A poem from the New Yorker

A Glossary of Chickens

There should be a word for the way
they look with just one eye, neck bent,
for beetle or worm or strewn grain.
"Gleaning," maybe between "gizzard"
and "grit." And for the way they run
toward someone they trust, their skirts
hiked, their plump bodies wobbling:
"bobbling," let's call it, inserted
after "blowout" and before "bloom."
There should be terms, too, for things
they do not do - like urinate or chew -
but prhaps there already are.
I'd want a word for the way they drink,
head thrown back, throat wriggling,
like an old woman swallowing
a pill; a word beginning with "S,"
coming after "sex feather" and before "shank."
And one for the sweetnewss of hens
but not roosters. We think
that by naming we can understnad,
as if the tongue were more than muscle.

--Gary Whitehead

Garden update

We had beautiful weather over the weekend preceeded by a week of cold and rain. I spent almost the entire weekend in the garden re-seeding, weeding, and fencing the plots already established. Here's a crop update.

The snap peas were almost a total loss to the bunnies, but I filled in the eaten spots with some "shelling peas" seeds that Christine had. We'll have a nice little mix of peas in those two rows.

Did the same re-seeding in the spinach row and added an entire extra row right next to it.

The carrots, beets, and radishes are just coming up so they weren't as tantalizing to the bunnies as the fully leafed plants were. Saved.

I thinned the radishes and plan to plant tall things (kale, broccoli, chard) in their place when the radishes are harvested in a few weeks.

Onions look good.

Mesclun is just coming up.

Flat leaf parsley and basil look like total losses (too cold), but I'm going to wait and see if the warm temperatures this week roust them.

Planted 3 rosemary plants on the ends, in between rows and added mulch in between rows. This was actually Emmy's accomplishment for the day. That boy is a work horse. His persistence boggles my mind.

We covered all beds with black, butterfly netting and tacked it down with fabric stakes. Hopefully this will work until the plants are more established. If it doesn't we'll invest in a more expensive alternative. I fear our first all out attempt to grow our vegetables from seed may be impeded by the reality of the city - rodents. We shall see.

They are growing!!!

The chickens have been at the Spencer abode for over a week and it's been a raucous time. They barely fit in their little bin anymore and I started feeling a little bad about leaving them in there all day when I left for work. When Emerson so patiently taught Charlie to sit on that roosting dowel 4 weeks ago, I did not envision them growing to the point that their faces would be smashed into the side of the bin while roosting on said pole. It's great when we come home and they were all clearly napping or resting peacefully, and they realize the humans have come. Everyone gets up and starts peeping, Moontha paces back and forth, tapping on the bin, Annie stretches her long, skinny neck up to the lid, begging to be let out, and Charlie looks calmly for Emerson. I'm sure they are aware that I'm about to clean out their water dish (that they get SO dirty) and give them fresh food, but it seems like a foreshadowing of what it will be like when they are out in the coop and one of us comes to visit.

Their personalities, as a flock and individually, are really taking shape. Dottie still seems like the sleepiest one of the bunch. She's really mild mannered and doesn't mind being held, especially by Harriet. Her feathers are so beautiful already. She's going to be stunning. Her comb is also turning orange or red already. She's also the one who can dust bath the best and burrows down into the wood chips so she's almost covered up. Sally, just makes me laugh. She's getting so puffy. Those Buff Orpingtons have such layered feathers that make them look like rounded old ladies. She already seems like the grandma with rolls and folds where there probably shouldn't be. Annie is pretty aggressive and is in the awkward teenager phase. Her red feathers are coming in but there is like a "hair part" down the middle of her neck and it's pure white in between. I can't tell if it looks like her hair is thinning or she needs to get her roots done. Either way, she's kind of got a "me first" attitude, like when we were throwing in bugs or ants, she's the first one to grab it out of our hands. She runs over to the other side of the bin, puts it down and comes to take more. I'm sure this is normal behavior that they will all display but she's right in there. The only one who wouldn't engage in the "grabbing" behavior was Dottie. She just stood there like, "Hey, I'm as worked up as all of you, but what am I supposed to be getting?" I kept trying to hand a bug to her just for her, but one of the others would snatch it out of my hands. Annie is always the first one to fly up to the edge of the bin when we opened the lid. She's the first one to take off running through the house too. Up to now, they have all remained pretty close to the bin and the light whenever we let them out onto the floor. The last two days she was with us, suddenly she'd make a bolt for the kitchen.

They all seem to like flapping their wings a lot. It must feel good to them, like stretching. Of course, feathers fly in all directions when they do it. I can't believe the dust they create! Sally and Santa seem to be kind of a pair. Sally is always burrowing under Santa when she's sleeping. Both of them look like they have to get their gumption up to fly to the edge of the bin. When Sally is up there and Santa isn't, Santa pecks at her butt and tries to pull her down. Sally usually just gets down, but it's hysterical to watch. Moontha makes a good show of trying to keep up with Annie in the out-of-bin explorations, but she's all talk, she's back in the bin in a matter of minutes. She does have this uncanny ability to look right into your eyes though and hold your gaze. It's weird. Plus she's got all that crazy color around her eyes. I think she's our angst driven, hipster wannabe. She'll get cited for underage drinking for sure! Santa seems to be smaller than everyone. Her tail feathers aren't as developed yet and she's still really grey and dark. She squawks really loud when you pick her up, but then is pretty good about sitting on a lap.

And then there's Charlie. What can I say about Charlie? Emerson would say she's the perfect chicken, but that's an understatement. I think Em is the perfect chicken owner. He loves this chicken so much and clearly Charlie is benefiting from all of the attention. She seems sort of above all of the jockeying and in-your-facing that is going on in the coop sometimes. Emerson let's just her out and she sits on the lid of the bin, snoozing, looking around, while Annie goes insane pecking at her from below. We have pictures of her sitting on H and E in various positions, but, while I put a strict no chickens on the carpet rule when we started, on the last day, Emerson was watching Curious George with Charlie in his lap.

The coop is almost finished, thanks to some overtime by Christine and Micah, but these gals are seriously ready to move onto bigger digs. They need to scratch in the dirt, flap their wings, chase each other around, and feel the wind in their wings.

Plus, they are just too dirty for inside right now.

Frost and rabbits

Well, it did get cold, and we did have slushy sleet/snow, but I don't think that's what is dooming our garden right now. I went out there to check the damage from the cold and I could nary find a seedling or sprout left anywhere. Stumped I actually wondered if the cold had just withered those snap pea and spinach sprouts to actually disappearing. I know better. It's the rabbits.

I think we need a fence.

May frost/snow

We are on the eve of Graham's 2nd birthday, and the weather threatens our outdoor/camper cabin celebration. It's also threatens our ambitious April planted garden. The temperatures are expected to drop into the thirties tonight with possible snow flurries. It's not uncommon for May, I know, but this is the weather I expect on my birthday. Instead, we were wearing sun dresses and touting tulips and primrose. I thought I'd take an account of what is planted and sprouted as of right now. We'll count our losses on Monday.

spinach - sprouted
snap peas - sprouted
radishes - sprouted
onions - sprouted
carrots - planted
beets - planted
mesclun - planted and maybe a few sprouts, but I think this will be okay
basil - 4 inch plants
flat leaf parsley - 4 inch plants

Really glad we haven't planted those green bean seeds yet.

From chicks to pullets

We've had the chicks at our house for the past couple of days and they are definitely entering that mangey stage.

They are losing their fluff before our eyes. You can see it in the air. Their little feathers are coming in on their wings and they flap them all the time. We kept the lid off for a lot of the time and Annie will roost on the edge of the bin the whole time it's off. This makes Moontha very nervous. You can tell they all want to be up there.

We took the chicks to pre-school and Emerson did great. If anyone wants the visuals we created for this, it worked great. I printed out grown up pictures of each of the birds and then put the name we gave them on each along with their breed. The kids asked great questions and Emerson kept the visual show going by perching each of them on the edge of the bin and holding chicks for his classmates to pet. It was adorable.

William is used to them being around and is sort of bored with it all.

Emerson is not.

"flyin' the coop"

All of the gals can officially "roost"--this morning I woke to 5 of them balanced perfectly on the dowel . All of them except for Sally regularly fall asleep while perched and right now 4 of them are sleeping quietly next to each other all in a row. Annie and Moontha can also fly right up to the edge of the box and perch there as well. Annie likes to sit up there and look around the room and she's even brave enough to hop down to the floor. None of the others like to be outside of the box and it's getting harder and harder to catch them, much to the frustration of Ezra and Macy. These birds are fast! But we did figure out that we can put food in our hands and all of them will come right over and eat gently out of our palms.

They're also two weeks old and growing quickly. It's hard to believe that they all have fully feathered wings and tails now. They are constantly stretching and flapping their wings, and there's often a lot of commotion going on. Sometimes one chick will pick up a piece of wood in her beak and run around and the others will madly chase her all over the box like she has the last piece of food in the world.









These kids love their chickens. They do their best to snuggle with them and show them affection, which can be a little challenging. What are we going to do if one of them turns out to be a rooster?