Cleaning The Pen- Winter Time (Round II)

Today was the second time this winter that we had to clean their pen. We learned some painful lessons from our experience cleaning the pen the first time the weather prevented us from leaving the girls outside (see the post here). While last time was rather dramatic, this go around we put the girls right into dog carrier while we cleaned. It took us about a half an hour and the entire time the girls were surprisingly mellow. We barely heard a peep as we cleaned. I was blown away! We were worried that after more than a few minutes in the carrier and they would start the flip out. Even more amazingly, they didn't poop in the carrier. This new act of shocking maturity was rewarded with several pieces of spaghetti.

While we were cleaning, Jeff brought up the good point that since they no longer have access to dirt that perhaps we should build them some sort of dust bath. He does bring up a good point. We are thinking about getting them a box with play sand.

Little NBA Stars?

Chickens are not designed well. They can't really fly (especially since we clipped their wings), they are kinda oddly shaped, and rather clumsy (I can't tell you the number of times I have seen them step on their own feet and then slip.) So you can imagine my shock when we discovered that my beloved birds can jump like little basketball stars! What motivated this great athletic feat? What else but food? Now the girls are very spoiled creatures so they know they don't have to work hard for much of anything especially treats. However, the other night Jeff was feeding them spaghetti when before he had a chance to throw it down one of the girls leapt right up for it. Well, this was not a bright move because now Jeff and I have a new game to play with them. Check out the movie to see it in action!

 

We are also excited to see that our mushroom log is started to sprout. It won't be long before I can make mushroom soup!

Chicken Poop Bingo Contest!!!

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law, was telling me about chicken bingo. While she was traveling, on business, in Texas she visited a bar that had a checkerboard and you could buy a square. Then they put a chicken on the board.  If the first poop landed on your square, you won the pot. This had to be one of the coolest things I had ever heard of!!! I felt compelled to play this game myself. Sadly, I have no bar of people to play this game with me and Jeff didn't want to play with just the two of us ..... so I am bringing this to the blog. I took some wrapping paper, taped it to our coffee table and began measuring out the squares. So in honor of my wonderful sister-in-law here you have it…

Rules-

Open to legal residents of the United States, 18 years of age or older at time of entry. Limit one entry per person.

Email me your most creative pet chicken name idea at clandestinechickens@gmail.com

I will write your chicken name on a square.

When all the squares are filled, I will take one of the birds upstairs and whoever’s square she poops on first will win their own three Australop chicks!!! (You will get new birds; I am not giving away my dearly beloved girls. The birds will come courtesy of  http://www.MyPetChicken.com )

If she poops on multiple squares, it will be a do over. If she somehow manages to poop off the coffee table and onto to my beautiful white shag carpet, I lose and we start over again!

If you are the winner, we will send you an email to arrange shipping the birds. Be aware that it might be awhile before we can send the birds due to the winter weather. (I had a wait a month after I ordered my girls!)  

Good luck!

Normal Day on the Farm

It was a normal day on the "farm." I came home after work and found two eggs waiting for me in the nesting box. I collected them and gave the girls some of their new favorite treat- ramen noodles. They scarfed it up and I, of course, gave them more. Then onto the fish to give them dinner and checking in on the worms and spraying them with a little water. Lastly, the annoying chore of the night- fixing the stupid timer for the potato light. It just kills me. Jeff bought a timer for the chicken's light; it's one of the old fashioned dial timers. He had it up and working in less than a minute. I, however had to be progressive, and buy a digital timer. Between figuring out how to set the clock and then programing the silly thing, I have spent at least an hour. Yesterday when I finally thought I had it worked out- low and behold yet again it wouldn't turn on it. I gave up for the night, for fear I would throw it out the window and started again tonight. Another twenty minutes rereading the directions, and I think I have it working now (or at least it is turned on who knows if it will ever turn off.) Well, I bent over to get the directions off the floor, and I  heard an all too familiar crack sound and suddenly I remembered  putting the eggs in my coat pocket. Yup, just a normal day on the "farm" complete with a pocket full of egg slime. Considering how much Jeff yells at the chickens when they break eggs I wonder how he will react.....

Ramen Noodles and Plant Prep

We learned something new about the chickens today. They LOVE ramen noodles. The girls make me laugh so much; they are just as bad as college students! We made up a bowl (I confess it is Chicken flavor-eek!) and threw in a few noodles. They went crazy and fought over it like it was a worm (which I suspect they think it was a worm hence why it was so popular). Either way, they now have their own  tupperware full of noodles. (Just for the occasional treat- not for an entire meal.)

We also used our boxing day to get the house back in order after the holiday. The potato seeds had sprouted enough that I was able to plant them in the grow bag under the LED light in the basement. First I mixed potting mix with a ton of perlite (to help with compacting soil), then I put four inches of the mix in the bottom of the bag, put the potatoes in (cut side down), and covered them with another inch. The timer is set up to go on at 8 am and off again and 8 pm. I feel bad since that means that the chickens will have to put up with the "club" look for a few hours past their bed time but hopefully it is far enough away to not bother them too much. (I originally wanted the light to go in the living room, but Jeff felt that the blue and red lights looked too much like a bar, and I was banished to the basement with the light.) We also transplanted the seedlings from the mini jiffy greenhouse. Annoyingly, I know I planted peppers and carrots, however, I have two random seedlings that are neither kind of plant. I planted that as well and time will tell what the heck it is. I was surprised by how much fun I had planting. Even in the middle of winter, the smell of the soil and the bright green seedlings make me smile.

Christmas Cookie

Being the generous type, Jeff decided to give the girls one of the Christmas cookies we made. They, of course, gobbled it right up! Luckily they didn't fight too much over it and they were rather adorable with bits of green icing on their beaks. The only downside was, as I have mentioned many times on this blog, chickens are like children and the same rules about sugar highs apply. They were "buzzed" and the squawking  and running around could be heard for hours. Perhaps next time we will just give them worms for the holidays.

The Electric Bill

Today our electric bill arrived in the mail, and running an indoor farm does mean a higher than usual bill. (The chickens do have their very own compact fluorescent bulb though, and I plan on switching it to an LED light due to the mercury in cfls. Can you tell I am feeling very guilty writing this post?) Anyways, enough of me trying to squirm out of the subject....I did promise we would write about our energy bill so below is the low down.

This December we, used an average of 13 kWh a day. Last December, we used an average of 8.3 kWh a day. So what accounts for the differences? Well last December we did not have:

• The chickens' light, which goes on at 7 am and off at  5 pm
• The perchs' bubbler and the light for the greens growing above the fish
• The grow light over the lemon tree, carrots, peppers, and other assorted plants in the living room
• The AreoGarden which is currently helping sprout the purple potatoes

So our average cost per kWh was $.16 which means we spend an extra $.77 a day and $23.1 a month running the "farm." According to the US Energy Information Administration, each kWh emits an average of 1.27 pounds of carbon. So therefore we are adding 5.97 pounds of carbon to our footprint a day! (Can you feel my "greenie" heart sinking in shame???)  The interesting debate comes in when you factor "food miles." It is estimated that food transport is 83% of the carbon footprint for food consumption (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es702969f). So is our meager two eggs a day offsetting our additional 5.97 pounds of carbon emissions? I doubt it. I have no way to calculate it though. However, I imagine that we come out way ahead when you factor in the summer time garden and all the food we canned for winter. So while the winter farm is a total energy hog, at least we have fun. (Yes, I am trying to justify this!)

For entertainment, I decided to see just how much electricity the average American family uses. According to the Department of Energy, the average is 920 kWh per month. (http://www.oe.energy.gov/information_center/faq.htm#sys4) Yikes!! Even with the farm, we used 442 kWh a month which is 478 kWh less than the typical family. Phew, am I glad I switch all our light bulbs to cfls! : )