myself to make sure everyone is "home sweet home" before I close and lock their door for the night.

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Discovering the Great Outdoors

We moved our little flock of chickens from the brooder to a pen in the garage when they were four weeks old.  At eight weeks, we moved them into the hen house with an attached outdoor run.  They spent four weeks getting to know and love their new home.  At 12 weeks old, we felt they were large enough and well adjusted to their environment, and that's when we let the young ladies out to free-range for the first time. Enjoy the grand outdoors!

  
And there they go!

So much to enjoy!

Love that clover!

Uh, oh . . . they discover flower beds!

So tired out from that morning stroll!

They're free-rangers now! Lucky chicks.

    

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Vintage Hen House Design

When we got our first flock of chickens, we knew virtually nothing about coop designs.  We spent a lot of time researching, reading, and gleaning what we thought were the most important features. After designing and building our hen house, we named it "Cluckingham Palace."

I wanted the hen house to have a vintage appearance as if it had been there for years. We intentionally built it right next to an existing tree so that the chickens would have some shade. We  laid some landscaping fabric and pea gravel around the house to make it easier to mow the grass around it. We planted climbing rose shrubs under the front and side windows. We're hoping they will do well and eventually grace the hen house with some beautiful blooms.

Our hen house is 6'x8'.  A friend of ours who owns an antique store donated the old doors and windows which really add to the vintage look. By hanging the windows with hinges "awning style," we can prop them open even when it's raining.

Good ventilation in the hen house is very important for circulating the air and releasing heat and moisture.  Chickens give off moisture from their respiration and droppings.  If the coop is not ventilated, this moisture can cause freezing conditions in the winter. The droppings can give off ammonia if the moisture begins to decompose it. Ventilation (usually screened openings) should be placed above roost level on opposite walls of the coop to provide cross-ventilation, allowing moisture to escape and fresh air to replace the old. The more chickens that are in the coop, the more ventilation you need.  We placed four ventilation openings (two each on front and back sides) cut into the underneath side of the overhangs and covered with screening material and register covers.  This house is not insulated and has no electricity (no heating), but stays comfortable year-round for the chickens because it has good ventilation but no drafty openings. The tree provides shade in the summer, and the four windows (one on each wall) provide some solar heat in the winter.

The perches where they roost at night are on the right side. Under the perches is a "poop pit." Chickens poop a lot when they are sleeping. 99% of their droppings will be under the perches. We surrounded it with 2"x4" welded fencing so they can't walk in it, but the droppings mostly fall through it.. You can see a half-door on the back wall behind the poop pit that is an access for cleaning it.

The rest of the hen house floor stays relatively clean. We use a thick layer of straw on the floor and replace it only twice a year. The perches are hinged to the back wall so we can lift them when we are cleaning out the hen house. 

• Update:  I can't stress enough how effective the poop pit is for keeping the hen house clean.  No one likes to look at poop, but nevertheless, I added this photo taken several months later to show you proof of how the droppings are contained in the poop pit while the rest of the floor is clean.  Because the droppings are protected in the pit, they stay dry and there is no foul odor in the house.  It's only when the droppings get wet that they release the over-powering smell of ammonia. (Look how much the Chickie-Babes have grown!)

The feeder is sitting on top of a concrete block to raise it to a comfortable height for the chickens. It is secured to the ceiling with a chain. The combination of the chain and the block helps to keep it stable and in place. We drilled a hole in the bottom of a plastic coffee container and slipped the chain through it. Hanging something above the feeder keeps the chickens from jumping up on top of the feeder and pulling it down.

The back of the hen house has a half-door that opens so that we can periodically clean out the poop pit. We just rake it out into a wheel barrow and dump it onto a compost pile. Chicken manure is an excellent fertilizer, but you have to let it sit for a few months before using it or it will burn out your plants.

The poop pit is a wooden frame wrapped in 2"x4" chicken fencing with a loose board laying on the floor. We can slide out the floor and the framed fencing through the access door to give them a thorough cleaning. It is not attached to the perches.

This is the back of the hen house showing the half-door access to the poop pit. On the side of the house there is a hatch opening with a ramp that goes down into the attached outdoor run On the left side of the run you see a swinging gate where we can enter the run when necessary (albeit bent over).

The wooden box in the run has sand in it. The chickens eat this "grit" to help digest their food. They could also use this box of sand for their dust baths, but they prefer to dig a hole in the dirt instead. Chickens love to roll around in the dirt (dust bathe) which actually does clean them by getting rid of excess oils, fleas and mites.

This is a front view of the attached run. It wraps around the tree so they get the benefit of the shade. There is a perch for them in the front of the run. We also dragged a sturdy branch into the run that they love to climb on. We attached a small roof above the hatch opening to keep rain from going inside the house.

The nesting boxes are on the left side of the hen house, along with the water feeder. I made curtains out of old seed bags for the nesting boxes, because they do like their privacy when laying. I placed a golf ball in each nest to train the new flock where to lay their eggs.

This is an inside view of the hatch that leads out to the run. The hatch has a door that slides up and down and is attached by a rope to pulleys. I can just reach inside the front door and grab the rope to open or close the hatch door.

This little backyard flock enjoys their home, and we sure enjoy them!  Keeping a backyard flock is not hard once you get everything set up. It takes commitment to visiting them daily, replenishing their food and water and gathering the eggs. Because our chickens have regular access to the outdoors as free range chickens, and because of our "poop pit" and deep straw litter system, we only have to clean out the house every six months. We find the work to be minimal and the rewards to be huge: namely, fresh nutritional eggs and a friendly flock that entertains us.

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