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