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marlingardener's Blog

Farm living and laughing


Good news/bad news in the chicken department

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 7:27 pm

I called our poultry supplier and found that no chicks would be available until June! Bad news! It seems that everone and his cousin wants backyard chickens and the supplier is swamped with orders. I'm so tired of being on the "cutting edge" of fads! So, all y'all that ordered your fancy chicks, your bantams, and your strange breeds, back off! I need eight Black Australorps and I don't want to wait for them.
Good news is that Niaomi (we are on first-name basis with chicken suppliers) called and they have my chicks reserved, and I can pick them up on June 1st! Picture two 60-ish people, driving 27 miles in a pick-up truck to get a small cardboard box of chicks. Picture 60-ish lady sitting in passenger seat, clutching cardboard box that peeps, and occasionally opening it to coo at the little yellow fluffballs in the box.
Then when we get home they go to their incubation box (small shallow waterer, special starter feed, shredded paper on the bottom that gets changed daily) in the guest bedroom. Two weeks later they move to the inside coop in the barn with a temporary barrier to contain them in a smaller area. Sixty-ish lady spending most of the day hovering over the coop, protectively!
Pictures of new arrivals will be posted later.

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Coop d' Grace

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 12:30 pm

Our dictionary defines "coup d' grace" as "any final stroke."
This weekend we built the new outside coop for the hens, and believe me, this is the final one. If the hens want another coop they can build it themselves. This is the "coop d' grace" on this farm!
We started early Saturday morning, assembling the frame (which I had already painted in the hens' chosen color). Struggling with 16' of frame in a nice Texas breeze will work up an appetite in no time! After a break for breakfast (eggs of course) we finished attaching the framework to the 4'x4's that I had trenched into the ground. Then we put in the cross members for strength (remembering the time Ruby Begonia put her fluffly little behind against the wire and pushed until it popped free and she spent some free time outside the coop).
By mid-afternoon we were pretty tuckered, and we still hadn't attached any chicken wire. The ladies were inside, watching the progress and supervising from their high perch. They do like to keep an eye on the help! We decided to do the wire the next day.
Sunday morning my husband fired up the compressor and got out the staple gun while I struggled to unwind new chicken wire. If you ever need something rolled up really, really tight, hire the guy that rolls chicken wire. We spent the morning stretching wire across the frames and stapling it really securely (fluffy behind proof) and bleeding. Did I mention that chicken wire is very prickly? Handling it without getting scratched or poked is not possible.
Shortly after noon we finished:

Coop de grace in progress ( photo / image / picture from marlingardener's Garden )
and let the ladies inspect their new outside coop:

Oh, we have a new coop! ( photo / image / picture from marlingardener's Garden )
The ladies seem to like it, and in appreciation laid extra eggs on Monday. Who said chickens have no gratitude?





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Hens' new view

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 12:46 pm

Yesterday was "finish preparing for spring" day, which involved taking down the tarp that keeps a cold wind from blowing into the hens' coop. The tarp is hung in the barn aisle, just outside the coop and effectively screens the inside coop.
After the tarp was down, all the ladies lined up on their lower perch and looked at the barn aisle. You could almost hear the conversation:
"Look at that, I've never seen that before!"
"Wonder when they built a barn out there?"
"Lucy, look! They have equipment!"
"Do you see anything to eat?"
Chickens are known for having short memories, and after all, they have only lived in the barn for three years. You really couldn't expect them to remember there was a barn attached to their coop!


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Hens are funny!

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:45 pm

Bear with me, this is the first time I've written a blog. In fact, until recently I thought blogs were a gardening shoe!
As some of you know from my postings, we have six Australorp hens, complete with names and personalities (but no teeth). Yesterday I was giving Rosie her weekly physical exam by running my hands over her body and talking gently to her. I found a lump on her chest! I tucked her under my arm and started frantically searching for the growth. What I found was a piece of breakfast linguini that had gotten stuck in her feathers and dried out. Hens are very messy eaters. I had to pull two feathers to remove her food residue, which did not make Rosie happy!
As I was working with Rosie, Stumpy decided to go walk-about. She managed to get through the coop door and into the barn aisle. I dumped Rosie, minus a few feathers, and went after Stumpy, who refused to re-enter the coop. Finally I went out of the barn, got some Swiss chard from the garden, and started feeding them treats in the outside coop. Stumpy set up a ruckus because she couldn't get at the goodies! I went back in, opened the coop door, and Stumpy shot inside to join the rest of the flock.
And all this before 7:30 a.m.!

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