As we've been going through our own process of making sure that we can move forward with our home sale, we've been slowly coming to the realization that this is really happening... we are moving.

It's a little hard on one hand, I mean we've really grown as a family and as individuals in this home, but in other ways we've grown beyond it. I know now that I don't have to have the "farm of my dreams" to be happy. I know what is possible on a small acreage. We've learned that a "perfect" looking neighborhood often means you have neighbors that are too concerned with their own definition of what "perfect" means. Unfortunately, one families definition of that may not be the same as anothers.

Well, we've completed our home inspection and our appraisal, both of which seem to have gone well and brought up no real issues, so it seems as though in just a few short weeks we are to be transient for the first time in 13 years. We're looking into apartments and storage options, locations and new homes, so many things to do to get ready. But it's not just us, there are other lives impacted by this move...

Yep... the chickens. Not a lot of apartments that take chickens (More like none!) so we need to find them a home. Oh sure, I could put them in the freezer and enjoy them this spring, but it seems like such a waste for a flock of mature, well producing layer hens to just jump to that conclusion. Well, with the help of Facebook and with the help of some great Friends, we've found a new home for the ladies! Yay!!

A family that we met while doing some volunteer work for our Master Gardener program last year and have been able to keep in touch with online saw our call for a new home and have been looking to dip their toes in the the hen keeping business so this is a match made in hennery heaven!

"So, yeah, I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious..." We're packing, we're looking and we're making plans for our charges. Here we go, let's do this!
P~

baby Chickens!!

How I managed to go since the 31st of March without mention number one of the fact that we've had "house guests" I'll never know? And of course, by house guests I mean we've got 8 new chicks in a Chicken Condo in the living room!

The current chickens that we have are just over two now and their egg production is slowing and becoming less regular. They've been keeping up their end of the bargain for sure, but rotating hens and how to deal with "end of life" issues is one of those pragmatic things that I think any keeper of livestock needs to take into consideration. It's also a place where there is a lot of difference of opinion to be found. I believe that as a steward of my hens I owe it to them to make sure that they are well taken care of. I don't spoil them mind you, but I make sure they have fresh water every day, constant access to food and grit and that I keep their coop clean and sanitary. That's my end of the bargain. I decided to add chickens to our nano-farm to do a couple of things. The first one, of course, was to provide eggs to our family. They've done that very well. The other was to help me close the loop so to speak. Chickens are great at turning scraps, trimmings and leftovers into two things, I already mentioned the eggs, but their excellent fertilizer factories too! By giving my hens a constant diet of trimmings, greens and grass they provide me with wonderful organic soil amendments that help me to further provide food for them and my family. A closed loop. At some point, the ratio of their inputs to outputs will get skewed to the point that they will need to be replaced. I anticipate that will be towards the end of this summer. Hence the second stringers in the living room.

Of course there are those that keep hens as "pets with benefits". They will keep them for companionship and eggs and let them run their natural lives before they replace them. This is of course totally valid ideology as well, it's just not the one I subscribe to.

So then, with that out out of the way, how about some cute and cuddly pics of our little ladies???Here's the lot of them. I thought it was the cutest thing ever! All eight were laying with their heads on another ones butt. Strangely almost completely in matching pairs by breed.
If you can tell breeds you'll notice that I have two each of white and brown leghorns, buff orpingtons and Rhode Island reds. This year we decided to include a couple of brown egg layers to see how that goes over. I had really really wanted to get some barred rocks but there were none to be had.This is a brown leghorn chick. They really are the coolest looking chicks I think. Particularly when they're compared to their very plain Jane white leghorn cousins. While I'm on the subject of leghorns; they really are the most flighty and easily spooked of the breeds that I've had before.And on the other side of the coin is the mellowest and friendliest breed so far... the Buff Orpington. I really look forward to this hen being a part of our flock.

But then... there's the Ugly duckling phase. Here's the ladies when they're having a "bad hair day" so to speak!It's amazing the difference in just under two weeks isn't it?
And here they are taking a little nap. I love how they just flop out, heads sideways, looking like they just came back from a long night out with the girls or something. I think they're about ready for a training roost.

So there they are. Cute, cuddly and fun but future hard working garden buddies!
Anyone out there starting their own flocks this year? Maybe you're working to change the laws where you live so you can have them. If so Check out Backyard Farming Blog for a really good article on how to get started with doing just that. Of course, I'm not biased because I was one of the main subjects of the article. :)

Till next time... best to you all!

Thank you all.

Thank you all so much. I don't know what to say. (And that's rare, believe me...) I know I'm not really an idiot but, you know, these things can really drive a guy nuts.

Of course it's been heavy on my mind the last couple of days and there's some things I need to add I guess. I think I may have misframed my concern with the heat lamp coming on. I try hard to not allow my hens to get dependant on the heat or the additional lighting. I totally agree that it can make them dependant on it, and the added stress from forced laying is not healthy for them at all. The birds that died were already fatigued as it was I believe. The first one was a complete shock, but the second has been a weaker bird for some time. Both had suffered some frost bite on their combs this winter and I think they were just weakened in general. That's one of the reasons I was adamant about making sure they got some heat in the coldest hours of the morning.

Rachel, I've been thinking the same thing and have been giving them apple cider vinegar in their water every few days because of it. I will keep doing it for some time.

I think Anonymous #1 put it best in his/her comments. "If you have stock, you have problems." It's true to a point isn't it? As embarrassing as it can be to admit that I didn't know what to do, or that what I did do may have been the wrong thing, I do it because I know there's a chance someone else out there will have or does have the same problem. If I can't give the solution, I know the input from you all will most likely cover it.

Thanks for being a part of the process with me. And thanks for the support.
P~

Another loss (I'm an idiot..)

Yeah, it's what it sounds like. We lost another bird yesterday. She was another one of our brown leghorns.

It's been really frustrating me too since I just lost a bird not even a month ago. I wasn't doing anything differently that I knew of, and yet I was losing birds. As I said previously, I was going to keep a close eye on the girls to make sure that I didn't see any signs of stress or disease or anything and I did, keep an eye out that is. No signs of anything though. That is, until Monday morning. I get up and get myself ready for work in the morning and then head out to the coop before I take off for the day. I give them fresh water, check their food and toss them a half jar of scratch for the day. While I do this, I check on them for signs of problems. I repeat the checking in the afternoon after dinner when I head out to the coop to fetch the eggs.

Monday morning when I went out I noticed that one of the hens was very lethargic. She was also all puffed up and not wanting to go very enthusiastically after the scratch that I threw her. I made sure she got some water and that the food was accessible to her. That afternoon I did a little research in to possible chicken maladies and learned more about mites and the damage that they can cause to hens.

I have to add at this point that many of the chickens have been going through a sort of molting phase. Or at least that's what it looks like. Many of them have been losing feathers both on their bellies below their vents, or along their backs just in the back by the tail feathers.

I got to thinking that maybe there were mites and that that was the cause of the feather loss. I went home and cleaned the coop out, dusted the hens with Diatomaceous earth as well as the beds and the floor. They say cleanliness is the biggest culprit when dealing with mites, however, While dusting the birds I inspected them for mites and found no sign of them. When I had returned home that night, the hen in question was doing infinitely better. I hoped I had it licked. I was wrong.

The next morning, yesterday, I found the same hen acting the same way. Confused, I decided to turn the light on longer to help warm her up. That's when I found that the automatic timer that I was using had crapped out on me and I hadn't noticed. They hadn't been getting the warm lights in the morning! I separated her from the flock, placed her in a warmer area in a crate with some food, water, bedding, and gave her a dedicated light to warm up with. Sadly, it was too little too late. She had passed by the time I got home from work.

So, as I said in the title...I'm an idiot. I've lost two birds now to what I think was a simple automatic timer. My girls didn't freeze, but the cold is, I think, what got to them.

In the mean time, I have remedied the timer problem. I'll not let that be the cause for further losses. The only possible up side to the whole thing is that we had 9 birds and were only allowed 6. I've been thinking about giving them away to a family that wanted to start raising chickens as it is, this just kills that.

If your new to raising poultry, please...learn from this. Check all your equipment each morning. Be familiar with your birds and keep an eye out for odd behavior. It may just be the odd quirky bit of behavior that keys you into what the problem is/could be.

All the best to you all.

P~

A loss today.

We had a loss on the farm today. Strangely, I can't really say what the problem was.

It was one of our brown leghorns. You may find it odd that even in a home with three kids, our chickens have no names. They're all called chicken and that's pretty much it. Maybe brown chicken or white chicken but that's about as creative as we get.

But that doesn't mean that they're any less cared for. I try to do everything I can for the most part to make sure the girls are healthy so this surprises me. I didn't notice any lethargy before hand and she wasn't all pecked at indicating that she was beaten up by the others. I found her this morning laying in the nesting box. She was still breathing but very shallowly. I picked her up intending to take her into the garage to find a warmer place to put her hoping to give her a little extra attention and bring her around. She didn't even make it to the garage and passed in my arms.

It's a sad loss, but we'll live. The boys asked what happened and I told them I wasn't sure but that it is how life works. They accepted that and didn't miss a beat. Any suggestions you all? perhaps a late cold snap? It didn't seem that cold though. Perhaps she just got sick?

On another note, tomorrows Master Gardener class is all on Vegetables!! That should be a good one...at least I hope so!
till tomorrow!
P~

EGGS - The Natural Way

A~ and I raise chickens in our backyard and, although we have had occasion to kill, process and consume a couple of our "extra" birds (Roosters that came for free with our mail order hens.), we don't raise them for that purpose. What we do raise them for, is eggs. So as we began to move into the colder winter months of the year, we had an issue confronting us and needed to make a decision. Natural or artificial?

What I'm talking about is whether or not we wanted to provide our birds with artificial light in order to ensure that they continue to pump out eggs like clock work similar to, yet on a smaller scale than, the way commercial producers do or whether we wanted to let them have a bit of an off season, time to re-coop. (Pun intended.) After we talked about it and gave it some thought, we both agreed to a sort of trial period. What we're doing is not providing any artificial light, for the time being, but we may yet do it before the end of the winter. We're not trying to just be indecisive. What we are doing, is following much the same philosophy that we do with most everything that we do around here. Take it step by step, see what happens and adjust as necessary to keep the birds healthy, and maintain our egg supply.

Here's our thought process. First off, we don't raise the chickens for pets. Yes we love them and they're fun to watch and all, but primarily they are for food production, green waste disposal and manure generation; food doesn't get purchased for them for no return after all. That said, we also try to maintain a fairly natural order of things around here; organic veggies, compost, and natural pest control for instance. Because of that we thought we owed it to them to at least give them the opportunity to "slow down" for a season, while still maintaining a minimum number of egg production. I believe that there is a reason that the birds will naturally slow down with their egg production in the winter time. It is a part of their physiology, and pushing them beyond that is likely to reduce not only their lifespans but I believe their long term productivity as well.

So far, I have to say, so good. We have 9 chickens total, and although we are no where near their regular 7 or 8 eggs a day that we got during the summer months, we are still averaging about 4 a day. Our drop dead number was exactly that, 4. What I mean is, when we decided to let them have their "down time" we set 4 as our minimum daily number of eggs that we were willing to accept before introducing artificial lighting. We've had a couple of 3 a days, but not enough to worry about in my opinion, so for now, their still on staycation.

One of the things that instigated me to make this post was a post on another blog, one of my favorites, the Tiny Farm Blog. There, the Tiny Farm Blogger, posted that he wondered what would happen with his birds if the day light hours dropped below the recommended 14 hours for even a single day? So I looked into it, just how long are our day currently? Turns out, quite a bit less that that. Today for instance was set to only be a 9h-26m-21s day. That 5 hours less! Even better news was that the shortest day of the year for us is set to hit in just 18 days, Dec 21st. So we're nearly half way through the short daylight part of the season!! We may just make it.

What do you do with your chooks if you raise them? The natural way, or artificial? Ever tried it without light? Let me know, I'm curious. I'll keep you posted on my experiment as well. Oh yeah, and in case your in UT and want to see the daylight hours and such, check here. Not to ignore my non-Utahan readers, you can find your city by searching here.
Till next time.
P~

Garden layout, coop location and such.

I've gotten a lot of interest lately in my chicken coop and more precisely about the location of it and what I do with the manure. Being the visual sort that I am, I've been trying to take advantage of Bloggers video feature more lately. I was pretty happy with the way that the chicken coop design video came out, so I thought I'd expound on that and just give ya'll a personal tour of the back yard gardens. (edit: Blogger video feature was not working tonight so the video I planned on posting will have to be posted at a later date. Sorry for confusion.) I do need to preface this, however, with an apology for the mess that is our back yard. Spring and Fall are our busy seasons for yard projects. Expanding beds, building new structures, moving things around to get ready for next year. The garden may be sleeping in, but I haven't been. Most stuff has been sorted out, but it's still kind of a mess. Oh well, it's my mess!

(Pictures substituted for blogger video. I'll repost when I can get the darn thing to work)

So, Whatcha think? It's nothing grand, but we've tried to find a balance between maximizing space for the gardens, with still being able to give my kids a safe place to play. As they play less and less in the yard, we'll no doubt expand more and more into the yard. For now, it's all about maximizing the growth potential per square inch.

To answer the questions directly about the chicken manure. Yes, Renee, I do put the chicken poo in the compost bins. I also have put in the garden directly, but don't recommend it unless it is in the fall, or in the early spring for a summer garden bed. Chicken manure is a very "hot" manure when it's fresh and can easily burn your plants, particularly young ones. I did add a large amount of the chicken manure to the compost bins though when I first set them up. I do sometimes add it directly to the garden beds, but I sprinkle a little agricultural lime in with it. This neutralizes the PH of the manure, and "sweetens" the soil. My basic philosophy with the manure is this; All kitchen scraps go to the birds, (moderate strong veggies like onions, garlic and peppers.) all bird droppings are composted, all compost goes to the gardens, garden waste go to birds...etc, etc. I have also used the "aged, and not actually composted manure directly on some of my lawn areas that were having a hard time. It worked very well!

To answer another question, left by Amber, regarding the use of old newsprint in lasagna beds. It is the rare exception that does not use a soy based ink in the newspaper industry anymore. Nearly all newsprint can be successfully composted or used to smother. I personally had access to a lot of heavy cardboard so I used that instead. You'll have to check in next spring to find out how the lasagna beds develop over the winter.

That's all for now folks. Sorry for the video not working. I'll try tomorrow.
Till then...
P~

problem solved???

Maybe so. I'm not claiming the battle won or anything, but it just may be. Since receiving the shower of knowledge that I did the other day when I can to you for help, this is what we've been finding for the last few days. Nice, clean, uncracked eggs lain nicely in the new nesting boxes.
I still have things that need to be done, but the new boxes seem to have found favor with the chooks.

With any luck, this will have solved the problem. So, I just wanted to update you all and thank you again.

P~

P.S. Just updated the Big Weigh in on the right side of the page...almost to our goal of 500 lbs for this year. Depending on the fall veggie harvest we may just make it...we'll see!

Coop Mod

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the great feedback! I knew I could count on you all.

I got out tonight and was able to at least make a quick modification to the nesting box part of the coop. I really am inclined to think that that is at the root of the problem. It's one of those things that I have thought about many times. Like I said, I've never been very happy with it from the beginning but, since the chooks seemed to be doing well, and since we were getting eggs so regularly and consistently it just got pushed to the back burner. That, for the record, is the wrong thing to do!

This is the short term modification that I made to the boxes tonight. I basically just slapped a panel on the front of the box and then split the boxes in two with another piece and filled each side with some straw. That reminds me, anyone ever put sawdust into their nesting boxes? I have a very good source for course saw dust for free, and was wondering about useing it in the boxes? Anyway, tomorrow I'll get out and give a good powdering of D.E., something I've been planning on doing anyway once the weather was dry for a couple of days. I also have a couple of other things I need to do to prep them for the winter, so hopefully I can get them all done before more winter shows up.

I think this is a good time to mention, probably mostly for the benefit of newer folks to this way of living, that procrastination is the bane of not just the rural farmers life, but the urban homestead as well. When you endeavor to regain your connection to the land and to the food you eat, you really have decided to also be pretty connected to it's needs. You now have plants and animals that require your attention to thrive an do well, thus feeding you later. This is why we don't wait until later. At least that is why we TRY not to wait until later; we are still human after all and for the most part still learning.

So I've been reminded of the cons of my inaction when I know there is a problem. Now, I just hope I have caught the problem soon enough to fix it; I'll keep you all posted of course. Thanks again for all the great advice.
More tomorrow.
P~

Chicken problems, any ideas?

I've got a bad girl or two. I don't know which one it is, or if it's all of them for that matter, but somehow my chickens discovered that they like eggs. Yep, that's right, they found out that those things that they keep making and I keep taking are actually pretty tasty.

So I'm going to my master resource...you all. What's a farmer to do? Any ideas on how to curtail this problem? Or for that matter any ideas on causes?

I've read, and believe, that it's not normal behavior for chickens to eat their eggs. Some of the possible causes I've found are too little calcium in their diets, poor living conditions, infrequent checking for eggs and inadequate nesting space. These all make sense to some degree. If a chicken is calcium deficient then yeah, they may realize that they can get it from the shells, if they are in poor living conditions then they may not develop their natural nesting instincts and the longer the eggs lay around, the more likely one is to get broken and the birds will have a chance to develop a "taste" for them.

Here's the thing. I feel like we've been pretty responsible in providing adequate housing for the birds, they get fed a 20% layer feed every day that is mixed with oyster shells for calcium (and grit) and we check the coop for eggs at least twice a day. So what's left... the nesting area. This is really the only area of the coop that I've not been completely happy with. I didn't build it as separate individual boxes, more like a separate open area that fits a couple of birds where they tend to lay their eggs, or did anyway. Lately I've been finding them all over the coop area. On the grate in the middle of the coop, on the ground and some in the nesting area. I also can't get them to keep any straw in the beds. Every time I put some in, they scratch at it, and spread it all over the place. So, that's where I guess I'll work to try to solve the problem in the short term.

I'm really interested in hearing from any of you that either have or are raising chickens with any experiences that you've had with this. A lot of the places that I researched said that this is a habit that can't be broken and that the birds have to be culled from the flock. I don't mind culling a bird that needs to be, but I don't want to blame them for something that I'm not doing correctly.

Thanks in advance.

P~

Oh, life on the farm

"...It's kinda laid back

Aint nothing a country boy, like me can't hack...

Early to rise, early in the sack, Thank God I'm a country boy..."

C'mon, you know you love that song! I couldn't help myself from humming it this afternoon while I was watching the chooks ranging around the 'stead. It was one of "those" moments ;-)
And check out this little guy. Just posing on our volunteer sunflower. I've been paying a lot of attention to the bees this year, and have noticed something odd. They sleep in the garden. Any of you have any knowledge of this? I've never heard of such a thing. Are these Mason bees? I've heard a lot about them, but I can't identify them for sure. These little pollinators are approximately 1/4 inch long, and like I said, they sleep literally in the flowers. This blossom became a sort of apiarian dormitory. I took this photo just about the time that the sun was getting ready to set and the bees had started to settle down. You can see how they have all of their heads facing down into the crook of the flower and are very calm. Is that the oddest thing or what? I guess their is no greater testimony to a healthy garden though, than one where the insects not only visit, but decide to bunk for the night. They're welcome anytime!

P~

simple...not easy

This weekend we did a lot of work around the house. Cleaning out the garage, pulling weeds, double digging beds, harvesting and canning spaghetti sauce, pickles and beets and making more progress toward our garden expansion goals for next year. It wears you out some days you know.

As I was working the garden beds this evening I was thinking to myself that this decision that A~ and I made last year to simplify our life together; to take more ownership of our food supply and to live a little lighter is a complex one. To say it plainly, it's called "simple living"...not "easy living". Oh we could just go about our way like everyone , maybe just have a little kitchen garden for some fresh tomatoes and peppers, you know, a hobby garden. But we chose to go big. Last year we headed off down a path that I don't think we really know where it ends and is a hard one to follow. We do, however, believe that it is what will be best for us and our family in the long run. Are we 100% in all of our goals? No. Are we improving every month? Yes.

I see around us, both in the neighborhood, and in the online communities, a surge in interest in this way of living. I want to make sure that, amidst pretty pictures of garden harvests and homemade goods, I give a realistic perspective on this stuff. It's a lot of hard work. There are times when we're tired or have an ache, or really just aren't motivated to get out and do what needs to be done. Plenty too are the times when we, or more specifically I, have to talk myself into completing the project I'm in the middle of because I'm just tired. This isn't our living, that takes the first half of the day. This is extra.

The rewards are plentiful though and are what really makes it all worth it. The surprise of gathering in fresh eggs everyday, taking our "garden walk" together every night after dinner or watching our boys learn responsibility and work ethic through caring for our animals and working in the yard. A~ and I enjoy exploring this journey together and learning what we can do and produce on our own and I think we're constantly surprised at just how independent we really can be. So be realistic if your thinking about taking these challenges on, but be optimistic too. It can be done, it can be enjoyed, but it will take effort and a measure of dedication.

Good luck and Grow On!

The girls...

Well, as promised I thought it was time to post an update to how my girls are doing. I have to say that I am very happy that we decided to mail order our chooks. (Australian term for chickens. I just love it... sounds just like the noise they make... chook chook...) anyway as I was saying. I'm glad we decided to order them a month and a half before our local farm store was going to get them in. The white leghorns that we got in first started laying over a month ago and have been providing us with a consistent 3 eggs a day.
This is big momma, she runs the roost around here, and is really the only one that has a name. She matured before the others, and started the laying off first as well.
And here is one of the brown leghorns that are just hitting the 19 - 20 week mark and are starting to lay now too. These girls came from the farm store and if we had waited until they came in, we wouldn't have gotten any eggs yet but maybe one or two. Timing is everything isn't it?
Here's the browns again. They pretty much just sit around and watch what the whites do. Then when the whites are done, they do the same thing. After the picking on they got when being introduced the "pecking order" is pretty well ingrained in them.
They sure are nice to take pics of though. I have to say that now that we've had the chooks for a bit they are everything I'd hoped. (but friendly) they don't make noise, they give me healthy, tasty eggs, and their fun as heck to watch. The City Counsel here finally accepted the draft of the Title X change that is pending with the chicken law amendments in it. The first "reading" will be on Sept 9th, and hopefully they'll vote on it then too. A little at a time, I'll get them legal eventually.

Have a great Friday all, more to come this weekend. Sooo Many chores.
Take care!
P~

2008 Garden update - Aug 13th

Time for another Garden Update.
In the last week and a half or so, the garden has really started to come up to where I thought it should be a couple of weeks ago. Long spring, and sudden hot summer really prolonged the growth spurt, but it seems to be here now.I thought you guys might like to see what it is that the whole raised bed section of the garden looks like in context, rather than just a pic here and one there. If you click the picture you can see the full sized version that I seamed together.

These are the Hamson tomatoes that I decided to try out this year. They're tasty, but the tops have all been split to as least some degree so they don't really make a great slicing tomato. But for salsa... perfect. They're also a semi-determinant variety so I get quite a few at a time as you can see. This picture was taken just after I pulled about five or six ripe toms from the plants.
Another late comer, but a very welcome one to the garden is the green bells. This one is forming just perfectly, and there are another 4-6 of them staggered just behind it, so as usual it'll be feast or famine.
Here's a late cabbage that I honestly didn't think would head up, because of the heat, but the fence that's just behind it and blocks the morning sun, combined with the shade of the apple tree that's west of it, must put it in just the right micro-climate to benefit it. No complaints here.
And speaking of the apple tree, it's piled full on a lot of the branches. One problem, the organic methods I tried to keep the bugs out either didn't work, or more likely I was not diligent enough with them. Either way, the apples will make fine applesauce and/or pies.
Above is Mount Squash. There are four pumpkin plants in there, and two butternut's. I the middle I placed one of the wire trellis systems that I used for my peas earlier in the year. The vines have taken it over and then some.
Here's one of the pumpkins that have set successful. There are a couple of them buried in there.
I planted marigolds to help attract bees and beneficial insects this year. Here is one of the ones that I started from seed. It grew a lot slower to start with and took forever to set a flower, but that sucker is two and a half feet tall. Are they supposed to be that big?
And on to the pickles which finally set. Now I'll be swimming in them soon enough. This is the first year for us actually growing pickling cukes. I pulled the first few pounds of them today and their very very tasty, can't wait to pickle some.

So, there you go, a bit of eye candy and a little catch up with what's been going on in the Freedom Garden. Tomorrow I'll get up some pictures of the girls, they've been laying consistently, and as a matter of fact, the younger ones that I got as a second batch are just starting to. Fun stuff.
See you tomorrow.
P~

Can't they just get along... Maybe.

Anyone remember these ladies?

No, maybe this will help. Yep, these are the chicks I picked up on April 4th. They've gotten big. I thought since I showed you yesterday how I've relocated the birds to the outside. I would Time Travel about three days prior to moving them and show you how I got the girls to know each other.
It's maybe not the best picture that you could ask for, but you get the picture. I tried to first introduce them to each other via the "toss and hope method." Never heard of it? It's where you just TOSS them into the coop together and HOPE for the best. It didn't work.

I learned quickly where the sayings "Hen pecked" or "Pecking order" came from. The older white hens were not friendly at all! I had to put up some temporary separations between the two flocks at least until they got to know each other. You can see the white leghorns staring through the wire at the brown ones. Oddly, the next morning the browns had flown up and squeezed through the space at the top of the wire and they were all snuggled up in the hen house. I thought great, they made peace. Nope, the next morning I had to separate them again once the feed showed up. This kept up for a couple of days.

Now that they're outside they seem to be getting along much better but the browns are still scared to death of the whites. I think they'll be alright now though. The browns will eventually realize there are 6 of them and 3 of the whites. Basically it's just another day in the life of the Urban homestead and learning to raise livestock. Learn a little, get some things right, get some things wrong. I'll get there.

P~

The outlaws have escaped

Yep, the girls have left the garage. FINALLY. They didn't stink, (Yes mom, you could smell them a bit, but if you've ever been around a dirty hen house, you know they didn't stink.) but they did take up a good portion of the garage, and since we've gotten rid of our SUV and gotten our Ford focus we'd like to keep it nice and have it garaged especially in the heat of summer that's just around the bend. Anyway, I took the opportunity that I had with a good weather weekend with no plans (finally) to get them moved out to their new home.

They seem to like it there too. They are directly over the spot where my winter compost pile had been for the last almost 8 months and have had their heads in the dirt, presumably finding tons of worms, for the last couple of days. We're really happy with the way everything turned out. I've decided that I am going to leave the coop parked here for the next five to six months and practice the deep mulching method that I have been using so far. I hope to next year be able to use this area as a new planting bed, and begin a series of crop rotations with the birds. Does anyone have any experience with rotating chickens throughout their gardens? Anything I should take into consideration? Worse case scenario, I'll just collect the mulch and compost it at the end of the season.

Till tomorrow.

P~

In Vitro Meat and a Food Crisis

In the little bit of news that I catch in between songs on the radio over the last few days, I've heard about something being called In Vitro Meat (Really? Can't anyone come up with something more...appetizing to call it?) that is supposed to help solve the problem of the planet's desire for meat based proteins. Then I heard about something that I knew was coming down the pike, the global food crisis. Allow me a moment to rant will you ?

Is it just me or does anyone else find it crazy that in a time when we are beginning to learn about how having our global economy and by proxy global food supply inextricably linked together may not in fact be an optimal situation. When the monoculture of our food supply in it's current state is not only not sustainable, but is a precariously balanced thing that could, at the least bit of blight or infestation, collapse and send not only us but the global populations into a further culinary tailspin. That at this time there would be people sitting down to have a serious discussion of how to "manufacture" the flesh of animals, in a petri dish for human consumption?! If companies like Monsanto are already being allowed to patent an organism (seeds and plants), then certainly you have to know that whatever company is able to meet the challenge being, at least in part, sponsored by PETA will be the patent holding, protein supplying, Soylentesque company that will be supplying most of our food. That is madness people!
We need to diversify and decentralize. We as consumers, and I mean that literally as in "we who consume food", need to begin to take responsibility for more of our own diet. If we are able to provide ourselves with even two or three meals a week from our own own land then not only will we be reducing our dependence of foreign oil and foreign foods, but we will be freeing up the foods that we were consuming for those in need of anything to eat. As for the In Vitro meat, it just can't be a good thing. We can't replicate an egg, how are we going to replicate a chicken? We need to consume less meat. That's really all I can say about it. Note: I did not say NONE, just LESS. We would not only be doing the environment and the food crisis some good, we would certainly be doing ourselves some good. I know my waistline agrees.

The more people we can get to at least begin to understand this the better. Share your passion for growing with your friends and associates. Help others to build their passion for it and learn from them, and you'll probably come away a better person not to mention gardener to boot.
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Feeling Cocky (when good birds go bad.)

So my last post was asking for help decideing whether or not all of my cockerels are indeed cockerels. By the way, Laura and Kim, thanks for your input. I've watched a little closer since, and I think you're right. They are all cocerels but definitely submissive to Joe. They will do a lot of the same posturing and flapping that he does, and will stand up in a "fight", but eventually back down to him. I thought I'd drop in a little video to show what I've been talking about. As soon as the sun starts to lighten the garage (that's where the outlaws are until the city ordinance passes.) Joe starts piping up.

So? Was I exaggerating? That's a bird that just aching for the pot in my opinion. We'll see how the ordinance passing goes this tuesday. Maybe I'll grant him a reprieve if they'll have to stay in the garage for a little longer, but if the law passes and they can go outside he's definitely a goner. So I guess I'm pulling for him to get the ax. (Of course I'm not really gonna use an ax.... geez.)Thanks again for the input ladies. Gotta run, big earth day events planned for today. More on that later.

Oh and by the way, the action I mentioned I was going to take will be a little longer in coming, I wanted to think it through a little more.

Have a great weekend all.

P~

A thousand words.

It's been said that a picture's worth a thousand words, so I'll keep mine to a minimum. Let's just say... it's done, finally, it's done.

Here it is, before and after putting the birds into it. They were a little unsure about what to do with all of the space, but a couple of them spread their wings and fluffed their feathers like they haven't been able to in the old box.

Above: The kids exploring their new digs. They haven't really figured out what to do with the ramp up into the hen house yet, but I gave them a little clue later.

This is the back of the hen-house where the nesting boxes are located. I made two side by side. I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to need to separate the two nests, but as for right now I have them open to each other.

This is the back of the hen-house, just below the nesting box. It's the area that was designed to be able to be pulled out for cleaning as well as for increased ventilation. I'm leaving it in for a couple of days, at least until the birds get used to walking on the wire.

Speaking of the wire floor. In the picture above you can see that half of the floor is covered with 1/2 inch hardware wire cloth. Actually it's all covered, but I have a piece of wood in there to get them used to it slowly. There's also two roosting bars. One of them is about 4 inches in front of the nests to try to encourage the hens to not roost on the nests, but on the bars instead. This should limit the amount of manure in the nests, and on the eggs in the future.

I told you I gave them a little clue later on. I helped a couple of them onto the ramp, and a couple came down on their own.


A couple of them just decided to hang out on the roosting bars. Here you can see the configuration of the two roosting bars.

Hope you all like! We are very happy with it. I will be adding the ability to put some old bike tires onto the heavy side of the coop so that I can pick up and move them if I want to. This should after all be more or less a very large chicken tractor. A~ is very pleased as well, and has said that she will let it go in the yard. :) Tonight was the vote at the planning commission too, perfect timing, so we'll see if it was able to go on to the next level or not. (fingers crossed.) I'll let you all know tomorrow.
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Goings on.

You might have noticed the postings being a little thin around here. That's not because I haven't been doing anything, but quite the contrary. As I said earlier in the week the weekend was a busy one, and it hasn't slowed. I've been able to get a little work done each night on the chicken coop. It'll be a Cadillac of a coop when I'm done I think, a "Coop de ville" so to speak. So far I have finished the basic framing and completed the Nesting box addition to the end of the enclosure.
You can see that I made the coop to have the main hen house well off the ground. I plan to use the same basic method that I outlined in "Small-Scale Coop Care" to build a deep mulch in the bottom of the coop by slowly adding carbonaceous material (straw or sawdust) on top of each layer of manure and will slowly build up the depth of the base of the coop with a rich compost base. Having the hen house well off the ground will allow me to "uppen" the level of the floor and still give the birds enough room to mill about comfortably.
Here's what the nesting box looks like so far. I'm only making it a two birder, because I don't want to encourage bedding in them, only nesting for egg laying. The missing top to the box when finished will be able to be opened from outside to retrieve the eggs. I will be putting a roosting pole across the front of the box, and another in the center of the house and higher up. You may be able to see the metal brackets on the horizontal posts. These are there to allow me to use a removable tray for manure collection. The object of this is to work with the 1/2 inch wire mesh floor that I will be using (at least on half of the floor.) to allow me to close off the bottom in the winter to keep the warmth in while still having ease of cleaning. In the summer here it can get over 100 F regularly so this will allow me to remove the closed floor entirely in order to allow ventilation and breezes and will let the droppings fall to the deep mulch below.
Here is another view with the nesting box on the back wall where you can see fairly well the layout of the whole coop. The little square in the near wall will be the entrance, and the wall just to the left of it will be a large door that I'll be able to open for maintenance/cleaning. I should be able to get this done by the end of the weekend,if not sooner, then it'll be decorating time. I mean, if it's gonna be in A~'s yard it's gotta be relatively pretty right?

Hope you're all having a great week. Till tomorrow.
P~