Chicken Training

I love my chickens. They make me happy just sitting and watching them eat my bugs and scratch the ground. I also love gathering the eggs and every time I crack one open, I smile because that came from my chickens. I had three chickens left from last year's attempt at backyard chicken raising. After a couple of incidents with a Pomeranian and then a toy poodle, we had some losses and even had to start all over again with a new flock.

However, one of my chickens doesn't lay. She is over a year old and either she doesn't lay or she eats her eggs. So, I gave her to my mother. I have two hens currently laying and 6 teenagers getting ready to lay very soon. Since I really enjoy watching the chickens I choose ones that I thought were pretty, layed pretty eggs and were available at my local feed store. So, I have a black New Jersey Giant, an Easter Egger (since no one can say for certain if it an Aracauna or an Americana...), a Silver Laced Wyandotte, a Golden Laced Wyandotte, a Maran and then three that we are unsure of. I think a Red Sex Link and two Wellsummers. We'll see once they start laying since the Wellsummers are supposed to lay beautiful dark chocolate brown eggs.

So, here is the problem. My chickens aren't exactly legal. And every morning around 5:30 they start to make noise - a lot of noise. I had no idea that hens could make so much noise. They like to bawk. Except it's more of a BAWK, BAWK, BAWK!!! Add to this that I am not a morning person and I am trying to keep the neighbors from reporting me. I am running out and letting them out of the coop to shut them up, but now I think they have trained me. They bawk, I let them out...Anyone have any ideas about how to make them shut up without annoying my neighbors?

Snails

I have tons of snails this year in my front yard. My backyard is patrolled by chickens and they are keeping the snails under control at least in appearances. However, my front yard is a different matter. Last week, Max and I picked a few cupfuls of snails and gave them to the chickens as a nice breakfast. This was after they ate the kids marigolds and my New Mexico Big Jim pepper plants.

I can't walk out to my car in the morning without stepping on at least a few snails. But in all honesty I do go out of my way to step on them. Any that are unlucky enough to be on the pathway get a quick crunch and those that I can quickly pick up, get thrown in the street.

This afternoon it started raining which is strange for this time of year and they decided to come out en masse. The boys took out my two largest Tupperware bowls and between my yard and my neighbors front yard, they completely filled the bowls. And I mean FILLED! I should have taken a picture before they dumped them for the chickens, but I was trying to relax in the bathtub after a very difficult day...


It took them about 20 minutes to collect all of these...gross, hunh?

Chickens and stuff

I have 15 chickens in my house right now. "Why?" would definitely be an appropriate question! The new baby chicks came in this week, so we ran over and picked them up - 14 of them. Max and I set them up in the spare room since the laundry room is filled with our future garden (whoooo!) and really 14 baby chicks need a little more space than a few inches on top of the counter. We set them up in a great little chick condo, with shavings and a wonderful heat lamp so they would be nice and warm.

I went outside to do some yard work to take my mind off waiting for the doctor to call with test results. After a little while, I went inside to check on Max who was quietly watching a movie. However, I smelled smoke.

Me: Max, did you light a candle?

Max: No.

Me: Did you light something on fire?

Max: No. (Not even looking up at me...)

Me: Why do I smell smoke?

Max: Shrugs

Right at that moment, I remembered the baby chicks and the heat lamp... I ran down the hall, opened the door and smoke poured out of the room. The fire alarm started to go off. And the my wood floor was on fire. Well, more smoldering. The cardboard box that the heat lamp was now in was on fire.

Me: Max, How DID This Happen???

Max: I didn't want the chicks to get burnt.

Me: So, you took the heat lamp out of the cage???? And put it on the floor????

Max: I put it in a box.

Me: But I told you not to touch it!!!!

Baby chicks are okay. My floor has a large charcoal spot. Max is in trouble for not obeying.

.....

This morning, I woke up to a rooster crowing. I'm not supposed to have roosters. Actually, I'm not even supposed to have chickens. So, a rooster is a big problem. Turns out one of the chickens my mom gave me a few months ago - a boy. Tonight I put him in a dog crate, in my living room. I'm hoping that will keep the neighbors from hearing him in the morning (and most likely the next couple of mornings) until my mom can take him home with her next week...

This has been an interesting week for our little "farm."

My garden

We are getting ready to harvest our first head of broccoli from what's left of our winter garden. Although I originally wanted my chickens to be completely free range, they were very happy about my freshly planted winter garden and quickly decimated the entire thing ignoring the beautiful, fresh weeds sprouting that they were supposed to be eating for me.

They now have a chicken run attached to their coop. I am very excited about their run, but also a little sad. I am excited because there will no longer be poop on my patio, my garden will be safe at least from them and maybe they will lay their eggs where I can find them! However, I really enjoyed sitting in my backyard and watching the chickens run around - it soothed my nerves and just made me happy! I will probably let them out to run around while I am working out there avoiding my thesis...

Back to the garden. Hopefully this weekend I can get the new beds ready for planting. While the rest of the country is under a blanket of snow - I live in California's central valley. It is beautifully sunny (even though we desperately need rain) and should be about 66 degrees today. Eating locally is easy here because we grow most of the food that is shipped to the rest of the country. However, growing conditions can be tricky. The last frost might have been last night or could be sometime in April. However, April could also be 90 degrees already. Our summers are HOT which means that plants shut down growing and producing so we almost have two short seasons instead of one long one.

To combat this issue, I have started some tomato plants from Mexico that are supposed to produce even in the heat of the summer. I have turned my laundry room into a plant nursery with grow lights and have started most of my seeds already. In fact, they popped up so quickly I'm not quite sure they will make it to planting time without some issues.

Not only is my laundry room home to my seedlings, but in a week or two it will also be home to my new baby chicks. I know that Darrin did not expect any of this when we started dating...

The last few weeks...

I have already fallen behind in my blogging aspirations...and only a month in! I have been trying to give myself grace in that this is not another thing that I MUST do, but something that helps keep in touch with my friends and a virtual scrapbook for my children. So, here goes...

The last few weeks have been a blur of activity around here. Not only have been I been furiously trying to get my papers and school work done for the semester, I am trying to start my thesis. The problem is that I am so burned out of school and feel like my brain has been deep fried. My placements have been more draining than I expected and I really hate having to have the boys in day care. I also have been trying to get started on my Christmas presents for the year. Although I think the Christmas presents are just one more way for me to procrastinate!

In children news, my baby, who is 4 and a half (and will constantly remind you if you left off the half) has requested that I take off his training wheels and he is now riding his bicycle. It's hard for me to admit that they are growing up so fast!

Although he did get a little scared when he finally realized that I had let him go for about the 50th time.

One of my chickens has started laying eggs!! Strange how the little things can you make me so happy. I love going out and finding a green egg in the nest. Now if I could just find where the other chickens are laying their eggs...they either have a very well hidden nest or one of them is an egg eater. After finding the last nest, they have stopped laying? And we have finally named the chickens. I decided that we could no longer try to describe them every time we were trying to talk about them - the big black one; the brown, eagle looking one; the tan, fluffy one. Their names are now (respectively) Mia (as she always disappears), Harriet, and Izzy.

We had a very fun pumpkin carving day where Ryan actually cut up his first pumpkin and did a fabulous job almost all by himself. Max drew out his design and insisted that it be cut out exactly as he drew.

He did take the pumpkin carver and make a few adjustments on his own as well!

I said earlier that I would write about a recent park trip. Well, while pushing Max on the swings, Ryan said, "Mom, it's like I'm flying!"

To which Max replied in song, "I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky..." In the proper tune.

The thing is, where did he learn this song? And how does he constantly just crack me up?

Sleep

Sleep, I really need my sleep. Sleep is very important to me and lately I just can’t seem to get enough of it. So, it probably goes without saying that I do not like to be woken up. This presents a small problem since for obvious reasons I am woken up usually several times throughout the night. I have two smallish children who are transitioning into their own beds and bedroom. They have nightmares. They have to go to the bathroom. They are scared. I’m sure you know the list. My mother always assured me that when I had children I would become a morning person – not true. I manage to keep a fairly nice demeanor when my children are involved.

The problem however, is not my children. It’s the dog. You see I have discovered that there are rats in the vines against my back fence and I’m pretty sure a possum (since I found a small, teenage possum in my garage in early summer). Well, my toy poodle who frequently just looks like a rat herself, since I am terrible about grooming her, has decided that it is her responsibility to bark at the intruders – all night long.

I have tried letting her in the house, but since I sleep with the windows open, apparently she can still hear the intruders and continues to bark. If she were actually doing something, say killing them, I wouldn’t have a problem with the barking. And for some reason, I keep thinking that tonight, she won’t bark. I’ve gotten desperate and last night she got put in my closet. I got sleep, for a while.

You see I also have a chicken that is currently very mad at me. She disappeared 2 weeks ago. And since I have had other chicken fatalities (not with the current dog), I assumed the worst. However, there were no feathers, no parts, no evidence whatsoever to support my pessimism. She however was nowhere to be found. For 10 days! Then a few days ago she was on the patio eating out of the dog bowl. And promptly disappeared again. I have searched my yard from top to bottom, so have my kids, their friends, my boyfriend, his kids and their friends – repeatedly. We hadn’t found the chicken in almost 2 weeks. Walking around in frustration I noticed a low bush that had a branch dying, and there were no spider webs around that dying branch – I lifted it up and not only was the big black chicken under there she had 14 eggs she was sitting on.

Since the puppies are big enough now to think chasing chickens is fun, I have locked them up until the puppies are gone. So, Big Black Chicken had to be locked up too. I moved her eggs (we had a rooster until a few days ago) to the nest in the coop. She refused to sit on them, is completely ruffled and has also refused to lay any more eggs. Did I mention that she also chews me out when I approach the cage or it has gotten light and she’s not allowed out? Who knew chickens were so adamant about their rights?

The beginning...

Cyberspace, community, journaling, staying in touch with the ones you love...these are just some of the reasons that I have succumbed to posting my very own blog. I never quite understood blogging until recently. And strangely what started my fascination - was chickens. If you are scratching your head, I am not really surprised. You see, I have always been a sort of hippie, bohemian rebel - sometimes intentionally, but most of the time just by accident. However at this stage in my life I have consciously decided that I would like to live more intentionally, environmentally friendly, eat healthier and introduce my children to the roots of their food and simple pleasures in life. Now enter the chickens.

First of all, I am a Master Gardener. That is just a fancy word that I took some classes and volunteer (or try to volunteer) to teach people about gardening, water conservation, pest management, you get the idea. At one of the community seminars, another Master Gardener talked about her backyard chickens. They are a natural pest control - they eat your bugs! (I don't spray, so this is really good news to me!) They provide fresh eggs. And, if socialized, they are pets. Wow, where to sign up? I grew up on a very small farm with chickens, among other animals, but I had no idea that chickens could be so useful, except for meat of course...

Second, let me explain that I live in the city. I live in suburbia where my neighbors open their garage doors, drive in and you never see them. I have lived here for 5 years and have met three families. (I'm sure I will complain more about suburbia later.) So, my chicken endeavors are not exactly legal. However, I asked all 3 families that I do know (one on each side and the guy across the street) if they would have a problem if I kept a few chickens, no roosters of course, and they could benefit from the extra eggs. Permission granted, I began to research the types of chickens I wanted to get.

Because I have 2 small boys (4 and 6) I wanted to have some fun. I wanted chickens that would make good pets, be good layers and look good too. This is where I started reading blogs. Two of the most useful sites I have found http://www.backyardchicken.com/ and http://www.the-coop.org/ were wonderful in giving all the information I needed to get started and connected me with other chicken lovers. So off to my local feed store. After several attempts (I will write about this later, because a Pomeranian breaking into the new coop is actually a very funny story) I currently have 4 hens. (I bought a total of 12 pullets, 6 succumbed to the Pomeranian, 2 ended up being roosters, 1 had a severe run in with a new toy poodle, so my mom felt sorry for me and gave me one of her laying hens to add to my three that still aren't laying.)

All of this is to say that I have found some blogs that I really enjoy reading. My particular favorite is Ninja Poodles at http://ninjapoodles.blogspot.com/. This has led me to realize that, I am terrible at creating scrapbooks considering all of my kids baby stuff and pictures are in one big box in the closet, and this would be a wonderful way of journaling and scrapbooking not only for my children but for my family and friends. I read some wonderful articles this week about the Amish and how they decide to use technology based on whether it hinders or creates community. I am terrible at staying in touch with my friends and to some extent my family. I try not to blame it on my life, because these are all my choices, but I reasoned that a blog would help me stay in touch, keep up and create community.

Max after swimming

Ryan after swimming