Check Out This Sunset Article: Chicken Coop, The New Dog House

poster by Joe Wirtheim

Check out this sign of the sustainable times! Hopefully more municipalities will begin allowing backyard chickens as the grassroots movement for local food and sustainable living reaches the tipping point. Some might say we live in dangerous times (like the elected officials in cities that still ban backyard chickens). Click on my title to redirect to Sunset online. And if you are interested in the very cool poster, you can get your own at Wirtheim's Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/joeseppi

The Trill of Victory

Sweet Pea has introduced us to an as yet unfamiliar chicken utterance: the egg-layer's trill.  She started doing this when being petted while laying, but we're not sure if it is a coo of contentment or a statement more akin to "Leave me alone, can't you see I'm busy?" Quick explanation for nesting box in the garage...these free rangers had taken to laying in unexplored corners of the garage, so we placed a box with pine shavings to make it easier to find them. Barbara the Barred Rock shares this nest exclusively with Sweet Pea when she can't get into the bedroom to lay on the bed. Take a listen (close your eyes as video quality is poor due to the dimly lit ambiance of the nesting zone. That's Barbara in the background clucking away at Sweet Pea to get on with is so she can use the box).

Fun With Eggs In The Kitchen: Oatmeal Current Pecan Cookies

It got too windy to work outside so I'm taking a baking break. This oatmeal cookie recipe I adapted from a couple I found on the intranet, then added a few of my own favorite ingredients. I like to keep the batter on hand for a quick and healthy bedtime snack. Later if you're lucky I'll let you know what I was working on outside!

   Supplies:
    1/2 lb. butter (Humboldt Creamery's organic is the best)
    3/4 c. sugar
    1 c. dark brown sugar
    1 t. vanilla
    2 free range organic eggs
    1 1/2 c. white flour
    1 t. sea salt
    1 t. baking powder
    1/2 t. cinnamon
    1/4 t. freshly ground nutmeg (optional)
    3 c. any combo of rolled oats, rye, barley, and wheat (If you can't find these in bulk at your local natural foods store, you can get Bob's Red Mill 5 Grain Rolled Hot Cereal) http://www.bobsredmill.com/cereals/
    1 c. coarsely chopped toasted pecans (a necessity!)
    1 t. flaxseed
    1 c. currants

In a big bowl beat together the butter and sugars until well blended. Then add eggs and vanilla and blend again. Combine flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in another bowl, mix well with your fingers and then blend it into the butter mixture. Finish it off by adding the oat combo, pecans and currants and mix with a wooden spoon (OK you can use your hands for this too but they get really sticky and require licking off when you are finished).

Place generous tablespoon sized dollups on a sprayed baking sheet and bake for approximately 14 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serving these at bedtime with a tall glass of milk ensures sweet dreams.


  

Organic Free Range

I'm reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma after having put it down some time ago. I was a little bored by the corn fed nation theory as I'd just read a couple of his other books and the theme was repetitious. And in my case, he's preaching to the choir. However, now I'm curious about his take on grass fed, free range and industrial organic food. An organic label says very little about how a plant or animal was actually raised. The term "organic" has nothing to do with the conditions in which an animal is raised, in fact, in order to satisfy the volume required to sell to most food retailers, it has to be raised in mass quantities, thus degrading living conditions and overall quality. Makes me feel good about our little free rangers and funny about the Google ad for Purina poultry feed I see on the right side of my blog.

We'd like to follow the Polyface Farms model of rotating chickens from one area to another on our humble little 3/4 acre, but haven't figured out how to make a portable fence that is big enough to free range 15 chickens without the grass suffering too much and rotation not have to be too frequent. Ah, a pondering for another day...all in good time.

Who Laid That? Egg-citing Stories From The Coop

We closed out the year in December with the biggest egg on record, February begins with the smallest chicken egg I've ever seen. It's about the size of a plump concord grape. These ladies need to know about averaging things out and going for the middle of the road egg.

Lately when we open the coop in the morning there has been the occasional soft egg that appears broken on the floor just below the roosts. Is it so small and soft that it just slips from her warm body in the night? Odd it is.  One of our new old girls is the only one laying and her shells are very soft...so soft that we've found them broken in the nest. The other day a couple old gals were pecking and eating its contents. It may soon be time to process the layer as we're concerned that they may get too interested in eating their eggs.

Most days we average from 5 to 7 eggs now, not including the soft shelled one that usually gets broken. There have been several odd days of only 4 eggs which has made me curious and thinking about scouring the yard for a possible new nesting spot. With plenty else to do, the though hasn't manifested to action. Yesterday Pretty girl and several others were clucking about the woodpile and upon closer inspection, two dirty eggs revealed themselves. Moral to the story, when there are four eggs it's time to forage for the missing egg.

Saturday in the midst of chores, shock collar therapy and the like, we left the door to our detached bedroom ajar. Barbara the Barred Rock is always hanging about the entry way lately looking for hand outs. When I entered the bedroom I got quite a surprise, Barbara nestled in all comfy in the covers of the bed. Warm thoughts of "Aww, isn't that cute" turned quickly to panic as I thought through the consequences of having a chicken in my bed... rushing to pluck her out of the bed and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a beautiful tan egg, still very warm to the touch that she was brooding over.

Tonight I got the distinct honor of putting the girls to bed (I'm usually cooking so I miss out on tucking them in). Dora the Explorer was patiently waiting as usual at the gate to be hand-carried to bed. Being the Buff Orpington that she is, she's likely too stout to make the short but steep flight up to the roost by her own steam (although the Wyandottes are bigger and figure it out!). The front roost was full and it was such a precious sight to see the girls all lined up together, a cozy chicken-pile in the coop. It took me several tries to get Dora up on a roost, but she was patient with me and didn't seem to mind my awkward fumblings.

It's Hard To Get ANYTHING DONE!

We're deep into dog training with the shock collar. Shocking, I know, that people like us would resort to this, but it's a matter of life and death for our hens, so.....

Training has been wearing us all down. Cosmo has become chicken-obsessed and there are times the collar doesn't seem to dissuade him from his obsession. Sunday training seemed to be going really well when all of a sudden he took off at a dead run from across the yard, making a bee-line for one chicken who had isolated herself from the flock. Standing on the shock button couldn't have stopped him, but finally, at the last minute, he turned from his intended prey just after they disappeared behind a pile of debris in the yard. I was fully expecting to see a rain of feathers from behind the pile. I don't know what changed his mind at the last minute....maybe the shock was finally too much to bear. Now every time he goes out, he's searching fervently for the sight or scent of the object of his obsession. So, I'm zapping him now just as soon as he places his gaze on a girl for more than just a passing moment. Ugh, this is not fun.

Meanwhile it is hard to concentrate on any of the chores of creating peraculture here. Today was seedling planting day and a few actually got planted, wonder of wonders. The rain is beating down now and so training is over for now. Tomorrow it is up Up UP with the intensity on the collar. We're going on two weeks and not enough progress for my liking.

Spring Is Around the Corner, Bees Are In The Air

Not literally as of yet, but certainly figuratively. I'm all signed up and ready to start a practical beekeeping class through HSU Extended Education. I'm excited for the opportunity to help this fascinating and vital insect continue to thrive. Not to say that I'm not just ever so slightly anxious about getting my first sting over with...

During the cold wet and dark winter months (it is very obvious I'm happy the hibernation is ending?), I've been reading up on the subject and picking the brain of Tom at A&L Feed as to what to expect. "Beekeeping for Dummies" by Howland Blackiston is a great beginner's reference, Tom loaned me two editions of Bee Culture, and I found a Humboldt Beekeeping group in Yahoo! So I feel at the very least mentally prepared, and very slightly educated. Let the buzzing begin! Class doesn't start until mid-February and bees don't get shipped until some time after that. Patience grasshopper...or should I say, "Patience beekeeper"?

In the mean time Miller Farms is offering a fruit tree pruning class this weekend which may help me get a handle on the three bare root apples I planted last year. They are giving me some consternation as I don't think they weathered the whistling wind we have here near the ocean very well. All the little apples dropped last summer and the leaves dried up to a crisp despite moist soil. The neighbor around the corner has crafted homemade wind blocks with metal posts and what looks to be visqueen (is that really how you spell it?). Must try it.

Egg Nutritional Value: Commercial v. Free Range Duke It Out

So, after reading my earlier post about the tension between our dog and our flock,  you may be wondering why we're asking for trouble by allowing our little flock the run of our yard. Read on...

A 2007 project conducted by Mother Earth News (gotta love your mother!) comparing nutritional content of eggs from free range layers v. commercial layers. According to the article, here's the additional value you'll get from your free range chicken eggs:


• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.aspx#ixzz1BDYHEXtu

There's another value that the article doesn't speak to:  the intrinsic value of looking out across the lawn to see the happiest of hens foraging for bugs!

Humboldt Hens: Backyard Chickens in NYC: Creating a Local Food Network

Humboldt Hens: Backyard Chickens in NYC: Creating a Local Food Network

Backyard Chickens in NYC: Creating a Local Food Network

Here's a great article about keeping chickens in the Big Apple. Apparently one persuasive apartment dweller convinced her landlord to allow her to become an urban chicken tender!

Photo borrowed from planetsave.com

http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2010/jul/08/what-the-cluck-backyard-chicken-keeping-booming-in-new-york-city/