At last week’s backyard chicken basics class, I admitted that our coop is a jumble of reclaimed parts and pieces, including two wooden boxes ‘saved’ from alley trash. Lil contributed a little whimsy with some Angry Birds pig faces painted on old rubber stepping stones. Our coop will not win any design awards but...
Read more →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...
Read more →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...
Read more →Our backyard chickens are surviving well through this winter’s ice, snow, and feather-burning bulbs. They look plump and healthy and even brave cold feet to come clean up around the base of our bird feeder when there’s no active participation. But they aren’t laying well. We are collecting an average of two eggs a...
Read more →Some may find pictures in this post graphic. Sometimes you have one idea in mind and the day takes a totally different direction. Today was such a day. A fellow chicken-keeping family called around 10 in the morning and said this was the day they wanted to kill one of their hens. Speckles, a...
Read more →This is our chic Australorp hen, creatively named Austra. I like to call her the queen of the chickens and generally regard her as a bit more intelligent than the rest of the flock. She is the definitely the most responsive to our family’s actions, coming and clucking gently when we call her. I...
Read more →“How are your chickens?,” I am asked frequently. The follow-on question is, “Are they ok in the cold?” We chose backyard chicken breeds specifically for cold hardiness. Indeed our Orpingtons, Australorp, and Speckled Sussex seem to be surviving quite well, though they are not clucking and cooing with pleasure as they did in the...
Read more →Austra: Hey hey, whatcha got, there Pecky? Pecky: Can’t talk now, mouth full of mouse. Pecky: How am I going to eat this thing? Sussey: Hey, Pecks, can I have some? Pecky: No way, sister, this mouse is mine! Our chickens are most decidedly omnivores, as they demonstrated this morning with a little rodent...
Read more →Last Sunday, we put most of the garden beds to rest for the winter. It’s a melancholy job for me as I work so hard to raise these plants from seeds, care for them as small shoots, and put up the harvest. I almost hate to rip the stems from the earth and send...
Read more →I was ready to write a quick post about how you shouldn’t necessarily be motivated by fear a Salmonella bacteria outbreak to switch over from eating factory to free ranged eggs. I was going to describe all the great benefits including the lower cholesterol, higher omega 3 fatty acids, and lower saturated fats you...
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