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?

More chicken! More chicken!

That's the refrain I've been hearing from Graham at night or before naps over the last two days. The chicks have been staying at the Nelwood household, bringing with them their chirps, cheeps, and escape attempts. (Really, they're so close to flying out now!)

This time, without other distractions, has helped Graham embrace this whole chick adventure. He loves petting them now and calling them by name (mostly Annie and Moontha). He points at certain chicks and commands that I pick them up so he can pet them: "Uppie, mama, uppie!"

We're also talking about chickens in general more and more. Our visit to the Minnesota Zoo farm babies exhibit found us in a barn with both adult chickens (many of the same breeds we have —beautiful!) and chicks, too. Graham had a ball climbing behind this big wall of chicken paintings and poking his head through. Hello my little chicken!

We've also been reading a few library books with chicken characters. Our favorite? "Chicks & Salsa," all about chickens on a farm who get tired of their feed, so they sneak into the garden, pick tomatoes and cilantro, make salsa, and have a fiesta! On other nights they sneak out of the coop and make enchiladas. Somehow they also manage to find Mexican costumes and musical instruments.

As for our real chicks, I've definitely noticed Moontha as the the chick in charge. She likes to stand right on top of the feeder while the others are eating. She has even pecked at a few of the other chicks from her slightly elevated perch. When not there, Moontha wanders away alone, pecking at the plastic walls. This chicken wants out.

Ready for my close-up...

I was tasked last week with taking close-up shots of each chick. They're growing so quickly that it won't be long before we'll barely remember them as the small, cute fluff balls they were when we first got them. Already they look so different than last Friday when I took these! See Christine's post about feathers and such. You can see them starting to peek out in some of the photos below.

And now, meet our chicks, up close and personal!

 "Sally," a Buff Orpington

 

"Annie," a New Hampshire Red

 

"Charlie" (of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory!),

a Plymouth Barred Rock

 

"Moontha," our Ameraucana

 

"Dottie," a Wyandotte

 

"Santa," our 2nd Plymouth Barred Rock

chicken cam?

What do ya'll think about a chicken cam for 24/7 live chicken action? I'm serious. Micah is the man that can make this happen. Joanne-one of the links you sent even has this!

Progress...

Carrot seeds, in.

Happy Birthday!

The chicks are a week old--well technically 8 days old today. It's amazing how fast they've grown and changed! All of the chicks have feathers on their wings, with Annie being the most developed, and Santa (the lighter colored black barred rock) being the least. Charlie even has the first tail feathers--three of them! Annie has taken to the roost very nicely--she just pops right up and she can scoot back and forth all the way across perfectly balanced. Charlie also likes roosting and I watched him hop up, hunker down and fall asleep right on the perch.

Some of these gals can really fly! This morning Annie was sitting on the roost and she streeetched her neck up as high as it could go to peer over the edge of the box. She wants to know what's out there and she's just about ready to make that leap. The cat, Isis, hasn't been too interested, although sometimes she lays down next to the box and lazily bats at the side. We'll have to keep a watchful eye when the lid is off though once these birds start flying up out of the box.

Moontha might have a case of OCD--she's been pecking the sides of the box constantly at....nothing. I haven't noticed her bothering the other chicks too much, so it's still a toss up about the "pecking order". I wonder when and how that gets established?

These girls love the pine shavings on the floor!! They peck and scratch and scoot and jump--I think it's good enrichment for them. I also noticed one bird poop, another bird attempt to eat it and then change her mind at the last minute. I think they've figured out that poop is not food, so that's useful to know. No more pasty butts, so they must have outgrown that stage-phew! The pine shavings are a much nicer for keeping the brooder and chicks clean, and I've been changing the shavings daily and composting them. The water was getting filthy from shavings almost immediately, so I placed it up on a wood block and that greatly improved the situation. The food is also up on a block for the same reason.

They no longer all sleep in a heap under the light, so I guess it's time to raise it up. These chicks are growing!

Early gardening

I spent some quality time in the garden yesterday, Sunday, and Christine joined me later in the day for some good prepping. The soil was so warm and smelled so great. I just sat right down in the dirt and pulled weeds, loosened the soil and enjoyed getting dirty for the one time of the year that the garden is empty. I practically laid down and took a nap it was so glorious. Emerson too, was helping me, and the quiet time in the garden we have had these past couple of weeks, I treasure. We talk softly about all sorts of different things. His attention completely focused on dirt, worms, bugs, bees, how things grow. I think he's taking ownership of the land and wow does that feel great. He already has such knowledge of how things grow, pollination, seedlings, and harvesting. One of my goals going into this was making sure my kids know where food comes from - I think we're definitely on our way!

Seedlings are just starting to appear. The spinach row is barely visable, but there are a couple of tiny two leafed seedlings growing up. The two rows of sugar snap peas have really progressed. The seedlings look strong, thick, and hardy. Both seeds were planted 10 days ago. There is a garlic bulb right smack dab in the middle of the big garden that seems to be doing really well this year. It looks strong and almost as if it has spread. We pulled most of the mint out of that garden. It's just to invasive, but we left a little around the garlic bulb as weed deterrent. The biggest surprise is the three onions seem to be growing and I don't know where they came from. Maybe they didn't grow last year and somehow made it through the winter? Maybe it was some sort of seedling from last year's harvest? Who knows, but it's messed with everything I thought I knew about growing things. Magic onions.

Christine and I made a lot of progress in the garden by the garage, ridding it of Creeping Charlie, roofing shingles, and glass (!) Our plan is to put all of the tomatoes in the garage garden this year. That will cut down on shading when they get as tall as a tree and all of the staking will happen in here. Made a decision to plant the pumpkin the same spot as last year. That way, the vine stays to that north side of the yard and doesn't get in anything elses way, large as it is!

We ended the day planting onion sets with Emerson and Ezra in the little 4 x 4 herb/lettuce garden. They each made little troughs and measured 3 inches between each onion with a stick, taking special care to leave their tips barely sticking out of the dirt when covered up. Such care, such delicate 5 year old fingers, precicely pushing tiny onions into the dirt. Kinda like a painting.

I think I should keep up on watering this week as it promises to be in the seventies (still April!) and no rain until Friday.

First Sleep Over

Spencers had the chickens over last night for their first sleep over and we had a great time. William the cat was sufficiently curious and spent the evening in the basement, but after much observation, I think he poses little threat. He stalks a good game, but then retreats in confusion. Regardless, we don't leave him alone with them.

We let Emerson stay up later than usual to play with the chicks. He was obsessed with teaching them to roost on the dowel Christine installed. By the end of the night, Charlie was pretty good at it! We capped off the night by singing a lullabye to them and Emerson gave us strict instructions to not watch TV because the chickens were sleeping. We heeded his advice.

Harriet and I woke early and spent some quality time with the chicks. I felt it was the first time she really had interest in the chicks and kept pointing to one palm saying, "Chicken - hand - now."

The chicks seem to be changing every day and some personality traits are developing. A few observations:

• For lack of a name, I'll call her Dottie, sleeps all the time. More often than not, I see her cashed out, head on the floor, zonked out.
• Munta seems to be the bully for now. She gets right up in some of the other chicks faces, and they stare at each other until Munta starts pecking at them. It's funny to watch how the other chick reacts.
• Sally is FAST! She runs around the bin alot and seems to evade our greedy hands.
• Red is regal as ever, her lovely little feathers so prevalent in a bin full of fuzz.
• Charlie's feathers seem to already be lined with white, same for Dottie's eventual markings.

Their grooming characteristics are starting to show. There is a lot of rubbing the sides of their heads on the ground. My favorite though, is after a good meal, they delicately clean their tiny little feathers.
They aren't as poopy this morning as they've been in previous days. I tried to change the paper towels ALOT. I think maybe at night they are sitting in the poop that's already there, rather than getting their own poop stuck on their vents. Either way, they poop alot! Man! They do love that sock to sleep on though. Adorable.

Chicken poop!

Ok, theoretically, I see how baby chicks might have trouble keeping their, ahem, behinds clean. I also knew that there is an actual "pasty butt syndrome", aka PBS (!). But boy do our baby chicks have pasty butts! I spent much of the morning cleaning three of them, and Ezra was really good at spotting which ones needed a little washing. Interestingly, it seems to happen to the same ones over and over, but there are two that seem immune (Sally and Red seem to just stay fluffy and pristine somehow). The ones that I washed in the sink were really MAD and after I put them back in the brooder they groomed themselves on their wet areas and then fell asleep.

You might think that having to remove crusty chicken poop all the time is gross, but after having babies in diapers for years, this definitely is not a big deal!

Getting the permit

We finally sent in the application with all of the required signatures (13 out of the 17 houses within a 150 foot radius of our property). I was worried about sending it in before our coop was fully finished, but was relieved to read this post on the "twin cities chicken blog":

When we were applying, Animal Control told us specifically that they could
not keep up or be timely with inspections, and that they expected people to
just get started without waiting. They were kind and understanding and
really pretty cool. With us, they were not adversarial, they were helpful
and informative. Just go for it and animal control will come and visit
eventually.

Another post said that they did not get their inspection until a year after they applied! (although that was in Minneapolis, I think) So I don't think that we need to worry. the paperwork has been submitted, and I think we're officially in compliance. (We'll just hope that the cranky neighbor doesn't complain before we get the real permit!

Sally

I think we have a second named chicken. Macy has developed a fondness for the yellow Buff Orpington. Last night as she was falling asleep, she was quiet for a while then turned to me and asked if she could take her chicken to school. I told her we could take a picture of her chicken for her to bring to school, so this morning she wanted to put on her chicken costume and hold Sally in her hand for a picture.

On the first day she was a little scared of the chickens but this evening as I was preparing dinner, I had to run out to living room every time I heard a squealling chicken and remind her to use gentle touches. Now I am afraid poor Sally runs to the other side of the brooder whenever she sees Macy coming.

Asparagus!

Garden surprises of surprises. I've looked everyday for about 2 weeks for any sign from the three asparagus plants I planted last year. My hopes dimmed a bit every day. Maybe it just doesn't grow here. I remember the card on the plants claiming that you could harvest asparagus the second year, but everything I read says that you shouldn't cut them until the 3rd year. Something about the plant getting tired and giving up.

Well, mark it down! There are skinny, long shoots that look more like grass weed than asparagus, sticking about 8 inches out of the ground with little tiny leaves around the top. Yes, my dears, we have asparagus!

Other garden updates. The spinach and pea seeds have still not produced any sprouts yet, but we planted them a week ago today. Hopefully we'll see something soon. When we're aren't chickening, I've been loosening the soil and pulling out Creeping Charlie from the other beds. There seems to be a good deal of work to do still in that department. Emerson and I planted cucumber and cabbage seeds inside. They seem to be doing well, but it's the next step, hardening off where I blow it. Stay tuned.

Christine bought a boatload of seeds over the weekend. Off the top of my head I can name onions, golden beets, carrots and that's it. We also have green bean seeds, and sunflowers.

My thought is that this year we'll keep all of the tomatoes in the bed by the garage. That way, when my wild tomatoes start coming up in the big bed, I'll know to just pull them out and not be tempted to nurse them into reality.

All this before tax day - amazing.

Chickens day 2

So I got to spend a ton of time with our new chicks today. Christine went to Houle's this morning and got our 3 additional chicks - the Arauncuna, a blue egg layer, a Rhode Island Red, and another black and white Barred Rock in place of the white chicken we weren't able to get.

Christine said it first but 6 is a really good number. They are all huddled together in little clumps of 2 or 3 when they sleep, but right now, they are all sleeping in a big line. I think they look different even after one night of growing. Their legs look stronger and they are standing up taller. They drink water with gusto, standing up tall and swallowing like a soprano singing.

I read a chapter about sick chickens and illness, last night in the book from Egg Plant. We have to take care of their butts a little more now than later and make sure they stay clear of poop. It can get mucked up and backed up in their fur when it doesn't fall onto the paper towels. Christine said she had to clean one of them off this morning, and for the record, I did the same this afternoon to the new Barred Rock. I changed the paper towel lining, because it just looked like it needed it, but couldn't find a new roll of paper towels. Add it to the list of supplies needed.

Em and I have loved our time here today. He is so smitten.

Chick adoption Day, April 13, 2010

It's been an exciting day, and one we'll look back on often as one of the silliest, craziest, most exciting, hair brained idea that any of us have had in a long time. It was the culmination of a year of daydreaming, joking, researching, yearning, planning, and finally implementing an idea hatched in our brains by one Barbara Kingsolver and her book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle".

We adopted 3 baby chickens. The plan is to get 6, one per child with another baby on the way within a year, but we left Houle's, the feedstore in Stillwater, MN, with just three. A black and white barred rock, a Buff Orpington, and a Golden Wyandotte. Three girls, all ridiculously cute and irresistable.