In many cultures around the world, eggs and — in particular — chicks are symbolic of new life and rebirth. So picking up two new chicks today couldn't have happened at a better time. In recent days, I have faced serious struggles. I walked into the heart of the storm, and somehow emerged on the …
Little Siouxsie Sioux
On the sixth day, I found little Siouxsie Sioux crumpled near the front of the brooder. Not knowing how long she had been out of the heater, I worried about her body temperature. I held her close to me, and saw that she was weak. The emergency box, which I had obsessively curated two years …
More chicks? Yes, please
Chicken math is a funny thing. The punch line is that we always want more, right? Where I live, I am constrained by an ordinance that limits my chicken numbers to four. Oh how I wish I could have six. Or seven. But I must be strong. I already have two, but four is the …
Return of the egg
Gigi (our olive egger) broke through the winter weather and delivered her first egg since last fall. After checking records, I saw she returned to laying exactly one week earlier than last year. Our Marans Loretta still refuses to lay. She stopped during the summer once her missing feathers began to grow back in. …
Difficult decision
Nellie was my favorite chick from day one. I loved cradling her in my palm, and as she grew, she seemed to enjoy snuggling in my lap. Right around the time she started to lay eggs, all of that changed. She started attacking my, my legs, then she would fly up and go at my …
Week 16: Crazy chickens!
Editor's note: This is a blog from last year that I never published. It was just the beginning of what became very aggressive and destructive behavior. Tonight for the first time I felt something other than absolute adoring love for my chickens. I experienced fear. I often joke that my house was built upon a junk …
Catching up: Moving with chickens
Moving with chickens is an exercise in logistics. It seemed enough to pack up every single thing in my house and come up with a plan to move it about an hour from my house. But what about the chickens? I couldn't see transporting them the day of the big move. So I decided to leave …
Week 19: We have eggs!!!
Two eggs in one day? That's how our first special delivery arrived this evening. As soon and Matt and I got home from work, I went out back for my daily egg check. I wasn't really expecting anything; the last two weeks had come up empty every time. And then I saw it. Nellie's light …
Week 17: Prepping for eggs!
Tonight, Loretta squatted for me! In chicken-speak, this means she'll be laying eggs in the next week or so. For some reason, she wouldn't come out of the coop today. Normally she's the first one barging through the door. But it took coaxing, and finally me just picking her up and putting her outside. That's …
A dirty little secret (resolved)
It's a backyard chicken keeper's worst nightmare. That barnyard smell. For the first month, it was totally fine. Then one hot, muggy day, after a heavy downpour, it arrived. I had to be standing literally at or in the coop, but the smell was undeniable. Of course, I freaked out. I worried about it getting …
Chicken Scratch Fever 