chicken blogs – Page 17

Using Plastic on the Silkie Chicken Run – 11/26/16

November 26, 2016July 2, 2020 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

The first snowstorm is upon us so at VJP Poultry it’s time to make sure that the plastic is up and covering the chicken runs. We have used plastic on the runs for many years. In the past we have hung cheap plastic from rolls. It looked great at the beginning of winter, but pretty droopy by the end. This year we decided to use something else.

I like using the plastic for several reasons. First of all, it keeps the snow from coming into the run. My silkies do not like walking on snow and will avoid it at all costs. They will not leave the coop if they see snow out their door. The plastic will also keep the rain out of the run keeping the ground dry. The silkies will look nicer for not having mud on their feet and feathers.

The second reason I like hanging plastic around the runs in the winter is that it cuts the wind and makes it warmer the run. It kind of creates a greenhouse effect inside of the run which makes it more inviting for them to come out in colder weather. I make sure that the plastic is up on the North side and the West side. That is where the cold wind will mostly come from in the winter. I kind of leave the South side a little more open to help with ventilation. You don’t want the plastic so tight that fresh air is not getting in.

We are trying a new kind of plastic this year Instead of using plastic that comes on a roll, we ordered clear tarps that have built in grommet holes. The tarp also has lines running through it to keep the tarp stronger and to keep it from ripping in the wind.

We placed eye hooks in the wood along the bottom of the run. The grommet holes fit into the hooks and secure the tarp. We then use ball bungee cords at the top to fasten the tarp down. Hopefully this clear tarp can be easily taken down and put up for many years to come. We also use zip ties where needed to keep the tarps secure.

I don’t usually take the plastic down until it has warmed up in the spring. Even after the snows have stopped it still keeps the spring rains out. It can also keep some predators out of the run as well.

Winterizing the chicken coops and runs is an important task. You want them warm and snug, but really what they need is to be free from cold drafts, to stay dry, to have the air well ventilated and to keep the waterers open and not frozen over. If you can keep those things in mind when winterizing, you will be keeping your silkies healthy and happy this winter.

For tips and tricks for raising outstanding silkies check out our Chicken Learning Center at VJPPoultry.com . VJP Poultry is an NPIP and state inspected hatchery located 30 miles north of St. Paul. We hatch out silkies all year long so we always have stock available. Like us on Facebook to get weekly updates on what we currently have for sale.

Victoria J. Peterson

Pea Rock in the Silkie Chicken Run – 11/19/16

November 19, 2016December 1, 2018 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

One job we tackled at VJP Poultry this November was removing the pea rock in the outside run for both the buff and the black pens and replacing it with fresh pea rock. Both pens really needed it as the pea rock had gotten so high that it was spilling over the wooden frame around the pens and falling out to the outside. This pushes on the chain link and causes it to bend outwards at the bottom. The pea rock packs down on both sides , but has the extra bonus of keeping predators from digging under the fencing.

We have always had pea rock or pea gravel in our chicken runs. It can be purchased in bags at a Big Box store or it can be bought by the truck load and delivered to your house by a landscaping company. Buying it by the truck load is much cheaper than buying individual bags of it. We, actually, load our own truck and then shovel it ourselves back at our driveway.

One thing I like about pea rock is that it is very clean looking. You can keep it looking that way by raking it every couple of days with a steel rake. I rake up all of the feathers and chicken poo and place it in a bucket to throw on the compost pile. By keeping this raking up you can make a huge difference in how your run looks and it will keep your neighbors happy by having something beautiful to look at.

I add more pea rock to the run whenever it starts to look skimpy or muddy. I feel like I always want to add more to it in the springtime when the run is wet from melting snow or heavy rains. I usually will just buy bags of it for cosmetic touch ups and save the truck loads for when we are digging the run out.

I feel that pea rock is a good size for silkies. Bigger rock such as regular gravel is harder on their feet and even larger rock can make for an uneven surface to walk on. Uneven surfaces can lead to injuries such as bumble foot.

Since silkies have heavy feather footing, we want those feathers to stay nice. Clean pea rock can keep the feathers clean. The small rock can keep the foot feathers from breaking off as they might with sharper surfaces.

Once a year we dig out the pea rock and the chicken poo dirt that surrounds it. We dig down to the depth of one shovel head. We use a wheel barrow to move the used rock and dirt to a holding pile. Here we use a sieve to separate out the rock from the dirt. The rock can then be added back to the run and the dirt is placed on the garden as compost.

Other people use sand, shavings or straw in their runs. What works in some runs doesn’t work in others. Pea rock is what works best at VJP Poultry. I think that it always looks clean and it can be a good source of grit for birds that do not free range.

November has been lovely and warm this year in Minnesota. This has given us a chance to extend our outdoor chores before the cold weather comes. There is nothing I like better than fresh pea rock to make for one gorgeous looking run.

Victoria J. Peterson

Why Fall is an Excellent Time To Buy Chicks – 11/11/16

November 11, 2016July 2, 2020 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

You may have heard people say that they would never buy chicks in the fall because they don’t want chicks spending the entire winter in the house. But, fall chick brooding has some important advantages over spring.

If you purchase in the fall, your chicks will be the right age to begin laying in the spring. They will lay wonderfully once they begin since its typical for them to lay more eggs in the springtime as the days are growing longer. Even breeds such as silkies will be laying at their best and you will be getting plenty of eggs before those who purchase later in the spring.

Another important advantage is that if you start them early in the fall, their laying is delayed until your birds reach a larger size. They will lay generally larger eggs throughout their lives and they will lay with more consistency.

If you do decide to raise chicks in the fall remember to be prepared to provide adequate heat to help your young birds transition to cold outside weather. The goal for them is to be fully feathered and able to deal with temps down to 32 degrees at 5 weeks and down to zero degrees at eight weeks. Whether they can handle lower temps depends on how well they have feathered and how much they are used to being in cooler temperatures.

The garage is a great place to get them acclimated to lower temps. Start taking them down in temperature as soon as they appear able to handle it. Playtime outside can help with this. More chicks will generate more warmth as they huddle together. You might try increasing the number of chicks in your brooder. If you need more space, you could move them out to the coop with a heat lamp at night.

One way to think of it, is to image how the chick would be doing if it were being raised by a mother hen. At four weeks the chick would not be under its mama hardly at all. They would be out and about looking for tidbits of food.

Exposure to the cold encourages them to feather out faster. Broody hen chicks are much faster at feathering out than brooder raised chicks.

Staggering the ages in your flock by purchasing chicks at different times in the year, works well. It is not always a good idea to have all of your birds at the same age. If you buy some in the fall and more in the spring, you can escape the issue of them all molting at the same time or all going out of lay at the same time. You will have a steadier amount of eggs if you include different ages in your flock.

If you are interested in open class poultry showing, fall chicks will be more fully grown than springtime chicks. They will show better in competition . These shows are usually held in the late summer and fall, right when the fall chicks would be at the one year old mark. Silkies are a slow maturing breed, so buying in the fall would be a real advantage.

Chicks are truly resilient and you can easily raise them anytime of the year. At VJP Poultry we hatch out all year long. What is nice for you, as a customer, is that you have more availability in the fall months. There is more choice because there is less demand. You have a better chance of buying a splash or other fancy color when everyone else isn’t trying to buy one. You will probably get a better price for it too.

Baby chicks are tougher than than most people give them credit for. Our garage and chick room are not heated and the doors are opened and shut many times a day. They stay under heat lamps until around 2 weeks old. I use 130 watt red heat lamp bulbs. The red helps with them not pecking at each other and lets them have a sense of night time. The chicks stay in the brooder room until they are around six weeks old. Then they are moved to the garage. At seven to eight weeks old, they move out to a coop with a room just for them. If a chick is too cold, it will let you know by crying and huddling up together. If it’s too extreme for them, I just move them back to the garage.

Fall is a time of year that I raise and keep back some for myself. I know that by June these birds will be laying, productive members of my backyard silkie flock.

Victoria J. Peterson

VJP Poultry

How to Keep a Flock History 11/07/16

November 7, 2016December 1, 2018 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

A flock history is basically a written record or diary of anything and everything pertaining to your flock. I use school notebooks and my computer to keep records of everything I do with my chickens. If you start it right away, you can keep a very accurate account of facts about your flock.

Start by noting the date of hatch, the source – who you got it from, the breed and anything the seller tells you about the bird’s past history, and any medical certificates that came with the birds.

I have a pedigree file on my computer where I list all of the birds I presently have. It is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. I list the breed, what color it is, what band number it has, date of hatch, where I purchased it, and if it is male or female. If I know for sure who the father was I will include that as well. I can then sort according to the information I need. Usually , that would be sorting by age or by color. If I lose or sell a bird, I simply delete it from the list.

I have a different spreadsheet for managing the business end of things. I found a nice spreadsheet on Backyardchickens.com that someone created specifically for chickens. If you search on that site for “chicken spreadsheet”, you should be able to locate it. It keeps track of everything – customers, how much you sell, what your expenses were that month, etc and you have a summary page for the end of the year where you can compare each month. It is nice to know if your chickens are paying for their upkeep.

I keep medical records in a paper notebook. If any birds are sick, I will note symptoms and remedies tried. You could also document your feeding a management practices and any changes you make. Sometimes I need to keep track of a new breeding program. Who was mated with who.

It is important to write things down as you go along. It may seem like extra work at the time, but later it will be easier to look back than just relying on your memory, especially if you are trying to trace a health problem. When you experience a problem, it is hard to remember all the little details you thought you’d never forget.

Each week I keep track in my Chick Notebook how many chicks I have in each pen and what color. I use markers in different colors to make it easy to see what color birds I have at a glance. As chicks are sold, I adjust the numbers so I always have an accurate account of what I have for sale. If I notice any abnormalities in the pens, I will mark those down. Sometimes I will guess on ages. I will record those guesses as well. Then the next week, I will check back and see if I still feel the same way about its gender. I keep track of the ages in the pens so I always know how old the chicks are. Sometimes colors can look very similar. A black and a dark blue can almost look the same. I will keep those colors separate and write down which is in each pen.

One other system I have tried is to keep a notebook with a page for each bird. This is an easy way to keep track of the age, what problems it experienced, when it was sold or died. You can look back over the years and see if there are any patterns developing with your flock.

Keeping an up to date flock history is an important part of my job at VJP Poultry. In the long run it makes for a valuable document that can improve your chick’s health and well-being.

Victoria J. Peterson

Why Roosters Are Important To Your Silkie Backyard Flock 11/01/16

November 1, 2016December 1, 2018 by vjppoultry, posted in New Silkies

Hens don’t need a rooster in order to lay eggs. Without a rooster, the eggs are infertile. They won’t develop into young chicks. If you are interested in breeding your own hens, then you will need a rooster. Hens, however, will lay eggs without having a rooster around.

A virile rooster will mate frequently with most or all of the hens in its coop, no matter what the breed. A good minimum ratio is 8 to 10 hens per rooster.

A rooster will serve as a guard and defender against perceived and actual danger. He’ll scan the sky and ground looking for potential predators. He will warn the hens if he senses danger. Some roosters will defend their flock with their life. They will normally position themselves between the flock and the outside unknown.

He’ll seek out food for the flock and alert the other backyard chickens that he’s found something tasty. Usually he’ll stand back and let the hens get started before he begins to partake himself. It is fun to see them “tidbit” call the girls. He will sing to them and court them by dipping his wing and dancing around them. All the girls are more relaxed since they know that he is on guard.

Roosters do crow and some people really like that sound. Some people think that silkies have a quieter crow than other breeds. I think that it really depends on the individual rooster. They all sound slightly different and I can tell which rooster is crowing by his individual sound.

A rooster is a handsome bird. It is fun to watch him strutting around the yard and being in charge. Generally, the more a cockerel is handled as a chick, the less likely he is to become an aggressive rooster. Again, some people think that silkie roosters are less aggressive than other breeds. It depends on the individual rooster.

Within each flock there is a social order, or pecking order, that exists among the hens. A rooster will help maintain order by breaking up fights in the hen house. The rooster will keep them focused on him.

Many people like to watch the interaction between the rooster and the hens. Each has his own personality and can be quite entertaining. If a flock consists of only hens, typically one hen will take over the running of the flock. This can lead to aggression. Some hens take it so seriously that they can begin to crow.

I’ve had flocks of just hens before, and I can say that my hen’s truly seem happier with one or two good, responsible roosters around. Roosters will look after the hens, alert them to food and even help them find good spots to lay their eggs.

Victoria J. Peterson

silkys