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.