July 31, 2012 - Dog and Chickens: Can they be friends?

Our next challenge will be to get our little dog Annie used to having chickens in her yard.  She loves kitties, but if they run from her she will chase them.  The Chicken Whisperer book told us to get some chicken feathers and let her sniff them.  She will try to eat them, so we'll have to keep a close eye on her.  She is a K-9 Rescue Dog and will eat almost anything. " She ain't picky".

We will keep the chickens in their chicken run when she is in the yard, and only let them out when she is locked inside.  I picture Cal and I sweating and panting after chasing down 3 hens who just aren't ready to go back in the enclosure.  In fact this morning after breakfast we had the chance to give it a try.

The Perko's ( cheap senior menu) is right on the highway.  Our town is known for it's highway chickens.
That is they live next to the highway in the bushes, and have for decades.  Some goofy lady tried to start a Save The Chickens campaign a few months ago.  Hell lady those chickens have been there for years,  Have you ever seen a dead chicken along the highway?  Me either.  Anyway I digress. 

We saw a young chicken separated from the flock on our side of the fence,  We attempted to assist the chicken in rejoining the flock.  The chase was on and the chicken out ran us without breaking a sweat.  Do chicken's sweat? 

Using my skills as a behaviorist, I will gradually introduce Annie and the chickens to each other.  Uh Huh.  Will see how that goes.  I'm not too worried as dogs and chickens have co-existed since the dawn of time, and somehow both have survived. 

Annie is a gentle little soul who wants to love anything that will let her.  She does discriminate though, and some dogs she  meets on our daily walks to the park, just rub her the wrong way.  It's kind of embarrassing when this little blond 20 lb. poodle mix, lunges at the huge white pit bull, not to mention it scares the crap out of me.  I trust her judgement and assume the dogs she eschews all have a hidden flaw.

So bring on the chickens, the behavioral training, and the chicken races! 

July 30-What Does a Turquoise egg laying chicken look like?

This is an Araucana Chicken.  Isn't she cute?  She is sweet and curious and of course she lays eggs in my favorite color.  Actually I really don't care about the color of the eggs.  I just want happy, healthy chickens, 3 of them.

My friend Vickie wonders if the desire to have chickens isn't a way to connect with a simpler time in my life.  That may be true. 

My Italian immigrant Grandma, Michelina Maria Verdolivo Berry was a powerful loving influence in my life.  She was crazy about her little blond twin granddaughters.  She loved America, and all things American.  Her nickname was Mickey, and she was 4 feet 11 inches tall, but a force of nature.  She had an egg lady who live around the corner, Edna.  We loved to go to Edna's to get our eggs.

Right across the street was my Great Aunt Louise and her husband, my great Uncle, Edward ( Etz).  He had chickens, ducks, a goat named Nancy (?), a pond and a huge fig tree.  They also had a parakeet named Rocky who said " put you boots on". Why, I have no idea. 

Anyway, all of my Italian relatives lived within 2 blocks of each other when I was growing up, so there was a sense of safety and security there, and of course great food and LOVE.

So maybe I am trying to re-create that sense of comfort.  I know that watching chickens brings me peace

So by having chickens I will have Peace and Eggs!  What more can I ask for. 

Until tomorrow, Ciao Amici.

July 29th, Choosing chickens.

My sister told me to "just go out and buy some chickens for a buck fifty apiece."  Oh how naive. She doesn't know that there is an art and a science to purchasing the right chicken for my city flock? 

Some of you seasoned chicken aficionados already know that there are literally hundreds of breeds all with individual characteristics and behaviors ( excepting for the pecking and cooping which seem to be universal). 

First you need to figure out what you need/want in your chicken.  Then what climate do you live in?  Hot and dry, humid and hot, snow in winter?  What?  Even though it feels like we live in hell in summer; you know, when you have permanent blisters on your delicate hands from the fiery hot steering wheel, it really is pretty tame compared to other parts of the country, and no snow! 

Next what do want your chickens to be like?  Sweet, curious, elegant and inquisitive, friendly, gentle, quiet, a talker?  I already put the kibosh on aggressive, noisy, broody, and flighty a one of us in this house already fits this description). 

What color do you want your eggs to be?  Blue, white, dark brown, turquoise?  Who knew chickens lay eggs in my favorite color, turquoise. 

Most important what kind of chickens are good for novice chicken wranglers?  We need simple chickens who already know what to do and who will like us immediately!  That last thing is probably asking too much.  Oh well.

Here are a few breeds that meet our needs:  Araucanas ( turquoise eggs), Andalusians ( good in hot weather and elegant and inquisitive, Ameraucana ( blue eggs, sweet and curious)  Buckeyes (Brown eggs, sweet and friendly) .Marans ( sweet, docile, friendly and good egg producers), Plymouth Rocks( good brown egg producers, good starter, and friendly), Sussexes ( brown eggs, quiet, and a good starter chicken) and Wyandottes (Good egg producers, docile, friendly, talker and a good starter chicken).

Our next challenge will be to get our dog, Annie used to the girls.  She already likes cats so that's a start.
A great book, The Chicken Whisperer tells you how to do that.  Isn't that great?  It also tells you how to clean chicken butts.  After being an RN for 40+ years I think I  can handle that...OR teach my husband how to do that delightful task.  How often does a chicken butt need to be cleaned? Who does it when they run around on the farm, or up and down the highway like in our town?

July 28, 2012 Pets With Benefits Saga Continues.

Woke up this morning thinking about decorating the girls coop, and where to put in in the yard.  We have learned that they love to peck around the yard eating bugs while they also fertilize the lawn.  They also love to roost up on garden tables, so should have a ball in our yard. 

Read about a woman who trained her chickens to climb into her lap.  After they get used to us, that will be on my agenda.  I feel that all pets need affection and petting.  Well so do humans, right?

In my upper and lower division Behavioral Psych. labs, I did extensive rat research and training.  We were supposed to deprive the rat of food, them reward him ( or her in my case) with food for the desired behavior.  I however could not even think  of depriving Fuzzy, my rat.  I petted her, talked to her, played with her and treated her like a pet.  She was smart as a whip and learned to do several things in sequence.  I got 2 A's due to her delightful behavior.  She learned to come when I called her, and sat up on my shoulder while I studied, throughout grad school.  I kept her as a pet until her natural death, 3 years later .  RIP Fuzzy.  And thanks to Fuzzy, I also learned not to be afraid of mice and rats. Now snakes are another story.  I can hit high C when a snake crosses my path.  I can also run like an Olympian away from the snake.

So while Cal, my husband, is focusing on the implementation plan, I am focusing on TLC, chicken style.  Our next step in deciding what breed of chickens to get.  I'm thinking two different breeds, so we can get different colored eggs.   Also, how do the names Marilyn and Shelley sound.  Marilyn Monroe and Shelley Winters were running buddies back in the day, and I iimagine they had a fantastic time. Anyway tomorrow, more on which breeds to get.  Ciao fellow chicken lovers.

July 27, 2012 Eagerly awaiting the coop.

I neglected to mention yesterday that while many of you have expressed your love for BBQ, roasted chicken etc, our chickens will die of old age!  I think of the girls as sweet little chatty things, who hopefully will produce a few eggs from time to time BUT, will never be on the dinner menu.

Not sure where my love for chickens came from. In my hippy years I lived on a communal farm in Hood River, Oregon. Not the Rev. Moon type of commune, but two families of friends who all knew each other in Sacramento, and who wanted to get back to the land, so to speak.  By the way getting back to the land is a hellofa lot of work. Anyway, I had shoveled out a barn stall for my room, added windows that looked out onto Mt. Hood, had wall to wall carpeting and all my art work hanging.  It was really pretty neat, and myself and my two cats, Bummy and Fox lived out there. 

I shared a wall with the chicken coop and would occasionally see a chicken eye peering at me through the knot holes.  They were very interested in me!  Their little clucks were so comforting, kind of like a grandma saying "there, there, it will be alright".  They also worked so hard to produce eggs, and that was a totally different sound! OUCH  I grew to admire and delight in them.

So for those of you who think I have lost my mind, this is why I think I love chickens.  Also, they speak to me of a quieter more peaceful time when gathering the eggs was an adventure in breakfast prep!

July 26th, 2012 Urban Chickens Begins

I have loved chickens most of my life, and dreamed of a little farm where I could have chickens.  But it wasn't until I visited my massuse that the idea began to take shape.  You see she has chickens and mentioned that she had eggs to sell.  We began to talk about her chickens and a spark of chicken envy ignited in my brain.  On my next visit, she brought me a chicken magazine full of all things chicken.  Darling coops, feeders, and pictures of  the most adorable little hens.  I began to hatch a plan starting with  mentioning my love for chickens to my husband Cal. 

Next thing you know, he is bringing home books on raising chickens, from the Library.  We are reading like mad, and looking at chicken centered websites.  Turns out you can pretty much enter exactly what you want in a chicken, temperment, egg color, size etc. and they will give you a list of dozens of breeds to choose from.  Who knew?  We've opted for gregarious, laid back chickens who are good with other pets.  Cause folks, that is what they will be, pets with benefits! 

We then learned that our city allows us to have up to 12 chickens in our backyard.  No Roosters.  Ok by me.  But 12 seemed llike alot especially when they could each lay an egg a day.  Chickens yes, egg business NO. 

The next step involved heading off to the Poultry Palace in Placerville, CA. where I got to hold my first chicken.  It was delightful.  She was very calm, and let me hold her in my arms.  A dream come true.

 We opted to wait until after our vacation to actually buy the hens.  As adortable as the baby chicks are, we decided to start with older chickens.  I have visions of the girls running around the yard during the day pecking, pooping and just generally delighting me with their chicken antics.  The chicken man told us that the more you pet and hold them, the more pet-like they become.  I mean I don't see them sleeping on the bed with us like our dog does, but definitley coming when we call them, and acting happy to see us.

As a former behavioral researcher, I think I may be able to train them to do household chores.  But that will come later.

Ok.  We have ordered the coop.  It will come next Wedmesday.  Stay tuned for the lastest adventure of Sharen Cornils, Chicken Wrangler as we blog about our new adventure.