Baby chicks grow very quickly, and in a few weeks are developing feathers and becoming increasingly mobile. Newly hatched chicks are fed chick-starter, a specially formulated, finely ground mix of grains and minerals. The feeders are shallow troughs. After a few weeks, a switch was made to chick grower, another specially formulated feed, and the feeders were also changed.
Like many other bird species, chickens like to perch off the ground. Low, open feed troughs would soon be dirtied with droppings and litter from chickens hopping on and into the trough. To circumvent the chickens’ lack of table manners, the bigger troughs had rotors like long water wheels but with only four vanes extending end to end along the top. The chickens could reach under the rotor for the feed but if they tried to perch on top, the rotor turned and deposited the would-be percher back on the floor, thus keeping the feed clean. The gravity-type, inverted jar waterers had a narrow space around the bottom that allowed only enough space for the chickens to drink, for the same reason.
By early May with the weather warming up and the chickens now fully feathered, they were allowed outside each day and the brooder stove was retired until the following year. A whole grain mix of wheat, oats, and barley was added to their diet. This was scattered on the ground and would all be eaten in a few minutes. Being outdoors, they could pick up bits of grit and tiny stones to supply their gizzards (a bird’s internal food grinder) to reduce the whole grain to a digestible mash.
By mid-May, the chickens were outgrowing the colony house and the switch was made to range shelters. A range shelter is basically a bunkhouse for chickens. We had three, each about ten feet long by five feet wide by four feet high at the peak of the dormer roof. The sides and ends were slatted to permit lots of air movement. The floor was spaced, two-inch-square perches for the chickens. Fine mesh chicken wire enclosed the walls and floor so no predators (mainly skunks and weasels) could get in. The shelters were on runners so they could be moved as desired. Chickens dislike being wet, and always go inside at sundown. The doors were always closed overnight so they were safe from predators.
Chickens have what psychologists call a ‘bump of locality’ and theirs is particularly strong. To get them to move from their first home, the colony house, to the range shelter required the following procedure.
The shelters were positioned around the colony house. The following morning when all the chickens were outside, the door was closed. After sundown, a mat of chickens would be surrounding the colony house—not one would be in the range shelter. We would grab them by the legs, dump them into the range shelters, and close the doors. Early next morning, the shelters were towed with the tractor to the summer location and then the doors were opened. “Out of sight, out of mind.” At sundown, all the chickens were inside their new home.
For many years, Dad rented unused pasture land across the road. Bear Creek, which meandered across the property, supplied drinking water. The feed was kept in a waterproof bin, also on skids. From the road, a long, gentle slope led down to the creek, at this point still a stream easily crossed on stepping stones. On the far side, a wide shelf ended with an abrupt rise to the crest of a low hill. This hill was crowned by several tall trees that shaded the stone foundations of a long-gone house and barn.
Here the chickens spent their summer. Each morning, I would jog over, let the chickens out, and feed them. They were fed again in late afternoon and then, at sundown, a final jog over to shut them in for the night.
I still have nostalgic memories of those daily jaunts over to the chickens in their idyllic setting.
