No Boys Allowed

Le coq,  el gallo, cockerel, Foghorn Leghorn or rooster.  Whatever you want to call them, roosters are not allowed in the City of Boulder.  Contrary to popular beliefs, you do NOT need a rooster in order to have cackle fresh eggs! When you buy chicks that are not sexed or hatch your own like we did, you take a gamble as to wether or not you will have a rooster on your hands.  All you can do is wait until they either crow or lay an egg, this usually happens around 5 months.

Lucky for me, the woman who we bought the classroom eggs from was willing to take back any of the chickens we didn't want, so we had a plan in case one of them turned out to be a rooster.  This summer I found myself spending lots of time just watching the chickens do their thing, I find it sort of hypnotic and very relaxing.  I watched all of their behaviors for tell tale signs of roosters.  Roosters tend to be dominate and aggressive.  Well, most of the classroom chickens seemed a little aggressive, I just figured they were sorting out the pecking order within the flock or dealing with PTSD from being born into a classroom with 23 not so quiet first graders.  Our flock was at 9 and we were really happy with this number figuring we would have plenty of eggs for the family and then some to give away to friends.

The crew of 9 on the roosting bars before bed

As the chickens grew I noticed Autumn seemed a lot bigger than the rest and he started getting a bushier tail and looked like a classic rooster with a huge red comb and cheek pouches; he looked a lot like Cornelius you know, the one on the Cornflakes box! Sure enough, he went from Autumn to Adam.  I figured I would wait until he started crowing just incase my assumption was wrong.  I had seen hens with combs and bushy tails so I was staying positive and not sending him to the farm quite yet. Chicken Little, Peep and Maybelle were starting to develop combs and cheek pouches and feather out much like Adam and I noticed them fighting with each other more often.  The OGs just seemed to steer clear and poor midnight was at the bottom of the pecking order hiding under the coop most of the time.

The boys, UGH!

Then, early one morning, I heard it; our first official rooster crow and wow is it loud and annoying! I jumped out of bed and ran to the coop as if I could tell him to shut his beak or something.  Sure Autumn ahem, Adam was crowing his little heart out.  Little did I know, roosters crow all day, this isn't like some cute farm movie where the rooster hops up on the top rail of the fence and crows a few times to wake the farmer as the sun is rising. No, this was constant crowing! So much so that we felt a bit sheepish making eye contact with the neighbors or even really anyone in the 'hood; who knew how far this crowing could travel! Time to go! While I was at it, I figured I may as well take the other 3 too.

This is Maybelle; gorgeous, for a rooster!

 I texted the farmer a picture and she confirmed that the 4 of them were, in fact, all boys.  Three days later, our flock went from 9 to 5. It was a scene from a movie watching us try and corral these skittish roosters into our dog crate so that I could transport them to the farm in Berthoud, Colorado.  Lots of squawking, flying feathers and assaults with beaks and wings.  Slightly bruised, I set out to return the boys to the farm.

The next morning, what did we hear?! More crowing! Shocked, I ran to the coop to see who it was this time and sure enough, there was Daisy crowing like a pro!  She was not on our original rooster suspect list because she did not have the telltale cheek pouches, comb or tail feathers, what was going on?! What now?! School was starting and neither of us had 3 hours to spare with another run to the farm.  Enter our good friend Craigslist.  We listed Daisy as a "free rooster, perfect for your flock or stew pot but needs a home immediately." That afternoon the quintessential backwoods farmer, complete with rubber wellies, straw hat and shirtless under his Carhartt overalls, came to get him.  There was no struggle as he entered the coop, grabbed Daisy, tucked him under his arm, introduced him to his dog, threw him into the back of his truck and drove away.Problem solved!

The flock is now down to a peaceful 4 and I think we are all OK with it for now.  They should start laying any day now....

Still Building

Baby chicks are supposed to live in their brooder for 5 weeks until they are fully feathered.  While they are in the brooder, you are supplying a heat source since they can't regulate their own temperatures without all of their feathers. The temperature needs to start at 100 degrees right out of incubation.  You decrease the temperature by 5 degrees each week. After about 5 weeks it should be between 70-75 in your brooder as well as outside so your chickens are ready to move to the coop!

I know I worried about them being too cold or too hot.  You can tell if your chicks are too cold because they will huddle together right under the lamp.  If they are too hot, they are spread out away from each other and the lamp.One night, I read that chickens can't sweat but they can pant, like a dog.  I actually saw Coco panting, her breath fogging up the farthest corner of the brooder! I quickly turned down the heat.  While I was doing this I did a quick calculation of my chicks' age and realized they were six weeks  old! It was time for the coop!  My guest room was full of dust and dander and they were getting huge, I was out of ideas for the next level of larger brooder.  Any longer and we were going to have a hen fight on our hands. We needed this coop finished ASAP!

The weather had cleared and we were recruiting helpers left and right. Everyone seemed to like the idea of a backyard chicken coop so they were more than willing to contribute a few hours of their time.  We supplied cold beer and promised fresh eggs as soon as the ladies started laying.

This project supervisor is quite a stickler!

In terms of finding a design for your coop, you can really just go with what works for you. A little sleuthing on the Web and you will find all sorts of ideas.  Converted out buildings, movable chicken tractors and shanty towns.  All of these coops have a few things in common:
Nesting boxes - you need one box for 2-3 hens.  They just need a little space to sneak off and lay their eggs in private.  The boxes should have some sort of bedding in them - straw or pine shavings work well. We decided to have our boxes accessible from the outside for easier egg gathering.   Our coop actually has 5 nesting boxes which means we could potentially have 15 chickens - YIKES! The boxes we used were already pre-made in Jenn and Lance's garage so rather than making more work, we just used them all.  Our coop does not have enough square footage for 15 chickens so we will just stick to 5 or 7 for a modest flock.

Space - each chicken needs at least 2 square feet of indoor space and 3-6 square feet in an outdoor run.  If your chickens will be free ranging around in the yard like ours, the outdoor space will not be a problem  Just make sure they have a safe place to go if they need to escape predators.
Roosting Bars -  chickens need to roost at night. They just need a bar, off the ground but not too high, for them to wrap their toes around and sleep.  We have 2, well 3 if you count the highest rafter in the roof which wasn't intended for a  roosting bar but works just fine for a certain suspect rooster. the roosting bars should be different heights.  When you go to tuck your chickens in at night, peek in to see who is where on your roosting bars.  This gives you an excellent glimpse into flock hierarchy   The hen who is at the bottom of the pecking order is usually on the lowest bar. The head of the flock gets the highest roost.
Ventilation-  A chicken coop needs to be well ventilated but not drafty.  Ventilation is necessary to keep the stink factor at a minimum and to decrease respiratory illnesses from wet and/or composting poops. We have 2 windows that can close to give the coop cross ventilation and lots of fresh.  Be sure to put in a screen (we stapled chicken wire) of some sort to keep the predators out.
Shelter -  chickens need to stay warm and dry and be protected from too much sun, wind and weather.  Our chickens can go in and out as they please and they can go under the coop for shade and dust baths.
Cleaning -  It is up to you to decide the best way to clean your coop.  Some people install a tray as the floor that can be pulled out, hosed off and slid back in.  We decided to install a door big enough for us to reach in with a long broom and sweep everything out into the compost bin.  Again, the design is up to you.

The roof !