Sept. 30, 2012: Is it Fall Yet?

Yes it is the last day of September, but it is still over 90 degrees during the day.  I for one am sick of it.  Us humans can be pretty picky about our comfort.  It's too hot, it's too cold, it's too windy, and let' not even get me started on humidity. 

Chickens aren't so picky, they are pretty adaptable to extremes in climate, as long as they have a dry place, plenty of water and food.  There are tons of posts on the chicken keeping websites debating whether backyard chickens need  heaters in snowy cold climates, or fans in very hot weather.  They generate their own warmth huddled together in the coop, and know how to lay low ( pardon the pun) when it is too hot.

One thing I did learn was the need for coops to be well ventilated so that the bedding material in the nests area has a chance to dry out between changings.  I've learned all about bumble foot and hope to never see it, but I'm ready.

More importantly, I don't want my girls to suffer. I want them to be happy, healthy and sweet little egg laying feathered angels.

Meanwhile here is another little guessing game:  Which egg is the fresh laid egg, which is the store bought?  OK I know, it's obvious.

 

Lets make an omelette!

Sept. 27. 2012: Cutest chicken picture ever!

 

 

 

This is Stella. 

 

While reading the latest Backyard Chickens Newsletter I saw this picture.  If you don't want to kiss this little sweet fuzzy chick there is something wrong with you!

I know when they grow up they are not fuzzy and as cute anymore, but then neither are we.  I was the cutest darn baby, and look at me now.  We move from just cute on the outside like the chick, to so much more.  We develop our own personalities, and character.  So do our chickens.  When you read all the newsletter's about chickens you see how much people love their chickens, and how precious they are and how funny and social they .

I love my dog Annie, she is so sweet loving.  While that may be her nature, I know the way we love her and treat her adds to her sweet nature.

The way I treat my girls determines how they develop, so TLC it is.

Wow this is a universal tenet, treat our kids with TLC, our friends and family too, and life is so much sweeter!

 



Sept. 26. 2012: Australorps are not indigenous peoples from from Austria..



There are so many breeds of chickens out there.  One of them is the Australorp which is am adorable, docile, friendly brown egg layer that makes a good starter chicken for ones flock.  Well turns out we have found a chicken breeder in the foothills near Georgetown that has this bread, as well as the Ameraucana and a Maran.  I am eagerly waiting for a call from her to set up a time to go see the girls.

Finally the patter of little feet in the garden.  Clucking, bocking, just knocking about the yard, and learning to sit in Mommy's lap.  There are videos on You Tube all over the Internet of chickens cuddling, talking and playing with their owners.  It is so dang cute.  And they are talking the whole time.

Turns out there are many many chicken lovers, and many many chicken-lovers newsletters out there.  You can get answers and advice for any question you might have about your girls.  This weeks Publishers Weekly reports that along with dogs and cats, the number of books on chickens has been growing for several years, especially books about backyard chickens.  Domestic raising of chickens has increased and those of us backyard chicken wranglers want to keep our chickens healthy and happy.  I love the book "Chicken Health for Dummies." I love the title:  Once Upon  Flock:  My Life With Some Soulful Chickens.  I have got to get that book.

Sept. 24, 2012: Chicken Quiz Results

Red Jungle Fowl

What a day.  Spent it checking Craig's list for our special chickens.  Why is this so hard?  Maybe I don't really want chickens.  That thought has occurred to me.  Then I talked to my Cousin Judi who reassured me that the girls will come.  Since we don't want to raise chickens from chicks, we have to look for pullets so we are assured that we don't get a rooster.  What would happen if we got chicks and one turned out to be a rooster?  We can't have a rooster in the city, and I know I would already love the little guy when he finally crowed so then what? 

Thanks to those of you you took the chicken challenge.  Here are the answers to yesterdays quiz.

1.  False:  Hens can have also have spurs on their feet.

2.  False:  A chicken can run  up to  9 miles an hour.  ( bet they can hit 15mph though with the right impetus).

3.  False:  Gainseville,  GA. claims to be the chicken capitol of the world.

4.  True:  Well if it isn't true it should be.  Who eats friend chicken with a fork?  That's just crazy.  Gainesville even has a law against eating fried chicken with a fork.

5.  True:  Just like in human families, when there is no rooster the hen can take on that role.  If fact in humans it seems pretty common.

6.  True:  Chickens originated in India, Burma and Indonesia.  Their ancestors still live there and are called Red Jungle Fowl.

7.  True:  Chickens have been raised to perform tricks, and also because they are just fun to watch.

So how well did you do? 

Sept. 23, 2012: Chicken Trivia - Test your chicken knowledge.

Just about anything that we are fond of sparks interest in learning more about.  I love chickens, and have learned quite a bit about the care and feeding of the girls.  I've learned about their behaviors, habits and funny little personalities.  I know the females lay eggs with or with a rooster.  You go girls!

So I decided to do some research, and as you, my faithful readers to test your chicken knowledge via this brief highly validated ( uh..no) little quiz.  I debated on  using multiple choice versus T or F questions, and having been a teacher immediately ruled an essay test.  So here it goes.

1.  T or F:  Only Roosters have spurs on their feet.

2.  T or F:  A Chicken can run up to 15 miles per hour.

3.  T or F:  Pollardville CA. claims to be the chicken capital of the world.

4.  T or F:  Eating fried chicken with a fork is a sin.

5.  T or F:  Hens can sometimes assume the role of the rooster in a rooster-less flock, stop laying eggs  and begin crowing.

6.  T or F:  Chickens originated in South East Asia.

7.  T or F:  Historically, Chickens have also been raised for their entrainment value.

Check back tomorrow for the answers to these intriguing and thought provoking questions.
Meanwhile ask yourself, have you fuzzled your chickens today.

Sept. 20, 2012: The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Chickens

Did you know that chickens form habits just like humans?  They have some very good habits, and some very destructive habits.  While they do not typically smoke, or drink alcohol, they do tend to get angry and beat up on each other,  They even cannibalize ( not just peck) each other in a kind of Lord of the Flies scenario. This is a very bad habit and hard to break if the chicken wrangler does not catch it early. 

When I read about this cannibalizing behavior I said," Holy Crap, what am I going to do if they start eating each other?"  Then common sense set in and I realized that if I am paying the kind of attention to what's going on in the flock that is needed, and if I train them well, and if I intervene at the first sign, I will do OK.   I learned that stress, overcrowding, lack of adequate foraging can lead to this.  Larger flocks have more of incidence of this while smaller flocks do not.  I'm sticking with the smaller flock, lots of fuzzeling, time outs, and plenty of food and water. 

Just like when raising kids, you have to start young teaching what is healthy behavior and what is not, and like kids, chickens with bad behaviors need consequences...time outs (or worse if the behavior continues).  Chickens have personalities and characters just like humans.  Even though some breeds tend to be more aggressive, TLC, training, rewards and consequences can make a difference.  The key is to start early, at the first sign of unhealthy behavior.

More important than focusing on chickens behaving badly,  I want to foster healthy, happy chicken habits.  Chickens like to 1) preen, 2) take dust baths, 3) nap in the sun,4)  run around a lot, 5) they love treats and 6) fluff their wings and 7) also love to chat.  Yep I said chat.  And I'm not just talking cluck cluck, but all kinds of sounds.  So I will be talking to my chickens frequently and even listening to them to see what they have to say.

As for the 7  healthy habits, I will provide the girls with opportunities to do all of those things, and I will probably take naps in the sun with them, though I'll be on a chaise lounge.  And if they are really good, I might introduce them to martini's..just a beakful, but no cigarettes! 

Sept. 19, 2012: Chicken Expenses =$400. Eggs = 0.

Today we bought feed, watering and feeding stations, grain, pine shavings, another chicken magazine and 2 furnace registers to install in the coop to provide more ventilation.  To date we are into this chicken thing for over $400.00.  Not a chicken in sight. Ergo, no eggs.

Our chicken dealer fell through, one of the 3 month olds promised to us, just crowed so is off the market for us. We are again on the look out for pullets that are 18 - 20 weeks old.  We want an Orpington, an Ameraucana/Araucana and an Australorp or a Plymouth Rock. Is that too much to ask? Are we being too picky?

Everything I've read says that we need to really chose our breeds carefully, but if we don't get our girls soon, I'm heading out to the local Perko's where the Highway 99 chickens hang out and do some midnight requisitioning.  We're hitting the Internet again and leaving messages all over the area with chicken purveyors. 

Tomorrow we install the new air vents, buy some grit which we forgot today, and continue our search for the right chickens. 

Now that we are back from our extended vacay's I am so ready to get my girls.  We may have to drive to Placerville to the Poultry Palace to get our girls.  It's about an hour drive one way, and I kind of wanted to shop locally, but dang!

The Chicken Wrangler adventure continues.  Stay tuned for the exciting ( frustrating) search for the right chickens.

Sept. 18, 2012: The Chicken Wrangler's Amazing Vacation.

I am back from an extraordinary week that is almost impossible to accurately describe.  So many mystical things happened.  I am still in awe.

As with my trip to the Sierra's last month,  I was visited by another Sandhill Crane.  He flew in right in front of our home's windows and stayed within our view for much of the entire week. sometimes standing on the edge of the bluff, with the ocean behind him for hours.  Neither the north coast nor the Sierras are typical habitat for these incredible birds.  He seemed to be looking in our windows right at me.  He even let me get fairly close to get his picture.  Cal read about what Cranes symbolize in the Asian Cultures,  and we were so filled with wonder.

 

On Monday, Sept. 10th I told my family I wished to go the the Sea Ranch Chapel on Sept. 11th to pray for those who lost their lives and for our Nation in the wake of  the latest atrocities perpetrated against America.  

 

The next morning we drove to the chapel, a special place for us, not only because it is a beautiful spiritual place, but also because we were married there.  We were alone in the small chapel.  We prayed silently, and aloud, and then I was moved to beginning the Star Spangled Banner.  We sang several patriotic songs and then heard sobbing outside the doors of the Chapel.  A woman peered in, clearly crying and upset.  We all cried as she described that she was a United Airlines flight attendant who lost two dear friends in the planes that went into the Twin Towers.  She had driven up the Coast to the Chapel, as it was a special place for her too.  She talked about her sorrow and the lingering pain of that day.  She described that when she heard us singing she knew this was where she needed to be, and that she was very moved by hearing us.  I think all of us were placed there to console and comfort each other.

 

 

The rest of the week included dozens of whale sightings which is typical for this time of year, but what was most wonderful was how close to the bluffs they were.  When standing on the bluff we could hear them sounding, that whoosh of breath from these magnificent creatures. 

 

On our last afternoon, I walked with  my dog out to the bluff, and asked God to see just one more whale.  As I began to walk home, I heard that sound again and turned to see a whale sounding right in front of me,  he sounded, submerged then rose and sounded again.  A breathtaking moment for me.

 

 

On Friday we went to the Sea Ranch Lodge for a cocktail.  Propped against the parking lot wall was a large watercolor painting.  We wondered if someone had brought it out from the galley inside and was waiting to load it in the car.  However, when we left a few hours later the painting was still there.  I took it inside to the Lodge Desk and explained that I had found it outside.  She thanked me profusely and we both wondered how someone could have forgotten this lovely watercolor. 

 

On Sunday we again visited the Lodge for a late lunch.  On leaving I stopped by the desk to see if the owner had been located.  To my surprise she told me that the owner had indeed been notified and that he related that he left the painting on purpose, as a gift for whomever found it.  Then she said that it now belonged to me and went to get it.  When she returned we told her that we had been married at the Chapel and had our wedding dinner there at the Lodge.  She stopped for a second and then said, well this painting was meant to be yours.  The painting is called:  The Wedding Party.

 

No chickens this week, but many blessings, breath-taking moments and reminders of God's Grace.

 

 

 













Sept. 9, 2012: Poultry Party Patter

Went to a great party last night.  Our friends renewed their wedding vows after 20 years of marriage.  It was sweet and very moving and also a bunch of fun.  What does this have to do with chickens you ask?

1)  Sat down next to a lovely woman named Kiki and through the discussion of the many uses of duct tape discovered that she had had a rooster fly into you  backyard, and roost in her trees.  She named him Roo and dais she grew quiet fond of him.   One day a fiendish hawk flew out of the sky and that was the end of Roo.  Made me even more aware of the dangers our girls face out on the world, and committed to keeping them safe,

2)  While standing waiting for the ceremony to start, our friend Lakhvir and his beautiful wife Amerjit approached me.  Lakhvir said he loves reading my blog! I was thrilled.  I never even though anyone would want to read what I was writing about chicken wrangling. He and Amerjit now have chickens themselves, 8 hens and 12 roosters.  Must be mighty noisy at dawn around their ranch. They are just lovely, gracious people.

3)  Sat down for drinks and dinner and the man sitting next to me began to talk about chickens.  He was not a fan.  Frankly what he had to say about his past history with chickens was frightening. This was after I told him of the dating pool for some time, and don't even now what flirting is anymore, but I'm pretty sure even in today's sick twisted world, this does not constitute an attempt at  flirting, or even making conversation.  WEIRD.

4)  Again at dinner, discussed the apparent huge influx of chicken wranglers into cities.  Seems you can have three hens in San Francisco.   Ran into Michelle my fellow chicken lover who wants to get some silkies,  and says she has the most beautiful rooster, but that he is mean.

See what I'm saying?  All this chicken talk can't be just a coincidence.  Are chickens secretly uniting to take over whole neighborhoods, kind of like Planet of the Apes?

Meanwhile I'm going off the Blog for a week, headed for one of the most beautiful places on earth for a week of just watching the ocean, whales and sunsets.

Sept. 8, 2012: Count Down To Pullets!

As we get closer to the arrival of our girls, I realize that I need to get it together and do everything I can to make the girls happy and healthy here. 

So get out your saws Cal, we need more ventilation in our coop.  Thank God I went in to see my masseuse on Thursday ( in between the miltiple Dr.'s appointments one has as one becomes a geezer).  As you may recall, she is the impetus for my deciding to live my dream and get the chickens I have always loved.

Just before I began to relax and snore she related to me that she had to add more ventilation to her coop so that the girls living space can air out. 

This apparently prevents some pretty gnarly things happening to the girls feet if too much ammonia builds up do to chicken dodo and moist shavings in their nests.  OK.  So, she related you need to have plenty of ventilation during the day. 

No big deal, get me the drill with the big bit and I can fix that.  Ah not so fast chicken wrangler.  I knew this seemed to easy.  Whatever we do needs to close at night to keep the girls safe, and warm in the winter.

So Cal and I head out to examine the coop.  Both of us are highly educated professionals.  He is an electrical engineer and I am a writer, RN, and Licensed Family Therapist.  Can you see any problems with this combo?

I'm thinking something like a doggie door that can be closed at night.  He's thinking of drilling holes and then covering them with duct tape at night.  In all fairness he was kidding, and simply using an method a diabolical murderer used in the BBC America series Luther ( fantastic TV show.).  We quickly discarded that idea.

What about one of those round spinning tin thingies you see on roofs that apparently vent out things?  I can guarantee that if we went this way, we'd have wet chickens from leakage.

We ( I am) are looking for an easy, effective, inexpensive way to accomplish this. After three or four ideas that were either way to complicated or just crazy, we decided to go with floor heater vents like we have in our houses.  They open and close and we can install them easily ( uh huh) horizontally in the back of  the coop and maybe one under the eaves in front.

Problem solved!  One caveat Cal, remember the cabin deck we built?  Remember the porch roof we fashioned?  This time we wear safety goggles and helmets by God!

Sept. 7, 2012: Do Blondes Have More Chickens?

Gorgeous blond hens.

Do blonde's have more chickens?  A question I never pondered until yesterday while getting my hair back to it's natural blond color (right).  

My friend Michelle who is a nail engineer at my salon, started talking to me about my blog, which she follows from time to time.  She extolled the beauty of our coop, the crazy things people do to turn coops into living rooms and visa versa, and we began a somewhat involved conversation about various breeds. 

I even had to get out my Droid to look  up the names of the breeds with feathery feet, not because I did not know this, but because I could not remember them.  I was about to have a moment of ennui due to the memory lapse, then realized Michelle could not remember either and she is several decades younger than I.

Our entire discussion was about various chicken related issues.  Anna, my genius of a salonist, became involved, asked some very good questions.  Michelle, who has quite a few chickens on her farm, educated us on the need for immediate egg gathering when there is a rooster in your flock.  Otherwise you could have a breakfast surprise resulting in your children never eating another egg.

Yesterday while in the salon the talk centered as per usual around movies we've seen,  Channing Tatum,  domestic violence and the need for women to stop being victims, etc.

Yesterday we added chicken wrangling.  And yes Michelle is a lovely blond, as am I.....now...... thanks to Anna.  Maybe that's why I love Buff Orpingtons.



Sept. 5, 2012: What The Hell Is A Pullet?

Eating lasagne in the Sierra's

Hi my dear fellow chicken wranglers.  I am back from 8 glorius days up in the Sierra's.  Beautiful clean air, cooler temperatures, a river to sit in.....returned to the valley with temps. in the mid 90's and air so bad from the California forest fires, that I can actually see it robbing me of my free-radicals.  No matter.

My cousins Judi and Darrel and their darling grandchildren, Morgan, Calvin, and Regan joined us up at the cabin for a magical visit.  They have had chickens for decades, until recently when a bear decimated their coops.  They live in the near-wilderness, but haven't had much trouble with wildlife murdering their chickens before.  Bastard Bears!

Anyway, I learned a lot about the adventures of chicken raising from them, especially Darrel and Calvin, though 5 year old Regan did share with me that hand feeding their chickens does not hurt ( they don't bite you, she said). Darrel says they will sh-t all over out patio, and that he will check back with me a year to see how I feel about chickens.  Clearly he does not feel the same way about chickens as I do.

I had to explain to him that my girls will be pets with benefits, and more importantly  there will be not nearly as many chickens as he has had. So bring on the chicken sh-t!  I mean how much can two or three hens really produce?

We are counting down to chicken arrival now.  But until yesterday I did not now what a pullet was.  Whenever somewhat mentioned that word, I would pretend I knew though, so as not to appear to be a chicken fool.  That God for my fellow chicken wranglers newsletters! 

A pullet is a female chicken under one year old.  A hen is a female chicken over one year old.  Did you all know that already?  Am I the only chicken wrangler that has been feigning this knowledge?  All pullets are females!  Who knew?

I also learned that feed stores love chicken novices cause they can sell you a bunch of useless, yet expensive chicken paraphernalia.   The recent increased interest in urban chickens has hatched a crop of carpetbaggers out to try to rob the unsuspecting chicken wrangler.  NOT I.  I am arming myself with information, and will not be cheated!

Oh my God, look at that darling pink watering can and matching feeder!  I'll take two of each.