Back home in Florida with 28 baby chicks

It has been a long time since I have had chickens to write about.
In 2013, we went to NC to take a turn taking care of my mom. We were there till Aug 2015 and then went back in 2017 till May 2020. My mom passed away August 10, 2022 so we are now home for good. I miss my mom but she was ready to be with the Lord. She was 98.

I ordered 25 Americauna (hen) chicks in May of 2020 and I sold part of them but still have 14 laying hens. I never had even one die. I always get McMurray Hatcheries to vaccinate for the two chicken diseases.

So I ordered 27 (two roosters) Americaunas that were delivered Aug 23 this year. My plan is to raise them and then sell them as laying hens and make a little money. I really enjoy baby chicks so it is a fun hobby that I can make a little money from, too. McMurray sent one extra hen so I plan to sell about 20 for 25 dollars each. I paid 120 for the chicks. The variable will be the feed costs since everything is more expensive right now. But, even if I broke even, it is still fun. Plus I got roosters this time so I can hatch out chicks.

We built a 24×48 chicken yard with 5 foot tall fencing. We bought an 8×8 shed with no floor for 1300 dollars and put it on the edge of the rectangular fenced in yard. We put 2x4s attached to the studs so there are two perches across the back. Then we put the 4 nests, which are milk crates, in the front, two on each side. Then we had an extra set of wooden mobile home steps that we put in the center so the chickens can get up on the perches. The large door allows more air flow and if need be, we could close the chickens up at nights and even lock them in.
We need to put some vents in the walls first. We also bought a 25×50 foot net and covered the entire yard. Chicken hawks are our only real threat. We let our chickens out to free range every day. I like to keep them in their yard till about 4pm to make sure they lay in their nests.

I hope you find a breed of chicken you enjoy raising. I love the colored eggs from sky blue to olive green.

Squirrels in the corn feed

I love my chickens and everything about caring for them, collecting the eggs, hatching out the eggs, and so much more.  They are very entertaining at times and I even have a two person swing next to the chicken yard.

Additionally, their food attracts other hungry animals.  I love watching the birds and squirrels run around snitching the chicken feed.  The squirrels have even figured out ways to get into the containers that hold all that delicious corn.  They have chewed holes into the rims of the barrel that holds the corn.  But, the most creative thing they have done is chew around the edge of the lid and put their little paws between the top and bottom edge and actually push the lid off of the bucket.

At first, I thought I was just leaving the lid off the bucket which I found hard to believe, but, no one is perfect.  I was really irritated because it drizzled rain and the top layer of the corn was slightly wet.  I fussed at myself and vowed to not do that again.

But two more times, the same thing happened.  The lid was off when I came to feed the chickens in the morning.  Dang.  I took my fingernail and easily lifted the lid and I knew the squirrels had to open the lid.

Another time, the squirrels swiped all the plum seeds out of the jiffy pots that I had planted and set out on my porch.  I had planted some in the yard, too and they never grew so I know why now.

So when I had a hand full of pecans I wanted to attempt to plant, I knew I had to figure out a ways to keep those pesky squirrels from digging them up.  So, I planted them in plastic pots but covered the pots with netting draped over the edges.  Well, much to my dismay, the squirrels broke into the sides of the pots and pulled the pecans out in all five of the pots.  I just hope the squirrels forget where they buried the pecans and I end up with some trees randomly growing on our two acres.

There are two stray cats that often find their way into my yard and I thought they were after my chickens but they are really after the squirrels.  I am not a fan of cats period.  I wouldn’t hurt one but I would be very happy if they disappeared.

I was having a discussion with my daughter and told her I didn’t want the cats to eat my squirrels because if the whole economy crashes, EMP, end of the , zombie attack, etc. scenerio happens, i may need to eat those squirrels.  lol  My sister-in-law says squirrels taste good.  I hope I never have to find out.

Getting more eggs out of your chickens during the winter

I watched a u-tube video by Becky’s Homestead that said if you feed your chickens corn and bread during the winter months, your chickens will continue to lay.

I can buy day old bread for sometimes as low as 50 cents a loaf or I make my own bread for about 50 cent a loaf.

I do always feed my chickens corn but I added bread (on purpose ) instead of just giving them the leftover bread (end pieces) as well any leftovers from our meals.

I did continue to get just as many eggs during the winter months as I did get during the other months.  I do live in Florida so I have a lot more sun anyway but I do think it made a difference to give the chickens the bread.

 

Cheap food and water containers

I have found quite a few food containers for my chickens at the thrift stores.  I buy ceramic bowls, preferably pretty heavy, to put water and food in.

I like the bowls so I can quickly fill them with water with my water jugs I keep in the chicken yards.  So much easier than the water dispensers that you have to carefully flip back upside.  And so much easier to clean, too.

As far as food containers go, I like the heavy bowls that are deep.  The problem I had was how they like to stand inside the bowl and scratch all the food out.  My solution:  I buy deep bowls or pots and often put a small bowl upside down in the middle so the chickens cannot stand in the food and scratch it out.  Sometimes, I put the pellets in the outter part of the bowl and put the small bowl in the middle with cracked corn or whole corn in it instead of putting it upside down.

My chickens are kind of spoiled and when I put food in the dispensers that you fill and it lasts days or weeks, they just don’t eat a lot of it.  I think it is fresher when I put it in the bowls.  Sometimes, I add water to the pellets and they really seem to love it.  I don’t like to buy the crumbles because there seems to be a lot of waste.

Also, I have lots of fat squirrels from them eating my corn I feed to the chickens.  I cannot leave corn out for the chickens  so I throw a little out to them every morning.  The squirrels are even trying to eat thru my plastic barrel that I keep my corn in.  Funny that they don’t do that to my pellet barrel.  Smart squirrels.

Another dish I use for water and food is plastic dog dishes, the kind that cannot tip over because of the way it is made.

 

 

Watering your chickens

We have our chickens in the back part of our two acres which meant we were dragging a very long water hose to the area and then dealing with the hose kinking.  It was very aggravating.

We drink a lot of juices.  The plastic jugs the orange juice and tomato juice and even prune juice come in are great for storing water.  We actually used them to stock up water for hurricanes in case we lose our electricity.  That water would be good for washing dishes, brushing teeth, and even flushing our toilet.

So we took a few plastic tubs and filled them with the juice bottles filled with water and keep it stored out in the chicken yards in a shady  area.  We have around 90 jugs/bottles now.

Every two weeks or so we drag the water hose out to the chicken yard and refill the bottles as well as scrubbing down all the water bowls/dispensers with bleach.  But twice a month dragging the hose out there is so much better than every day or two.

It also makes it so much easier when we ask my sister-in-law to chicken- sit for a few days.  We make sure all the bottles are full of water and she can just quickly refill the water bowls if they get low.