Chicken raising tips

We had another great permablitz on Sunday, building a chicken coop and digging out veggie patches. One of the permablitz facilitators ran a workshop on chicken raising, so here are some things to keep in mind.

1. Chickens are social creatures. They naturally live in groups where there is a strict social hierarchy. When you first get your chickens, they'll bully one another but within a week or so, they should establish their pecking order and the bullying should stop. It's best to let them sort it out, even if the pecking gets a little rough. Chickens have a short memory though and only remember up to 25 individuals, so if you have more than 25 chickens, the social pecking order will never get established and the bullying will always happen. To avoid this and have healthier chickens, either raise less than 25 chickens in the same space or have enough room for smaller groups to form. When new chickens are introduced to the group, the bullying will continue for another week until the new pecking order is established. It might be a good idea to introduce two new chickens at once so that the bullying isn't focused on one individual.
   
   
2. Chickens remember where home is. To get your chickens to associate home with the coop you've made for them, keep them there for the first few days and don't let them out. From then onward, your chickens should always return to their coop to rest at night. If you move homes, the chickens won't have a problem if you do the same re-association exercise with the new coop.
   
   
3. In addition to the coop area where eggs are laid and the chicken run where your chickens roam freely, it's a good idea to have an intermediate fenced off fox-proof area/straw yard connected to the coop. This straw yard should give your chickens access to grass and water where they can do their scratching and chicken business without the risk of predators and without you opening the gate to the chicken coop every morning. It doesn't have to be too big, but it should be big enough to keep your chickens sufficiently happy and well fed/watered even if you didn't let them into the larger chicken run for several days (giving you the option of going away for the weekend without worrying about the chickens). It's also a good way of giving your chickens something to do when they get up in the morning before you come and open the latch to the chicken coop (chickens get very cranky if you don't let them out).
   
   
4. The chicken coop should be close to the house and have an easily opened latch to collect eggs from. It should also provide a roofed area from the rain for the chickens and ideally not be drafty in the winter time so the chickens can keep warm. The chicken straw yard needs to be fox-proofed via chicken wire. Fox-proofing requires digging out and placing wire about 10 cm down and 20-30 cm out from the coop. Living in the city doesn't mean there aren't going to be foxes, so make sure the area is well secured.
   
   
5. The chicken straw yard can also serve as a compost area. Instead of having a separate compost bin, you can layer straw on the grass/floor of the area and dispose of your kitchen scraps on top. The chickens will eat what they want from the kitchen scraps, turn over the rest (good for compost), and add their chicken droppings, which makes excellent manure. All of this can be used as fertilizer for the garden and it saves the energy of having to overturn and maintain the compost bin yourself.
   
   
6. Make sure that your chicken straw yard and chicken run have some shaded areas. Chickens don't take to overheating too well and will spend most of their time on hot days in the shade of fruit trees or whatever shade is available. Cool water is also essential.
   
   
7. Besides kitchen scraps, chickens love eating greens and bugs. They will scratch at the grass and any other green vegetables you might have, so be wary of including your vegetable patch in the chicken run. The chickens do make good lawn mowers though - one effective way of doing this is to create a moveable chicken run "tunnel" that can be moved from one end of the garden to the other, mowing the grass as the chickens dig up bugs. Any bugs you find from your weeding can be given to the chickens as grub. Keep in mind though that chickens can't survive on just greens and bugs - the bulk of their food comes from grains, either seed mix or pellets. Pellets can contain ambiguous oxides, but they are less messy than seeds.
   
   
8. Chickens may dig up lead or heavy metals in the ground from their scratching and may ingest it. If you are concerned about the soil quality or have a very active chicken coop where grass is torn out faster than it can grow back, you can try several things. Rotating where your chicken run is gives a chance for grass to grow back (thus preventing soil from being dug up by the chickens as they search for bugs). You can also put a sheet of shade cloth or other material on top of the soil/grass and layer the straw and kitchen scraps on top of that to prevent the chickens from accessing the soil. Testing the soil for contaminations is also a good idea in general, if only to know what the metal concentrations are and what vegetables can be safely planted.
   
   
9. Make sure your chickens are vaccinated, wormed, and deloused. There are a number of diseases that the chicken should be vaccinated against before purchase, including Marek's disease, fowl pox, infectious bronchitis and Newcastle disease. The two most common diseases are
   
   Coccidiosis: pale combs, loss of condition, blood in droppings, drooping wings. This can be treated with an appropriate coccidiostat medication.
   
   Respiratory problems: typical symptoms such as a runny nose, coughing, watery eyes or swollen face. Antibiotics are available.
   
   
10. For laying hens, the best age to buy is around 6 months, otherwise known as the pullet hens, when they are just about to lay. Laying hens are most productive in their first 2-5 years. Typically, they live to 9 years, but some have been known to live to 13-15 years.
    
    
11. There are many different breeds of chicken, all with their advantages and disadvantages, such as looks, size, ability to scratch, laying, temperament, etc. Likewise, there are many places to buy chickens. Check for local small farm/neighborhood breeders.