Dog, Chickens, Farming and a Shameless Plug

Asuka the Best Dog Ever

After a bit of training our German Shepherd, Asuka, is able to be out with the chickens at any time. Now we don't leave her out long unsupervised but we can let her out to go to the bathroom and come right back. She doesn't even chase the chickens much anymore. She will go find them for me if I don't see them right away but she just casually moves them along.

I love my dog she is doing so well with very minimal training. Plus she is just a great dog and I am so glad to have her.

Stripe the Dominant Chicken

Now we have one chicken we call Stripe because when she was a baby she had a stripe on her back. Now has the most unusual coloring of the bunch and she is also the boss of the chickens. It seems to be the way in the chicken world but Stripe has a strange tendency to challenge the dog. My dog takes it rather well and just barks at the chicken but I wonder what is going through that chickens mind when it stares down another animal at least 10 times larger for a marshmallow or nut. It is really funny to see now that my dog just brushes her off.

Stripe and White Birds

Asuka Guarding Her Chickens

Then There is Farming....

Well working at the farm is great most days. I don't like working in the rain at all. I am finding that I can deal with the heat a lot better than I can the cold. I don't like it when it is raining but I can tolerate rain if it is warm but not if it is cold. I wimped out on the day I brought my hubby with me last week. It was very cold and wet and I stayed like an hour. I was in a very wet sweatshirt and jeans and I just couldn't get warm.

Other than the crappy days I have learned a lot out there. I have also been able to try some veggies I have never tried before. I have to say kohlrabi is now one of my favorite veggies now and I had never even heard of it before. I am still going out two days a week but somehow I have become extremely busy.

Business and Other Stuff

Well I am starting to sell Herbalife products now. They have a line of weight management products that I wanted to try. In just a little over a week I have lost 3 pounds and I feel great. I am full of energy which makes it easier to work out. I have a website if you would like to order any products. You can contact me at sundcarrie@yahoo.com if you have any questions or visit My Herbalife Store.

Other than that I have been fighting with some companies that have ripped me off and worrying about fixing the duplex we own that was broken into and the copper pipes cut out of the basement. I suppose I should be grateful that I am getting some of my money back from the con-artists and that the thief's turned the water off but it just comes at a bad time. It is driving me crazy that I have to sink time and energy into these people when I really want to get my sales business off the ground so I can work to buy that farm of my dreams.

The Great Chicken Escape

We went to my moms on Sunday and came home to just two brown chickens in the yard. One white chicken was two yards away and the other 3 were just one yard away in the opposite direction.

The lone chicken has gotten out once before it realized it could fly over the fence. The problem is when it gets out it freaks out. She gets loud and draws attention to herself but won't let us catch her. So they spent yesterday in their coop because I had to go to work on the farm. This morning my hubby and I clipped their wings.

I though it would be hard but they once we got a hold of each of them they would calm down after a few seconds. It was easy and it didn't hurt them. Hopefully we won't have anymore chickens running around the neighborhood. I am told once they reach full size they won't have an easy time getting over the fence but for now they will be grounded. I really don't want to loose my chickens to dogs who have not been trained to allow chickens in there yard. It took our dog quite some time to get used to them so I would only have myself to blame if they got eaten by a dog.

All About the Chicken Coop

Me and Asuka staining the chicken coop

Chicken coop with entry door open there is a drop down ladder so they can get to the bottom area

Chicken house built by Grandpa Sheldrick and stained by me 

I am sorry the pictures have taken this long to post. I have had a great couple of weeks aside from the sickness that just won't leave me. The chickens are growing at astronomical rates and they are doing great outside of their coop during the day. Around 8 or 9 at night they usually go into the coop on their own and all I need to do is close it so no predators can get in.

Now that it is warm we leave the drop down ladder down most of the time just in case I don't get up at 6 to let them out. The chickens can go to the bottom to soak up the sunlight if I am late and I don't have to feel guilty about sleeping in on days when I am super tired.

The coop also has a nesting box on the side you can not see and I keep the bedding in there very fluffy because they all gather up together in there at night. They won't lay eggs for quite some time but it looks like I will have to go on egg hunts once they do. They just love being out in the yard so I am not going to leave them in the coop when I don't have too.

For the next post I have a bunch of pictures of my dog with the chickens. She is shaping up to be a good at herding and protecting the chickens now that they don't looks so much like squeak toys.

Update Soon I Promise

Love this old picture of Asuka on the porch soaking up the sun.

I took a lot of pictures yesterday of the chickens, their coop and the dog. We had fun outside and I hope to get some pictures of the plants on the porch and the garden at my moms soon. I have a few posts planned but have not been organized enough to work on them.

I still have a bit of a cough but I have been going to the farm regularly and spending my off days working around here and reading when I feel really bad. I finished two books and have some reviews to work on for my Dark Novels blog. So I suppose being sick for nearly two weeks was not completely unproductive.

Well I must go and finish getting ready to go to the farm today. I found someone to car pool with at least some of the time. I should be able to save about 20 dollars a month in gas this way. Now I just have to clean out my cars so when it is my turn to drive they don't freak out about all the dog hair.

Chicken Coop Done

Before Enclosed

 Building A Coop

Wednesday we went out to the grandparents house to work on the chicken coop. Grandpa had been working on it all morning and my hubby helped him finish it. I tried but I with my limited knowledge of how things work I ended up being the hold this, hand me that girl.

By the end of the day it was finished and we were happy with it. Grandpa was not so he made some changes before bringing it over on Thursday. I need to get a few shots of the completed coop can't seem to motivate myself to do so today because it is rainy and gloomy looking out there. 

I spent seven hours at a grant writing seminar yesterday and then came home and mowed the grass and cleaned the kitchen and moved the birds outside to a temporary pen that I also created after the seminar.  I needed to clean their tub because they had knocked their water over multiple times and adding bedding just was not working. Considering that was becoming common place and I was having to completely change the bedding once a day we decided to leave them outside.

The Finished Product

The finished coop is completely enclosed on the upper half with one large door and a small side door. It also has a drop down ladder so the chickens can get down to the area on the bottom. All 4 sides and the bottom of the lower half have chicken wire to keep out predators. The only thing bad about the thing is it is super heavy and hard to move. 

Last night we put a heavy layer of wood chippings down and put all six chickens in the nesting area where I put heaping piles of bedding. I was very worried they would be dead this morning but they are fine.  They actually seem happier to have a place to move around in. They were all huddled together at 7 am and by 9 they were walking around the upper half. They were in the basement before and considering we don't have any heat on in this house it probably isn't much colder in an enclosed wooden house. 

All in all the coop is awesome! It looks great and it is functional it will just take some muscle to move it around. Once the chickens get bigger we might try clipping some wings and let them run around the yard a bit but for now I think they will be happy out there. When I put them in the temporary pen they seemed to be much happier they were getting very crowded in there tub and they were making a huge water mess every few hours.

3 Week Old Chicks

Looks like they are getting to big for the brooder

Well today I finally got the camera out to take pictures. I can't believe it has been three weeks already. We did have to put a make shift top on the brooder and now I am thinking of getting a giant box for the last few weeks. They are getting to big for the space.

One of the white birds flew up on the the edge of the tub today about 5 times. It flew right up in my dogs face and just stood there. Asuka, my German shepherd, was stunned for a second so she didn't bite it. She has been doing well as long as they stay in the tub but I think she might feel like they are toys so she is always supervised. Enjoy the pics! Oh and by the way I cleaned out the water when we were done taking pictures.

You can see the darker colored ones getting brown feathers

Please Look at the Camera

No I don't want to!

Thanks to my hubby's patience we got a front shot

Baby Chick Pictures

Well here they are I brought them home today. I am hoping to find new homes for 2-3 of them and keep the rest. If not a few will be meat birds. They are super cute and they seem to be getting along fine now that there brooder is nice and warm. Enjoy the pictures!

I am Getting Chickens

After I wrote the post Backyard Chickens 101 quite a few things changed. I follow Toledo Grows a local organization that is teaching young people many things including how to grow your own food. They were on Facebook polling the public to see how many people would want chickens. I asked them what I had to do to have chickens in the city because the page I looked at for local laws was outdated. They said chickens are completely legal in Toledo just ask your neighbors to make sure they don’t have a problem with it.

With all the chicken research I have been doing I was kind of excited to learn they would be able to buy the chickens and divide them up so I wouldn’t have to get the minimum of six  from tractor supply. Not that I wouldn’t like six but I was thinking two or three would be enough for our yard. Then I asked my hubby who wouldn’t answer me even after I told him how I was going to take care of them and keep them from the local predators.  

My hubby’s answer was your mom and Mike (my step-father) will say no. I texted my mom who is on vacation in Florida and expected her to tell me I was crazy and there was no way I could have chickens in her backyard. I had a backup plan for that but it would have been a hard sell because I would be much less likely to get up and drive over to the other house to take care of chickens. We rent this house but two blocks away we own a duplex and the chickens could have stayed in that yard.

So now it was back to asking my hubby what he thought. I asked if we could have two laying hens and he said three would be better. I think he wants them he just does not want to have to take care of them. He works 46-52 hours a week and he does not want to have something else to take care of. I assured him that I would take care of them and if I don’t like caring for them I can stick it out until they are big enough to eat.

I still need to ask my neighbors but I am not so sure I will be asking as much as I am informing them. I don’t think I will have any problems with either of them but if it seems like I do I will just promise them eggs. With all the promised eggs we will have to get 6 chickens to feed us, two neighbors, my mom and Mike, hubby’s mom and my sister. Oh and let’s not forget the dog who loves a raw egg for a snack.

So there you have it once I have cleared the neighbors I will be well on my way to getting some chickens. When the process starts I promise to take some pictures and share my journey with you. I will share it all especially my failures so you can learn from my mistakes. Come along for the ride as I become an Urban Farmer.

Backyard Chickens 101

I really want some backyard chickens and I am really envious of those who can have them. I live in a city that will let you have up to six but as far as I can tell you have to get permission from the health department first. The first thing you need to do if you want backyard chickens is find out about the legal ramifications of having chickens in your city. You don’t want to buy a flock and find out you can’t have any or you have to get rid of more than half of them. Find out how many chickens you can have and what conditions are necessary to keep them.

My next obstacle is my hubby and he doesn’t want chickens here. He is not opposed to having chickens he just doesn’t want them here. I understand his concerns and have decided not to get chickens until we move. Considering that we have a small yard and a dog of our own plus 3 dogs surrounding us that are out most of the time it would be hard to protect the chickens. Then we live in an area that is also full of raccoons, opossums, foxes and coyotes once the spring hits full tilt. Not sure why these animals are in the middle of the city but I have actually seen the foxes when walking the dog and I had baby raccoons terrorizing my strawberries last year.

All that to say if someone one in your family has legitimate concerns about your desire for backyard chickens listen to them. If you still want chickens then you must come up with a plan to combat the concerns. I am hoping to move by next spring so I don’t feel the urgency someone who will be stuck in the city for a few more years might. So if you can address you all the concerns you family brings you can move on to the next concern.

If you rent your home like I do you will need to ask your landlord if you can have chickens. You lease may cover house hold pets but unless it specifically talks about farm animals you will need to talk to your landlord first. I rent from my mom and I am reasonably sure she would say no, but then again I am lucky I can have a dog with her dislike of  animals. Just ask or you and your chickens might be put out on the street.

The last topic I am going to talk about today is neighbors. Roosters are not likely to make neighbors happy but if you just want a few hens you might make some new friends. You should talk to the people closest to you and let them know you are adding chickens to your family. You need to assure them that you will keep your chickens and their living quarters clean and that  roosters won't be waking up the third shifter next door right as he dozes off to sleep. You can also promise them some fresh eggs to help win them over. It is important to know if you are going to have someone calling every local authority they can find to report you and your chickens.

I bet you thought I was going to talk about baby chicks here and now you are disappointed. I will get to that in another post but I think it is very important to bring you chicks home to a welcoming environment. While chickens are relatively easy to take care of compared to most farm animals they do require some work. It would be a shame if you had to fight with everyone around you and learn how to take properly care of a new type of animal.