DIY nest boxes from kitty litter pails

We found an amazingly simple and free way to expand our nest box space in the Silkie coop. Cat litter tub nest boxes! They're free and really easy to transform into nest boxes, plus the chickens seem to love them. If you have Silkies then you know that they don't fly very well. They do this sort of flap & hop thing that can get them up to a low perch, but that's about it.

In the Silkie coop, the nest boxes sit on the ground. We have a few nest boxes, but with broody season kicking in they are always full. I even have 3 hens with chicks already in their 'condos' and still the nest boxes are full. We're talking 4 hens in 1 nest box! I take the hens out, they pack themselves right back in. *sigh*

So clearly we need more nest boxes and didn't want to spend a lot because they will only get used in the broody season. They also needed to be removable since we would store them away from the coop in winter. Well, we had a few empty kitty litter tubs sitting behind the shed and thought they would do. 

They are a lot like our current nest boxes: plastic and easy to clean being the main points. Plus, these were free! We just needed to make them a little cuter of course. lol

Marans chicks have hatched!

We've had Marans fever going here at the farm lately! I have had people calling for chicks like crazy. We're actually on our third round of hatches, but I keep forgetting to get pictures. *sigh* From what people tell me Marans aren't very easy to find around here....I seem to be the only breeder. I love our Marans, I think they are awesome birds and the chicks are utterly adorable!

 We've been hatching batches of 30 every week. Our waiting list isn't terribly long right now (not near as long as the Guinea wait list!) We've been hatching some Blue Marans with the French Black Copper Marans. I'm not sure if I want to add more blues to our flock or not. The blacks are much more popular, but I really love the coloring of the blues....decisions decisions. What I'd really love to do is add more splash Marans to the flock. They are just so darn pretty!

Have a great Saturday!

~L 

Can refrigerated eggs hatch?

Earlier this week I posted about How to handle hatching eggs. This brought to mind a particular blue Marans pullet I hatched a while back. She was such a sweet hen! Friendly and happy, she got along with everyone in the coop. She was our only blue Marans at the time, so her name was simply: Blue. The interesting thing about Blue though, is that she had hatched out of an egg that was refrigerated! 

It's not supposed to work that way! Fertile hatching eggs are supposed to be stored at room temperature and put in the incubator in under 10 days. In fact there is a very specific set of rules for handling hatching eggs that should be followed. That is not what had happened here!

Hatching refrigerated eggs

Here is how she came to be......

It was one morning about 2 years ago when I made my husband breakfast, scrambled eggs of course. A few bites into it he looks at me and says "these eggs taste funny". Ever have that moment when you realize you did something drastically wrong? That was this moment! My stomach drops to the floor and all the sudden the thought slams through my mind "oh crap I should have thrown those eggs away!"

How to store and handle hatching eggs to get the best hatch rate

I always have a full incubator. Or 3. lol I know a lot of you are like me after all, hatching chicks is addictive isn't it? There are lots of do's and don't of handling hatching eggs. The funny thing is that what one person swears never works, another person swears it's the reason their hatches are so successful!

Over the years I have tried everything! I've tested every hatching 'rule' and myth. It just so happens I keep excellent records, so I went back through my hatching logs and collected all the data on which myths were just that, and which ones were actually true!

The format for this post is simple. First I'll name the hatching 'rule'. I'll list why that's the recommended procedure and then I'll discuss why some people don't believe it. I'll then give you my results from testing the myth. Finally, I'll give you the answer as to whether that hatching rule needs followed or not.

Calf Manna for Chickens

Normally I am a 'think outside the box' type of person. I can come up with solutions for just about anything. However, it has never occurred to me to feed my chickens something made for calves. This is particularly baffling when you realize that I can tell you the correct dosage for using cattle medications on chickens. hmmm. 

Last year I attended the Mother Earth news fair with the Brinsea company. While there I took the time to visit several booths and was given a sample of Calf-Manna. The nice lady there took the time to explain the benefits of feeding this to my chickens. So I look in the cup. It looks like rabbit food and smells like licorice. Interesting, but will the chickens eat it?

I'm a bad chicken mommy

I'm such a bad mommy! I can't tell my kids apart. LOL We have had chickens for several years....and over the years we have added and removed chickens several times. As we add to our breeding groups each year, we aim for about 6 per breed. Then over the years as they leave us for various reasons those sets get smaller. 

Like Jessica...her sister was killed by a fox and her brother was sold. Sister came the same year with 2 brothers who have also moved on. This goes on for every year except this year is different. This year I can't tell them apart!

See what I mean? It's the 4 in the middle. They are identical! That's Sister in the front, she has a floppy comb. Original is the only Splash Marans left and Sally is the only Arcauna (Easter egger actually....Olive to be exact). The boy with the big tail is our main roo Mr Copper. King Tut has the tail feathers that stick straight up....he's only about 6 months old now, I'm sure that tail will grow in. They're easy to tell apart in other ways too. 

Those girls though....I just can't tell them apart, and believe me I have tried! Once they get their Dept of Ag bracelets their identities will be set. They're all from the same breeder/hatch so that kind of stuff is irrelevant. For personal information though....I can't even name them because I don't know who is who. *sigh*

So, tell me....am I the only one? Or do you have chickens you can't tella apart too?

~Lis

Famous chicken owners

What do these celebrities all have in common?

Prince Charles
Selma Hayek
Chevy Chase
Tori Spelling
Kate Gosslin
Reese Witherspoon
Martha Stewart
Chuck Norris
Julia Roberts
Barbara Streisand
Attica Shaffer
Alton Brown
Paula Dean
John Cleese
Hilary Swank

They all have owned chickens!

(picture from peoplepets.com)

~L

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We have a chicken graveyard. There are probably about 6 chickens in it. Polly is buried by the Shed, everyone else is in the graveyard. Polly was the first one to die, she was a guinea. It was really cold out, the ground was frozen and that was the only place we could break through. 

About a year later when a rooster died we put him in the woods. After that we just put everyone beside him....and now we have a little chicken graveyard. Complete with flowers.

We don't bury every single chicken that dies anymore, especially if it's winter. Sometimes you just can't get through the frozen ground. The ones we did bury though are all in the same basic area.

The chicken graveyard

Is that pushing it a bit? My mom gave me a pot of bulbs that were past bloom (as people often do with those of us that have unlimited amounts of planting space) and I put them next to Snowballs stone. They bloom a lovely purple color early in the spring each year.
Yes, the chickens get headstones when they die. They're not like etched or anything fancy like that, but there is a stone above where each chicken is buried. I started putting them there to let me know where not to dig...because digging in the wrong place in a chicken cemetery can be quite traumatic! It sort of evolved from there and now each chicken has their own stone. I have seen some cute chicken plaques online though, so I can't be the only one that buries their chickens!

The flowers bloom every year to remind me that Summer is coming. Unfortunately we need to dig there again. Pebbles just died. She was quite a few years old and died in her sleep. It's just a part of chicken keeping I suppose. Though this does bring me to the question: do you have a chicken graveyard too?

Related reading: Dealing with the death of a chicken.

~L

Want information on raising chickens sent right to your email weekly? Click right here to join my list and get new posts sent directly to you the day they're published. You'll also get the free download 25 Ways to save money raising chickens.

Marans Egg Facts and myths

Marans chickens are well known for laying dark brown, almost chocolate colored eggs. I've heard them referred to as "the most expensive chicken eggs in the world" and until recently they have been fairly hard to come by. They are said to be prized by French chefs and are slightly harder to hatch then other breeds.

Many people are only familiar with the name Marans because James Bond was said to only eat the speckled eggs from Marans hens in From Russia With Love. While I can't comment on Mr Bonds particular idiosyncrasies, I've had Marans for several years and I have to tell you, not all those other rumors are true!

Is the chicken a Marans or a Maran?

The often confused proper name for this breed of chicken is Marans, though many people think a single chicken is a Maran chicken. Since the breed was named after the town of Marans in France, the S at the end of a name does not indicate a plural. 

A single chicken is a Marans and multiple chickens are still Marans. Along that same line, eggs are called Marans eggs not Maran eggs. I know it seems a little odd, but that sometimes happens when proper names are adopted for native products.

Interesting reading: Marans, France.

Almost all chickens start off laying smallish sized eggs and their eggs get larger as they become more experienced layers. Marans eggs are the same except for a few differences in color.