A View from Sierra County

Sustainable Sunday - Chickens

I am not the person to tell you all about chickens, even though I have kept them for a several-years' total at three different stints in my life.  I am just a hobbyist; Wooly Daisy is passionate about chicken-keeping.  So, I asked her permission to reprint one of her best chicken columns, all about what to do if you order baby chicks from a hatchery:

  On May 8, at approximately 9:37am, Liam and I raced down to the Camptonville Post Office after receiving a phone call from Postmaster Bo Salisbury. I had just become mother hen to a boxful of baby chicks. Bo presented us with a box full of cute little peeping fluff balls.  When we got home we opened the box and counted 22 chicks. Huh? We only ordered 18. I read the invoice and discovered they throw in some baby roosters as packing peanuts. Actually they are used for warmth. As you know, I don’t want any roosters!!!!! What was I to do with four White Leghorn roosters? Ugh! The thought of finding them homes seemed ominous.
One of our bathrooms has once again been converted into a chick brooder. Actually it’s just a huge cardboard box in the bathtub with a heat lamp clamped to it. We put pine (never use cedar as it is toxic to chickens) shavings in the box covered with paper towel to keep the chicks from eating the litter. They need to learn what they are suppose to eat. As we took the chicks out of the box we dipped their beaks in the water dish to teach them to drink. We added a tiny bit of sugar to the water to help deal with the stress of the trip. In addition to
baby chick starter feed we offered some hard-boiled egg yolks for nutrition. They were tiny, delicate and loud.   It had been awhile since we have had the wee things around. I had forgotten how fragile they were. The chicks need to be kept warm-around 95 degrees for the first week-lowering the temperature weekly. The hardest problem for me is dealing with “pasting up.” This is actually a common occurrence in baby chicks but can lead to death if not dealt with. Pasting up occurs when poop sticks to their little bottoms and dries like cement! Ugh!  Talk about a bad case of constipation....big bummer! Eventually the chick can’t relieve itself and dies. So, I’ve been spending my days wiping little chicken butts with warm paper towels to loosen the dried poop. Pleasant, huh?
 When ordering chicks via a hatchery it is not unusual to lose about 20% of them. Sadly we lost the 2 Golden Penciled Hamburgs. They were even smaller than the bantams (miniature chickens) we ordered. The hatchery told me they were not as hearty as the other breeds. We added electrolytes to the drinking water but that didn’t help. Liam had specifically wanted this breed, as they looked prehistoric. I wanted them, as they were known as “Dutch Everyday Layers.” At least the other chicks seem to be thriving, so I better get that dang coop finished
soon!!!!

Stephanie writes a regular column on chicken-keeping for our local monthly newspaper, The Camptonville Courier, which can be read here.  I also subscribe to a great monthly (virtual) newsletter, Keeping Chickens Newsletter, by Gina Read.

Now that I have gotten you excited about adding chickens to your family, let's dive in and discuss getting there.  First, why would you want to order them from a hatchery?  Besides the fact that they are cute and fluffy, the hatchery takes the guesswork out of buying for you, allowing you to order all hens if you want, instead of waiting until you hear a bunch of juvenile crowing (which sounds more like croaking at that stage) to realize that you have more roosters than hens and will either need to learn to kill and cook your roosters or find someone else who wants one.  You see, roosters are very territorial and you really can only have one at a time.  And then only if you and your neighbors will be happy with crowing at all hours.  Plus, since it is the hens that lay the eggs, you really want either all hens or hens and their one rooster that you are providing with feed.

Additionally, you can have the pleasure of scanning the hatchery catalogs and picking just the breeds you want, rather than the ones you can locate in your region.  DH and I favor Austrolorps and Buff Orpingtons, because they are heavy-breed chickens that don't mind being confined in winter, which happens with our heavy snows.  Your needs may be different, or you may fall in love with the way Silkies look, or want Rhode Island Reds because that is what your grandma had when you were growing up... you will find that most of the widely-available chickens are hearty, healthy and good layers, at least for the first few years.

As you start exploring getting some chickens, you will also want to take a good look around your place and figure out where they can safely live.  There are many other animals that will see the idea of your keeping a flock of chickens as something similar to opening a fast-food restaurant for them: raccoons, skunks, foxes, coyotes, bear, even the neighborhood dogs (or your own!).  DH built us a coop that is attached to one of our outbuildings (originally served as a carriage house back in 1854), using the existing structure, lots of reinforcing, and even burying the chicken wire deeply around the edges in debris-lined trenches (recycled from the never-ending supply of old bits of pottery, nails, etc. that come with living on a long-settled property) so that those crafty raccoons can't dig their way in.  You can also get plans here for a creative and beautiful hen hotel, or purchase a wonderful chicken-tractor/coop, made by Creative Coops here in my region.  I was delighted when I saw their models on display at my local farmers market last spring, even though DH had built such a good solution for us... maybe I really AM almost as passionate about chickens as Wooly Daisy!

In my search for photos of various chicken breeds, these are the most unusual, for you purple-lovers... the Lavender Pekins from Brockscombe Valley Farms.  I also found this hatchery, which caters to the pet chicken owner, shipping just a handful rather than a large quantity.

Now, for the 'good story'... back before DH and I were married, we were neighbors, raising single-parent families, and had some other neighbors around as well.  A group of us went in on ordering a 50-chick lot, from Murray McMurray, one of the largest (and one of the few) mail-order hatcheries at that time, about 18 years ago.  I was the person whose name was on the order, and I got a phone call one morning, before the crack of dawn, from the Grass Valley post office, saying "We have a box of chickens coming to you... and they are REALLY loud".  I said thanks and that I would make sure they were picked up at my local post office in the afternoon.  I headed out to work and got a call around lunch time from my postmistress, in distress, saying, in effect, "OMG, there's a box... it's for you... they're making a lot of noise... it says "LIVE CHICKS".... when can you be here?".... she was pretty panicked and could hardly get the sentences out!  Of course, another neighbor was already on the way to get them, and when I returned home, we divided the lot in half.  Chickens shipped by mail need light and water right away, so my oldest son and I set up the cardboard-box/hatchery that was to be their home for the next few weeks, and started dipping their beaks in the water, as per instructions.  We were busy setting up lights, etc., and turned around to notice several falling into the water... next thing, we were busy with the hair dryer, blow drying every one of them so they wouldn't lose body heat!

Happy Earth Day, everyone.... be sure to share your sustainability stories with me!

Bee-ing Irish

After a long and busy work day, we have just been sitting on the porch sharing some Beamish ale, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, though we aren't sure either of us has any traces of Irish ancestry (Glenn has some English and I some Scottish, does that count?).  We do love good beer though!

While out there absorbing the end of an early spring day, I snapped a photo of the next amigurumi creature to enter our lives.... a baby bee.  Very cute, maybe even better than the turtle...

I seem to be a bit obsessed with crocheting little creatures, in fact dreamed I had a whole washtub full of finished ones last night... that said, crochet is not as easy on my hands as knitting, so I am going to have to pace myself.

I am partway through my mouse, though I got to a point where I needed pink felt to line his ears (and forgot to get it this afternoon).  So, I started on a gift for Glenn's sis, a kitty with a lacy dress.  Hopefully, she will be finished and my handwarmers and vest back to getting some attention later this week.

In the meantime, you might be getting inspired to try these yourself, so let me tell you I have found multiple kinds of eyes (which attach on the inside with locking washers to keep them in place) at my local 'big box crafts store".  I also have collected two different books of patterns, both by Japanese authors. 

The first one, Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts! Amigurumi, by Tomoko Takamori, was selected from Amazon based on reviews and the fact that Chronicle Books published the English edition.  They are a dependable crafts publisher whose works I have liked in the past.  There are more animal patterns in here than in the other books I checked out, including a donkey (yup, one of those went right on the queue!).  The patterns are well written and there are excellent color photos about assembling all of these parts once they are crocheted into something that will truly look like the professional photoshoot examples.  This book gets highest marks because of the assemblage instructions and wide range of patterns.

The other book, Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful, by Narumi Ogawa, is also well written and pretty much the only book (and one of the few patterns anywhere) that used graphs to outline the stitches/projects.  Lace and color knitters have become accustomed to using charts to help us visualize the item we are trying to make, and I am enjoying developing crochet-chart-reading skills for the same reason.  The kitty with dress pattern is in Mr. Funky.  Her animals are well made, and she shows multiple variations to help you launch off and make your favorite animal that isn't included, as well as offering several very cute hat and scarf patterns for hip crocheters... in fact a flower-shaped motif scarf may well be in my future, and another gift is "on the hooks" for a surprise recipient from one of her accessory patterns.

I also picked up a copy of the hot new graphic novel, Handknit Heroes, just for fun.  Now, I have a family that includes several comic/graphic novel fans, but haven't been as caught up in the craze over the years, preferring a good, long read myself.  I did want to support the whole concept and the author, artist and handknit designer, for their team effort and wasn't disappointed.  It is a fun concept and I will have to follow and see how it develops.

The best read of the month, though, has been The Lost City of Z, which Glenn's sis Linda, manager of Lafayette Book Store, sent to us, just after I had listened to an interview of author Dan Grann on NPR a few weeks ago.  He traces the history of Percy Fawcett, a famous English explorer of the Amazon in the first few decades of the 20th century, who vanished in 1925, and also discusses when mere questing crosses over into unhealthy obsession.  It was a thrilling read, maybe made more so by the fact that it was extensively documented and very real.

I am heading off to enjoy the last of this funny American holiday celebrating an Irish priest... have fun y'all!

Fall Hike With Rose

Now that cold weather has set in, I want to share this post as a reminder of warmer days... somehow, I overlooked getting it online.  We took a lovely trip to our high country house the first weekend in November, trailering Rose up for a weekend hike.  We felt especially lucky after the long and busy summer and fall to have two nights to spend together at the 'old home place', where we raised our children and lived for many years.

Here, Rose has her sawbuck pack saddle and two wooden pack boxes, which we got second-hand, tied on and ready to go... she gets to carry the lunch.

She knows it is time to go to work when loaded up and wants you to see how good she looks from the front!

Though it is only mid-morning in this shot, the slanting light reminds me that winter is rapidly approaching and being able to take such hikes will soon be impossible, as the yard of our house in the background will be filled with snow in another month and a half, and likely stay that way until March.

We headed out from the house, located in the historic mining district of Forest City, and out one of the oldest roads, called Mountain House Road. 

This one's for Smith; he will definitely recognize the shirt.

 

Glenn led Rose while I admired the scenery, though we both commented on how most of the deciduous trees had lost their leaves already in the winds from the heavy rainstorms two weeks before.

We soon took a four-wheel drive road, originally another old trail, called Sandusky, and stopped at a stock pond for lunch.

Here, Rose is hoping to share my lunch with me - check out that nose!

She did get apples, but not the cheese, and it turned out she was more interested in trying to snag a bite of our tuna sandwiches... donkeys love carbs!

As you can see, one of the nicest features of the hand-made pack boxes is that they also work very well as a table or a bench, making lunch a happy affair.

A beautiful trail, a sunny afternoon, and our donkey Rose - what more could we need to feel like we were in heaven?

The reward at home

For Rose, it was more apples and a fresh growth of grass in the yard while for us it was getting to be in the high country and watch her enjoy it!

On a more timely note, perhaps you noticed the Blogaversary button ticking away in my sidebar of late.... I am preparing a special giveaway, thanks to Bev's sharing with me her birthday giveaway tradition, so come back by on the 9th!

Please Give A Warm Welcome to The Blues Brothers

It has been over two years since I lost my crazy but beloved Jack Russell terrier, Duncan.  Those in the animal world consider JRTs to be somewhat like Tigger,  from Winnie the Pooh, "entertaining, but thank god I don't have to live with that!"  All the same, making room in my heart and then finding a replacement dog has been a difficult task... I would think I wanted to, but not make any headway.  Every now and then, I would come across someone elses' dog that would be a perfect choice; I even tried to convince Margene's Moxie to sneak home with me in my suitcase last fall. 

Periodically, I would peruse Petfinder, a large animal rescue index online, but without success.  DH and I had at least agreed that we would try and find a pair, so that they would have companionship when we were away, and that we would introduce new critters during the time of year when he is home working, for better bonding and supervision.  The right dogs just weren't coming up... at least not until a few weeks ago, when I spotted two brothers on the Pawsitively Purrfest Animal Rescue site.

Jake, on the left, and Elwood, on the right, are here for a two-week trial visit, but it is doubtful that they will ever leave... we passed the rescue screening process and got lots of extra points because nobody wanted to take both together.  These boys have been in a rescue for six months, after spending their entire 2 1/2 year lives prior to that living outside with very little attention.  Denise, the rescue worker who has been caring for them, has done a good job socializing them and they are friendly and eager to please, but what is most touching about them is how bonded to each other they are... they need to keep track of where the other one is, and like to sleep with their heads on each others backs for pillows.  They appear to be a Norfolk terrier - Daschund mix, but who knows for sure, and around here, who really cares?

With a face like that, Jake deserves more love out of life than he got in the early part of his life.  Stepson Rex fell for him right away, snapping this photo after several tries at close-ups.

I hear people bad-mouthing taking on rescue animals, that you are just asking for problems.  I agree it is not for everybody.  I have had several rescue animals over the years, and most turn out to be every bit as good as any other pet, but they do take extra work and extra love to figure out what they missed along the way growing up, and to help them fix it.  The way I look at it, it isn't Jake and Elwood's fault that the owner that selected them as cute puppies didn't bother to learn how to train them or to weigh out how well dogs would fit into their lifestyle.  These are the two biggest reasons why people and animals end up not fitting each other. 

JRTs became really popular a decade ago, after getting a lot of TV and movie exposure, but none of it addressed their very strong need for companionship and a pack connection... and many ended up killed from running away or abandoned and later destroyed at animal control sites around the country.  The kind of jobs they need to fill their days don't exist in city apartments, and that leads to trying to tunnel out from under the door (ruined carpets), or jump through the window (shredded screens, broken glass, vet bills).  My little Duncan would have been better off at a huge horse or cattle ranch, and one of my large animal vets said she would never be able to leave her's at home because of this tendency to get destructive when fearful or frustrated, and so had trained him to travel everywhere with her and wait quietly while she took care of the animals.  It was a sight to see, when a "difficult" species has been given the right niche in life.

Jake and Elwood don't appear to fall into the difficult category, and it looks like we will be able to provide them with "forever" homes.