Broody Buff

It is really unseasonably cold here in Massachusetts. Today's high is predicted to be a whopping 26 degrees. Brrrrr.

The chickens are managing quite nicely despite the frigid temperatures. Their water keeps freezing overnight, so I make sure to give them nice warm water in the morning. We need to buy a heated waterer for our birds, but when I last went in to Agway, they were sold out. I need to trek up there, but just haven't had the time. The heated waterer is a kind of like a hot plate. You place the water on top of a heater base and through the power of electricity, your water never freezes.

When the weather is this cold, you need to collect eggs a couple of times a day so that they don't freeze. (Frozen eggs, NOT good eats.) When I checked the laying boxes, a nice Buff Orpington was sitting on a clutch of about 5 eggs. I felt a bit mean stealing them from her when she was doing such a nice job keeping them toasty, but now is not the time of year to be raising chicks. I suspect they wouldn't survive the cold New England winter if they did manage to hatch. Charlotte has also reported over the past few days that she has seen a Buff sitting on the eggs. My guess is that it is the same bird. This has me thinking ... if I have a broody hen, and several roosters, then maybe I will let her raise a clutch come spring. I think the kids would absolutely love it, and who can resist a few fluffy little chicks running around the yard?

Not me!

Cuckoo for Google?

Sometime in September, I contacted McMurray Hatchery about my "Dominique" rooster Google. In question was whether he really was a Dominque, which didn't seem possible based on his large single comb. (Dominiques have small pea combs.) So what breed is he actually??? The hatchery folks seem to think that based on his comb type and that he has white legs, he is actually a cuckoo marans.

WHAT??????

How did I end up with that? Um, guess they threw in a complimentary rare chick as a little gift from them to me. Great gift when I only wanted hens. Luckily, my neighbors seem to think that the incessant crowing only adds to the pastoral charm of the neighborhood. Phew!

The top photo is a picture of a bunch of silver cuckoo marans, which kind of look like Google. I'll post a picture of him tomorrow and you can decide for yourself.

Petersons Peep's Peck-Peck Painfully Pecks Poor Person

File this one under ouch.

The other day, I was checking on the birds as I normally do. One of the white leghorns tried to get out as I was standing at the door, so I picked it up and held it for a few minutes. Both the roosters came running to the door as usual to see who had taken one of their hens. When I put the chicken down, Peck-Peck pecked me hard in the back of the hand and drew blood. How dare I hold one of his hens???

So the poor person who was painfully pecked by Peck-Peck was me. That Peck-Peck is one mean son-of-a-gun.

Don't Cry Over Spilt ... Eggs?

Today was our first three egg day! The white leghorns are reliably pumping out about an egg a day each. Not only did we get three eggs, but we got our first really big one. So far all of our eggs have been about 1.75 ounces, which classifies them as medium. Today, one of the eggs was a whopping 2.25 ounces, which would sell in a grocery store as an EXTRA LARGE!

My excitement was short lived, however. Liam, who means well and is very excited about this egg business, couldn't keep his hands off the eggs and dropped our very first extra large.

Though we couldn't put poor Humpty back together again, Hoagie the black lab was very excited for a mid-morning snack.


Now I gotta go mop because my kitchen smells like egg. Blech.

Double Your Pleasure

As Rob Base says: "It takes two to make a thing go right, it takes to two to make it out of sight." When it comes to eggs, I have to say I agree.

When I checked the chicken coop this afternoon, I discovered two eggs that weren't there this morning. Crazy! So now I know that at least two of my white leghorns are laying.

I was just reading that the leghorn lays about 250-280 eggs its first year, and I have three of them! That's a whopping 750-840 eggs that will be dropped over the next year. And let's not forget that I have five other hens that haven't started laying yet. Anyone want eggs? I'm going to have a lot of them...
Drop me an email if you want some. Seriously!

And I don't know about you, but I like the whopper, *&(* the big mac.
You just gotta love Rob Base if for no other reason than the cheese factor.

Woo-Hoo Number 2

Just wanted to quickly report that I found our second egg today. I am happy to report that this egg was not cracked, so I suspect someone will be eating it for breakfast tomorrow morning. The egg was not in the nesting box, however, so I will have to investigate how to encourage the hens to lay where I want them to. More on that in a later blog post.

The Incredible Edible Egg

Behold! OUR FIRST EGG!

We had an amazing surprise when we checked the chicken coop yesterday: our very first egg!
I was so excited that I screamed out "We got an egg!" to no one in particular quite like a maniac. The kids came running and couldn't wait to take turns looking at the egg where it was laid in the nesting box and then holding it. Once we had taken loads of pictures, we called a couple of friends to spread the news. It really was a big day.










The egg did get cracked slightly on one end when it dropped into the nesting box, but still it is a beautiful thing. And I am so proud that the hen (a white leghorn by the way) knew to lay it in the nesting box!

Safe and Sound

Just wanted to update you that the three missing chicks made it through the night safe and sound. I found them scratching in the yard the next morning about 20 feet away from the coop. They seemed completely unaware of the sleeplessness they caused me. Typical!

I attribute their survival in part to the big black dog. We've been letting him sleep in the garage (with the door open) at night so he is free to come and go. I think having a wandering 80-pound dog roaming the yard keeps a few of the predators at bay.

You may now remove your yellow ribbons from the old oak tree.
Phew!

Tie a Yellow Ribbon

We're not having a good night at ole Peterson's Peeps:
We're missing three chickens.

The kids let the chickens out this afternoon to scratch in the yard and forgot to prop open the door to the coop. I was in and out of the house and it didn't occur to me to make sure the door was still open.

Normally, with the door open, the chickens put themselves to bed for the night, and I go out at dusk to lock everyone up safe and sound. Because the door was closed, they couldn't get into the coop. I found four of the chickens (the two roosters and two hens) standing at the door of the coop trying to get in through the chicken wire. I found one of the buffs sleeping on a foot-high rock and another one roosting in a nearby tree. The last bird, a white leghorn, was sitting on top of the monkey bars on the kid's swingset (how she got up almost 9 feet in the air is beyond me). Right now, I am still down two white leghorns and one dominque.

I have searched high and low looking for the three remaining missing, but have had no luck. Either they are hiding/roosting for the night and will be back in the morning or they made for a nice dinner for a lucky raccoon or fox. Let's hope it's the former and not the latter. I don't know how the kids will handle losing three all at once. I'm pretty upset by it -- and angry too as this was preventable.

I'll update you in the morning.

Dirty Birdy

I've heard of mud baths ... but dust baths?

Yep, you got it: a chicken's way to get clean is by sitting in dry dirt or sand to take a lovely bath. Even though it sounds counterintuitive, the dust and the preening that follows helps a chicken rid its feathers of irritating parasites. It also helps them control them control their body temperature and prevent injury (though how it prevents injury is beyond me and my handy Storey's guide does not say).

So how do they take a dust bath you ask? Ok, so you didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you anyway. First, the chicken digs a hole in the dirt, then she sits and flaps her wings working all that nice filth and grime until she is well-coated throughout. Once the chicken is done wallowing, she stands up and gives a nice shake so that you can see all the dust billowing in the air. Refreshing! Here's a quick little video of the wallowing part.

Cute Chicken Contest

Just in case you haven't seen quite everything yet, the McMurray Hatchery is holding a cute chicken photo contest. Check out the McMurray Link to vote for your favorite chicken picture under the That's So Sweet heading.

http://www.thesurveyplatform.com/survey/MM0001/Instructions.html?a=email


One last thing - I was away on vacation for two weeks, which explains my lack of blogging. It's good to be back!

Lions, and Tigers, and Roosters? Oh My!

It's official: Our cockerels are in the throws of puberty, and you know what that means??? Like all boys, their voices are changing. Yep, that means the roosters are now crowing. Not just a little bit, but a lot and all the time! Now that they've found their voices, they are super diligent about practicing to make sure they get that cock-a-doodle-do just right.

I first started hearing that unmistakable call last week, but it was faint and I wasn't sure (can we say denial?). We had a couple of guys here doing some work on the back of the house and they confirmed that it was indeed crowing and that it had been going on all day.

I think it's kind of cool. I only hope our neighbors don't mind... On that note, I need to call our next-door neighbor to see if she thinks it's a nuisance. Luckily we only have one person close enough to be bothered by all that racket.

Oh did I mention that I was up at 6 am and already I could hear the crowing? AND they were still locked up in the coop?

Yikes!

Around the Water Cooler, Chicken Style

The chickens are quite funny when they first are let out in the morning. They make a mad dash for the food and water. Once the initial frenzy dies down, they like to hang out and chat, sort of like those guys who hang out around the water cooler. If you listen, you can hear them gently clucking to each other. I think they're talking about The Office.

In this video, you can also see how big Google has gotten (except in China). He stands well above the other chickens and eats from the top of the feeder, which cracks my husband up to no end. If you look, you can also see Peck-Peck, the brown and white speckled rooster. He's scratching at the ground, but you can briefly see his blazing red comb and wattle.

Here's another brief but good look at Google. I have to admit that he's pretty impressive.

Beating the Heat

The dog days of summer are here! Here are three tips for keeping chickens happy and healthy in the heat of the summer:

1. Watermelons rule! Keep watermelon slices in the fridge, and give them to your flock during the hottest part of the day. They'll gobble it up, and it will lower their body temperature immediately.

2. Ice helps, of course! Add chunks of ice to your flock's water during the day. They'll love you for it.

3. Yes, it's possible to keep your coop sweet-smelling, even in the hottest, most humid weather.

Thanks to my pet chicken for these handy tips!

Chicks with Chicks

I stumbled across this great picture earlier this evening from a lovely catalog of awkward family photos.

Once I stopped laughing, I started to wonder if maybe one day ... about 10 years from now ... Charlotte and her friends would want a quick pic of them on prom night with the chickens they have all grown to love.


Seriously! I want to know what this picture is all about. Any ideas?

Roasting

Red Tailed Hawk

It has been a hot summer in the Northeast, and I feel bad for the chickens always being cooped up. Today, I decided to keep the black beast inside and let the chickens out. They are very happy foraging in a clump of trees overgrown with lots of bramble. It keeps them out of the sun (and safe from hawks) and gives them lots of opportunity to scratch up bugs and what not.

My dad stopped by to drop off a power washer and as has become his habit, he stops to see the birds before he checks in with the humans of the house. First thing he said to me, "You have two roosters." Now mind you, he is smacking his lips as he says this. While I have NO plans to eat any of my pet chickens, my father can only see a delicious roast chicken dinner every time he looks at those birds. Adding insult to injury: the roosters are significantly larger than the hens, making them seem even tastier. And he knows that we're really only interested in keeping hens as we worry that roosters may be too loud for our neighborhood. Our neighbors aren't that close, but we have a good relationship with them and would like to keep it that way!

The Chicken Whisperer recently blogged about keeping urban/suburban roosters responsibly, and honestly, it seemed like a lot of work. Essentially, you need to crate the rooster every night in your garage. This means that every night, you need to catch that guy and transport him somewhere else. Folks, most roosters aren't so nice, don't want to be caught, and certainly don't want to be held while you move them to their own version of solitary confinement. Oh and they have really sharp pointy toes that scratch like the dickens. We will see. Luckily, I have another month or two before the guys start crowing.

City Chicks

Ever thought you wanted to keep chickens, but don't live in the country? Check out Patricia Foreman's book City Chicks and learn the joys of keeping chickens in small places.

If you're trying to live a greener lifestyle, keeping chickens may interest you. Did you know that about 25% of what goes into landfills is bio-mass (that's a nice way to say food scraps). Did you also know that chickens will eat your food scraps? Yep, chickens are naturally omnivorous and will eat practically any leftovers you give them (but please don't feed them chicken...that's just wrong). By feeding chickens your scraps, they convert your food waste into highly valuable fertilizer that works great in any garden. Think about what you save (enviroment, cost savings to municipalities) and what you get (fertilizer, eggs) when you keeps a small flock.

Learn more about keeping micro flocks of chicken garden helpers, compost creators, bio recyclers, and local food suppliers (eggs!) by picking up this book.

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Move over Google, there's a new boy in town. I'm pretty sure that our last remaining speckled sussex is indeed male -- or as we say in the bizness, a cockerel. Now I don't have any female sussex to compare with (rest in peace Brownie), but based on the size of his comb, I think there's little denying that Peck Peck is anything but a dude. I didn't post a picture of his tail feathers, but they are starting to grow long and lush, just like a rooster.

Two roosters!!! What are the chances? Well, apparently they are pretty good. Murray McMurray Hatchery sexes the chicks and guarantees 90% accuracy, meaning that 10% of the time they get it wrong -- pretty good if you're a meteorologist, but bad if you're a surgeon/marksman/accountant. I bought 27 chicks in April, which means that statistically I should have received 2.7 male birds and 24.3 females. Let's just round it and say that I should have received about 3 roosters in the mix. Hmmm. Well, I did get at least two.

The funny thing is that I gave away 15 birds, 2 died (again, rest in peace Brownie), so I currently have 10 birds. This means that I have only 37% of my original flock. If you do the math, I should have only ended up with one rooster (.99 but I'm rounding!). So why is it that I have two running around the coop? Peterson luck I guess.

As my husband says, if it weren't for bad luck, we wouldn't have any luck at all!
:-)

R.I.P. Brownie

As was expected, Brownie didn't make it through the night.

"She had got the cancer and died on a Tuesday."

She was well-loved by three little children.
We will miss you Brownie.

Brownie Update

Several people have asked how Brownie is. I've been holding off on an update hoping for good news, but alas there is none. She's still with us, but I fear not for long.

Brownie is smaller than the other hens and seems to have a growth on her right breast. I don't know if the growth is her problem of if the other chickens have been pecking her and preventing her from getting food. Most likely, it's a combination of both. We tried isolating her in our dog's old crate and giving her own food and water, but it hasn't helped.


She is at the point where she is even too weak to eat or drink. We took her out of the crate and returned her to a nesting box where she would be dry and warm ... and as comfortable as possible. Poor Brownie.

I'll keep you posted.

Freebird

If I leave here tomorrow, will you still remember me?
Well...will you?

I'm trying to free range the chickens as much as possible, but given that I have a big hungry black lab, I'm somewhat limited in these efforts. Yesterday afternoon, I let the chickens out because the kids wanted to play with them and I wanted them to eat bugs and scratch and do chicken stuff. We locked up the big black beast to ensure the birds' safety and all was pastoral bliss until it was time to get the chickens back in the coop. Usually, with a little persuading and gentle nudging, I can get the birds back in with minimal effort....but not last night.

That great juniper bush that the chickens like to scratch under? Well last night I spent a good 20 minutes running in circles around it trying to get the chickens out. I got about half the birds in and then two would run out as I tried to usher two more in. I finally had the sense to quit before I got any more frustrated, but then there was the issue of the barking black beast who really wanted to escape the garage and run free. The dog would just have to wait.

About 45 minutes later -- the kids had been fed and tubbed -- I put the beast on a leash and set out toward that @#*&%^@* juniper to get the chickens back in. This time I was armed with not only a big hairy beast, but also a kiddie fishing net that we use to catch minnows down the cape every summer. Sure the chickens ran away from the dog, but only to the other side of the tree. Even with the fishing net, once again I'm running in circles and getting no where (but hey! that's a typical day for a stay-at-home mom). After 25 minutes of more insanity, I admit defeat.

In a semi-irritated panic, I text my friend Catherine, the guru of all things fowl. She tells me to wait until it gets darker when the chickens slow down and actually want to go to bed. Oh, but she also mentions to make sure that I get to them before something else does... No worries. Never mind that I abut 92+ acres of wildlife land (wildlife meaning the many animals that like to eat fresh chicken). Sure enough, I go out just as the sun is setting and the last three chickens are desperately trying to find a way into the coop. With a little shuffling, I manage to get them back in. FINALLY! All are safe, and I can stop practicing my circle of life speech to explain to the kids what happened to the chickens.

Apparently, you can train the chickens to come running by shaking a bucket of chicken scratch. Alas, I don't have any chicken scratch, but you can bet your sweet bippy that I am going to get some immediately!

Needless to say, the chickens aren't leaving the coop today.

'Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you cannot change.
And this bird you cannot change.

Worra, Worra, Worra

Just went out to put the chickens in for the night and I'm worried about Brownie, one of our Speckled Sussex. Brownie is smaller than all the other hens and she always sleeps by herself in one of the nesting boxes, where all the others are now roosting at night. She definitely is at the bottom of the pecking order, but otherwise seemed to be pretty healthy.

Tonight when I went out to lock the hens up for the night, all the hens had gone in...All but Brownie, who was sleeping in the grass by herself. So now I'm all paranoid that something is wrong with her and that she may not be long for this world.

Did I mention that after Google, Brownie is Charlotte's favorite chicken. She's very mellow (or perhaps sick) and lets the kids hold her without a fuss. I'm really hoping she's ok.

I'll keep ya posted. Ugh.

OMG, TDD

The darned dog just tried to eat one of my white leghorns. It was awful, and my heart is still pumping like crazy. I think the bird is ok. It seems like my wrist got the worst of it. I just don't know what I am going to do with the beast. Ugh.

Blowin' in the Wind

Sometimes my kids come up with really funny ideas! Just this afternoon, the chickens were running around the yard and the kids were on the swings. Flynn thought it might be fun to have the chickens play along by roosting on the trapeze bars. The chickens kindly cooperated (Google and an as-yet unnamed white leghorn). They liked the roosting, except for when the kids started to swing the bar. Then, not so much.

All Quiet on the Western Front

The chicks really are no longer ... they are all grown up! They've been outside for a few weeks now and are thriving. Surprisingly, we have not lost a single chick apart from the small accident we had way back on day two. As a complete novice, I was really expecting to lost at least 25% of my flock in the first couple of months, but everyone is doing well. Let's hope I didn't just put the whammy on me.

Life in the coop is much more peaceful than in the brooder. The birds have more room to stretch. There are roosts in the hen house. AND the chickies just love scratching in the dirt. My kids will even look for slugs to feed them. Yummy.

I love this picture. It's Liam holding one of the buffs. Something about both their expressions crack me up.

By the way, we've named some of our buffs -- Butterscotch, Ginger, and Mary Anne. I think one of the White Leghorns will end up being Mrs. Howell! All this is lost on my kids, but it does tickle me!

All Day Chicken Buffet?

I've failed to mention that we own a big black dog named Hoagie. Hoagie is a lab, from a long line of hunting dogs. To say that he is high energy and hyper is a massive understatement. To say that he is smart is a down right lie. We love Hoagie, but ...

Anyway, Hoagie has had limited exposure to the chicks. (Safety is job 1 at the Peterson house.) We've tried to keep him separated from the birds. On the rare occasion he has seen a chick up close -- I've been holding the chick -- he's quickly sat down licking his lips as if I'm about to give him a nice big doggie treat.

So now that the chicks are out in their coop, Hoagie thinks that we've put out an all day chicken buffet. He's acting crazed as if he's hyped up on steroids and he continuously jumps on the coop trying to knock down the chicken wire. He's desperate to find a way into the coop to get to the buffet. I'm hoping that with time, he will get bored and give up. I'll keep you posted.

Out Out Damn Spot...I Mean Bird!

The teenagers were stinking up my basement and it was time for them to get out ... outside that is!

We moved all 18 of the remaining chicks outside today. It was time. Like any teenager, they needed their own space. I needed them to have their own space. They stink/stank/stunk.

The chicks were put in their house with the door to the ramp open. Food and water were left right at the bottom of the ramp to encourage them to move. Unfortunately, the birds were too scared to do anything other than cower. Finally, after five hours, I went out and lifted them all down to the grass so they could eat something before they got put on lockdown for the night.

It took a while, but they finally got it!

You Lookin' at Me?

Charlotte wanted to get some pictures of the chicks to take into her kindergarten (we wanted to bring them in, but her school said no way!), so we took three of the chicks outside today. I thought a nice outdoor photo would make a nice change from that kiddie pool blue backdrop.

The birds didn't quite know what to do with themselves. What was that bright thing up in the sky. What was this brown mushy stuff under our feet? Oh my god, sensory overload, must sit down and stay still!



Google, being the manly explorer he is (come on, we're not kidding ourselves anymore, he is a rooster!) eventually did get up and look around. He even snatched some tiny gnats out of the air.



Well I hope they get used to this because starting Saturday, they are heading outside to the big house - permanently!

Victor/Victoria

Once again, I am speculating on the gender of our Dominique (or is it Dominic?)!

The picture below is of Google from a couple of days ago. Google is the chick that we think may be a male.

Now look at one of the other Dominiques:


Notice that Google's comb (the bumpy ridge above his beak) is already visible and rather developed, especially compared with the other Dominique, who has no signs of a comb at all.

I guess the good news is that if Google is indeed a cockerel (and on his way to roosterhood), he will probably be a pretty mellow one. Why you ask? Well, because Charlotte manhandles him all day long. She is constantly holding/tormenting him and as a result, he is used to being around people. He doesn't even run away from the kids like all the other chicks do when they try to pick him up. Roosters can be nasty, so if we do have one in the mix, it would be nice to have a gentle one. Also, is it too much to ask for a quiet rooster as well? Probably!

As always, I'll keep you posted!

Egg Myths

Are eggs healthy or unhealthy this week? It's often hard to remember whether the medical community feels they're good for us or not.

Check out this article from yahoo.com called Four Myths About Eggs to get the facts!

Our chickens will be raised on pasture, so if you're looking for some nice healthy eggs high in omega-3 fat, and vitamins E and A give us a call -- in about three months.

What the Flock?

I went to feed and water the chickens tonight and they were all asleep. I had to grab my camera to catch them huddled together. By the time I got back, they were starting to stir, but you get the gist of what it's like to sleep with the flock.



They did not like the camera flash; it woke them right up. Can't imagine why they wouldn't love the bright flash of light when they were trying to sleep!



Guess I should have probably let them be, but they would have been woken by me changing their water anyway...

Smart Chicks

Today, eight of the chicks visited Flynn's second grade class. Flynn's class recently started learning about life cycles, so having baby chicks visit was a great way to kick off the unit. Flynn's teacher was really enthusiastic -- she has twice raised ducks with her own kids.

Flynn was very proud to introduce his chicks to his class, and he did a great job identifying the different breeds of chicks. The second graders were very excited to hold the chicks, and they asked a lot of interesting questions. What they were most interested in, however, was chicken poop.

Now if any of you have children in the lower grades, this will not be a surprise. For some reason, kids are just fascinated with poop, and the fact that chickens poop almost nonstop and pretty much anywhere was just way too cool. The second graders were both grossed out and delighted by this shameless display of bodily function. Mrs. McCann, being a very wise teacher, told the kids matter of factly that that's what chickens do. She then instructed them to do one last eeewwwww/gross/oooooooohhhhh to get it out of their system so that we could move on with talking about chickens. (Glad I brought the bleach wipes with me!)

The kids were great with the chickens, and at least three kids asked if they could adopt one as a pet. Fine with me, but not sure how their parents are going to feel about it all...




Next week, I'm off to Liam's preschool. Now that should be interesting!

Choosing Breeds

Today my youngest had a play date with two other three-year-old boys. The three had a blast manhandling the little chicks (no one was hurt!). I was explaining why our chicks all look different and how I choose the four breeds: White Leghorn, Buff Orpington, Speckled Sussex, and Dominique (which are pictured at the top of this post).

When I selected the breeds, I looked for a combination of good egg layers, docile temperaments, and cold hardy birds. I wasn't too bothered about egg color (nutritionally they are all the same) or having rare or unusual birds. One tool I found helpful was the Which Chicken breed selector tool on mypetchicken.com.

Two of the breeds -- Buff Orpington and Speckled Sussex, matched all three of my criteria. I choose the Buffs because I just fell in love with their color and how poofy they looked.

Bill picked out the Speckled Sussex because he thought they looked cool.



We chose the White Leghorns based on their reputation as being great prolific layers. The White Leghorns are said to be nervous, but so far they seem the most mellow of all our chicks. By the way, it's pronounced "leggern." No Foghorn Leghorn here.

My oldest, Flynn, chose the Dominiques. He was originally drawn to Barred Plymouth Rocks because he liked how they looked with their alternating bars of black and white feathers. When we started investigating the Barred Rocks further, we found Dominiques who look similar but are a heritage breed that is critically endangered. As soon as Flynn heard that they were endangered, he was hooked. He takes great pride in doing his part to protect nature and helping an endangered breed really appealed to his sense of stewardship.

Three of our breeds produce brown eggs. Only the White Leghorns produce white eggs. If you grew up in New England you'll probably remember the commercial "brown eggs are local eggs, and local eggs are fresh." Apparently the ad campaign was so successful that in New England brown eggs outsell white eggs while every where else in the US the reverse is true. I have to admit that I always buy white eggs from the super market. I have no idea why...maybe I wanted foreign exotic eggs from far away instead of those boring ole local podunk ones??? Apparently the advertising didn't work on me.

THE Cake - Part 2

We just returned from a very successful birthday party. Fun was had by all, and my eight year old was extremely pleased with his birthday cake.

Mmmmm, cake...

And Then There Were 18

When we ordered our chickens, the minimum order was 25 chicks -- way too many for our chicken coop, which maxes out at about 10 chickens. Luckily, several friends and neighbors kindly offered to give our chicks good homes. Two of the families who are taking chicks want them full grown so that it will be easier to introduce them to their flock. (Otherwise, the big guys will peck the little ones to death.) Catherine the chicken guru wanted chicks, so yesterday Charlotte and I took eight of our little guys to her barn.

Catherine has a great set-up for chicks of all ages. My babies were put in a pen next to some of her teenagers. The first picture show the chicks' new home; the second shows some of the teenagers.





Catherine also has two roosters. They are living in the barn so as to not tick off the neighbors. The white guy seems nice enough, but the red one is one nasty son of a gun. If you stick your foot (or any body part really) near his pen he'll give you a good peckin' -- and it hurts! You have to admit that though they might not be the nicest guys on the block, they sure are good looking.

Happy Hen Treats

Just got an email from www.mypetchicken.com declaring it Chicken Mania 2010. To celebrate this exciting event/holiday/marketing exercise, they're offering a deal on dried meal worms (dried for those of us who are too squeamish to handle live meal worms). I'm thinking dried or not, I'm not too keen on handling any type of meal worm.

What do you think?

THE Cake

My oldest turned 8 yesterday, and to celebrate he is having a birthday party with a couple of his friends at a local laser tag joint. I've been asking him all week what type of cake he'd like at his party thinking that it's going to be Star Wars or sports themed (go Sox!). Nope. What type of cake does he want? Well a chicken cake of course!

A CHICKEN CAKE????

Yes, a chicken cake!

So I called a couple of bakeries and heard a lot of laughing before finally figuring out that the only real option I have is to do a photo cake. You know, the ones where they superimpose a picture on a sheet cake? So now all I need is a cute picture of a chicken. Easy enough, right? Ummm, not really.

First I try Google images, but I quickly find that most of the images are either too low a resolution or you can't easily crop them to a standard 4 x 6 size. My only option is to snap my own picture. So down to the brooder we go to scoop up four chicks, one of each breed. We bring them upstairs and then try herding them together for a lovely group shot... I think herding cats would be somewhat easier than chicks!

Fortyfour snaps and a lot (I mean a LOT) of chicken poop later, I finally manage to get a picture that's passable for Flynn's cake.

The picture that will be gracing Flynn's 8th birthday cake is posted at the top. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the cake looks halfway decent!

In the Jailhouse Now

It's official: the chicks have moved to the big house. No, I don't mean the chicken coop -- they're much too small for that! I mean that they are in the jailhouse now. Let me explain...

I came home yesterday morning to find one lonely Buff Orpington standing outside the brooder looking very lost and confused. The chick was desperately trying to get back in, but couldn't figure out how. Yep, the chicks can already fly out of our little brooder. Luckily, I hadn't been gone for long, so the chick was returned to safety unharmed, but we did have to take drastic measures to make sure that no one else got left out in the cold.

To keep everyone in, we surrounded the brooder with some orange fencing we had hanging around. It works great even if it looks like the chicks are now in prison.