Another Student Testimonial - Keeping Backyard Chickens

One of my Chicken-Keeping students, Celeste Stanik, sent me this lovely email about her new found passion for raising chickens in her backyard.  Here is her testimonial:

Hi Cynthia-

I am writing to continue sharing with you my chicken experience. (I took your class Sept 18, 2010.)

Below you see a photo of my chickens (taken Christmas Eve) in their run, and more recently a couple photos of them out of their run. You will also recognize their (Cool) coop.  

You can see I have put manzanita branches around the insides of their "giant cage"  They like climbing and roosting on it.

The "giant cage" is a 12x18 foot run, using 1x2 inch, 6 foot welded wire tied to metal stakes. The welded wire wraps around the sides and across the top.  I did trench 18" deep around the entire thing and put in poultry wire and drain rock.  I reckon it best to demoralize any potential predators right from the get go.

I am having so much fun raising these birds!  Your workshop provided me with a great foundation for bringing chickens into my world, thank you.  It gave me the confidence I needed to start.  I wouldn't have gotten chickens without it, I'm afraid, and I would have missed out.  I am thrilled with your selection of breeds; they all have remarkably different personalities and are beautiful.  I love the production of fertilizer, the pest-and-weed eating, and I had no idea I'd get such continuous entertainment.  They make me laugh!  I am so glad to have them around, and they haven't even laid an egg yet.

The excitement lately is I have finally begun letting them out and hanging out with them.  Ok, guarding them, guiding them, and yesterday I sort of took them on a walk.  I can see possibilities here.  They are ecstatic to be out, "nosing around", expanding and exploring their world. 

I know you don't recommend scratch, but I have found it to be a great training aid.  Since I can't leave them out without guarding them, I need to be able to get them back into the run on my schedule, not theirs.  Scratch works well for this.  So far, so good.  And, again, I can see possibilities.... "will do tricks for scratch!"

I look forward to another of your workshops one of these days.

Celeste

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Comments

[Love Apple Farm]

Kate: You can special order lots of different sizes of hardware cloth from lumber yards, etc. We get ours from Mt. Feed & Farm in Ben Lomond. Call them first: 831-366-8876

[Kate Blue]

Where does one get 1/2 inch hardware cloth that is 6ft? I could only find 4ft rolls.