Mad City Chickens

Mad City Chickens was the documentary I watched about eight months ago that really made me want to get chickens. Now, as I am researching an article about raising chickens in Madison, I have found that it is also the name of the group made up of Madison area chicken owners.

I first stumbled upon the group’s website (madcitychickens.com) when my chicken McNugget was ill and I was not able to find resources for treating my sick bird. Not only did the website direct me to a good veterinarian, but it also made me realize that there is a whole community of chicken owners that can be used as a resource while raising chickens in the city. I read that the group was having a pot luck at “Joan the Chicken Lady’s” house in Verona so I called and volunteered to bring fruit salad.

The meeting was very informal, and consisted of about 20 chicken owners from Madison and neighboring communities. We all mingled, and talked chicken talk. We asked each other questions, and I found some people had been raising chickens their whole lives, and some (like myself) were still relatively new to the chicken game. There were also two attendees who were merely thinking about getting backyard chickens, and decided to talk to the group before delving into chicken ownership.

The meeting also had two guests. Twain Lockhart is a feed consultant for Cargill and not only was he a great resource for meeting goers in regards to chicken nutrition, but he also brought along a few 50lb bags of chicken feed for raffle prizes. Before Twain was a Cargill consultant he ran his own feed store in California for 17 years and his wife (who was also at the meeting) raised show chickens.

Also in attendance (and guest speaker for the evening) was Ron Kean , the Poultry Extension Specialist for the UW system. Ron was basically there to answer questions and he certainly got enough of them. A big discussion amongst new chicken owners was the proper way to provide water for chickens during a cold Wisconsin winter. While most people used different strategies, two common solutions were purchasing some sort of heated dish to dispense water or just giving the chickens fresh water a few times a day.

I strongly recommend to anyone raising chickens who wants to learn more and be a part of the chicken community to keep their eyes on the Mad City Chicken’s website and attend the next pot luck whenever and wherever that might be. They really do have a club for everything.

A Sick Hen

I have had the girls for almost three months and they have appeared to be entirely healthy since they first arrived in the mail. Suddenly things have changed.

My roommate Matt, who was watching the girls over the weekend while I was gone noticed that McNugget, the largest of my four hens, was looking very lethargic and puffy Sunday afternoon. We were immediately concerned, but not sure what to do. We also later found some runny chicken feces that appeared to have blood in it, which added to our concerns that whatever was wrong with McNugget was really serious.

Knowing I don’t have a lot of money (especially not the kind of money to spend on an emergency weekend vet trip), Matt went to Google while I called around to see if I could find advice from anyone.

I first tried Peckatonica Valley Farms because I recently wrote a story about their chicken operations and I remembered owner Todd Carr sounding like he really knew his chickens. Plus, I was hoping that in addition to possibly helping me diagnose McNugget, he might also be a cheap source of medicine (if any were required). Unfortunately I got no answer.

I then recalled seeing phone numbers for veterinarians who specialized in chickens on the Mad City Chickens’ (a documentary about raising chickens in Madison) website. And sure enough, they had contact information for two local vets.

While I was leaving my phone number with County View Vets in Oregon, WI (right outside of Madison), Matt had narrowed down the possibilities through a Google search and came up with
Coccidiosis as the most likely diagnosis, mostly because of it’s intestinal ramifications which lead can to bloody stool. A doctor from County View soon called me back and suggested that as the likely diagnosis as well.

I was then left with a two options: I could leave McNugget alone and hope she could fight off the virus, or I could get some medicine and put it in the water. Being a concerned parent, I opted to get the medicine (Slufadimethoxine) and am giving it to all of the chickens by dissolving it in their only water supply. McNugget will have to be encouraged to drink if she is not doing so on her own because she is most likely to suffer from dehydration as a result of her diarrhea.

Right now I can only hope that the medicine works and that McNugget will keep drinking the water.

Building Your Chicken Coop

So your basement, or garage, or wherever you are keeping your box of baby chickens is starting to smell and the girls look like they would appreciate more room: It is time to build yourself a chicken coop.

Okay, you don’t really have to build it yourself. In fact there are plenty of designer coops available out there for those who are looking to spend a little extra money. Being a poor college student myself (one who really can’t even afford the chicken-raising endeavor in the first place), I decided that it would be most affordable for me to build a coop myself. Other options include finding someone local to build you one or finding one on your local Craigslist search. Sometimes these coops can be quite large and difficult to move, so keep that in mind when you are looking.

It took a whole week but I am glad I built it myself (with help of course)

Personally, I grew up with a lot of tools around the house, and learned early in life that the sense of accomplishment following successfully building something is very rewarding. Plus, I really couldn’t afford to pay someone to do the building for me. Luckily, I had help from both of my roommates (who are also handy) and one of their brothers who happens to be a professional furniture builder (lucky us). All we needed to start was a plan.

Matt and John (the furniture maker) talked it over the night before and came up with a pretty basic plan. We would basically be building a box with an angled roof which would be hinged. Opening the roof would allow us to harvest eggs once the time came and would make sweeping out the straw in the coop easier.

*I think it is vital when trying to save money on any building project to make a list of everything you need for the entire project and shop first at the Habitat For Humanity ReStore. The ReStore is a store which sells discarded and donated building materials and a fraction of the cost of comparable new materials. Regardless of your opinion of Jimmy Carter (a fellow farmer mind you) the store will likely have some of the items you need.

Once you purchase all of your materials, you just have to execute the building while keeping the following coop requirements in mind:

-Your coop has to be water proof
-Your coop should have a window (light helps the chickens lay properly, especially in the darker winter time)
-(If in colder climates) Your coop should be a foot or two off of the ground and should be draft-free
-Your coop should have raised nesting areas where the chickens will prefer to lay their eggs
-Your coop should have roosts both to facilitate getting up to the nests and for the chickens to sleep on
-Your coop needs a door (at least 1’x1′) for the chickens to get in and out

Once you are done building the coop, you need to find a convenient place in the yard for it and then introduce the ladies to their new outdoor home.

Below is a quick slide show of the coop building process.