Chicken, Gardens and Agrarianism

While deciding to become and egg harvester and chicken babysitter, I decided to get back into gardening. I have taken a 10 year hiatus while I turned my house into the Winchester Mystery House. I really can't help myself as I love gardening, am enjoying this chicken craze and will soon be hand-augering a well in my backyard so I can irrigate everything. I have a small piece of property it is 100 x 100 and 35% is house another 20% is driveway and lawn. So I am not a land-barron and don't want anyone feeling inhibited by a perception of money... negative tower.... no money here. Which leads me to my next point.

My desire is to get off the grid; solar on the house, eggs in the coop, veggies in the garden and water in the well. In as much as I can tell this is neo-agrarianism. Since we don't live in villages where someone is stomping out wine or kneeding bread or pressing olives or making some shoes. The best we can do is; water, sun, wind, dirt, seeds and chickens, unless you have land and ordinances that let you slaughter - then meat..I don't and wouldn't anyway, unless I had to.

I have read enough to know, our economy will never be the bloated self it was from 2002-2006. That was 4 years of Fantasy Island. I also know from my years studying and applying economics in business, that we are in for lean times. As the government turns on the printing presses, our money will buy less. This begs the need to keep it in your pocket and food being one of our larger monthly expenses, why not provide it for yourself - no matter the size of lot you have.

Above are kaliedescope carrots. These are offered by Cook Gardens. I have bought many seeds from Cook over the past 20 years and they have been the best - by far. They are awesome to eat, beautiful to look at, kids like them and they "sell". Many local gardeners can make money selling to neighbors or at Farmers Markets, but more importantly you can provide for yourself.

So, while I am tending to my chickens, I will be harvesting some veggies too. If your not doing it, give it a try. Neo-Agrarianism is coming to a street near you.

Le Coop du Jour T-Shirts coming soon.

COOP Maintenance

OK... sorry for the late post.... I spent some time at Concord Feed and picked up the following;

CornCob by Green Pet Incorporated. This really neat stuff, super absorbent, natural, edible, biodegradible, compostable and the chickens love it. It is like they are on crack right now - ok bad reference... coffee!!! Yeah... too much caffeine. I spread it out with the pine shavings and some hay for a nice all-in-one bedding.

Very cool stuff. I will keep you posted on the success and the ability... for it to keep the ammonia smell down and the COOP fresh as my socks. Also in the shopping basket was;

Garden and Poultry Dust which is designed to take care of the poultry mites among other pesky pests. I sprinkled this in the bedding.

The chickens are now resting since I spent 10 minutes in the coop cleaning and prepping, they were freaking!!!

Raising Chickens - Trend or Stupidity?

Here is an article I read on Reuters today -

Despite Jack Shafer's recent complaints, newspapers continue to report on the "trend" of people raising chickens in their back yards.

The latest: The Dubuque, Iowa, Telegraph-Herald, which has taken it even further than a trend—according to that newspaper (whose article was picked up by the Chicago Tribune), it's a "movement": "Whether they are owned as pets or food sources, chickens have become the animals du jour, the darlings of the growing 'backyard flock' movement," the paper reports.
Of course, there is nothing to support the idea that such a "movement" actually exists; the article is built on nothing but anecdotes. The only trend here is of newspaper reporters insisting that there is a trend.

It may well be true that more people are raising their own chickens. But these stories offer no real data to indicate that it is so.

The Telegraph Herald attributes the "trend" to "a recession and rising food costs or ... food safety and animal welfare concerns." But as Shafer, Slate's media critic, noted a couple of weeks ago when he recounted several similarly flimsy articles, "keeping chickens is a filthy, time-consuming, and expensive way to keep the pantry filled with eggs."If the recession or safety are the primary motivations for raising chickens, the chicken-raisers aren't very smart. A part-time job at Popeye's would be a far more effective way to offset the effects of the recession than would building and maintaining a backyard coop."

Seriously, this person doesn't know the first thing about raising chickens. It is painfully obvious this person enjoys the confines of a second-rate fast food restaurant, e-coli and endless teasing to raising chickens, working the land, producing food, controling pests and having a constant supply of humor and entertainment.

Week Two: June 12, 2009

Hoot on the rod....!

This chicken is a hoot. She is the friendliest bird I have ever seen, my experience being the other five! So, this bird is really something. It is as though the bird wants to come with you every where you go. As I took this picture, I think she wanted to make a call. Cool looking beek and really pretty markings on her head... the rest of her looks like she spent the night in a gutter.

And then there are three on the rod! Hoot encouraged a couple others... Millie (RIR) and Kapalua (Arcauna) to join her. Then Hoot jumped on Kapalua and knocked them both off the rod... A big crash was heard as Kapalua landed on her back on the ramp.
Fun stuff.

Then we have the two foreigners... Scat and Sunny...

These two are unbelievable... always following, always talking. They are still the prettiest, currently and seem to stunted in growth. They still look chick-ish. I am changing their names to Yanna and Ulrika.

More to come...

Chicken Panic?

I am not sure I like this.... This is a new game from Techno Bubble Entertainment in Sweden (yeppo the Swede's again). It is designed for the iPhone. The object is to not let the colored chickens drop to the bottom of the screen or they escape from the coop. Whew! With the little guys eyes popping out, I thought for sure he was cooked.

Here are some screen grabs. The guy looks like a poorly dressed hick drunk coming out of the back entrance to some dive bar. Oh, where chickens happen to be meandering amongst the spent wine barrels. OK, there is some fencing, but I am not buying the whole setting. A stupid hat, skinny arms made for fighting, a shirt that harkens any women to him and tight pants. As you can tell also the syntax in the second picture is perfect English. They might as well write it like a ranson note... " oH NO, mY colOr cHiCKenS eSkapE AgAin." UGH... nice try. The fur-ball chickens are miserable as well.

At least chickens have made it to the iPhone.

Feed Stores, Stables and The Internet

Sorry... but I realized why I like chickens, feedstores and stables.

Time stands still.

No amount of technology is going to change the chicken, their needs, their habitats, their care and the egg.

No amount of technology is going to change the stable, the horse, the experience of riding one.

No amount of technology is going to change the feedstore, the trough, the food, the equipment. And while computers may control the inventory, they do not change the basic essence of the need as to why people are coming there. Whether for bedding, hay, feed, tack etc walking into a feedstore evokes days gone by - maybe safer, maybe calmer, maybe simpler days.

I need to walk away from the computer and weep. (tissue please)

Chickens and Dinosaurs

(pictured are Hoot (Easter Egger), Millie (RIR) and Scat (Buff Orpington) on the ramp)

Good grief, I am not trying to be cruel, but these things are the strangest two legged winged creatures I have ever seen. I was told they go through a "questionable" appearance stage but this is ridiculous. They have bed head, they are disproportionate, their feet are the size of a pterodactyl and their heads look like a mish-mash of hair, feathers and a raisin. Now to pick on one breed.. the Arcauna is really the oddest. The Buff and the Rhode Island's are actually aging gracefully.
Now on to more kind observations - they not only have found the ramp and the second floor.. they are now flying up and sitting on the wood clothes rod. Well not all of them... the Arcauna's and the RIR are there but Buff's are still like foreigners.

"Oh luuk Sven....the others are sitting up dere, shall vee join demm?" "No, jus snap unz picture and send zem baak to Sveeden" - ( Oh my lord I cannot believe I just tried to mimic a Swede forgive me if you are Swedish). Since the Buff's originate in England read it with an English accent. "A look Clare... they've popped up to the rod... shall we join them?" "Oh Imogen you're so impetuous, let's just relax and sip some water..." (ahh that's better)

Orpingtons

What a great breed of chicken....

(splash, blue and buff)

Chickens Are Smarter Than Dogs.....!!!?

I do not like PETA, I think they are an activist group that has taken their charter WAY TOO FAR. I believe it is conceivable to get behind "causes" with tact, shrewdness and effectiveness. PETA has taken their cause to a level of unnecessary shock, lewdness and division. This is no way to sway thoughts or beliefs and usually galvanizes people against them.

A chicken could figure this out.

Why the PETA comments, because much of the information on livestock, poultry and household pets comes from organizations like PETA. When I say information - I mean "learnings" things which are going to teach you about the creature. Since becoming a Backyard Chicken Farmer, I have jumped into the deep end and wanted to learn everything there is; based on my preconceived notions that chickens are dumb, of which my chickens are not helping my notion. Since they appear to be "cute", I thought I would research this a bit and lo and behold lookie here! Chickens are smart. Simply stated, they have personality therefore they must have some vein of intelligence somewhere. Well here is what I found out.


"Leading animal behavior scientists from across the globe now tell us that chickens are inquisitive and interesting animals whose cognitive abilities are more advanced than those of cats, dogs, and even some primates. Chickens understand sophisticated intellectual concepts, learn from watching each other, demonstrate self-control, worry about the future, and even have cultural knowledge that is passed from generation to generation. Dr. Chris Evans, who studies animal behavior and communication at Macquarie University in Australia, says, "As a trick at conferences, I sometimes list these attributes, without mentioning chickens, and people think I am talking about monkeys.""

Chickens comprehend cause-and-effect relationships and understand that objects still exist even after they are hidden from view.(2) This puts the cognitive abilities of chickens above those of small human children(3). Scientists are so impressed with what we now know about the intellect of chickens and other birds that a group of international experts recently called for a new naming system to reflect the complex, mammal-like structure of avian brains.(4) Dr. Christine Nicol, who studies chicken intelligence, reflected, "They may be "bird brains" but we need to redefine what we mean by "bird brains" Chickens have shown us they can do things people didn't think they could do. There are hidden depths to chickens, definitely"(5)


When in their natural surroundings, not on factory farms, chickens form complex social hierarchies, also known as "pecking orders" and every chicken knows his or her place on the social ladder and remembers the faces and ranks of more than 100 other birds. People who have spent time with chickens know that each bird has a different personality that often relates to his or her place in the pecking order, some are gregarious and fearless, while others are more shy and watchful; some chickens enjoy human company, while others are standoffish, shy, or even a bit aggressive. Just like dogs, cats, and humans, each chicken is an individual with a distinct personality."(6)

Attribution for this article is here -
1 William Grimes, If Chickens Are So Smart, Why Aren't They Eating Us? The New York Times 12 Jan. 2003, late ed..
2 Grimes.
3 Grimes.
4 Rick Weiss, Bird Brains Get Some New Names, and New Respect, The Washington Post 1 Feb. 2005: A10.
5 Ananova, Chickens Not Just Bird Brains, 2005.
6 Michael Specter, The Extremist, The New Yorker 14 Apr. 2003.
http://www.goveg.com/f-hiddenliveschickens.asp


More to come

Week Two: June 10, 2009

The chickens have found the ramp to the Hen House...


Pretty cool. I come home from work and the chickens have found the ramp to the Hen House and have even traveled up there, pooped of course, and scratched the hay down to the lower level. They are also practicing their flying skills by getting up on the ramp and flying down. It is as though they are challenging each other and practicing - not sure whether this is good, as flying was not one of my pre-requisites for owning them.


The Arcauna's are the most daring and, by far, the most spirited. The two Buff's are like foreigners, seemingly wandering the COOP looking for a place to stay and good restaurant. They follow everyone else and stick together. They are the most vocal though.

The RIR is completely aloof to everything, yet has grown, in size, substantially. Kapalua the one pictured in the middle with the white stripe is a freak. You walk into the coop and she goes nuts... Hoot right in front to the right... is like a dog. Walk in the coop and she runs off because all the others do and then eventually saunters over to me and just looks.


They are eating like pigs and drinking like sailors. We are feeding them (pictured here)


My next determination is how to water them without their need to take a dump in the trough!