Chicken Updates

Since Toni from Toni's Weedless Square Foot Garden asked about my chickens, I thought I'd do an update about them :D

This photo was from about 2 weeks ago. Delta (the black australorp in the middle) is still tiny and Foxtrot (the buff orpington on the left) is a skinny young lady. Echo (the barred plymouth rock on the right) seems to be on the top of the pecking order. She always picks on poor little Delta. I can't figure out Foxtrot though. She's always picking a fight but she always gets pecked at too. I think she's just a wild child lol.

This is what they look like now! Look how fat foxtrot got! She's almost as big as Echo now. Delta still looks a bit skinny but they when you take into account the fact that Echo has grown since the last picture, you can kind of tell how much they've all grown in size :)

I've been going down to The Grange in Issaquah for chicken feed. I love that store! It's a co-op that sells lots of farm supplies, gardening supplies, and even chicks in the springtime. They even have a pet bunny there that you can pet and he is THE CUTEST THING EVER. I'll definitely take pictures next time.

Although I did find a closer feed store, the Keppler Feed and Recycling in Renton. The prices are about the same, if not cheaper, and I never realized how close it was. It takes me about 20 min to drive down to The Grange but only 5 to drive to Keppler's. And they sell chicks/pullets there too! I'll probably start buying all my chicken feed here, but I'll still go to The Grange from time to time for their gardening stuff. Oh and they're the only ones I've found close enough that sells food grade Diatomaceous Earth.

I'm surprised at just how much these chickens eat!! I get TONS of food scraps from my parents' restaurant so I dump them all in their pen. All veggie scraps though. Even though I know they can eat meat I feel weird feeding them meat... What if they get sick?

I still need to make them their coop. Right now they huddle in a corner at night to sleep. It's warm outside but it's only a matter of time til they start laying (2 months?) and I wouldn't want any raccoons harassing them at night either. So that is my next big project! :)

I Finally Got My Chickens!!! :D

I drove down with my boyfriend all the way to Orting to pick up my new babies!!! :)

The guy at the farm was really really nice and I chose a Buff Orpington (5 weeks old) and a Black Australorp(4 weeks old). They're still pretty young but they're big enough that they'll be perfectly fine outside. Perfect! I wanted 3 chickens though but I couldn't decide on the last one so I let my boyfriend choose. He picked out a Barred Plymouth Rock (8 weeks old). She's a tad bigger than the other two but that means she'll lay eggs sooner too! YAY.

We've been naming all our pets after the aviation alphabet (Our lizard is Zulu, my rabbit was Charlie, and we used to have a betta named Alpha). So our newcomers are named Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot. Here they are:


left: Echo(Plymouth rock) with Foxtrot(Orpington)
right: My baby Delta(Australorp)

My boyfriend has been AWESOME this week and actually built their pen for me! He used mostly 2x4's with a few 2x2's. Most of the wood was lying around in our garage so we only spent about $5 for a little extra wood and $40 for the hardware mesh. I was gonna cheap out and buy the chicken wire which was $27 and you get twice as much of it, but my boyfriend insisted hardware mesh would be sturdier, keep more pests out and overall look nicer.

I'm glad he chose it though cuz after he finished it, it really does look sturdy and nice :) We bought exterior paint from the clearance rack at Lowe's so we got half a can for $1, which was more than enough. We probably have enough paint leftover to paint their coop when we make it.

top left: the temporary cage they stayed in for 2 days

top right: before; the far back wall of our backyard

bottom left: after; we still need to clean up the area around it

bottom right: I think my babies are enjoying the new space

For $46 we built a 3'x7'x3' pen. It ended up being a bit too tall that I couldn't climb in (we're going to put hinged doors on the top) so we decided to bury it down a little. It's perfect now!

I added in a perch made from a wooden rod that was lying around and 2 of the stakes I pulled out from the side of the street haha. The hens are still kinda clumsy on it but it's adorable to watch them try to balance and walk on them.

I wanted to post up pictures sooner but I have literally been GLUED to them since I got them :D I can't wait til they start laying eggs! I need to get started on their chicken coop now!

First Harvest!!!!!

My very firs harvest was baby spinach! :D They've been getting attacked by leaf miners though :( Not too big of a damage but there were a lot of teeny tiny eggs under a lot of the leaves. I've been going out every night to scrape off the eggs to hopefully decrease the damage. I never see the suckers though. I just find their eggs. Grrr...

My friend's dad let me take home one of their chicken's freshly laid egg to try. I've never had a "fresh" egg like this before so I didn't really know what to expect...

My breakfast. Salt and peppered pan-fried egg, spinach with olive oil, pepper and feta cheese.

Here was my breakfast. Very small and very simple but VERY satisfying :D I've never had such a delicious and flavorful meal!!! I think it also helps that I'm finally eating my spinach I've tended to for over a month. Soooo good. And the egg? Unbelievable. The whole egg was so thick and the yolk had so much more flavor than the store bought ones do.

I can't wait to get my own chickens!! I've been doing tons of research and my boyfriend and I are finally starting on making the chicken coop. I've narrowed down my choices to an Orpington, an Australorp, or a Wyandotte. Maybe I'll just get one of each. I think I only want 2 though. We'll see what happens. :)

I want CHICKENS :D

It's supposed to be in the 70's for the next couple of days :D That should do my garden some good!

Lately all that's been on my mind are chickens. I want chickens. I've wanted chickens since forever. I asked around and my friend whose dad owns chickens in the middle of Seattle said they can go find me some if I wanted. YAY!!

Now that my chicken source is confirmed, where to house them.

I have this gigantic shed in the middle of my backyard that's barely being used. I was thinking of converting it into a chicken coop but I don't know how well it would work. The walls are all made of wooden lattice so it would be cool in the summer but I'm sure it won't be the most comfortable in the wintertime.

After doing research online, all chicken coops

seem to need a "chicken run" where the chickens have a little door to a caged spot outside to run around and receive sun. Will this shed not provide sufficient lighting? Maybe I'll add on to the side of it so they can come out and play.

And how about flooring? I think the shed is currently lined with crates. Should I keep that as is and cover it with bedding? or should I pour down some concrete? Concrete would be my favorable choice but I don't know how into it my boyfriend would be since he will do most of the work :(