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 …
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 …
Snow birds
We had our first snowstorm of the year, bringing with it about 4 inches of snow, and temperatures that dipped into single digits overnight. One morning I walked out to find my prized heated water fountain had frozen over. In the 13-degree weather, I quickly scooped out the ice from the water trough, and worried …
In the trenches
With the last bit of summer running past us, I decided to embark on a large pre-winter project: running an electrical line out to the chicken coop.Why do chickens need electricity, you ask? Mostly so I can plug in a heated water jug. I just don't have it in me to run fresh water out …
A green egg!
Exactly two days after we received our first eggs from the girls, today we were greeted with another gift.A green egg.I knew Gigi was holding out. With eggs from Nellie and Loretta, it was easy to do the math. Two brown eggs meant we were waiting on Gigi's coveted green egg.In her showgirl style, Gigi bypassed …
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 …
Week 15: Nite-nite
http://youtu.be/VikuubsVIMQ If I ever had any doubt before, I now know the chickens are in charge. Up until tonight, they were just humoring me. After dinner, I let the girls out for a quick evening stroll in the yard. They sauntered over to a cave-like bush near the house, and set up camp. Matt and …
Week 13: Geez, it’s hot!
Summer has arrived a couple days early, with scorching hot temperatures. Today it was in the high 80s most of the day, then inching into the low 90s around dinnertime. I kept a close eye on them throughout the day, looking for obvious signs of heat stress. Around 5 p.m., I went back out to …
Chicken Scratch Fever 