Hens are big birds.

I’ve been working on setting up this website on chickens. I’m not proud of its structure. I’ve never been someone who can do something half-way. I’m all in or not at all. I’ve struggled a month to make the site look right. Imagine my husband (who swore he wouldn’t have anything to do with creating a website) and I, squinting over a code, holding our breath and fooling around with it! When we go back to the website and nothing has changed! What frustration!

Yesterday, I was out in the garden readying for a rainy weekend (rare in these parts), and working off website frustration. The hens were in their pen going about their business while I was going about mine, digging nearby. I listened to their “hen talk”. The contented babel that they carry on as they scratch and bathe in the dust sounded like friends over a cup of coffee. There is a throaty Rrrrrrrr……. that one of them makes when a hawk flies overhead. Even a blue jay or crow will trigger that warning sound.

And then, there is always an occasional unpleasant squawk when one of the crankier hens pecks another because she doesn’t want the other to be “in her space”. Sweetpea was getting her share of pecks yesterday as I gardened nearby. I could just hear them saying, “Gads, you’re ugly. Get away!” Sweetpea is moulting, has no tail feathers and her comb and wattles are a pale pink. Someone once described moulting as “hen menopause”. Poor thing! As least she will get over it!

Deciding which breeds of chickens you want for your backyard chicken project is a pretty important decision. There are books and magazine articles on the subject and I found the hatchery catalogues to be  quite helpful (and fun to browse through) as you plan on which breeds would fit your needs.

Before making a decision on breeds for you, ask yourself a few questions. Are you raising chickens for eggs, meat, or pets? Do you want steady layers, calm birds, pretty birds, show birds, or just plain sweet birds. Do you have space for the larger breeds or would you prefer a flock of the small bantams? Do you live in a climate that has extremes that may threaten the health of your chickens? Some breeds are called “dual-purpose” breeds so if you put in a “straight run order”, meaning there will be both hens and roosters in the arrival, you will be able to butcher the roosters for meat and keep the hens for eggs. Hey folks, this is the real world!

Now I can only speak about raising chicks for egg layers because this is where my experience lies. When I was searching for the right breeds, I knew what I didn’t want. Growing up we had Leghorns for big beautiful white eggs. They were “flighty” birds and nervous and didn’t make cuddly pets. I knew I was only getting 4-6 hens, and that there was a real chance, that with a calm breed, I could make egg-laying pets. I’d had bantams before, and while they were great at cleaning up bugs in the garden and taking care of chicks, they were “broody” and not the best of layers.

Six Pullets at 12 Weeks

I finally settled on six beautiful, calm (most of the time), self-reliant breeds. They are considered ideal free-range chickens because they are good foragers. I chose an Orpington, Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, silver-laced Wyandotte, golden-laced Wyandotte (all lay large brown eggs) and an Ameraucana (who lays designer olive-green eggs). All of them lay about 5 eggs a week except the Ameraucana. She only averages every other day; but hey, they’re green!

We don’t have a rooster because we have good relations with our neighbors and I want to keep it that way. Roosters are an asset because they are protective of their hens and keep order in the flock. But they do not effect egg-laying. You will still get beautiful, tasty eggs without a rooster in your flock.

Do your research before getting your chicks. Do not get more than your coop can handle (see my article on “A Problem Chicken” that was published in a local newspaper), and nurture them as they grow. A little planning in the beginning can prevent unhappy situations for both you and your hens.

Four-day-old chicks

There has been a movement in recent years to raise a few chickens in the backyards of both city and suburban dwellers. Producing your own eggs from a few hens, neatly tucked into your garden is a trend that I don’t think will go away. Why? It is fun and hens provide you with tasty fresh eggs that are downright addictive!

If you have been thinking about taking on this project, you might want to consider the following:

• Will they be a disturbance to neighbors?
• Is it legal in your community for you to have a small backyard flock?
• Will you have the time to keep their coop clean and tend them properly?
• Do you have the resources to build a sturdy and safe coop to protect hens from predators and dogs?
• Do you have the space required?
• How many hens will you be able to safely house?

A little research is in order before you go out and buy chicks.

We raised chicks from day-olds to hens this past year. They have provided us with hours of entertainment, fresh eggs each day, and fertilizer for our garden. It has been rewarding and fun.

For whatever reasons you have thought about getting chickens for your backyard project, start now in preparation. The chicks will be arriving at the feed stores soon and they are irresistible! Be prepared.

Poppy was an impulse acquisition and a real problem chick. I had researched and decided on five breeds for our backyard chicken project. I’d bought the buff Orpington, barred rock, and Easter  egger in Arroyo Grande and was told the golden-laced Wyandotte and Rhode Island Red (RIR) would arrive the following week.

Poppy as a “not so happy” pullet

I called a feed store in Paso to see if I could get the RIR  and golden-laced chicks there. “Yes, we have some golden-laced Wyandottes,” I was assured. I drove to pick up my fourth chick. I’d scrounge up the common RIR from another store.

Located next to the glass door entrance, the tiny fluffballs were being blasted with wind as customers entered. The chicks were flying frantically against the sides of their wire cage. Clearly, they were not the pretty little chipmunk-marked golden-laced that I’d wanted, but the silver-laced variety.

But how could I not remove one of these chicks from this hostile environment and bring it home to my cozy brooder? I paid for Poppy and drove home to introduce her to her three sisters.

Poppy was different from the start. She was high-strung. She dominated the other chicks running over their backs. Poppy gave meaning to the term “the pecking order.” Within three weeks, I had the five breeds I’d originally wanted (Poppy made six) and a larger brooder, but Poppy continued to bully. At three weeks she prevented Daisy from eating and drinking and Daisy’s health was deteriorating.

I consulted books and articles. I asked for advice on backyardchicken.com’s forum. I e-mailed friends to see if someone would take her off my hands. “Cull her,” was the common chicken expert advice. And you know what that means!

At my wits’ end, I called  Diana Duncan at our local Homeless Animal Rescue Team (HART) shelter.

“I can’t take it any more!” I told her. “She’s a Cruella DeVille!”

She sympathized, then put me in touch with Linda and Bud Hotchkiss, who know birds of all kinds. Bud patiently listened to my story, assuring me that when Poppy was old enough to “free range,” he would take her, whether or not she was a hen or rooster.

“We don’t eat our roosters,” he told me. The end was in sight! I set up a second brooder and Poppy was put in solitary confinement until old enough to be rehomed.

In the month that Poppy was isolated, I handled her daily. When the others were moved to their permanent henhouse, I let her loose outside the pen where she followed me around the yard as I gardened. I began reintroducing her to the other pullets, starting with an hour a day, increasing until she eventually could be permanently housed with her flock again.

Poppy Grows Up

Why would I bother to keep this temperamental hen? All of us, who have raised or worked with kids and pets, know that there is something special about the “difficult one”. They challenge us to be our patient and creative selves and sometimes reward us with sweet success.

Poppy has grown into a strikingly beautiful hen. She is still the crankiest of the lot. She no longer chases the others (except on rare occasions), but will peck them when they invade her territory, occasionally blindsiding them while they eat or are otherwise engage in innocent activity.

To us, her behavior appears to be cruel, but odds are, it is simply evidence of the “pecking order.” If we remove Poppy, another hen will take charge. Our hope is that Poppy, as a way of redeeming herself, will be our best egg layer.

This article was first printed in “The Cambrian”.