Back yard chickens

[Guest guest]

We love our cluckers. If you want chickens for eggs, Alvin has top

producing chickens and will sell a small number. I also adopted a rescue

rooster from another back yard fancier who had to many. The rooster has

mites on his legs, but Alvin's hens don't get them. I tend to believe that

is because they have always had quality food. I'm treating Rusty the

rooster, and I do enjoy him because he is friendly and protects his " girls "

from predators. He is always on the lookout and verbally alerts them if a

hawk flies overhead, they run under the deck to hide. We have predators and

I use niteguards, which flash a red light that makes predators think another

predator is there. Works like a charm for night time. The hens are locked

in after dark too.

The hens each give us a large brown egg almost everyday. They are more fun

than parakeets and they give us breakfast too. They come when called and

follow us like puppy dogs.

Our chickens are a year old now and it is our first experience with a broody

hen. At first I thought she was sick, but what she really wants to do is

sit on eggs. It's like PMS and she's moody. She is more annoyed with the

other hens. She is fine in her chicken tractor, runs back in the nest box

when moved back to her permanent condo. Hormones will do that to you. Ha ha.

Chickens vocalize and it's easy to understand. They purr like a kitten when

content and scold when unhappy.

I have extra dog kenneling, so what I did for winter was put a dog kennel

around their house and covered it with hoop house plastic. That gave them

more room to run around in winter and it stays about 20 degrees warmer.

They did just fine and I never needed to put a light bulb on them. In spite

of winter lack of light, they still each produced an egg a day all winter.

Our barn is still not fixed up and perhaps this was better than a barn

because the makeshift hoop house allowed them to get natural light.

They composted the straw I put in every so often, and this spring I added it

directly to my garden. I feed them Alvin's blend of food. They mostly eat

weeds and insects in summer. They adore catnip and thinned garden veggies.

Anything we don't eat, and also if a dog does not clean his plate goes to

the cluckers. In winter, I feed Alvin's brand of food and make sprouts.

They really love greens. To the food, I add a supplement Will suggested. We

have been doing lots of spring fishing and some of the fish have eggs. The

cluckers love fish eggs, leftover bait, etc. I have even given them greens

from the creek and fresh road kill. That is what the wild birds eat.

My friends went bow hunting for venison last fall. I asked for leftovers

and the cluckers loved the venison scraps. I had bright orange egg yokes all

winter long. It will spoil you, can't get eggs like this just anywhere. The

taste is unbelievable, really, really good.

Kathy

Kathy