Brining the Chickens in the Garage During the Cold Winter

It has been sub zero temperatures in Chicago area where we live.  The temperatures have dropped below freezing with wind chills of -15 degrees.  I did not want to take a chance so my husband built a temporary cage for our two chickens and one rooster.  Yes, by looking at the picture it is in our garage.  Our neighbors must think we lost our minds.  But I had to do it.

The inside has a wooden perch for them to hang out on.  We filled the inside with hay and pine shavings.  It was actually quite cozy for them.

 I found a step stool to prop up the water to eliminate pine shavings from getting into the water.  Of course they loved to jump on top of the water can and get poop down the sides.  I would find eggs underneath the white stool.  They used it as a nesting spot to lay eggs.  I didn't plan it that way but whatever makes them happy is okay by me.

We went to Home Depot and bought this netting to put at the top of the cage since the chickens figured out how to fly over the cage.  We would walk into the garage and find a chicken on one of our cars.  No to mention chicken poop all over the garage floor and eggs hiding in corners. 

Once it warms up again the chickens go back into the coop.

I can not wait for spring.......

Clearing a Path to the Chicken Coop

Lots of snow has been happening here in the Midwest.  It keeps consistently snowing one snow fall after another.  I am so looking forward to warm Spring days ahead.

To make it easier to go back and forth to the coop my husband took the snow blower and made a nice path for us to walk back and forth to the chicken coop.  If made it so much easier to walk instead of climbing over all that snow that we keep getting.

The chickens and the rooster even appreciated having a clear path to take a walk.

They always manage to still find something on the ground to peck at.

Back and forth they would walk down this single path.  I'm sure they were so happy to see grass again even though it was yellow and dormant.

What do you do to manage all that snow?

His Name is Benny, the Phoenix Rooster

We ended up adopting a rooster.  I wasn't really sure if we needed one or really wanted one.  I heard so many stories of people getting spurred by roosters that were so aggressive.  Yikes!  But the person that gave him to me assured me he was not like that.  The reason she wanted to get rid of him was because he was constantly being picked on by the other roosters she owned.  He was always kept in his own small cage and couldn't come out because he would get attacked.  She felt bad that he couldn't roam free in the yard like all the other birds she had.  So I took him in and we named him Benny. 
 

We were all so afraid of him just as much as he also was so afraid of us.  The spurs on his legs looked very scary.  My husband and kids kept saying that maybe we should send him back where he came from.  But I wanted to at lease give him a chance. When we got Benny he was already about a year and a half old.  We were so used to our chicken which was hand tamed since she was just a baby chick. 

We put him in the chicken run with our other chicken and he got really nervous and climbed the ramp and hid inside the coop.  Benny spent a whole week in the coop and didn't want to come down.  I had to keep bringing him food and water and placing it in the coop.  I was worried that he might not every come down.  I wasn't sure if he was just having a hard time getting down the ramp or if he was just plain scared.

Finally after a whole week he gradually started to come down and socialize with the other chicken.  He eventually got used to being around us.  And we got used to being around him.  He turned out to be the sweetest rooster ever!  When we pick him up he doesn't even struggle to be put down.  He gets along so well with Ellie, our Buff Orpington chicken.

I am trying to figure out if Benny is a Silver Duckwing Phoenix Bantam Rooster, or a Silver Duckwing Brahma Rooster, or a Silver Gray Dorking Rooster, or just a Silver Phoenix Rooster.  His tail feathers are black with a beautiful green color.  And has a single comb.  I am so glad we decided to keep him.  I just hope the neighbors are too.....

Meet Ellie, the Orpington Buff

 

We figured out that our chicken Ellie is a Buff Orpington.  When we first got the chicks we had no idea what kind of chickens we were going to end up with.  

 

Buff Orpingtons have such a quiet sweet personality.  They are not aggressive like some other birds.  Their butts become quite wide and fluffy.  Orpingtons are considered to be a cold hardy chicken and would be great choice for colder climates.   

Orpington is the breed of the bird.  Buff is actually the golden or copper color of the chicken.   Their is also White Orpingtons, Black Orpingtons and Blue Orpingtons.

Our finished coop.

One Lonely Chicken

We decided to keep our one and only chicken.  We had two.  But if you read the previous posting you would know that a hawk killed our other chicken.  My husband built a chicken run for her.  We wanted to make sure that she was safe and sound.

We took my kids old swing set that had a house attached to it and made it into a coop.  It needed some work since some of the wood was dry rotted.  We replaced the roof to make sure that rain wouldn't come through.

 Here is a picture that I found when my kids were little playing on their swing set.  My kids are teenagers now and don't have a need for it anymore.

I will take more pictures at a later post......

Hawk in the sky

On hot summer days we let the chickens roam in a chicken wire cage in the yard with an umbrella attached to the chicken wire so they can cool off in the shade. The top of course was open.

They just loved being outside in the warm sun.  They could spend all day out there constantly pecking at the grass to find bugs and what ever chickens usually find.

We checked on them quite often.  My biggest worry was that a coyote would come by and take them both.  This made me nervous all the time. 

Until that one day came when my neighbor heard the chickens screaming and hurried outside to see what was going on.  Feathers were scattered everywhere.  A hawk from the sky came down and was attacking our red chicken.  My neighbor scared the hawk away but it was too late.  By the time we got there the red chicken was too weak and died.   We were devastated.  These two chickens did everything together.  They followed each other and stuck by each others side since the day we got them as baby chicks.  It never occurred to me that a hawk would be the enemy.  

We all walked around the house that day quietly in disbelief.  What could we have done differently to prevent this?  We felt totally responsible for what had happened.  We just couldn't keep them in the screen porch all day long.  They wanted to be in the sun.  I was not set up with a chicken coop and a chicken run.  Maybe we should have given them to a farm.  

So now, we only have one chicken :(

Growing too Big

The two chicks started changing colors and getting bigger.  At this point I think they can now be called "Chickens".  Their features have totally changed.

We would wake up in the morning and find the two chickens out of the aquarium.  They loved to just hang out by this plant that I had in the corner of the screen porch.   I couldn't contain them in the aquarium no longer.  They just wanted out.  

We enjoyed watching them grow from these baby chicks to young chickens.  But I think it is time to send the chickens to a better home.  I don't own a chicken coop and I don't know anything about raising chickens.    For now, the problem is trying to keep our screened porch clean from all the poop until I get them to a new home.

We are going to miss these two girls after we give them away.  We have become attached to them and look forward to seeing them every day.   They each have a great personality.  I have to admit that it is kind of fun raising them.  

Keeping the Chicks Safe in an Aquarium

We kept the two chicks in an aquarium located in our screen porch.  We attached a heat lamp to the aquarium to keep them warm while they were growing up.  

We placed newspaper on the floor because the chicks were learning how to fly up and sit at the top of the aquarium.  The newspaper was there to hopefully catch the poop while they hung out at the top.  It is starting to get messy around here though.

Here Is Where It All Began

My two daughter came home with two baby chicks from a local feed store that cost $2 each.  At first I thought that they were just bringing home some chicks to show me that belonged to a friend.  I did not realize they actually bought them home with intentions to keep. 

They were so cute.   My husband and I decided to let my kids keep them for a while but letting them know that they do turn into chickens and we would have to send them to a farm one day. 

It was so much fun taking pictures on warm sunny days.