Hounds In The Kitchen » City Chickens

She Was Hiding Something

Rachel — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:08:48 +0000

Can you spy the oddity in this picture? How about the chicken egg behind the bush?Which, upon looking closer, turned out to be a whole nest of eggs. It seems our chicken Austra has been laying for quite some time.

We had our suspicions when her feathers grew back in completely and comb turned characteristically bright red, a sign of egg production.

Then last week, we came home from a short walk and the dogs were at odds with each other. We stopped big hound Devie from barking and uncovered the desired object from little hound Hawise: a pale pinkish brown chicken egg. On the couch. Inside the house. Could they have brought an Austra egg in from the yard? But she hadn’t left any in the nest box in months!
When I uncovered the eggs on Saturday, we knew we had to reacquaint Austra with her nest box. She was going broody – sitting on the eggs and trying to hatch them – but we couldn’t have her laying eggs on the ground where they might freeze or be crushed or snatched by a dog.

We moved several of the ill-lain eggs to our designated nest box. Shut inside for a bit, Austra settled the bedding into a nest and laid an egg in the proper spot.

Later, to the tune of her anxious clucks, I removed all the other eggs and raked up the leaves. I even pulled up the cover evergreen, a plant that doesn’t quite belong in that place.

Yesterday, we could find no egg in the nest box or Austra’s ground nesting place. We all wonder where the next egg will be hiding.

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She Was Hiding Something is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Backyard December 3, 2011 {What’s Growing}

Rachel — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 13:39:20 +0000

Who says a late autumn garden is dull and brown?

Ours is hanging on to some color with rainbow swiss chard and greens, some of which self seeded when I neglected to pull the flowering mustard green plants. Austra the Australorp chicken regrew her jet-black feathers after molting and her comb is starting to redden up. On yesterday’s unseasonably warm evening, the sunset was full of bright hues too.

Surely the color will fade or be covered with white snow soon. In the meantime, I am enjoying every bit of intensity.

What’s growing in your neck of the woods?

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Backyard December 3, 2011 {What’s Growing} is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Mothering A Molting Hen

Rachel — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:14:40 +0000

This is the face of our molting Australorp hen, Austra. Her pin-like feathers look prickly and uncomfortable. Austra is a generally affable character but molting makes her seem frenzied. I say comforting things to her and only joke about the awkwardness of her feather loss behind closed doors like every good chicken mom.
Her roost in the morning appears as though a pillow exploded overnight. The nest box hasn’t held an egg for over a week. I added excess bedding to be sure our chicken stays warm despite feather loss.

As Austra helps to put the garden beds to rest, one witnesses the full molt. Her downy feathers are showing beneath the missing top feathers. She is eating constantly to fuel growing new clothes. I am feeding her scraps from the kitchen as always and tossing bird seed into her run for extra fun and nutrition.

On the upside, when the molt is complete in a few weeks, her singed tail feathers will be replaced. Our Austra will be returned to her former iridescent black glory, not to molt again for another year.

Have you ever watched a hen molt? I still find everything about chicken rearing fascinating.

Added to Simple Lives Thursday.

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Mothering A Molting Hen is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Rest In Peace Sussie, 2009-2011

Rachel — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:18:23 +0000

This week, we lost our speckled sussex hen, Sussie.

Suss had not been active, or laying eggs, for a few weeks. We tried several recommended treatments but she continued to lose weight and strength. On Thursday, Alex found her dead in the coop.

In life, Sussie was the most skittish and shy of our hens. She had a funky gait and I wonder if she battled a weak heart or other congenital defect. Lil loved Sussie and frequently engaged her in silly acts, like riding a bicycle.

With the two noisy Orpingtons sent to a farm (not a euphemism; they are happily squawking on a friend’s spacious piece of land now), Australorp Austra is a single backyard chicken. She is healthy and producing one egg a day but clearly saddened to be without a flock. Her black-feathered self spends much of her day close to our back door, greeting us with endearing coos when we step outside.

Only time will tell the future for our city chicken coop. We eventually want more hens and are possibly ready for the experience of raising them from chicks. The roost and run can use a redesign, so perhaps we’ll focus our efforts there first.

In the meantime, we mourn Sussie and are thankful for the time we were able to spend with her. Rest in peace, sweet speckled bird.

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Rest In Peace Sussie, 2009-2011 is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Homestead Heroines {Book Hounds}

Rachel — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:30:11 +0000

Last month I devoured three accounts from fellow female real-food lovers. I read Kristin Kimball’s The Dirty Life, The Chicken Chronicles by Alice Walker and How to Eat a Small Country by Amy Finley. Each was part inspiration, part ‘what not to do’ and thoroughly enjoyable.

Finley’s How to Eat a Small Country is the tale of a family reconvening in a foreign land from the verge of dissolution. Amy, her husband, and two young children leave their home in the US for an extended stay in France. They live in a farm house owned by an adventurous couple and their children. The families slaughter animals and eat French delicacies together, enthralling and appalling the Americans. Through their travels, Amy and her husband relearn how to enjoy their marriage and family.

The Dirty Life tells how Kristin Kimball abruptly changes the direction of her life when she meets future husband Mark during a writing assignment. After a short period of dating, they move to a neglected new england country estate. Mark’s passion for feeding others through hands-on, horse-drawn organic gardening slowly transforms the land and Kristin’s habits into a viable whole foods community supported agriculture experience.

Alice Walker is an approachable but formidable writer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize among other awards. In The Chicken Chronicles, she considers her flock of backyard chickens. The book’s short essays convey Walker’s complex values through seemingly simple conversations with her chickens. For part of the book she is writing to the chickens as she travels in India. A woman who misses her birds while visiting with the Dali Lama is a woman I can understand.

Walker’s blog is a constant source of amazement. She is an activist with a gift for writing about her incredible experiences in an everyday accessible way. She is in Gaza right now and I am addicted to her updates.

Each read offers encouragement to urban homesteaders of both genders. The Chicken Chronicles is the quickest read and the most thought provoking. How to Eat a Small Country was a great warning sign to me: proceed with caution in the food media world. And The Dirty Life made me desire the farming life ever more.

What books have inspired you lately?

Added to Simple Lives Thursday 51.

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Homestead Heroines {Book Hounds} is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

How To Fence Raised Beds

Rachel — Thu, 26 May 2011 13:57:19 +0000

The chickens eye the tomatoes, the dogs walk all over the bean bed, and the squirrels want into everything. What’s a space intensive gardener to do? Fence around the beds.

Yet every spring I resist. Fencing is ugly and expensive. It is a pain (literally, I have a hole healing in my finger from a wire poke) to install and remove. Grass is hard to cut around the edges.

This year I was intentional about planning and installing fencing. I finally have the perfect balance of function and aesthetics. Here’s how I fence our raised beds:

1) Use the same style throughout the garden. My cousin Todd of Combs Landscape Design advised that if all the fencing is the same, it disappears visually. I prefer vinyl coated wire fencing because it is less apt to poke fingers during installation and removal.

2) Install the fencing 2-3 inches above ground level. With this clearance, you can use an edger or scissors to cut grass missed by the lawn mower.

3) Staple every 12-15 inches. If you pull the fencing taught between staples, this is sufficient to hold. Every staple you put in during the spring must be removed in the fall. Don’t be like my husband, who put a staple every inch last spring and then had his wife remove the fencing in the fall. She will not enjoy removing hundreds of staples when a dozen would have done the job.

4) Fold corners into right angles. This defines the space visually and also adds stability.

5) Remove and re-roll the fencing in the fall. This will allow the chickens to do their dirt turning business and saves the fence from excess wear and tear. I use pliers to remove the staples and store the fencing in the loft of our garage.

How do you fence?

Added to Simple Lives Thursday 45.

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How To Fence Raised Beds is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Dinosaur or Chicken Foot

Rachel — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:03:20 +0000

This is the foot of Speckles after Alex cured it for months in salt. He and Lil arranged a rock in the claw and set it aside to air dry into a Halloween decoration.

In other words, ours is a very strange family.

And, if you ever questioned whether dinosaurs came from birds, I submit this reptilian-like claw as evidence.

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Dinosaur or Chicken Foot is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Bird Houses: In & Out

Rachel — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:48:35 +0000

Two birdwatchers building a birdhouse…

…and two orpington chickens happy to be free from theirs.

Added to Five Minutes for Mom Wordless Wednesday and Dagmar’s Momsense WW .

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Bird Houses: In & Out is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Baked Egg Cups & Saucy Mama Giveaway

Rachel — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:00:54 +0000

I like a good cooking challenge. When I heard about Saucy Mama’s Fabulous with Five contest for food bloggers, I had to give it a shot. The competition required creating a recipe with a Saucy Mama condiment and only five additional ingredients.

Having an abundance of backyard chicken eggs, I devised a simple and healthy breakfast or lunch dish. Each individual serving includes plenty of protein and, thanks to wilted spinach, a good dose of vitamins and minerals.

The recipe is perfect for a family on the go: make a triple batch and keep in the fridge for quick breakfasts or healthy packed lunch protein. It can easily be adapted to include the type of optional cheese and vegetables your family likes best.

To make Saucy Mama baked eggs, butter two dishes. Swirl in cornmeal for a crunchy crust. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, mustard, salt, pepper, and wilted spinach. Don’t like spinach? Try steamed broccoli, wilted kale, cooked carrots, or boiled potatoes.

Pour the egg mixture into the prepared bowls and top with your favorite kind of cheese if you like. The pictured dish includes a cheddar cheese topping.

Bake for 25 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature. Store in the fridge for up to four days.

In addition to providing me with a sampler of mustards and sauces, Saucy Mama wants to give away a condiment package of Saucy Mama Sweet Heat Marinade, Saucy Mama Tarragon Lemon Mustard, and Saucy Mama Pacific Rim Ginger Dressing to one of you!

{Update 5/20: Giveaway has now closed.} To enter the giveaway, comment below with your favorite way to use mustard. Comments must be received with a valid email by midnight on Thursday, May 19. A winner will be chosen by random.org and announced on the Hounds in the Kitchen facebook page and via email on May 20. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

Saucy Mama Breakfast Egg Cups
makes 2 meal sized servings

1 teaspoon butter
2 tablespoons cornmeal
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup wilted fresh spinach (about two large handfuls) or thawed frozen spinach or your favorite vegetable
1 teaspoon Saucy Mama dijon mustard
1/2 cup shredded cheese (optional)

1. Butter two one-cup sized oven safe dishes.
2. Place 1 tablespoon cornmeal into each dish and turn to coat the butter with cornmeal.
3. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, salt, pepper and mustard. Stir in wilted spinach.
4. Pour egg mixture between two dishes. Top with shredded cheese, if using.
5. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 25 minutes or until cooked through and browned on top.
6. Eat in the cup or turn out of cup to serve.

NB: You can bake these cups ahead and store in the fridge for up to four days. Eat chilled or reheat for 30 seconds in a microwave.

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Baked Egg Cups & Saucy Mama Giveaway is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!

Friday Five: Facts about Backyard Chicken Eggs

Rachel — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:15:59 +0000

The talented Catherine of Photo Kitchen came over last week to take photographs for Hounds in the Kitchen Egg Week. Today’s conclusion follows tutorials for blowing out eggs, making natural dyes, baking a dutch baby, and creating eggshell seedling cups.

A year and a month after collecting our first pullet egg, we have learned a few things. Today we share our top five facts about backyard eggs.

1) Eggs are laid with a special impermeable coating that keeps them fresh at room temperature. So long as we have space, we still refrigerate ours, but it’s nice to know that they are edible for weeks if we want to store them on the counter.

2) Fresh eggs, hard boiled, are difficult to peel. As eggs age, they lose moisture and naturally detract from the shell. Very fresh eggs are so full of moisture that the white sticks to the shell like it is hanging on for dear life. Adding a few tablespoons of white vinegar to the boiling water increases ‘peelability’.

3) Hens lay eggs without a rooster. Eggs are the product of a hen’s menstural-like cycle, one which goes on whether a rooster is around or not. Conversely, eggs will not develop into chicks unless a rooster fertilizes them. Children are usually sad to learn that our eggs will not turn into baby chicks.

4) Each breed has a uniquely colored and shaped egg. We can identify who is laying and who is not simply by the color and shape of the eggshells collected. Some breeds, like the Aracuana and Barnevelder, are recognized for the unusual color of their eggshells.

5) Collecting eggs is a treasure hunt for the most versatile ingredient we can raise ourselves. Whether Lil up-ends herself into the coop or Alex and I reach into the nest box, we are delighted on a daily basis at the golden jewels we find.

All photos with the Photo Kitchen watermark belong to Catherine and were generously shared with me. You may purchase copies and view the whole set of photographs in the online gallery. Use the coupon code houndscrossover to receive 25% off prices until May 15.

P.S. Happy Earth Day! May you challenge yourself to a greener lifestyle, enjoy America’s natural resources, and perhaps even procure some free earth-friendly goodies like a Northstar veggie burger.

Added to Fight Back Friday April 22.

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Friday Five: Facts about Backyard Chicken Eggs is a post from Hounds In The Kitchen.
If you like what you read, please consider supporting us with a donation or visit the Hounds in the Kitchen shop for ebooks and favorite tools. Thanks!