Category Archives: chickens

Sunday in the park with Ruth

Posted on by

Although it was raining on and off today, my friend Ruth and I decided to take a walk through Central Park. We spent most of our time on the Northern end, which has fewer people and feels a bit wilder. There were signs of spring, such as snowdrops and robins and almost blooming daffodils. We saw quite a few different birds: pairs of bufflehead ducks, swans, a robin, bluejay, common grackles, downy woodpecker, canada geese, mallard ducks, starlings and 2 domestic white ducks. What?? I have an Audubon bird guide application for my iphone, so I was sure they weren’t wild ducks. I came home and searched online and found out that it is pretty common for people to get pet ducks (bunnies, turtles, etc.) and then abandon them in a local park. I thought the woman feeding the mallards bread was bad enough. Come on people! It should be a big decision as to whether or not you get a pet. And then once the decision is made, it is a big commitment to that animal. Domestic ducks don’t have flight feathers like wild ducks and cannot survive in the wild. Even the wild of NYC. The international bird rescue research center has a great site which goes into further detail. Now that I’m on my soap box, let me also mention that should you find some “abandoned” baby animals/birds this spring, please continue walking. The parents that you think have abandoned their babies are too terrified to come back while you are standing there.

When I returned home I let the hens out to peck around my back yard. I noticed that the few garlic cloves I planted in the fall are starting to sprout up. I eagerly looked for signs of my asparagus sprouting and when I went to that bed, the hens eagerly followed me. As I was pawing through the layer of leaves and mulch, the girls decided to do the same. Much to our mutual satisfaction, they found and ate about a dozen baby slugs. It was pretty gross to watch, but very gratifying. My future basil and I thank them.

FacebookTwitterGoogle+StumbleUponShare

How to keep your chickens warm in the winter

Posted on by

A lot of people wonder what I do with my chickens in the winter. Don’t they get cold? My short answer is that they stay warm because they wear little down coats. My long answer is that it is more the cold wind/draft that bothers them more than the cold.

Neil wrapped a plastic tarp over the open (wire) part of the run. The green part is insulated and even has a little door that I can close. If the temperature drops below about 25 degrees F, I will close the little door at night. They generate enough body heat to keep themselves warm.

During the day they walk around in the covered run, which is kind of like a mini-greenhouse. I open the door to the extended run, so they can decide if they want to brave the elements or not.

I also have an electric water dispenser, which keeps their water from freezing. But that’s basically it. I don’t heat the coop and I haven’t knitted them little sweaters. I don’t put vaseline on their legs and combs to prevent frostbite. I would do that if I lived somewhere *much* colder, but it’s never been a problem here.

Call me what you will, but I don’t think we need to extend helicopter parenting to our chickens.

FacebookTwitterGoogle+StumbleUponShare

Chickens seized in a raid of a meth lab

Posted on by

Here’s a strange chicken story that was in the Poughkeepsie Journal today:

SAUGERTIES — The Catskill Animal Sanctuary will soon be home to 40 scrawny chickens seized in a raid on an illegal methamphetamine lab in Kansas City, Mo.

Two volunteers with the haven for abused and abandoned farm animals inSaugerties are flying to Terre Haute, Ind., to pick up the chickens and then drive a rental truck the nearly 1,000 miles back to Saugerties, said Michelle Alvarez, sanctuary director of communications. The birds are expected to arrive in Saugerties late Sunday evening.

“They’re going to drive all night,” Alvarez said Friday.

The neglected chickens were discovered during a recent police raid of a property in Kansas City where a woman was operating multiple crystal meth labs. The police found the woman was keeping dozens of chicken in an abandoned house with no heat, electricity or water.

“The chickens were emaciated,” Alvarez said.

A local dog and cat shelter in Kansas City took immediate possession of the chickens while a search for a permanent home began. The fact that the Catskill Animal Sanctuary recently built a new poultry barn that holds up to 75 birds is one reason the 40 starved chickens will be traveling halfway across the country to recover.

“We’re delighted to be able to help, and so grateful to our volunteers for their superhuman effort,” said Kathy Stevens, Catskill Animal Sanctuary director.

The chickens will be given thorough exams and any necessary medical treatment when they arrive in Saugerties. As soon as the birds are healthy, they will be available for adoption to those living within a two-hour drive of the sanctuary.

The shelter, though, does not offer for adoption any of its farm animals for food production.

“If we can’t find them permanent loving homes, they’ll always have a home here with us,” Alvarez said.

“Chickens are delightful animals,” Stevens said.

The Catskill Animal Sanctuary is a 100-acre haven for 12 species of farm animals, as well as a center for raising public awareness of agribusiness. Since 2001, the sanctuary has rescued more than 1,700 animals and worked with law enforcement to bring animal abusers to justice.

An ongoing capital campaign will allow the sanctuary to increase its capacity from 200 to 350 farm animals, Alvarez said.

FacebookTwitterGoogle+StumbleUponShare

Trade Off

Posted on by

grape-tomatoes

My chickens are in the final stages of their molt. At least all signs point to that. Chickens begin the molt on their heads and kind of work their way down to their tail and wing feathers. Edie looks gorgeous and fluffy instead of mangey like she did after her bout with mites. I’m not walking into their coop to find loads of feathers these days. I think they should be well insulated for winter with all their new feathers.

However, when I check their nest box all I find are little fluffy feathers. No eggs. It’s been about 2 months with NO EGGS. I have to buy eggs from the store, which doesn’t suit me at all anymore. So instead of staring at an empty egg holder, I have decided to fill it with the gorgeous grape tomatoes that are still coming out of my garden. They are getting smaller and smaller as the days get shorter and cooler, but they are still coming. Winter is a mourning time for me when I don’t have tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, so I’m enjoying each and every one of these little treasures.

FacebookTwitterGoogle+StumbleUponShare

Adding Compost

Posted on by

compost-leaves

The other day I did some work in my garden to prepare for the winter. I cut back and pruned a few bushes and cut down many of my tomato plants. I didn’t cut down my grape tomato plants because they are still producing. Fall is in full swing here in Brooklyn, so I took out my trusty Toro leaf vac/shredder and sucked up a bunch of leaves. The act of shredding the leaves makes them take up much less space than traditionally raked leaves. One bag of shredded leaves could be as much as 5-8 bags of un-shredded leaves.

I dug shovelfuls of beautiful compost that’s been cooking all summer and spread them out on my flower and vegetable beds. The soil looks so dark and rich, which is in contrast to the dry, lifeless, glass-filled soil that mostly exists in my yard. I still have straw and hay from fall scavenging, so I decided to add all of the shredded leaves to my compost bin. This is the one time of year when I have an abundance of “browns” in my compost bin. They will break down quickly though with the help of the amazing chicken poo. I swear that stuff is like steroids for the compost bin. I showed a friend my compost bin and she just kept saying, “Yeah, but where’s all the stuff?” She couldn’t believe she wasn’t looking at a bin filled with egg shells and broccoli stems.

compost-small

I am not a compost maniac. I think that everything will break down on its own without a lot of fuss that many people suggest (shredding everything before adding to the bin, frequent watering, no cooked food, etc.) and my bumper crop of compost was evidence of my success. You can read my previous post about having an easy and successful compost bin.

My plants will be happy to have the added nutrients from the compost. I know my chickens were happy digging through the compost for bugs and worms!

chicken-compost

FacebookTwitterGoogle+StumbleUponShare

When the Problems Come Home to Roost

Posted on by

ca32614778082-1-x

Check out this article by Kim Severson that was in the NY Times. It’s about people who have joined the local food movement and have gotten chickens. There are a bunch of people who have gotten in over their heads and have dumped their chickens off at animal shelters.

Keeping chickens has been wonderful for me, but it doesn’t come without its challenges. Most recently I’ve had a raccoon in my yard, which actually got its claws on my chicken Edie. She has a nasty gash on the back of her neck, but I guess it could have been much worse!

I wrote a post about why NOT to keep chickens. If you are considering keeping chickens, please take a look at it and see if you still think you want to do it. If you are going ahead with getting chickens, please get in touch with your local animal shelter or pet finder to see if they have abandoned chickens. The photo above is Shirley, who I found on Pet Finder. She’s not even full grown and is available for adoption from the San Francisco Animal Care and Control.

FacebookTwitterGoogle+StumbleUponShare

A Raccoon in Our Yard!

Posted on by

raccoon

Last night we were having dinner with friends in our garden. It was about 7pm and our chickens had gone inside their coop for the night. All of a sudden there was a commotion and the hens clamored out of their coop and into the run. I have a larger run attached to their secure run that isn’t 100% predator proof. I lock the door between that run and the secure run every night. I hadn’t done it yet and I have to admit that I have forgotten entirely some nights. I had heard that there have been raccoon sightings in our Brooklyn, NY neighborhood, but never saw one myself. Until now.

I walked over to the chickens to see what was going on and standing about 5 feet away from me behind the wire run was a raccoon. It saw me and promptly flipped me the bird. It wasn’t scared of me in the slightest. The chickens ran into the larger run and were totally freaked out. Since I wasn’t scary enough to make the raccoon leave, we pulled out our garden hose and sprayed the raccoon with jets of water. It didn’t like that and climbed over the fence. About 30 seconds passed and it climbed back into the yard. We sprayed it again and it eventually went away. But it climbed on top of the secure run and tried to reach through the wire of the larger run. I’ve heard of raccoons grabbing and killing chickens by reaching into a run. Gah!

Neil threw rocks in it’s direction. He doesn’t think he hit it, but it again casually went away. Actually it scaled the 2-story building that adjoins our yard by climbing up the ivy. It kept peeking over the roof at us. Not only were the chickens freaked out, but our daughter was really upset as well. I was upset because I know that this critter is going to come back. It wasn’t afraid of us *at all*. We also live right along a very popular restaurant row, so there’s really no end to the tasty trash cans filled with food nearby.

I’ve spent the morning reading various chicken sites and doing google searches on raccoon control. I’ve come up with the following possible solutions:

1. Get a hav-a-hart trap and bait it with cat food. There are several unsavory outcomes to this solution involving relocating, drowning and shooting. Relocating wild animals is not a very successful endeavor. You are dropping your problems on someone else and the animal doesn’t know the natural resources, so can just starve to death.

2. Pee around the perimeter of your yard. I’m guessing that the raccoon, who wasn’t at all scared of me, will not be scared of our pee. And besides, I’m already the crazy chicken lady, I don’t need to add another layer to that!

3. Put down coyote urine. Yes, you can buy predator urine to discourage animals. My in-laws ordered synthesized fox urine online for a groundhog that was digging in their foundation. There’s a website called predatorpee.com. Love the internet! I’m not sure any of these raccoons have seen or smelled a coyote for the past several generations, so I’m not sure if the smell of coyote urine would register fear with them.

4. Hot sauce bombs. The mad-scientist/cook in me loves this one. You take jumbo marshmallows, poke a hole in one end and fill them with the hottest hot sauce you can find. (Wear gloves) Then scatter them around the yard. The raccoons eat them and then won’t come back. This option appeals to me for a few reasons. I like DIY aspect. I like that I’m not actually physically harming/killing the animal. And I kind of love the immature 15 year-old revenge fantasy part of it.

In any event, I’ve set an alarm to remind me that dusk is approaching and I need to lock up my hens. Raccoons generally only like to eat the chicken’s crop (filled with yummy grains), so it’s a gruesome death. Plus you get the added bonus of finding a decapitated chicken left behind.

Wish me luck! Maybe I’ll make Rice Krispy treats with the leftover marshmallows.

FacebookTwitterGoogle+StumbleUponShare

Molting Hens Don't Lay Eggs

Posted on by

It’s been about 2 weeks since I’ve gotten an egg from my girls. No, they aren’t all eggbound either! They are molting. Instead of eggs in the nest box there are loads of feathers. There are feathers in their run, there are feathers in the yard, there are feathers in their poop tray. Amazingly enough, there are even feathers on the girls. Sort of. Well they look a little scruffy.

But I’m happy to see feathers growing back on Edie’s neck. She lost most of her beard from scratching at mites. She started to get little porcupine-like quills sticking out of her face. Kind of a 5 o’clock stubble. But now they are fluffing out and she has gotten her hilarious mustache and beard back.

Take a peek at the old, bare neck with the feather quills just starting to peek out and the new fuzzy neck. Doesn’t she look hilariously in her attempt at dignity?

edie-moult

edie_molt

FacebookTwitterGoogle+StumbleUponShare

The Good Life

Posted on by


We’ve become addicts to a British tv series called The Good Life. (When it was brought to the US they changed the name to Good Neighbors). You can watch it instantly on Netflix, or you can piece the episodes together on YouTube.

The premise of the show is: There’s a couple that lives in a fancy suburb of London. He is a designer for a plastic company, who wants more meaning from life after he turns 40. He and his wife decide to try to become self-sufficient, but don’t want to leave their home. So they embark on adventures in urban farming – complete with chickens, a goat, etc.

What’s so amazing about the show is that it was made in 1975 and yet is so relevant to what is going on today. It’s well written and hilariously funny. Get past the first episode where they are setting up the premise of the show and I think you will become addicted too.

FacebookTwitterGoogle+StumbleUponShare