sexing chicks

it is very important to be as specific and clear as possible when buying chicks. many people will buy in bulk and have their chicks shipped to them and a couple weeks later discover that six out of ten of their chicks are cockerels (roosters under a year)-which is very disappointing. so ask for females only, and make sure they are professionally sexed-yes there are professional chicken sexers in this world. but no one is perfect and it is hard for anyone to be 100% sure your chick is a girl. so her are some ways to tell they are females or males when they are younger, before the obvious signs:

MALES:
-bigger
-braver (not so skittish)
- redder comb
-bump in vent (butt), by gently squeezing-though this only works with newborns
-hackle feathers
-angular head
-spur development
-more dominant to other chicks

FEMALES:
-smaller
-yellower comb
-skittish
-no bump in vent
-rounded feathers
-small round head

can you tell what sex this chick is?
it's a female! this is Francine when she was a couple weeks old!
so as you see, it is very hard to tell what sex your chicks are at this age. and you would not be doing anything wrong if you waited until they were are couple months old, so the obvious signs would have developed (cock-a-doodling, hackle feather, spurs, larger, etc). but it is a bummer because you will get attached to them the longer you have them and it will be harder to give him away. but you will want to get rid of him before your neighbors might file a report-this has happened to a lot of my friends and sometimes they end up having to get rid of all their chickens! don't let that be you!
though if you think one of your chicks is a male-don't get rid of him right away! you never know, he could be a she! so ask a local farmer, or friend, or chicken keeper if they agree that your chick is a male first!
go to this site to find more ways of sexing chicks:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/95/sexing-chicks-in-the-backyard-flock

chicken anatomy and terms

It is always good to learn not just how to take care of your chickens, but to also know where certain body parts are and their names. we will start with the outside, with the legs and up.
-they will have 3-4 toes, or digits, on each foot. only cocks have a spur, on the back of their foot. hens just have a toe.
-then above their foot, is their shank, which is equivalent to a shin on a human.
-then where their legs bends, is the hock, or ankle, which would be equivalent to and elbow.
-then the rest of the leg, the knee, thigh and hip, is covered by their feathers.
-their crop, is the bulgy part of their chest that stores food, and should be slightly shifted to the right of their chest.
-their shoulder is where their wing attaches to the body
-if you spread out the chicken's wing, the end feathers farthest from the body are the flight feathers, or primary feathers. these are the feathers you would clip if you didn't want your chickens to fly.
-under the chickens head are their wattles which look like bumpy or smooth wrinkled skin. which are usually red, white, or yellow depending on the breed. some chickens don't have any wattles like ameraucanas, which have muffs (fluffy feathers) around the cheeks and chin area instead.
-then on the side of their head, where the ear would be, are their earlobes and ear feathers. the earlobes do not have any feathers on them. and the ear feathers are positioned right above the lobes.
-their lower beak is the bottom side of the whole beak.
-their nostrils are on top of the beak.
-the top of the beak should be longer than the lower beak, by just a bit, just to make it pointy. this is so to help them peck and pick up thins easier.
-then on top of their head is their comb. which is always red and has a more bumpy rough texture than the wattles. their are many different comb shapes including: rose, pea, cushion, buttercup, single, strawberry, and V-shaped.
-males are called roosters, roos, cocks, and if under a year old, cockerels.
-females are called hens, and if under a year pullets

this is a picture of my Ameraucana, belle, who has a pea comb, and muffs instead of wattles.
here is a great website to visit for more info on anatomy: http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00044/id16.htm

chicken food do's and dont's

do give chickens:
-leafy veggies (lettuces, spinach, tomato leaves, cabbage, sour grass, mustard flower, etc.)
-fruits (berries, apples, pears, citrus fruits, cucumber, melons, etc.)
-breads (plain), oats, plain pancakes/waffles
-seeds (unsalted, unflavored)-sunflower, squash, crushed plain nuts
-bugs, worms, snails, slugs, etc. (but can carry diseases)
-weeds, yard grass (don't give them plant with milky stuff inside, it most likely is poisonous, or anything that has been sprayed with pesticides)
-even their own scrambled eggs!
-you can give them meat, but it is risky because it is always not healthy for chickens. you can "accidentally" give them a slice of turkey a couple times a year. but do not bother giving them meats unless they seriously lack protein and need a fast solution, but the best thing for that is cat food.

don't give chickens:
-rotting, moldy food
-flowers, unless edible to humans
-avocados or anything similar i haven't mentioned
-breads with jam, butter, honey, etc.
-salted, dressed, chocolate, frosted or sweetened foods
-cakes, dyed foods, or any desserts
-wild mushrooms, moss, unknown wild berries
-dead bugs, or biting/stinging/poisonous bugs
-sand
-chips
-dog food

the pleasures of poop

you may be wondering what the heck is pleasurable about poop-well surprisingly it is more beneficial than a hazard. first here's how to collect the poop. you may remember me saying to clean the chicken coop everyday, preferably in the morning. so yea, do that, but then what do you do with the collected poop? here is what i do:

Sunday morning:-collect poop from inside coop into a bucket using gloves, hand shovel and/or hand broom
-put poop bucket in a corner or somewhere that chickens can't get into and th

at is close by

a fly bag
-wash hands immediately after
-continue routine throughout the week
Saturday morning:-collect poop, etc.
-then transfer poop to compost- then a couple weeks later transfer the composted poop and other kitchen leftovers to the gar

den
-turn and mix poop and compost, water well, turn/mix, water,

turn/mix top soil, & plants seeds!

and here are the pros and cons of chicken poop:

cons-
1. stinky-solution: plant scented plants around chicken area that they wont eat
2.flies-solution: fly bags

pros-

1. great manure for gardens
2. no spent money on fertilizer from store3. good for environment (compared to chemical fertilizer)
so there, it is
beneficial, maybe not completely pleasurable, but it will make all

the difference for your wallet and veggies.

the new girls

so now that we only had four chickens, which was not even close enough to supporting our five member family with eggs, i decided that i wanted two more-to make six. so on Valentine's Day this year, i drove to Ojai, to get two more RIR pullets at a cute little farm Blue Hills Farm, that has many different breeds of chicken, turkey, goats, and other fancy birds (they even had emu that i got to pet!). since the two new girls were around 7-8 months old, they cost $20 each-which is a good deal. though this does seem expensive, it is only because the previous owner has raised and cared for them longer. so i put them in our portable cage in the car, and drove home.

previously, i had built a temporary cage for the new girls, because the best way of introducing new chickens to your flock is slowly and gradually-so no one gets seriously hurt, and will have a better relationship in the end.

here are things to do and prepare for when adding adult hens or practically full grown pullets to your flock:

1) make a temporary cage for the new chickens next to your original chickens' pen so they can see each other but not have physical contact-one should expect to keep the new chickens in a separate cage for 2-3 weeks. the temporary cage can be made of:

-chicken wire, wood. but make sure it is resistant against predators and covering from rain, cold, etc.

2) they must have food, water, and veggies, a perch of some sort, and a nesting box if they are laying,

3) and a ground covering they are able to scratch around on and occupy themselves.

after 5-8 days (or when you think the are ready) of the chickens adjusting to one another-you can let them have contact with each other but you must do the following:

-have a LARGE area to put them in, like a backyard, with bushes and places for the new girls to hide and take a break

-watch them 24/7 when introducing them in the beginning-so you can break up any fights that are getting out of hand-this will also establish your authority over the flock

-do not let them have contact for more than 10 minutes at a time about 3 times a day during the first couple days of contact, then gradually lengthen the time-expect this whole process to spread over 3-5 weeks for all to be normal again.

-if you have especially aggressive poultry, go to this website http://www.blpbooks.co.uk/articles/aggressive_poultry/dealing_with_aggressive_poultry_pecking_order.php

-you can also distract your original chickens with treats and goodies to give the new girls a break

now after 2-3 weeks you can put your girls in the run together but for about 20 minutes to an hour at a time, and also let the new girls have the run to themselves so they can get food, and explore and get used to the run. some things to expect:

-your new girls will always be at the bottom of the pecking order (unless you have an especially persistent chicken)

-when they are fighting, expect them to jump on each others' backs, spread their feathers, make weird sounds, have feathers pulled out, at worst some some blood spots on the comb and feathers, and chasing and pecking consistently-but if this behavior continues over some length of time you may need to get rid of your especially aggressive poultry or keep separate permanently.

here are things to remember:
-i only know how to introduce hens with hens-i have never introduced very young pullets or chicks to a flock and would not recommend it until the are of the same size as your original chickens. and i don't know how to introduce roosters with hens-though i imagine it is like the same process . but please do not rely on this process of intro with chicks or roosters.
-most neighborhoods don't allow roosters, so make sure what you are doing is legal
-chickens are wonderful carriers of viruses and diseases. so make sure the new hens you are getting are healthy. if you suspect something is wrong with one you should be able to get a different one from the place you bought them, or keep the sick one in quarantine for a couple weeks and give your chickens vacs.

hope this works!
(on top is a pic of my baby cousin Carly and the two new girls)

francine the survivor chicken

Francine is a smaller light Brahma (on the right) that is now just over a year old. last summer (2008) she was five months old and had established her place as alpha queen of my flock of five. the other girls were: Edith (Plymouth barred rock), Lucy (Rhode island red), belle (ameraucana), and dolly (buff orpington)-all the same age. i got these five girls as chicks for my 16th birthday last year. and have loved and spoiled them to pieces over the last five months of their life. so this story takes place in the beginning of august, and my family and i were getting ready to leave for Hawaii on one morning. and when we leave for trips, i have a neighborhood girl take care of my chickens. but during the morning of of getting ready to leave for Hawaii, i decided to let the girls out of their run into my backyard around 7:30 am, since i knew they probably wouldn't be let out the rest of the day-which makes them anxious and loud.

as a side note, my family shares a large backyard with our cousins. so there are no fences in between our houses. so when i let my girls out into our backyard, they tend to wander to my cousins' side of the yard-which isn't good.because it isn't as protected over there. so I'll usually check on the girls every 10 minutes to shoe them back to our side of the yard.

so, after i let them out, i went inside for about 5 minutes, and when i came out to look for my chickens they were nowhere to be found. i decided that they wandered to my cousins side of the yard and started walking over there when i saw gray and white feathers all over my cousins side of the yard. i ran over there screaming for my girls. i found Francine with missing feathers all over her, and blood dripping down her sides. i picked her up and ran to my house, screaming for my parents, my mom wrapped Francine in a towel to help not go into shock. then i searched all over the yard for the rest of the girls. i found Lucy, Belle, and Edith in random places and put them in their run. but i couldn't find dolly. i searched and called for her all around our house and yard. i found a pile of her yellow feathers in our next door neighbor's driveway. then every 20 or more feet were a trail of her yellow feathers here and there. so me and my dad followed the trail through our other neighbor's backyard and over a 10' high fence to a plant nursery by our neighborhood.
now remember we were getting ready to drive to LA airport to leave for Hawaii and this all happened less than an hour before we had to leave.
so after looking for dolly for 20 minutes, and not finding any other traces of feathers past the nursery, we went back to our house. my mom told us she called our friends who are experienced with chickens and they were going to be at our house in 15 minutes-one really knows who their friends are if they are willing to drive to your house at 7:30 am and help out your pet chicken.
while waiting for our friends to come, my aunt and neighbors came out to comfort me because i was going hysterical. i was trying to keep Francine from going into shock and keeping her warm while not crying and embarrassing myself-which was really hard. though my chickens are our producers for eggs, they are more a beloved pet that i have come to love.
so our friends got to our house, and said they would take Francine to island seed and feed (a garden/farm/pet store) and have our chicken expert/ unofficial poultry vet take a look at her, and also care for her while we were gone. i was, and still am, very thankful that i am able to rely on such good friends to help me in a time of need. they took care of Francine for two weeks, and took her to the chicken expert multiple times while we were gone. so yes, Francine did survive. she got a punctured lung, but had it stitched up-which healed very quickly. but it took months before her feathers grew back, and today she has permanent bald spots on her rear and sides-though she doesn't look horrible. but i was thinking about showing her before the accident happened. and i believe it stunted her growth because Brahmas are supposed to be very big and she is barely bigger than my RIR. and i have come to the conclusion that raccoons or a fox were the culprits that took dolly and wounded Francine. but I'm not a raccoon hater now, this is just a totally natural part of life that we have to accept. this is what carnivores know and are programmed to do-capture and kill for food.
the reason i think the raccoons/fox were able to catch dolly and Francine was 1) because they were the most visible-yellow and white color, 2) they are very friendly and curious girls whose flight instincts have been dulled, and 3) are very territorial and could have even tried to confront the raccoons/fox, and 4) because since francine is the alpha hen, she probably tried to protect the rest of the girls and would have sacrificed herself doing it.
so when we got back home from Hawaii, i had to keep Francine in a separate cage for just over a week, because while she was away and dolly dead, the rest of the girls had to establish a new pecking order. so Francine had to "fight out" who-is-boss-over-who with the other girls (but not until she was strong and healed enough).
so i guess the moral of the story is to have fencing if you want to keep your girls a bit safer, and to cherish them while you have them-or just anything. this was our third pet that died at five months old. though don't feel bad, because we, as temporary living beings on this earth, have to accept the fact that nothing lasts forever and sometimes things don't last as long as they should, or as long as we want them to. its easier to accept death by looking at it this way, and one day we will all be reunited again.
here is a picture of dolly, around four months old. (on the left).