Frozen Chicken

The last week or so it has been extremely cold, at least for us here on the wimpy west coast. I love snow, but only when it promptly goes away after a day or two after I have enjoyed the novelty of it. After a few days it starts to become a bit of an inconvenience and I want my dark, wet, 30 - 40 degree days to return.

Now here I sit in my warm house complaining about the cold, when the four girls get to actually be immersed in the white stuff freezing their feathered butts off. I am hopeful that temperatures moderate for them soon, but for now we change the water daily and provide an extra abundance of scraps to bump up the calories. And despite the frigid temperatures the egg factory continues to stay on production.

I have new appreciation for their endurance in this cold spell.

Eagle and Chicken Can Co-Exisit

I love watching birds in my yard, in fact for years I have kept bird feeders with the goal of attracting as many species as possible. I once had the pleasure of witnessing a large hawk take a Pine Siskin (sp?) after it gorged on seeds while sitting underneath the feeder. It's nice to know that nature balances itself so nicely - feed yourself to full of seeds, risk getting eaten by large predatory raptor. I assume our country's obesity problem would take care of itself if we had large predators that hung around fast food joints and took out the masses as they waddled back to their cars.

Anyway, today I had a special sighting which has never happened in the years of me keeping black oil sunflower seeds to attract wild birds. It seems without really trying I have placed a new larger, and more protein filled "prey item" to attract much larger birds into my yard. The new larger bird feeder seems to be the four chickens that sit rather helplessly (a sitting duck if you will) in their chicken ark.

This morning I was getting dressed and saw a very large bald eagle fly into the yard and perch in a tree directly above the chicken yard. I was thinking "cool" a bald eagle in the yard. It didn't really occur to me what the bird was doing in the yard until I saw it directly above the girls who were happily clucking away. It would be a chore for the eagle to get into the chickens, but who wants to find out for sure. In fact I don't think I would have the same reaction to the eagle taking one of the girls that I had when the poor Pine Sisken met its fate.

I quietly crept out the front door to get a closer look and the large bird decided the restaurant was closed for the day and flew away.

-George

No More McDonald's?

When I was young my Pop had a tradition of bringing me to McDonald's for a treat when I would visit him in Chicago. This created a very clear associated memory for me with respect to this restaurant and spending time with my grandpa. This tradition probably nestled many warm fuzzy memories of eating hamburgers with my Pop in the recesses of my brain.

Over the last few years of my son's life I have perpetuated this association through to the next generation by taking an occasional trip with him to the golden arches. Although these trips have become increasingly rare over the years.

Lucky for my daughter she is older and has already classified McDonald's into the "gross" part of her brain escaping the brainwashing bestowed upon my son.

Now new reason to distance myself and my family from all forms of fast food- like we needed a new reason. The past reasons included: very high calorie, very high fat (and scary fats at that), very wasteful packaging, evil corporation!, globalization, etc. Now we have added to the list new data from a recent research report which clearly links the hamburger and chicken protein to the diet and environment the animal experienced during their life.

Sorry Pop!


-George

Food Storage As Grandma Knew It

I have been thinking quite a bit about storing food, preserving, canning, freezing. We were successful this year in picking blueberries from a local organic farm and storing away about 25 pounds in our freezer for use until into November. We also picked and stored apples from our trees in a plastic bin in our storage room, and we are currently enjoying fresh apples. However, my dreams of canning large amounts of fresh tomatoes didn't pan out, and I really would like to grow and store more of the food we eat. Today I ran into an interesting article in the New York Times with the title of this entry and it peaked my interest again in learning more practical applications of food preservation and storage. I have attached the link to the article here.

-George

Michael Pollen to the Next President

This is an interesting paper published in the New York Times Magazine regarding issues facing the next president. The premise is that even though the topic of food is not a part of the current campaign, you can link all the big issues being talked about back to the issue of food and more specifically our industrial food chain. The industrial food chain that demands tremendous energy to produce food, and also creates health problems that ultimately cost the population tremendous resources to care for the sick. The article is linked at the right, and I am going to embed the video as well.



-George

tiny carots (from toys and organic produce)

Hey kids lets tell vegetable stories do you love to eat Nash's organic carrots? Do you love to play with toys? We"ll i have a special blog entry for you.At that farm store they're selling carrot toys they look so silly you want to laugh all day do you think? Also organic carrot news you saw the egg came 10/17/08, today 10/18 /08 when it was almost winter our garden changed into a disaster but the tiny carrots rose since the beets did also thanks again to ORGANIC.
-Mac

Scenes from Summer

To reflect a bit as we now enter our dark days here in the Northwest, I have included some images from the garden this year. It was work, but well worth it especially during August when we were able to enjoy the fruits of our labor. The big successes have to be the cauliflower and broccoli which we had in abundance. We also really enjoyed the yellow squash once it came up later in August. I would say that buying the starts mid to late April for some of these veggies and then moving them outside May-June was a good plan. They probably could go out earlier, but this year it was quite cold during the spring.

Apple and pear trees seem to do well despite the cold spring due mostly to a well timed warm spell during the flowering of the trees and some nice pruning over the winter. We are really enjoying the apples right now.

Enjoy the pictures.

Eggstacy!

Hello again from the lame (I haven't blogged in a very long time) Chicken Run blogster. I could give a good excuse like, "hey its been harvest time and I have been busy!"

But that would be a lie, not really enough produce to keep us that busy, but back again and for good reason. Today our girls- one of our girls- did a good deed. We had our first egg after about six months or 24 weeks we are officially chicken farmers or as the sign entering our driveway read we have offically entered the "Chicken Zone".

The really exciting thing for me is that breakfast tomorrow will take on new meaning when we crack this perfect little blue wonder that emerged just yesterday from the rear of one of our hard working girls. And to think, I feed these birds compost from our kitchen like stale bread, veggie scraps, half eaten lunch sandwiches (no chicken salad) and they give us back perfect little blue protein bundles. This is cool. - George

Feeling OK About Eating Other Animals

Pay the extra money for the free-range happy chickens? Why not when you can rest easier as you chew on that yummy chicken leg. We are animals. We need to eat other organisms for our survival, so why not feast on animals that we know had a better existance- pass the BBQ sauce.

Thanks to Lee for the great chicken cartoon.

- George

Small Talk

An unexpected benefit of chicken ownership has recently occurred to me. It seems owning chickens has provided me with excellent small talk material- you could call it a bonanza of chicken chat. You see, no matter what the social situation, I always find a way to segue into talk about our chickens. And this always leads to talk about other peoples chickens, and next thing you know we are discussing food, and fertilizer (which brings up the current president), and then we talk about coops, and the grocery store, and a mix of other topics. Chickens provide a conversational pathway to all many topics and at the same time allow for comfort knowing that no matter how bad things get we can always raise chickens and have eggs.

-George

Chicken Talk

After releasing the girls to their new digs, I wondered if they were getting used to the workings of the chicken ark. Did they know how to use the ramp? Can they figure out the roost? Will they complain about the interior design?

To get an understanding of how they were interacting with their new environment I mounted a secret "chicken cam" within the coop to capture their first reactions. Watch the candid chicken action on the clip below, and if you listen carefully you might even understand what they are saying.

-George

The Great Unknown

Well, as the chicks, (or more like chick-agers, since they have most definitely left that stage in their life,) have moved out, there are some concerns...

-Will they get cold and die?

-Will they get eaten and die?

-Will they not discover they can move down the ramp, to the food and water, and starve and die?

And even more importantly, as we were gone for Mother's Day Weekend on their first venture into the Great Unknown, without any surveillance, (except for a visit from Tam, thank you!) we were obviously worried. As George and I left to visit Leigh's mom and go to a nearby baseball game, we silently pondered about how there was the possibility that we might come home to an empty chicken tractor. After all, what with the naming of them, we have grown quite attatched to the chicks.

I'm not sure if this has been brought up already, but all the chicks have finally been named. There is Scout, the very first one to be named, whom I named after the character in To Kill a Mockingbird, because she is very brave. Kelly has named one of them Kind, because it always looks like it is smiling. Another has been named Happy Tamara, after the wonderful help Tam and Lee have given us in building the chicken tractor. Yet another has been named Dot, due to it's markings. They are all dotted, but this one more than the others. 

But when we came home, all the chicken's were safely huddled together up in the top level of the coop... so we know that they learned to walk the ramp, weren't cold because they had each other to cuddle with, were not eaten, and most importantly... did not die. So all's well that ends well... although I would hardly call it the end. No... this is the beginning. "The beginning of a beautiful friendship."

-Rahne

"Girls Night Out"

This phrase "girls night out" for my partner Leigh conjures up images of freedom, no kids, good conversation, perhaps a glass of wine with friends, and otherwise an escape from the roles and responsibilities of daily family life.  This phrase for me today means freedom from the smells, sounds, and realities of having four chickens share  your living room with you.  Today is the first time in nearly four weeks that I suddenly feel less crowded in my home, because today is the chickens (the girls) first night outside in their new Chicken Ark.    

Big thanks goes to Lee and Tam that helped expedite the project as the smells and sounds just overcame our family and necessitated the rush to completion.

I have captured the joyous event in a quick video here. 

-George

ESCAPE FROM THE TUB

We knew it was only a matter of time...Four teenager chicks in a tub together trying out their new feathered wings...

The other day when I was cleaning out their tub (which, as I know I've mentioned, needs to be done almost daily) I took the lid off of the tub and I took the water canister outside. Luckily Sunny was out there, too, so he did not see the smallest one hop up to roost on the side of the tub. (This was before PHASE ONE of the introducing of the chicks to Sunny had taken place, although, I am not thoroughly convinced that the introductions have made Sunny less interested in these little girls!)

When I came back in (and, yes, I left the front door open too) I realized that "Kind" (named by Kelly because of her cute little happy yellow cheeks) was perched up on the side of the tub...looking curious...but also a bit nervous. I decided to wait and see what happened (instead of chasing her around the living room). Sure enough, she hopped back in with the others and I popped the lid back on! (WHEW!)

Lessons Learned from the "Chicken Escape Prevented Narrowly Scenario"! 

1) Could have been a disaster if Sunny had been in...make sure to close doggie door and put the dog out when cleaning the tub from now on.

2) Could have been a disaster if Chick had flown out the front door and met Sunny outside...make sure to close front door when taking water canister out to dump it.

-Leigh

The Time Crunch

Recent days have been filled with increased attention to the loud and smelly teen like (eat, sleep, and argue) chickens still living in our house.  The chicken coop is nearly done, but the size of the chickens, their ever increasing chatter, not to mention their stink has caused a "get it done now" urgency to the coop construction.  It is funny to think back on when I first thought of making this little portable coop.  I looked over a few plans, and thought naively "that looks simple".  Well over three weeks later and the coop is nearly done, but for me and the family this will not be soon enough.   

In addition to the chicken time crunch we also have increased the time needed to get the weekly groce

ry shopping done.  When you attempt to purchase food from local farmers, as we have bee

n doing more lately, it changes the one-stop shopping at Safeway into a longer process. We have enjoyed getting some of our weekly food at a couple of local farms in a nearby vall

ey.  New discoveries:  

• Raw whole milk from the Dungeness Valley Creamery
• Farm fresh eggs from a couple of local farms (girls will help with this later)
• Fresh veggies from Nashes Organic Produce

Please see attached photos of progress on coop see above and local the milk photo is courtesy of "mostly-filler" (Thank you Lee). 

Footnote:  Phase one of operation "My Chickens!" has begun with our dog Sunny.  Phase one activities include blocking off the kitchen and bringing the girls out of their pen to nervously walk around on the floor while the dog is allowed to meet the birds.  All the while we assert our Alpha pack leader dominance over Sunny exclaiming "My Chickens!" so he understands that he isn't allowed to harass, nibble, lick, suck-on or otherwise taste the girls in anyway.  Thank you for this idea goes to John Grogan author of Marley and Me who wrote an article about his current dog Gracie and training her to not eat his family chickens.

-George 

-

Spinach versus Earwig

This is Leigh (Chick Whisperer) again with the latest interesting tidbits on feeding our chicks.

As George has told you, they are getting bigger, noisier and smellier. They're still really cute, though, even if we now have to clean their tub, water dish, and food dish daily. 

George threw spinach in the tub a couple of days ago and, at first, they didn't know what to do about it. They starred at it...with their heads cocked. Pretty soon they figured it out, though, and now they start fighting over who gets to peck at the spinach.   

George and I have been talking over what to feed them a lot lately ( I guess we don't have much of a life!), and been really curious about when we can start feeding them different food (like maybe bugs...or grittier food). Since we don't know exactly how old they are, we have been playing it by ear. The other day I spotted an earwig crawling across our floor and I decided to throw it in the tub, thinking they would be even more thrilled with the earwig, versus the spinach leaf that had been almost obliterated that was sitting limply in the wood chips. 

I was wrong! They definitely came over to have a look at this fast-moving little pinching bug (I hate earwigs!!) but soon lost interest and went back to furiously pecking at the spinach!!

It was pretty funny to watch, needless to say. They definitely provide us with lots of entertainment. 

-Leigh (a.k.a Chick Whisperer)

The Coop

The noise and smell of these young chickens was cute a couple of weeks ago, but now fills our livingroom to a level that seems to be growing exponentially everyday.  The cute little peeps are now frantic- flapping- squaking noises necessitating cranking the volume on the netflix movies we watch at night.   While the noise isn't always bad the smell from the nitrogen rich poop production has certainly doubled within the last week.  That said, there is increased need for a permanent outside structure (coop) that we can move these girls into soon.   Luckily for me I have been blessed with a work friend that not only has a great set of wood working tools and a shop that dwarfs most houses but she also has great skills and when I mentioned our family needing a coop, she jumped at the chance to design and build this project with me.  Now let me be perfectly frank that without her help this coop would certainly have taken me way past my very limited carpentry skills.  So, as you view these photos and notice the clean angles, and cool design the credit goes to "Tam" who lucky for me doesn't seem to mind giving up a couple of Satudays to help us in our quest for getting closer to the source of our food.  

Here are some photos of the project.

-George

P.S. By a recent family vote, we have decided (over careful deliberation...as naming chicks is very important for the kids) to name the blonde chick Tam, in order to thank our good friend who has helped us to make these chicks a home. 

The Chick Whisperer

I have given myself (Leigh) the nickname of "Chick Whisperer". Everyone in the family agrees that this is an appropriate nickname for me, since I am able to put our baby chicks to sleep almost every time I cluck at them. 

I first noticed this phenomenon about a week ago when we had only had the chicks for a couple of days. When I approached their tub, I wanted them to be calm and, of course, they were not. Anyone out there who has had baby chicks knows that it is rare to see them just kind of chilling out. They are usually pecking at the ground, or trying out their wings, or running around or pecking each other! (Establishing pecking order, I guess.) 

I don't know why I clucked at them...maybe because I do it with my dog, Sunny, when I am calming him or giving him pats...maybe because I grew up near farmland and had a best friend with horses, that she used to calm by clucking at them. Whatever the reason, it definitely just happened naturally. 

When I did it at the chicks, they immediately stopped pecking and cocked their heads at me. ALL OF THEM!!! "Weird," I thought. I wonder what would happen if I kept clucking. So, I kept clucking about 30 seconds. By the time 30 seconds was up, they all had their heads in the cedar chips and were snoozing!!

If you have chicks, you may already know this. This is our first time. We are definitely novice chick parents and every day is a new adventure in parenting. SO, it was a surprise and, who knows, it may come in handy when we are trying to collect their eggs when they get a bit bigger. 

-Leigh

Why Bother?

When considering changes like our family is trying to make questions like "why bother" sometimes nag at the back of my mind.  A recent article by Michael Pollan in the New York Times attempts to analyze this question and in my opinion paraphrases nicely the thoughts that go into an effort like the one that we are beginning.  It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the global warming crisis if you read all the news that continues to be generated recently.  It is easy to critically examine the issue and come to the conclusion that any change we attempt to make isn't going to do enough to make a difference and this is probably true.  

Is it me or have we already entered a time of rapidly changing climate?  Have we already reached a point of no return?  I like to feel we have time, but I also know that even though our families efforts may be trivial and given the big picture (developing India and China) not really going to make a difference.  The effort alone is important to us. 

Please see comment below for a permanant link to the article.

-George

Which came first... the chicken, or the coop?

Well, it's me, Rahne. Before I begin, let me explain that there are five members of our family not including the chicks. Kelly is my brother (see "Chicken Fun"), and George and Leigh are my parents (see "Why Chickens?"). They have been posting as well, and will continue to post. We also have a dog, named Sunny, who you can see in the background of the picture under the post, "Why Chickens?" He is eating  grass. (ORGANIC grass.)

Today, my dad, George, spent his time with some work friends making a "Chicken A-frame," as he so humorously put it. The chicken a-frame is designed in such a way so that it can be picked up and moved around. This way, the chickens and the ground works together so that the chickens still are technically producing "free range eggs," and the ground is fertilized from the chicken's waste and their turning up the soil.  

Unfortunately, although the chicken coop is turning out quite nicely, the chickens cannot enjoy the pleasure of living inside the new chicken coop because of the weather and their age. Even though it is "Spring" (note the quotation marks) we are still experiencing winter- like weather. But don't blame it all on global warming... here in the Northwest, the weather is already irratic... global warming just helps it and gives it a nudge along the way. We've been getting hail and snow, even in April!!! 

-Rahne

chicken fun

hi welcome to chicken run website i want to tell you that how much i like chicks. When my dad said where going to get chicks i was proud i love chicks.I couldnt belive it the chicks where arracanas a good kind of chicks. I watched them alot it was my best time.so My dad is soon going to get eggs from them when there big, I dont like that idea i want more chicks.If you want chicks go to airport strret and a pet shop is there if you want to buy some go there.  Bye have fun with the website chicken run.

-Kelly

Inch by Inch Row by Row

Other aspects of our getting closer to the source of our food revolve around the very small scale garden and fruit that we are starting to cultivate.  Pictured here is the beginning of our small sixteen ft. in diameter vegetable garden.  Actually it is not really vegetables yet, but rather the beginning of conditioning the soil.  Truth is the family hasn't done much gardening at this point, and starting small we thought would be good.  As of today we know the following about gardens:  

• Plants need water
• Plants need sun
• Deer like plants
• Dogs like gardens
• Digging is hard work

So, see our garden beginning here and the raised strawberry bed that we resurrected this last few weeks.

-George

Why Chickens?

Why chickens you ask?  Well the answer is simple.  We love them fried, baked, stewed, broiled many different ways!

Just kidding, we have no intentions of raising these chickens to be broilers, or for stewing but just for the eggs they will produce for a few years.  Our interest in raising chickens represents our desire to become closer to the source of our food.  Chickens are an easy step towards providing a low cost protein source that is local and ecologically more sustainable then buying corn-fed store bought eggs.  In addition to providing us with eggs our chickens will live in a portable "chicken tractor" moved around our yard to feed on insects and grass all while fertilizing our yard with their nitrogen rich poop.  Sounds like a win win to me!

This interest in becoming closer to our food source came about after a week- long trip our family took to a small island off the southeastern coast of Vancouver Island in Canada.  Two books read on this journey (Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver) raised our awareness of the problems associated with industrial agriculture which essentially derives its energy from intense amounts of petroleum in the form of pesticides/herbicides and transportation fuel to produce and transport most all of the food we eat.  All of this large scale food production is far from sustainable considering the energy required to produce food and then transport it.  It is also highly damaging to our closed Earth ecosystem.   The methods of raising animals in CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operations) and the tremendous amount of chemical pesticides and antibiotics needed to produce food in this system is very troubling.  This is the reason for our chickens.  

Our chickens to us represent our attempt to provide our own food source in a more sustainable manner that isn't connected to this unsustainable industrial food chain.  

-George

The Exodus

Welcome to the very beginning. The exodus. I hope you can enjoy going along the journey that is the chick's lives with us, and learn new and exciting things along the way! Wow. Am I sounding cheesy or what??? 

Anyway, I just wanted to explain that our family has bought four baby chicks recently and we are hoping other people will enjoy reading about them. 

It's amazing. On my first day of meeting them, I can already tell them apart. So let me start by introducing you to them. The chick's have not recieved names yet, so until further notice, the chick seen in this picture is known as "CHICK ONE" or "THE LITTLE ITSY BITSY TEENY WEENY RUNT THAT IS MOST DEFINETLY THE CUTEST CHICK ON EARTH." We will just refer to her for now as Chick One for obvious reasons. 

CHICK ONE SUMMARY

This little runt always happens to look like it is smiling. She has huge yellow cheeks, (as you can see) that lift up the bottom part of her eyes to make it appear as if she is always smiling at you. Chick One has been nominated by another member of our family as the favorite, although she is not my favorite. I will tell you about my favorite later. 

CHICK TWO SUMMARY

The fatso. This chick is funny. She is the biggest of everyone, and always sits in the food. We are hoping Chick Two is not a rooster, because we do not want to fertilize the eggs. You will see pictures of Chick Two in later posts.

CHICK THREE SUMMARY 

I would not want to be this little chick! She always looks like she is frowning, or furrowing her eyebrows. She also has an extremely long neck, and is very vocal. I picked her up and instantly she started peeping like crazy!

CHICK FOUR SUMMARY

This chick is the snuggle bug of the family, which is probobly why she is my favorite. Whenever she realizes she is sleeping on her own, she will run over to another chick and lay down next to them, no matter what is in her way, be it the food container or another napping chick! Her markings make her seem almost wise in a way, and as if she is confident in whatever she so desires to do. 

-Rahne