As our chickens grow, we begin to face that day far down the road when they will no longer lay as many eggs as we need them to, and remind ourselves that these animals were purchased as utility animals more than as pets. However, their personalities and antics are quickly making them pets, whether we intended them as such or not.
My daughter is already asking, "How can we ever eat them?"
I don't really have an answer right now. All I know is that in about 2 years I will have to order more chicks, and unless I want to double the feed bill and coop space, eventually, some will no longer be out there.
We are not the only ones to face this dilemma. I was reading a chefs site and came across an interesting anecdote that hit home for me. It was about a little girl whose grandmother planned to cook chicken and dumplings, and the little girl was most interested in NOT having her pet hen for dinner, no matter that she loved her grandma's chicken and dumplings. She considered locking the hen up in several locations to keep her safe, and finally settled on an old corn shed (after all, there's lots of food in there for the hen!). The story ends quite happily, though with the hen emerging after a few weeks with a brood of chicks!
Something tells me that I may be up to my neck in chickens someday, and STILL buying the chicken for my chicken and dumplings!
One of the things we have learned in our recent foray into farm animals is that having a great deal of experience with various kinds of animals doesn't necessarily prepare you to own OTHER kinds of animals.
Nowhere is this lack of information more of a problem than in the area of exotic pets, however. Exotics are more likely to bring "surprises" with them that the owner did not expect. Sometimes these surprises are merely unpleasant, and sometimes they are also expensive. Sometimes they mean the contentment of the animal and/or the owner will be compromised. Sometimes they are an outright danger to the pets or owners, and sometimes they result in a short, unhappy pet ownership experience ending with getting rid of the unfortunate animal. Education before ownership is essential, so that you know exactly what you are getting into and what to expect beforehand. Also, many exotics have laws governing their ownership that you should familiarize yourself with before getting a pet.
"Exotic pets" is a term that means different things to different people. Some would classify animals that are fairly commonly owned as pets, such as parrots, snakes, turtles, ferrets, and iguanas as exotics. Other people are referring to rarer (in the US) pets such as sugar-gliders, hedgehogs, prairie dogs, and coatimundis.
While a single article certainly can't address all the necessary aspects of exotic pet care (indeed, even a full book would not be enough), we would like to take this opportunity to stress the importance of learning everything you can before purchasing or otherwise acquiring a pet of a type you do not have a good deal of experience with.
Libraries are excellent sources of material. However, online sources are more readily available. Be careful though, as we have found much conflicting information online, and some information that we know is not accurate. The best thing is to find a number of sources, try to find reputable ones, and compare the information they offer.
Definitely search for your chosen animal, and perhaps for "exotic pet" as well. Sometimes information for a particular pet can be found on a site of a more common related animal (for example, we found much useful information regarding degus on a site devoted to gerbils.).
A few potentially helpful sites are also listed below (this list may be added to in the future, and we will also publish new posts when we find a particularly good website devoted to a particular type of exotic pet). If you would like to suggest a website you believe is especially helpful, please reply via the "comments" and we will check the websites and publish them as we get a chance.
Exotic-pets.eu
Exotic pets A to Z
Dr. Jungle's Animal World - this one actually has a good bit of information, but it wasn't easy for us to find. Keep clicking and following links and you can discover a wealth of information on many animal types
Hopefully, more to come!
Adoption is a great way to add a pet to your family. Through adoption, you will most likely save the life of a pet that otherwise might have to be destroyed. Most people think first of the local shelter, and dogs and/or cats when considering adoption, but there are a number of other options.
Your local shelter can of course be a good starting point. However, you may want to ask (if you are interested) if they have other animals available for adoption. Many times owners surrender pets such as extra hamsters, rabbits, roosters, etc. Sometimes animals are rescued from "farms" where they are not properly cared for, resulting in adoptable goats, horses, turkeys, geese, ducks, cows, sheep, pigs, and others. Sometimes lost exotics end up in shelters, such as parrots, iguanas, and snakes. Whatever your pet of choice, it's worth a call to the local shelter to find out if such pets are ever offered for adoption.
A number of good online resources for pet adoption are also available. Check out some of the following:
Petfinder.com lets you search for pets, look up helpful information, volunteer, find adoption and rescue groups, or post an ad for a pet you are offering for adoption.
1-800-Save-a-Pet has searchable listings for dogs and cats, and also will direct you to shelters and rescue facilities near you. Helpful information is also available.
Pets911.com also has searchable listings by pets, or by locations, and helpful information.
LostDogRescue also offers many pets for adoption, but unfortunately it is not searchable. They are listed instead by the pet's name, alphabetically. Local events are sponsored through LostDog and may be visited.
Check
PetSmart.com for a location near you. These stores often offer "adoption days" once per week where adoptable animals are available for you to get to know, and adopt if you like.
Also worth a look:
NextDayPets has an adoption section, but a great many of the entries are really classified pets for sale. However, there are some listings for adoptable animals from shelters, and you can search the listings.
Finally, it's worth an online search for "pet adoption" (Or "dog adoption" or whatever pet you prefer) along with your local city, state, or county name.
Well, those chickens are getting too big to be in the house. Especially since chickens create an ENORMOUS amount of dust. I never knew this. I have kept cockatoos and
cockatiels before, both of which produce a chalky dust that coats their feathers, but NEVER have I experienced dust of this level before. Then again, perhaps it doesn't help that there are 26 chickens in the brooder box.
Speaking of which, the box of course is becoming too crowded. The chicks spend all day outside (as chicks should do as soon as they are old enough, because the sunshine and even slight heat stress is beneficial to them, as is access to grass, bugs, etc.) but even so just sleeping in the brooder it is becoming too small. Maybe it's just my conscience, as we have not experienced any aggression among the flock, but I prefer to keep it that way.
So, we have been trying to build a chicken coop. I say trying because we have gone through three different designs so far, and had to take them apart and start over for various reasons. Part of the reason is financial, as we live on a limited budget. Part is practical, as I am most interested in providing a spacious, easily serviced coop in which the chickens will be happy as well as protected from predators.
We finally decided on an A-frame, and that will be the design as it is FINALLY almost completed. I had hoped the chickens would spend tonight in there, but,
barrring any
unforseen emergencies, they should be in there tomorrow night.
I took pictures of the progress along the way, hoping to be able to write a post about how to build a chicken coop, since I looked for plans like mine and was unable to find any. However, it's turning into something more like how NOT to build a chicken coop, as I keep finding problems along the way that must be tackled.
One thing I can say is that, if you are not experienced in building, don't try an A-frame without benefit of plans. Even if you have a completed picture of someone
else's project. You might be able to do it if you have many pictures of the process, but even so there are lots of little niches that need working out in an A-frame. I almost wish I had stuck with the low rectangular coop I had first begun, but that one didn't offer enough height for happy roosting nor ease of servicing.
Since it will probably be a while before I get the pictures developed (and even then I'm not sure I want to try to explain the process) I will instead post some great resources and information on chicken coop building that should give you some ideas whether you want something super-cheap and adequate, or you want to build a lovely chalet for your feathered friends.
There is a GREAT article here that covers all kinds of range houses, and lists pros and cons of each as well as considerations while building. Chicken tractors or arks are small housing designed to be moved daily (or every other day) allowing fresh pasture for the chickens and reducing their impact upon the lawn.
Backyardchickens.com has a beautiful coop gallery. The
message board there is also invaluable for advice and help on coops and all other aspects of chicken keeping. And for inexpensive, I very nearly went with the hoop house shown here.
So ... I hope the coop is finished tomorrow. And I plan to invest in an electric stapler to finish the run. If I ever get brave enough to try to give some pointers, I'll post the phots with instructions, best as I can offer them.
