-
Spitz and the Dog Attack
Many city dwellers go into chicken keeping only thinking of the eggs and the happy hens pecking around their yard. They prepare themselves for maintaining a clean coop, food and water but don’t think about how much trouble these ladies can get into or the hard decisions they as the caregiver will have to make. We are several years in and are still experiencing firsts. We’ve had sick birds die and we’ve had one disappear in the night. I’ve administered…
-
It’s Another New Year
I don’t really buy into the whole new year, fresh start, clean slate bit. All of me at 11:59 pm on December 31 carries across to 12:00 am January 1. Chances are high that I’m not changing. Not really. That Costco box of Cheez-its will still be on the counter the next morning, and I will still be sneaking 2-3 crackers at a time and letting their tangy goodness dissolve in my mouth. If you’ve never munched on chocolate and…
-
Those Fall Chicks and Treating Resperatory / Sinus Infections
In September, we picked up five new pullets of various breeds. The following Saturday morning, one began crowing, and we promptly drove down to the Selma Tractor Supply to swap him out for another pullet. Our Chicken Man (I don’t mean that as an insult, it’s just what role this kind gentleman has played in our lives), didn’t have any unusual breeds on hand like our Pavlovskaya Roo, so his buddy in the next parking spot offered us an Apenzeller…
-
Fall Chicks
On Saturday we dashed over to The Urban Chicken for the September flock swap hoping to get an early pick of Mr. Campbell’s pullets. All our our ladies so far have come from his farm, and this weekend at a price $8/bird for the two-month-olds, we came away with five new chickens. He told us we would never see that price again, but he’d hatched out too many. Penny, our French Black Copper Marans, has been such a good layer…
-
What’s Growing (other than mosquitoes)
The garden is pure magic this week. It seems like we’ve moved to a completely different region as we went from dry conditions to late spring rains and plants that were only poking their heads above ground are lush. I no longer have to worry about the chickens plucking out tender seedlings and can let them out to forage for a little bit during the day. If it weren’t for the mosquitoes, I’d sit outside all hours of the day.…
-
Chicken Antics
Our poor little Betty White is terrified of the older hens, and probably should be. Ruby and Tweedledum charge her whenever they enter a space and spot her. They usually just strike once and move on. There’s not been much feather loss, and there has been no blood, but Betty will see one of the big birds coming and hide her head in a corner. When the big ladies leave the run to lay eggs or go into their backyard,…
