Category: raising chickens

It’s (probably) a girl!

by Karen, posted in family, raising chickens

Well, it’s been a little more than 3 weeks and it’s looking more and more like he is a she. Of course, all the data is not in, but very soon it will become unequivocal.

For now though, she is still a runt, much smaller then the other chickens. We attempted to take a picture of her next to a more normal sized hen, but she was running around (and at one  point actually became airborne) so much that we weren’t able to pull that off. We did manage to get one picture of her holding still, while she was held (compare to original picture).

So, the whole issue of naming is rearing its ugly head. Naming chickens carries inherent heartbreak. It seems that it’s always the chicken that you love the best that the hawk will get, or that will come down with the mysterious virus that sends them to “the corner”. When the chicken goes to “the corner”, it will usually be dead in three days.

Now is it because three days of standing in the corner will result in death? or is it that three days before the chicken knows it’s going to depart this world for the big henhouse in the sky, they seek out the comfort of  “the corner”?

It’s kind of reminiscent of the age-old “which came first…” question.

So, we are putting off naming her, but two contenders for the name of the chicken that we are trying not to name are both androgynous. Vote for the name you like the best.

naming chickens

by Karen, posted in family, raising chickens
our new baby chicks

naming your chickens may start out innocently enough…you notice they have their own unique personalities, and you warm to them. for example, the first year we raised chickens, i had one hen that loved to dine in my herb garden, which was conveniently placed next to the coop. she quickly earned the name “Basil”, followed by “Rosemary” (for obvious reasons).  “Chiclet” was next, and so on. all was well for a while.

the problem with the naming of the hens may not be immediately evident, but some of you who are chicken farmers know where i’m headed with this: chickens lives are (often) not long, and not without peril. in other words, sometimes bad things happen to good chickens: illnesses. accidents. sometimes their misery needs mercy, and it is so much harder to bestow that mercy on Chiclet, versus on ‘that yellowish older chicken over there’, who is one of many faces in the crowd.

here’s a link with some helpful information about raising chickens: http://www.backyardchickens.com/

reasons to keep a (possible) rooster

by Karen, posted in raising chickens
the rescued runt!

recently my husband was at the feed store getting (you guessed it!) feed and supplies for the chickens. in the chick brooder outside, there were baby chicks and while he was waiting, he stopped to take a peep (:)) at them. Longhorn is a good source for baby chickens if you are looking for just a few chicks (rather than the lot of 25 that many online hatcheries require you to order). now, my husband is sort of a chicken snob, ordering from texas, iowa, specialty breeders to get unique egg colors from our flock, since most of our hens are chosen for egg color, size, and quality. this day, one chick in particular caught his eye, and when he was finished with his feed transaction, he asked ‘what’s the odd-looking chick?” the clerk replied, “it’s an oddball mixed breed from an incubator project”. “i think it’s a rooster,” he added. now as i’ve mentioned in the past, you generally can’t give roosters away, and labeling it thus would typically have been the kiss of death, but it was this little guy’s lucky day, because when the clerk said, “you can have ‘im if you want ‘im,”  instead of averting his eyes and politely declining, my husband said, “okay!” and rescued him. he traveled to his new home in a spot-light bulb box. sigh. This chick has personality; it’s what made him stand out and, in the end, what saved him.

So, reasons to keep a possible rooster:

  1. it has a unique feature; this guy has a fluffy gray crest on his head and some perky tail feathers
  2. (s)he has a pretty trilling peep
  3. (s)he is petite; well, to call a spade a spade…is the runt of the litter, calling out to be saved.

Next issue: to name or not to name it? what would you do?

8 tips for shopping at the farmers market

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, gardening, raising chickens, shopping

the farmers market is unofficially open in portland, maine (and maybe where you are too). here are some ideas to get you started off on the right foot:

  1. bring a bag! preferably a reusable shopping bag vs those plastic ones (although these are available from the farmers if you do forget your bag. which I typically do).
  2. don’t be afraid to ask, “what the heck is it?” if you don’t recognize it.
  3. don’t be afraid to ask, “how the heck do you cook that thing?” . they’ll tell you. (most likely it will involve frying it in butter, but hey, doesn’t butter improve most things?).
  4. bring small bills and a handful of change. nothing will make you feel more uncomfortable than handing over a $20 to pay for $1 worth of parsnips (reference #3 above) and  nothing takes longer than a farmer counting out your change in those precious one dollar bills that he will desperately need to make change for other ill-prepared shoppers a few hours later.
  5. if you see a pile of something on the ground behind the vendor’s stand, ask for it! they are often happy to give you those carrot tops (or whatever) that their other customers didn’t want but that your chickens will swoon over for just the price of taking it off their hands.
  6. show some restraint! don’t buy up all of those “early girl” tomato seedlings when they first appear. by the time the heirloom varieties (purple brandywine; amish paste, hawaiian pineapple, stupice, thesoliniki) are presented, your garden will be overfull (and your significant other will be saying, “I told you so!” with that smug look as you sob that “there is no more room in the garden! Why didn’t I wait?!”).
  7. shop around; nothing is more annoying than to fork over $4 for that small bunch of cut daffodils and then find the much larger bunch for $3.50 two stalls down.
  8. plan to visit the market as close to when it opens as you can; it is definitely an “early bird catches the worm” kind of shopping experience. they have what they have until it’s gone.

and remember: they hauled all that stuff over here, the least you can do is to go buy a parsnip or something (reference #4 above).

anyone else have any tips for farmers market shopping? …or any good parsnip recipes? 🙂

find a local farmer’s market: http://www.localharvest.org/

learn what to do with what you bought: http://www.farmfresh.org/learn/recipes.php

 

10 things i’ve learned about roosters

by Karen, posted in family, raising chickens

It all started off innocently enough; 26 chicks in a small cardboard box arrived in the spring…we learned some things from books and friends in advance, but some things are learned by doing, through “on the job training”.  1.when ordering new chicks from vendors, you often will not receive all female chicks . this is not good for several reasons, which leads us to …. 2. boy chickens often do not play nice with each other.  3. boy chickens grow up and start crowing pretty darn fast. 4.The dollar store earplugs don’t work. 5.Putting a pillow over your head does work some, but it interferes w/breathing, so can’t be a long term solution. 6. no one in the family hears the crowing at 3:07am except me.  (DAWN I  could handle; but 3:07AM?)  7. “free to a good home” is not an effective advertising strategy for this purpose; you can’t GIVE away a rooster. Nobody wants them, or certainly nobody wants more than one. 8. Except some people do; they will take all you have, as long as you don’t mind if they eat them. 9.. A friend with  a farm may offer to take them, so they can “free range”, which is a euphemism for “being eaten by hawks”.  10. the bottom line? we would do it all again. in fact, we have, several years in a row now. it has become one of our spring rituals. 🙂

here are some resources to get you started if you are interested in learning more:

1. http://www.idealpoultry.com/

2. http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html