Birthday Weekend!

How cool is this?  

Unfortunately, I couldn't make "screen capture" work, so I took a picture with my phone. 

Technologically challenged? Yup. 

Yesterday was my birthday - 48!  It was a great day. I went to Ann Arbor, MI (just an hour from here) for pedicures and lunch with good friends. I don't get a pedicure often, and I'm not sure why. It was lovely. We sipped hot tea, relaxed in comfy reclining chairs, and let them massage and pamper our tired toes. After pedicures, we went to Zingerman's Roadhouse for lunch. So delicious! Warm spinach and mushroom salad...artisan cheese with bagel crisps and roasted balsamic grapes...I even had an ice cold beer.  Now I'm not usually much of a beer drinker. I prefer wine - and nothing sweet. But this was wonderful. 

I was home in time to make dinner...and decided to make Mushroom Stroganoff. Sorry, no pictures, but it was delicious.  The tradition here is for my husband to bake my cake. It is always the same - Angel Food, from scratch, with fluffy, seven minute frosting. The fun part is he usually makes a mistake and we get to laugh at the various disasters. Yup, I'm serious.  One year, he mistook tsp for tbsp, and let's just say I've never had such a salty cake in my life!  With years of practice under his belt, I think he has finally mastered the art.  Here's what's left of the cake today.  The picture doesn't do it justice - so light and airy.  Nice work!

Tricks to the perfect Angel Food cake: don't use your freshest eggs. I get better results when they are at least two weeks old. Bring them to room temperature before starting.  If you are lucky enough to have one, using a standing mixer. The egg whites need to whip a long time to get stiff.  We actually bought a standing mixer because we love Angel Food cake so much.  I don't regret it at all.  Folding in the ingredients is not the same as mixing. Folding allows you to gently combine the wet meringue with the flour/powdered sugar, without losing the air that's been whipped into the batter.  That air is what makes the cake so light and fluffy. Take your time - practice. If your first one isn't perfect, try it again.  It's so worth the effort. 

Of course, if you bake an Angel Food cake, you have a dozen egg yolks staring at you. I can't bare to throw  them out or feed them to the dogs - my hens worked hard laying those eggs! What else could I do but whip up some lemon curd? I followed Martha Stewart's recipe, which was quick and easy. The curd came out just perfect. But now I suppose I need something to put it on.  

Just for fun - here's a picture of eggs from our hens.  The palest ones are not white, but a soft greenish blue.  So pretty! No need to color eggs for Easter around here. 

And finally, my husband thinks he is really funny. Here is one of my gifts this year:

If you always wondered, "who buys this crap" when seeing such "lovely" items in the stores, well, now you know.  

Hands off ladies - he's all mine! HA HA HA HA HA!

Abbey and Penny

Abbey and Penny, a photo by ElizabethTore on Flickr.

Our Lucy ended up hatching two sets of babies this summer. Abbey and Penny were from the second group, born mid July. (Think Abbey Road and Penny Lane - keeping with our theme of female names inspired by The Beatles.)

Unfortunately, the other four chicks that hatched that day didn't make it. Two were accidentally killed by our dog who doesn't understand how fragile baby chicks are, and the other two disappeared. We firmly believe a hawk got them.

These two lovely ladies definitely show their blue marans heritage. They aren't pure bred, and that's okay. They are very pretty, and have great dispositions. I'm looking forward to seeing the rich, dark brown color of their eggs, although I don't expect them to begin laying for several months.

And yes, I had no intention of keeping these girls, but of course, I did. They look so different from all the other hens we have, they are a nice addition to the flock. But that's it! No more chickens. (Famous last words?)

Chicken Drama

Apparently, feather-sexing in mixed breed chickens does NOT work.  Two out of three babies turned out to be roos.  At eleven weeks old, one of the roos viciously attacked the little hen. Poor Rose lost all the feathers, and much of the flesh, from her head and neck.  She is now in isolation, trying to heal.  While I tried to catch her, the roo continued to attack.  I had to hit him with a broom a few times to keep him away.  Awful!

It's been a few days, and Rose is doing well.  She is alert with no signs of infection.  We continue to keep her isolated from the other hens to keep them from picking at it.  The roos have been evicted, and are now living at a friend's farm.

In the meantime, Lucy has gone broody again. She is sitting on eight eggs, due to hatch around July 17.  I have no intention of keeping any of the babies.  At about 5 or 6 weeks, whenever she is done "mothering" them, all the babies will go to the farm.

Baby Chicks

Lucy, our gorgeous Salmon Faverolle hen, went "broody" in March.  She was obsessed with sitting on eggs and trying to hatch them. Without a rooster in the yard, we knew her efforts would be met with failure. After watching her determination, we decided to help her out. A friend donated fertilized eggs, and on March 26, the incubation began.  Lucy faithfully sat on those eggs - leaving the nest only once a day to stretch and grab a bite.  Each day I'd check on things and usually found her with extras. Fortunately, we marked the 6 fertilized eggs and knew which ones didn't belong.  I'm not sure if the other hens were laying them in the nest with her, or if she was stealing them from the other nesting box, but I consistently found 7 or 8 eggs in Lucy's care.

April 14, we noticed a little hole in one of the eggs. We could hear the little baby chirping inside! After about 4 hours - our first little chick, a French Blue Copper Maran, had hatched.  In the morning, we found another freshly hatched babe, and an egg pipping.  We ended up with just 3 out of 6 hatching - but all 3 very healthy.  

If feather-sexing techniques work, we are quite certain they are all girls. Lucky us! Living in the city, we are unable to keep roosters, so any boy babies would have been re-homed after a few weeks.  In a few more weeks, we will know for sure.  Preliminary girl's names have already been chosen - Rose, Donna and Amelia. Yes, Doctor Who fans, these are three of The Doctor's companions. 

It has been fascinating to watch Lucy care for her babies. She's a great mom, and of course, all of this is natural instinct.  

You can watch the series of videos with Donna hatching here:

And we have EGGS!

A lot has happened since those little chicks have been here.  They are now 21 weeks old.  At 18 weeks, Martha laid her first egg.

I love how perfect and beautiful it is! Martha is an Australorp, and so far, she has laid 6 eggs.  One of the first was gifted to our neighbor, Michael.

When Michael was just 10, he was hit by a car. The injuries were severe and traumatic, and he has been confined to a wheelchair ever since.  At 57 years old, Michael loves to sit in the driveway, near the fence and watch the chickens run around, scratch in the dirt, and do chicken things.  Martha is his favorite.

Here is Martha's egg with a jumbo egg from the grocery, to show the contrast.  What you can't see, is the difference in flavor.  Holy Toledo! Fresh, creamy and delicious - Martha's eggs are amazing. 

Chickens Galore

All the "chickens being chickens" video you would ever want is right here:

 

 

What are the odds?

So, I'm out of town for work.  Last night, I had an informal dinner with a client before an evening business meeting.  We were chatting about work related things when her phone rang.  She looked a little embarrassed, but excused herself and took the call.  I heard something about checking temperatures, making sure "they" were comfortable.  She got off the phone and apologetically said, "That was my husband.  I just got chickens."

I almost fell over!  Needless to say, we were completely distracted from our discussion of nonprofit boards, fundraising, etc.  It was all about our chickens and comparing notes.  We both spent several years researching, chose breeds known for friendly temperaments, good egg-laying, and cold-hardiness.  We also wanted a good mixture of colorful birds and a colorful egg basket.  Not surprisingly, three out of six of  our birds were the same breeds:  two Easter Eggers and a Silverlaced Wyandotte.  

I was relieved to hear I am not the only crazy one.  Marcia admitted to sleeping with the baby monitor since her chickens moved out into the coop a few days ago.  (Her babies are four weeks old.)  My chickens are now six weeks old, but I was out in the yard at midnight, with a flashlight, checking on the girls every night during their first week in the coop.   

After sharing pictures of our babies and their coops, and having a good laugh, we got back to work. But somehow, our chickens kept sneaking back into the conversation!

6 weeks

Hard to believe how much they have grown!  

Chickens and Dogs = Danger

I was innocently checking on the girlies, while the dogs had a chance to get out in the yard.  The house has been under construction, so their backyard access has been a bit challenging.  Anyway, Loretta flew right past me, out into the grass.   Ellie (Golden Retriever) and Isabel (Heinz 57 - I think with a bit of Sheltie in her) went crazy.  CHICKEN!!!!  Fortunately, Gertie (Goldie- Newfoundland Mix), is afraid of our feathered friends.

Joe and I made a mad dash to grab the hounds - and I was able to get Loretta safely in my arms - and back to the coop.  Poor girl!  I'm anxious to give them a chance to roam the yard, but clearly, dogs must be securely in the house to do this.  It was frightening!

I love my chickens

I'll admit it.  I was a little nervous about taking this on, which explains why I researched it for about 3 years before finally moving forward. I was worried about investing a lot of time, energy and money into this project.  What if I hated it?  Could I risk giving my husband a little more fuel for his fire?  Clearly, he already thinks I'm a little nutty.

Getting the coop and moving the girls outside was a big deal.  To me, birds do not belong in the house. But of course, the babies were different.  Well, I was not prepared for how quickly they would grow.  I checked them every morning and every evening, and I saw changes each time I looked.  It was fascinating!  And I realize they are not done growing and changing.

Without a mother hen to show them what to do, the first two nights the girls prepared to settle in for sleep in the grassy run.  Noisily, they piled together in the cold grass.  Although it had been a beautiful day, the temperature was dropping to the 50's overnight.  They were not happy!  I scooped them up and put them to bed inside the coop.  They immediately settled down and went to sleep.  And yes, I do have a heat lamp up there for cold nights.

Last night things were different.  As it got dark and chilly, they got noisy.  Lucy was the first to head upstairs, followed by Maggie.  The others ran around underneath, chirping loudly.  Lucy and Maggie peered down from the safety of the coop, calling to the others.  Within about ten minutes, everyone was upstairs, ready for bed.

One of the things I really like about our coop design is the open "stairway" to the run below.  It allows the girls to decide when to get up in the morning, and when to head to bed, alleviating us of the need to "rise with the chickens." I'm not particularly fond of early mornings, so this works for me.

Which Came First? The Chicken or the Chaos?

There are certain people in this world who wake up every day with the preformed thought, fully articulated before their eyes are halfway open (possibly carried over from some blissful and manic dream) that, "My life is pretty good, but there's way too little chaos and confusion in it; I wonder how I could change that." Still others go through the day thinking, "Wow, my life is really chaotic and disorganized.  What I'd really like to do is test the limits of my ability to cope with chaos and disorganization; I wonder how I could do that."  Whatever the time of day, this is invariably followed by, "I've gotta have three cups of coffee first; this is gonna take a lot of energy!"

At the extreme end of this hypothetical chaophilic scale (people like this often make up their own words -- like this one which is a fancy and scary word meaning 'chaos loving' -- probably because the English language, like all man made institutions, is too precise and rational) are those who think, "one farm animal in the backyard of my suburban home would be just plain boring; I need at least half a dozen."  When they were single, you can bet dollars to donuts they followed a  natural and orderly progression from there to "I need a partner who won't mess up my chaos with his own chaos [yes, these people are usually women; sorry, but it's true].  If only I could find someone who scores high on both the 'buttoned down' and 'tolerant' indices."

Happily for them, there is a yin to their yang, the maniacs who marry the type of person who wakes up every day thinking, "what kind of crazy, chaotic activities (editor's note: plural intended) can I add to my buttoned down beloved's life today?"

As you may have suspected by now, I... am just such a yin.  And Elizabeth is, well, she's the crazy chicken lady.  Yes, go ahead, it's safe.  Go ahead and call her Crazy Chicken Lady.  It's her own term of endearment.  She likes it!  How crazy is that?

Let's be honest: I, myself, would probably never have gone out of my way to ensure that every morning, when I look out my back door, I see chickens.  I never wanted four hamsters, either.  In fact, I never wanted one hamster.  Or three bunnies.  A turtle with a broken shell.  A used guinea pig.  Four frogs.  Or their crickets.  Or the tadpoles who would have become even more frogs had not one of the frogs I didn't ask for but got anyway - Scratchy (and proud of it) - hadn't been so darn vicious.  What's that, you say?  "I'll bet you had them anyway hahaha!"  Darn right I did.  I had ALL of them.  (I never asked for the three bats that found their way into my house over the years, either, but that's probably nobody's fault.  Probably.  At least they didn't stay long.)  What's next?  Bees?

So, entropy being what it is - that is pretty much its definition, "it is what it is" - and overruling such things as "conservation of energy" in the conservative, orderly hierarchy of laws in my ideally conservative, well ordered universe... I have chickens.  Not just one chicken.  Half a dozen chickens.

At least they are out of my house now.  At least they're out in the yard , where they provide an endless incentive for my three dogs to bark.  A possible side benefit is that they may scare the poor little things into a heart attack, thereby giving me an excuse to say, "Quick!  Call the pediatric bird cardiologist."  'Cause I like saying that (don't ask me why; I don't know).  That's a triumph for a "store bought eggs" kind of guy.  If you say, "dozen," I say "eggs."  If my wife overhears you (and she will, because she's always looking for new "ideas"), she will say, "chickens."  You say "chaos," I say "theory" ... and she says, "Yay!"

In fact, she overheard the title of my post and immediately blurted out - you guessed it - "CHAOS :D"

Chickens CAN fly!

I went into the "chicken room" this morning to check on the babies. It's part of my new routine: change their water, check their food, and hold each chick for a few minutes.  We are making it a point to hold them for a little while several times during the day, in an effort to get them comfortable with being handled.  Some of them are not too fond of this process, although Sunday evening, several chicks fell asleep in hand.  Very sweet.

Back to this morning - I was very surprised to find only 5 chicks in the brooder box.  Loretta, one of our Easter Eggers, had flown the coop! She was walking around outside of the box.  Fortunately, she is one of the calmer birds, so catching her was easy.   We now have a lid set askew on the box so that it blocks them from flying out, but still allows plenty of ventilation.

I will post pictures soon.  It's been just a week, and each chick has more than doubled in size and grown beautiful wings.  They are even getting their tail feathers.  So cute!

This is the only time naming our pets has been easy.  They are:  Loretta, Prudence, Maggie, Sadie, Martha, and Lucy (aka Princess Yellow).  Can you guess the theme?