Friday, May 13, 2005
Chicken Run
I left my pet chickens (Mellie and Gimpy) out of the coop for most of the day yesterday, and they didn’t try to escape from the backyard like they used to do before we built them a coop. When I went out last afternoon to put them back in the coop, they had gone back there themselves! I guess the nesting instinct kicked in.
We live in a residential neighborhood, not in the country or anything. Usually, when the hens decided that they would act like wild birds and not the domesticated poultry that they are, they would fly as best they could up to the top of the fence to our yard, perch there for a bit, and then flap over to the other side (chickens are not very good a flying). We would see them in the front yard, or across the street (hee) in the neighbor’s yard, or sometimes in the next-door neighbors’ backyards. Usually, we would catch them and bring them back to the yard (chickens are surprisingly adept at evading humans and making you look like a jackass when they don’t want to be caught), and they almost always came back on their own in the evenings anyway.
One morning a neighbor kid came to the door with a paper grocery bag with the top folded down like a sack lunch, and Mellie was inside. I don’t know how he got her in that bag, because I don’t think I could do it. At that point I figured that the escapes had to stop, so I looked around online a bit and made up plans for a chicken tractor, which is basically a wooden-framed rectangular prism with all sides but the bottom covered with chicken wire and a really basic gate. We made it a weekend project, and it turned out pretty well.
Chickens are pretty good pets. They are friendly, especially if you raise them from chicks. They even come when you call them. Besides the escaping (which shouldn’t be a problem it you have a decently fenced-in yard), we’ve haven’t had many problems with our chickens. We did loose Mellie’s sister Scarlet when a friend’s dog (who he swore was good with chickens) killed her. But Gimpy is a good (if kind of gimp) replacement. They are big enough birds that cats don’t mess with them.
One thing about pet chickens is that they each lay a fresh, organic egg for you practically every day. I know eggs aren’t all that pricey, but you can feed chickens a good quality feed for literally a dollar a month. I buy an $8 bag of feed for two chickens and it lasts me four months, easy. And, when they roam around the yard they eat insects, which keep helps pests down. And their, ahem, manure is a really good fertilizer, if you are into that thing. Just don’t get a rooster, they wake you up WAY too early, aren’t as friendly, and don’t lay eggs.
So if you want a semi-unique pet, think about a chicken.
Chicken Links:
The Subserviant Chicken
Chicken Jokes
Mike the Headless Chicken
Backyard Chickens
Chicken as Pets
Chicken Tractor
We live in a residential neighborhood, not in the country or anything. Usually, when the hens decided that they would act like wild birds and not the domesticated poultry that they are, they would fly as best they could up to the top of the fence to our yard, perch there for a bit, and then flap over to the other side (chickens are not very good a flying). We would see them in the front yard, or across the street (hee) in the neighbor’s yard, or sometimes in the next-door neighbors’ backyards. Usually, we would catch them and bring them back to the yard (chickens are surprisingly adept at evading humans and making you look like a jackass when they don’t want to be caught), and they almost always came back on their own in the evenings anyway.
One morning a neighbor kid came to the door with a paper grocery bag with the top folded down like a sack lunch, and Mellie was inside. I don’t know how he got her in that bag, because I don’t think I could do it. At that point I figured that the escapes had to stop, so I looked around online a bit and made up plans for a chicken tractor, which is basically a wooden-framed rectangular prism with all sides but the bottom covered with chicken wire and a really basic gate. We made it a weekend project, and it turned out pretty well.
Chickens are pretty good pets. They are friendly, especially if you raise them from chicks. They even come when you call them. Besides the escaping (which shouldn’t be a problem it you have a decently fenced-in yard), we’ve haven’t had many problems with our chickens. We did loose Mellie’s sister Scarlet when a friend’s dog (who he swore was good with chickens) killed her. But Gimpy is a good (if kind of gimp) replacement. They are big enough birds that cats don’t mess with them.
One thing about pet chickens is that they each lay a fresh, organic egg for you practically every day. I know eggs aren’t all that pricey, but you can feed chickens a good quality feed for literally a dollar a month. I buy an $8 bag of feed for two chickens and it lasts me four months, easy. And, when they roam around the yard they eat insects, which keep helps pests down. And their, ahem, manure is a really good fertilizer, if you are into that thing. Just don’t get a rooster, they wake you up WAY too early, aren’t as friendly, and don’t lay eggs.
So if you want a semi-unique pet, think about a chicken.
Chicken Links:
The Subserviant Chicken
Chicken Jokes
Mike the Headless Chicken
Backyard Chickens
Chicken as Pets
Chicken Tractor
# posted by Alison @ 12:09 PM 