Backyard Chickens: The Importance of Dust Baths for Health

One key husbandry issue that is often overlooked with chicken tractors; the importance of dust bathing for avian health. Chickens are birds. And like all birds, they need periodic dust baths to keep their feathers and skin healthy. They do this instinctively and it is fun to watch as it obviously gives them a lot of joy digging around and working it deep into their plumage. Chicken tractors are excellent for running a mini grass forage operation. But with frequent movements around the yard and the fact that turf generally is not dry enough to provide dust on any particular day, they end up digging small holes in a futile attempt to get at the dirt.

What to do? In my case I picked up a cheap cat litter box and filled it about half full with a mixture of dry garden soil, kids play sand and animal food grade diamateous earth (DE). The soil and sand are mixed at roughly 1:1 with two to three cups of DE added in. DE acts as a natural mite and flea killer. We've been lucky in that so far our small flock has not had any parasite issues. But including DE in the dust bath as well as a small dusting in their pine chip bedding acts as a preventative. Its cheap insurance. Just don't over do it in the bedding as it can be a respiratory irritant at high concentration.

The other big consideration is keeping an eye on the weather so that the dust bath doesn't become a mud pit. We've been lucky with this so far, and when rain or snow is predicted I can slide the tray under the coop portion to keep it out of the worst of the weather.

They can really kick up a dust ! It is not unusual for two to try to do this at once.

A Time to Reflect; and Plant!

Well, its Christmas Eve 2014. The 2015 Johnny's Seeds catalog showed up in the mail today; the Christmas tunes are on the radio; some bourbon and that last bottle of home-made ginger ale are about to find each other; time to start thinking about food-patching. This is the earliest THE CATALOG has ever shown up so I'm taking that as a good omen and a reason to get moving.

I'm not all that into New Year resolutions but I do hope to get a little more regular with the posts around here. We all have the best laid plans while we sit at the keyboard in the depths of winter. But once the season gets underway and things get busy with the garden and other outdoor activities on peak weekends, I often don't have time to even fire-up the CPU. Hopefully that will change with some kind of mid-week post scheduling.

And now that we've gone full "nano-farming" by incorporating backyard chickens into the mix, I also intend to bring the discussion more in line with the principles of the Paleo lifestyle. 

Now let's get some seeds going. I always seem to be behind the curve when it comes to spring onion sets. I usually get some started in January and then find out they are just too small when that perfect spring planting day arrives. Or worse, like last year, a major damping-off incident occurs with some kind of Andromeda strain fungus from hell. I mostly plant red onion sets as they are the best fresh from the garden and generally don't store well (due to high sugar content). So if you are going to the bother with planing onions why not go for something good?

Here's the tab for today; three tubs of Cebolla Red Burgundy (cheap Ferry-Morse packs that were on clearance at WalMart last fall); one tub of sweet Spanish White (Burpee), and two tubs of Deep Purple Bunching (Johnny's).

Backyard Chickens: Winter Insect Supplements

I've been mixing in a few dehydrated meal worms to the scratch I give the girls on the weekends just to give them some variety now that we are into winter and there are no bugs to be found in the yard. To give them some real meat in the depths of winter/early spring, I started a meal worm colony a few weeks back. At basement temperatures, it may be a couple of months before they go through a complete life cycle whereby the resultant beetles will lay eggs to keep the colony sustaining. In the meantime, it is wait and watch with the current crop of worms that came home from the pet store.

I'm basically following the directions found at the Sialis blue-bird site for setting up the colony since it seems to be the most complete one out there. Here is a shot of the bin.

And here is a close up of a group of worms on the substrate. The substrate is oat bran, oat meal, and a little of the layer crumble that we feed to the chickens. The water bowl is to provide some humidity as are the potato slices. You have to be careful to provide just enough humidity to keep them happy without causing the substrate to go moldy. So far I've been replacing the potato slices about once a week.

Backyard Chickens: Change-over of Daily Ration (GMO-free)

Went by Rufus' this week to get a couple of bags of layer crumble to hold us over through the Holidays and February. It seems he has changed his operation over to a locally sourced GMO-free pellet. Since he said his chickens don't seem to mind I figured why not? Not that I am all that concerned with GMO feed stocks, but since it already is soy and corn free, why not go all the way. Coming from a local mill it also is a buck cheaper per bag.

Here's the analysis:

Chickens are highly adaptable when it comes to diet but instead of changing them over cold-turkey, I'll slowly cut the new pellets into their current crumble so as not to cause any problems.

Backyard Chickens: Winter Forage Supplements

Now that we are nearing the Winter Solstice, the lawn has started to go dormant and the chickens will be missing out on their main source of forage. And soon we will be moving the chicken tractor to a spot in the yard where they will stay put until spring. Since they will be eating the remaining grass down to bare dirt, and since they are still giving us at least two eggs a day, we'll be supplementing their ration with meal worms and sprouted grain. This will provide some semblance of forage even if it will only be once or twice a week. Commercial free-range operations use elaborate systems for large-scale grain sprouting in winter. We just wanted to come up with something simple that would give us about one seed flat worth of sprouts a week during the worst of the winter months and still be compatible with our grow light table. After looking at some of these commercial systems I settled on the following three piece tray array.

I started by punching small drainage holes in a solid flat using a soldering iron. This will sit in a second solid tray followed by a third mesh tray for added support.
  

For a first try, it turns out that about four cups of winter rye soaked overnight would evenly fill the tray to a depth of about half an inch. As you would do for alfalfa sprouts destined for the salad bowl, they were rinsed twice a day over the sink with the spray wand.

After about three days the seeds began to sprout and were either kept under a grow light or moved outside in the sun on mild days to green up.

After about a week, the resulting mat is ready for breakup and feeding. The increase in biomass was amazing. All through this process the rinsing continued and once they reached this stage they were moved to the garage to keep cool and limit mold growth. With two separate arrays, we should be able to have at least one fully sprouted flat ready for feeding each week.

Love them sprouts!

Late Season Chores

With our first really hard freeze Friday night (mid-20s), I went out and cut the last of the broccoli and the way too small cauliflower yesterday morning.  The cauliflower definitely had to come in as it was frozen almost solid and most likely would not be fit to eat after another free-thaw cycle.

Last weekend, the Number One daughter and I ran off a batch of my home-made lip balm composed only of a five month long olive oil extract of our dried calendula and yarrow flowers, mango butter and bee's wax with a little natural flavor. It seems to work pretty well.

Backyard Chickens: Nutrition and Feeding

For the first installment on our system of keeping backyard chickens, I thought I would lead off with what we feed our girls.  The whole idea behind our micro farming experiment is to provide us with eggs that are as near to free-range as we can get within the confines of a one acre yard. Because of our location we can't let them out to run free in the yard and get into trouble either with the neighbors, predators or traffic on our road. But we are able to give them all the grass and bugs they can eat together with suitable greens and scraps from the garden in season. I took special care this past spring to reserve a section of the yard that didn't get treated with any herbicide or fertilizer as we would not want them eating those granules while they scratch around.

In addition to what they can find in the yard they are given full access to a daily layer ration. This by itself would be perfectly adequate to sustain them. We use Blue Seal NoCoSo #3520 layer crumble from Kent Nutrition of Muscatine Iowa. Although not specifically GMO free, it is specifically corn and soy free. This assures us as  healthy an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio as we can get while not having to worry about any residual soy protein making its way into the eggs. It doesn't make sense to free-range your bird on grass and feed them greens from the garden if you are then going to turn around and load them up on commercial grains. Chickens are omnivores and eat a variety of plant matter, insects and even small animals if given the chance. NoCoSo also assures that they are getting adequate protein (16-18%), calcium, and trace minerals. We buy this at cost from Rufus Martin (the supplier of our pullets) as it is his standard ration for his free-range flocks and he buys it by the skid.

In addition to the crumble, our girls do get a few tablespoons per day of classic poultry scratch (cracked corn, wheat, and millet). This is used as a treat and to give them something to do. We also give them all of the garden greens they can eat in 30 minutes or so including lettuce, chard, kale, tomatoes, strawberries and cucumbers. They especially like chard and go completely bonkers on overgrown cucumbers that are split lengthwise. Things will get interesting this winter when the garden greens are gone and the grass is dormant. We expect they will be eating more of the crumble by then and plans are in place to occasionally sprout trays of wheat or rye seed and to start a colony of meal worms. Because of the added scraps we also provide a tray of granite grit and oyster shell just to make sure they have enough grit and calcium.

Because the Japanese beetles were bad this year we had to set traps to keep them off the basil. When we dumped the bags we would also dump a few into the tractor. It was great fun watching the girls run around to catch them. It got to the point that we worried whether they were getting too much but they didn't get sick and the eggs did not have any odd flavors. Next year we might just set up a lure above the tractor and let them go after the beetles directly!

So far they seems to be happy and healthy. Let's see how things go over the winter.

End of Season Wrap Up (2014)

This was the 11th season for the Food Patch and all in all it was a spectacular year; moderate temps, adequate rain fall, and minimal insect damage. Except for patch watering by hand to help along new seedlings we only had to drag out the whole-garden sprinkler about three times, really nothing in the grand scheme of things. A few things to note: 1) melons, while fun to grow they take up way too much room for the yields. There really is nothing like cutting into a fresh picked cantaloupe but with the particularly virulent strain of aphids we are plagued with and the practically overnight cracking and waste of much ripe fruit, these will no longer be on the A-list for future plantings. 2) aggressive prophylactic spraying of insecticidal soap and other organics kept the aphids from the squash and cucumbers and this facilitated probably the largest yield we have ever had allowing us the opportunity to experiment with lactofermentation for pickling. This will certainly be repeated in the future. 3) the addition of chickens to the yard required a lot of work and planning but so far the reviews are favorable. Let's see how things go through this first winter. Right now the girls are still laying well on twice weekly grass rotations in a dedicated section of the yard. Soon, the grass will go dormant for the winter and we will need to move them to a holding spot closer to the house mainly so we can run an extension cord out to keep the water bin from freezing. We originally thought about adding a light to the tractor to extend the photo period so as to keep them laying into the late fall/early winter but since they have been producing so well we decided to let nature take its course and see how the lay rate falls off with the temps and decreasing day length. Their bodies could probably use the rest. Plans are under way to sprout trays of grain in the depth of winter so they can get some greens as well as to start a meal worm colony so they can have some supplemental protein even though the layer crumble they are on should provide adequate nutrition. 4) it looks like the stink bugs are finally falling off. Don't ask me why as there still do not seem to be any natural predators around, but they are much less of a problem this season. We still noted some cosmetic damage to the peppers. We also have discovered the importance of a couple of early season fires in the fireplace to sterilize the chimney. We found out last year that this was their primary over-wintering spot for our yard. 5) for some reason the Japanese beetles made a startling come back this year. We don't know why as last winter was particularly hard and the last three years or so we basically didn't have any to speak of. I hate using traps as the conventional wisdom is that they attract more to your yard. But how else to get them away from the basil, something you don't want to ever spray even with an organic? And the chickens totally loved it when you dump some of the day's collection into their pin. It got to the point where I was afraid they may eat too much and make themselves sick. I had visions of iridescent greens eggs being laid! We didn't notice any change in taste though. If they come back next year we may just stick a lure above their pin and do away with the collection bags! 6) the rabbit fence came down for good. It was just too restrictive when it came to getting the tiller around and a pain in the ass to trim in the summer. It will be replaced next spring with an electric fence that can be adjusted and moved easily. Fencing material had really improved especially with the newer plastic roping and cheap controllers.

Other big news this fall was the tear-out of the strawberry patch. It pained me to run the tiller through there yesterday and I could almost hear the tiny screams (Why are you doing this to us?). But its been five years and strawberries need periodic renovation/rotation. Next spring their bed will be moved from the end of the patch to the middle. Since our yields have been very good over the years we are thinking of splitting the new bed in half between June berries and day neutrals. Our past experience with ever-bearers was not good but as long as we can preserve a good yield of Junes perhaps having a few ever-bearers around all summer will be a nice addition for fresh eating.

Its a cold and blustery weekend. Except for some remaining plantings, the majority of the Patch was worked under yesterday for the winter and covered with stray for stabilization. We'll do some trench composting with the weekly chicken litter clean-out as long as we can before the ground freezes solid and await the spring thaw to start all over again.

Apple Drying Time

We were over at our favorite orchard last weekend (Ivy Hill) and it is safe to say they are going to have a bumper crop this year. The fruit is nearly spotless, sweet and flavorful. The Staymens still have a couple of weeks before they come in so I'll get started with the Galas. Amazing how a five pound bag dries down to fill the volume of just a little over half a gallon freezer bag.

Lactofermentation; Making Dill Pickles The Old Fashion Way

Back in the old days before you could buy gallons of cheap cider vinegar, homesteads made their pickle the old fashion way by gently rinsing freshly picked cucumbers, placing them in a brine solution in a crock with copious amounts of spices (fresh dill, garlic, and pepper), and allowing them to ferment for a couple of weeks. Some additional tannin either from oak or grape leaves (or black tea) in the brine assured that the crunchy texture of the pickle was maintained; so characteristic of the modern-day Kosher dills from the deli. And without having to go to the trouble of canning and heating a boiling water bath caner in the middle of the summer; what's not to like?

I gave this very easy process a test try a few weeks back and let me tell you there really is no other way to make a Kosher dill pickle especially if you have access to young fresh right-out-of-the-garden cucumbers and just so happen to have a good stand of fresh dill flower heads in the herb bed. The only limiting factor is the availability of refrigerator space in which to store the finished product (they had cool root cellars in the old days that would keep their pickle stash edible all year long). The only aesthetic thing you need to overcome is the thought of eating what is essentially a "rotten or spoiled" food product! Actually if you make homemade yogurt you are cultivating and eating the very same lactococci and lactobacilli bacteria that are producing the "rotten milk product" known as yoguart. Its just that in this case they are the natural version of the starter culture coming along for the ride. Collectively these are know as the "lactic acid" bacteria. They are everywhere as part of the normal surface flora of all plant material. This is the white haze you often see on vegetables like cucumbers and together with normal wild yeasts, that white haze you see on fresh grapes. Obviously if you care about the quality of this flora you will use produce that has not been overly treated with fungicides or antibiotic sprays (or coated with that nasty food-grade grease used to preserve cucumbers during transit).

As a microbiologist I can think of no more satisfying a method to produce delectable pickles (or yogurt, wine. beer, ginger ale, etc.). Take advantage of these simple processes of our ancestors. You get the benefits of a tasty food product as well as the probiotic organisms that essentially make the product for us. The key is to properly store, utilize and appreciate these gifts from nature. Skol!

Mid-Season Adundance

It's been a weird season; slow to take off, and certain things seem to be taking forever to ripen. But this was the haul yesterday picking a box for the in-laws. Not pictured; enough Swiss chard to feed a small army.

A Lazy Saturday Around The Patch

It was one of those Saturdays where the only chores were in the yard or garden for a change so things were a bit more relaxed.

The girls enjoy the weekends because I can add on the 50-ft poly fence and open the end hatch so they can get a little more room to move around. Although we need to be out there with them because if they really wanted to they could easily fly over this. Or a hawk could make an easy grab. Actually one of them did get out this afternoon. She was so excited to see me picking chard in the garden that she decided to come over and have a look. Luckily I was able to get her back in. I would prefer not to have to clip their flight feathers so lets just hope this was an odd occurrence.

All of the tomatoes have well formed green fruit so its just a matter of time. One of the grape varieties has some just beginning to turn red so I'm hoping to make my grandfather's July 4th deadline with at least one ripe tomato.

The second planting of chard gained eating size this week so that should keep us and the chickens well supplied for the next few weeks.

Other chores today included strawing in the cucumbers and squash, planting a few more herbs, and mulching the herb bed. The forecast is for high 90s and little to no rain through the July 4th holiday.

The Week In Pictures (June 1)

 African daiseys added to the tomato and pepper bed for a little color.

 Yarrow opening up in the herb bed.

 Although a non-native invasive, what is summer without the narcotic aroma of honeysuckle; pure heroin! I make no attempt to limit this in our wild perimeter areas. Unfortunately, like strawberries, they just don't last long enough.

 Not sure how much longer the girls can be considered pullets or when we need to start calling them "hens". Either way, their combs and plumage are nearing full color, their feet are bleaching out nicely and most days are "four-egg-days" so all of the ladies are finally putting out.

 More perennials in the tomato patch.

 Romas in full bloom.

The early section of the Food Patch; two caged grape tomatoes with small fruits forming, chard, kale, bok choi and mixed salad greens. Damn life is good.

What Time Of The Year Is It????

First pick!!

A Backyard Forage Experiment

Now that the Food Patch finally is beginning to yield some spring crops I plan to begin a total backyard forage experiment. Except for certain meats, dairy and vegetables/fruits that  I can't grow myself, I plan to forgo all processed and mass packaged foods including my REALLY big weakness; corn chips in all of their various forms. I've been thinking about this for some time now but with the long cold spring, the garden and choices have been very limited. Now that I have lettuce, greens, chard, kale and eggs (and soon strawberries and raspberries), I may just be able to make this work. Wish me luck.

 The lettuce and greens with two early grape tomatoes caged up and ready to grow.

 The strawberry bed with the first berry just beginning to ripen.

The raspberry bed in full bloom.

That First Omelet

 Ah, that first omelet! Yesterday turned out to be our first "two egg", day; and in a second nesting box. That means one of the other girls has finally got the message and begun laying. This brings us to a little over half a dozen so far. Notice the color of the yolks. Nice bright yellow-orange. This is due to the carotenoids being carried over from the grass and other greens we have been feeding them. That is generally the mark of a pastured, or in a larger farm sense, free-range egg. We certainly can't claim any kind of "organic" certification with these, nor do we intend to. This is a hobby aimed at taking the backyard kitchen garden or mini-farm concept to a slightly higher level. The goal here is to have a happier outdoor bird eating the best she can (within budgetary reason) and laying the most nutritious egg within the constraints of our system.

As for backyard chicken nutrition, we are providing the same "at will" layer crumble that Rufus was feeding his big free-range flock. It is a custom formulation that he buys in bulk and he has offered to supply us at cost which turns out to be the same as normal commercial grade feeds. It is a complete ration in that it has adequate calcium and is digestible without having to provide any additional grit. It also is soy and corn free. So they could happily live off of just this feed if they were in a caged commercial operation. But they also mow down the grass in their run area, and they REALLY like Swiss chard (except for the stems), kale and beet greens. We also add in a little omega-3 supplement to their crumble which is supposed to boost the omega-3 fatty acid content of the eggs. This is not so necessary for pastured birds but will be critical for the fall and winter when the lawn goes dormant and they get parked in the garden plot. We also toss in a handful of sunflower seeds and a little mixed poultry seed treat when we think about it to give them something to scratch for. They also are free to eat whatever bugs they can find. For this reason we do offer a small tray of granite grit. 

The feed and watering bins I bought at the poultry swap last year were definitely worth the expense. It took about two days for the birds to learn to drink from the nipples but they have got it down pat now. It is hard to believe that in a commercial operation one nipple per twelve birds is the recommended ratio. The feed bin has worked flawlessly and kept the feed dry through multiple storm so far. These are highly recommended.

The other big news around the Food Patch is that both the strawberry and raspberries beds are in nearly full bloom. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we don't have a late frost like last year that really decreased our raspberry yield

The new kale, chard, and onions are coming along and we hope to have our first lettuce in about a week.

Who you looking at?

We Got Your Eggs Right Here!

The heart-to-heart talk I had with the ladies last Saturday seems to have had some effect. Perhaps it was the reference to the "soup pot" that got their attention; who knows. One of the hens (known to my daughter as "Nugget") has been giving us a daily egg like clock work since last Sunday. This seems to occur in the late afternoon and the funny thing is that she goes for the exact same nesting box every time (depositing behind door #3). Now if the other three ladies will just start putting out, we may eventually get the two dozen we need per week to make this whole experiment break even.

The Ladies Are Settling In (But Where Are The Eggs??)

A few short video clips from today. Where are those eggs?

The Ladies Have Arrived

We now are the proud parents of four Rhode Island Red hybrid pullets courtesy of Rufus Martin (who's farm is down by the battlefield). They are still in a bit of a cultural shock, being taken today  from a flock of several hundred free range birds, crammed into a crate, driven down Sharpsburg pike in the back of an open truck, and then plopped down into a chicken tractor; all on a cold rainy day. Not to mention all of the sounds of being close to a major state road. Rufus' farm is on the back side of the battlefield and the quintessential bucolic country farm. Hopefully some old strawberries and some mixed grain will help ease them into our backyard hobby farm experiment.

These ladies were hatched out in mid-December and apparently are starting to lay. It will be interesting to see when we get the first egg.

The Chicken Tractor is Finished!!!

This damn project has taken about two years off of my life. But after about a year of planning and engineering it is finally finished. I was able to complete the run enclosure by adding an end gate for when we need to let the ladies our into the yard or a larger fenced-in area like the garden, a top hatch to access the water and food bins (square white buckets), the ramp up to the pop door, and the rest of the wire to round it all out. Needless to say, I've had enough carpentry for a while.

Now its time for a whiskey sour, the last of a bottle of Blood of Ragnar (raspberry mead), and some high volume Demon Hunter!

Hard to believe this is how it all started last summer.

Chicken Tractor Update (wheel and handle assembly)

 Spent the afternoon adding on the wheels and lift handles to the chicken tractor. Like all the other parts of this project it was engineering on the fly, not really knowing whether it would work out until it was built. There were several contraptions on the web with rather elaborate mechanisms for raising and lowering the wheels. I decided to go with a simpler approach that turns the whole thing into a giant wheelbarrow. Is this project overbuilt? Yes! But I wanted something a little bigger that would give our girls more space to get out and graze. That is the whole reason for this project in the first place; healthier-happier hens theoretically should lay healthier eggs or so the story goes. And to get back to the concept of backyard eggs; something that was common place a generation ago.

I scratched my head for most of the winter trying to decide how best to attach the wheels. The coop portion is fairly heavy. I settled on a 4X4 wood axle with the wheels being attached with 10-inch lag bolts. Now all that is left to do is to finish the run enclosure. This also will require some careful planning as I will need to be able to access the water and feed bins so that they can be removed easily. I am thinking of some kind of top hatch. It also will need an end hatch so that the hens can be let out in the garden when conditions allow.

First Turn Over for 2014

I finally was able to get into the garden for an initial turn-over. It was still a bit too wet on the lower half but I did have time to remove the straw from the strawberry beds and take down the winter tunnel. If it would have been a mild winter, we would have had some nice greens. Unfortunately that didn't work out. We even lost our entire rosemary bush. Surprisingly the Red Russian kale did partially survive so I left it in place to see how it develops over the next few weeks. At least now I have some real estate to get in some of the seedlings that have been stacking up due to the extended cold spell.

Two months and counting to strawberries !

And the chicken tractor is nearing completion in time for the May arrival  of the pullets. Here is the completed pop door.