When Neil was doing the farm chores this morning, he noticed that there were two eggs in the nest box. It seems as though our girls start laying right around Groundhog’s Day each year. I am thrilled to have fresh eggs again, and I’m sure the girls are happy to have more daylight. Now if we could just get rid of some of the snow in the backyard, they would have more room to roam around. Seems with their older age, they don’t like to stand on snow. Can’t say as I blame them. I wonder if there are any crazy chicken people who put little booties on their girl’s feet.

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Here are some photos from today’s snow of 15″. Everything was covered with a heavy, wet snow. New Yorkers, who are usually freaked out when confronted with nature, are now taking all this snow in stride.

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Here’s a story about chicken keeping in my section of Brooklyn. The writer Molly Culver interviewed me among others for her article.

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Here is an insanely gorgeous chicken coop that was designed in the UK. It is made out of cedar, stainless steel and glass. It is obviously for free-range hens as there is no run. I look forward to peeking inside of one of these someday soon to better see the roosting and nesting areas. They made a pull out droppings tray, so it’s not just pretty, but practical as well. You can read more about it on their website. I wonder if this will make it to the US. She says hopefully…

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Today was a beautiful day, so my hubby worked outside getting the coop ready for the cold weather. He wrapped the smaller run with some plastic to keep out the cold winter winds. He also brought the extension cord out there so when it gets colder we can have our heated water dispenser. We haven’t had a frost here yet, but it’s good to get ready. The girls had a nice afternoon running around the yard and inspecting the renovations.

As you can see, the head of cabbage we hung in the larger run is hanging there totally ignored.  Not at all like the eager cabbage-pecking I saw from the chickens on youtube. I thought this might happen. Kind of like when you buy a cat scratcher and the cat still uses your sofa.

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There’s a new online magazine about my part of Brooklyn. It’s called South Brooklyn Post. You can see it here. There’s an article about my chickens in it. Take a peek.

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Take a peek at the link to HouseSmarts to see an interview with my chickens (it’s the “Back to Basics segment). Lou Manfredini came and talked to me about raising chickens in Brooklyn. It’s on right after the segment about canning. The girls were well-behaved and put on a good performance. All in all I think it turned out well. Lou was really nice and curious about keeping chickens. I think I see chickens in his future, but of course with a wonderfully designed coop!

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Last night as I was putting Lindsay to bed, Neil and I heard the most horrible screaming sounds. I thought it was our cat having a seizure, but Neil realized it was coming from the backyard. It didn’t take another second to realize that it was our chickens and they were under attack.

Neil, very bravely, ran outside armed with a flashlight and a long stick. Raccoons can be very vicious, so this was putting himself at risk of being attacked. When he went out there, the raccoon was inside the large run and was battling with our silver-laced Polish hen Andie. The raccoon ran away when Neil went in there, so fortunately Neil didn’t have to fight it off. The run was filled with Andie’s feathers, but there didn’t seem to be blood anywhere.

The little door on the coop showed signs of being pried off by strong raccoon hands, so we couldn’t just lock it up and go to bed with a clear conscience. Especially since the raccoon was still sitting in the tree watching the coop. I stood guard, while Neil rigged some raccoon-proofing. The ropes actually run through the inside of the coop and underneath it, so there was no way a raccoon was going to get inside.

Andie was understandably rattled. She was pacing back and forth in the run to the point that I was worried that she either had a head injury or was going into shock. Finally she went to bed and is fine this morning. Neil was impressed at the fight she put up against the raccoon. Lulu (the one who fearlessly attacks me) hid in the coop like a big coward.

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My big Easter Egger hen Lulu has been extremely vocal for about a week now. I’m not sure if she misses her sister, or if she’s bored, or what’s going on. Usually loud vocalizations mean that the hens are laying an egg. Lulu is in the middle of molting her feathers, so she’s not laying. I keep checking for eggs, but no dice.

She was pacing around in her run, so I thought she might be bored and let her roam around in my garden. That helped with the noise. I don’t always want them loose in the yard. Sometimes we are eating in the garden and they get curious and fly up onto the table. Yuck. And periodically we have a hawk who perches in the tree overlooking our garden. Hawks love chicken as much as humans do.

I decided to do what the zookeepers do to keep their animals from getting bored and put in a food toy. I screwed a hook into the base of a cabbage and hung it up in the coop tether ball style. The video above isn’t of my hens. So far my hens haven’t discovered the cabbage. I went in there and “pecked” at the cabbage and they wolfed down the the cabbage bits. But if they think that I’m going to sit in there pecking off bite-sized bits of cabbage for them, they have another thing coming to them. It will be interesting to see if they get as much enjoyment from this cabbage as the hens in the video have gotten. Hopefully I won’t have a dried-up cabbage hanging in the coop in a week!

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The strangest thing started to happen to Lulu after Edie died. She started to get very aggressive with me. Whenever I went into the coop, she would lunge at me and peck the bejeesus out of whatever she could reach. That was usually my foot and with the summer being so hot, I was usually very exposed in flip flops. I couldn’t figure out why she had turned from a friendly hen into an attack hen. When I mentioned it to my husband, he said that she wasn’t doing it to him. I have to admit that I was a little frightened to go in the coop because of her attacks. Stooping over to change her water or food left me in a very vulnerable position.

I started to bring a stick in the coop with me to fend off her attacks. I used the stick defensively and backed out as quickly as I could. I knew that when you make changes to your flock (with either additions or in my case subtractions) a scuffle generally ensues. I guess Edie was the top hen and now Lulu wanted the job. The crazy thing was that she was fighting me for the position. So, she thought I was a chicken. My husband wasn’t a chicken in her eyes. Interesting.

I realized that the only way to stop these attacks from Lulu would be to assert my dominance over her. I would have to go into the coop and kick some chicken butt! I suited up for the occasion with socks, sneakers, jeans, long sleeves and gardening gloves and sunglasses. A few very amused friends wanted to be spectators, but I needed to do this without witnesses. It’s embarrassing enough that I had to wrestle my chicken, but I didn’t want a cheering section. Or a laughing section more likely.

I went into the coop banging the door open and stomping around. Lulu instantly geared up for the fight by lunging at my feet. I booted her across the coop. (For the record, I am a bleeding hearted animal lover, who used to miss the school bus when it rained because I was rescuing worms out of the rain gutters) So (gently) kicking and scaring my chickens was particularly unpalatable to me. Lulu put up a good fight and kept coming back at me. I yelled “NO!” and went after her. I kept on the offensive until she finally backed into the smaller run. I guess I had won, but I felt horrible. Andie was scared of me also.

A week or so has gone by and we no longer have any problems. Lulu tried once to lunge at me, but I shouted “No” and stomped in her direction. We are friends again and she comes when I call her and lets me pick her up. Andie doesn’t seem to remember me scaring her either. So all in all I think that the experiment worked and I am now the top hen. Is that a resumé item?

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