Comments on: Backyard Chickens 101: Chicken Resources

By: Sheila

Sheila — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 01:08:38 +0000

Willi, I have a question for you about chickens. We are new to it this year and are just about to change from baby chick food to big girl food. We want to use an organic feed for them and wondered if you have one you like. We live in Bellevue, shop at the Issaquah Grange and sometimes DeYoungs but can really go anyway in the area that might have something you have found.
thanks for your time.

By: Adam Jones

Adam Jones — Tue, 03 May 2011 05:20:27 +0000

I would love to keep chickens but just don’t have the space maybe one day:)

By: Willi

Willi — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:36:55 +0000

Christy–We keep our chicken feed inside our house and their food inside their coop. We give them small amounts of cracked corn and treats like leftover rice in their run, which they always gobble up immediately. At night we close the coop, so the rats don’t have access to the food. We’ve never had a rodent problem and I know for a fact there are quite a few rats in our immediate area because both of our neighbors have big blackberry brambles in their yards. Hope this helps!

By: Christy

Christy — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 03:36:35 +0000

My neighbor started keeping chickens this past spring. After this last snow, I noticed tons of rat prints in our yard. Previous year’s snows only showed a couple of tracks. This was a marked difference.

I would like to keep chickens, too, but would like to have any advice on keeping chicken feed away from rats. Especially the feed that is fed to the chickens each day. Do chickens eat everything you give them?

By: Gaea

Gaea — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:58:06 +0000

Thanks, Willi!

By: Willi

Willi — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:49:32 +0000

Gaea–We have not had a problem with rats getting into our feed. We do have rats in our garage, but we keep the feed in galvanized buckets with lids. You can lock the lids onto the buck by putting the handle up. We keep our chicken feed inside the coop. I have heard of people having rat problems, so I don’t know if we are just lucky or if our system works

By: Gaea

Gaea — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:48:29 +0000

Hi Willi,
I have been greatly enjoying the chicken mini-series, which has only increased my desire to have a few feathered friends of our own. A friend alerted me to the potential for rats and other nasties to be attracted to the chicken feed and said that it is extremely difficult to vermin-proof the coop. This left me a little worried. Have you had any problems with rats getting into the feed?
–Gaea in Georgetown

By: gardenmentor

gardenmentor — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:18:32 +0000

I caught a very brief snippet of a piece on NPR the other day…what I caught said that grow-your-own chickens are up so much this year that chick suppliers are having a tough time keeping up with demand. Anyone know more about this? I suppose I could try to dig it up on NPR, but seemed to tie in here well too…??

By: Gustoso

Gustoso — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:28:42 +0000

Great shot