Chickens

Likewise!  Great looking coop Loraine!  Let's keep our ears to the ground & share any sources.

Hi ladies - it is hard to find chickens that are ready to lay (the breeder has to feed them for 6 months and then sell them for $10  - this is not a good biusiness scenario).  Many of us have bought chicks and then waited for them to grow up.  In the process some of them may turn out to be roosters so be warned...

We bought our latest chickens from a farm in Langley with a 4H program. They are lovely.

Hi Leanne and Lorraine,

I emailed a bunch of producers and breeders I found online on the Fraser Valley Poultry Fancier's site, as well as Art Knapps in Surrey.  Knapps just replied with the following - they have heritage chicks coming in on May 20th (day olds), but also have some red sex-link crosses (Rhode Island Reds crossed with something else) that are laying right now.  See email below.  Will keep you posted if I hear of anything else.  I'm not sure what to do - I'd love heritage breeds but don't think I can handle chicks right now with baby on the way, two new crazy cats, working full time etc. 

Hi, we have a sex link cross red hen laying now they are 24 weeks nice temperament. We also have a few mix breed bantams and silkies. Day old chicks arrive may 20 all females chicks are 9.99 ea and hens are 24.99 or 5 for 100.00 the chicks coming are heritage breeds.   The day old chicks coming may 20^th  are females  blue andulusion , sliver spangled hamburgs, silver, buff and golden polish , light brahmas, Columbian wyandottes,k silver wyandottes. The sexlink is a lighter colour rhode island red

Me too.  I got my own chick to worry about.  But I wouldn't mind picking up some already laying.

David and I could go out this weekend...maybe I'll email and see how many they have available?  You could join us...

Let me know!

Leanne

Hi ladies,  More hens available on Craigslist.  I think Golden Comets are another red sex-link cross.  18-24 week old laying birds.  $5 each:

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rds/grd/2339690122.html

White Sussex 10 week-old birds - flock of 5 hens & 1 roo - $75 for all:

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rds/grd/2337604217.html

Unsexed Americauna chicks - in Hope but the woman would come to the city on Sunday..... I would love one but can't deal with it right now.  Anyone up for raising a few until they are big enough to go in a coop with mature hens?

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rds/grd/2338703355.html

Hi Lorraine!  I'm a fellow chicken cooper.  You may have seen that Leanne and I (another chickener) are looking for laying hens at the moment.  We have leads on a few in Cloverdale (5 golden comets (hybrid hen - prolific layers of brown eggs, 18-24 months old), and 4 light sussex hens & 1 rooster, all 10 weeks old (laying in 3 months - reliable layers of brown eggs) in Langley.  Together, we only need 5-7 birds, and if we got all of these that would be 9 plus the rooster.  Saw that you are looking for birds too - are you interested in any of these?  We are heading out tomorrow (Saturday) to get some or all of them. Please let us know if you get this message!  You can reach me on my cell at 778-994-7967.

Hope you are well,

-Kristi

Julia,

I may be interested in the faverolle depending upon what pans out this weekend.  My only concern is that they are supposed to be very docile & I worry that she might get bullied by more aggressive breeds.  Also, they are quite big birds, right?  My coop is pretty small so am tending toward medium sized birds.

Leanne Gypsy, I am looking for the contact info of the place where you and Kristi purchased your pullets yesterday, if you would please give it to me.  thanks.

Lorraine Krakow

hens for sale alert:

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rds/grd/2343906573.html

Someone had to do it: It's International Respect for Chickens Day.

10 Things You Might Not Know About Chickens:

http://theveganomaly.com/2011/05/04/in-honour-of-international-resp...

Hi,

I'm with Viva Collingwood Multicultural Summer Plaza and the theme of our event this year is Recycle/rRepurpose/Reinvent. Outside of recycling, we have a growing interest in urban farming in our area, and one of the areas that people have been asking about is keeping chickens in the city. We will have an organic farmer selling at our festival, and our Food Security Group is heavily involved. We would love to have someone come in and set up a table or pass on information about chickens, etc.

Our Plaza activates August 24 and runs till September 3. Thanks, Andrea

I can be reached at vivacollingwood@gmail.com

Hi Folks,

Just a heads up to stop in and say hi if you're at the PNE.  I have a coop on display in the urban agriculture virtual backyard area.  It's in the barn area near the pig races.  If you know anyone who's thinking of chickens, but doesn't think they have the space, this is a good way to see how little space you need to still have happy healthy chickens.

Thanks,

Duncan

WANTED: viable mealworms. My girls love mealworms, and the ones at the pet store are not only expensive but treated (with what??) to not grow any more (and not reproduce, obviously).

I would have posted this in the buy/sell/share/find forum, but the link is broken. If you know anyone with amphibians or reptiles, maybe they have mealworms? I understand most people probably don't grow their own mealworms, but my girls are truly spoiled.

Thanks.

p.s. I don't care if they are from your flour bin, or whatever. I just want some that will reproduce.

I'm always sorry to hear about cases like this - who exactly would these chickens be harming??? Our coop is full but I hope they find a good home.

The coop in your video looks great P E Moes!  Where did you get the plans?

When is the next Backyard Chicken 101 event for 2012?  I just realized some of the events listed here are from last year, or is this a typo??

Thanks!

You're right!

Nothing scheduled at the moment, but we'll come up with something!

Is anyone doing another Tour de Coop? I'd love to be in it this year (had planned last year but had to leave town for work).

Fellow backyard chicken folks! I have a strange request. Looking to "borrow" some hens for a radio interview tomorrow morning. Looking for a space to do the interview with some lovely ladies clucking in the background. I'm moving and had to sell my girls a couple of weeks ago.

Anyone mind if CBC radio and I hang out around your coop for an hour or so tomorrow at 9:30? I'm in East Van / Renfrew Heights.

Hi Stacey, I can be around with the hens. Number is 604-329-3863. I live near Nanaimo and 5th.
Duncan

Thanks Duncan, that would be great. I'll give you a call now.

S

http://www.avianaquamiser.com/
Economical
Their homemade chicken waterer kits are as cheap as 30 cents per bird. The 34 page instruction file helps you create just the right waterer for your flock.

Thanks for posting that Jill. I started using nipple valves last year and love them. They're especially nice if you spend the time to mix up garlic or vinegar in the water and are tired of throwing it out when it gets too dirty.

I use the nipple waterers as well and also love them, but unfortunately I got a new hen a few weeks after I started my coop, and I've never seen her drink from them. I was worried about how much she was drinking, so I started offering water in a dish, which I now have to refill daily since they all drink from the dish (prefer it to the nipples if given a choice). Any ideas? If I just leave her be, will she figure it out if she's thirsty enough?

My method is to use a little tape or gum to hold the valve open so it drips periodically. My dumbest hen took a while to get it (about a week) but then she caught on. The good thing is that even when they haven't figured it out that they can activate the valve, they can still chase the drop of water down and get it as it falls.

One of our 12 week old pullets has turned out to be a cockerel. Anyone want a 12 week old cockerel or know someone who would? He is extremely nice and probably our friendliest bird, a beautifully colored Ameracauna. He is free to a good home!

Hi Emily
I have an egg operation at an organic farm in Richmond and could take your cockerel if no one else steps up.

City of North Vancouver Public Hearing on the Zoning Bylaw amendment and Small Creatures Limitation Bylaw amendment
Monday, September 17, 2012, 7PM
City Hall, 141 West 14th Street
North Vancouver

If you feel comfortable addressing council, we encourage you to show your support by sharing your opinion. The intent of the Public Hearing is to give all members of the public a reasonable opportunity to present their point of view, to offer suggestions, and to indicate support or concerns. Once the public hearing has concluded, no further information or submissions can be considered by council. If time permits the same evening or at the next available open meeting, the proposed changes will be brought forward for second or third and final reading under the Bylaw section of the Council Agenda.

Don't forget to wear your CLUCK buttons if you have them; we will also have stickers available for those of you who do not.

Let's pack the audience!
details and CNV draft of the amended bylaws

CBC Winnipeg interview about backyard chicken experience.

Winnipeg's city council is evaluating a bylaw similar to Vancouver. CBC interviewed me to learn more about first hand experience with back yard chickens.
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I have two 6 month old roosters, who are 3/4 silkie. I am looking for a good home for them, and can send pictures to anyone who is interested. They are not aggressive at all except with each other sometimes. They were hatched and raised together. I am hoping that they won't be eaten. Free to good homes.

Is anyone else interested in asking the city of Vancouver to increase the maximum number of hens from 4 to 8? My hens are 2 years old and producing well, but we still need to buy extra eggs sometimes. Also when my girl's quit laying I want to give them a retirement home and also have room for hens that are producing. Does anyone know the first step? Has North Van had any issues with its 8 hen limit?

Rat proof coop:
We had rats in the coop this winter. Not nice. I managed to keep them out by renovating the coop and adding a small gauge wire mesh floor. I sandwiched the edges between the coop frame and 2 x 4's and screwed them together, then put 8" of sand back on top for the hens to scratch around in. Its been working for 4 months now-no sign of rats. Yay.

I would support a request to raise the number of chickens in Vancouver. Even 6 would be better than 4!

Hi there, I have hens and I also work for the City. I asked my colleagues in Food Policy about best method of providing this feedback on hen limits. They let me know that they're pretty occupied with updating the beekeeping guidelines currently, but that if we want to start collecting names/contact info of those that are interested in having the hen limit revisited, as well as rationale for why, that can be very helpful to them once they have capacity to turn attention to backyard hen policy (probably not until next year). If someone wants to take on collecting this info, I can help facilitate passing it to the right people at the City.

I'll be at Main St. Car Free Days with the hens and I'd like to give passers-by a chance to show support for a change or tell their stories about the chickens they've seen in their hoods -- and how they're not a nuisance by any means. Please stop by if you're around. I set up each year in the Village Vancouver Village (usually at 13th and Main). I'll try to gather names for support. I'd say lets shoot for 8 hens. It's usually only one that's noisy anyway so 4 or 8 really has little difference in decibels.

This would a great place to stimulate discussion on this. VV's Demo Sustainable Village (http://www.villagevancouver.ca/events/imagining-your-ideal-neighbou...) will be at 13th and Main again this year. There's going to be a little chicken keepers village within the village where folks (and chickens!) can hang out and connect - I'll post more details shortly.

Both the Vancouver Food Policy Council and Village were very active around getting chickens legalized last time around. Village, of course, is interested in this, and I can see if my fellow VFPC members would be interested in getting involved again as well.

At the time, it was felt that the Bylaw was a 1st step and there was discussion around VFPC revisiting the bylaw in a couple years to see what improvements might be suggested, including potentially allowing for more chickens in general, allowing chickens in community gardens, allowing more chickens on apartment properties, etc.

Chicken-friendly-housing: I love my place near Commercial-Broadway, but my landlord (and one particular neighbor) don't love the chickens (any more). I'd prefer to stay in East Van; ideally Grandview-Woodlands, Strathcona or Hastings Sunrise. Please let me know of any one- to two-bedroom places that you know of, or any leads toward such. Thanks!

Still looking for chicken-friendly housing... I'm not out on the street yet, but the RTB may decide otherwise on Nov. 12. Need: direct access to yard, space for chicken coop, windows. For me & the girls (2 now) & one cat.

Hey Alyssa and others whose housing situation is not chicken-friendly,

Have you considered that your hens might not need to live on the same property as you do? Maybe you can find someone who lives close to you who has a back yard and would be willing to share/trade space for eggs/ gardening help? There are some garden sharing groups around. Chicken friendly is not easy even if you own the joint. I followed every reg and guideline religiously and my neighbors still needed to be TLC'd into being comfortable with the idea. Landlords are always paranoid about tenants who move out and leave a mess they'll need to fix or the city and the neighbors complaining. Maybe try the yard sharing folks?
Good luck!

Hello Chickeneers,
We are beginning our coop efforts, and I wonder if any of you have advice or spare materials you would be willing to pass on. I am happy to pay a suitable fee for any materials which are cluttering up your shed. :-)

Thanks,
Lini

Hi,

I posted this on the main page, but it was suggested to repost here:

Hi!
I have 3 laying chickens and their coop that I need to find a new home for. We're moving and unfortunately were not able to find another landlord that would allow us to keep our chickens. Sadly, the house we are in is going to be demolished in a few months, so we find ourselves in this situation.
The coop is large, so would probably need to be dissassembled, but anyone with a truck who is handy could do it. And it's free - also wired for a light in the winter. This is a really cute set up, and I would prefer it not go to a landfill.
The chickens are about a year old, and consist of an easter egger, a light brahma and a cuckoo maran. Please email me, cytoplasm AT gmail.
Thank you in advance.