Chicken Run Updates

I had to move the food tube away from the back of the cage to keep from feeding the squirrels!

A couple photos of the run.  I noticed that the chickens were devouring the food.  I had recently changed from the Layena Crumbles to the Layena Pellets.  At first, I thought the chickens were eating the larger food pellets at the same rate they were eating the smaller crumbles.  But one afternoon I was watching the chickens from inside the house and noticed the neighbor hood squirrel was grabbing the food through the fencing!  The chickens weren't gorging themselves, the squirrel was stealing the pellets!  Needless to say, I now have start paying attention to how I was placing the food tube against the back of the fencing.  

Evidence of the chickens escape attempt by digging a tunnel under the coop!  ;)

Another note about the chicken run is the bottom of the run.  When I built the run, I placed stapled wire fencing along the bottom of the frame and under all the rock.  Click here to see the buried fencing.  After reading about several people who did the same kind of thing to keep predators from digging under the coop IN the run.  I noticed today, that the chickens were actually digging inside the coop!  I never thought the wire fencing would be used to keeping the chickens from digging OUT of the coop!  ;)

18 Weeks/Feed

The chickens turned 18 weeks and are really big!  Its not just their size, but their appetite too.  When they were just little chicks, it took 12 weeks to go through a 25lb bag of the Start&Grow chick feed.  Now as they are a little older, it took 6 weeks to go through the same bag!  I equate the change in feeding a baby boy to feeding a teenage boy.  :)

But now that they are about ready to lay eggs, its time to switch their feed.  I stopped by the Golden Mill yesterday and picked up a 50 lb bag of the Purina Layena crumbles. They say to start the chickens on the Layena about 1 month before they start laying eggs and keep them on the feed through their laying cycle. It sounds like a good feed for them because its free of animal proteins and fats too to help the chickens made strong good tasting eggs.  

I also picked up some straw to start geting their nest box ready.  The chicks have been digging in the mulch around the yard a lot more and its start to look like a war zone with all the random bomb blast holes chicken holes in the mulch.  Since its been a bit cooler lately, I'm taking the behavior as they are starting to feel like nesting.  I'll post some photos of the nest box as soon as I get the straw in.

Speaking of straw, I had to buy a bale of straw...  its quite a bit for my three chickens.  What do others do to store their extra straw?  Is it worth trying to save the unused amount of straw?

Chicken Tetherball

When you read the blog post, you probably had one of two ideas.

1 - Two chickens playing tether ball against each other

2 - Two kids playing tetherball with chicken instead of a ball

Well, if you are a reader of this blog, hopefully you had idea #1!

Another blogger sent me a link a couple months ago about what chicken eat.  Its a good read with some helpful info, good ideas for treats (like a lettuce tetherball) and a funny story. Check it out, chicken heads!

http://gardenally.blogspot.com/2012/04/chickens-love-treats.html

Feeder

This post is nothing more then a photo of the 3 chicks eating from the feeder.  When I made the feeder, I questioned putting in 3 holes in it as opposed to one long tray.  From what I saw today, it looks like the 3 holes is working well for the girls.  When they eat, Belle usually tries to take feed or worms or watermelon from the others.  With the 3 holes in the feeder, they each can eat in peace.

Chick treats

The chicks have been enjoying these mealworms as evening treats.  How much would you pay for a bag of dead worms...  I thought $4-$5 was reasonable, but the bag sells for almost $9!  Man, thats the price of a good burger!  I hope the chicks enjoy their treats.

Waterer

The chicks learning to use their new waterer

I bought this 5 gallon waterer for the chicks about 3 weeks ago from a guy on Craigslist. Since I finally got the coop & run finished and it was about 98deg today in Golden, I finally got the bucket hung for the girls. I hung it and they didn't look at it for a couple hours. I finally got in the run and took each chick and put their beaks right under the nipple.  I came back an hour or so later, and the above photo is what I saw.  So happy that I don't have to fill their little waterer twice a day, and that the chickens have as much water as they need.  I know during the winter I will need to figure out how to keep the water from freezing, but I'll leave that for a project in October.  Stay cool!

10 weeks

Mermaid, Princess Aurora and Bell - 10 weeks old

The chicks turned 10 weeks just a few days ago.  They are in the their coop at night and spending their days in the run.  I am excited because we are now about 1/2 to getting eggs and I hope to be eating some fresh eggs in early September.  The chicks are eating a ton now and drinking lots of water in these hot days.  As I was cutting up a watermelon for the family, I thought I would give them the rinds and they loved it.  I hope to start giving them more of our leftovers now.

The chicks digging into the gravel to find a cool place to lay

The chicks pecking at watermelon

Chick Feeder

Chick feeder with cap off

I built my own chick feeder from 3" PVC piping this week.  It took about 5 minutes to build and $14 worth of materials.  The goal is to allow enough food for the chicks to be ok for a couple days with out attendance to their feed, while keeping their feed dry and allowing external access to their feed.   I used a 2 1/4" hole saw.  Another chick owner made a similar feeder and used 3" hole saw to give the chickens enough room for their combs.  I have plenty of PVC left over, so I am going to see if these holes are big enough for the girls and cut another one if the chicks have trouble with the holes.  I'll post photos of it in the finished run when completed.

Chick feeder with cap on

Craigslist Items

I don't enjoy shopping, whether is for clothes or food, but for some reason I can easily get lost in Craigslist.  I have bought and sold lots of stuff on the site and think its a super useful tool on the web.  I look up bikes, cars, electronics and most recently, chickens and coops. I can across these two ads.

Chicken Coop Feeder

http://denver.craigslist.org/grd/3007348461.html

Chicken Coop Waterer

http://denver.craigslist.org/grd/3007336045.html

I really like these.  I don't necessarily want to go out and refill the chicks feeder and water every day so I like the idea of being able to store a couple pounds of feed and gallons of water. While, the feeder looks incredible easy to build, I think I may buy the waterer from the guy.  I dont know where to source the nipples from and when it comes to getting the chicks water, I don't want make a mistake or build anything that leaks. I also like meeting and supporting Craigslist people.  When working on my VW, I met a guy about 4 years ago and has now become one of my good car buddies. I'll let you know how the purchase goes and how my own feeder tube comes along.