Sharon and I have been emailing each other the past
few days and I asked her permission to share our conversation - she said yes :)
Hi, Anita in Canada! Sharon in
Nevada here, again. I saw that beautiful picture on your blog and now I have a
ton of questions... How did you get started with your laying hens? Did you
start with chicks or full-grown hens? And then I've heard that we need at least
one rooster if we want eggs... is that true? We used to have chickens when I
was a child, but I have forgotten the answers to all of these questions, so I
hope you don't mind me pestering you about them.
I love
your enthusiasm Sharon! Oh what an adventure you have awaiting you with
chickens! So much fun!
We got
“18 weekers” the first time we got chickens – that means they are almost ready
to lay. They cost more of course but if you calculate the feed required and
babysitting of chicks you might find as we did that it was worth it to have
some success right off the bat. They were laying eggs regularly after the first
week or two. We got ours at the local feed store/coop and honestly unless you
can order easily from a hatchery it’s the best way to go. Later on we did buy
from people on kijiji/craigs list but we haven’t always bought healthy birds that
way and you can risk your whole flock if they bring disease with them. Better
safe than sorry until you get the hang of it.
You do NOT need a rooster to make eggs – only to make baby chicks. I
didn’t know that either J If you think about the birds and the bees it makes
sense. The kids and I watched Magic School bus in hopes of finding out the
answer and we DIDN’T – hee hee - so someone had to explain it to me. Roosters are handy for protection as well but
they are unnecessary FOR EGG PRODUCTION and the crow all day long some days not just in the
morning. I rather like the sound but the kids have been known to groan and roll
over and go back to sleep with visions of shooting the rooster right out the
bedroom window J
 |
| I think she means this one! |
The photo you have on your blog page of the big bowl
full of eggs looks like a little piece of heaven to me!
Even though we live on an acre here in Nevada, we are
not allowed to have chickens because we are inside the "city" limits.
The good news is, we are moving to the "country" soon, where we CAN
have chickens, and are kind of excited about setting up a coop. Any hints you
can give me? Do you turn them out to scratch? Or is your hen yard big enough
that they don't care? If you do turn them out, how do you convince them to come
back into the coop? Do they come when called? Or is there a food motivator? (My
horse has a food motivator!) Where we'll be going there are coyotes and
raccoons, both of which love chickens, but in the wrong sort of way, so I
really do want them locked inside their coop at night where it will be safe and
they can at least make it to Day Two.
Any hints you can give me would be greatly
appreciated. We go through a lot of eggs at our house, and recently the grocery
store topped $2 a DOZEN for large eggs. UNREAL! I know there are reciprocal
costs involved in growing your own, but still, I am looking forward to it.
Thank you! I hope all is going well in the frozen
north. We are finally getting a little bit of snow here (but it is LATE).
~ Sharon in Nevada
Our
chickens are locked up tight in their coop for the night and let out later in
the morning. We wait till 10am or later in the winter so they lay their
eggs in the nesting boxes or else they will lay them all over the farm!
We let ours free range during the day and they look after themselves really
well. They get into the kitty food sometimes – actually they race to the
back door to see if there is any left and then fight over it J
Night time is easy – once they know where home is they will go back there every
night at dusk. When you first get them lock them in for a few days so
they get the idea that THIS-IS-HOME. Trying to get them to come in earlier than dusk is a
bit of a challenge and shaking a feed bucket works after they learn that the
sound means food. They will learn quickly so having a pail of kitchen
scraps and leaving them in the same place – preferable near the coop –will
train them quite well. Problem of course if you free range is they will
follow you everywhere – to the mailbox, in the garden, for a walk down the road
– unless you can distract them first and then sneak away.
We have coyotes and
racoons here too. We have a donkey and some sheep as well and we think just the
smell of the donkey has kept the coyotes away from the barn. We have lost
a few to foxes though and several to racoons too. The key is making their
indoor coop predator proof. You can find lots of info online about how to
do that. We have a big-old-bank-barn so we made an old cow pen into a
coop. It works great and most of the walls and the floor are made of
concrete – once they are in there – they are safe.
I can’t honestly say
you are going to save money raising chickens – it will depend on the feed
situation. I am still working on a LT solution of growing some of the
feed myself but it looks like it will be many years before I get the hang of
that! One step at a time!
Eggs
for $2.00 is a good deal J I sell mine for $4.75 a dozen and that just
covers the costs. Of course once you eat a farm fresh free range egg you
will never want the grocery store version again! YUM!
Hi, again! Thank
you so much for writing me back right away. Yes, it's true: For the
first time in probably six or seven years, I find that I am VERY excited about
the future and looking forward to things to come, and I have you to thank for
helping me realize that. 
That actually makes me feel better about the current "space"
that I'm in.
That actually makes me feel better about the current "space"
that I'm in.
The $2 a dozen price is
for store-bought eggs, large size (not XL), and that are most definitely not
free range, and I totally understand that part about once you have a "home
grown" you won't want to go back. The same can be said for
tomatoes. 
I know that there is an expense to feeding them (the chickens, not the
tomatoes), but I am also looking forward to my own fresh eggs.
I know that there is an expense to feeding them (the chickens, not the
tomatoes), but I am also looking forward to my own fresh eggs.
Good news about the
rooster. I was not looking forward to the cock-a-doodle-doo's at the
crack of dawn and beyond. I DO remember the annoying crowing that (you're
right) seemed to go on at all hours and not just at sun-up. But then, we
had a screwy rooster, and as I recall, he ended up in a pot of dumplings.
Not sure if the excessive crowing had anything to do with that, though,
or not, but the end result was the same. Yum! I LOVE dumplings!
Here is a link to a
website I used to study-study-study, back in the day. I guess I need to
study some more. My son, who's been asking to raise chickens since he was
7 years old (he's just turned 15) wants to help build the coop and chicken run,
and there are several fun designs in this website. You can go from beyond
simple enclosures, to chicken tractors (a concept that struck me as hilarious),
to creating your own chicken princess castle, to an entire western frontier of
buildings. In addition to the plans, most of the coop designs have many,
many pictures of step-by-step construction, so you can actually see progressive
photographs of how they were built. I just pulled up the website after
eons of not looking, and see that they've expanded to include chicken breeds
and many more interesting bits of information. Feel free to share with
whomever. Oh, and yes, you can use my question in your blog. :-))
I didn't realize I HAD so many questions until I started writing them
down.
Thank you again, Anita,
for taking time to write to me. You are always so refreshing to read, and
you make me feel uplifted when you write. You sound like a very happy
person. I will keep you posted as we progress. It's still one day
at a time, but the target timeframe is early this summer.
Oh, wow! and
oh-em-gee! all at the same time!!
Thanks more than you
know,
~ Sharon :-))
You are MORE-THAN-WELCOME! Hope that helps! Congratulations on
the upcoming move – I know how the excitement can be. I am still amazed I
live here!
THERE'S-NO-PLACE-LIKE-HOME!
Bless you as you make
your own adventure in country living!
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