Co-op News

The Global Work Party sponsored by 350.org has an event here on Homestead Rd. Check it out. Our newest Co-op member, Sean Case, is digging a root cellar near the chicken coop. It will easily hold the storage food produced by members in our gardens, as well as anything we stock up on at the farmers markets. Sean is counting on other coop members to give him advice on the actual building once the hole is completed. Since we are meeting today for a potluck and discussion of our up-coming workshop at Bioneers, we can all take a look at th site and add our two cents.

Today, 10-10-10, also happens to be Sean's 35th birthday, so in addition to welcoming him into our community, we are celebrating that event this evening. Wendy is baking the cake. The girls are celebrating by tearing into the spent veggie garden. They are loving Frank & Jennie's left over corn. For a chicken, heaven is a pile of dirt to bathe in or a disturbed place where the bugs are hiding. Most of the new hens are laying now, still putting out pullet eggs. But some are getting bigger ones. We have had the occasional one with no shell. I falsely accused the girls of eating a few, then discovered one dropping a shell-less mess. With this fantastic weather, the girls are in bliss out in the yard.

Happy Birthday Sean, and welcome home. Of course you will all have to write to him by snail mail or call him, as he can't be on a computer yet.

From happy mother Peggy

Flock Reduction News

Well, today was the final day for eight of our old hens. It has been a long week, trying to decide which ones we need to say goodbye to, but we had to do it. At the Co-op potluck last Friday we agreed on a few that had to go, the egg eaters and slugs brooding in the nest boxes all day, old baldy who would not survive the winter without feathers and one araucana with a similar problem. We enjoyed our group meal, honoring the little rooster by consuming him, and left the decision up to me to finish the list of those to go.Matt and Wendy have gone off for a much deserved vacation to the northeast. It's not easy to transition from raising chickens who are treated like pets to being a real chicken farmer, but it really had to happen eventually. Chicken farmers butcher chickens and people eat them. Those are the facts. With luck the chicken has had a good life and is put to rest humanely. This was true for our birds. I had isolated 8 of them over the course of several days and put them in the little girls pen and coop, transferring the new ones into the big coop at last. Lots of adjustment problems and pecking order issues of course. But they are settling in finally. The young ones are still mostly keeping to themselves, generally in the back pen, but they all come in the main pen at night together and all are roosting together now. Frank and I got the cage from Matt and Wendy's place. Jeanne and Keith guarded the hens in the cage after we caught them, and Frank and I captured them one by one and took them to the car.

We took eight to the Emu ranch this morning. The white, two buffs, one barred rock, two rhode island reds, and two araucanas with few remaining feathers. The hardest decision involved Esmeralda. She has been such a survivor, but she is so nasty and anti-social that it began to seem she would not work well in the coop this winter with the rest. It is very likely she would have ended up attacked again, or she would continue to attack others. I decided to let her go, and Frank agreed. Then we tried to catch her. She was of course the last to be put in the travel pen, after scratching Frank in the head when she flew up in his face. She was determined to the end, which made it all the harder. We drove them to the farm, put on aprons (Jeanne and I went) and Patty and Irvin taught us what to do to assist them. They want to barter their services with us for our eggs, since they don't keep chickens anymore. So they will come get about $25-30 of eggs as they need them. They have a very clean and humane indoor operation there. But I had to stay outside while Esmeralda was being processed, I must admit. She really got to me. Four of them gave us one final egg each, and of course Esmeralda was one of them. I will honor her by eating her last egg myself. She bit everyone often, was scrappy and mean, but she won our respect and I feel terrible right now just writing about it. But if not now, in the spring, and we had to look to the communal needs of the whole flock over the winter. They had good chicken lives. We were told they looked healthy and well cared for.

We now have 23 left for winter, and will of course add more in the spring. All was peaceful this afternoon and they roamed the yard doing bug patrol. Total of 12 eggs today, but four of them were post-mortum deliveries. Only one little one laid, at least we only found one. Hopefully they will settle down now and get going. All went into the big coop together without hassle tonight and settled down to the usual bickering about roost space. Matt had put in an extra roost, but I took it out as they seemed to be more secure and quieted down better when closer together on just two. Plus with three it was hard to get to the nest boxes to check. We shall see what works. I've been turning off the red light at night the last few days to get them settled in faster, but left it on tonight as they seemed quiet earlier.

Peggy, chicken farmer

Goodbye to Little Pete

Last Friday, Little Pete travelled by box to The May Farm, where Paul May was kind enough to dress him out for us and explain to me the process as it unfolded. It was as merciful as we could expect. I was told he looked like he had been well fed and cared for, and he weighed 3 and a half pounds once dressed. He is currently in the freezer and we will honor him by sharing him with the coop members at our up-coming potluck and workshop planning session, tentatively scheduled for September 10. It was not an easy decision to make, taking him in. But the fact is that we have to face our food someday, and all of us eat chicken as well as their eggs. We are also faced with limited space for the winter months in the coop, must integrate the ten new layers, and some have to go. Little Pete was the obvious choice for the first, as he was beginning to attack all the hens and they were not happy. Although he was only being a regular rooster, we have decided we cannot have one here, for the health of the hens and safety of members. We will be saying goodbye to at least six more in a few weeks. They will be taken to the Emu farm where Patty has agreed to help assure it is as painless as possible. We just have to decide who goes as a group. We want to keep good layers, of course, since we aim to produce food with this operation. We also want those with friendly attitudes and a willingness to not eat eggs or peck at the eggs of others. There are a few with rather bad habits who will most likely be leaving us.

Now that the rooster is gone, we are mixing everyone up in the daytime, and they are sharing all three pens and eating the same food. The older hens tend to take over however. The young ones are a rather polite lot, and wander off by themselves rather than engage in turf wars. All the new ones are trained already to return to the coop when we bring the old ones in. At night they sort themselves out for the most part into the two coops they are used to, though now and then one ends up sleeping in unfamiliar territory. None of the new ones seem to be laying yet. A few are peaking into the big coop and showing an interest.  Hopefully they will get the idea and lay there rather than out in the woods.

Total egg production for August was 379 eggs, down from 387 in July. Only one hen is brooding now. The other two have gone back out with the rest and may be laying again. 20 dozen sold to our regular customers this month. They are grateful to have healthy eggs these days.

Peggy

Chicken TV, Episode 250

     It's 4 AM and I am awake enjoying the full moon and worrying about little Pete, who is spending his first night outside. The coyotes are barking somewhere. Have they noticed that he is not in his coop? I get up and wander outside in the moonlight to check on him. All is well and he is asleep on the new roost I installed this evening for the back pen. Little Pete has been sent to isolation and is not with his coop mates anymore. He has begun to feel the effects of the testosterone overload common in roosters and was pecking at the heads of his little flock mates. He was also finding the old hens too attractive suddenly and they were not happy at all to be jumped on once more. So Little Pete has new digs as of this morning. Matt helped get him confined to the back coop. He has food and water and will be leaving us as soon as we can arrange his departure. We must send at least five hens with him to get the flock down to a manageable size for the big coop in winter. We have lost none to predators this summer. This evening I was ready to send them all.

     It began with an attempt to give Little Pete some shelter in his new digs, in case there was rain. It was time for the girls to come in, so they were gathering up for their evening treat and we were headed to the coop, but we were dragging this plastic bin with us to prop up for Pete Jr. The girls freaked out at the sound of it dragging across the ground and began running in all directions hysterically. It got worse when we didn't stop moving the thing right away. Some went into the coop and jumped at the walls. Most fled into the woods in all directions. The ones in the coop were yelling and frantic. It was an amazing display of total melt down in the chicken brain. Even after the bin stopped making noise and we began to try to calm them down, they were still totally bonkers. Most had forgotten how to get to their own coop and would not come in. It was getting dark. The young ones managed to finally calm down enough to go in. The old ones were another story. With this little stress fracture in my foot I'm not in great shape to be chasing chickens, so I stood at the door to let them in as Jeanne tried to round them up. Even when  some came back they circled the coop and would not slip in the pen door as usual. It was like they were seeing it all for the first time. We finally herded all we could see in and were still missing two and it was getting dark. So I called Frank and he and little Keith came running to help. They circled out into the woods and located them, but they kept running past the coop and on into more trees. It took some time and careful strategy, along with more scratch, to finally get them corraled into their pen. Keith and Frank went home with a job well done. By this time it was dark enough that they went inside and all got on their roosts. But they still couldn't settle down and alot of squacking could be heard all the way to the house, so I went back. Jeanne had talked to them once and it had helped, but they still needed some reassurance. A little petting and a few words of gentle good night did the trick and they settled in for the night. Little Pete seems to be content without shelter for now. His pen is pretty secure and the moon is shining brightly on the sleeping coops.

Peggy, from the psych ward on Homestead Rd. 

Chicken Up-date

The new girls (plus little Pete) are adjusting well. They now roam the grounds with the big girls and there seem to be few issues. Their rooster does keep an eye on them and keeps them traveling together for group power. The old girls sneak into the little pen and eat the starter food when they can. Today for the first time I opened the gate between the two pens, and little Pete walked through the big coop. So they are really mingling now. We figure the kids are about 4 months old, so it is time to get them into the idea of where the eggs are to be laid. We don't have nest boxes in their coop and don't plan for them to stay in it this winter, so they are now in training for the big coop.

All the girls are pretty easy to get in now when we need to put them away. The big ones follow whoever has a treat in hand into their pen, then the little ones notice and run into theirs as well, waiting for their share. We don't have to do much actual herding any more. When they hear the hawk they put themselves away or hide under the spruce. There is a juvenile red-shouldered around, obviously being fed by someone, so they are on their toes these days and no one has gotten eaten.

Matt and Wendy are working a ridiculous number of hours these days, and though employment is a good thing, it means our tech expert has not posted numbers on the blog. Here is the production for the last three months. As you can see, it is going down. The girls are getting tired. We are still selling about 20 dozen a month however. But we don't have to search anywhere for customers. We have regulars we try to keep happy. Some of our eggs will be going to Dunegrass Festival next weekend. Keith B. is planning to cook breakfast for a bunch of folks. Remember, he was one of the original builders of the coop, and now regularly buys eggs from the Co-op. It's great to keep the eggs flowing in the neighborhood.

Egg production: May 447, June 400, July 387

Peggy, Substitute bean counter

Teenagers and nest slugs

It now seems that there may be three broody hens spending their days on nest boxes. The two old ones move around to different boxes to be on eggs recently laid by others. Another buff seems to want to join them. It is not clear yet if she has stopped laying her own eggs. Now and then we throw the brooders out and they spend a few minutes being grumpy outside or get picked on by the others and run back inside again. The rest roam around doing their work, which is eating bugs, taking dust baths and trying to stay cool under the trees. They also seem to enjoy raiding the teenage coop when the young ones are out in the woods. They eat what they can find and keep the little ones from returning for water and food. So we have to take it out to them under the trees or evict the big girls so they can return. They are almost big enough to assert themselves, but not quite. The rooster, who looks more like Pete every day, is not at all aggressive, and does not seem to know what he is yet. But the little ones do kind of stick with him anyway. They stay in their own little flock mostly under the trees and on the state land, sometimes in a clump under a spruce. They are learning how to be herded by us, and we can now get them back home much easier. Jeanne cut off some of the low branches on the spruce so we could get through to move them back home. They are very good about going in when it starts to get dark, better even than the big ones. But the big girls are so well trained now that we just have to call them and offer a simple cup of scratch to get them all running to the coop in an hysterical pile right in front of our feet. Egg production is getting later in the day now. Sometimes the first egg doesn't drop until nine in the AM, with the last coming at 5 or later. Average between 11 and 14 a day. The coops need to be cleaned more in this hot weather, so all help is welcome on that. Earwigs have found the small coop, but the girls do eat them as soon as the door is opened. Water has to be filled fairly often during the day now also, given the heat. They are going through it fairly fast. Some new beetles appeared in the last few days, swimming in the pails of rain water. They look much like Japanese beetles, only brown. since we suspect them of being evil, we have discovered that the girls really like them, so no problem. They liked the potato beetles too, but the fence kept them from doing the job needed to keep them under control. We had to hand pick and then carry them to the coop.

Some of the girls are still looking very raggedy as they are still plucking their own feathers. We really need to get the blue kote on them soon. Help needed for this too. Jeanne and I will be gone Friday night and return Saturday afternoon, so maybe some of us can find time after we get back to take care of this together. They aren't going to like it.

Peggy for the girls

Chicken Coop News

It has been busy lately. The young chicken with the neurological disorder had to be put down, as she could not stand up and was clearly suffering. We are told it might have been from a mosquito bite. Sometimes young ones can't take the toxin. We will never know. Anyway, thanks to Frank for taking care of it for the coop in a merciful way. The teenagers have tripled in size in just the last week it seems. Baby rooster is looking more and more suspicious, but he is friendly, and will probably play a protective role for awhile. We are now talking about letting him grow up and prove his gender before giving him up. We won't name him or get attached, as he/she might have to go to chicken retirement along with some of the bigger, problem hens in August. The two brooders get fatter and limper every day. They feel like jelly when picked up. But we have been carrying them outside everyday, several times a day, and putting them on the ground with the others. They will take a small dust bath, drink some water, act grumpy with the other hens, even run around a bit, and return shortly to their chosen nest boxes. The white one will move to different boxes to brood eggs laid there. It does not seem that either of them is laying anymore, just babysitting.

We have also been told that the feather picking and bald areas are a result of mites or lice, and that we need to dust the pens and chickens, then put on this blue stuff that tastes nasty so they will stop eating their own feathers. So we have purchased these things, and I am putting the dust in the pens and dust bathing areas. It will take two people to dust the rear areas of each hen (we are told around the vent is important) and then spray the blue-kote on the bare spots. I hate to use chemicals, but the girls are looking pretty ratty and some are quite raw. Anyone wanting the experience of playing vet this week is welcome. The stuff is on the counter. It isn't supposed to get in the nest boxes or the food and water, even though it is supposed to be relatively non-toxic stuff made from plant material.

We will be gone for four days. The girls will go nuts if they don't get outside for that long, so hopefully someone will come spent some time here in the late afternoon or evening and let them out. The big girls can take care of themselves for a few hours outside, if you put the outside water can in the shade for them, and leave the side door open so they can easily get food and water and dump their eggs inside. I did find one egg out by the compost bin today, because I had let them out too early. The rule has been ten eggs before release. They are getting good about putting themselves away when they hear the hawk or are warned by the crows and chickadees. If they are too far out, they will hide under the pine trees and spruces. When it is time to go in as far as you are concerned, it is possible to lure them with two plastic containers of scratch. Usually they will follow you in (most of them) and you can close the door while you are in the pen, but able to let in the stragglers as they arrive. We do sometimes have to chase one or two down. Boots on a leash works well also. I usually put them away just before I think Wendy & Matt might want to let Boots run when they get home from work, or at about 8 if they are working late. Then I let the little girls out about half hour before it starts to get dark. They don't go very far and will put themselves away. In fact they are easier to corral than the big ones sometimes. In both cases, do the count. Some do hide. Big ones: Buff-5, barred rock-4, black-2, white-1, Wyandotte-2, reds-3, red & white- 1, araucanas- 3. For the little ones: 3 reds, 3 barred rocks, 3 wyandottes. And don't try to let them all out at once yet. I tried that and a big one immediately attacked one of the little guys.

The gardens are really doing well and we hate to leave them. Everything is planted, some seeds just put in, so everything needs lots of water this week. Be generous with the water as everything is getting off to a good start or is brand new. Jennie's radishes are beautiful. We had to pull ours up as they were planted too deep. We started over. Wendy has some great looking chard. Frank & Jennie are going to have a three sisters garden that will be amazing. Ours was started later and the beans and squash just went in today. The whole thing will be an amazing jungle before long. Lots of inter-planting going on. We have put beets and carrots everywhere, determined to get a crop this year. The potato beetles are on all the potato plants, in all four places, so we are patroling regularly. The eggs are bright orange and can just be scraped off the underside of the leaf and crushed. The little beetles are kind of cute, orange and black with little spiked sides. The adults are yellow and black striped. All of these can be easily gathered in your hand in a bunch and carried right to the big hens. Throw them into the pen and they will gobble them right up.

We will not be feeding birds for awhile, as the bear visited Wendy & Matt and our house last night and tore up the feeders. A reminder to make sure that the garden gate is always closed. We have friends who found a bear sitting on their strawberry patch two days ago. The row cover over ours and the fence seem to be protecting them a bit and we have actually gotten a few strawberries. Feel free to peak under the cover for ripe berries this week. If they haven't been eaten by slugs, they can go in the fridge. The other two row covers can stay on the mellons and cucumbers, as finally no one is eating them as they emerge now. Water goes through the cover.

That's it from farmer Peggy

Another hen in the hospital

Tonight Jeanne and I decided to let the small girls out of the pen for the first time. They puttered around not too far from the coop and did very well, munching on weeds. One of them ran into the pen after awhile and stayed there. When we looked in on her, she was just sitting with her head tucked back over her back. We checked closer and it was clear that something was wrong. She cannot straighten out her neck, and goes in circles when trying to walk. It looks like her neck is broken or there is some spinal injury. One other girl came in and started pecking at her in a mean way, so it may be that she was attacked outside and we missed it. None appeared strange when they were first let out. I picked her up and she can just lay there with her neck turned around. She is probably the smaller of the New Hampshires, the one that has already been selected as the bottom of the pecking order. Chickens can be as mean as young teens can to each other. Anyway, it is not clear that she will make it, but we put her in Esmeralda's box in the garage with food and water for the night. The rest came back in while we were trying to figure out what was wrong, with a little herding from Jeanne.

When I first went to college I was planning to become a veterinarian. This was the old days, and the dean talked me out of it because I was a woman and didn't stand a chance of getting accepted without a 4 point, which I had no plans to get. Wasn't a serious student at the time. I am often sorry now I did not pursue it. We could use a vet in the neighborhood. Boots is still recovering from the porcupine attack to the eyes several weeks ago, and now we have another hospitalized hen. We also have one suspicious character we plan to return soon, who looks alot like Pete in his early days. May be down to 8 new ones soon.

Peggy, unlicensed and unskilled veterinarian substitute

Teenager News

The young girls have tripled in size in the last week and they are getting into some grown up ways. They are quite curious about the big girls. Hopefully they will not imitate their habit of eating their own feathers. The one Rhode island red is almost completely bald now, and she is doing it to herself. The young ones are now able to get into their coop for the night, with a little persuasion. That means moving their food inside. Chickens always follow food. A few of them have figured out how to get on the roosts, though they still seem to sleep in piles. Yesterday when it was raining, they were under the coop in two piles, one at each end. One pile had the black and whites, and the other had the reds. So they have established some age segregation it seems, which coincides with color also. One of the wyandottes is really looking like a rooster already, and the guy at the feed store says we can bring it back and maybe exchange it for another. Hard to see what we would bring home however. All the chicks at the store are only a day old or so. There are so many really cute ones. I almost came home with a few of the Polish chicks, which have an extra cap on their heads that looks like a beenie. They are really sweet looking. But I was disciplined and only returned with food and a big chick drinking can.

Since the resident squirrel in the garage had chewed through the plastic feed container, we have moved things around and acquired another big metal can. The food for the young ones is in a white bag in the same can as the big girl food for now, so pay attention. Scratch and the new developer food in the other can.

Our broody hen has changed little in the last week. She sits all day in the same box. Some of the hens lay on top of her and she broods the eggs until we get them. She can be carried outside and she might walk around for a few minutes. But she is rather grumpy about it, attacks any hen that gets near her, and soon returns to her box. It is not clear when she eats or drinks, but when she is kicked out for awhile she seems perfectly normal. Since she gets no exercise, she feels like a bag of jelly. She doesn't seem to like anyone, but is willing to watch out for eggs. Several others will sit on a few until we come to get them. We do have a few egg eaters who have been caught in the act, so it seems the others are being protective. So far we have caught a red, an auracana, and a barred rock eating eggs. Average egg production is now 13-14 a day.

The new coop needs cleaning. Who wants to be the first to try it with ten teenagers running around under foot?

Peggy, teenage guidance counselor

Chicken Construction News

It has been a busy month at the Homestead Coop, and we are sorry we have not communicated much to our readers. All of us are on overload this month. With the arrival of the ten little girls (we hope that's what they are) the pressure was on to get the summer juvenile coop annex built. They were outgrowing the box in the garage quickly. We also had to rebuild the back pen so the big girls would have some shade, and the little ones could temporarily get some air while we were building. They are so much fun to catch and put away at night. We had forgotten how much exercise we get with new chicks. The old ones are so used to the routine by now, that they just run into the coop when we offer them the appropriate bribe. Not the little ones. So it has been back and forth for a week or so, while Matt and Wendy worked out the details and built the new coop for them. The fact that both of them have gone back to work just made it more challenging. Jeanne and I built the new back pen, so we could give the new ones day care. Frank had dug the new trenches for the new side pen, which proved a real chore as there were massive tree roots to contend with. Then Wendy and Matt planned, built, planned some more, built something else, planned again, changed the plan several more times, and managed to get a rather unique and practical new house for the new ones to grow up in this summer. They used some recycled materials, and bought some new stuff. It was really fun to watch them work on it. They are both so relaxed and steady in their approach to a project like this. We tried to stay out of the way, as we knew we would be next to useless at the engineering involved. When the coop addition was done, Jeanne, Frank and I finished building the pen around it and put on the top part. This involved some gymnastic talent on our parts, particularly getting the wire over the top of the rather slippery roof of the coop. But it is all done now, except Matt plans to tweek a few things. The girls will need a small  window of some kind, in addition to the vents. They seem a bit freaked out going into it at night. Matt has had the chance to crawl under the coop twice now to capture them. Great fun. Tonight I managed to convince most of them to go into the coop to get food and water, with me standing in front of the door, and I got them to stay. Of course there is always one rebel. This might be our rooster, as "she" has been difficult from the start. Jeanne had to come out to do her chicken herding routine and help me get her captured. This is their third night in the new coop. They are getting good on the ramp and can fly off the front porch, or even fly right up onto the coop platform. One of them flew up onto the coop roof, then had to ski down the slant to get off. Luckily we had a top on the pen. The big girls, who are now right next to the new ones on two sides, seem only mildly interested. The little ones show some curiosity, but they are very busy trying to learn how to catch the large number of big flies we have right now, thanks to the tent worms, which they parasitize. No one will eat the tent worms, at least not after the first try. 

     There will be some new photos up soon. I have finally gone digital and have taken a number of pictures. However, I have only gotten to page three of the manual and now cannot find it. I have no clue how to get them into this computer, but Matt will get to it soon, when he has time to breathe, and teach me. I wished I had the camera with me tonight when Jeanne was herding four chickens at once. They were having such a great time digging up our flower beds tonight, that they balked at coming in and I had to call for help on four of them. There she was using her famous stick strategy to move them to the coop, where I waited with their bribe. Chickens do not herd well, but she is getting good at it. Be assured that she doesn't hit them, rather she corrals them by holding the sticks out to her sides low and moves them along in the right direction.

     We also have one hen, a buff, who has refused to leave her nest box for the last month. At first we thought she was sick. We hand fed her water and food and expected to find her dead every morning. She does not lay eggs anymore, but she will sit on those laid in the nest box she occupies. Several hens will climb on her and lay their eggs. We have decided that she is simply broody, and that's all she wants to be. When I take her outside and dump her with the others, she acts normal for a short time, joins the crowd digging at the compost or taking their sand bath, then she pops back inside as soon as I turn my back. She must eat and drink when we are not looking. If we put a cup of food in the box with her, she will eat it. Same with water. So we have stopped worrying about her. At least we always know where she is. 

     The Coop has also moved into working sort of as a community garden. Frank and Jennie have planted a large raised bed, and so have Matt and Wendy. These new beds are in our existing garden space, so all of us now have lots of sun to grow veggies. Jeanne and I have gotten carried away again also. With the early spring and all our hard work, we have a rather amazing community garden going now. The new fence we put around it earlier keeps the girls from tearing things up at the wrong times, but they can patrol the perimeter for grasshoppers and other unwanted bugs. they were allowed in before we planted and will clean up in the fall. Everything is popping up green. We all take responsibility for watering, particularly in the intense heat and dry spell we have just had. The tent worms are fading out finally, letting in more sunlight than we really wanted in the forest. Boots has not yet caught the squirrels or chipmunks, but has managed to get one moth. Perhaps when the gypsy moths hatch she will be on top of her game. All is well at the Homestead Coop. Still have plenty of eggs and visitors are always welcome.

Construction request from the hens

It seems that the girls want a few more nest boxes than the 8 they presently have. Today three laid their eggs in the far corner under the roosts in a new nest they have constructed. We have also had two eaten eggs this week and a lot of fighting over boxes. Sometimes three try to get into the same box all at once. Esmeralda still lays her egg on top of one of the Buffs in the same box each day. The Buff then protects the egg until we get it. I wish I had the camera with me when it looked like the Buff had two heads, one coming through in the middle of the Buff's body. Quite strange. The little ones are adjusting to their new digs, and though they come from two different batches and are not quite the same age, they get along very well. Their conversations in the garage seem to have scared off the squirrel that was living there. No sign of him since their arrival.

The vegetable gardens are becoming part of the Coop now, with the two new raised beds finished, and some planting done. Asparagus is starting to emerge, though still small. Carrots, peas, beets, onions, garlic, lettuce, strawberries, chard, all are showing their little selves. Jeanne has been harvesting lettuce for a month. We are eating some Kale that came up from last year. The new kale is emerging also, and finally there are some recipes to use it with. Wendy has some seeds in, Jeanne is adding flowers to the garden and has peas planted everywhere, Frank is waiting for Oryana plants to come in, and Jennie and Peg will work on a three sisters corner when it warms up a bit more. We have added two pear trees, three peaches (all decent sizes), and 15 rather small Black Walnuts to the land. The trillium is stunning this year and we are keeping the tent worms under control so far. First rhubarb harvested. Now if we could only find time to finish the juvenile coop and the other two pens. The girls are thrilled to be out roaming around in the woods so much lately, gobbling up bugs. They are behaving very well and come in like good kids just in time for Boots (the dog) to have a good run after a day at the office with Wendy.

Peggy, Happy Homesteader

New Pics of the New Chicks

Hi All

Well I wasn't able to make it over to the coop to take pictures today - This whole "working" thing is really starting to cramp my style! Fortunately Wendy was able to head over and get some pictures of the new chicks for us. At least she made a valiant effort to do so. Apparently having a camera lowered down into your enclosure is a fairly terrifying experience when you're a three week-old chick, so Wendy ended up getting lots of pictures of little chicken backsides as they were running away. The best picture she managed was the first and that is the one now gracing the top of this page. The rest look a lot like the photo that accompanies this post...

Matt

Famous Hens and New Additions

Just back from two weeks in Key West, and is it ever nice to be home. The trillium are in full bloom, completely blanketing the forest floor in places, and the gardens are coming along nicely as well. While Key West has it's own beauty and charm, as a little girl from Kansas once said, "There's no place like home."

Our girls are now famous, gracing the pages of the spring edition of Edible Grand Traverse (on newsstands everywhere and on the web at http://www.ediblegrandtraverse.com). Susan Ager gave a great write-up and her husband Larry took some fabulous pictures. As is often the case when a story goes to press, this one was edited down a bit and some important (important to us at any rate) details were lost. The biggest omission was any mention of some of the folks who were instrumental in getting the co-op up and running but have since had to step away from the group for personal reasons. I'm referring of course to the Moehle family and Keith Brucker. The Moehle's not only designed and helped to build the coop, but they also raised some of the chicks at their home. Keith was a great help during the construction of the coop and the pens. I was erroneously credited as being a "key player" in the construction of the coop when in reality illness and travel prevented me from participating at all. Just wanted to set the record straight and make sure that all parties received the recognition they deserve for their efforts.

In other news, our flock increased by 10 today. Peggy picked out the new additions from a group of three week-old chicks and came home with 3 Barred Rocks, 3 Wyandottes, and 4 New Hampshire Reds. The reds are a new breed for us and are known for being good layers of large, brown eggs. They are currently dwelling within the relative safety of the garage in a custom home designed and created by Peggy. They are cute little fluff balls at the moment, but won't stay that way for long so we're going to have to get busy with completing the "juvenile housing" and pen in the near future. We have a plan as well as most of the materials we'll need, but are lacking in free time right at the moment. I've just started a new job, Wendy's work is getting busier, Frank Jennie and Keith are booked solid, and Peggy and Jeanne have an impressive array of projects, obligations and activities. I'm sure it will all come together, but it's going to take a bit of juggling to make it all happen.

That's about all the news for now. I'm hoping have a photo session with the new chicks tomorrow (photographing children is so difficult!) so that you can all see them at their cutest and we can finally get a new picture up for the blog - I do believe it is time to replace the picture of Pete standing in the snow-covered yard...

Matt

Chickens on the alert

The girls got several shocks this week. First of all Matt left them for some out of state work for a few weeks. For the first few days they were just out of sorts, picking at each other, yeling alot, fighting over the smallest scraps, and taking their sweet old time laying those eggs. They are adjusting now, particularly since they realize they still have everyone else to pamper them. Also there are lots of grubs and really ugly bugs for them to eat these days, and we have been letting them roam alot. But then three guests arrived and they brought another dog with them. The girls freaked out when they saw Charlie for the first time, even though Charlie is old, basically deaf and ignored them. They tried to fly away, but they were in the pen, so that didn't work out too well. They were hysterical for quite some time. Poor Charlie just wandered back with his human to the house. On the other hand, they seem to ignore Boots now, even though she would love to play a bit rough with them if she could. The girls are not such good judges of intent sometimes. Yesterday they seemed upset about something , and put themselves back into the coop early. We never figured out what bothered them. Maybe they are getting smart about the hawks. There is a resident red-shouldered out in the woods.

The girls were glad to see Joan and Mary again, visiting from Canada. They haven't seen them since before they started laying eggs, so they were happy to get a taste of their fresh productions and hold the warm eggs at last. Pauline, who is Charlie's human, also likes the warmth of the newly laid eggs, and their appearance in Jeanne's good cooking.

The coop is gradually moving to expand its activities to include a community garden of sorts. Jeanne and Peg already grow their own veggies here and are constantly expanding the diversity in the gardens. Now Wendy & Matt have built their own large raised bed, and Frank, Jennie, and Keith have built one for their family. We have brought in a huge load of compost to start the new garden plots off, and use raised beds to smother out the knapweed and grass existing there now. This will give the other families a chance to get more sunlight on their veggies. And it is more fun when we can work together growing healthy food. We have added some fruit trees this week also. All of us are on tent worm patrol lately, as they have hatched out again. We are hoping this year is no where near as bad as last, and we expect the girls to help by eating every worm in sight, along with the grasshoppers. Right now they are working on the flies that hatched last week and doing a pretty good job. We finished the big fence around the vegetable garden so we can keep the girls out when things are sprouting, but let them in early in spring and for fall clean up. They have plenty to do running around in the woods and the rest of the yard. They are taking too much time growing back the feathers they lost during Pete's reign. We suspect they are now taking out their own feathers or each other's. They eat the feathers usually. It's not like they are starving. They are very well fed, with extra calcium supplied in the form of oyster shell. We might think they are molting, and maybe some are. But they still lay from 13 to 17 eggs a day. They take regular dust baths, and we don't see parasites on them, so we really don't know what is going on with some of them who remain too bald in spots. They all seem quite healthy. It seems it takes time to recover from roosters. We met some other chickens who had had the same experience recently and they were full of bald spots too.

Submitted by Peggy

Chicken Coop News

The girls were really unhappy about the snow today. They only gave us 11 eggs. They have been averaging about 14 this week. They are still eager to get out of the pen in the afternoon and run around a bit. But then they are just as happy to go back in when we want them to. If they are left alone outside for about an hour, they come running to us when we show up with scratch. They will then march right into the pen to get their treat. Sometimes one or two are not paying attention to the program and have to be picked up and hauled home. Generally they have been very cooperative. We have now fenced off most of the flower gardens they like to dig up, so they are concentrating on the compost piles, the vegetable gardens that are still open to them, and the nice litter under the trees. The posts are up for a large fence around the vegetable beds, so we will soon be able to keep them out after we plant, or selectively let them in one of the three gates to forage in particular beds as needed. We will be adding some more raised beds for the use of coop members. Work has begun on the back and side pens. Frank is working on the new trenches. Peggy is working on post holes. Jeanne has finished painting the back of the coop and Matt is busy designing the juvenile coop annex for the new chicks we plan to add soon. Wendy has gone back to work and the girls are having to adjust their schedule a bit, but are getting used to the slightly later timing of the opening of the coop. But they miss her. Boots is still on the morning route however, racing around the coop until Matt comes along to continue the morning run. We looked at the chick choices yesterday while picking up feed. Too many of course. I suggest we send a delegation so I don't come home with more than the ten we think we want. I found a large plastic bin for brooding today. We just need some big cardboard to put around the outside to keep them in and we are ready to brood again. We can get some that are already three weeks old if we want, or start again with the cute little ones.

It seems that the egg eating and pecking are focused more on the blue eggs than any others. Two of the Araucanas are now laying often under the ramp, perhaps to hide their eggs. They seem to get pecked more than the others. This week we have managed to avoid outright eating of eggs, but that is because we collect a dozen times a day. The buffs and a few others are willing to sit on several eggs until we get them out safely. Hopefully next week we can finish up the fixing of the back pen and get the side pen built. We should be ready to give the new ones their own quarters by the time they are big enough, and keep them safe from the big thugs until they can fend for themselves. With grass and bugs coming along now, the girls should be able to soon leave each other alone and maybe grow back some of those feathers they either lost to Pete's attentions, molting, or each others picking from boredom.

Peggy for the girls

Spring came early...

Not a great deal of excitement around the coop lately, which is good. Warm weather arrived early this year, with the crocus blooming a full three weeks ahead of last year. Although winter has returned for a brief visit (it's actually snowing as I write this), sunshine and 70 degrees is the forecast by the middle of next week. We've all been busy outdoors, cleaning up the last of the winter debris and marvelling at the new growth of spring. The girls have been loving it; out free ranging for at least a couple hours every day, gobbling up every last little green shoot they can find. Unfortunately, some of these shoots just happened to be the strawberry plants in the garden, but Peggy has since added temporary fencing to keep the chickens at bay. Speaking of fencing, Peggy has gone completely crazy and spent much of last Saturday digging postholes and setting fence posts in the rain. All that fun in preparation of putting up a 6' tall chicken and critter-resistant (I know better than to say say "critter-proof"!) fence around the raised beds. While fences are rarely asthetically pleasing, Peggy chose to use raw, round wooden posts for the fencing which helps to soften the appearance considerably and will result in the barrier blending in nicely with the wooded surroundings. We had considered building a "chicken tractor" (a portable, easy-to-move structure to protect/contain the chickens while they are free ranging), but in the end enclosing the garden just made more sense.

Our flock will be growing soon as we have decided to purchase 10 new chicks this spring. They should be arriving in about two weeks and will spend their early days in a nice protected area (in the kiddie pool in the basement perhaps?) until they are robust enough for the great outdoors. They'll have their own coop and pen until they are large enough to fend for themselves in with the adult hens, at which time they'll move in with the grown-ups. The juvenile coop and pen will be attached to the main pen, so the newcomers will be in close proximity to the hens while they are growing up. We're hoping that this will allow the two groups to become reasonably familiar with one another and will ease the integration process when the time comes. We'll see - Chickens can be kind of funny sometimes...

Matt

Crunching the Numbers

Hi All

Some of you may have noticed the nice little graphs at the top and bottom of this page detailing our egg production. These tend to be more or less accurate, depending on how timely I am in entering the daily production. Sometimes it's an up-to-the-minute accounting of production. Other times, it may be just the teeniest bit behind - Like a week or so... At any rate, the total numbers are close enough to give a good feel for how things are going.

I must admit I was a little concerned about the lower graph - The one showing monthly totals since the girls started laying. It has begun to look quite a bit like a chart for the value of the U.S. dollar. I decided to put on my little green visor and see what I could come up with for a "real" number based on the number of hens (which has also been following the trend of the dollar!) relative to how many eggs were produced. Once I did that, the numbers didn't look so bad after all.

I took the number of eggs produced in a month, divided it by the number of days in the month, then finally by the number of laying hens in that month. No, I didn't break it down daily to account for hens that were lost in the middle of the month - This is a rough estimate, not rocket science! The resulting figure let me know what percentage of "maximum production" (meaning every hen laid one egg per day) we saw for the month. The numbers worked out thusly:

• November - 281 eggs, 25 hens, 43% max production.*
• December - 604 eggs, 24 hens, 81% max production.
• January - 545 eggs, 23 hens, 76% max production.
• February - 478 eggs, 23 hens, 74% max production.
• March - 479 eggs, 21 hens, 74% max production.

* First egg was Nov 4, so there were only 26 days of production.

So things really aren't as gloomy as they seemed. Total egg production is down, but there hasn't been a huge decrease in production per hen. Hopefully the warmer weather and longer days will inspire more productivity and we'll see a continued return to the higher percentages of December and January, but if not, oh well. The girls seem happy, we have plenty of eggs for the Co-op members, and we're still able to sell enough to cover the cost of supplies.

Matt

Chicken Coop News

It has been a busy week. Not only did we lose the first hen to a hawk, we had another hen just up and die on us for no apparent reason. The day after finding the red dead, one of the Wyandottes konked out in the pen in the middle of the day. I had been out there collecting eggs twice already and everyone was all right. When I went out the third time there were signs that two eggs had been eaten in the nest boxes. This has been a problem and we haven't figured out who is doing it yet. We suspect the white and one of the reds, but haven't caught anyone in the act. So we try to collect a number of times when we can. After cleaning up the mess in the nest boxes I went around to the pen and there was the dead bird. No marks, nothing. Did she choke on an egg shell? Who knows.  She was the hen that had followed Pete around the most and appeared to be the head hen. Was she pining for him? She is now buried and we are down to 21. The next day 20 of them laid eggs. Only one Araucana failed to produce that day. We know that because we only got two blue eggs and there are three of them. The last few days we have seen rather irregular production, ranging from 12 to 18, with a number laid late in the day. some of the girls are acting strangely and there is a lot of argument about nest box use. Esmeralda has decided to regularly bunk in with one of the Buffs, who likes to brood eggs and seems to protect her. She spends long hours camped out behind the Buff in the box, laying her blue egg for the Buff to protect. One of the reds spends alot of time trying to get into that same box with them, so perhaps she is the egg eater. The pecking order seems to be in disarray at the moment, so they act as if they are now expecting leadership from the humans. I am able to let them out in the middle of the day and get them to come back in fairly easily long before dark. Some will go into submissive posture when approached, so they can be picked up easily now. They seem to be asking me to play rooster and protect them. They also run right up to us if they have been out of our sight for just a short time. When Frank, Jennie and Keith came to give them treats tonight, they came running from all directions before they even saw what was offered. They seem to trust us all more now that they are more vulnerable. At some point one of the hens will emerge at the top of the order and take over the flock, but that has not happened yet. Losing the two at the top has apparently been traumatic for them. Some of them are finally showing signs of growing back some of the feathers Pete removed however. They are all very happy with the weather and the chance to get out and tear up the dirt in the gardens, looking for bugs and all the stray blades of grass. As Jeanne and I cut and cleared the bottom branches from many of the dying Colorado Spruces near the coop, the girls found new territory to dig up and had a ball. Also gives them a better chance to run for cover from hawks.

Although some of us miss Pete occasionally, particularly when hawks are around, we are basically happy he has moved on because now young Keith feels much more comfortable visiting the chickens, feeding them, and helping with the work. Pete had become a problem, particularly for someone of smaller size. He was body slamming the adults and we couldn't know what he might do to Keith, so he hadn't been around as much. Its good to have Keith here more often again. The girls are also more relaxed in many ways, even if they are a bit confused about leadership issues for now. Their wounds from Pete can heal and they may soon have their good looks back.

 Wendy has started to work on fixing the back pen which collapsed under snow this winter. We plan to make it much larger, give it a new gate, fence in a good sized yard to go with it and engineer around the slanted roof to deal with next winter's snow better. We also plan to start about ten new chicks about mid April and will give them their own quarters while they are little. Then we will hope to integrate them with the other flock when they are old enough to defend themselves. These are insurance against further losses this summer from predators etc. In the fall we will see how many we have and may decide to do what all good chicken farmers eventually do with a few of them, particularly the ones we find are eating eggs, so the coop is not too crowded next winter.

from Peggy, rooster substitute for the moment 

The Mystery of the Half-Eaten Hen

It had been a busy Friday. The co-op members had spent the morning telling stories and showing off our flock to a local publication. It was a fairly nice day, so we decided to let the chickens free range for a bit after the photographer had gotten all the pictures he needed. The writer and photographer, a husband and wife team, were friends of Wendy’s and we had invited them over for lunch after the interviews were over. We had just seen them off and were cleaning up when the phone rang. It was Peggy.

“I just got home and found most of the hens hiding in the coop! There were also some hiding under the trees and bushes, squawking up a storm, that all ran back to the pen as soon as they saw me. I did a head count and there are four missing. Could you come help me look for them?”

Wendy and I jumped in the car to head over to the coop. I was imagining the worst – A brazen predator attack, perhaps coyotes, in the middle of the day had wiped out almost 20% of our flock. We arrived to find Peggy and Jeanne walking in the row pines a short distance south of the coop. They told us they thought they had heard a chicken over there, but were unable to locate it. Peggy told us the story again, obviously shaken and distraught. We began to walk the perimeter around the coop, looking for tracks on the still partially snow covered ground but could find none from beast or fowl. As I moved around to the East side of the coop, a flutter of motion caught my eye. Then another, and another: Feathers, lots of them, were stirring in and around the leaves in the gentle breeze. The majority seemed to have come from a Barred Rock, but there were also what looked like a few Buff Orpington feathers as well. There was no snow on the ground here, just pine needles and a scattering of leaves so it was difficult to see if there were any predator tracks. What was definitely missing was any sign of a struggle. The ground was relatively undisturbed save for a few patches where the chickens had been scratching. The only obvious sign was one large scuff and gouge in the dirt right next to a large pile of feathers. I immediately thought “hawk”, but how could a hawk take four full grown hens? I know chickens aren’t the brightest critters in the world, but I just couldn’t imagine that it would take them until the fourth attack from a hawk to figure out that something was amiss and head for cover.

While pondering this new evidence, we all headed off in separate directions looking for additional clues. It wasn’t long before we heard Jeanne call out.

“I found one.” she said, in a rather calm and quiet voice.

From her tone, I assumed that she had found a dead hen. As I walked over towards where Jeanne was standing however, I was pleasantly surprised to see a rather disheveled Araucana emerging from under the low branches of a fallen pine tree. The hen had obviously found herself a good hiding place and she wasn’t about to come out until she knew there were friends about. Evidently the sight of Jeanne had convinced her that the coast was clear and she could come out into the open.

With the discovery of a live hen, we all redoubled our efforts with Peggy taking Wendy with her to the pines where she thought she had heard a chicken earlier. However it was Jeanne who seemed to have the knack for finding the girls that day.

“Two more!” she called as a pair of Rhode Island Reds came out from behind the garage and began hustling over to the coop.

So apparently only the Barred Rock had fallen victim after all, making our most likely suspect a hawk. Peggy and Wendy went into the coop and did a head count of the agitated chickens as best they could. Their efforts confirmed that there was still one hen missing. They went further and counted by breed just to ensure that it was a Barred Rock that was absent from the group. I could hear Peggy and Wendy going down the list of breeds that made up our flock, counting off the number of each variety as they progressed. When they were finished, they concluded that we were one Barred Rock short.

Not quite willing to give up on the last bird just yet, Peggy, Wendy and I returned to the pines. Peggy was pretty sure she had heard a chicken over there. Maybe she was hiding, or perhaps injured. We fanned out, going row by row, looking for feathers, tracks, any sign at all. We looked on the ground, under the trees, up in the branches and around the perimeter. No sign of a chicken whatsoever.

Wendy and I headed home, lamenting the loss of the Barred Rock. They are sturdy, even-tempered birds and good layers to boot. We hadn’t been home long when the phone rang. It was Peggy and I initially assumed she had found the missing hen. Instead, the discovery that she related over the phone only served to deepen the mystery. She had returned to the coop where the hens had calmed considerably and performed another breed count. To her surprise all four Barred Rocks were present, but there was a Rhode Island Red missing! She recounted again and again but kept coming up with the same result. In all the activity and confusion of earlier events, they must simply have miscounted, an easy enough thing to do.

But the ground outside had been littered with feathers that could only have come from a Rock. Had our sturdy girl managed to fight off her attacker? If so, might the missing Red still be out there somewhere? Only one way to find out, so Wendy went back over to do one more sweep with Peggy. Nothing came of it however and we came to the conclusion that while we were down one chicken, somewhere out there was a well fed hawk. I think we all secretly hoped that s/he got a belly ache from eating so much!

The final bit of the mystery played out on Monday and it was revealed to Wendy and me by yet another phone call from Peggy. The Red had been found, quite dead and half-eaten, right next to the stand of pines that had been the focus of so many searches. By the time Wendy and I arrived, Peggy had buried the remains. She walked us over to the scene of the crime and pointed out where she had found the bird. I was expecting a scene full of blood and gore, but there were only a few feathers scattered about. She then showed us where she had discovered a significant number of feathers from the hen under an adjacent pine tree. While I don’t specifically remember anyone searching that exact spot, it’s hard to believe that we wouldn’t have seen that hen had she been lying out in the open like that. Had the corpse been there all along, or had some scavenger dragged it out to finish what the hawk started? Had the hawk been scared off it's meal or did it discover it didn't care much for the taste of chicken? We will likely never know for sure what happened to our Red.

Matt

Pete's New Digs

Here are some pictures of Pete at his new home, a 200 plus acre farm near Fife Lake. I think that he will be very happy there, as he was welcomed by Mary and Doug (his new caretakers) into deluxe accommodations in a coop almost as large as our house. The coop is a clerestory building, set up with three large rooms, each with an enclosed outdoor run. Pete shares his room with about six hens and a few doves. A second room is home to several guinea fowl and a small rooster, of what variety I am not sure. The third room is set up as a very cool aviary for doves, a pair of silkies, and a pheasant. It is complete with tree branches and several baskets for nesting. It feels very natural, almost like being outside. It is the kind of room that you could take a good book and a cup of tea, or simply sit and meditate with the soft cooing of the doves in the background. Very quiet and peaceful (except for the crowing rooster that just moved in next door).

There were two other pens a short distance away that housed peacocks, a barn for a miniature donkey and two goats, another barn for horses and then yet another area for cattle. And, oh yeah, two dogs, a Bouvier and a Pekinese. It is my understanding that most of the feathered creatures free range in the summer months. It must be very colorful around there. Mary and Doug obviously care about their animals and go to great lengths to make them comfortable. I think that Pete has found himself a good home.

Wendy

Chicken Coop News

Well, Pete was sure missed today and it turned out to be a sad day. We were off to a great start this morning, with Susan Ager, formerly with the Detroit Free Press, and her phtographer husband Larry here to do a story on the Coop for Edible Grand Traverse magazine. We took lots of photo ops out by the coop, with Keith the clear star of the show as he fed the girls and gathered eggs. We let all the girls out to run around the yard, which they immediately did. A few were rounded up to be held for pictures. The rest spread out and engaged in their favorite occupation, digging for food. Jeanne and I had to leave for a meeting, the others hanging around for a while longer then dispersing. We didn't plan to be gone long and didn't think the girls could get into too much trouble. The big door and the pen door were left open for them. When we got home around 2:30 and I went looking for them, I discovered most of them huddled in the corner of the open coop. Five were still out and hiding under the pine trees. Three of these were having a loud conversation about something which attracted my attention to them. I started counting after the five followed me back to the coop and went in without an argument. Should have been 23 and I only counted 19. It's not easy to count chickens so I gave it a few tries. It was clear that the girls were afraid of something and did not want to leave the coop. This suggested a predator attack of some kind. With four missing I could only think fox or coyote. We called Matt and Wendy and began the search party. Jeanne and I thought we heard chicken voices out by the road. When they got here and we fanned out, three chickens emerged from hiding under the pine by the barn. What a relief. They scooted in the coop quickly. Then we found a scattering of feathers from a barred rock and I had only counted three of them so we figured that was the missing one. We kept looking. When I went in the coop a bit later, there were four barred rocks there. A rhode island red was the missing one. I must say we were a bit glad we didn't lose the rock, as they lay those nice huge dark brown eggs. But sadly one of the reds must have been snatched by a hawk. Perhaps the rock almost got it too and fought off the attack. Who can know. This is our first predator loss since we began, though it is the third hawk attempt. It seems strange, with all the coyotes around every night right behind the coop, that it is hawks we have most to worry about. The girls are very subdued right now, with no desire to come out of the coop. They are only coming out into the pen if one of us is there. This is the way they acted after the first hawk attack last summer. They put out 16 eggs today even with the commotion. Now they are 22. We looked for red until dark but don't really expect to see her again. The girls will stay in for a few days.

Peggy, missing Pete

Pete's gotta' go...

Hi all!
Well over the last month or so, old Pete has plum wore out his welcome around the coop. He's taken to charging everyone except Matt and Peggy, has removed a great number of feathers from some of the hens (a few are nearly bald on their backs!) and has just generally been a nasty S.O.B. The decision was made therefore to find a new home for our rambunctious rooster.

We started by posting the following ad under "Farm and Garden" on Craigslist:

Hi there!
My name is Pete, and I'm a 10 month old Wyandotte rooster. I've been living the good life - Cage free and 22 lady friends to (ahem) keep me occupied. The only complaint I have is that I have to put up with humans. There are seven of them in all, and there is no end to the trouble they cause. They are forever coming around, opening doors, closing doors, messing about with the food and water and disturbing my hens in their nest boxes. I tried to reason with them for a time, but it was just no use. Now, I just charge the annoying pests whenever they turn their backs on me, particularly the smaller ones. This seems to cause quite a fuss, and while it doesn't actually make them leave, it does make me feel as though I'm doing a good job of protecting my hens. Trouble is that I have heard some disturbing talk from the humans about recipes, sprigs of rosemary and a wide variety of stews that all seem to involve me somehow. As good as I have it here, I can't help but feel that it is time to move on. So if you're looking for a fairly mild-mannered yet occasionally feisty addition to your flock, please reply to this ad.

Sincerely,
Pete D. Rooster

Unfortunately the only response we received from the ad was one that simply asked "Would the old boy be good for soup?" Not exactly the home we were looking for.

Through casual conversation, a friend of Wendy's mentioned that she knew someone who might be willing to take Pete. This family was described as having a "menagerie" with a barn dedicated to "feathered friends". Sounded like a good deal, so Wendy pursued it. A few phone calls were made and and by Wednesday everything was arranged for us to deliver Pete to his new home on Saturday. We were happy that we had managed to find what sounded like an ideal situation and were very optimistic about the whole affair until we started considering the logistics.

The first question that arose was how to catch the nasty bugger. While living in Key West, I had seen the "Street Roosters" that roam the island by the hundreds picked up and handled by the local Bahamians and Cubans. It looked easy enough, but I couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't some trick involved essential to the prevention of receiving numerous kicks, pecks and scratches. It was suggested that we throw a towel or blanket over the bird to contain and subdue him. Then Peggy called and told us that she remembered being told that the best way to handle a rooster was to flip them upside down. The missing information was exactly how one goes about grabbing an ornery rooster to flip it over on it's back.

Next up, how to transport him? We didn't consider this until far too late and our options were rather limited. Specifically we had the choice of trying to tape several smaller cardboard boxes together to make one big enough for Pete, an unused galvanized steel garbage can with holes punched in it, or a rather large dog crate. The boxes just seemed like a bad idea all the way around and were never really seriously considered since we didn't have any to use that were much bigger than a shoebox. The dog crate was a good option but for the size - We were hoping to capture Pete in the coop and the crate was too big to fit in there. The garbage can probably would have been the best option - Small, manageable, durable, and we wouldn't have to worry so much about cleaning it afterward. It just seemed wrong to put him in a garbage can for any length of time. We finally settled on a plan that involved capturing him in the coop, putting him in the garbage can, then transferring him to the dog crate that would be open and waiting in the back of the car.

All too soon it was Saturday morning and time to round up ol' Pete. Wendy and I headed over to the coop with the garbage can and dog crate in the back of her car. All the way over, I just kept visualizing myself walking up to Pete, calmly reaching down and picking him up, then gently placing him in the can. When we reached the coop, Pete and his girls were all out in the run enjoying the morning sunshine. Feeling brave, I walked right in to the pen with the intent of catching the old boy by surprise. Turns out Pete is much more clever than I gave him credit for and seemed to know my intention. He had my number from the start and made sure to keep himself on the opposite side of all the hens so that I couldn't get to him. I finally managed to corner him at the far end of the run and reached down to pick him up. Wily young thing, our boy Pete. He managed to escape my grasp three separate times and made a bee-line for the coop. So much for the power of visualization...

In the end, catching Pete in the coop was pretty easy. Once I had him cornered I managed to get my hands on him, but realized too late that I had reached around opposite sides of one of the perches when I grabbed him. I stood there thinking, not wanting to release my prize yet knowing I couldn't pick him up. As I pondered, a curious thing happened - Pete relaxed. Where moments before he had been squirming and fussing, he was now quiet and still. I don't know if he suddenly trusted me, had resigned himself to his fate, or figured me for an idiot that would repeatedly bash him against the perch in my efforts to pick him up and thought he had better let me think things through. Whatever the case, he stayed still and I decided to risk removing one of my hands in order to reposition it. Pete stayed quiet and allowed me to not only change my grip, but also pick him up and rotate him over on to his back. I called to Wendy to open the door of the coop and stepped proudly outside into the sunlight holding a seemingly content Pete.

The rest of the transfer went smoothly and Wendy dropped me off at the house, then continued on her way to take Pete to his new home. I'll try to convince her to post about the super-deluxe new digs that he is enjoying. As a teaser - Pete's new coop is almost as big as our entire house...

Matt, aka The Chicken Whisperer

More Pictures!

Just wanted to let everyone know that there are new pictures posted - Some awesome winter shots of the chickens and some very un-winterish pictures of a Great Horned Owl. These were all taken by Peggy; the chickens right in her own yard and the owl while she was visiting her mother in Florida. Click on the "Homestead Coop Photos" link above, or here to go to the pictures.

Chicken Awards in order

Today the girls went all out and for the first time it looks like every hen laid an egg. We had 23 in all, and that's all the hens we have. The last was put out late this afternoon. Pete probably needs an award too, as he has obviously been busy judging by the look of the backs and sides of some of the hens. A number of them are getting quite bald in some places. Yesterday the girls only left us 14, so they must have had a meeting to increase production today. Who says chickens slow down in winter? Our girls spent the afternoon outside in the sun, rumaging in the compost bins. But they took the time to get in there and lay also. Twelve of the eggs were there when we arrived this morning, so having the light go on at 3AM seems to be working well for them. A few of the Buffs have taken over the job of brooding, and tend to spend the day sitting in the boxes on top of any eggs left there. Often when a hen wants to lay she will just climb in on top of another hen and drop the egg. The broody types just keep them all warm no matter who it belongs to. The kids really look forward to that bedtime snack of scratch I have been putting on the floor of the coop. No problem getting them all in for that so I can close the door. We need to find a source of roughage for the winter. They went nuts over the lettuce we bought for them the other day and seem to really need such things. Maybe they won't eat so much of the straw if we give them more green stuff. All contributions welcome. I hope we can eventually find a store to give us leftovers.

Peggy, happy egg collector

Chicken Coop News

Here is a helpful little technique I have developed for getting the girls and Pete into the coop when I want to close it up for the night. Usually when you get there two or three are still outside and the rest run right out when they hear you unhook the rope. So, leave the rope unhooked. The door will not fall down on its own. Get a cup of scratch and sprinkle it slowly on the floor in the coop. Those outside will hear it and come running in for their night time treat. They love pecking it off the floor. Pete will come in also. You will be standing quietly in the doorway. When you think they are all in, particularly Pete, you reach down and pull the door down from the inside. Done. Then I go around into the pen to make sure none are left outside and make sure the door is securely down. They are coming to expect this little ritual. Since they are all on the floor by now pecking away, you have one last chance to check for late eggs. FYI, they also like mellon, pineapple, and celery. The remains of a reception at BACN are now either in the pen or the compost pile. We have been letting them out to forage in the pile late in the afternoon if the weather is good and Boots is safely at home (or on the leash quivering with enthusiasm while watching them.) They like to have the coop door open also for awhile, particularly if the sun is out and they can sop up the rays on the coop steps. I usually close the door after about an hour so they get the idea to start heading home around through the pen. They usually go back in the pen on their own after boredom sets in. A few hens are looking very raggedy, particularly one of the Rhode Island reds. I think she must be Pete's favorite or she is in a serious molt. Production is sliding a little, averaging 15 - 16 a day now, so some are most likely molting. Others are just spending too much time with Pete.

from Peggy, chicken herding specialist

Chicken's celebrate Imbolc early

It seems our girls want to celebrate Inbolc, or Candlemas, early this year, by a day. They are welcoming the increasing light and the longer days by finally increasing production after a little slump. We were down to 14-16 a day for a short time, but today they went to 21 again. A few are showing signs of wear on their backs near the tail and on their flanks. We suspect Pete is serving those more than the others. Some show no signs of a single misplaced feather (the Buffs and the Barred Rocks) while the Araucanas, the White Rock, a few of the Rhode Islands, a few Wyandottes, and Isa Brown are all looking kind of ratty. The Black Astrolorps are holding up well also. Pete has settled down some though, and does not seem to be on as much hormone overload as he was this fall. From what I am reading, he is behaving like a normal good rooster, dedicated to protecting his flock. He makes sure they eat first while he watches for preditors. He comes after us if we try to herd his girls or we are carrying something that looks like a weapon and keep it too high. The literature says, as does Matt's research, that we should hold him if he gets aggressive. He may not like it at first, but will settle down once he realizes we are at the actual top of the pecking order and don't plan to hurt him. Kicking and other aggressive actions on our part are counter-productive. They only make him think he has to fight us. It is only when we are stressing the hens in some way that he really gets aggressive. I think we should appreciate his fine rooster qualities. Once the girls are out free ranging this spring, we will most likely appreciate him even more. We do need to be aware that he will not respond well when we are trying to move the girls around or herding them into the coop, and particularly need to be on the watch for aggressive behavior when young Keith is with the flock, and Pete is likely to misunderstand his intentions. I am hoping to get a chance to try the holding thing soon, but he just doesn't seem to get mad at me much, so there has been no opportunity. They say he will sacrifice himself for the flock, signaling them to hide if a hawk is around, but leaving himself exposed until all are under cover. He has two warning calls, one for an overhead attack and one for a ground attack, so the girls know which way to run. From what I am hearing from others, our Pete is pretty well-behaved as far as roosters go, though it may not seem so if you are on the receiving end of a body slam. It helps to make sure you are standing upright as much as possible if you are doing something that might stress out the girls, so you look too big to mess with.

Related to this, I am reading about what happens to all those male chicks that no one wants from the hatcheries and it is not a pretty picture. It raises some really sticky ethical issues with regard to selecting a new batch. But it also reminds us that we will someday have to deal with the issue of culling or not culling the flock when we need to replace hens that no longer lay, how to do that, and when we might want to think about using some of our chickens as meat birds in the future. Or not. We chose heavy layers so they could serve as both, but I know I for one find I avoid the issue of actually butchering one of our chickens someday. At the same time, I know that a homestead way of living requires a diverse food supply that includes animals and plants in a conscious relationship with each other, for example as Joe Salatin does it. Since all of us seem to eat meat to varying degrees, we will have to look at how we face our food. I am personally feeling that I should take some responsibility for getting the food on my plate and not expect someone else to do the dirty work for me forever. I certainly welcome thoughts on this issue. The two hens which have died have been buried because we didn't know why they died, which got us off the hook to some extent.

Peggy, on the verge of Imbolc and the waning of the wolf moon.

Chicken Coop News

I am sad to inform all of you that we have lost another coop family as well as another chicken. As you know, Keith has decided to drop out for now, as other priorities have trumped his desire to care for chickens, though he remains a friend of the coop and will buy eggs from us. He tells us the experience was very positive and he has no issues, just doesn't have time for it now. He is also interested in any other resilience initiatives we may come to in the future. But this morning I found one of the Rhode Islands dead on the coop floor. I am fairly sure it would be the same one that was trying to crawl under the nest boxes late yesterday. I pulled her out, but she didn't seem to have much energy. Is this a coincidence? The last time a chicken died it was shortly after we found out that the Moehle family was in fact not going to be involved any longer in the work of the coop. Do the chickens know that not so many are needed now? With two families dropping out from the daily care of the flock and leaving the coop, and the eggs piling up in the fridge, maybe they are doing a flock reduction. Just speculation. There are no marks on this chicken. It has not been pecked. Since we do not know why this one died, I am inclined to bury it with Daffy. Let me know if anyone has other ideas.

We are re-naming the co-op the Homestead Coop, as it is now down to the core group of three families living next to each other here on Homestead Road, who have assumed the responsibility of caring for the chickens and maintaining the coop basically for the last five months. The two families that enjoyed the building part and the initial organization of the co-op have found that they have other time commitments now, and caring for the daily needs of a coop and chickens are not on the agenda. We will miss their unique contributions, and assume they will check us out now and then to see how we are progressing. Hopefully they will still come to us for eggs once in a while. There are some lessons here for others considering coops. It is important to realize just how much time it takes and be clear on how much time you can really put into it. It is important to remember that the daily work is the bulk of the operation. The beginning excitement settles down into a routine, if you are organized, and each person needs to look at how they feel about being a part of that mundane routine as well as how they feel about the overall concept. So starting out with more people than you may end up with is a good idea. If there is a strong core group, you will survive attrition. Same thing with chickens. It would be rare not to lose a few here and there. We started with 26 and are now down to 24. This means we still have lots of eggs to eat and sell. We are able to cover all our expenses now with egg sales. The list of friends of the coop grows. The girls are still laying between 15 and 21 eggs a day. Once in a while they go down to 13. A few are showing signs of molting, so they will stop laying during this time. Esmeralda was accepted back into the flock and is still doing well. Jeanne and Peg have returned from vacation, so Wendy, Matt, Frank, Jennie and young Keith get a break from all the good care they provided over the last several weeks. They even fed the fish, filled the bird feeders, watered the house plants, and brought in the mail. What great neighbors. We do not think the coop group will stop with egg production. There are plans in our heads for other things as well on this 40 acre parcel we three families share. By the way, Pete has been on his best behavior since we returned. Guess he doesn't want to be the next to go. It is good to be back to the real world of cleaning the coop and talking to the chickens.

from Peggy, humble servant for 24 chickens

Chicken Coop Update

Hello all. It seems that the girls miss Peggy & Jeanne's daily interaction and are protesting their absence by not laying as many eggs. Production has been down. We have attempted to lavish them with extra attention and treats and it may be working because today we are back up to 21 eggs as of 4:00 this afternoon. Matt and I cleaned the coop yesterday and let them out to "play" while we worked. Mostly they wanted to help by standing right where we wanted to clean. They do seem to be enjoying our January Thaw. We switched the light so that a regular light comes on with the timer instead of the heat lamp. It has been pretty toasty in there.

Jennie found one of the hens wedged under the fence with her wing caught last night when she and Keith closed up. The hen did not appear to be injured and was fine this morning when Matt and I went over. There was a nice hole dug out right under the ramp. We filled in the hole and put a big rock there, and later enhanced our barrier with concrete pavers. That should deter them from digging. Pete has been a bit "cocky". He went after Frank a couple of times, beating him with his wings. Then he got his dander up with me today and I had to kick him back, more than once. He better mellow out before Jeanne gets back or she'll cook him and eat him!

Even with lighter production, we do have plenty of eggs. So if anyone needs eggs or can sell some, please do. I'll try to move some this weekend. We are also getting very low on egg cartons, so any help there would be appreciated, too.

That's all the news from the coop.

Wendy,

Executive Assistant to the Mother Hen

Chilly Chickens

There's a little more work to be done with the return of cold temperatures. Wendy and I stopped by the coop this afternoon and discovered that the water had frozen solid. Since our girls need regular access to water (I read that being without water for as little as a few hours can reduce overall health and egg production) I guess we need to watch this closely. Wendy and I can pop over most days, but we may need a little help from time to time.

In other news, at least one of the hens has decided that it is far too much effort to climb up in to a nest box to lay her egg. We've found an egg on the floor in the morning for a the last four days. They're not all that easy to see (particularly when partially covered with straw) and we have stepped on a couple. In case you're wondering, chickens just LOVE fresh eggs and went into a feeding frenzy over the broken eggs. We cleaned up best we could, scooping out the egg-sodden straw. We don't really want the girls developing a taste for eggs...

Matt & Wendy

Esmeralda Up-Date

It looks like the flock is going to accept her back. She got through the night well, no signs of injury, and she seems to be firguring out how to keep a low prifile. There are a few bullies in the bunch, but they sem to bully everyone, not just her. She gets a peck in the head now and then, and a few have shown mild interest in her wound, but she moves out of the way and they leave her alone. She does come right up to me when I arrive in the pen. Guess she got used to all that special attention. We are lucky, as I hear not all flocks will take back one who has been away for awhile. We make sure our girls don't have to fight over food though, so she doesn't have to starve at the bottom of the pecking order. All is well for now. We are all sending out our good wishes and thoughts for Amy's dad, who is having surgery very soon. Esmeralda is particularly sympathetic we are sure. The humans will keep your family in our thoughts. Peggy

Chicken Coop News

A victory for Esmeralda today. She announced this afternoon that she was ready to return to the flock. She was pacing and restless, making it very clear that she wanted out of her cramped quarters. She was also talking about it alot. So Wendy and Matt came over and we put her back with the rest. We had them out in the pen or hanging out by the open coop door, and just set her down. They barely noticed, as they were busy with all the goodies we gave them. She just joined the rest and acted as if she had been there all along. We skipped the Vicks this time, and though you can see her wound a bit, most of it has healed over and can barely be seen unless you know what to look for. In fact, it is likely that only the intensive care medical staff will know which one she is now. She has not laid an egg for two days however. Perhaps she was saving her energy for the stress of re-introduction. We have checked on her regularly throughout the day and all is well. The red light is on and the flock sleeps peacefully. We can certainly feel a sense of relief that she has made it so well. It was a rather nasty wound. Pete seemed to leave her alone also, which will help with the healing. Thanks especially to Wendy and Matt for all their dedication to her care.  Peggy

Chicken Coop News

After two months of egg production, some of you may have noticed an occasional egg with the tiny and vaguely bloody beginnings of an embryo. There are two reasons for this as I see it. Number one, is Pete, who is behaving himself with the humans, so is still with us. He is a very busy rooster, although the cold weather has slowed him down a slight bit. But we can assume that a good number of these eggs are fertilized. The other thing is that a few of the hens think it is their job to keep the eggs warm and brood them until we lift them up and remove the clutch they are guarding. So some eggs may be getting incubated a bit. We try to get out there several times a day, but some days we only make it twice. Esmeralda's eggs are definitely not fertilized these days, as she is still in her private room in the garage. She makes up for it by putting an extra sprinkling of blue dust on her eggs.

We have earned enough money selling eggs this last month to be able to buy food and straw for the next month, and that is all taken care of now. Frank, Jennie, Keith Jr, Matt, and Wendy (and Boots) will be taking over all the daily care beginning Thursday, until Jeanne and Peg return from vacation in not so sunny Florida. Keith B. will help out when he returns from his vacation. There is lots of bread in the garage in front of the tractor to use as treats. We have managed to keep the pen shoveled out so we can get in there and the flock gets a bit of exercise. They don't seem to want to get out of the pen much these days, as there is really nothing fun to do right now. Even the compost bins are full of snow. They amuse themselves digging a tunnel under their ramp, and throwing the straw around whenever we try to clean up the coop.

Financial records are now being kept, under the production log sheet. these show how much we are putting in the jar and how much we are spending. There is also a place to record when you clean the coop, so the next person will know how much they need to do. The log sheet also now has an additional column, so we can sort out eggs going to members and eggs sold to friends. Please note also that there is now a sponge by the sink especially marked for use to clean up any really dirty eggs before putting away in fridge. Most do not need to be washed until right before use, and we are trying to remember to tell our customers this as well. It is fun to watch an egg come out of the runway all wet with that protective coating they put on. It dries almost immediately, so we don't get to see it often.

Wishing all our friends and fans a wonderful New Year. May the eggs continue to flow and the flock flourish, and the community continue on the road to resilience. Peggy