Happy Tuesday!!
    Thank you to everyone who has been checking out the blog so far! Woo!
  I am still trying to work out a few of the kinks on the site. For some reason the videos only play and show up if you are on a computer. Which does not work for the iphone and ipad viewers (myself included). So I am still trying to figure that one out! Other than that, stay tuned for the next post and always feel free to comment!

Mom, We're Bored...

   The first few days with our new feathered friends was pretty exciting, we have chickens..how cool is that?! However, we started to notice that some of the chickens were pecking each other. My immediate reaction was to say "hey, knock it off" but I mean common they do not know what I am saying. We needed a better understanding of what was going on and how to correct it. We did not want any of the chicks to become injured or for them all to pick up this bad habit.
 We learned a few tips and tricks after doing some online research that we tested out and actually worked great! It was reassuring knowing that others have had the same problem before. Thank goodness for the Internet! hah!
 The chickens first home was down in Cory's work shop and although they have the red light bulb on them for warmth we left a few regular shop lights on overhead so they could see and for better lighting for the wireless camera. We read that too much light on them is not a good thing, it makes them cranky. Especially if they are too hot on top of that. So we raised the heat lamp away from the brooder a little and shut off one of the overhead white lights. This seemed to help calm them down. I would suggest watching the chicks behavior for the first few days. See if they are all huddled together or if they are trying to stay far away from the heat lamp. This will tell you if you need to make adjustments to your set up.

The other interesting thing we figured out was that they were bored! They did not have any activities to add stimulation other than looking at four walls of a box. We needed to get a little creative.  We put a Mason Jar in the brooder on its side which they all loved, especially Dumpling. Remember I said I had a funny story about her. Well she LOVED the Mason Jar. She was always making a "tinking" nosie on the jar, very comical. Cory also made a small perch that they could sit on which was great because they could begin to practice roosting. When making a perch it is best to use a real stick or branch from outside because it is easier for the chickens to grip with their feet. Just make sure you have one that is large enough around so they have enough surface area to hold on to.
 Lastly, we read that increasing their protein source would help eliminate the pecking so we added extra protein to their food three times a week.
  With all of these things combined, the pecking eventually stopped! Success!!

Good Morning!!!

         Good Morning Monday... meet my Friend Coffee!!!

Whatever you do, don't name them...

 Remember how I mentioned in the previous post that we wanted to get some Chickens that are not only egg layers but also meat hens that we could process? Let's just say that is no longer happening. We did get some Chickens that are what is called "multi-purpose" (both meat and egg chickens), however no one is going to become a chicken nugget if you catch my drift.
    What happened you ask? Well, we named all eight of them which led me to become super attached and now we are buddies! The positive side of things is they still will all produce eggs and "earn their keep". Chickens are known to lay eggs for about 6-7 years which is a great length of time, and if you think about it a TON of eggs. Chickens can only lay one egg a day, there will be some days where the chicken will not lay at all. However, if you think of the potential here of one egg a day times eight chickens...that's almost three thousand eggs a year... THREE THOUSAND!! Holy Moly! Now, as much as Cory and I love eggs, we certainly cannot consume that many without getting sick of them so we will be sharing the wealth with our fellow egg lovers!
    Now, back to falling in love with these little ladies. Even though I was advised to not name them because that would lead to becoming attached, I could not help myself and did it anyways. The names of our hens are: Luna, Belle (aka Betty White), Dumpling (funny story about her for a later day), Charlotte, Olive, Colt, Reese, and Peanut. Not your typical names but they fit our girls perfectly.
  Even though we have a large amount of eggs coming our way, chickens do not actually start laying until they are around six months old. In the meantime, you get to see how they actually all have their own personalities and quirks that you will learn to laugh at.
   Since they are all named and I have obtained the title of Chicken Mama. I wanted to come up with a way where I could keep an eye on them without having to stay downstairs peering over the ammo crate watching their every move like a crazy women. Naturally, I bought a camera that would link to our phones. Now, before you laugh it was actually a great investment. We now had the ability to see what they did when we weren't around and we were able to show our friends and family the streaming so they could watch them grow up with us.

  I purchased the camera from Walmart for about a hundred dollars (again- worth it), the brand is called D-Link. Many people use these cameras for home security or maybe to monitor their baby while they sleep... we used it to monitor our chickens!! It is a wireless camera that produces a live feed using a WiFi connection to an application on your phone or computer. This thing even had the capability of moving 360 degrees from your phone so you can change the view of the brooder.

This image is a snap shot from the wireless camera.

 I highly recommend anyone who is new to raising chickens to do this. It was a great experience and having a break in your day from work and see them hopping around, chirping and falling asleep like drunk college kids is awesome!
When I say falling asleep like drunk college kids im being serious. They just fell over they were so tired, it was adorable and hilarious at the same time.

Here is a short clip of them catching some Z's! Enjoy! 

A trip down memory lane

In order to get to where we are now, we have to go back to where it all began. A little trip down memory lane if you will.
  Cory and I have been talking about getting Chickens for a few years. We thought it would be such a fun and cool experience. Before we went out and got them we had to get a general idea of what we were signing up for. We met with another local couple who had been raising Chickens for a few years. They were incredibly helpful! We talked about different kinds of Chickens, eggs, food, coops, bedding, predators, etc. You name it this couple has the knowledge which we were so grateful for and appreciative that they hooked us on finally getting Chickens!
  After meeting with them we went over to Runnings, a local tractor supply store, and bought 8 tiny little chicks. They were only two days old! They looked like little fluffs of down feathers.
   There are several different kinds of Chickens that you can get so we did a little research online to see which types would be best for us and the environment we live in. We wanted breeds that were a little hardier since we all know Upstate NY winters can be pretty harsh and the weather changes at the drop of a hat. We also decided that we wanted all of them to produce good eggs but also have some of them be meat chickens for processing. We ended up buying two of each of the following breeds: White leghorns ("I say, I say boyy"-foghorn leghorn- a little cartoon reference for ya), Barred Rocks, Buff Orpington, and Black Australrops.
  After we picked up our 8 Chickens we grabbed some other supplies to get us started since we were first timers at this. We grabbed a heat lamp, chick food, a waterer and chick feeder. Oh! A thing to note, depending on where you live, make sure your Chickens are sexed to be all females. Runnings did this for us because in our area we are not allowed to have a Rooster so it was important we knew they were all hens before purchase.

  A few tips on supplies, when getting the heat lamp buy the red bulb. Chickens are very curious creatures and how they explore their curiosity is by pecking. The red light helps it so as they grow they do not peck each other as much. When they are babies you can see some exposed skin sometimes and chickens like to peck at things that are pink, even my pink nail polish! It's very unique. The red light helps eliminate the pink color. Also, buy specific food made for baby chicks, it's smaller and easier for them to handle since their beaks are so tiny. (You could also make your own food if you do not want to purchase the bags from the store). Get a chick feeder and water too! These things are poop machines and they go when and where they want too, including in their food and water- gross! The feeders and waterers are designed to help with sanitation. You could set them up on something in the brooder to help even more with cleanliness but make sure the babes can still reach. We purchased the feeder with multiple different holes where the food was exposed. This way the chicks did not have to fight over it and everyone could eat at the same time if they wanted to. (The photo above is what the feeder looks like).
  Shopping was done so we brought them all home and I personally had a moment of "now what?" Haha. Cory had an ammo crate that was the perfect size for our little chicks first home. We shredded some newspaper as bedding. I read a lot of articles that said that newspaper was bad bedding for chicks because it does not soak up moisture well which could lead to the chicks developing spraddle leg. Spraddle leg is when the chickens legs are spread very far apart which causes them to have issues walking and moving around. If this does occur, do not panic, it can be corrected. We changed our bedding every day and we did not have any problems. But if you are nervous they said pine shavings are the best. Then we added our feeder and waterer to the box and lastly put on the heat lamp to keep them warm. I would suggest placing your heat lamp in one corner of your brooder box. That way if the chicks get too hot under the lamp they have other areas in the brooder to go and cool down. You can tell when they are cold because they will all huddle together. This could indicate that you need to move the heat lamp lower and closer to them to add extra warmth. Also, make sure your food and water are not directly under the light, warm water is not as refreshing! Hah!

 
 Once the set up was complete we added in the best part- the tiny girls! (This photo is from the first day we brought them home- a few of them are sleeping).














One other thing Cory and I decided to do, which I am glad we did now that I am writing this blog, was keep a daily journal of the chicks and what was going on as they started to grow. You don't have to do it daily if you do not want to, but some pretty neat things happen that you will want to remember and the "chicken log" as our is called, is fun to look back on and read.