Backyard chickens, Managing your flock, integration coop, coop design, The Mighty Gannicus

 To be  neighborly..... I agreed to be a part of  one of the neighbor kids school projects. She wanted to raise chickens...in her apartment bedroom.  I agreed to take said chickens when the project was complete.   She was only going  to get 6. She got 12. I told her mom I couldn't keep that many so they found a home for 3 of them.  3 days ago I became the proud owner of 9 new chickens.  2 cochins, 4 wyandottes and 3 silkies.    They are, of course, delightful.  Being a school project they were a bit over-nurtured .  The first full day in their new home, they would not come out of the integration coop until almost 3 pm.  They were afraid of the  dirt in the pen.   One of the chickens, a beautiful and brave silkie  kept poking his head out of the door.  He was the first one to venture out.  He explored the environment and then let the others out of the coop.  The first one out was a tiny  black silkie that Jimmy has taken a liking too.  He named  it Arnold.  Arnold is irrepressible.  He/she  was the second one out and hopped all over the pen  with the white silkie  following it around to keep it out of trouble.  After a few minutes, they all came out.  By bedtime they were all having such a great time  playing in the dirt that Jimmy and I had to manually  return them to the coop.  They complained for a good five minutes after we shut them in.  The  very bright student's mom told me that at least three of the chickens  were roosters.  After watching them for three days I 'm pretty sure  we only have one rooster.  The Brave white silkie.  He herds and protects.  He is the first one out and the last one in.  He is the Mighty Gannicus!  All hail Gannicus!
I'll need to be finding a home for at least three or  four of the babies.  Or Jimmy will be wearing his tight face and muttering under his breath 'we don't NEED 21 chickens!'  He will be right  of course!  He's good with any of the new chickens finding a new home ....except Arnold.  He has taken a liking to Arnold.  He loves Arnold's  pluck!  Last night over dinner we talked extensively  about   who stays and who goes and what kind of a time line for  integration that we have.  Gannicus  stays!  He is my rooster replacement for  the Indomitable Hashtag.  I asked Jimmy  last night " What if Arnold is a rooster as well?".  He groaned and got a very pained look on his face.  Then in an unprecedented move said ' well...silkies are so small that  no one will notice two roosters.'  At that moment I gave Arnold to Jimmy.   "Congratulations!  Arnold belongs to you!" says I.  Jimmy can no longer use the argument ' They're your chickens!'
I took a photo of the integration coop.  It is an old plastic garden shed that we modified.  It is a perfect temporary summer home for  new girls. There are no roosts.  Roosting happens  when they move up to the big girl house.
For the next week  the new girls will remain penned up and separated from the old girls.  They can see each other and interact but no pecking can happen.  Next week I will make a small hole in the fence  so that the new girls can come in and out as they please  but the old girls will not be able to follow them in if they need a safe place.  Also next week the two ancient reds will be retired.  Not only are they cranky and mean but they are beginning to have health  issues.   Week three Jimmy and I will be redesigning and rebuilding the inside of the big coop.   When I first began backyard chickening I didn't know what a well designed coop interior should be like..  I now know that no part of the roost should  run over the top of the nesting boxes and  all roosts should be at the same level or they will poop on each others heads all night!  Once the  coop is redesigned and repainted on the inside,  the  integration  pen and coop will be removed.  There will be a good week of squawking and  screeching  while they all find their place in the order of things.
I read an article in the Seattle newspaper last week that said the animal shelters are filling up with chickens   that are too old to lay eggs (or began crowing).  Managing your flock is very important. You really only get 3 good years of laying out of a hen.   If you want to keep your egg production high you should bring in a couple of new hens every couple of years and retire the oldest ones.  If you absolutely can not bring yourself to retire the old ones...Well, you might want to rethink the whole thing.  Maybe the $5 dollar a dozen, free range  eggs at the co-op aren't such a bad deal after all.  If your OK with retirement.... Backyard chickens are a great choice.

The Mighty Gannicus!

Silkie Rooster....Gannicus

Integration  coop and pen

Chicken Coop
to be redesigned and repainted

Black Silkie chick,  AKA Jimmy's first chicken, the plucky Arnold

 

Raspberry infusion vinegar recipe, broccoli, snow peas, green beans, waiting for PSE

We have broccoli! Lots of broccoli.  We have about five snow peas which means that next week we will have enough for a couple of meals.  The green beans are  on target as well.  This might not seem like something  to get excited about but, after  a year of eating  commercial produce, I'm so happy I could cry.  My only regret is that the garden isn't bigger.  It would have been  bigger this year  but, Jimmy had me by the back of the collar  slowing me down.  In between struggling to get away and screaming "lemmego lemmego!" I could  hear him saying  "wait til PSE gets done  so we can see what happens".    PSE is  changing the  power lines that run down the length of our property and we already signed off on the permission slips for them to top all the trees  that are wrapped around the power lines.  That was back in late February.  They are taking their sweet time about getting here!   I know it takes some planning to shut off the power for a whole neighborhood for a day but I just want them to get it done!  Then there is  the  driveway.  We don't know where the edges will end up. The fate of the hazelnut tree has not been settled either.  There is a pile of sawdust under this tree that the bugs  have eaten out of it.  This according to the tree guy is an indication that the tree is old and sick and the bugs are doing their job.  It will probably have to come down. ( So much for my home made nutella fantasies!).  By October I will know where all the newly  exposed sunspots are and next spring will be a frenzy  of  building  new raised beds and getting all kinds of  yummies in the ground.
This coming week, I will be building a  small integration coop  for the new girls coming on board.  The  problem of too many chickens may have been solved.  One of Jimmy's friends in Portland  might want them.  I will keep half of them.   The two old girls are   being  retired.  I did not make the decision lightly.  Since they have been penned up for the summer, their bullying  of the young girls has escalated to the point where action must be taken.  Last years  new girls  are scared to death and their feathers are poking out everywhere  they have been pecked. One of the sweetest  new girls is taking the brunt of the abuse.   Both of the ancient reds are doing the bullying but  'Long Lip'  is the meanest.  Old , useless and sweet? You get to live.  Old, useless and mean?  Well.... cant have that.  The deed needs to be done before the   babies get here.  They are all hand raised, sweet tempered breeds.  The transition from teen girls bedroom to  sky and dirt  is going to be hard enough on them without making them fear for their lives from  a  vicious inmate.

My freezer is full of raspberries  waiting for DD to come up for a couple of days.  I already set a gallon of them to infuse in white vinegar.  After the last infusions ran out, I tried to buy a bottle  of raspberry vinegar at the grocery store.  It seems that raspberry vinegar has fallen out of fashion. (who knew groceries were  bound up in popular opinion?).  I will probably make another one after this.  My chrisoween baskets this year will include a small jar of it for gifting. I will leave you with a simple recipe for your own raspberry vinegar.

Raspberry vinegar infusion recipe:

Fill a one gallon jar 3/4 full with raspberries
Pour one cup of  sugar over berries
Pour in distilled white vinegar  until jar is full
Stir contents well
Cover with lid or plastic wrap and let steep for at least one week.
Stir contents at least once a day.
When berries begin to look white-ish, strain through cheesecloth or very fine strainer to remove pulp and seeds.
Bottle and store.
(I choose to put mine in quart jars and water bath them just to be sure)