losing our second chicken

I was just getting home last night, frustrated by bad traffic on my way home. As I bustled up the sidewalk from our garage, I glanced over at the chicken coop and said "hey chickadees!" like I do every day. But today, I stopped in my tracks. Sambelu, one of our Americauna hens, was laying in the run, dead. 

I ran to get Mark, but I knew there wasn't anything we could do. With no marks at all on her body, no broken neck and the fact that she was inside the run and our yard is fenced, we knew it was likely not an animal that killed her. 

Knowing that the remaining two hens were running around the yard just fine and they all ate and drank the same feed and water and garden treats, we doubted that she was poisoned in some way. We quickly did some research to try to figure out what happened. We think that she was egg-bound, where an egg was trapped in her oviduct. Sadly, this is a fatal condition if not treated right away. Either that or she had a heart attack or some sudden onset problem.

Because we never knew she had an issue until she was gone. On Sunday, she was out running around with the others like usual while we picked in the garden. She came out and ate fine with the others in the morning. But we are at work during the day and can't watch them for those hours. We made the choice to let them free range while we weren't there because they love it, it's good for them and it's a risk we're willing to take. But I wish we could have known something was wrong to try to possibly help her. 

We buried her under the chickens' favorite bush. She was one of our chickens that was featured in Edible Allegheny when Next Gen House was part of Online Dish last year. (She's the brown lady on the right.) 

We will likely get more chickens, now that we are down to two. We need to do some research on how to introduce more into an existing group, but we know that they are social, and we don't want to risk one of them being alone if the other dies. 

I love her beak open in this photo, like she's being fierce and laying down the law. Her name comes from our closest approximation of the Klingon name for chicken. So here's hoping she's in Sto'Vo'Kor, the Klingon afterlife. She had a fierce warrior face, after all.

2014 resolution update - July

This is the first year that I've made a concerted effort to work on actually completing my resolutions for the year. Perhaps it's because I didn't aim too high and made them realistic. Here's an update on how I'm doing at the halfway point in the year.

Mind
Read 75 books.
Today I will finish book #46, so I'm well on my way to that goal. I do have to get the sub-goals in of finishing Margaret Atwood's canon (6 more books) and one Russian door-stop novel. I've been reading a lot of books that are part of a series, so I end up going through the series and it delays my next choices. Even if I don't hit the sub-goals, I will still read more this year than in any year since graduate school. I'm also reading in genres outside of my comfort zone, which is pretty cool. (I am a total graphic novel and comic convert.)

Write letters on three issues to my elected representatives.
I haven't done another one since this post on the DARK Act. I need to get on that. I might write next about funding to reduce hunger.

Body
Run a marathon.
I'm in my 8th week of a 23 week training schedule. (Most plans are 18 weeks, but I am drawing mine out due to previous injuries and lingering issues with my IT bands.) Last week's long run was 13 miles, and it was the first time I ran that far when it wasn't a race, and only my fourth time at that distance at all. It was quite honestly one of the most difficult runs I've ever had - humid and disgusting outside, dehydrated big time. Everything was screaming at me to stop, and even though I had to walk more than I had hoped, I finished. (Which was really only because of the two awesome ladies I run with.) 

It's been good to be on a training schedule and to be following it. I've put in 246 miles so far this year and that number is about to go way up because it's going to get hard soon - after the holiday weekend we bump up to 15 miles for a long run and I go into distance territory that my body has never traveled. It's an adventure, this marathon training. Don't forget, I'm posting photos on Instagram under the hashtag #yearofthemarathon in case you want to follow along on the adventure.

Drink 64 ounces of water a day.
I really need to kick this into high gear during this marathon training, because even though I do drink water constantly, I am always fighting being dehydrated in this weather. And I was doing some research this week that dehydration while running can also increase your heart rate, which is something I'm hyper sensitive to as an asthmatic.

Home
Start my home brew kombucha.
Done and done. Completely knocked this one out of the park, and it might be the coolest thing I accomplished this year (unless I do complete the marathon, that is). Read about it here. 

Sew a t-shirt quilt.
Making slow progress on this one. I finished cutting all of the squares for my quilt this weekend. (I'm technically getting materials together for two, planning to start with my own quilt to get the hang of it before I do Mark's.) Now it's time to fire up my grandma's sewing machine, which will hopefully happen in July.

Can one new thing.
Technically I've met this goal with our strawberry vanilla jam, a variant I hadn't made before. But since I think the spirit of this was for me to do something entirely new, I won't count this done yet. But it will be full on canning season in the next couple months.

Plant a bee-friendly flower garden.
Didn't really get around to planting specifically bee-friendly plants, but we definitely have more flowers this year compared to last, which is at least a step in the right direction.

Make the chickens some treats.
I actually completely forgot about this one, so this is a good reminder. Perhaps because of the heat and humidity, I'll make something that's refreshing for them.

Organize the basement.
The basement has stayed relatively organized since we transitioned one side of it to a work area for Mark. I still have a few things I'd like to do down there, especially to get a root cellar ready for later this year. But it's better than it used to be (at least when Stormy and Vader don't knock food bowls all over the place).

How are you doing on your goals for 2014? Share them in the comments!

2014 resolution update

Usually by this time of year, the resolutions I made in January are like a distant, vague memory. But this year in a stunning turn of events, I've been staying on track. So seeing that we're about one third of the way through the year, I thought I'd check in.

Mind
Read 75 books.
I just finished #23 this week, so I'm on track to meet my goal. I need to still pick up a Russian doorstop novel along the way, as well as several more Margaret Atwoods to finish her canon. But so far, so good. Man do I love to read! 

Write letters on three issues to my elected representatives.
I have one down, two more to go on this front. For my most recent letter, see this post on the DARK Act recently introduced in the House. Bad news.

Body
Run a marathon.
Well, I'm in training. This Saturday marks my first race of the season - the Boston Trail half marathon (not in Boston). That's followed up by my town's 5K the following weekend, and then the Pittsburgh Marathon Half on May 4. Don't forget there's still time to donate to my fund for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank! Shameless plug! I'm only $5 away from $600!

Also, I'm posting photos on Instagram under the hashtag #yearofthemarathon in case you want to follow along on the adventure.

Drink 64 ounces of water a day.
Doing pretty well with this one, especially through the day at work. I also carry my water bottle around with me at home, and really it's only after runs that I don't do so well rehydrating. Going to keep working on that.

Home
Start my home brew kombucha.
Fail. Still nervous. Will make it happen this summer though.

Sew a t-shirt quilt.
Making good progress on this one, especially since it's something I have zero experience in. I have Mark's shirts all prepped and ready with interfacing, and mine are almost complete. Then it's time to get the sewing machine cranking! I've even had an apprentice. Isn't he helpful?

  

Can one new thing.
Not quite into canning season yet, so this one will be a summer thing.

Plant a bee-friendly flower garden.
I recently did some research on bee-friendly plants that do well in our area, with info from the Penn State Extension. Look for a post about that in the near future!

Make the chickens some treats.
Winter has made me not want to go outside with them more than necessary, so probably once I'm in the backyard with them more often, I'll be more inclined to start making some treats.

Organize the basement.
The basement has come light years from what it was. This is a pretty significant accomplishment, as it's now a more usable space for both Mark and me. And we've kept it relatively in order!

How are you doing on your goals for 2014? Share them in the comments!

losing our first chicken

I came home from work and a five mile run last night to find Mark in the backyard still in his work clothes, having just got home after a hellish commute of his own. His first words to me were "a hawk killed one of the chickens."

I hauled my bags in the house and came back out to find Ensign Rickey, one of our Black Australorps, dropped in one of our raised beds, her neck broken and feathers everywhere. (Ensign Rickey's name is a Star Trek reference - our affectionate name for a generic redshirt.) Ensign Rickey was our best layer - a champion, even through this brutal winter. We even joked that we should let her retire in style since she was so dependable and was largely responsible for us even having any eggnog at Christmas at all. She was always the first to pump her legs across our yard when we'd walk onto the porch and yell TREAT!

Even though we don't really look at the chickens as pets like we do our cats who live with us inside, the chickens are part of our family and we protect their lives and care for them like we do our pets. They are valuable to us and we make their lives as carefree and chicken-y as possible.

But the side effect of a free life outside of a cage is that sometimes predators show up. We'd actually never seen a hawk in Carnegie before, until Mark opened the back gate to find one sitting on the chicken coop, with Ensign Rickey on the ground and the others terrified and squacking behind our compost piles. If we lived in the country and could really have the chickens free range outside of a fenced in yard, we'd lose some to other ground predators. I know this. Animals die just like humans do, and thankfully we don't think Ensign Rickey suffered too much. Mark walked into the yard and startled the hawk before it could go after one of the other hens.

It was dusk by the time I got home in the first place, so we got out the boots and shovels and dug into the frozen ground as it was getting dark, to make a place for her. We even said the gralloch prayer over the spot, a prayer of thanks for life that gives sustenance to others, as Ensign Rickey gave us eggs faithfully for the almost 3 years that we had her.

It was a sad evening. When I first laid eyes on her body, I cried. My first thought was that I hope she didn't suffer. But it made me think that even if she did, the rest of her life was carefree and full of delicious scratch treats, digging for bugs in soft earth, chattering with her flock and pooping wherever she darn well pleased, with a warm and comfortable roost for cold evenings. 

Allow me to step on a soapbox here. What about all the other chickens that we use for eggs in this country, housed in horrid conditions, smashed into cages with broken legs and clipped beaks, unable to move, wallowing in their own waste, sick and dying? Just so we can have cheap eggs? No one cries for those birds when they die, and most people prefer it that way - because to turn your face away from the suffering of those animals allows you to buy eggs for $1/dozen and not worry about it. And that's what it is - suffering. If you don't believe me, watch this.

Consider finding a farmer near you that sells eggs - many farm stands and farmers markets sell them. Or consider your own backyard chickens. But think the next time you buy eggs about what we as a society are giving those birds for the gift of their eggs, a staple of many diets. Torturing another species in order to take something from them, giving nothing in return - not even compassion - isn't right. Think about where you are sourcing your animal products. Not all eggs are the same. Ensign Rickey's sure weren't. 

backyard chickens in winter

If you live anywhere that sees the change of seasons, you've been having a rough winter. (Come to think of it, some people have had a rough winter who never see snow. I still feel bad for people in Atlanta sleeping in CVS.)

When we've had the polar vortex days and the heavy snow fall and the ice storms, a lot of people ask "how are the chickens handling the snow?" 

Well, in short, just fine.

(One of the black australorps, the laying champions of the world.) 

We went through a period in the late fall/early winter where molting and the reduction of the daylight hours made all four stop laying - we got only a few eggs over that time. This seemed to be happening to a lot of people this year.

Thankfully, one of our black australorps is a laying champion and she started up again, even during the short winter days. Both black australorps are back at it, and just recently we got our first green egg in months, from one of the americaunas.

As far as water, we use a heater system that Mark rigged up, which uses one of those holiday cookie tins with a light kit attached to the side. The light bulb warms the tin and keeps the water from freezing. We just use Chinese takeout containers for their water in the winter since they are easily refillable and seem to help the water stay in liquid form. 

However, they do like to knock it around from time to time, and one day this winter found me in my dress clothes on the way to work, crawling into the coop to recover it. 

Way to stick your face in her butt just as I snapped the photo, lady.

As far as snow, they aren't big fans. We try to keep areas of the backyard shoveled so they can walk around a bit without being up to their beaks in snow. We usually have a path from the coop to the deck, where they like to hide for a wind break and to be close to the house, which gives off some warmth. Their feet are sensitive to cold, so they prefer to stay out of the snow, but I've seen tracks around, so I know they aren't completely averse. 

Now ice? That's another story. The ice storm we had recently had them going nuts, clucking away and making all kinds of noises because they were irritated that they couldn't walk well. I had to bring hot water outside to de-ice their coop (and took a spill myself) to even get the door open, so when they realized that they couldn't step outside and get any traction, they made an unholy racket.  

In the cold, they huddled together a lot and hung out under the deck to get a wind break. We give them extra scratch when it's going to be a very cold night so they have food to be digesting while they roost. 

They'll be happier when they can poop all over the yard and get back on top of the compost pile, but they're doing fine. I think I'm more sick of the winter than they are. But who isn't?

on resolutions

Happy New Year!

There's something about January that brings a sense of new beginnings. Maybe it's the breath of fresh air after the hubbub of the holidays, or the fact that we flip a new year on the calendar that makes us feel like we can press the reset button and start anew. In 2013, I set some goals for myself - concrete things like "run a half marathon" and not just "run more." I met most of those goals, and exceeded some of them. It gave me a sense of satisfaction to open my goals document every so often and check to see that I've made progress. 

So I'm setting my resolutions for 2014 and will keep myself accountable for progress on them during the year. They're all reachable, but will be a challenge in one way or another. I don't like to go overboard, since I know that my work and my commute take up a huge portion of my week and my attention during my waking hours. Plus, I don't like setting myself up for failure. I'd rather succeed at a few small things and be content with that.

With that, here are my goals for 2014 in three categories: mind, body and home.

Mind
Read 75 books.
I read 70 books in 2013, and I'm going to up the ante by just a bit in 2014. Within those 75 books, I have a goal of reading one of what I call the Russian doorstop novels that I haven't read before, as well as finishing up the rest of Margaret Atwood's canon. I use Good Reads to help me keep track of what I'm reading when.

Write letters on three issues to my elected representatives.
I have no shortage of things that outrage me, and I know that battles about GMO labeling, Ag-Gag laws and farm bills will keep me occupied with this one.

Body
Run a marathon.
Yes, I'm putting it out there. I'm not going to beat myself up if I work on the training and my body doesn't cooperate (I'm looking at you, knees!), but I'm going to try. I know in my heart I will always regret it if I don't try, and that's reason enough for me to start. I will begin training in February, with the goal of working up to a marathon by the fall. I'd also like to do several halfs this year, and to travel to at least one race outside of my area. The goal for the full marathon is just to finish, and my goal for a half marathon in 2014 is to get a PR, which I think is doable. 

Drink 64 ounces of water a day.
Rather than set a goal for weight loss, I'm focusing on health and fitness this year. Water is a big one for me - I feel so much better and have so much more energy when I'm properly hydrated. It also helps me with my running to be hydrated at all times, so I'm going to dedicate myself to hydration.

Home
Start my home brew kombucha.
Mark gave me the tools to make kombucha for my birthday last year and I have yet to start, out of fear that I'll mess it up. I did stop buying kombucha in the store, like I promised myself, but I haven't taken the leap. 2014 is the time.

Sew a t-shirt quilt.
I have my grandma's sewing machine, and I'm going to put it to good use this year. I'm not particularly gifted in this area, so I'm starting easy and hoping to make Mark a quilt from a pile of old, beloved t-shirts.

Can one new thing.
I want to branch out this year and can something we've never canned before. Doesn't have to be elaborate, but I'd like to try something new and different.

Plant a bee-friendly flower garden.
I want to do some research on bee-friendly plants and make the flower beds along our garage an all you can drink nectar buffet for bees. (Can you tell that Vanishing of the Bees inspired me?)

Make the chickens some treats.
I want to be more actively involved in the chickens' care and I really want to make them some treats to give them a diversion.

Organize the basement.
I did a great job of simplifying and downsizing our house this past fall, but the largest work to be done is our basement, which is a mess of boxes and disorganization and junk that is just begging to be a functional space. If the only house related thing we get done at all this year is to organize the basement, I would count it a success.

I'm going to check in monthly here to keep myself accountable to these goals, and hopefully share some how-tos when I have some success! 

What are your goals for 2014? Share them in the comments - I'd love to know what you're doing to make 2014 the best year it can be! 

Next Gen House at Edible Allegheny's Online Dish

Edible Allegheny is a local magazine that, as their tagline says, "celebrates local food, farms and cuisine - season by season." I actually started reading the magazine several years ago, when a free copy was included in a delivery of produce I got through a program at my old job. That was around the time I was becoming a food person anyway, and the recipes and stories were inspiring and educational. I can honestly say that Edible Allegheny is responsible for Mark and I finding a ton of great restaurants and food events in the area. They are a great resource for all things local food - truly covering everything from the farm to the table.

I'm really excited to be one of the featured blogs in the Online Dish column this issue, along with two other great local sites: food blog Life and Kitchen and agricultural blog Write to Farm.

The fine avian ladies of Next Gen House even made the column header, hanging out in our compost area, as you can see from this screen shot. (And check out that pumpkin pie on the cover of the magazine to the left. If that doesn't scream fall, I don't know what does.)

 
Head over to this month's column to read about this blog and its roots, as well as the other great local links - the website is a wealth of information and the Online Dish archives can lead you to some great local blogs as well!



I wasn't paid or perked to promote Edible Allegheny - they are just a great magazine.
 

On breaking down a chicken

Excuse my fantastically off-center phone photo

On Sunday night, Mark taught me how to "break down" a whole chicken. As part of my commitment to try and eat only meat that comes from a verifiable farm, we are going to be dealing with many more whole chickens in our cooking. When it dawned on me that I had never successfully broken down a chicken before, I knew I needed Mark to teach me so I could share the burden. (By successfully I mean without hacking it to uneven pieces and leaving most of the meat on the carcass.)

So Mark taught me, and I broke it down on my own. I felt a sense of accomplishment knowing that we had breasts, wings, thighs and legs to eat, as well as a carcass to roast for stock. Mark grilled up some of the pieces to put in a baked risotto I made for dinner and that was that.

But I keep finding myself coming back to the process of doing it and of getting my hands on the chicken, feeling where the joints came together and popping them out of place. Running the knife along the rib cage to separate the breasts from the backbone. Plucking a few loose feathers out of the skin.

When you only buy pre-cut and trimmed chicken parts from the grocery store, it's really easy to forget that they came from a chicken. They just look like pieces of meat. But when you break down a whole chicken, you end up getting very close to the body of the animal and it's impossible to forget that it was once a living creature. Somehow you're more grateful for the sacrifice that's going to feed your family for that meal. 

Raising backyard chickens

I took advantage of a relatively mild day recently to go out and take some photos of the chickens while they were out "free ranging" in our yard. I had to use my zoom lens and sit far enough away from them that they wouldn't freak out. (Though watching them run is hilarious, and they are fast little buggers.) This weekend while they were out, a cardinal landed in our yard with a few other smaller birds and some sparrows. The second the cardinal landed and the chickens noticed, they sprinted toward it and the cardinal got out of dodge, as it saw its doom approach. 

People often ask us what it's like to raise chickens in our backyard, since we live in an urban area and don't have much land. Once they get over the shock that our borough does allow chickens, they have lots of questions. Because Mark is the chickens' primary caregiver, I thought it might be more informative if I "interviewed" him about why we have backyard chickens and what it entails.

What made you decide to raise chickens?

The facile answer is that I’m cheap. Since I love eggs for breakfast, and I refuse to buy the grocery store confinement eggs, I was paying about $5/dozen for eggs from a farmer. I figured that, if I got some chickens of my own, eventually, like any investment, I’d get ahead of the game acquiring my own eggs. In addition to that, I think my Libertarian independent nature likes the idea of being in charge of my own food sources and not being beholden to anyone. It was really nice to think to myself that, when my old farmer was having issues with keeping up with egg supply, I was not worried because I still had my own eggs from my own chickens.

What kind of space and shelter do chickens need?

I guess that depends on who you ask. While chickens are technically a tropical animal, they are amazingly adaptable and the varieties I own (Black Australorp and Ameraucana) are hardy in both hot and cold weather.

As for space, I’m not Tyson, so my answer sure as heck isn’t “just cram them into a cage ‘til no more fit”. From all I’ve heard and read, they really don’t need a ton of space. A couple of square feet per chicken at minimum. Technically, you could keep chickens in a parakeet cage in an apartment, although I wouldn’t recommend it unless you were fastidious about cleaning. The footprint for the henhouse/run I keep my 4 chickens in is around 4 feet by 6 feet. During the winter, they stay in there and are fine. I try to give them veggies and things to peck at so they don’t get bored. I also like to let them out when the weather is nice so they can spread their wings and move around a little more. Chickens do love to tear up gardens beds and such to dust bathe so, while I don’t worry about it now, I will have to fence in the beds when things get warmer and I plant outside.

As for shelter requirements, technically they only need a henhouse. A fenced in run, while a nice protection against predators, isn’t necessary. Within the henhouse they will need nesting boxes to lay eggs (usually one box per few chickens) and then somewhere higher up to roost at night. I also recommend a door on the henhouse that can be closed up at night as a protection against nocturnal predators as well as a windbreak. I also installed vents in mine to give them some air flow, which is very important when it gets hot in summer.

What do they eat?

Chickens are omnivores so I have to chuckle every time I see Perdue bragging about feeding their chickens an all vegetarian diet. Chickens LOVE meat. While I feed them mostly a balanced organic feed, they go nuts over meat scraps. They have even been known to get cannibalistic on an injured member of the flock. I’ve never had this happen but I’ve heard stories. Chickens are really about as close as you get to modern dinosaurs (some studies have shown an evolutionary link between them and T Rex!) and, if you watch them eat meat, you can sure believe it.

Really, chickens are great pre-processors of just about all kinds of kitchen scraps (with the exception of a few things that are poisonous to them like avocados) and generate a prolific amount of waste that is very nitrogen rich and thus can be composted into great fertilizer.

What do you do with their waste?

As I mentioned, chickens produce a lot of waste. A…LOT…OF…WASTE. They pretty much exist to eat, lay eggs, and poop like crazy. Thankfully, their waste is highly prized for its nitrogen content so, once composted, it’s like gold for gardeners (so being called chicken shit really shouldn’t necessarily be an insult!).

I built a couple of giant compost bins from old pallets and am using them to compost down the waste and bedding materials (newspaper, wood shavings, and straw) from when I clean out the coop. It is important to note that you absolutely have to compost the chicken poop though because it is too “hot” (nitrogen rich) right away to immediately apply to gardens. It could burn your plants. 

How much does it cost?

Most of the cost of chicken ownership is front loaded in getting the infrastructure set up for them, such as building and/or acquiring a coop. I used all new materials for mine but even so, including the cost of tools (this was my first carpentry project so I needed several power tools) I think I came in at under $300. Having gotten better at carpentry and more comfortable making my own plans and using reclaimed materials, I could have made a coop for probably a fraction of that. If I had to do it today, I’d go to Construction Junction and buy building supplies. Once you have the infrastructure costs out of the way, you really only maybe need to buy feed (it all depends on how much you let them free range and how much you feed them in scraps) and things like bedding material (which is cheap) and cleaning supplies. The feed I get them costs $25 for a 50 lb bag (and that’s on the expensive end because it is organic) and lasts about 50 days (chickens eat about a quarter pound of feed per chicken, per day). The bedding material of wood shavings is only a few bucks for a bag that lasts several coop cleanings. The bale of straw I bought last year for the nesting boxes still isn’t used up and we’re going on 11 months here.

My chickens probably lay at least 1.5 dozen eggs a week so I figure that, in about a year, they will have paid for themselves.

What have you enjoyed about raising chickens?

There’s a lot to like about raising chickens. I love the fresh eggs. It’s the whole reason I got them. I know where the eggs came from, I know how they ate, and, as such, am not afraid of using them in even raw egg applications like eggnog and Hollandaise sauce. I also love being close to and in charge of my food. It’s the same reason I hunt, fish, and garden. I like being responsible for what I eat. I enjoy educating others about chickens as well. It’s a hoot to see people the first time they come over and go see the chickens in the run. Most people have never been so close to a farm animal before. Finally, a nice side effect of it is bartering. I didn’t get chickens for this purpose but, since they lay eggs quicker than I can eat them, I get extras that I give to the neighbors to chicken sit when we’re out of town and trade to friends as well (such as a buddy who hunts elk and such and has given me some delicious steaks in return for some eggs).

What has been the hardest part?

Chickens are pretty easy animals to raise and care for. There isn’t a lot to hate. There’s a couple small downsides to it but the good outweighs the bad. Chickens can be loud sometimes. Even without a rooster present, a lot of times one of the hens will kind of take on that role and can make a heck of a racket sometimes. Cleaning the coop, which, in summer, I do every couple of weeks, is a dirty job. Finally, if you are someone who likes to sleep in, chickens might not be for you. Once the sun is up, they want out of the henhouse and dawn comes earlier than you might think.

As long as you don’t mind spending an hour or so every couple weeks cleaning out the coop (and there are bedding methods such as “deep litter” that let you stretch out the period between cleanings much longer) and don’t mind rising with the sun, chickens are a great way to take control of the food you eat and truly feel a connection to it.