Welcome to our farm page! We love fresh eggs and love animals, so we decided to raise chickens for eggs! What started as 10 chickens in 2017 will be roughly 100 chickens in 2024! We pamper our chickens to keep them happy and healthy. If you are in the Camano Island area and you are welcome to come see the chickens and buy eggs if we have them!
The chickens appeared to have moved on from the “Dexter experience”. Dexter has been lurking, but seems to be harassing other critters and not the chickens now. I have found a large rat that Dexter decided to kill on the driveway not far from the chickens – I am ok with that! The chickens actually manage the mice population as they will kill and eat any mice they catch during the day. I recently had to rescue a small bird from the chicks – they turned into “chiranahs” and caught a very small bird that probably recently fledged and squeezed through the fence! The chicks are now more aware of their surroundings and tend to run into their coop when they sense danger.
I have added some perches and am trying to add enrichment for the chicks so they aren’t too bored.
Overall, egg production seems generally ok with the grown ups!
The last 2 weeks have been very eventful. The chicks were growing so fast and became crowded in their stock tank, so I had to rush completion of their new coop (coop 7) and fencing. I rushed to get them into their new coop one night last week, closing them in the coop. In the morning, I let them out while I finished the fence protection on top. I watched them all day and they didn’t seem to be trying to get out, but that evening, some pushed under the fence where I had not put the “armored” fence I secure at the bottom. Apparently, this attracted a great horned owl that lives around us, and it caught one of the young ones – devastating. I scared it away before it could carry it away, but it did kill the chick. I then finished all the fence armor and hoped I had seen the last of the owl I now call Dexter. I had delayed cleaning the coops while rushing to finish coop 7, and I left the windows to the big coop open (with a screen) to ventilate while I cleaned. Normally I close the windows, but I left them open the next evening, and discovered that Dexter struck again – pushing the screen into the coop and killing 2 adult chickens. I then armored the windows from the inside and now am working to try and convince Dexter that he (or she) has not opened a new Chick-fil-A franchise. The chicks and chickens seem to be doing ok, although when I hear a ruckus outside (by either the chickens or crows, who have been trying to harass away Dexter).
Early this morning Dexter was back. I am trying to use a garden hose to discourage Dexter from any more take away meals.
Facebook shared a 4 year old memory with me today of the big coop when it was first set in place (before a grand fir crushed in in the fall). I guess I kind of expanded from there 🙂
