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!
:-)