Chickens

Hens in Winter

/ handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

The snow squalls have passed through and the very cold air is here.  Once again the hens are loaded up with water, food and treats in anticipation of weather they will suffer through gracefully.  I have 12 hens in a 12 hen coop.  For the most part it seems to be the right size but with blasts of cold like this it seems like you could add another dozen and they would all be fine.  They roost very close together when it’s cold.  Hunkered down with their feathers covering their feet very close to their neighbor.  I swear all 12 can fit on one roost that’s 4 feet long.  I always feel bad for the girls on the ends but in my mind they swap spots as the ones on the ends get cold.

There is a heater in the coop for their water (5 gallons) and their feeder holds 5 lbs of pellets.  I throw their treats in through a small opening rather than opening the coop to keep the wind and cold out.

The wait is on for spring, although I don’t mind the cold I do fret about the animals but they all do much better in it than one would expect.  I check for non-existent eggs just to make sure they don’t freeze but I don’t light their coop so we are just waiting for longer days and the natural rhythm of egg laying to begin.  The true signs of spring are the house plants growing again and the chickens laying.  It’s those longer days and everything knows.

Hen Madness

/ handmadebyjo / 6 Comments

150618 Chicken FeathersI may have said this before but will continue to say it – having chickens is kind of stressful.  They are fun to watch, mine are friendly like dogs and their eggs are amazing but they might be more fun in an urban area or at least one where there is a little less wildlife.  I’m talking predators.

I recently moved my electric, portable chicken fencing to a different area thinking the hens would like a change of scenery and a place where there was more fodder.  In doing so I moved it away from their beloved apple tree and all hell has really broken loose since then.  They are not fans of the new space and would prefer to be around the base of that big, old tree.  Some of them got out daily – flew over the fence.  Now, I must admit the fence sagged in a couple of places and I had been a little lazy about fixing it.  They make a particular noise when they fly the coop and I just go pick them up and throw them back into the enclosure.

All of my hens look the same except one – her legs are yellow instead of pink – so we just call her Yellow Legs.  The other hens pick on her more, we figure because she’s different.  She’s at the bottom of the order, but she’s pretty sweet and I like the fact that I can recognize her immediately.  When I made the capes for the hens I quilted each one a different way so at least I can tell them apart when I’m up close.  It’s more to see who is a repeat offender in different situations.

The past few weeks I have had one particular hen that gets out a couple of times a day – once she’s out she pecks around but it seems as if she is just looking for me.  When she sees me she’ll run over, then follow me around.  I’ll pick her up and put her back in.  When I go to collect the eggs she always runs into the nesting boxes to greet me.  She’s a funny bird.  Two vertical stripes is her tag.  I know who she is.

Yesterday afternoon I was in the house and heard the telltale sound of flying the coop.  I was in the middle of something, then totally forgot about it.  Sitting, drinking my afternoon coffee in the living room I heard such a cacophony in the side field I leaped out of my chair to see a fox with a mouth full of feathers.  I bolted out of the door and it ran across the road, stopped to peek at me over the bank, then continued to run into the woods.  At the same time I saw two hens running in the opposite direction around the back of the barn.  There were feathers EVERYWHERE.

Once my heartbeat slowed I walked to the pen to do a head count – six, two missing but I didn’t stop to see who.  Good, at least I knew that the fox hadn’t taken any.  Now to get the two freaked out hens back to safety.

I walked out to the back of the barn and started my chick, chick call.  Nothing.  Chick, chick – stop, listen.  Chick, chick – a quiet little chicken sound.  I saw a hen pop her head over a weed covered bank.  I got some cracked corn and coaxed her to me.  She did her hen squat and I picked her up.  Yellow Legs (and she never gets out).

I spent probably another half an hour calling and calling to no avail.  I was sure it was my little friend with the two vertical stripes but when I checked she was in the yard.  I breathed a sigh of relief.

I went inside made and ate some dinner.  Informed my sister that I had lost a hen, probably to the same fox that has been trying to get hers.  I planned out what to do to keep the hens safer and mourned the fact that I hadn’t done such a good job so far.  I went out and picked up some of the feathers in the field (they are so beautiful).  Went back and walked the woods in back of the barn one more time calling – nothing.

I can see the coop from a window in the house.  The chickens don’t go in to roost until 8:30 these days so I watched them one by one hop onto the ramp and make their way inside, once they are in I go lock the door.  Then I saw a hen outside of the fence.

Running outside I knew it was the missing one because she has one, single tail feather.  I picked her up, put her in the pen and breathed a sigh of relief.

This morning I put the fence up around the tree, reinforced so there are no sags and will hope for the best.  Now I have another hen I recognize immediately – One Feather.  Honestly, I liked it better when I didn’t know who any of them were.

 

The Romance of Owning Chickens

/ handmadebyjo / 6 Comments

Paul

For years, decades actually, I wanted a small flock of chickens.  I dreamed of  them do their chicken thing – foraging, interacting with one another, hanging out in the backyard, producing beautiful eggs for my breakfast.  It was another step towards producing my own food.  I didn’t come into this unaware of the realities of farming.  I had spent my childhood and teenage years surrounded by farm animals – horses, cows, goats, sheep and chickens.  I was familiar with the smells and maintenance involved.

What I wasn’t prepared for was this –

Ice

Ice, practically having to move on my hands and knees to get to the coop.

From the shed door

Snow – every. single. day.

Poop

And chicken poop, the quantity can boggle the mind.  Even better when it is frozen into the box and you have to use a putty knife to clean it.

Eggs

But this is what it’s all about – fresh and delicious.  Found in my backyard.

140915 Coop in Garden

Soon enough things will look like this again and all of us will be much happier.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

/ handmadebyjo / 10 Comments

141027 F0x (16)

As I sat and drank my afternoon cup of coffee I looked over the garden, down into the back forty and Mr. Fox was sitting in the center of the field.

My sister lost two more of her chickens last week so I’ve been paying closer attention.  My rooster just started to crow on Saturday and I told him the whole idea was to be quiet and not announce to the wild world around him that he was there.  He didn’t listen.

The first thing I thought was I need to clean that .22 but I grabbed my camera instead.

Walking out to one of my gardens I sat on the bench facing the field and watched.  The sun was gloriously warm and Mr. Fox was just sitting, eyes shut, soaking it in.  After a few minutes he decided to try to catch himself a snack and this is one of the shots I took.

As I watched him through that long lens I thought about the idea of looking through the sight of a rifle and how I felt about that.  I understand the need and desire to protect your birds but he was so beautiful.  He appeared to be just enjoying a sunny fall day.  I’m not sure I could kill him just because he was in the back field.

I have to tell you though the gun will be cleaned and will be positioned at the ready for the day my birds begin to disappear.  It’s a fine line between an amazing wild animal and a chicken killing predator.

 

Chicken Moving Day

/ handmadebyjo / 7 Comments

140915 Coop in Garden

Yesterday was moving day for the coop and chickens.  The vegetable garden is pretty much done although there is a lot of stuff still in there, overgrown and rotting.  The fall chill is in the air and it was time to begin the fall to winter preps.  The coop had been over by the garage with the fencing including a huge old apple tree surrounded by jewelweed.  The chickens loved it there although they had pretty much cleaned the area of vegetation.  I figured the garden would be a great spot for them to clean up and fertilize at the same time.

Moving the coop is always stressful.  It is so heavy that the tractor will only lift if off of the ground by about a foot.  We managed to get it over to the garden.  I then moved the fence.  I let the chickens roam around thinking they would be easy to move with some sweet little snack.  I was wrong.  They spent the majority of the day around the apple tree and although I coaxed them over more than once they had no interest in going near the strange spot their coop was in.

They finally left the tree area at the end of the day and wandered over to the garden but had no interest in going into their new area.  I got out the big guns – a pumpkin spice english muffin.  The rooster and hen happily went into the garden fence but the other 9 hens were nowhere to be seen.  It was getting a little late in the day and I was getting a little nervous.  I called and called and finally saw their little heads coming up over the bank to the back forty on the other side of the yard.  Apparently they had gone on a little adventure.  Seven more into the enclosure.

When the head count was done Bill and I had to search for the last two.  They were snuggled in among some rocks over the bank and were not going anywhere so I had Bill flush them out.  They ran for the coop, one of them tangling herself in the fencing (they still think they are small enough to go through it).  Once all enclosed they discovered what a wonderland the garden is.  Bugs, seeds, berries, a veritable smorgasbord for chickens.  They stayed out until dark which is unusual, they usually go in at dusk.

About nine o’clock Bill went out to lock the shed door and heard a chicken clucking over by the apple tree – an escapee.  He held the flashlight and ran interference until I finally caught her and put her in the coop.  I did another head count and all were there on their roost.  Finally all was right with the world – at least mine.

How We See

/ handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

Amanda's hands and chick

My chicks are a month old now and a far cry from the cute, fuzzy little creatures they were in the first week.  The day after I arrived daughter Amanda spent some time in the room with the chicks and I took this photograph of her hands holding one of them.  It was around nine at night, maybe later and the chicks were sleepy and welcomed the warmth of her hands.

When I loaded the photo onto the computer and opened it in Photoshop it looked nothing like this.  In fact I had no idea it would turn into one of my recent favorites until I began to play with it.  All of the photographs I took of people holding chicks had to be converted to b&w because of the red heat lamp in use over the chicks enclosure. A big part of it was having a cooperative subject and I attribute that to Amanda having spent the last 28 years being photographed – a lot. She waited, holding that chick until I went into the house and got the camera.  And it was a one on one situation.  After some cropping and playing with levels this it turned into something I love.  It speaks to me of the kindness and tenderness that is Amanda, and I would recognize those hands anywhere.

The next day I took this photo.

140705 Andy holding chick (2)Nothing like the one the day before.  The quality of the material to begin was not as good but wow, I have to say I love this almost as much.  This was manipulated almost as much, didn’t end up with the same result – but look at that face.  This is my grandson in his first chicken experience.  After a little coaxing he reluctantly held that chick. Not the same hands, not the same feel but something that really captured the experience for me.

Photography for me, when it’s good, is most often times a happy accident.  The first image more so than the second.  They were totally different experiences.  The hands were something I saw, captured and manipulated into something I see as beautiful.  I worked towards that image in every aspect – it just so happens it turned out better than I had envisioned.  The second was a capture of a moment and his face really gives away his uncertainty with the situation. It feels like he was just holding that chick just for the camera, otherwise he might have been just as happy to leave it quite alone (or watch but not touch).

These are the times that I truly appreciate digital photography.  I never would have achieved these images if I had been using film – I probably could have but it would have entailed hours of frustration in a darkroom and then I seriously doubt they would have turned out this way.  These took a few minutes and some mouse clicks to make it happen.  Minutes later I’m sharing them with family and friends.

It’s all still pretty amazing to me.  I do think photography has been diminished in some ways because of it.  Photographers used to be artists and technicians, you had to know your craft.  Technology has made us old film photographers obsolete, we can now reminisce about standing in a darkroom for hours trying to achieve our vision.  In the same breath I can say it has set us free – we can envision what we want, capture it and make it our own with the click of a few buttons.  The one thing that has not changed for us is how we see.

 

 

The Coop – Some Thoughts

/ handmadebyjo / 13 Comments

Coop Finished

I finished the coop today. This journey began June 18 so it took a little over a month to complete.  I have to say that I am pleased with how it came out and the chickens really love their new home.  They aren’t old enough to go outdoors yet but the ladder is ready when they are.

Building this taught me a lot of things, some of them about building.  The huge lesson I learned is that I can’t do everything myself.  I physically just can’t do it.  I was pretty disappointed to find that out.  For some reason I thought I could have this pretty much done in a couple of weeks – I’ve built things before.  I didn’t take into consideration the weight of a sheet of plywood and how high I was going to have to lift it.  I want you to know that I can barely drag one across the floor.

Bill was here to help on weekends and had a 12 day vacation where this was THE project. For the most part it was much more enjoyable having help build it and I admire Bill’s ability to just tackle anything.   It wouldn’t have been quite as pressing if I had actually waited to get the chicks until AFTER the coop was build.  I didn’t expect them to be escaping their initial enclosure at 2 weeks old, they grow fast!  As it was they were moved into it before any trim was done.

Building a shelter is one of those things that has been on my bucket list forever.  I always thought it would be a cabin in the back forty (and that could happen at some point).  Getting chickens was really just an excuse to build their shelter.  I had been looking at coop plans for a really long time and this one popped up into a search just a month or so before coming to Rowe permanently.  Yeah, I could have built just some little shack of unpainted plywood that I moved from place to place but I wanted something that looked good, something that spoke to the whole whimsy of having birds in the first place.  One would think having chickens is serious business but it really isn’t.  At some point their egg production may be important to me but for now I’m just watching my once fuzzy little chicks rapidly grow into adult hens. The coop provides them with as much protection as I can get from a building and it looks good in the landscape.

Coop in Evening

I took this photo the first night the chicks spent out in the coop – they had been in a room off of the shed up until that point.  Their heat lamp is glowing nicely inside and they were all settled into their cozy wood chips with water and food.  I worried though, was I sending them out there too soon?  Later that night I woke up to the sound of foxes in the back forty, I got up and looked out my bedroom window to see their snug little home with the glowing red lamp.  For now they are as safe as they can be.