Advice for the Backyard Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Californians who raise poultry outdoors are invited to get their eggs tested for contaminants.
To find out if harmful substances on the ground that are eaten by hens get passed along in the eggs they lay, Maurice Pitesky, UC Cooperative Extension poultry specialist at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, is providing free egg testing.
"We're trying to understand the connection between the environment that backyard poultry are raised in and the eggs they are producing," Pitesky said.
Pitesky's colleague, veterinary toxicologist Birgit Puschner is testing eggs for different types of contaminants, depending on the county the eggs are from. Eggs from counties recently affected by wildfires will be tested for chemicals, building materials and heavy metals that may have been carried in the smoke and ash. Pitesky and Puschner are also looking for lead and PCBs in eggs from certain regions of the state.
The UC Cooperative Extension poultry specialist will share individual egg results with each poultry owner. At the end of the study, all of the results will be summarized and made available to the general public.
Pitesky describes the project in a video produced by CropMobster for UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. You can watch the video at https://youtu.be/3ZlytlUIS3I.
For more information about the study and how to package and ship eggs, visit http://ucanr.edu/eggtest.
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources researchers and educators draw on local expertise to conduct agricultural, environmental, economic, youth development and nutrition research that helps California thrive. Learn more at ucanr.edu.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer our 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, although we will be moving this spring. We will notify you if/when that occurs. 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/CCMGBlog/)
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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.
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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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)
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).
- Author: Monika Hurt
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.
- Author: Monika Hurt
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.