Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens (13 page)

The technique developed by the Brelands and the Baileys involves the use of a clicker to let the chicken know the precise moment it has done what you want. Using a clicker lets you avoid the inevitable delay between the chicken’s accomplishing the desired behavior and your letting it know it has earned a reward. Not all clicker training uses positive reinforcement.

Books and videotapes by the Brelands and the Baileys describe and depict their operant conditioning technique in detail. Although nothing is available solely and specifically on training chickens, the same general principles apply as are used for other animals. Do a keyword search for “training chickens” on the Internet, and you will find lots of information and some amusing video clips.

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR THE DEFINITIVE,
perfect, all-purpose chicken shelter,
dream on
. The design that best fits your needs must take into consideration your geographic location and weather patterns, your available land, how many chickens you plan to keep, the breed or breeds you choose, and the purpose for which you intend to keep them — not to mention how much you want to spend. If you live in a populated area, you’ll avoid neighborhood hassles if your structure blends in with the surroundings. Zoning or other building restrictions may further narrow down your facility options.

A chicken shelter should fit the neighborhood and blend into its surroundings.

When deciding which of the many management methods might work best for you, the first step is to analyze your available ground to determine how much space you can devote to your chickens and how that space would best be used. A good way to gather ideas is to find successful chicken keepers in your area — or correspond with people who live in a similar climate — and pick their brains as to what works for them and what doesn’t work at all. Don’t be readily swayed by someone who just finished designing the “perfect chicken shelter.” Unless the thing has been used for at least a year, and preferably longer, the drawbacks haven’t had time to surface.

The term “free range” has been applied to both yarding and pasturing to imply the birds have complete freedom to roam an outdoor area that provides some degree of forage, although in both cases the birds are confined at least by a fence
and therefore are not entirely free. True free-range chickens are the ones you see running along the lane when you drive through the countryside.

Nonconfinement was a common management practice until the 1950s, when increasing urbanization began limiting available space for chickens to roam and new neighbors didn’t appreciate having their freshly planted petunias and tomatoes scratched up. At the same time industrialization dictated that chickens be maintained under controlled conditions to maximize egg and meat production and minimize costs.

Those birds you see today along country lanes, if they belong to anyone, may have access to a shelter, yet may choose to roost in trees like their ancestors and therefore have little or no protection from bad weather and predators. Most likely these chickens descended from Old English bantams or a similar hardy, self-reliant breed that reproduces easily enough to make up for the inevitable losses. As picturesque as chickens running free, scratching wherever they please, and roosting in trees might be, no responsible owner would deliberately turn chickens loose to annoy the neighbors and face certain early death from predators of one form or another.

A fenced yard gives chickens a safe place to get the sunshine, fresh air, and exercise they need to remain healthy. As many advantages as fenced confinement offers, it has one big disadvantage — chickens can quickly destroy the ground cover by pecking at it, scratching it up, pulling it up, and covering it with droppings. The smaller the yard, the quicker it will turn to either hardpan or mud, depending on your climate. Therefore your first consideration when designing your perfect chicken shelter is its impact on your land. By planning your land use carefully, you can easily avoid creating a situation that soon becomes unsightly and unsanitary.

Where space for a yard is truly limited, and you have only a few pet chickens, one way to avoid the problem is to level the small yard area and cover it with several inches of clean sand. Go over the sand every day with a grass rake to smooth out dusting holes and remove droppings and other debris. Some folks choose to use gravel instead of sand, but droppings get packed in the spaces between bits of gravel, and eventually the mess has to be removed and replaced with a load of fresh gravel.

The larger your yard, the better chance you’ll have of maintaining some vegetation in it. Since chickens are most active near their shelter, denuding will start around the entrance and work progressively outward. In a nice roomy yard, the ground cover may continue to grow in areas farthest from the doorway. Between the barren area and the grassy area may grow a band of weeds so tough or unpalatable
the chickens won’t eat them and can’t trample them. To keep the vegetated areas tidy and safe, you’ll need to mow occasionally. How often depends on the climate, time of year, and number of chickens.