i love you...shicken

This is Eli.  He's our chicken wrangler.  The hens have been confined to the coop for a week or so (after making several daring forays into the neighbor's yard).  But when they were free-ranging in our yard it was not uncommon to see him running around with a chicken or two under his arm.  He took them with him in the trampoline enclosure, put them in the grill (which was thankfully off), and even brought them inside to freak unsuspecting house-guests out. We also frequently heard him tell them, very sincerely, "I love you shicken"

It's become a household term of endearment.

jen g.

chicken update.

Well, we are down to two hens. I'm calling them Nellie and Faye (shout out to Ingrid Michaelson). A few weeks after the first rooster was evicted, the other two started making an awful racket and went the way of their predecessor.  It is a lot quieter around here, and I noticed a sharp decline in food consumption and toe pecking (mine) after they left.

Up until the last week, the hens had free range in the backyard.  (We did find a new home for our chicken-eating golden retriever, in case you were wondering).  But then they started flying up to roost on our fence at night and ended up in our neighbor's yard two days in a row. After the second retrieval, they both had a come-to-Jesus in my kitchen with me, a pair of Cutco kitchen shears, and a youtube video on the art of chicken wing clipping.  That was an experience.

They are now mostly confined to their coop.  I let them out sometimes during the day, but I really don't want to take the risk of having disgruntled neighbors, so it's only for a few supervised hours.  They have also started laying an egg every now and then *happy squeal* and they do it at the most random times, so I don't like letting them out of their coop until they have produced their egg for the day.  I only get one egg a day, and I don't want to miss it...cause boy are they good!

jen g.

At last. . . an egg!

She arrived today. . . the long awaited treasure came. A latte colored egg was discovered just before breakfast today. . . it made me smile! (Not sure it has been worth $50+ in feed, mountains of "compost" and early morning wakings to hear hens hollerin' in the roost.) Nevertheless-- she is here and we greeted her with smiles and plan to consume her before dinner- weird!
jen t.

there's a rooster in the hen house...

So I was hanging my sheets out on the fence the other day (yes, I have a redneck/ghetto clothesline...but a real one is on the honey-do list) and from the chicken coop I heard this awful din that sounded something like a cross between a wound up jack-in-the-box, a dying animal and....a rooster's crow.

I had suspected for a while that there may be some dastardly roosters among the lady fowl *insert horrified gasp here*

Three of the five chickens have much more prominent combs and wattles than the other two, but I had chalked these features up to either age or breeding differences.  My suspicions were confirmed by the particularly noisy one in question when he started acting like he had a lot more testosterone than the others, charging at me and trying to peck my toes when I would go out to feed.

(I need to mention here that I have a bit of a phobia of chickens pecking me to death...which did not bode well for said rooster.)

Now we had to figure out what to do with the offender. My husband suggested dropping him off in the desert to fend for himself, but I vetoed.  We thought about eating him, but he wasn't big enough, and we couldn't keep him around to fatten him up because of all the racket he was making.  I made several calls to friends who either had chickens or lived out in the country, and finally found a kind soul who said that her family would take him off our hands.

So off he went to his new home....now we're just watching the other two to see if they cross over to the dark side.

jen g.

and then there were five

So, right on the heels of the infamous rabbit incident, one of our chickens somehow got out of the coop and was eaten by our golden retriever while Kevin and I were out of town.

Yes, I cried.  Like a baby.

The chicken we lost was one of the two I could identify...the one with the white feathers.

Rest in peace little chicken.

I'm seriously considering eating the dog.

jen g.

the chickens

We (the Gardners) got our six little chickies the day after Easter when they were just a few days old.  They were just teeny-tiny and oh-so-fluffy. We got them through our friends who gave us the rabbit (he is an Ag teacher in a local high school and the students were selling them). I believe they are Rhode Island Reds (a breed that is primarily used for laying), crossed with another breed to make them more cold-hardy.

These photos were taken 3 days after we got them and was their first venture out into the great big backyard.

This is three days later...when they were about a week and a half old.  It's rather scary how fast they grow.  And yes, that is a beer cap in the first picture.  Only the best for our chicks.

Time lapse. Chicks at just over 2 weeks old.

 Scary big and kind of scraggly...is that a word?

As far as we know, they are all females.  I hope so, for their sakes.  No roosters allowed around here, you know...corrupting the sisterhood and all.

I'm contemplating names for them.  So far I am only able to identify two of them.  One because she has more white feathers than the others, and the other because she's so dang fast I can barely catch her!  The latter has been christened Nellie (as in Nervous Nellie).  I'm thinking about prefacing all their names with "Sister" as we are kind of running a chicken nunnery.  

My husband says I'm turning into a weird chicken lady.  I think I am too.

jen g.