Coop Cleanup and Poop for the Taking

I shoveled all of the hay and poop from the floor of the pen yesterday, filling 8 or so large yard waste bags. They're in the alley parallel to Montview and just one house south off Clermont (West side) beside our garage - please come get some for your compost. Be warned that the bags are HEAVY.

The hens loved having access to the dirt floor for a bit, and several took 'baths.' Coraline, of course, supervised the entire endeavor. They also loved scratching through the new hay - all in all, a happy experience. They rewarded me with 8 eggs yesterday, my last day of the rotation.

Lucy

warm weather behavior changes

I love the new tool rack in the coop! It's both handy and tidy. Six eggs today, although two broke on me. Egg drop soup? The warm weather seems to bring out lots of on-lookers. That part was great. Their wandering into the coop without warning made me a little nervous. I made sure parents were there supervising and talked to everybody about keeping the gate closed, and did my best to educate everybody about what we're doing. It was pretty fun. A down side to the warm weather (if there is a down side) is that the ladies do not want to go to bed. I waited until 5:30, but had things to do tonight, so I couldn't wait longer. If you can, you may want to head over at dusk, when there's enough light to see what you're doing, but the ladies have decided to go to bed on their own. Just a thought. I'm sure going to miss chicken Wednesdays for the next couple of months. If you need a fill in, give me a call. - Amy A.

equipment replaced

I went by the hardware store and got the following items:
2 trowels
1 caribiner
1 kids size hoe (which I thought might be real handy for cleaning the hen house).
and some paper lawn bags for the big cleanup.

Annie

Parsley and Sunshine

The chickens may not like cilantro, but they LOVE parsley! Red Speckles let out what sounded like a few good sneezes this morning. I didn't notice any other signs of respiratory issues, such as nasal discharge, but I thought I should make note of it just in case someone else should notice something. Five eggs today, and no desire to go back in their hen house at 5:30. I guess when the weather is warm, I should probably wait until later to put them to bed. There were also a lot more folks on the playground asking questions about our flock then I've experienced so far. I think I enjoy the warm weather energy! - Amy A.

Found Lock

Hi all,
I found an old lock that the chickens unearthed (un-hayed?) when I dropped off some scraps on Monday afternoon. Yesterday, I walked by and saw that someone had put it on the top latch where the carabiner used to be, but unlatched. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I'm not sure it's still functional because it had a lot of crud in it, so be careful about actually locking it. I keep forgetting to bring a replacement carabiner by - Ill try to remember.
Lucy

Sundays are rough

Beautiful weather, weekend days and community chicken coops create an unexpectedly combustible combo--or at least bring out the worst in passersby. Yes, we had another incident, this time the hoe and the trowel have gone missing. Recognizing the magic that is our chicken coop, I still don't imagine that our tools are developing legs and walking off. However, it does seem weird that anyone would actually want to take a hoe and a trowel--perhaps some emergency gardening? I have no answers and alas, no trowel or hoe. I am hoping to swing by the hardware store today and do some replacing.

Only 4 eggs yesterday, although I did happen to see one being laid right in front of me! Pretty cool!

Ouch!

A few of you have noticed that some of the chickens have black on their combs. Wynn confirms that this is frostbite:

Yes, frostbite on their combs. No need to do anything, they will scab over and drop off without you noticing anything, just one day their combs will be rounder and smoother. W

photo calendar fundraiser

I took these a few weeks ago, and have a bunch more. I'm sure I'm not the only one taking their share of photos. One fundraising idea I had is to make a day planner/calendar with some of the photos. If we could get next year's DPS schedule, we could even include important school dates as well as PTA and CSC meetings. : )

Cilantro non!

Brought the ladies some kitchen scraps, including some cilantro. Like many humans, they didn't really care for the stuff. They seem to be getting accustomed to kitchen scraps in the morning. They don't even look at the chicken feed, but instead look to us when they hit the ground.

Noticed that several of the ladies have black tips on their combs...don't know if this is from pecking each other, or if it's frost bite. We might want to ask Wynn if this is typical.

The ladies were all out at 5:30 tonight, which has not been the case for the past couple of months (sun is definitely up later, and so are they). As I lifted Coraline into the roost, the pretty gray and black hen reached out and bit her hard on the comb and Coraline squawked. It actually took some pulling to get her free. Obviously some pent up aggression. With all the short days, I think the roost gets pretty small about this time of year....

It was another frosty morning! I actually got to use my de-icer for the first time on the lock to the gate. After a couple of squirts I was able to get the lock open. The chickens all had frost on their backs again just like last Wed. They have a sturdier constitution than I do. Susan Gamble was wonderful and offered to check their water mid-day for me as I was home with a sick kid. The girls looked well fed and happy at bed time and left me a total of 6 eggs today. My personal best. Amazing. Susan and I will do a deep cleaning of the hen house on the 23rd. That will leave changing out the straw on the run for the weekend crew. - Amy A.

co-op meeting

this sunday, february 13 at 6pm at the noyes' house. i am not sure they really want me posting their address on the blog, so, refer to the email i just sent out, or the membership roster for where to go.

Chicken Tales from NYC

Chickens flourish in all kinds of places, from Denver to New York City. Here's a story of a beloved chicken in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of NYC that had a little adventure at the hands of a merry prankster:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/garden/03domestic.html?_r=1

Any lessons for us here?


Oh, the ladies were fine today. We found six eggs this evening.

Can you believe it? After all of the trauma of the cold the last two days, not to mention the threats from nasty vandals, foxes and cats, these wonderful little hens laid five beautiful eggs. The blankets remain nailed to the roof and it sounds like should stay there until we're out of sub-zero temperatures. I was so relieved this morning when eight eager chickens popped out of the hen house and began gobbling up veggie scraps and chicken feed. Each little hen had a patch of frost on her back that quickly melted once in the sun. I worry about how much worse they may have fared if the blankets weren't put up. I refilled the water three times today, and it was frozen over all three times. The chickens were happily eating every time I checked on them. I imagine they're burning up a lot of calories fighting the cold weather. By bedtime they looked content and ready to roost. Good luck tomorrow - and if you need help removing blankets, let me know. - Amy A.

Shout OUT

A big shout out to Paul Means and Rob Metcalf (husband to Lucy Dwight) for going over to the coop last night in our sub-zero temperatures to nail blankets over the coop to try to keep the chickens alive, if not comfortable. When Paul came home, his hands were causing him not a small amount of pain -- I'm sure Rob was suffering the same fate.

In any event, given that the blankets are nailed to the roof, and given the forecast for today and tonight, I suggest we keep them on through tonight and then remove them tomorrow when the temperatures are supposed to rise back into the balmy 30s.

Cold!

Lucy Dwight is going over tonight to put a blanket on top of the coop for extra insulation. This is after Amy consulted with a chicken farmer/pediatric orthopedist (long story). Please remove in the morning, but we can continue to use for the next few nights until it night temps are above zero again.

Security, etc.

7 Eggs, wow! I am very sad about the vandalism, but at this time of year, and with the upcoming move, there is nothing we can do about the fence, or structure. The new/and/or refurbished coop will be more stable, permanent and secure. In the meantime, we just have to deal with problems as they occur. We are encountering issues that backyard urban farmers usually do not have to deal with, it is all a learning process, and all part of being a pilot program. Frank is going to sit in on a meeting with the DPS Learning Lanscape, landscape arch. consultants, and DUG next week. He is leaning on them all very hard to carve out some money to help with the coop relocation and renovation. But, if anyone has any fundraising ideas, bring them on!

Remember the next co-op meeting at 6pm on Feb 13, hosted by the Noyes family. Plan on a 1 hour meeting. Officer reports, coop relo info and a new rotation are all on the schedule.

And those are the cutest damn egg covers I have ever seen.

Sara

Well, that's encouraging....

Hello, everyone --

With temperatures descending below zero, to what else would my thoughts turn but chickens, of course? I realize that they are creatures of the outdoors with much tougher constitutions than my own (this despite their small stature and rather delicate appearance). And yet --I'm worried about them. So I emailed Wynn to see if she had any advice given this most recent turn for the frigid, and she had this not-so-very-encouraging reply. Take from it what you will:

Hi there - careful about the water being too warm.....try not to worry and remind yourselves that if something happens to one of them - you all are doing the right things. Some are weaker than others for routine chicken health reasons. W