Has Denver gone Chicken? Guest post from another hippie!

Posted by dtpennington in Blog, Build, Food, Grow | 0 comments

Today’s post is from Brian Zimmer who keeps a blog along with his significant other at 1/2 Hippie (No relation to us here at Not Quite Hippie). With the recent approval of food-producing-animals here in Denver, I figured it would be a good idea to get a few thoughts on raising chickens from another first timer. I would love to try my hand at chickens someday soon, and I’m sure many of you will to. I’ll let Brian tell you all about it: 

Hello Friends,

This is Brian from Halfhippie.com. I heard from David that the Denver has recently passed an ordinance allowing chickens in (sub)urban areas. Well done y’all! Here, in the mountains of North Carolina, we are still allowed to marry our 1st cousins (To be fair, Charles Darwin married his first cousin) but we can’t have chickens within town limits. Luckily, I live outside of town. If you are considering trying your hand at a backyard flock or just want to house one or two to keep you  in eggs, the following may help you avoid some of the pitfalls my brawksticks and I have stumbled into.

Where to get chickens?

Lots of people talk about getting day-old chicks off the interweb. I’ve stayed away from this for three reasons: 1.) They have a minimum order (usually around 12) and I have only ever needed a half dozen or so chickens at any one time. 2.) Mortality rates are ~10-15% and no animal should be “shipped”.  3.) Day old chicks take 4-6 months to start laying. I raised chickens from chicks once and in month 5, my chickens were taken out by a raccoon with explosives and we had to start all over again (This is not hyperbole… there was a hole blown out the side of my chicken-wired run).

I prefer to buy my chickens at ‘pullet’ age (not a chick but less than a year). I got my most recent batch of australorps from this kid, Tommy, who runs a racket at the local farmer’s market. He charges cute girls a full $3.00 less per chicken. I’m getting Meg, my girlfriend, to do the buying should we need more next year. You can expect to pay $5-10 / per chicken. Craigslist usually has several chicks/chickens for sale, just remember, if you want full-sized eggs, you don’t want bantams and be sure to verify with the seller the age of the bird(s).

Housing

I’ve made several different coops for my chickens. If you have a yard, but not enough to pen, or free-range, I’d recommend using a mobile coop or “chicken-tractor”. These enclosures can be moved daily to fresh grass, or they can be left in place with hay being changed out every 3-5 days (Lots of great compost!) In the winter, I just pull the tractor up to the sunny / downwind side of my house so they get the ambient heat that freely flows out the sides of my ancient farmhouse. If you are in an area that commonly freezes, electrical water heaters are fantastic. They save a lot of hassle and don’t need to be changed daily. You will need one nesting box for every 6-8 chickens built into your coop – somewhere dark and off the ground.

Fencing

Building a fence that chickens will not escape has been quite a challenge. Some people have had success with the electrified “feather-nets”, but for my flock of a dozen layers, the cost was prohibitive, especially when you consider having to replace batteries. I’ve finally built a fence that the chickens cannot escape (except for Renegade, who escapes about once a month). I used 6’ metal t-bar stakes with the flange that sticks in the ground. Anything weaker gets bent over by raging hordes of chickens as they chase tomato bits. The chicken wire I run around is a 2” mesh that is 4’ tall. I use 4” metal staples to keep the wire pressed to the ground. Finally I run several rows of fishing line across the top. That way, when the chickens do try to flutter out, they aim for the top of the chicken wire, but get hindered by the essentially invisible fishing line. It confuses the heck out of em and they eventually give up. You will be amazed at the way predators can get into your coop area, so go for bomb-proof and always close your chickens in the coop at night, even in the city…

As you raise your chickens you will discover the joys of predation, egg-eating, and broody hens that will sit on empty nests, but there is far too much to write about in a single post. I wish you luck and many eggs and would be glad to answer any direct questions you have. I post regularly about chicken life on halfhippie.com and invite you to check it out if you have the chance.

Thanks Brian!

Have an idea for a guest post? Want to contribute your own adventure in urban gardening or homesteading? Then drop a line to dave at not quite hippie dot com. 

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