The Chicken Chronicles -- Feed and Assundries

(Picture is the tote of oyster shells my chickens have decided is the new hot nesting area....we find a couple eggs in here each day and a few in the back corner of the coop. No idea how part of an egg carton got in there...must be the work of my little helpers)

I have read many articles about proper nutrition and protein ratios for chickens. In my experience I give them unmedicated chicken pellets, chicken scratch and whatever else I have laying around. It may negatively effect my production...but I really don't care. I get almost an egg a day from each hen in summer because of our daylight. Early on I was hyper about what and how I fed them, but they are messy and wasteful and crap in their own food dishes.

For 8 chickens I will usually give them about 25 lbs of feed a month, maybe a little less depending on what kind of scraps I can score. Chicken scratch is their favorite because it is like candy for chickens. It does not have the same nutrient value as the pellets. I usually have one bag open at a time so they get pellets or scratch and then change it up.

The last couple years we have just started cutting open a bag and leaving it on the floor in the entry away from the door. They just help themselves. I know it sounds crazy (and lazy), but it really is a better method. When I used feeders I found that they stick their head in and flick 75% of the food onto the ground and then never go back and eat it because they are nasty stinkers. When the bag is on the floor like that they can't waist as much. I leave it in the bag because the bag keeps them from pooping all over the food. They stick their heads in the slit (about 18 inches long) while standing on the edge of the bag. The bag stays in the coop to keep it dry.

Scraps are the joy of owning chickens. I tell people I turn all my leftovers into eggs. They will eat pretty much anything...including chicken (everyone asks and that is your answer). I have found they do not care much for citrus peels, onion skin, avocado peel, uncooked root vegetables, or the very tough outside of watermelon rind. I put it all out there anyway because it composts into the chicken yard and I use that on my garden. When the salmon are running they will eat raw fish scraps a couple times but then ignore them...which leads to maggots which they are crazy over (gross but true) . Cooked fish they will eat all day, but I am not cooking salmon scraps for the chickens. They especially love leafy veggies, grass, and junk food (french fries, chips, fried things). Anything that spoils in the fridge goes straight to the chicken yard. Grass clippings...chicken yard. Gardening scraps and trimmings...chicken yard.

A friendly warning is that they will eat all your grass if you do not keep them contained. There is a chicken neck length perimeter around my fence that is barren. There is nothing growing in the chicken yard. They love grass and greens. If you have a small yard and let them run free they will pick it clean.

The only things that should not be fed to chickens are the nightshade plants (potato, tomato & eggplant plants...the fruits are fine), rhubarb leaves, and really moldy food. Mold apparently messes up their gizzards and the others are poisonous.

I have a couple water buckets that I keep full in summer. They perch on the edge and tip them over all the time...because they are dumb. In winter they drink snow since the water freezes too fast.

If my chicken yard was not already kind of ripe (A week of rain and I seriously consider just eating all of them and ending the poo production) and 8 feet from my living room window I would "raise" more maggots. When we had pigs (I'll write about that adventure another day) we would scoop up maggots for the chickens and they would go absolutely crazy with joy eating them up. Maggots are free and nutritious and keep food costs down. And yes...we are that kind of crazy at our house. Someday my kids are going to realize how wacky we are and I am going to laugh myself silly.

Beyond food, chickens also need grit and some kind of calcium source for egg shells. I bought one bag of each 8 years ago and that was it. I feed egg shells back to the chickens and I throw some oyster shell onto the ground every couple months. I have never had a mis-formed shell. I had a bag of grit. I would sprinkle it out in the yard every once in a while. I could not find it last summer. Chickens don't have teeth, they have a gizzard. The gizzard is full of little rocks (grit) that grinds up what they eat. If they don't have a natural source you have to provide the grit so they can digest their food. I have not done grit in over a year and all my birds are right as rain. Maybe they are getting what they need off the ground?? I will get another bag at some point but at present I am not overly motivated since they are fine and it is expensive to mail rocks out here.

I usually get feed and sundries from Span Alaska shipped in by Barge. There are 2 barges each year so I just plan accordingly. When I run low on feed I order on line from Alaska Mill & Feed but it is much more expensive because of all the "shipping and handling mark-ups". By barge I can also get a 100 lb bale of hay and that will easily last all year and they will get farm supplies not in the catalog if you ask them.

I pretty much dial it in and do just fine with my Chickens. They are only really labor intensive if you want to make them that way.

The Chicken Chronicles - Choosing Your Breed

Because of where I live choosing the right breeds of chickens is very, very important. It is COLD in winter here. I do not heat my chicken coop (because they are chickens and it is not worth the expense). If you are in a warm climate or if you want to pay the expense of heating a coop your breed options are much wider. Below are the breeds I have tried. There are dozens I have never messed with that are probably fine. Listed below are my tried-and-trues down to my what-was-I-thinkings.

In general the first thing to consider when choosing a breed for me is its comb. The comb is that red thing on its head. There are different kinds of combs. In general if you live in a cold climate you want a SMALL comb. Look at pictures of the adults of the breed. I go for Rose and Pea combs. The big floppy single combs that you think of when you think classic farm rooster are a bad idea in a cold climate. Why? Because they freeze. Even pea combs get a touch of frost bite in winter. Worst case scenario is that they will fall off after a cold snap. This can cause sterilization in roosters. Why keep a noisy rooster if he cannot fertilize eggs though??

Beyond the comb you want tough, old school birds if you live in a harsher climate. I have never tried a Sumatra because they originate from a tropical island. Logic tells me that they are probably not going to do all that well on the tundra. I have tried a couple of the crested ones and none have made it past a cold snap. Frilly ones in general start looking pretty nappy after a long three week sideways rain snap. I do have a friend here who has a some exotics but she babies her birds more than I do. It can be done...I just don't see it as the best use of my resources or time.

Buff Orpingtons

Buff Orpingtons are one of my favorite breeds. They are a sort of strawberry blond color. They lay nice brown eggs and are very tough in winter. They are also calm and have pea combs. They are among the last to stop laying in winter and the first to start up again in spring. I usually get an egg a day when the light comes back.

Black Australorp

One of the best egg layers out there. I was worried they would not be tough enough and I had one hen who laid an egg a day each summer for five years. They are black but have this pretty green sheen in the sun. They are very tough, nice and calm and have a small comb.

Barred Rock

These are a little smaller than my orpies and australorps. They are also more frantic. They run away and seem in a panic if you are in the coop. While kind of annoying, this is a pretty good defense too. They have small black and white spots (almost a hounds tooth pattern). So they are pleasing to look at. They are also ridiculously tough winter birds with nice small combs on the hens. They lay late into fall and start up for me again early in spring. Tons of summer production. These gals are also among those most likely to go broody for me. Since they are so skittish they are also good mothers. These are the most economic to feed out of all the birds I keep.

Brahmas (come in light, dark, buff, and maybe a couple other colors...I like the light ones)

Brahmas are huge and have feathers on their feet. I have a hit or miss relationship with my Brahmas. I have not had any luck in the last couple years getting any adults to keep.

My first experience was from Sandhill though and we had the best, HUGE rooster. We actually named him Big Al. I usually don't name my chickens...because they are stupid and poop on everything. But at the time I had 2 roosters. The other was a Barred Rock. Big Al was bigger and more dominant, but Rocks are frantic and Brahmas are the most mellow of all chickens. When I would go to the coop the Rock would come charging at me with his spurs and Big Al would see him and kick the crap out of him to protect me...my personal guard chicken. So he got a name and got to live until old age. Eventually he broke the other rooster's leg and it had to hop around on one foot. Big Al was huge and white with feathered feet. He looked like a ptarmigan on steroids. We had a hen hatch some eggs and kept his son (an Australorp - Brahma cross) after he died. He was also a great rooster.

My Brahma hens have been mellow, winter tough, and excellent egg layers. We killed Big Al when he could no longer walk. He was so big that his feet went bad after four years. When we butchered his son we could see that he grew so big so fast that his breast bone had an odd bend to it. I was very bummed when all 5 of my straight run light Brahma chicks died this go round. I lost the one I got last year when his foot got caught up in something. They are just big and nice to look at with great temperaments. They are probably not the most economic eaters though. Also when they cross with other breeds you get scraggly feathers on the legs of the offspring. Brahmas are our favorite roosters.

Ameracaunas (Easter Egg Chickens)

Ameracaunas are a mixed breed with ties to South America. They are fun and I have had pretty good luck with them. Their color runs the gambit. They are usually multi-colored, have tufts of fluffy feathers around their face, and green feet. What makes them extra fun is that most of them (a few don't because of the mixing) lay eggs with green shells. Insides are like regular eggs but those green shells are too much fun. Kids go bananas for them. I have also found them to be tough birds that make it through winter. They are not my best layers but they are pretty good and the novelty makes them a keeper.

Wayandottes (come in various colors)

These are known for their winter toughness. I have had some. I think I have one right now. But they have never really caught my fancy in the way others have. They are frantic like the rocks but are bigger. They are pretty good layers of brown eggs. Lots of people love them and if you are in a cold climate they are a sure thing.

Red and Black Stars

These are a production variety. They will lay lots of eggs. I have had a couple winter over but they are more likely to die in winter and I find that they might make it through one winter but will not make it through two. If you are in a slightly better climate they can be rock stars on the egg production front.

Chanteclair

I want to try Chanteclairs but they are IMPOSSIBLE to get. They are the national heritage breed of Canada. They are supposed to be the toughest winter chickens ever. I have tried and tried but they are really really rare and hard to find. Some day though.

Jersey Giant

I had one Jersey Giant but went with a different rooster. They have a lot of potential and are supposed to be tough and excellent layers. They just eat a lot because they are so huge and that is not a quality I wanted in a rooster.

Dorkings

This is a breed I tried inadvertently when Sandhill did a substitution for me one year. They are very rare and are supposed to be excellent winter layers but they have huge combs so we wound up eating them. They are mellow and an excellent kind of odd looking rare breed if you live in a nicer climate.

Bantams

A Bantam is a half sized breed of chicken. They eat less and have smaller eggs but can be excellent layers. I stay away from them in general because in my experience they are MEAN! Especially the roosters. Someone left one in our chicken yard and it would attack anyone who went out there. I kicked him into the wall three or four times and he just did not take the hint...so we ate him. If you need feisty chickens that can better protect themselves Banties come in all kinds of colors and kinds. If you have kids, stick to the mellow breeds.

We did have one old bantie someone gave us. We named her Ittie Bittie. She was 4 when we got her and was not a bird to be messed with...but she left people alone. We had her another 4 years and she hatched three rounds of chicks, which was super funny since they were eggs from the big chickens and all grew up to be twice her size. She kept laying an egg every so often right up until she died.

Crested Breeds

There are all kinds of funny looking breeds with weird doodles on their heads. They are fantastic and strange. I have tried a couple on a whim and have had one as a mystery chicken from McMurray...none have even survived the summer for me, much less made it to winter. Pam has one in her more upscale set-up and he apparently gets picked on a lot. If you go this route and just want show chickens...get all crested so none looks different from the others.

Next post...Baby Chicks