Public Hearing on Backyard Chickens!

Backyard Chickens in Your Backyard?

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

For those of you who live in the area and have wished that you could have backyard chickens of your own, you may be interested to know that the possibility is currently being discussed for both the Village of Grayslake and for unincorporated Lake County.

This Thursday, October 17 at 6:00 p.m., there will be a public hearing to discuss several local food amendments (including the possibility of allowing backyard chickens, as well as bees and hoophouses) in unincorporated Lake County.  The public hearing will be held at the Lake County Forest Preserve’s Independence Grove’s Visitor Center (16400 W. Buckley, Libertyville). 

 

Come let your voice be heard!

And if you would like to learn more about what’s involved in keeping backyard chickens, you might consider attending our upcoming workshop on that very topic!  Workshop info follows this photo of Rutabaga, one of the Learning Farm’s very own backyard chickens…

 

Backyard Chickens

Do you like the idea of having fresh eggs available to you on a daily basis?  Are you looking to add some animals to your yard that will also provide you with food, fertilizer, and pest control?  Are you wondering what it takes to keep a few backyard chickens?  If so, then this workshop is for you!

Backyard chickens are becoming increasingly popular in both urban and suburban areas!  We will discuss the basics of backyard chicken keeping – including chicken breeds and behavior, where and how to obtain your hens (or chicks!), how to feed and house your backyard flock, local ordinances, and other things to consider before you get your own hens.

As part of the workshop, we will also tour the Learning Farm chicken flocks in their different locations on our farm, discuss the similarities and differences between the flocks and how they are being housed, and tie those observations back to best practices for backyard chickens.

Date:  Saturday, October 26

Time:  9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
What to bring:  Nothing required.
What to take home:  A resource handout on keeping backyard chickens and a sample half-dozen of our very fresh, pastured-poultry eggs!
Cost:  $30 per person
Instructor:  Sharon Gaughan,
PCLF Education Program Director

Pullet Visit!

Young Nieces Visiting Young Pullets!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

My sister’s three girls spent a lot of time here on the Learning Farm this past summer, since my sister, Michelle, was one of the main summer farm camp teachers (and has been increasingly, during the past four summers). 

 

Hannah, Allison, and Amanda played an important role in helping us prepare for the arrival of our new chicks, and then in helping care for them in their critical first days and weeks of life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of their important jobs was to help spot the chicks that were showing signs of "pastey butt," so that we could then catch those chicks and get them cleaned up.  Mandy (Amanda), my youngest niece, was particularly good at spotting (as she mistakenly called them) "tastey butts"!

 

Then summer camps came to a close, and school started up again – so it’s been a while since my nieces have had a chance to see the chicks (now pullets).  They came up for a visit this past weekend, and were excited to see how much the new flock of girls have grown! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Chore Crew

Fall Chicken Chore Crew Completed!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

This year for the first time, we offered a “Chicken Chore Crew” farm camp – one in spring, another in summer, and again in fall.  Our fall camp just ended this week.

“Chicken Chore Crew” is different from our other farm camps.  We don’t do arts and crafts, we don’t harvest and cook from the garden – we just hang out with our chickens, and do some of the “chores” necessary to keep them healthy and happy.  For the summer and fall crews, that included working with our new chicks (now pullets).

I’ve been a bit protective of the new flock – and while we allowed the campers to feed and pet the young birds, I was a bit hesitant to let the kids pick them up and hold them.  But on the last day of fall Chicken Chore Crew, we decided to make a compromise.  After giving the kids some instruction, Anya and I caught some of the more cooperative pullets and placed them into the arms of some very excited campers.

 

 

 

This was undoubtedly the highlight of this particular camp – for the kids, and for me and Anya.  And, who knows?  Maybe even for the pullets themselves!

 

 

Outdoor Pullets

Our Pullets Are Loving the Great Outdoors!
by Sharon Gaughan,
PCLF Education Program Director

The pullets seem to really enjoy their new freedom.  Most of them spend most of their time out in the chicken yard -- roaming, running, scratching, exploring, dust bathing -- soaking up the sunshine, or lazing in the shade.

It does my heart good, to see them so content.

October Workshops: Composting & Backyard Chickens

Reminder: Suburban Homesteading Workshops for Adults!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

Just a reminder that our Suburban Homesteading Workshop series is continuing through the fall!  If you haven’t already, consider signing up for one of our two October workshops!

 

Small-Scale Composting

“Feed the soil and the soil will feed the plants – and people.” It’s an old adage, and an important truth. Nowadays we call that “organic, sustainable practice.”

How to do that? Adding quality compost to our gardens is the best thing we can do for our soil and for the plants that grow in it.  Composting is not difficult to accomplish – as they say, compost happens! – but there are some things you can do to encourage the process to happen faster and/or more effectively, and to improve the quality of the final product. There are also things you can do wrong and we will help you prevent those.

Following an overview of the composting process, we’ll get our hands dirty (just a little!) while we explore a variety of composting techniques (including worm composting!) that you can put to use at home to feed your soil – which will in turn feed your flowers, shrubs, vegetables and fruit.

Date:  Saturday, October 5

Time:  9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Cost:  $30 per person
Co-Instructors:  Eric Carlberg, PCLF Farm Manager and Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

Backyard Chickens

Do you like the idea of having fresh eggs available to you on a daily basis?  Are you looking to add some animals to your yard that will also provide you with food, fertilizer, and pest control?  Are you wondering what it takes to keep a few backyard chickens?  If so, then this workshop is for you!

Backyard chickens are becoming increasingly popular in both urban and suburban areas!  We will discuss the basics of backyard chicken keeping – including chicken breeds and behavior, where and how to obtain your hens (or chicks!), how to feed and house your backyard flock, local ordinances, and other things to consider before you get your own hens.

As part of the workshop, we will also tour the Learning Farm chicken flocks in their different locations on our farm, discuss the similarities and differences between the flocks and how they are being housed, and tie those observations back to best practices for backyard chickens.

Date:  Saturday, October 26

Time:  9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Cost:  $30 per person
Instructor:  Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

 

Happy Birthday Pullets!

Pullets Really Fly the Coop!
by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

Our pullets hatched as baby chicks on June 23^rd – today is September 23^rd.  Happy 3-month birthday to our new flock!  
 

In celebration today, the pullets have been allowed full access to the entire chicken yard for their first time! 

We’ve been opening the pop doors (the two small chicken-sized doors) every day now for nearly 3 weeks, and allowing the pullets time outdoors in a small area immediately outside the pop doors.  When we open the pop doors now, there is no hesitation to go outside – in fact, there’s usually a bit of pushing and shoving as several try to squeeze through the small doors at once. 

There’s never a time when 100% of our 100 pullets are outside – so it’s impossible to tell whether each individual pullet comes out at some point, or whether there are some that feel more secure staying “cooped up” inside.  Either way, we decided it was time to expand their world even further – for the sake of those that were ready.

This morning, Anya and I opened the temporary gate which we had set up to keep them in the smaller enclosure, then stepped back to watch and photograph as a few – and then more – ventured out to explore.  They were tentative, but not nearly as tentative as they were that first day the pop doors were open.
 

Those that did venture out, almost immediately starting scratching for insects and/or sampling some of the green things growing in the chicken yard (weeds and mulberry leaves mostly).  A few also found a good spot to dust bathe. 

 

No doubt they were thinking, “Wow!  Life just keeps getting better, here on the farm!”

 

At Night in the Hen House

Pullets Perching in the Dark

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

In case you've been wondering, the pullets have adjusted well to their brooder box being removed. 

 

Here’s a photo that Anya took with her phone a few nights ago, of the pullets on the adult roosts.

 

10 Weeks and Counting!

Chicks Grow Into Pullets –

and (Sort of) Fly the Coop!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

Our chicks are really not chicks anymore.  At 10 weeks of age, they look like chickens now – albeit small versions of the full-grown hens they will someday be.  I need to get into the habit of calling them “pullets” (defined as female chickens under the age of one year) rather than “chicks” – but old habits die hard.  Besides, I always liked the alliteration of going out to the hen house to do a “chick check.”  Somehow, doing a “pullet check” doesn’t sound quite as appealing.

Last Friday afternoon, we opened the pop doors (the two small chicken-sized doors) to the chicken yard for the first time.  Not yet ready to give the chicks (oops! I mean, the pullets!) full freedom of the entire chicken yard, we fenced off the small area just outside the pop doors – then Anya sat inside with one of my cameras, and I sat outside with the other.  We wanted to document their first steps to the outside world. 

We waited, and we waited, and we waited.  The chicks… the pullets were very interested in the outside world – but they weren’t all that anxious to set out into it.  It was nearly an hour before a few of them finally decided to cross the threshold.  Unfortunately, they had only a couple of hours to explore before the early Friday evening storm hit – and then began the 3-day Labor Day weekend. 

Anya and I shared “pullet check” responsibilities, as usual, over the holiday weekend – but we didn’t open the pop doors to the yard again until the following Tuesday workday, when we would be around throughout the day to check on them regularly.  Helped, in part, by some tempting Swiss chard greens strategically placed outside the doors, more of the pullets chose to come outside on Tuesday, and much more quickly than they did last Friday.  At one point, I counted as many as twenty-two brave pullets in the outside yard.  My guess is that number will continue to rise each day.

We also decided to start giving the pullets some of their "grower feed" in the adult feeders that are built into the walls of the hen house just below the nest  boxes.  I was a bit worried that they might not yet be tall enough to reach into these adult feeders, the height of which is not adjustable.  But they seem to be doing just fine!       

At night, increasing numbers of chicks->pullets are now perching on the adult roosts for the night (71 of them last night, by Anya’s count!).  Most of the rest have been roosting on top of the brooder box (vs. lying on the wood shavings below the brooder box, as they did during their downy chick days). 

We stopped turning the brooder box light on at night about a week ago – between the warm weather and the fact that the pullets are now fully feathered, we decided that it was probably well past time to do that.  And so today, Anya and I made another big change in the lives of these growing birds, and removed the brooder box from the hen house entirely. 

It will be interesting to see how many pullets will be perching on the adult roosts tonight!