Common Myths About Chickens

 Baltimore County did it! They were able to get a law passed that allows people who are under an acre to have backyard chickens!

So let's talk myths!

Chickens are LOUD

Nope. Chickens are NOT silent. They do make a variety of noise. The egg song sings out a few times a day as hens announce they have given birth! Sometimes the flock will join in, sometimes no egg song is sung. Even still, chickens aren't any louder than a barking dog. My girls communicate with each other through kind of a bubble talk. Lots of buck buck sounds. I have found though that happy chickens, are quiet chickens. 

Roosters do crow and will crow all day. However, a rooster's crow is NOT any louder than a barking dog. You will see studies that the crow will be 130 decibels. Yes, if you are right in their face and in front of their beak with a microphone recording it. They aren't that loud. That's the volume of a jet engine. All a rooster is doing is his job. Making sounds and alerting the flock to danger is the number 1 concern of a rooster (followed by that sweet love). Please don't use a crowing collar. They are cruel and dangerous to chickens.

Fun Fact. Hens crow. If you don't have a rooster, a dominant hen will take the place of a rooster with crowing and sometimes mounting the other hens. (Source: my own crazy Nightsister Hens!)

You NEED a rooster for eggs

Independent hens don't need no roo. Women don't need a man to menstruate. Hens don't need roosters to produce eggs. 

Chickens are stinky and attract rats

Waste management is a human issue, not a chicken issue. One of the plans you need to have in place is what to do with all that poop! Chicken manure is fertilizer gold. You want a beautiful lawn and garden? Utilize those chooks! If you keep a clean coop and run, the smell won't be an issue.

Litter is a personal preference and philosophy in the chicken community. All coops and situations are different and everyone has the right to choose what they like to use without judgement.

I personally use sand as litter in my run and coop. I scoop the poop out of my coop once a day. I don't have to, but it's my preference to do so. If I miss a day, it's not a huge deal. I rake the run once a week. I use PDZ (zeolite) to help with any odor and ammonia from the manure. (Some people use lime, I feel it's too hard on the lungs, but if you use it, that's your personal choice.)

Some people use the deep litter method (it's a composting method using shavings and chicken poop). It's work in the respect of you have to turn the litter to get air into the bedding. But it doesn't require an every day clean out. Yes, there will be some more odor, but it will keep your coop warm in the winter. 

Stink doesn't attract rats and mice. FOOD attracts rodents. If you don't have feed all over your run and coop (don't keep food in your coop for this reason), rodents aren't an issue. I've had chickens for two years. I have Grandpa's Feeders. They are treadle feeders that are rat proof. I had my first rat this winter. I think it was more because we've had more predatory birds this year and it felt safer with my dinosaurs than the hawk. I used a live trap and got him after a week. I haven't seen any evidence of rodents since.

Chickens can live anywhere

They really can live just about anywhere. However, there are things to consider.

Coops: Chickens need predator proof, draft free, dry, ventilated coops with roosts and a nest box. Bigger is better. Buying a prefab coop from a feed store probably won't meet your needs and it will fall apart. You should have around 2-4 square feet per bird. This allows for chicken math errors. You want a window on each side of your coop, with chicken wire protecting the openings. Heat kills chickens. Chickens can deal with winter way better than summer since they are 105-107F. 

Prefab coops aren't always predator proof either. You want hardware cloth, not chicken wire. Hawk netting is helpful to keep away aerial predators. A fox or raccoon can get into smaller coops easily. Be aware of your predators.

Runs: A run is an enclosed area that keeps chickens safe from predation and weather. It should be covered with 10 square feet per bird. Bury hardware cloth at least a foot out from your coop and a foot under ground. This will discourage predators who dig. Hardware cloth makes it difficult for snakes, mice, mink/weasels, and raccoons to get in. A raccoon can bend chicken wire. Remember chicken wire is designed to keep chickens in, not to keep things out. Keep out any wild birds. They carry diseases and we are on the precipice of dealing with a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus. 

These are a few common chicken myths. Do you have any myths you want busted or confirmed? Feel free to ask.

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Raising Mealworms? Have I Become THAT Chicken Lady?

The Covid Cluckers have a problem. A between $40-80 a month problem. Our run is sand and is devoid of bugs and plants. During the day the girls are in their run, since unsupervised free ranging is not an option (thanks Mr. Coopers Hawk). Chickens need to keep their minds and beaks busy or else you have problems. Searching for things to peck and eat are their number one task during the day. Enter dried mealworms. 

My girls are actually slightly UNDERWEIGHT if you can believe that! Our vet said they needed to each gain a half pound (an eighth of their body weight! That's a lot for them!) Now part of that issue was worms. The other part is that its very hot and they don't want to eat. So right now, treats aren't an issue and we are starting to molt, so higher protein treats are welcome. Again...enter mealworms. 

They are so expensive, so I turned to my mother, Granny Claw. My mom has been raising mealworms for years. She gives them to her song birds, and yes when she comes to visit she brings them for the Cluckers. Recently, she brought me a batch of worms, pupa, and beetles. So as creepy as it is to me, I have started the process of raising mealworms for the Cluckers. The things I do for my chickens...

Here's what you will need:

Oatmeal or wheat chaff

Containers (at least 3) with lids that have holes poked in them (I used plastic shoe boxes from the dollar store)

A spaghetti strainer scoop

A dark place to store said containers

Leftover Veg (this is where they get their water and nutrition)

Toilet paper Tubes

Container 1:

This will contain worms. You will have to put your oatmeal bedding down. Add in veg a few times a week. They will eat this. Add a toilet paper tube for smaller worms to hide in. Sift to take out the pupa.

Container 2:

This is where the pupa should go. You will still have the bedding, toilet paper tube, and veg. You will have to sift regularly to take out the beetles. 

Container 3:

This is where the magic happens. Just kidding. Basically your beetles will breed and create eggs that will hatch into worms. You will have to sift the worms out or put the beetles into a new container and let this group grow out. They are very small. Again, bedding, tube, and veg. You then move the worms to Container One and the cycle begins again. 

Things to watch out for:

Too much water. This comes from adding too many veg and the bedding becoming wet. This will cause mold and kill your bugs.

Too little water, not enough veg. This will cause cannibalism and kill your bugs. 

Too much light...They don't like the light, a shady spot in the room works or your basement.

They stink. Not gonna lie, they have an odor. 

We just started today, so we will let you know how it goes. Your birds will love the live mealworms and knowing what they've been fed will give you a piece of mind. I've heard that coffee bedding is another option, and I will explore it. 

Fun Stuff for the Coop Omlet Edition

I don't know about you, but I take my responsibilities as a Claw and Crazy Chicken Lady VERY seriously. This means I am going out of my way to spoil my chickens. I have tons of chicken décor, I am decorating the coop for the seasons...and I am spending some serious time looking at toys (enrichment is the fancy term for this) and items that improve the girls way of life. I don't like wasting money or buying something that my girls will hate or not play with. 

Please don't feel that this is a sales pitch in any way. I hate when people only pitch products if they can get a kick back. Full disclosure I am an Omlet affiliate and I joined that program AFTER purchasing several items from this company (You can click my link here, but you don't have to). HOWEVER, I can only speak to the products I have personally purchased. If you want to click on the links it will support me as an affiliate, but if you don't want to here is the link to the website without my info attached Omlet

Things I like about Omlet. 

• The cost. Everything is very affordable. 
• The shipping is fast.
• The products are quality and created with the animals and owners in mind.
• The products are fun and enriching for your chickens and you!
• These products are available all over the world. 

The First Purchase: Auto Door

We went out one night and had to rush home to rock Artemis to sleep and to make sure that Rex made it into the coop. Chicken keeping does have its perks, but it also has its drawbacks as well.

One of those is waking up early to let the birds out and having to leave things at night to put them in the coop. Now in the age of Covid, this hasn't been too much of an issue. However, my family lives quite a distance from my home. We went to visit them and rushed home to put the girls to bed and make sure that the door was shut so no predators entered the coop. It was very stressful.

I told the Bearded Claw that I wanted an automatic door. He rolled his eyes and said yes it would be a good idea. He told me to research and see what I came up with. I showed him several, but they were very expensive and not what HE wanted in an automatic door. Enter the Omlet Auto Door. He wanted it because it looked cool (men...) and was universal.

The Auto Door features:

It's battery operated. You have the choice of a timer, using the light sensor, or manual mode to operate the door. You can delay the closing of the door too. I have girls that straggle and don't go in immediately at night because they need their Claw snuggles. The door also locks and is very secure. The predator proofing on it is amazing. It will also stop and not hurt any chickens if they stand in the doorway as it closes. 

Yes, it does look cool. We did take the front panel off to paint it to match our coop. As much as I love Omlet, the Lime Green was not going with the Forest Green that the Bearded Claw spent so much time accenting the coop with. 

It was super easy to install and the manual comes in many languages! I believe it only took about an hour tops to install and we had plenty of chicken help.

The Toys...I mean enrichment items

Make sure when purchasing chicken toys that you call them enrichment. One it makes it sound so much better and less crazy to purchase enrichment items for your animals, verses toys. Two if you say enrichment to your Bearded Claw, he's more likely to ignore that you purchased toys for your chickens.

Poppy Peck Toys

My girls love to peck. All chickens love to peck. I've found that giving the Cluckers enrichment activities has helped with some management issues. They have to be supervised when they leave their run. I can't let them just free range due to the nesting hawks nearby. 

The Peck toys are a nice size and are easy to fill. The holes in the plastic allow for pellets, worms, scratch, and grubs to pass through freely. I have the hanging peck toy and the ones that look like flowers. They're super cute. The girls prefer the flower ones, so I purchased several more. I like how it keeps the girls busy and not bullying each other. With several toys to choose from, there is an opportunity for all of them to use them. They are also very easy to clean.  I honestly thought at first my girls wouldn't be interested, but I was wrong. These are worth it. As you can see from the video below, they love their toys. Please consider Omlet when you are looking for great things for your chickens!

What your Chickens NEED for winter

Winter...over here in the Land of Pleasant Living, winter is a mixed bag of bipolar weather. It can be a beautiful 60-70F/15-21C  or it can be a Polar Vortex of weather in single digits with 6 feet of snow on the ground. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy aspects of winter, but mostly it's depressing and gray.

This will be my first winter with chickens. I have done a lot research on HOW to winterize my coop and prepare. I'll share what I know and what I will do. I will update as things seem easier or if I think I need to change to deal with an issue.

Coop

Oh the coop. In summer, we want all the ventilation. In winter we still need ventilation, but drafts are an issue. Ventilation allows for ammonia and moisture to escape. Usually this is located in the upper parts of your coop. Drafts are usually found lower on the floor and can move the belly feathers of our chickens. This can make them very sick and prone to respiratory infections. 

Here is a video that's helpful for looking for drafts. I'm lucky my coop doesn't have many and that I can use sand to block them up.

An acrylic sheet covers our windows

Our windows will be covered with plastic acrylic sheets ( but we have holes in it at the top for ventilation). This will allow for the moisture and ammonia from the poop to exit the coop without taking away too much heat. The acrylic is clear so it will allow light to come into the coop and give a gentle warming effect. If you see moisture on your windows, then you don't have enough ventilation in your coop. Moisture and drafts are the enemy. Moisture causes frostbite! (Check out this resource for more information about frostbite)You don't want your roosts too close to the windows. That temperature shift can hurt them while sleeping. 

Really quick while it's on your mind...roosts. Chickens like FLAT roosts, not round. A 2x4 that is flat with the 4" side up is a great roost for them. The flat roosts allow them to fully cover their feet while sleeping. It can help protect the feet from frostbite. 

Radiant Heater

Heater. It's very strange in my state. Some winters it's in the single digits or below. Some winters are very mild and pleasant. However, I think this year we might be in for snow, because 2020. Sometimes it's a dusting...sometimes it's Snowmagedon with 6-8 feet of snow. We never know what we're in for. The heater is for if the girls get wet. Wet birds are more likely to get sick and die. Remember moister is the enemy. A wet bird will bring that into your coop. You want that to evaporate as quickly as possible. The heater I bought was from Tractor Supply. It's a radiant heater/brooder combo. You don't want the coop to be too warm. Your birds will need to acclimate to the cooler weather. A heater and keeping the coop a cozy 60F/15C when it's in the 20F/-6C outside is not a good idea. You'll have birds staying in the coop and pooping in the coop. Not only do you have to worry about the ammonia fumes, but they aren't eating and calories are needed in winter. 

Nest Box

We are putting up nest box curtains. This will keep drafts out of the nest box while the girls are laying. It will allow to keep the heat a bit more regular as well. The nest box on our coop sticks out away from it and has about a foot of clearance from the ground. Pretty soon I will go in and fill in any cracks with some caulk. There are a few since I can see the light coming through. 

The Run

The run should be covered with a roof. This prevents snow and freezing rain to get onto the birds. Freezing rain can kill a chicken, so beware of this. The food should be in your run (NOT YOUR COOP unless you want rodents, because that's how you get rodents). The waterer should be in your run. You don't want moisture in your coop. Now...I don't know how many of you have hauled frozen buckets before. I used to break horses and caring for them in winter was a bear. Frozen water buckets weigh a ton and are just awful to deal with. Get a heated waterer. Some waterers are better than others. I know the little cups freeze. Nipple drinkers are great, but can freeze unless heated. We have a Premier 1 Poultry Nipple Drinker. It's heated. That was my first requirement for the girls. It's not cheap, but I HATE frozen buckets. It's nice in the summer too because the insulation helps keep the water cool.  We will be wrapping part of the run with a tarp if it gets cold and windy. Painters plastic works as well. Breaking the wind is a good idea because it will mess with how the chickens fluff themselves to trap warm air in their feathers. 

As winter approaches I will update what I do. We had a day that was 80F/26C. It was so hot and uncomfortable that we had to remove a lot of our winterization items. I will also update you as we find other things that work!

Welcome to the Covid Cluckers

 Welcome to our blog! We are the Covid Cluckers. We are chickens being raised in the times of Covid-19. 

Our owners purchased us before the mandatory stay at home orders occurred. They were worried about a viable food source since grocery stores were empty. The overreaction of so many people are the reason we came to be. What our owners didn't realize, was that we were more than a food source. We have helped them every day since our arrival. 

Our owners have worked very hard to research all things chicken. They will be sharing practical tips for raising chickens and just humorous stories of us in general. We want to help you sort through all the garbage advice out there. We know so many of these blogs give random and sometimes cruel advice that is harmful to your flock. We want to make sure that we are inclusive of other countries and their resources besides America. 

Many of you are here from Instagram. We refer to our owners as The Claw and The Bearded Claw.  When we were in the brooder, all we saw coming for us was a claw. That's it. No fancy story, just the Claw. 

Because we don't have thumbs or any way of actually typing (we have tried!) The Claw will be documenting our journey and any tips we find along the way.  Hopefully, you will find what we have to offer useful. 

Enjoy our blog!

The Covid Cluckers and Claws