Advice from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County

Besides editing this portion of the MGCC's HOrT COCO blog, I'm something of a blog junkie. I probably subscribe to about a dozen of the UCANR blogs as well as others either directly and indirectly. Luckily, most don't publish that often. I used to be an avid book reader, but I'm finding that I'm now using my former “reading” time indulging in web blogs.

One blog I follow on the UCANR server is the IGIS blog. GIS basically being information gained from aerial and satellite mapping has always fascinated me. GIS came too late in my work career to really indulge, but the IGIS blogs on the various uses of GIS I find fascinating and informative.

A recent IGIS blog was about their work providing data analysis for the UC Davis “Backyard Chicken Survey”. While I don't raise backyard chickens, I know that more than a few neighbors do based upon several run-ins during early morning puppy walks, discussions with other Master Gardeners (you know who you are), local newspaper articles (see 1 and 2), the informative presentations by John Kiefer of Lafayette (see 2), the cackling from the houses backing up to Markham Arboretum in Concord where I often volunteer, and faint memories when my daughters were in Pacheco 4H although we were rabbit people.

I'd also recently heard anecdotal concerns that some backyard chicken raising wasn't quite as well-done due to lack of knowledge, and that shortfall could potentially impact the whole poultry community. Apparently from similar concerns, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and the UC Cooperative Extension want to assess and remedy this concern and have embarked on a census of the California backyard poultry community. Quoting from their opening statements about the census on http://ucanr.edu/sites/poultry/California_Poultry_Census/

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In California, backyard poultry ownership is increasing like never before. A recent National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) study predicted a 4.6% increase in chicken ownership in Los Angeles alone. At the same time, California resources available to this growing group are limited. Little is known about backyard poultry communities.  To address these issues, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Cooperative Extension have made a short survey designed for backyard poultry enthusiasts.  Results will help us get an idea of the number of backyard poultry farms in California, the trends among them, and, more importantly, help bridge the communication gap between poultry experts and backyard poultry enthusiasts. For this reason, we sincerely hope you consider participating in this survey.

Note: As veterinarians at UC Davis our interest is in working with Backyard poultry and their owners to improve poultry health.  The data in this survey is strictly for outreach purposes.  We want to work with you.  We are a university, not a regulatory agency and, therefore, our focus is on outreach and education and not regulation and enforcement. 
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If you are part of the backyard poultry/chicken community, you are strongly encouraged to participate in the UCD census. It's only 2 minutes of your time and the benefits for you and you poultry/chickens are significant… cluck… cluck

Help Desk of the UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County (SIM)

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Note: The  UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions.  Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA  94523. We can also be reached via telephone:  (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/blogroll.cfm).

Authors coop and run

Full disclosure, I am handy. I have power tools, and I'm not afraid to use them. In my first blog post I wrote about having broken my leg shortly after I got my baby chicks. This left me with lots of time to contemplate and research the best coop for my location and needs. I had a dog run left over by the previous owners of my house, which I refused to get rid of knowing full well that it would make a great chicken enclosure. My husband tried for eight years to give it away, and I somehow convinced him each time that we needed to hang on to it. Never was the word "chicken" mentioned. If you read my previous post you will understand... Ok, chicken coops, you can spend a lot of money or like me, very little. I have a friend that bought a custom built coop and run for $1,700. It is very nice and maybe you have to go that route because building things is not your "thing". That's ok.

 

The most important thing is the safety and relative comfort of the occupants. It's a dangerous world if you are a chicken. Since I was using a 6 x12 dog run as my enclosure I had heavy pipe and chain link that I knew no predator could bend to gain access. However, any determined raccoon, fox, dog or cat could dig under the pipe, so I lined the floor of the run with hardware cloth and since chain link is large enough for a paw to slip through I also lined the inside perimeter with chicken wire. Chicken wire is quite flimsy and I would never use it alone since a determined predator could tear it apart. Hardware cloth, which is really wire, is much stronger. I also buried a 12" strip of chicken wire on the outside of the run as a deterrent. All the wire is connected to the bottom pipe. My chickens are as safe as kittens as long as they are inside their run. I designed their coop using three sheets of plywood and some 2x4s. I had some leftover metal roofing material that I used as well. The dimensions of the coop itself are 3x6, it is basically a box on stilts, with a bunch of hinged doors for access. Inside there is a 2x4 perch that spans the six foot length. This is where the chickens sleep. Chicken feet are not designed to grip, so using the 4" side of a 2x4 for them to perch on is more comfortable for their feet. Instead of putting a solid floor in my coop I wired the bottom with hardware cloth and then cut two pieces of plywood to fit on top to catch the poo. Fact: Chickens poop a lot at night. I made a hinged trap door that is the full length of the coop that I use to clean out the poop. I just partially pull out the plywood pieces and scrape the poop onto a bin. Easy. Above the trap door is the nesting box also with a trap door to gather eggs. I can do all this without ever entering the run. Above the nesting box is a window for ventilation. Inside the run on the other side of the coop is the small door and ramp for the chickens to enter. I recommend painting the interior so you can hose it down once and a while. The raw wood will absorb the poop and odors. Make no mistake, keeping chickens is messy enough, think about ease of cleaning before you commit to a design. 

You may have noticed, there's a lot of talk about poop. That's the bad and the ugly truth! I'm a neat, dare I say, freak. Keeping the chicken run and coop clean is a chore. I read somewhere that keeping chickens was as easy as keeping a cat. I believed it, until I had chickens. So before you design your coop or shop for one, keep the above in mind. When doing my research I used Pinterest and Google, as well as backyardchickens.com. There are endless examples of chicken coop designs and ready made coops available at every price point. I encourage you to do as much research as possible before you step into the chicken keeping world. Most of the information out there has a rosy tint, very little bad or ugly. But you should know the all of it. As always, I welcome any questions you might have.

Living With Backyard Chickens: Choosing Breeds, Raising From Chicks and Introducing Them to the Great Outdoors

I have chickens living in my backyard. It took me years to talk my husband into keeping chickens. "You'll have fresh beautiful eggs" I told him. "They are noisy" he countered. "Chickens are quiet" I said. "They only make noise when they lay an egg, you'll never know they are down there." Right. I kinda lied. I didn't mean to, I just wanted chickens so badly, I started believing my own propaganda. Then one day my dear husband acquiesced. Oh happy day, I won! I think...

Choices, choices, choices

Having done extensive research, I knew what chicken breeds I wanted. So when spring came I was ready. My local feed store received deliveries of baby chicks 3 times a week for several weeks. All I had to do is look at their list and choose the day that the chicks I wanted were to be delivered, arrive bright and early to assure my picks. Not so fast! The feed store's combination of breeds did not coincide with mine. Apparently you have to get chicks exactly the same age or the older ones will use the younger ones as pin cushions. Chickens can be bullies. Where do you think the term "pecking order" came from?

Temperament, consistent egg laying and egg colors were important to me. Based on that I chose 2 Ameracunas, 2 Cuckoo Marans, one Buff Orpington and one Andelusian. Along with these day old chicks, I needed a heat lamp, food and water dishes, food and a cardboard "brood box" to house them. All in all the chicks were by far the least expensive part. So far.

The where and the when

I kept them in my dining room for a few weeks, I don't recommend this unless you like massive amounts of chicken dust on every surface. Chickens and birds in general produce this dust as their feathers grow in. I learned the hard way. Chicks grow out of the brood box quickly and will need to be contained. You will need something large enough to house your chicks until they no longer need the warming light. Mine lived in the potting shed with a plywood barricade. Just like plants, the chicks will need to be hardened off before you place them in their permanent home. This is done when they have all or most of their feathers. You do this simply by moving the heat lamp further away from them and lowering the temperature in their enclosure daily until they are ready for the great outdoors. 

Cute has a shelf life

It is important that you handle the chicks daily, right from the start. I didn't do this enough. I broke my ankle three weeks after bringing the chicks home. Guess who had to care for the chicks while I was laid up? Yes, I do have a wonderful husband. But there was no way he was going to chase these little guys around just to hold them for a while. As a result my Marans are less than social. Being a naturally shy breed, they avoid me at all cost. A friend of mine attributes their "stand offishness" to the fact that they originated from France. Fancy French birds. 

Next time I'll talk about chicken coops and runs, plus my ongoing experiences.  In the mean time, if you want more information I recommend the book "Free Range Chicken Gardens, How to Create a Beautiful Chicken Friendly Yard," writen by Jessi Bloom. Also an excellent website for just about anything chicken related, backyardchickens.com. I also welcome any comments or feedback you may have. Bon Jour, for now.