Eat The Yard

At 10 weeks old our chickens are very chicken-y.  Which I guess is what you hope for with chickens.

They have become foot-tall, four-pound birds with vibrant colors and sleek feathers.

Yet, despite their appearance, they still have some growing into themselves to do.  They all have lingering tufts of fuzz here and there that have yet to feather out, their combs and wattles are immature, and they still peep between clucks like a teenage boy trying to find his voice.  But from a distance, they’re chickens.

And no inadvertent roosters … so far.  Pullets all.

Since they moved from the brooder to the coop a month ago, there’s been little to do but watch their rapid growth.  Besides peeking at their food and water each day to check for mishaps, there’s no need for frequent refills — and certainly not the daily (or three-times daily) restocking that marked the last week or so indoors.  The outdoor feeder holds 10 pounds of food, which lasts about two weeks (for now), and it hangs from a hook at bird-breast height so it can’t be tipped or fouled.  I originally had a 2-gallon water can hanging as well, but the girls quickly found a way to unbalance it so that the tipped bowl would leak till empty.  The can now sits on a pair of bricks.  It doesn’t keep clean nearly as well as the food can and needs to be swished out every few days as the chickens sully the water with their dirty beaks.

Ensuring a potable water supply and a once-weekly coop cleaning are about it for regular maintenance.  The open design and dirt floor make upkeep easy.  For us, it’s a few-minutes chore.  Most of the coop can be hosed clean from outside.  And the dirt floor soaks up the mess as I’d hoped.

So far, the coop remains secure.  It’s hard to say what goes on at night, but it appears as though the chickens have not attracted any committed predators.  Perhaps that will come with the eggs.  One morning I did find a hawk perched in the mulberry above, intently observing.  But there’s been no burglary, even when invited.  A few days ago I discovered that at the last cleaning I’d left the main coop door not only unlocked, but unlatched for two days.  A strong breeze could have opened it.  Luckily, nothing entered — or exited.

I am surprised none of the chickens made a getaway since they are pretty interested in what goes on outside the chicken wire.  Justin (the Buff Orpington, yellow) has made the only successful leap to freedom, sneaking out behind the watering can as I removed it for a cleaning a week or so ago.  She didn’t get more than a few feet before she stalled in contented earth scratching.  They’ll be big enough to range when they’re big enough to lay.

Wanderlust aside, the chickens seem pretty satisfied with their coop — and each other.  So far they’re pretty egalitarian and haven’t once mentioned anything about the shared feed being socialist or groused that my cleaning represents an unnecessary intrusion into their rights to maintain their own cage — or not maintain it.  Neither do they appear to be locked in an epic struggle to determine a pecking order (though what I’ve read suggests this should have been determined by now), and instead seem to be content to live without class divisions.  And they have never once tried to exclude us from their coop just because we don’t look like the chickens they’re used to.

They like us just fine.  Particularly Seven, the Barred Rock (big, black and white), who is shaping up to be a people bird.

We’re looking forward to the first eggs around July 7.

Tags: chicken coop, chickens