Lesson Learned

Lesson learned: Never leave your dog outside with your chickens unattended. 

Our dog, Savannah, had been doing so well with the chickens last Sunday - she had been out in the backyard with them most of the day.  So on Monday night, I let the chickens out of their coop and thought that I would leave them out while I went to work out.  I also left Savannah outside to "protect" the chickens from any predators.  Guess I didn't think she would be the one attacking them...

Luckily Grant got home before I did.  It had only been about a half an hour since I had left, but he came home to find Savannah winging poor Grey around like one of her toys.  He thought the chick was dead for sure.  Savannah had her by the neck and there was blood on the chicken's face and neck and on Savannah too.  He quick saved Grey from Savannah and put her back in the coop.

He warned me when I got home, that it might look worse than it actually is.  Poor Grey was huddled up and sleeping when I went out to the coop.  Her feathers were all matted down around her neck and the only open wound was on her left ear.  Savannah must have chomped down around her ear because there was just one small puncture wound.  I cleaned out the wound with warm water and soap.   I also put some Neosporin over the wound to try to keep it from getting infected.  She was so scared that she let me hold her while cleaning out the wound.  She didn't even try to escape.  As I was holding her, she looked up at me with the saddest eyes.  I felt like a horrible mom!  Poor thing was traumatized. 

At first I thought it would be important to keep her with the other chickens, but then I realized she was in shock.  She was sleeping all the time.  When I took her out of the coop on Tuesday evening, she was sleeping while standing up.  I read online that shock is a very common result of being attacked.  She needed to be separated and put in a dark, warm spot so that she could heal.  So I put her back in the cage I had used when they were babies, and covered it with a blanket.  She slept for 2 days.  

I was also worried because she did not seem to be eating or drinking.  On Wednesday morning, I tried something new and finally got her to eat Greek yogurt.  Of all things!  She ate the yogurt out of my hand and then after a little while, I mixed in crushed corn.  On Wednesday night - she finally pooped! I had never been so happy to see my chicken poop.  I also cleaned her wound again - this time with hydrogen peroxide.  This seemed to help the wound heal very quickly.  It also helped that she was in a very clean and dry environment.  By Thursday morning she was pecking around in the grass and was flapping her wings again.  I put her back in the coop on Thursday afternoon.  

Since then, she has been acting normal and seems to be eating just fine.  In fact, she is the only one that runs right over to me when I walk out in the yard.  I like to think it's because she loves me, but I think she is just hoping for some yogurt :)   

Who's Hungry?

Just another Sunday morning at the Steed house....

When we first got the chickens I wasn't sure what to expect with what they would eat or how much, but honestly it has been quite easy.  We got a 50 lb. bag of "starter feed" when we first got them and that lasted a little over a month for the 5 chicks. 

After they were about 4 to 5 weeks old, I started giving them small pieces of iceberg lettuce and they loved it! 

We now give them almost any of our produce "scraps" such as green and red bell peppers, asparagus stems, squash, strawberry tops, the ends of romaine lettuce, etc.  And they eat it all!  They love their iceberg lettuce treat I give them every night. 

And then of course, they are out of the chicken coop most of the day, roaming free in the back yard and they hunt and peck at the ground all day - eating grass and whatever bugs they can find. 

One of the old wives tales say that birds eat 2 times their body weight in food a day.  I thought no way could that be true - but man, watching these chickens eat and gobble up the lettuce right out of my hand, I bet it is true

As the chickens continue to grow and eat more and more, I am so glad that I am raising my own chickens and will know exactly what went into the chicks so that they can produce and lay healthy eggs.  Sure makes me think twice about what is in those eggs we buy from Krogers... just some food for thought.  No pun intended :)

And here's the beautiful sunset from our backyard tonight...

Backyard Adventure

So we finally made the move.  The chickens are plenty big enough and definitely have all of their feathers - so even with the colder temps at night they are just fine!  I mean think about all of the birds that live the whole winter outside and don't have someone to provide their food and water for them every day.  These chicks have it made in the shade! well right now they have it made in the heat lamp, but you know what I mean...
 

We put the coop along the back side of the fence.  And as you might be able to see - we do still have the heat lamp inside the coop and turn it on at night. 

But before we moved the coop outside, we introduced them to the BIG backyard.  We also wanted to make sure that Savannah didn't try to eat the chicks!  We needed to let them roam around the back yard so Savannah would realize that yep, she will be sharing her domain with these little creatures! So last Friday night, Savannah and the chicks met face to face, without any cage/wire in between.  Luckily, everyone is still alive :) 

It's funny because they pretty much stayed all right next to each other the whole time - even though they had TONS of space to run and fly around.  At least I don't have to worry about them running away??

Savannah did try and grab one of them by the neck.... which could have been really bad.  But I think that is the only way she knows how to pick any small animal up.  That's how she would hold a puppy - right?  Grant was convinced that she was ready to eat the little one, but I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt. 

Here is a video that shows just how close they stuck to each other, despite their free reign of the whole backyard.  Enjoy!

PS.  Next post will be on their diet.  Sneak peak: so far they are loving green bell peppers!

The Coop

The chickens were out growing their little cage in the garage.  So we had to make some moves and find a chicken coop.  I had looked at quite a few online, many had mixed reviews.  Also, I really wanted one that was hand made by some one local (preferably local only because of the crazy shipping costs for delivery from out of state).  Plus the coops online required assembly - I mean I don't know about you, but putting together a chicken coop did not sound like the most exciting or easiest thing to me... Right up there with buying a dresser that requires assembly.  Yes, I am speaking from experience.

Here is my dream chicken coop.  Maybe one day we can build one like this, but there was no way I was dropping $1,000+ on a house for my chickens.  YIKES.  But I will say great customer service - he responded same day to my inquiry about specific pricing.  Many options available at The Green Chicken Coop.

Anyways, Grant was out "running around" with his Dad a couple weekends ago and they happened to stop at Bethel Feed and Supply.   They had a nice size, hand made chicken coop for sale.  I wasn't sure if the size was going to be big enough, but it had wheels and handles (kind of like a wheel barrel) for easy movement around the yard.  We felt this would be our best option.

The coop has two nesting areas for the chicks, once they are ready to start laying.  And everything I have read, says that chickens can share but usually only like 2 chickens to a nester.  So this should be about right for us. 

Right now the chicken coop is in our garage so the chickies can stay nice and warm.  Thanks to the silly Cincinnati weather, that can't make up it's mind... That means no garage parking spot for me :(  According to my research, chickens must be fully feathered before you can leave them outside permanently.  And the weather should only be getting into the 40s at night, so that their body temp doesn't drop too low.  Fun fact: A chicken's body temp is above 100 degrees F.  And that is how they are able to warm the eggs enough so that they hatch.  Makes sense but never thought of that before. 

I have introduced the chicks to our yard during the days and they love it! Check out this video...

Hoping that spring decides to arrive sooner rather than later. xoxo.

Growing Up...

My baby chicks are already getting so big! Within the first two weeks, I think they almost doubled in size.  I am out of the country, traveling for work this week, and I know when I return on Friday, they will be even bigger. 

That being said, the are truly outgrowing their cage.  I am pretty sure that they no longer need the heat lamp.  Although with Cincinnati weather, it could be snowing again next week - so who knows!  Either way, I do not want them to be overcrowded in the cage and start to pick on each other purely because they do  not have enough space.  We finally purchased a chicken coop, which just arrived earlier this week. 
Pictures of the chicken coop will be coming soon :)

The coop will give them plenty of space, but is it too early to put the chicks outside in the coop for good?  I know they need to get their feathers before they can handle the cold weather, so I am a little hesitant.  They are about 5 weeks old right now. Any thoughts??

Anyways, last week I took them out to our yard for the first time and decided to take individual pics of the chicks.  So here are the stars of my blog...

Izzie

My sweet Izzie is the timid one of the bunch.  She is the lowest in the pecking order, but she seems to be the one with the most meat on her bones, so I am not too worried.  She is the only chick that lets me pet her and doesn't run like crazy when I try to catch her. 

O'Malley

O'Malley is the smallest one of the bunch.  She has spunk and is a quick little one.  At first, I thought she would be the one they pick on, but she always fights to get her share of lettuce. 

Grey

She stands tallest and walks around with her chest out.  She is a very pretty chick.  She is fast and sneaky - by far the hardest chick to catch! She will literally have me running in circles around the yard! She is the ring leader.

Lexi

Looks just like her sister, Grey, and very similar in nature.  However, she is not as sure of her path and is less speedy.  Since she is so tall, she will jump up to the top of the cage trying to grab the lettuce right out of my hand. 

Spooks

Spooks is the only Golden Laced Wyandotte of the bunch.  Along with Grey, she is the other ring leader.  I was worried that she would get singled out from the group since she was the only one that was a different breed.  But actually it seems that all the chicks do as Spooks does.  She LOVES to dig and scratch up everything in the cage.  Thus she is the messiest chick :) Drives me crazy!

They are starting to look more like chickens and less like little chicks - what do you think?

Trying Something New

The first thing people ask me when I tell them I got baby chicks is "Why?" And my go to response has been "For the eggs".  Which is partially true, but the real answer is because I wanted to try something new, something different, something out of my comfort zone.  I had done some research online and determined a few good breeds of chickens that would be good layers and would be docile (well as docile as chickens can be). 

I found a lady on craigslist, which for those of you that know Grant, he is an avid craigslister!  And she was selling several different types of chickens.  I looked into them and decided to get a few of the Light Brahmas she had for sale. 

Picture of Light Brahma chicken

I read as much as I could online about raising baby chicks and what I would need to get started.  I went to the pet store and bought a guinea pig cage, and went to the Reading Feed and Seed store to buy starter chick food, a feeder, and a waterer.  Oh and I also went to the hardware store to buy a heat lamp. 

Our baby chick set-up



Apparently with each week, the price of chicks increases... by a dollar.  So on February 24th, Grant and I made the drive down to good old Kentucky to get our baby chicks!  As we were driving I asked Grant "Did I make a mistake?" And he casually said "No"  I told him I was nervous and of course I was.  Going to get chickens?!?!  What was I thinking?  With everything going on in our lives right now, why would I want to add another thing to take care of?  Another thing to worry about? 

I really had no idea what to expect.  But she grabbed us 5 baby chicks, 4 light brahmas and 1 golden laced wyandotte, we put them in a box (my Tory Burch box - pretty sure the only chicks ever to get picked up and put in a designer purse cardboard box) But hey, it was the only large box I had!  And we drove away. 

Day 1

Their Home in the Garage

So the journey has begun!  We have settled into a routine and I can't wait for the warm spring weather to get here so the chickies can roam around our big back yard!  Every day these little creatures test my patience, since I don't like messes and man are chicks messy!  But they make me smile each and every morning. 

And oddly enough, this really got me thinking - which came first, the chicken or the egg??

Most posts to come! Sending lots of chicken love....