I seem to have been gifted with 4 hens, thanks to the Jesusita Fire...

My daughter runs a pre-school with a lot of different animals for the tots to learn from, and when she had to evacuate due to the fire last week http://www.countyofsb.org/ceo/dept0.aspx she asked if I could take the hens. Well, that was a lot more doable than taking the English Mastiff, and besides I've been fantasizing about chickens for a long time without knowing if it would actually be feasible for a suburbanite non-farmer like myself.

I have a gated side yard right next to the kitchen, so she dropped them off one smokey night in a dog crate along with a bucket of food and a water bucket. I don't know what kinds they are, but they've been very entertaining. They're quite tame and easy to handle, and three of them lay the loveliest eggs -- some pale green and some pinky brown. They settled right in and seem very happy, digging up the dirt with enthusiasm, stripping the leaves from my salad burnet and snacking on my lemon balm. The oregano, rosemary, and fennel seem to be too strongly flavored for them. They periodically roost on the top of the dog crate and give us the beady eye through the window.

So far I am finding them quite charming and pretty and even gave them all names so I could talk about them: Big Red, Little Red, Black-Eyed Susan, and Ellen (the one who doesn't lay eggs and who my daughter says is "the designated rooster").

Hubby, who was very reluctant to have them due to a childhood trauma involving a rooster protecting his hens' eggs from being collected by a small boy, rapidly thawed in the presence of such trusting girls as these.

So far they are sleeping every night without incident in the wire dog crate, which won't do for a permanent home. The weather will eventually turn unpleasant, but before that a raccoon or other nocturnal creature will make its way into the yard and find the crate's latch laughably easy to manipulate. My daughter has decided to start a larger flock and has been wondering whether it would work at all to slip hatchlings to these hens, and she actually asked me if I wanted to keep them and offered to throw in a real chicken coop too. I said yes immediately, while dh was still rolling his eyes. I'm not sure how soon the coop will arrive, because my daughter and her family are in the process of packing and moving themselves and the preschool to a house with an acre and a barn -- the structures thankfully escaped the fire. She says, "With the vegetation gone we can see the contours of the land better, and we know where everything should go."

Meanwhile, what do I need to know about chickens? The weather here is usually very mild, with long periods of dry and a short chilly rainy season. It seldom freezes, but we get a lot of coastal fog (which at the moment is helping the firefighters settle down the almost-9,000 acre fire). We'll get some days above 100 degrees between July and October, but there's good areas of shade where they are. During the worst of the recent fire (which is still not out) we had high heat day and night, but they seemed fine. The chicken feed that I scatter once a day seems to be the least of their diet, frankly, as that fairly neglected side yard is now getting an intense going-over. They're even undermining the edges of the brick path, and whether it's bugs or seeds they're eating, they do it constantly. They really liked the mud patch where I dumped their water bucket so I could fill it with fresh water -- that was an immediate hit. But in the rainy season do they have to be cooped up all day?

My only other animals are an elderly little cockapoo and two 6-month old kittens. The dog is a very mild creature, but the kittens are already hunters and one is trying to stalk the hens. I finally zapped Zora with a squirt bottle of water and kept it up until she went back under the gate. She really upset Big Red, who was trying to lay an egg, and who kept up a mighty squawking for quite awhile. Do I need to worry about the kittens as they become cats, or will the hens defend themselves?

I'm really rambling on here, but I've enjoyed dropping in to this forum from time to time and reading about your varied experiences. I figured if anyone could give me guidance it would be you folks. :hi:

Hekate

The cat would stalk the ducks but never hurt them. He would take a long time carefully sneaking up on a duck until he was within pouncing range - 5 to 6 feet - and then turn and run. It was as if he realized that the duck was more than he could handle. Having a short memory though, he would be back later to repeat the exercise.

and I get a kick out of watching the ones my next door neighbor has. She too has a "designated rooster," a hen who tries to answer the neighborhood rooster every morning, funny as hell. You don't think of chickens having much personality, but they do.

My own best advice is to hit the public library for books on chicken care, what you need to do to keep the little buggers healthy and free of things like mites. You might also want to put up some chicken wire fencing and increase their range. They are great at digging out grubs and other lawn nasties while depositing fertilizer as they go.

If you're at work, turn your speakers down and check out http://www.cyndilou6.com/ It's got a lot of good tips for beginners.

truth in epigram. keep the girls out of the rain and they won't get waterlogged and keel over from pneumonia. the green girls are Ameraucana. The red probably Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire.

The squawk is her signal there's an egg passing through.

I build my nests from shredded paper. If you can find straw, the girls love that, too.

Enjoy your chickens! And sweep up their litter, their turds, and compost. Fresh chicken droppings can be too nitrogen hot for direct contact with the veggie garden, but composted, world-class fertilizer!

We started our flock a year ago, and couldn't be happier.
The birds are surprisingly intelligent, social, and with individual personalities.
We have 2 Austrolorps, 2 Barred Rocks, 2 New Hampshire Reds, 1 Brown Leghorn, and a pugnacious Rooster that we don't turn our backs on.
We harvest 4 - 7 delicious Free Range eggs per day.



For lots of info on chickens:
Scroll down for threads posted by other small scale chicken lovers.

OR

Mother Earth News is one of our bibles:
Lots of info on small scale (backyard) chicken farming and Free Range Eggs.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/
Most of this magazine is available for reading online if you just close the top "Subscription" window.

I've kept them in the Mojave, and now I keep them in the high desert of Oregon. Not as hot, but much colder. Winters are tough up here.

Still, my hens do just fine.

They need a coop at night with a roost. In the Mojave, that was a cheap little portable tool shed, about 4X6. As long as you provide a roost above ground, they'll be safe.

They prefer laying in enclosed spaces. Mine free-range, and pick some interesting spots to drop eggs, but always in a "secure" area.

They like enclosed nest boxes, too.

I don't think you have to worry too much about temperature in SB. It's mild enough there that they will be fine.

I wouldn't try to have them raise chicks. Chicks are not part of their recognized "flock," and are vulnerable.

You don't need to worry about the kittens. Unless you have banties, chickens are bigger than cats. The cats will be fascinated, but are unlikely to do anything more than watch, in my experience. And the hens WILL defend themselves. Dogs are a different story. I'd introduce your little dog to the hens on leash, and see what happens. If there is any indication that the dog would like to chase, keep them separate.

And enjoy!

... her original supplier (LaCumbre Feed, I think). They'll be their own flock.

Because she has so many other animals as well as the preschoolers, these 4 hens have been through a number of adventures already. There used to be 6, but a pair of twins at the school started being mean to them and one got very aggressive with all the kids as a result. Buh-bye birdie. Then there was a Jack Russell terrier she was boarding for a friend that got let into the play yard unsupervised by mistake. Big mistake.

These 4 don't seem to be holding any grudges; it's just my nature to be cautious. My old dog will still chase balls, but given her age, size and temperament is in more danger from an annoyed hen than they are from her. I feel more reassured about the kittens after reading the posts here. A good flap in the face and a scolding may be all that they need.

I'll be back...

Hekate

Our lives haven't been the same since.

At first they occupied an unused bathtub but they quickly outgrew that. So I threw together a pen in a spare room. Not even a month old they are outgrowing this pen while I rush to prepare their outdoor home. They are growing so fast it is frightening.

We have Gold-laced and Silver-laced Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, and Ameraucanas. Altogether we now have 23, after one drowned in the water. They are all supposed to be hens but no guarantees. If all goes well we will be collecting dozens of eggs a week!

I have one that is especially friendly and likes to jump onto my hand or lap if I'm sitting quietly nearby.

It is going to be an interesting change to our lives!