Now and Hen

The Chickens are Coming!

2011-09-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

I got the call this morning that our chicks from My Pet Chicken are on the way! We should be receiving them sometime tomorrow.

They did have to substitute a Welsummer (photo below) for the Wyandotte, but that's okay.

I am so excited about these cute new additions!

Canning Tomatoes

2011-09-05T13:30:00.001-07:00

Inspired by our recent Foodcrafting 101 course at The Institute of Domestic Technology, we've embarked on some new adventures in canning. We've made peach jam twice, but today we are attempting to can some of our own homegrown tomatoes.

We are lucky in that tomatoes LOVE our yard. In fact, we have a tomato plant happily growing IN the chicken enclosure that receives no watering or care at all. We didn't plant it - it sprung up on its own, presumably from some tomatoes we gave the hens as treats.

And....here's the result....

We got a little "separation," but overall not bad for the first try. I'm not sure why the contents of jar #3 reduced during canning, but hopefully this doesn't spell botulism for us. :0

The Worst Blogger Ever

2011-08-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, that would be me. While I never intended this to be a daily blog, it has now been almost a year since I wrote an entry. Yikes! This will change - I promise! I have lots of garden and hen news to catch everybody up on.

First of all, we now have a super cool egg storage vessel. (Photo at left.) My husband found this at the Rose Bowl Flea Market and it is supposedly from France circa the 1950s. I love it!

Secondly, and sadly, our noisy hen Wanda died last week. It was unexpected and sad, and we still don't know what happened. Luckily we still have Lottie (our black and white) and Maude (the non-colored-egg-laying Easter Egger) and they are in good health. They seem to be a little depressed and this has resulted in very little egg-laying the past week.

We did place an order for three new chicks, which should be arriving the week of September 12. We ordered an Australorp, a Golden Laced Wyandotte and a White Leghorn. (photos below!) It felt a little soon, but we didn't want to wait until Spring to replenish the flock.

Okay, that's it for now! We are in the midst of a major garden/backyard renovation, so I will be posting about that soon.

This Blog is Interrupted By

2010-10-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

a cat at the desk! While I wish I could blame my lack of updates on Mr. Winkles here, the truth is, along with getting sidetracked by work and a fun horse event this past weekend, I haven't had anything very exciting to report. It has been raining in Los Angeles for about a week (very unusual for this time of year) so the chickens have only gotten out a couple of days when the weather has cooperated.

All in all, the ladies have really become just a part of my routine. They get let out and fed breakfast scraps in the morning, then I give them a snack of flax and sunflower seeds if I'm home in the afternoon, and then it is time to herd them back inside with an old hummus tub of layer mash. Occasionally Maude will stubbornly refuse to go in the cage, but for the most part I've got her number now and can herd her in within a matter of minutes.

I have to laugh when people ask, "Aren't chickens a LOT of work?" They were at the beginning, but not anymore. I think they take as much work as a cat. They're pretty self sufficient, self exercising, and you just feed them and clean up their poop!

My horse, Africa, is the most time consuming of all my pets, but she is also the most fun! (And I get help with her care since she doesn't live at the house.) Here she is after I gave her a haircut the weekend before last, right before the dismal weather rolled in:

Progress

2010-09-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

We finally have all three garden beds done! Are they filled with soil? - No. But, they are finished. With the heat wave in LA we weren't able to do as much as we anticipated this past weekend. In fact, I think we may have contracted heat stroke just from moving the one raised bed frame from the back patio to where it rests now.

The good news about the heat wave is that our pumpkins and watermelons are going crazy! I planted two different types of pumpkins this year - white and some kind of French heirloom variety. I got a late start on them, but I'm hoping if the warm weather continues we'll have normal-sized pumpkins in time for Halloween. My husband has been trimming the pumpkin plants, which is supposed to allow for more nutrients for the existing pumpkins, so hopefully this strategy will work out and we won't have to display mini-pumpkins on our front step.

I've also let the hens out of prison now that the plants are out of their delicate seedling phase. You can see Wanda lounging behind the not-so-effective chicken wire fence at the top left. They are very happy to be roaming free again, and we've been getting two eggs a day, which is fantastic. Check out the three beds and one of our pumpkins, below:

Hilarious Craigslist Ad for Chicken

2010-09-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

I saw this on another board and had to post it. So funny!

House Chicken...thinks she is a cat. (Everett)

Date: 2010-09-14, 9:34PM PDT
Reply to: sale-qekqa-1954715309@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

This is difficult to do, but I have to rehome my beloved house chicken Milkshake.
She is about 9 months old and a white silkie bantam (if you are not familiar with what that means she is not the right bird for you).

Adopter must-haves:
1. Experience with chickens & cats: My partner and I adopted her and raised her by hand thinking that once the cute chickie look wore off she would just go out in the coop with the rest of the girls, but, alas, she thinks she is a cat. She refuses to go in the coop and will meow/squak at the back door when she wants to comes in.

2. Time and deaf or distant neighbors: Sometimes I have to go outside and grab her after dusk because patheticly she has little chicken skills and doesn't realize that chickens should not hang out outside in the dark. She thinks since the cats do it she should be able to as well. She does not really care to be in her cage, but rather wants to roam around the house. She will let you know this loudly in the morning, at night, and when you have company or get on the phone.

3. Hard wood or easy to clean floors: During the day she likes to come and go as she pleases, sometimes 'dust-bathing' on the carpet. She likes to hang out in the kitchen when you're cooking in case you drop anything and makes a better vacume than a chicken. We tried the whole I'm-an-urban-chicken-farmer-retard technique of making her wear a diaper, but she gets very angry and tempermental and would much rather shit everywhere as she pleases. Free useless diaper included.

4. Patience: She may like you, or may not on some days. She was incredibly prone to my (ex) partner and loved to cuddle on the couch and shit. She is nice to me when I feed her, but will bite my ankles if she doesn't get what she wants.

5. Thick socks

6. Room for a big ugly bird cage - big ugly bird cage included. I fill it with hay. There is no need to have a laying box because she doesn't get why there's a box taking up room in her cage. She would rather just pop out mini-eggs as she pleases, and wherever she pleases.

7. Must like Easter Egg hunts.

8. Must have a blowdryer: Because of her lack of chicken skills, she is not great at the dustbathing idea. She likes a warm bath followed by a complete low setting blow dry.

9. Lastly, must be willing to provide a forever indoor & outdoor home: she would make a horrible dinner - don't even think about it.

I have tried to incorporate her into the hen house but she doesn't give a damn about other chickens and refuses to cooperate. She likes shag carpet, raspberries, clean laundry (to poop on), dirty kitchen floors, and talking. If this sounds like a pet you want for some reason, maybe you're a stay at home dad with too much time on your hands, or a mom whose kids left the roost, or a cat-loving old lady that's allergic to cats, or maybe a geeky hipster that wants to be 'original' and 'hip' with a pet house chicken - whatever, just keep her forever and don't eat her. For consideration, send an email stating why you would be the best candidate to adopt my dear Milkshake. As stated she comes with a big ugly cage, a waterer, food dish, and some food crumbles. I can also provide some thick sock, but if you can't afford socks, you really shouldn't be getting a pet house chicken.

Location: Everett
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Hot Chicks

2010-09-15T21:28:00.001-07:00

My friends just got some baby chicks and placed a webcam above their temporary digs to document them. So fun!

Check out this link: Hot Chicks

Fancy Chickens

2010-08-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

I originally saw this beautiful home, located in Santa Barbara, California, in my print edition of House Beautiful magazine, but saw the link on my Facebook page this morning and thought it would be worth posting. It looks like chicken-keeping is really taking off! (As an aside - I so wish my backyard looked like the photo at right from this home!) This exchange from the article was particularly giggle-inducing for me:

Interviewer Mimi Read: Hey, you've got interesting chickens! I hate to inform you, but raising fancy chickens is officially a hipster trend. Susan Orlean even wrote about it in The New Yorker

Home Owner Penelope Bianchi: I guess Martha Stewart started it. Mine are Mille Fleur bantam chickens. They're just so beautiful, with feathers on their feet! I had them sent to me in a taxi from San Diego.

I'm just picturing these squawking chickens in the back of taxi, rolling up the 101. I wonder what lucky employee got to make that trip with those birds?

Here's the link to the complete article and photo slideshow on the House Beautiful website:

A Mediterranean-Style Home with a Well-Worn Patina

The Bad Neighbors with The Bad Chickens

2010-08-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the suggestions re: the deer netting and the discount soil. This project just seems very overwhelming at times, but I feel better knowing other people have had the same issues. We did get a second bed built last Saturday (photo left) but haven't had a chance to place it or buy the soil for it.

I know it will eventually get done, but it is frustrating looking out and seeing both my front and back yards in complete disarray. My neighbor asked my husband the other day - "Are you EVER going to plant anything in the front yard?" (Sigh, yes, but we either have to pay someone $$$$$ to do it for us or have the time and $$ to do it ourselves.)

I think I'm going to investigate using the deer netting over the chickens' area so they can't fly out. We first have to secure the bottom of the chicken wire so they can't dig or duck under. Railroad ties would be perfect for this, but I don't like the fact that they've been treated, so I'm on the lookout for something else at the moment. The chickens have been on lockdown since they escaped their pen and went on a seedling-eating rampage. (See photo of decimated seedling at right.) Grrr... I feel terrible they have to be confined, but hopefully we can finish the enclosure this weekend or next week. Their coop does have a small run, but I know they're happier with more room to roam.

Urban Farming Frustrations

2010-07-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

AKA "Building Your Own Raised Beds"

This project seemed so simple at the beginning. We plotted out exactly where we wanted the beds, their sizes and wrote down the building materials. Then we want to the local hardware/building supply center on the Saturday of Fourth of July weekend. We thought we could buy all the materials and have the beds finished over the holiday weekend - ha ha ha ha ha ha....

First it took us forever to get someone to help us. Then we realized we couldn't fit the boards for the long sides of the beds into our car (16 feet long into a CRV - I don't think so!) so I arranged for delivery on Monday morning. I still had hopes we could build these suckers Monday afternoon. Well, Monday morning comes and I pull out from my car the small boards that did fit into my car, and noticed they are the wrong size. I wanted 2x6s, they gave my 2x4s. I had to call Anawalt, as they were going to deliver the wrong size long boards in the next few hours. I got the lumber issue sorted out and all the correctly sized lumber arrived that afternoon, along with a bout of the flu for my husband, resulting in instant building postponement as this is definitely a two person job.

So, last weekend we finally completed ONE bed! Yes, one. This one bed took 40 bags of organic potting soil ($$$$) so the resulting vegetables will officially be known as the "world's most expensive vegetables" - that is, when we get vegetables. We have so many other things to do that our slow progress and the overwhelming expense of this project is really annoying! We have to lay down wood to secure the bottom of the chicken wire fence (those little monsters keep escaping under the fence) and we haven't even begun to landscape the front yard. Arghhhhhhh!!!

Enjoy this slideshow detailing our pathetic journey in building one raised garden bed:

Line at the Ladies' Room

2010-07-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

Looking out the back door the other day, I witnessed a line up at the door to the Eglu! It seemed all the ladies had to lay an egg at the same time. :) Maude was in the nesting box and Wanda and Lottie were waiting their turn outside. Eventually everyone got their time in the nesting box and we got three eggs that day.

Neighbors' chickens ruffle feathers in Bishop - latimes.com

2010-07-08T16:36:00.000-07:00

Interesting article on chicken-keeping in the LA Times. I can't believe Bishop of all places is up in arms about this! It's in the middle of nowhere.

Neighbors' chickens ruffle feathers in Bishop - latimes.com

Hen Habitat

2010-07-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

So, what started out as removing dead grass from our front lawn turned into a whole yard landscaping project. I mean, once you've rented a dumpster you might as well get rid of EVERYTHING you don't want, right? (...and install new sprinkler systems, and add manure, etc. :)

So, the hens have a new habitat. Instead of running amok and pooping on our patio, they are now confined to their own special area at the back of the yard. Don't feel too sorry for them, because they will soon have a hen paradise back there! All the dead sod has been removed and composted material has been rototilled into the soil. They have about 500 square feet of dirt bathing heaven now. The other half of their back area will be planted with alfalfa so they can graze to their heart's content. We'll rotate them between the two areas, giving the alfalfa time to grow before it is pillaged by the ladies. Here's the new setup:

We're going to put two raised beds in the area in front of the hen habitat, and also plant a bed next to the garage at the right of the front area. A gravel path will extend between the two raised beds to the hen habitat. This place is REALLY starting to feel like an urban farm!

The front yard is getting new, drought tolerant landscaping, consisting of lavender, rosemary, sage and an orange tree. Yippee! I'll post before and after photos once there's something to look at.

Although I'll miss the ladies' little faces at the back door, I won't miss their big, messy poops on the patio!

P.S. - If anyone else is interested in taking out their sod or putting in a new sprinkler system, Mike the Rototiller Guy is AMAZING! Here's his website: http://www.rototillerguy.com/ and he has a ton of positive reviews on Yelp.

The Spell Has Broken

2010-06-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

I got two eggs this morning! Woot Woot! (And I haven't even received the "good" food yet. This is very promising!)

Picky Chickens

2010-06-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, the chickens made liars out of me, but only with TWO measly eggs. The same day as my last post, 5/31, we got one egg and we got one today. (outlined at right)

Although I can't fully explain these new slacker egg-laying practices, I think it has to do with Lottie going broody and the fact that the ladies aren't exactly excited about their feed.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I ordered the organic feed from Purina. They only had "crumbles" and the ladies had previously been only eating "mash." I foolishly thought they wouldn't really mind trying something new, but they seem to be partial only to the mash. I find leftover food in their feed bin every morning, which never happened when I was feeding the mash.

I tried to order mash today at East Valley Feed since they don't charge me shipping, but apparently Purina only makes organic in crumble form. So, I broke down and ordered the expensive organic layer mash from McGeary Organics through My Pet Chicken. Although $26 doesn't seem like a lot for a bag of feed that lasts several months, the shipping ends up costing an additional $29! This better pay off in some serious egg laying!

No Brooding Yet No Eggs

2010-05-31T16:13:00.000-07:00

Lottie seems to have snapped out of her brooding, but we seem to have some kind of protest going on. We haven't had an egg from anyone since 5/28. This is horrible! I actually had to buy eggs to make cupcakes this weekend.

Still Brooding

2010-05-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

This has become our daily ritual: Lottie refuses to leave the box. I extract her from the box. I then ply her with treats and hope she is motivated to stay outside the box, which doesn't work, so I repeat the same process the next day. How long can this go on?

Lottie Extraction:

Lottie & the other girls eating their sunflower seed treat:

By the time I posted this and looked outside, Lottie was back in the box.

Brooding

2010-05-17T10:51:00.001-07:00

Brooding is the new black for Lottie. Starting last Monday, she decided to become a hermit chicken, sitting in the nesting box and refusing to move. If you take her out from the box and put her on the grass, it takes her a few seconds to even respond. She just sits there, sad and sloth-like. She'll then get up, run around, have a snack and return to the nesting box. We have been removing the eggs she sits on daily, but it doesn't seem to matter. Egg or no egg, she wants to sit in there.

We thought she snapped out of it this morning as she voluntarily left the nesting box, but she has now returned. I've heard you can trick hens by placing a chick in the nesting box with them so they think they hatched it and then they will stop their broodiness, so we may need to resort to this soon if she doesn't cheer up!

Courtesy of my Dad

2010-05-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

How to Pick up a Chick:

Farmyard Chic

2010-05-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

Is the title of this post an oxymoron? Why, no! Not when you can find such cute farmyard accessories as the ones below! Made by Simrin (more about them on my GGG blog here) and available online here, they are cute but not too "country" looking. I think the round red hen tray (pictured below) would look especially good in my house!

Chicken Scratch

2010-05-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

Lottie and Wanda scratching around. We'd just moved their coop so there was a large rectangle of extra long grass where the coop was sitting and they just HAD to investigate it.

Spring Chickens

2010-05-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

Posting to this blog has taken a back seat to "real life" stuff like traveling for work and getting a wisdom tooth extracted, but I'm back! The ladies are doing well. Some days we get three eggs, some days only one, but we haven't had to purchase eggs in months!

The photo at right is of Lottie and Wanda enjoying my husband's juice "sludge" - the leftover stuff that spews from the juicer. We've also started feeding the ladies sunflower seeds and flax seeds on a daily basis. I put them back on organic feed again, which they protested against for a day or two, but seem to be eating it with gusto now. I was ordering from McGeary Organics, but the shipping was killing me and I couldn't justify paying that kind of expense, so they had to go with the non-organic food I found at the local pet food store. Luckily I found that East Valley Tack & Feed, where I purchase equine grain and supplies, will special order Purina organic feed and they don't charge me ANY shipping as it comes in with the rest of their Purina order.

Easter Poop

2010-04-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

While most people were attending church or hunting for eggs, we conducted our own Spring service - gathering horse manure for the garden. (see containers at left) I should clarify that my husband did the gathering, but it does have to ride in my car, so I can claim SOME credit for it, right?

We're getting ready to do some planting! While last year we had a frighteningly large pumpkin patch, this year we're going to devote that space to tomatoes. We haven't decided what else we're going to plant, but we need to start the seed trays soon.

This year we have the added challenge of keeping our feathered friends OUT of our planted areas. They love "nesting" in our herb boxes, leaving chicken "dirt angels" between our basil and parsley. They will take up so much dirt that they expose the plant roots. BAD CHICKENS.

Below are the chickens enjoying some sun on Easter. They are difficult to photograph because as soon as they see me they come running!

Dobbies

2010-03-31T09:58:00.000-07:00

Dobbies.com just included Now and Hen in their list of "Chicken-keeping blogs we love." Sweet!

There are some great blogs on the list, some I'd heard of and some I had not, so check it out! Lots of great tips, photos and humor.

Maybe?

2010-03-25T12:18:00.001-07:00

So, Maude's eggs are getting lighter in color. Does this mean we MIGHT have a chance at colored eggs after all? I'm going to have to do some research into this. Above is a photo that shows her two smaller, lighter, whiter eggs (the two at lower right) next to the big brown ones the other two ladies are laying.

Good News / Bad News

2010-03-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

The good news is that Maude has FINALLY started laying eggs. The bad news is - THEY'RE NOT COLORED! They're brown. Boring brown. I had no idea an Easter Egger could even lay brown eggs. Now, I know I've been whining about her lack of laying, so I should just be thankful, but I was so looking forward to some nicely colored eggs. :(

Good Chickens!

2010-02-19T10:36:00.000-08:00

(except for Maude) Two eggs a day this entire week! I'm going to have to do some baking this weekend.

There may be some hope for Maude yet. I've observed her fighting for more food AND spending some time in the nesting box. Either she's just mimicking her friends OR she's getting ready to lay us some beautiful blue and green eggs!

Golden Spangled Hamburg

2010-02-14T17:20:00.000-08:00

So, we've been thinking of getting more chicks, but just THINKING. We would definitely have to make some improvements to the yard so the chickens couldn't have access to our patio. Three chickens pooping on the patio is bad, six would be intolerable! (There is a 3 chick minimum when ordering online.)

In researching new chickens, I came across the Golden Spangled Hamburg available from mypetchicken.com and was intrigued. I love the way they look, and they are supposedly excellent egg layers, but they are fliers and may be able to exit our yard.

(Isn't this a fantastically unusual looking bird?)

The other option would be to buy one or two chicks at the feed store, which is probably the better option. We really just want to introduce some new blood to the flock so poor Maude isn't picked on so much.

Pecking Order

2010-02-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

I think the photo says it all - chickens first, dogs second.

Dinnertime at my house involves everyone (sans cat) giving me pleading looks from outside the screen door. The chickens know they get a scoop of food when I lock them in at night, so they've taken to running up to the door when they see me come home at night to beg for food. The dogs always get let out while I prepare their food, so now there are five sets of eyes beseeching me for food as I attempt to get settled in, feed the howling cat, prepare the dog food and then take a scoop outside to get the chickens herded back into their coop. Good times.

Hailing Hens

2010-01-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

Yes, the white stuff is hail. HAIL. In Los Angeles. Luckily the hens were smart enough to run for cover in the Eglu. Wanda and Lottie are peering out from the entrance but it isn't really visible in my blurry photo. (I wasn't going outside for a better shot!)

Get IN the coop.

2010-01-14T18:26:00.000-08:00

Every night, without fail, I have to herd, toss or coax the chickens from the top of their coop to the inside of their coop. This has grown old. (Sigh.)

Note how sad and alone Maude looks (facing away from the camera.) I think she's depressed and that's why she won't lay eggs.

Your Moment of Hen

2010-01-14T17:07:00.001-08:00

Lottie and Wanda go crazy on some brown rice. Maude looks longingly on, too afraid of Lottie to help herself to this tasty treat.

Gobble Gobble

2010-01-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

So, my husband ran into our next door neighbor. In the midst of catching up on neighborhood news, etc., she says to him, "Oh...I think someone has a turkey around here. I've heard him!"

Now, this is one of our next door neighbors, whose yard we can clearly see into, and we always assumed could see into ours. We've had our Omlet set up for about 9 months now, so we just figured she's looked into our yard and seen the coop and the three feathered hens running around. Apparently not. However, she has heard noises resembling a turkey. :)

My husband gently pointed out that WE actually have THREE chickens, and hastened to invite her grandson over to see them the next time he came over. (He's good at managing potential problems.) I don't think she quite knew what to say, but I'm happy to report that our three chickens have gone unnoticed (but not unheard) by one our neighbors for the past 8 months. Take that, urban chicken opponents!

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-23T21:38:00.000-08:00

Photo Shoot with The Ladies!

2009-12-22T00:20:00.001-08:00

Hollywood Freeway Chickens have always had a lot of pluck -- latimes.com

2009-12-20T22:13:00.001-08:00

Hollywood Freeway Chickens have always had a lot of pluck -- latimes.com

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Holiday Photo Shoot...

2009-12-20T11:39:00.001-08:00

with the chickens! Happening right now!

I have this cute idea for a Christmas / New Year's card, but need some chicken photos! Photos should be posted later today or tomorrow!

They don't understand...

2009-12-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

why dogs can be in the house and chickens cannot!

Easter NON-Egger

2009-11-03T19:38:00.000-08:00

Lottie and Wanda are giving us a dependable two eggs per day, always in their little nesting box, but Maude is being a little b&*ch and refusing to lay eggs. She's also skittish and squawks like we're killing her when we have to pick her up. So, we're stuck with an Easter non-Egger. I mean, she's 7 months old, she should be laying by now! C'mon girl, earn your keep!

Susan Orlean on raising backyard chickens: newyorker.com

2009-09-25T09:47:00.001-07:00

I read this article last night in my new issue of The New Yorker. It really captures so many of the great things about backyard chicken keeping, and also gives a shout out to the Eglu inventors. For those of you who are interested in taking the plunge into chicken keeping or just want to understand those that have, this is a must read!

Susan Orlean on raising backyard chickens: newyorker.com

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We caught Wanda...

2009-09-25T09:43:00.001-07:00

in the act!

SECOND EGG!

2009-09-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

Finally Lottie is earning her keep around here! Wanda has given us an egg a day for almost a month now, and Lottie decided to join her yesterday. I really hope our slacker easter egger Maude will get with the program soon.

EGG!

2009-08-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

Egg alert! I discovered it this morning while casually checking the nesting box. I'm pretty sure Wanda was the lovely lady who delivered this special treat. So exciting!

No Eggs, but a Video!

2009-08-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

Still anxiously awaiting my eggs, so until I can make that triumphant first egg post I will give you some more chicken eggcitement. It seems like I never have my camera when they are at their funniest, but this will give you an idea of the weird little chicken noises they make when they are cruising around the yard. I was cleaning out the garage and happened to drop some gift wrapping bows, which of course they had to come investigate.

Eggwatch

2009-08-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

The ladies are just about 18 weeks old. This means they are ALMOST ready to start laying eggs. The general consensus seems to be that they will start laying when they are between 20-24 weeks old. (By general consensus I mean the opinions and wisdom of strangers off the internet, as we don't know anybody else who has chickens.)

This is both exciting (this is the reason we got the chickens in the first place!) and daunting. Chickens can apparently be a little wacky when it comes to their egg laying habits. First of all, I'm supposed to somehow train them to only lay eggs in their nest box. The nest box is the convenient little compartment on the side of their Eglu, where I can ideally just open the hatch from the outside and collect my egg. Sounds simple, right?

However, I'm not sure how to train them to do this. They now free range around the backyard. I feel sorry for them if they have to stay in their cage all day long, so they are given free reign to flap their wings around our small urban plot. Although small, our yard does offer places for wily chickens to lay their eggs unnoticed, such as the two raised beds which house herbs and the rather large and overgrown pumpkin patch. The prospect of an Easter egg hunt every single day sounds really unappealing, so I'm just hoping they have some sort of instinct to pop those eggs out in the proper area. I'll keep you posted.

The Ladies

2009-07-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

"The Ladies" is the term of endearment we use to refer to the chickens, AKA Maude, Lottie and Wanda. We use this often, in sentences such as, "Did you feed the ladies?" and "The ladies are at the back door" and "The ladies are pooping on the picnic table." As you can see, the ladies are always up to something.

Maybe because we're first timers when it comes to chickens, we find everything they do amusing and interesting. They're great at parties, too. Stick a few city dwellers in front of chickens and they'll be entertained for hours. Somewhat less amusing is the large number of flies that their excrement attracts to our yard, but they more than make up for it with their antics.

Their personalities have also started to come through. Wanda (left) is the food whore. She will come running all the way across the yard if she thinks you have something to feed her. Lottie (top right- we were having a moment) is the friendliest and smartest. In the hypothetical game of "Which One Would You Eat if you HAD To," Lottie gets saved every time. Right now Maude (below) would be the bird of choice, and not just because she has whiskers and crazy orange eyes. She's just a little...off, and kind of a pain in the ass bird. Every single day she manages to get herself stuck in the pumpkin patch, even though Wanda and Lottie manage to get out just as they got in - through the gap in the fence. I have several scratches on my legs from having to crawl in there, catch her, and free her from her pumpkin prison.

Don't worry, though, nobody's getting eaten. They're too amusing, even when they're being naughty. Besides, we haven't even gotten any eggs yet! Egg watch begins August 15.

Cat TV

2009-07-03T17:57:00.001-07:00

The Hens Leave the House

2009-06-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

Now that our girls are almost full grown, we decided it was time to let them out of the confines of their Eglu and run. I was very excited, as I had visions of them happily chasing each other around the yard, flapping their wings in freedom, and otherwise acting like 7 year olds at recess. However, chickens are, well, chicken. The first couple days they would hesitantly walked outside the run door, looked around, and run back inside. Lottie (black) and Wanda (yellow) circled the coop once and then laid down next to it. Maude refused to leave at all the second day.

This was frustrating. I was offering these chickens the world of my backyard - bugs! dirt! grass! - and all they wanted was the comfort of their run. They've slowly come around, but unfortunately the place they honed in on was the pumpkin patch. We let them have a few days of freedom in the patch, but they were destroying the leaves, so we are going to fence in the patch to keep them out. The fence has been bought and will hopefully get put up today, so until then the hens are in lockdown.

The funniest thing the "ladies" do is take a dirt bath. They dig a hole in the soft dirt of the pumpkin patch, roll themselves around until they are completely covered in dirt, and then just wallow there like pigs in mud. Here is a video of Wanda and Maude demonstrating this wacky behavior:

One month later...

2009-06-11T13:20:00.000-07:00

and they're big girls now! Check out the pics from today:

They've left the Nest!

2009-05-11T18:38:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we moved the chicks from our house to theirs. They still can't (or won't) hop up or down the ladder, so one of us has to crawl into the run (an amusing site as the entrance is maybe 20" x 20" and flush with the ground) to put them in and out. Here are some pics of the girls (and other interested parties) in their first hour of outdoor time:

More chick pics

2009-05-06T19:17:00.001-07:00

Shake Your Tailfeather

2009-05-04T18:12:00.001-07:00

Lottie, Wanda and Maude are three weeks old today. They're growing up so fast! I can't believe how their feathers are coming in! I still have them in their box in the house, as every chicken guide has different advice as to when they can go outside for the first time. I've read everything from two weeks to six weeks, so I figure I'll split the difference and put them outside during the day once they're four weeks old.

Overall they're kind of flighty and not the cuddliest of pets, but they are very entertaining and they should be great fun to watch once they can free range in the yard. They're much calmer about us having our hands in the cage now, and they love to eat from our fingers, but they've taken to shrieking and violently flapping their wings when we pick them up. Hopefully when we can feed more treats they will be more amenable to our attentions.

Feathered Friends

2009-04-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

The little chicks are getting grown up, as all three have begun to sport a lot of new feather growth! Maude is still the largest, but Lottie is definitely the most athletic. She's the only one that flies up on to the roosting pole I put in their habitat. I also added a plush dog toy that looks like a hedgehog, and they all like clustering around it. What can I say, they're funny little creatures!

Yogurt is a Chick's Best Friend

2009-04-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

I've spent the past few days trying to get the chicks more accustomed to me. They were pretty easy to handle the first couple of days, but they've gained in both size and agility seemingly overnight. Their cute, whisper-like peeps have morphed into full out shrieks every time I stick my hand in their cage. That was, until I discovered the allure of plain yogurt. I picked up this tip from the Backyard Chickens forum, and it has opened up a new world of friendship between me and my feathered friends. They still aren't too keen on being picked up, but they seem to have grown less afraid of my hand in their cage. I'm met with only a medium level of dramatic wing flapping and screeching now.

They are growing amazingly fast. Lottie and Wanda seem to be growing at the same rate, but Maude is a lot larger and has the most feathers. (Maude is on the left, Lottie is to the right.) Their personalities are also beginning to take shape. Lottie is the most athletic. She likes madly launching herself off the top of the feeder. Wanda is a drama queen. Her shrieks are the loudest and she runs around in circles shrieking when you try and pick her up, but she is the first to come eat yogurt off my fingers. Maude is the most laid back. At first, we thought she might be "special" due to her staid nature, but I think this is just how she rolls.

Say my Name...

2009-04-16T18:03:00.000-07:00

MAUDE!

WANDA!

LOTTIE!

Chick Video aka Yes, I am a Dork!

2009-04-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

Three Hot Chicks

2009-04-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

That's right, I picked up three hot chicks at the post office today. Before you get the wrong idea, these were my day old baby chickens I ordered from My Pet Chicken. I got the phone call around 10:45 this morning, and drove to the post office shortly thereafter. I waited patiently while they went to retrieve my package, and I was handed the box to the left. The vigorous peeping emitting from my box got some curious stares! I hurriedly took them to the car so I could get them home and out of the box ASAP!

After a short drive home I was able to open up the box and take out the cute little chicks. All of them seemed to be fine, and I placed them in their toasty container with food and water.

They seemed a little scared and skittish at first, but they soon began exploring. The yellow one likes to get INTO the food container. She barely fits now, so I have a feeling I'll be rescuing her from a half in/half out posture very shortly! Luckily the container slides apart easily into two pieces.

They are very amusing to watch, and their peeps are actually quite nice and soothing!

The Chick's in the Mail

2009-03-10T14:46:00.001-07:00

We have received confirmation of our chick order from My Pet Chicken! We will be receiving three chicks total - one buff orpington, one plymouth rock barred, and one easter egger through the U.S. Mail. Below are pics from the website of what they should look like. They can't control the color of the easter egger as it is a "mutt," so ours may be a different color. I'm so excited! They are shipping the week of April 13, so I will be sure to post pics as soon as they arrive.

Plymouth Rock Barred

Easter Egger

Buff Orpington

The Eglu has Arrived!

2009-03-06T18:48:00.000-08:00

We picked up the Eglu on Sunday at the Greyhound Station downtown. We were a little worried the boxes wouldn't fit into the CRV, but they JUST fit.

The assembly actually wasn't that bad, and now we are ready for our chicks!

Now and Hen

2009-01-13T18:51:00.000-08:00

Coming Soon!