chickies, becoming little women

they have cute little chicken-like tails and are developing nice coloring.
i initially named them mitzi, bunny, muffin and lala. but maybe i should take a louise may alcott route?

spring chicks

bought four chicks this year: two golden sex links, one black sex link and a new hampshire red. these days i just went for female, available and steady layers. i'll be rehoming some of the older hens soon.

they are now living in the rabbit hutch, you can see them leaping and poking about from the kitchen window. it's nice to have chicks that aren't in the house, stinking up the place.

(a blonde) a brunette and a redhead

two of the new chickies

you may recall that i picked up five chicks on a whim a few weeks ago. well two of them fell prey to whatever snagged another three from my friend's yard. so these girls came over early. so far, so good.

a weak constitution

i spent twelve dollars on a whim.

a chicken whim.

i am now the proud owner of five more baby chickens.

but this year i am doing it right and boarding them with a friend. last year all the chickens were raised at my house, it seems only appropriate to pass the mantle at some point.

i had initially chosen to not buy more chickens. but then this coming winter came to mind and the lack of eggs currently probably swayed my choices. if i recall, i think the chicken generations break down as such:

first year—two buffs (iphegenia and io)

second year—two arucanas, one barred rock, two bantys, two sex links, one iowa blue

third year—three wyanadottes, one speckled sussex, one maran, two arucanas

i expect that the two oldest and at least three of the second generation aren't laying much.

so yesterday i picked up two arucanas, two sex links and a rhode island red. three excellent layers and two fancy eggers. over the summer and into the winter i may look at finding some retirement homes for some of the older chickens, we'll see how things unfold once the longer days come along.

baby chicks are pretty damn cute.

an unproductive weekend

spent the weekend wine tasting and not gardening, so unfortunately i don't have a lot to say.

my seedlings aren't nearly as big and beautiful as anything out at the farm or in the stores but i am hoping that they will pull through. i might collect milk cartons to make some impromptu cloches to aid my case once i get them outside.

last night we found a beheaded baby chicken.
my thoughts on this are:
1. i hope it was the same one that i couldn't retrieve from behind my neighbors fence (thus minimizing my loss.)
2. i hope it wasn't any of my three cats. (other cats are more difficult to control, but i don't want to have a killer in my house.)

quite frankly though, at this point, with this many chickens, i'm not too heart broken over the loss of one. mostly just frustrated that it means they need to be on lock-down.

making small steps towards the backyard of my dreams...

chick(s) down!

this weekend we lost three chicks. one wynadotte and two sussexs.
the became lethargic. could barely stay awake. eventually it degrades into them being unable to open their eyes, hold up their heads, or control their little fluffy bodies (spasming).

from what i've been reading, it sounds like they had some sort of infection. on saturday i went through all the trouble to eye drop pedialyte with crushed garlic into their little mouths every thirty minutes or so. they died, so i don't know if it had any effect on their state.

the feed i bought this time around doesn't appear to be medicated and i wonder if that is why this happened. i've never had something like this happen before.

i put crushed garlic cloves in the water dish of the remaining chicks, after thoroughly sanitizing it. all the others appear to be continuing in good health. the chick room smells overwhelmingly garlicky.

the older chickens are outside now in the bunny hutch. when i am out in the yard i let them run around. the bounce around, flap their wings and challenge each other. its nice to be able to have them outside.

the truth about chickens

the one chicken death i mentioned a few weeks ago was actually only the tip of the iceburg. later that day i lost another five or six to the cat.

the cat is, needless to say, out of my life now.

it was a complete fiasco but i didn't shed any tears.
i would never intentionally put one of the chickens or chicks in harms way, but over the course of the last year or so i've found that if harm does come to them i am incredibly objective about it.

last night i realize that it is not for a lack of love for chickens but out of an understanding of fundamental animal nature. i can be angry with the cat, sad for the chickens, but in the end i've known what the score is when it comes to cats and birds—it was a possibility from the get go.

that made me feel a little better.
i haven't been particularly worried about my seeming lack of concern but was a little surprised in light of how much i do care about their well-being. this explanation seems to make sense.

it comes down to, animals are animals. you can't change that.

a chicken update

sad news. the grey cat killed a white cochin banty.
he could even be decent enough to get rid of one of the five rooster i have on my hands. what a fucker. i am seriously considering taking him to the humane society tomorrow morning. now that he has the tase of chicken blood i don't think i can trust him. well, i already know i can't. its not like he is starving. he's just cruel.

(really he's just acting as is his nature, but i don't appreciate it.)

the poor chick. i had tentatively named her evelyn. she was so soft and so good natured. sometimes i feel like such a terrible chicken mother.

i am taking the roosters and filler chickens (buff roosters i think) to portland so that a friend can unload them on the chicken populace of west oregon. fine by me. out of my hair.

everyone else is doing well and are now all located outside. smallest chicks in a fortified barrel and the larger ones in a puppy pen of my mothers. its working out well (well, it was until this untimely death.) the coop has gone through some minor overhauling and now seems a lot more spacious. once i can lay my hands on some bark chips i am going to try that for bedding instead of straw, since straw is currently out of season it seems.

the baby chicken update

the chicks have been moved outside and i am beginning to name them.

like last year, they are living in a dog kennel. this time, inside the dog run the large chickens currently live in. soon the remaining chicks will arrive from ideal poultry and i will probably need to start them out in the wine barrels again. phew.

the arucanas are turning out differently than expected.
one of them is becoming very grey. so she is now a dark brown, reddish orange, blue mix. i've named her josephine. the white one has a lot of red feathers coming in throughout her body and some grey around her face, i've named her isabel. the two younger arucanas are as yet unnamed, one is brown with a lot of white coming in on her chest and the other is darker brown with a lot of orange/re coming in.

the red sex link i've decided to name ramona.

of the bantys i think i will be keeping (if they are she's): the white polish, the buff brahma and this other one that i haven't been able to determine its breed. it looks barred but brown. and its feather legged. i've named her carmen.

so thus far, josephine, isabel, ramona and carmen. eleven more to go, or so. i just keep waiting for names to strike me.....

the two larger chickens are big enough to escape the barrels.
but they can get back in too, so i am not too worried.

some of the bantys are feathering out more but aren't growing much.
there is definitely one of them that is a rooster.

today i found out i wasn't scheduled at the restaurant so i came home, tended my flocks, and then came inside and built a fire and cooked up a quiche.

it was great. i've been on the go for a few days now. it feels good to be on the go too. good to be busy—both at work and at play.

but i really need to get my beds leveled and filled so that i can start planting. i should take a day off to plant once the time comes. level and fill over the weekend and then take a monday off and plant peas and greens and the berries. and then clean the whole house and backyard.

if you can't tell, my life feels a little on hold in the gardening area. my inability to plant things is draining my motivation. its bringing me down.

oh well. it will be overcome, to be sure.
for now i grow chickens.

an update of a semi-urban gardener

i have an explosion of chickens.
its incredibly obvious that i will need to sell some or give them away.

the count is at fifteen bantys, four arucanas and two sex-links.
the bantys were a mixed bag, i've been looking at chicken pictures and i think i may have some of the following: blue polish, silver pencil, blue cochin, light brahma, birchen or partridge cochin, arucana, gold laced, black cochin, spangled hamburg or maybe a columbian. one of them is a game bird. her name is fiona.

one of the arucanas may be wheaten. she is white with some really pretty strawberry blonde feathers coming in. they are all starting to mellow a bit more. the sex links are incredibly mellow.

next week the fence will be moved, straightened and repaired. i have the back area seeded with the pasture mix i bought. hopefully i can keep the birds and chucks out of it long enough for it to sprout. i'd like it to be a lush jungle of grass so that the chickens don't destroy it.

the fence going to cost be about twice as much as i wanted it to, four times as much as would have been ideal. but i've decided buying local extends to people i know and know i should support.

the beds are built, they have yet to be leveled or filled. maybe next week. i am feeling a little over-whelmed about leveling them. i am thinking rather than digging them down i will prop one end up. line the portion that is lacking with rocks. its this kind of hang up that i wish i had an extra set of hands. an extra set of brains.

the potatoes have arrived. the berries have not, which is disconcerting.
everything else is just waiting...waiting for me and my level and dirt to get the job done. maybe this coming week. maybe having the fence done will inspire me. maybe the longer days mean that i will level the beds one day after work. then over the weekend i can fill them with dirt. all the while, my jungle grows in the back.

if only my motivation was as strong as my desires. i suppose that is what march and february are about. frustration. slow progress.

chick-a-palooza

okay. i think i am a little chicken crazy.
feed store had five free chicks per customer so now there are ten banty chicks keeping my arucanas company.

i'm now the crazy chicken lady, not the crazy cat lady.

it'll be an experiment, if i can pick out pullets.
if i can, i can give some away or sell them.
if i can't, i will definitely be giving some away.

but i'll be honest about my craziness.
i have sex links coming next week. might pick up another arucana.
and i have an order of chicks coming in april

...so, a lot of chickens.
but free bantys!
a chance to have some cool bantys without incurring cost for roosters.

i won't keep them all.
(if you can't tell, i am struggling with my impulses.)

oh heloise!

my rogue chicken returned!
today my fellow chicken enthusiast picked up a arucana and barred rock for me. i will now have 9, though i am considering finding a home for my Tselma. (not to mention the rooster.)i came home at lunch to find all the chickens loose in the back yard—including heloise!

frankly, i'm shocked. after a week i'd given up.
my working theory was that she was now a rogue chicken living in michael stipes backyard. yet, she made her way back the first time the girls were loose in the yard. now beulah will not be the bottom of the pecking order (having been seperated, alone at my rental for awhile.)

my chickens are again one big happy family.
the new chickens are already laying and are looking a little grubby from having come from a chicken farm—not to mention pale because they've never seen daylight! yipes! to think we eat eggs and meat from birds living like that. i haven't named them yet but i am happy that they will get to live such a wonderful life with me.

tonight i will loose them into the yard to snack on bugs and meet the barred rock (who remains at large in the yard.) last night tslema slept on an outside roost, iphegenia inside the coop, the rest on top. tonight i will prop the roof up just enough to make that no longer an option.

so, in addition to painting two bedrooms i need to build a nesting box and pick up some hay. all in all i've continued to make progress on the house and am not feeling nearly as defeated as last week—thank god.

the internet arrives tomorrow. once its on and things are settled, i will tell the tale of finishing the coop, complete with pictures.

time to get into gear

in the last week i have done next to nothing in my garden.

in the past few days the most i have done is buy a slew of plants to be planted. perrenials such as fennel, salvia, yarrow, cammomile, coreposis, wallflower and lemon verbena.

the last of my tomatoes have been found:
black cherry, snow white, long keeper, and roma iv. i was unable to find gardener's delight and so subsituted snow white—a white cherry tomato (i can find red ones anywhere!) i found the eggplant i was interested in and bought squash even though i also have seed—we'll try both.

i've had no luck with my unusual watermelon. i'm growing what i can find.

with running out of the way i should have more time to focus on the garden. my realistic goals for this week are to:
1. remove morning glories
2. plant beans
3. build chicken coop
4. plant the rest of my plants

while in portland i picked up some windows and hinges for the coop. now i must scour the scrap piles of my and my family's garages, not to mention make a concrete plan regarding this coop of mine. (such high hopes!)

i hope to have it done by next monday.
the chickens are way too big to be in their wine barrel anymore. the water is now on two layers of brick and i've built a cardboard fortress around the barrel just so that they won't make a mess of everything.

its hot. i watered everything well and hope it will thrive tomorrow.
unfortunately, i won't have time for anything until wednesday, unless i garden by moonlight.

the new additions have arrived!

and i don't mean beans.
it is still too cold to plant any of my beans, my tomatoes, or my dill.
but it is giving my time to get the beds in even better order.

i've been on the hunt for dandelions and pulled quite a few out that were larger than heads of lettuce you'd find in the grocery store! they also appear to harbor slugs at alarming rates (and worms, oddly enough), so i'd better pick up some cheap beer and drown the fuckers.

the new chickens arrived: heloise & beulah are rhode island reds—adorable little redhead chickens; odette and isolde are gold-laced wyandottes, i.e., black & tan fluffballs. i love their colors. heloise is the noisiest, continually peeping, chasing the banty's and trying to peck their fluffy toes. the grown chickens make the newcomers look like absolutely tiny fluffballs.

the other night i attempted to make whipped cream with left over half and half, which failed and now i am trying to turn it into impromptu milk-eis, like cheap ice cream, by freezing it and blending it a few times throughout the proccess. it has actually turned out really well and super tasty, and tonight i will be eating it with some tasty strawberries.

dinner turned out well, sloppy butternut squash manicotti and asparagus that was actually tasty, so chalk up another new food on my list. the transition away from being a picky eater is a fun one. i made up some buttermilk honey salad dressing that contains apple cider vinegar, again, i'm trying to use up the buttermilk (necessity is the mother of invention.)

tonight i am making banana bread with left over bananas from work. i like putting bran flakes into my banana bread to make it healthier. the recipe requires 1 1/3 cups of flour, the 1/3 cup i use bran. the taste is not compromised in the least. (i learned this trick from a tasty banana muffin recipe.)

don't count your chickens

today was the day my chickens were to arrive.
i speak in the past tense, because two of them didn't and the two that did have apparently died before i could ever retrieve them! their little chicken home is still warm and cozy back at my house, eagerly awaiting their presence.

what shitty news. i've been waiting for weeks.
my roommate has been telling me that they die easily. that i shouldn't name them for awhile because they might die. well, they died before i ever even got to look at them. i don't know whether to think their death was to humble me (my chickens won't die) or caused by all the "baby chickens die" talk.

every supplier in the area is out and all the online suppliers require an order of no less than 25. i cannot have 25 chickens and i don't know anyone else in the market for chickens.

i guess i'm glad they died on someone else's watch. i would feel even worse if they had died after i got them home.

if anyone has bright ideas on how to get me some alive & kicking fluffy baby chickens, i'm listening with great attention.

first day of spring

the seeds i planted week before last are coming up.
so far: poppies, radishes, lupines, spinach, chard, lettuce
tomorrow i need to get more sweet peas in the ground and the fence up.

i am so glad that i got the beds worked over when i did.
i've had just enough energy to enjoy the unfolding of greenery. looks like the lilies, peonies, bleeding hearts, roses, delphiniums, daffodils, hyacinth and tulips are all coming up strong. the violets growing in the grass make the entire front yard smell delicious. the liliacs are beginnging to green up and i can't wait to open my window and smell that wonderful smell.

the turtle (morla) is finally outdoors, safely in her pen.
only a few adjustments left, mostly for her own safety.

next wednesday my chickens will be arriving.
what should i name them?
getting chickens is a little ridiculous given my situation.
i should count on staying her all summer, otherwise, everything is screwy.
for right now, i don't care. maybe i'll buy this place after all.
(wouldn't that be lovely? c'mon finance fairy, come and see me...)

tomorrow is friday and fridays are fantastic.
off early with two more days to play.