catching up - the chickens

so for the last several months, nic has said time and time again, we are a few years away from getting chickens because with her in grad school, time was/is tight and she wouldn't have the bandwidth to take care of chickens... well about 3 or 4 weeks ago, nicole came across this very cool new store in town called 'the urban farm store' (http://www.urbanfarmstore.com/ )... really before i knew what hit me, nicole had designed a chicken run and chicken coop, i was attending chicken class, got to pet a welsummer and i now know about pasty butt --- yes pasty butt. Did you know that chickens have only one exit, its called a vent, and everything that can come out of chicken (or in for that matter...hmmm) comes out the vent... eeeeesh!

I may have designed it but make no mistake about it- Mike built it!!! (so proud)

april 1st (no foolin)... the day was here, the urban farm store had confirmed that they received their new shipment of 1 & 2 day old chics. they opened at 10am. we were there at 9:45am. we knew they were only getting 10 welsummers and that was one we really wanted - 5 of the 10 were already gone by the time we made it to the front of the line - no exaggeration. $14 later, we were the proud new owners of a welsummer, an americauna, and a buff orpington. we rock! Here are some pics of what we think they will look like when they grow up... in order: americauna, buff oprington, welsummer

Ahhhh . . . procrastination is an amazing thing. Its finals week in grad school and since procrastination is one of the primary reasons I was able to get all the planing for chickens done I figured why not keep it up and get in on this blogging thing. So here's the deal. I am deathly afraid of birds. I know . . . then why did we get chickens? Beyond the ridiculous therapist-in-training answer of exposure therapy there are lots of reasons!!!
-they compost (read eat anything put in front of them)
-they provide beautiful protein rich yummy eggs that are firm with orange yolks
-they till your garden (even when you don't want them to)

-they are entertaining as hell

So here is what the eggs will look like: bluish-green americauna eggs, light brown large buff orpington eggs, and chocolate brown welsummer eggs

May we introduce to you the arrival of Elinor the buff orpington, Esther the americauna, and Gladys the welsummer-

left: Gladys, middle: Elinor, right: the left side is Esther's rear

So the first two days of chickening was not so harmonious. Gladys kept aggressively pecking at Elinor's eyes. In a panic, we called the chicken guru and upon her advice we separated Gladys with a wire mesh wall from the other two. After two days, she still went for the eyes and we reluctantly agreed that we would need to return her to the store to go live with the big girl chickens who would put her in her place. Mike went down to the basement into the chicken-fort (ask him about that and he'll be your best friend) and there in their little brooder home the three snuggled together. Esther and Elinor had flown over the fence to be reunited with their sister!! say awe . . . So we kept her.

Mike placing the girls in their first brooder, the girls sleep all curled up together

How we picked names- Esther was originally suppose to be called Harriet but we kept calling her Easter egger after a similar mix breed that also lays green/blue eggs. Gladys, (reflection of Mike's humor) so we could call the girls Gladys and her peeps . . . oye. And then Elinor who we now affectionately call Eli-snore due to her ability to fall asleep anywhere even in midstretch as she just flops head first onto the ground. hilarious!!!

~

Lesson of the day:

Chickening- chickens are super social creatures. They need to be in flocks of at least three or more to be happy. While most eye pecks are a normal part of establishing pecking order and dominance, chicks will occasionally eat other chicken's eyes. Chickens are omnivores and eyes are like juicy grapes . . . ewe. The biggest concerns for the first week of life are keeping at 95 degrees and avoiding pasty butt (poo sticks to the down fuzz and clogs the vent). This can result in death within a day if not fixed. Hint: clean pasty butt the way i did with Gladys, use warm water and a q-tip to wipe away the poo.