Monday, August 10, 2015
Backyard Chickens
11:15 PM | 
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
Chickens are popping up in backyards across the nation. With the price of eggs and chicken
increasing, many have decided to decrease their grocery bills and start raising
their own flock. Chickens are
resourceful and can eat many vegetable and fruit items that may be considered
spoiled in our refrigerator. In addition
to recycling produce, chickens eat bugs, worms, and vegetation found
outside.
My family is doing an experiment this year with chickens. We wanted farm fresh eggs and several
broilers, so we ordered 14 chicks online (plus a bonus exotic chicken with our
purchase!) and started the process. We
are lucky enough to have almost 5 acres of lands, so our chicken pen choice was
a “tractor” or mobile pen that could be moved every week to provide fresh grass,
bugs, and worms for the chicks and fertilizer for our yard.
The chicks, only a few days old, arrived late in the season on June 23rd. We set up an old dog crate with a chicken
water can and fresh chick food. Since
our grass clippings a saved, these were added to the bottom of the crate. Evenings are chilly in Iowa even in June, so
the chicks lived in our garage in their dog crate for several weeks receiving
fresh food and water daily, in addition to frequent grass clipping changes.
While the chicks ate and grew in the garage, we started building their
perfect home with 10 foot by 4 inch lumber, chicken wire, a 10 foot by 3 foot
piece plastic siding, screws, and lots of staples. At last the masterpiece was finished and
placed in the backyard in a great grassy location. My family moved the chicks to their outside
paradise chicken tractor, complete with chick feed and water container.
With a sigh of relief, I started cleaning up the chicks’ mess left in
the garage, cleaning the cage and recycling the grass clipping on my
garden. My family went to movie in town
and arrived home two hours later to a murder site. Three of the beautiful black chicks had
decided to explore outside the chicken pen sticking their heads through the
chicken wire to be found by a hawk.
After wiping tears and cleaning up, the chicks moved back into the
garage hideaway until we could provide a hawk-safe location.
Back to the drawing board we went to find a safer solution for our
chicks. My husband came up with a great
idea to wrap the outside of the chicken pen with a finer gauge chicken
wire. Another trip to the local farm
store provided us with the necessary wire and more staples to secure it.
Several weeks have passed now, with our fabulous 12 chicks growing and
eating outside. My children delight in
seeing them run and fly (yes, chickens can actually fly short distances) around
their backyard oasis. Who knows, in a
few months we might actually be eating our own farm fresh eggs for breakfast!
Written by: Angela Ask MPS
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