We’ve been without chickens for a couple years. Our last batch of older established chickens were slowly being picked off by something… an owl, a hawk, or maybe a prowling mammal. These were free range chickens, they had their own field, and we often forgot to close the hutch door at night. I don’t really begrudge the predators, they need to eat, too. When we got down to three chickens, I gave them to a friend.
We might have gone a long time without chickens, or forever, except for the price of eggs. And the potential for government or bird flu chaos. I know that home grown eggs are never cheaper than store bought eggs, even when eggs cost a lot. Partly because you must feed chickens for six to nine months before they start laying eggs. And you know that saying about cheap insignificant things being “chicken feed?” A bag of feed from the farm store actually costs a pretty penny. Plus there are other expensive inputs, like houses and chicken wire and feeders and grit and so on. Still, having some productive animals on the hobby farm seemed like a good idea this year.
Turns out, everyone else in Spokane county thought it was a good idea to get chickens this spring, too. Maybe there were fewer chicks available due to bird flu, or maybe everyone was naively hopeful that eggs would be cheaper if you grew them yourself. But when the chicks arrived at the feedstores, there were long lines, and they sold out quickly.
Plus, I’m a chicken snob. There are only a few breeds that I like. They must be calm, broody, and self-sufficient foragers. I don’t care what color eggs they lay, but I might want them to hatch some eggs in the future. A lot of chicken breeds are not broody (they don’t like to sit on nests or be good mothers). Of the chickens that I could find locally, the Speckled Sussex sounded like a good breed. A few weeks ago we got to the feedstore early on delivery day and finally managed to buy four very expensive Speckled Sussex chicks. Then one died. Life with chickens often involves death.
Finally, I found mixed run banties. Mixed run means the color, sex, or traits are a crap shoot. I love banties. They are tough little chickens, varied in color, and super-broody (we once had a little banty hen that hid and then hatched a nest of 15 eggs). They forage and eat bugs and are just busy little resourceful chickens. I bought three banties: a gold one (Goldie), a black one (Blackie), and a mottled one (Checkers). Just to keep up, we decided we should name the Speckled Sussexes, too. They became Speck 1, Speck 2, and Speck 3. We can’t tell them apart.
The older Specks were really kind of blah and boring. They simply ate and drank in the tub on our enclosed porch and napped under the heat lamp. They appeared kind of dumb. The banties, at a quarter of their size, were immediately scratching in the shavings and wandering around. They showed personality and cleverness. I divided the breeds at first, and Blackie was immediately pecking at the Specks through the wires. Blackie is probably a rooster.
After a few days I pulled out the divider in the rearing tub and wondered if the banties would be picked on by their larger cousins. Instead, the banties decided that their new roommates were perfect to run and hide underneath, between, or on top of. No space was too small for a banty to squeeze into. The chicks were going to be fine.
I’m looking forward to getting the chickies off the porch. They stink after a while. I have prepared the outdoor hutch, hung up a lamp, and added a run with a tarped roof. In this era of bird flu, it is recommended to keep wild birds and wild bird poop away from the domestic chickens. It will be a couple more weeks, though, before I can fully wean the little banties off the heat lamp. Then again, they are resourceful enough that they might just hunker underneath the Specks for warmth.
Speck 1, Speck 2, Speck 3, Blackie, Checkers, and Goldie (you can see her feet in the back) all enjoy their first moments in the chicken house. Or maybe they’re a little freaked out. But I’m enjoying their first moments in the chicken house…
Michelle Eames 