Pets or livestock?

After both of us spent the previous week sick, much of the weekend was devoted to cleaning "the farm." I can't tell you my relief when I emptied the fish tank to discover that in the bottom inch of water the fish were still alive!!! It was a miracle! As I slowly took gallon by gallon out, I feared what I might find in the bottom of the murky green waters, but there they were! I feel like a much better farm "mom" to realize that I didn't kill any of the animals. However the entire point of the fish is to get them "plate ready" so I really need to work on figuring out the difference between pets and livestock... oh well another day... today I am going to enjoy the little fish being alive and the new filter I installed to keep this from happening again.

Bad Chicken Keepers!

As I start to come out of the haze that this horrible cold put both Jeff and I into, I am beginning to notice how much I neglected the farm during my sickness. The chicken pen is so gross. There is poop everywhere! The fish tank is a dark green, and I can no longer see any fish in there. The potatoes weren't watered and have fallen over. The worm bin got dry and the worms tried to escape! Yes, everywhere you look there is neglect. At least the chickens don't seem upset. It had been a few days since I had been down there since I didn't want to get them sick. When I finally spent some time with them, they all came running over to see me as soon as I stepped in the pen and dear Scabby even tried to jump in my lap. Who needs a dog to make you feel better when you have chickens? : ) This weekend is going to be a lot of cleaning though....

Chickens in Paradise

So as you gathered from our last post, we have just spent the last week in the US Virgin Islands at an EcoResort, Maho Bay on St. Johns. (We would HIGHLY recommend it for any other eco-conscious travelers along with TerraPass to offset the airflight.) The first morning I woke up groggy from the day before of traveling and despite the warm temperatures and the ocean waves, in my haze thought that I was back home in Upstate NY. You see I was being woken up by the all too familiar chicken crowing. I couldn't believe it, we had traveled over a thousand miles and wouldn't you know it, St. John has as many wild chickens as we do squirrels up north. I was fascinated by the "wild" version of our girls. When we first saw the other chickens in town (and yes one was trying to cross the road) I was amazed by how small they were. Jeff just cracked it up to being a different breed, but I am now worried that perhaps we over feed the girls and they are just lazy fat American birds. Next week I am going to try to figure out a way to weigh them and determine if they are overweight. Either way, I enjoyed the week of getting to see so many different breeds of chickens and even one family of baby chicks. Upon arriving home, we were happy to see our girls again. My parents had done a wonderful job of not only bringing in the mail, shoveling, but also chicken farming. You know, the normal house sitting duties.

Am I my chickens keeper?

I dont think I ever thought that I would get to the point in my life when getting ready to leave for vacation would not only include the normal stresses of making sure sunscreen and tooth-brush are packed, passport is up to date, and chickens have a caretaker to look after them.....Check, check, and check.....Yes, you heard me right: We had to find a chicken sitter before we could jet off for warmer lattitudes. To 99.9% of city and suburban dwellers, this proposition would seem absolutely INSANE, and I suppose it probably is. But when you have chickens living clendestinely in your basement, you find yourself arranging your life in many ways that you never would have envisioned......Fortunately, the 'rents are in the "pro-poultry" faction, and are happy to drop in to fill the feeder, refresh the water, collect the eggs, and most likely spoil the girls with treats. Come to think of it it, this is probably alot easier than having to find someone to look after dogs. But the people with chickens are weird, hmmmmm.....

If you are thinking about becoming an urban chicken keeper, and your friends and family arent so used to the idea yet, dont worry - there are now chicken hotels. Really, this is not a joke. If you dont believe me, please check out the link to the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and the linked story of the "chicken hotel". Our chickens HATE anything that has to do with change, and would probably create as much havoc at this hotel as a Gun's N' Roses re-union tour, but definitely an idea and innovation whose time has come! 

http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/episode/2011/01/31/monday-january-31st-2011/

Moulting is getting old and I am hungry!!! : )

So before the moulting began Jeff and I were overrun with eggs. We got up to three full cartons and that was with us giving them away to friends and family. Yesterday, I was getting ready to make pasta for dinner and reached into the refrigerator to discover that we only had one dozen left!! At the same time the girls have only been producing an egg every other day due to their moulting. Forget what the politicians say, this is true deficit spending!!! To my total horror, we may need to purchase eggs. The thought disgusts me. I suppose I should take Jeff's advice and be more understanding of the chicken's moulting. It really must take a lot of energy to be replacing so many feathers, but it is also taking a lot of energy to sweep up all those feathers!

Sandbox and Moulting

Sand bath update- the girls have shown no interest in taking dirt baths but have developed a liking to pecking at the cardboard box the sand is in. Hmm....that would figure. We will keep the box in there just to see if they change their minds.

Mouting- The girls seem to be adjusting to their moulting status. They are becoming more friendly again (well except for Cluck of course) I am relieved that their attitudes are back in check. The week after next Jeff and I are leaving for our honeymoon, and I would hate to leave my parents to take care of three pissy birds. That would just be in poor form.  What amazes me is that with all the feathers that have fallen off the girls, I can't believe they don't have any bald spots. If I was collecting feathers for a pillow I would be more than half way there and yet the girls look just as pretty as usual. Hmm...I guess they have thick "hair."

Chicken PMS?

The girls have been acting strange. Yes, more than usual! They are moody and in the morning they don't make the normal squawking and begging for treats noises. Then we started to notice feathers EVERYWHERE!!! We also have only got one egg over the last three days as opposed to the normal 2-3 eggs per day. Yup, the girls are having their first moult. We had read about moulting and knew that it came in the winter so I am not surprised by the actual moulting but what none of the books told us about would be the moodiness. They have all started pecking at us when we put fresh food or water in their pen (even my dear sweet Scabby!). The feathers are also getting all over the basement. Today I found one in the potato bin and another in the fish tank- ew! Plus I am starting to find that they are sticking to our shoes, and as we walk up stairs we are bringing the feathers with us. I was less than pleased to find a chicken feather in my bed last night! This will be an interesting time with our girls......