Farmer Mikes Chicken Update
Farmer Mikes Chicken Update

Farmer Mike’s Chicken Update

 

Farmer Mikes Chicken Update
Farmer Mikes Chicken Update

Welcome to Farmer Mike’s Chicken Update.  We’ll keep this page updated to show you the trials and tribulations of raising chickens in your own backyard!

In this series of updates,  we are going to talk about the right food, water and shelter for raising egg-laying hens.
There’s always a new adventure, so follow along!

We are looking forward to getting some eggs and making THIS or THIS

Farmer Mike’s Chicken Update:  8/05/2020

So now they’re two months old.  They spend their days in the little chicken run, and we let them roam everyday.  They’re still afraid of the open grass which is kind of odd!  They are very comfortable running around on the breezeway.  This weekend on the show, we’ll talk about why it’s important to feed your chicken fermented food and how to make it.

Farmer Mike’s Chicken Update:  7/03/2020

Chickens at play.  I’ve always thought of chickens as just farm animals… until now.  Our four chicks are less work than I thought they would be, at least for now, and they’re also more friendly.

 

Farmer Mike’s Chicken Update:  6/28/2020


This is Florida.  The temperature skyrockets to over 90 degrees everyday for six months of the year  Putting one month-old chicken in the coop, out in that heat, is probably not the best idea.  We’re using the space we have available to protect the chicks from both the heat and predators.  So for now, the coop sits in the breezeway. Not seen in this picture is a security camera pointed at the coop.  We’ll know if Rocky Raccoon is thinking about a chicken dinner.

Farmer Mike’s Chicken Update:  6/28/2020

So after the show on Saturday morning, we checked in on the chickens.  Now, one by one they’re standing on top of the water and food containers, flapping their wings demanding that they be moved outside to the full sized chicken coop.  I guess you could say they were staging a coup d’ coop.  Here’s MaryAnne making a stand!  BTW… the bright light in the corner is a clamp on heat lamp.  Since they only have wing feathers, they lack any real way to stay warm.  The warmth of the heat lamp keeps them from shivering.

The chicken coop kit came with decorative wooden locks that wouldn’t stop a hungry raccoon (of which we have plenty) so we retrofitted the coop with barrel locks and padlocks.

Farmer Mike’s Chicken Update :  6/27/2020

Here’s the Farmer Mike segment from the show on Saturday.  In less than a month he’s become a “chicken whisperer.”

Farmer Mike’s Chicken Update :  6/19/2020

Here’s a video look inside their temporary coop.  It’s been three weeks and already they’re like teenage boys (although they are girls)… they eat a lot, they sleep a lot, and their feet are growing the fastest.  Their wing feathers have grown in and they’re attempting to fly around the temporary coop.  Will have to move them to the “big house” soon.

 

We were told that for the first month or so, to just keep them in a cardboard box.  After one day of spilled water and the nasty smell of chicken poop, it was clear that a cardboard box would not work as a temporary coop.  The chickens were relocated to a large, 50 gallon modular plastic tote box.  It’s easy to clean.

 

Update:  6/4/2020

Blame it on the Covid 19 pandemic.

This whole thing started before the Covid 19 crisis.  The price of eggs would rise and fall, (that’s normal) so Elizabeth purchased a chicken coop kit in a box so that we could raise our own chicks.  The idea of course, was that the chickens would provide a fresh supply of eggs.  Then Covid 19 came, people were baking again and suddenly there were no eggs at the grocery store.   We made a number of calls and stops to the farm specialty store but as soon as the chicks arrived, they were gone.  Obviously, other people had the same idea.  Then June 4th came, and there were baby chicks in stock!

About Elizabeth Dougherty

Elizabeth Dougherty has been cooking and writing about food intensively for more than ten years. She is the fourth generation of chefs and gourmet grocers in her family with her mother, Francesca Esposito and grandmother, Carmella being major influences in her early cooking years. As a teenager, her family sent her to Europe where she became focused on French and Italian cuisine. She survived a year and half of culinary tutelage under a maniacal Swiss-German chef and is a graduate of NYIT, Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality, Business and Labor Relations. Food Nation Radio has won two news awards for content. Broadcasting LIVE each week, nationwide, on FoodNationRadio.com and on stations around the country.

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