And then there were 17

Would anyone like two very bad dogs?  Because they are so very much for sale.

Yesterday, I went outside to find Bullet running back and forth in front of the chicken coop, with the sounds of frenzied chickens coming from inside.  About 5 seconds later, a chicken burst out of the coop, followed by Lily.  Yes, Lily was in the coop.  IN THE COOP.  She dug her way into the pen, and then squirmed into the coop to terrorize the girls.  She didn't do any actual physical chicken damage directly, although one poor rhode island red spent the day staring at the wall due to psychological trauma.  I did a chicken head count, though, and only came up with 17.  I was hoping that the missing girl was hiding out in a nearby tree, since the chickens could get out of the hole that Lily had dug (until of course I blocked it off).  Needless to say, egg production was totally thrown off for the day.

This morning, I found the missing chicken's body.  My guess is that she got out of the yard in the commotion that Lily was causing, and Bullet got her.  He did have a suspicious chicken feather on his collar yesterday, and since her body looked fairly unmolested, I don't think a wild animal got her.

The dogs aren't really for sale, of course, but I am quite irritated that they keep subjecting their pregnant, emotional mother to chicken carcass discoveries.  This weekend, we will be doing much research on how to dog-proof your chickens (or, as Taperman said, how to chicken-proof your dogs). 

Vanquishing of the apple tree, and more misadventures in dog/chicken co-existence

Mike has hated the 75% dead crab apple tree in the chicken yard since we got the girls.  Its deadness and proximity to the coop make him nervous, he's not a huge fan of the girls laying in the tree, and we both had serious concerns about the girls using the tree as a means to hop out of the yard and into the waiting jaws of our Very Bad Dogs.  So he decided that the day after Thanksgiving would be the designated tree removal day, and he enlisted Taperman's help in felling the tree.  Unfortunately, we were a day late for one girl.  On Thanksgiving morning, Winston and Lily (who are now best friends, sadly for the chickens), were extra thankful for poor PTSD chicken.  PTSD chicken is the girl that I rescued from Bullet and Lily in September, and she had been getting out of the yard every day recently, looking extremely confused about what she was doing in the great out of doors.  Anyway, on Thursday morning Mike discovered Winston, dead PTSD chicken, and Lily (who was thoroughly tangled in the non-functioning electric fence).  Lily, at least, had the sense to look guilty.  I took this loss better than the first one (and now that I've revealed my pregancy to the Internet, you'll understand what an accomplishment this is), but it did add extra motivation to get rid of the tree and try to better secure the fence.

On Friday morning, Taperman and Mike headed out with the chainsaw, polesaw, and bow saw to plan the tree demolition.  First, we had to coax all of the girls into the house, which was quite challenging.  Alice and Agnes in particular had no interest in going inside and missing the excitement, but eventually the three of us got the chickens all into the house and shut the door.  Then, the real work began.

Mike collecting the last batch of tree eggs

Taperman and Mike strategizing

Taperman and Mike had to take down the tree branch by branch, given its location close to the chicken coop, barn, and fence.  After recognizing that Mike's hands are critically important to the continued existence of the farm, Taperman took the lead on the more dangerous aspects of the operation.

Taperman making the first cut

Mike using the bow saw to take off a small branch

Mike securing a tow rope to one of the side branches

Taperman attacking the main tree

It took about two hours and the use of the truck (with Mike noting several times how much easier the whole endeavor would be with a tractor), but eventually the tree was down.  The girls were thoroughly confused, and have expressed their displeasure by laying eggs in random places throughout the yard.  We have noticed a significant increase in the number of eggs now being laid in the house, so hopefully the few holdouts will convert to indoor laying soon.  I'm not terribly worried, as chickens really don't like snow, so once their yard is fully blanketed, I don't think they'll have much desire to lay out there.

I do need to get Mike to take out the logs that are still in the yard.  As you can see in the above photo, the girls love climbing up on them, and the tallest log seems to give them enough of a boost to get out of the yard.

New additions

As I've previously mentioned, our first batch of barn cats was a hit or miss group.  Ricky Bobby continues to be spotted around the neighborhood but never on our property, and Staci has remained steadfast in her refusal to ever leave the barn.  Only Pam is actually functioning as a true barn cat, and while she's a very stealthy hunter, we were hoping to have more than one barn cat in action given our significant mouse/mole population.  So when the barn cat people called Mike a few weeks ago asking if we'd like more, we decided to try adding a second group.  Ricky Bobby II and Robin Sparkles arrived a week ago, and are getting accustomed to the barn.  Staci doesn't seem to mind them, although we've only just let them out of their pen yesterday so we'll see how the next few days go.  Pam has figured out how to get in and out of the basement, to the great puzzlement of the dogs who really, really want to go down there to join her, and we're hoping that she'll pass this trick along to the new guys.  After all, I'd really like the cats to take care of the mice that come into the house, and the basement is sufficiently sealed off from the main house that I don't think Pam will wind up invading the grumpy house cat's personal bubble.  Also, the basement is warmer than the barn, which makes me worry less about having barn cat popsicles this winter.

At any rate, here are the new kids.  Ricky Bobby II is more timid than Robin Sparkles, so this is the best picture that we could get of him.

Ricky Bobby II

Robin Sparkles

Robin Sparkles, as you can see, is particularly pretty.  We all are hoping that her hunting skills are on par with her looks, and that Staci and Pam accept Robin Sparkles and Ricky Bobby II.

Oh, and we have one other little addition coming to the farm next year.....

This is our new baby farmer, currently known as Nib, set to arrive in April 2012!  We're incredibly excited, and although clearly this is going to create some distractions from planting the spring crop, I think I'm up to the challenge.  Mike doesn't quite understand why the impending baby arrival makes me hesitant about getting spring lambs, but I'm standing firm that a baby and garden and chickens and dogs and barn cats will be quite enough for 2012.

Mean girl problems

We have a mean girl situation.  I was so proud of the girls for not pecking each other, and thought that we were in the clear.  We aren't.  In the past two weeks, we've noticed that two of the girls are getting picked on, and I'm quite disappointed in the flock.  I've had several anti-bullying conversations with them, but it doesn't seem to be working.  We've decided that for the winter, we're going to give them access to the run-in, which is adjacent to their yard, to try to prevent the pecking from escalating.  I feel like I'm failing a bit as a chicken mom, but I really don't know what else to do to get them to stop.  They have plenty of room and food, so I'm not sure what the issue is.  Maybe I just have bullies.

The lowest girl in the chicken hierarchy

The second most picked on girl

Despite the recent nosedive in chicken social behavior, egg production has increased.  On Saturday, we got a full dozen eggs!  Sunday brought 11 more, and today I haven't been able to fully collect yet because each time I've gone out, the nest boxes and tree have been occupied.  We had a house full of guests this weekend, and proudly served a delicious brunch on Sunday that featured scrambled eggs.  I think they were all impressed.  Fresh eggs really do taste incredibly different than store bought.

Not now, I'm laying

Waiting in line to lay...

More laying - clearly one of my more obedient chickens, in a nest box

Gorgeous blue eggs - check out the stripe on the right egg

Last Thursday I had to bring three dozen eggs into Mike's office because we were so inundated, and despite a weekend of cooking eggs for four guests, I still have about a dozen in the fridge, and I'm guessing 7 or 8 more in the coop.  If any of my readers are nearby and would like eggs, please let me know!

On the squash front, I am trying to make a concerted effort to use up all of the squash that we grew and bought before it goes bad, which is not easy given the amount of squash that I've accumulated.  We cut into our smaller candy roaster squash about two weeks ago, and I roasted, pureed and froze the flesh.  From the squash, we got about 7 cups of squash puree, so it was a good yield.  The candy roaster is a very wet squash, though, and I wasn't terribly impressed by its flavor and texture on its own, so I'll be using it up for baking.  So far, I've made a batch of squash rolls, and more decadently, a fantastic batch of squash pecan cinnamon buns.  We ate the cinnamon buns too quickly to take pictures, I'm afraid, but they'll be making a reappearance.

During our squash roasting weekend, Mike also took advantage of some downtime to brew up a batch of winter ale.  We now have two batches of beer fermenting, and two batches of cider fermenting for next year, so Mike is a very  happy guy.  The girls were very happy too, because Mike gave them the spent grains from the brewing process.  The girls were so excited about the grains that they came out of the coop, where they had already settled in for the night, to feast.  They even lapped up the water trickling out from the grains.  It seems that chickens approve wholeheartedly of home brewing.

I'm dreaming of a white...Halloween?

This post is delayed, as I have been sick for the last week with a terrible, awful, cold.  It appears that I might survive it, though, so I'm rejoining the land of the living and blogging.

The girls are continuing to lay predominantly in the tree.  During this past week, we've been consistently getting 7-8 eggs a day, with at least five of those eggs being laid in the tree.  I don't mind getting the eggs out of the tree for now, so we've postponed the tree-blocking-off plans for now.  Once it gets colder, though, I think we will be trying to figure out some way to get them to all lay in the nest boxes so that the eggs don't freeze.  Now that the girls are laying, they are much hungrier!  They are going through their chicken feed much more quickly than before, and get supplemental table scraps and kitchen odds and ends every day.  A favorite from this week was leftover apple cinnamon baked oatmeal, which nearly caused a feeding frenzy.

Barred rock laying in the tree

Girls attacking leftover oatmeal

One of the girls in a nest box

My other nest box compliant chicken

We headed over to my parents' last weekend for the Miler's half marathon, but the race plans were thwarted by our random Halloween snowstorm.  Bullet and Lily had never seen snow before, so it took them a few minutes to get used to the white stuff outside when we took them out on Sunday morning.  Bullet was mostly excited by the snow, but Lily was a little intimidated, and tucked her tail firmly between her legs.  Luckily, their cousin Stoney quickly showed them that snow is for running in, jumping in, playing in, and eating.

Bullet says hello to the snow

So, we can chew on sticks in the snow?

Ok, snow is awesome!

My parents' apple tree

It was so strange to see snow covering trees that still had their leaves, and to see tufts of green grass poking through the snow in places.  I can't remember ever having a real snowstorm this early in the year before.  We lost power at home, but only for about 18 hours, unlike our poor friends in Connecticut who are still in the dark!  Now the snow has all melted and we're enjoying a warm fall day.  Such strange weather.  The girls were confused by the snow, but eventually figured out that it was okay to stand on.  They had to come to this realization every time they left the coop, so I have a feeling it will be a long winter for them.

During our visit, Taperman finally received his first dozen eggs.  Since the girls have been so productive, Mamie got a dozen too.  Taperman greatly enjoyed his first meal of eggs, and I think approves of the job the girls are doing.

Bullet had a terrible wildlife run-in on Friday night, when he had the misfortune of thinking that it would be a good idea to hunt a porcupine.  It wasn't.  Mike found him standing in the yard, pawing at his face.  Luckily, the porcupine didn't get him too badly, and he was very brave.  Our vet is wonderful, and she made him comfortable (with the aid of drugs, of course), while she and Mike pulled out the quills and talked human versus animal anesthesia.  Yesterday Bullet spent most of the day resting and moping around the house, but today he's back to normal.  We hope that he's learned to avoid porcupines.

Poor Bullet!

Never underestimate a determined chicken

It seems that our chickens, like Lily, are thoroughly undaunted by obstacles.  Yesterday I was happy to see that we had eggs in the nest boxes, but I didn't see an increase in the number of eggs.  I mentioned this to Mike when he got home, and then he went out to feed the barn cats and check on the girls.  He came back in, and told me that I had to get out to the coop.  In the first 24 hours since Mike had put up the netting to block off the tree, the girls had successfully pulled down the top 18 inches or so, and there were three eggs in the tree trunk.  I've always thought of chickens as somewhat stupid animals, but this flock is proving me wrong.

Mike's netting, effectively pulled down by the girls

This morning I did my first egg check around 11, and there were no eggs in the tree but two eggs in the nest box.  I praised the girls, but since I didn't have any food with me, they were unimpressed.  By 2 there was another egg in the nest box, and one on the floor.  By 4, there was an egg in the tree.  So today's total was five eggs, which is the most that we've gotten since the first day, and the majority of the girls who laid did so in the box.  I do admire the chicken who is still laying in the tree, since it can't be easy for her to get in and out, what with the netting still covering most of the opening.

This morning's nest eggs

This afternoon's tree egg

When I went into the yard to check the tree, I was immediately swarmed by the girls.  They are convinced that my danskos are edible, so they pecked away while I looked in the tree.  My mom has proposed that we name my new chicken best friend Agnes after my dad's mother, since Alice is somewhat named after my maternal grandmother.  I called the chicken Agnes today and she didn't seem to mind, so Agnes it is.  My grandmother Agnes is not doing well right now, so send a little thought her way.

Agnes (center) and the girls

Since we've sorted out the location of the eggs, I've now accumulated a full dozen for Taperman, which I'm sure he'll be very happy to receive this weekend.  The variation in size and color of the eggs is very cool.  Below you can see a lovely brown speckled egg, which is from one of the tree laying girls.  Also, there's a shot of the smallest and largest eggs of the bunch side by side.  The difference is huge!

Taperman's first dozen

Speckled egg

Smallest and largest of the dozen

This weekend, I think Mike is going to fill the tree trunk with spray insulation to definitively block off the tree nest.  Until then, we'll just keep checking the trunk.  I'm impressed by my determined chickens.

We've solved the mystery of the missing eggs

I previously complained about the small number of eggs that we've been getting, and we had been puzzling over how it was possible to find eight eggs on the first day, and then no more than three on each following day.  Well, we've solved the mystery of the missing eggs.

Back when we first constructed the chicken yard, Mike and I both had a hunch that the girls would take advantage of the mostly dead, hollow crab apple tree in the yard to lay in.  Despite this concern, we didn't do anything to block off the inside of the tree, and hadn't thought to look inside of the tree since the girls began laying, despite the paltry number of eggs we've been getting.  On Sunday, we were out saying hello to the girls when we noticed that a rhode island red and an aracauna were perched on the side of the tree.  It was cute.  When we went into the yard, the rhode island red hopped out of the tree, but the aracauna held her ground (this would be a theme of the afternoon).

Aww, chickens in a tree

I'm not getting out

We quickly realized that the girls were probably in the tree for a reason, and so Mike peered into the hole.  Looking back up at him was yet another rhode island red, and when he saw her little chicken eyes, we knew that we had a nest situation.  Mike plucked her out of the tree, and sure enough, the girls had quite a stash of eggs in the hollow, including three blue eggs.

Tree nest of eggs - 24 in all

Tree eggs laid out

The rhode island red had just laid an egg, so I put that in my pocket.  We didn't know how old the rest of the eggs were, though, so we decided to give them to Bullet and Lily to be on the safe side.  In retrospect, it was a bad idea to give each dog a dozen eggs for lunch, and the puppy gas that lasted throughout the evening taught us never to be so generous again.  It was truly heinous for us, although the dogs seemed undisturbed.

To prevent any future use of the tree as a nest, Mike wrapped all of the openings to the trunk with several layers of the netting that we had used last weekend to shore up the fence.  The girls, in particular, the aracuana and the rhode island red who were occupying the tree when we arrived, did not like this development. 

Hey, what's going on up there?

Okay, maybe we can just squeeze in through the bottom

Um, hello, I can't get in here fella

Seriously confused chicken

These two would not accept that the tree was now off limits, and couldn't figure out the netting.  It was a very confusing day to be a chicken.  Already since we blocked off the tree, though, we've had two eggs in the nest box, so I'm hopeful that this will straighten out some of the laying issues. 

Since we had traumatized the girls by taking away what was clearly their favorite place to lay, I tried to make amends with some leftover peanut noodles.  I know that these are my chickens, because their favorite human foods are tofu, rice, noodles, avocados, and vegetables.  So I thought that peanut noodles with veggies and tofu would be a good treat, and I was right.  The girls immediately flocked around me, and Alice was bold enough to try to grab noodles from my hand as I dropped them down to her.

The girls love noodles

Alice, mid noodle grab

Alice in all her glory

I'm glad that we've determined that the girls are laying more than 2-3 eggs a day, and that we truly do have chickens that lay blue eggs.  Taperman is also glad that the likelihood of his receiving a dozen eggs has substantially increased!