Chicken Story

The last photo of our happy flock, taken just hours before they died

Back in October, a terrible thing happened at our house. While we were away for just a couple of hours, a stray dog got into our yard, tore down the chicken yard fence, and killed all but one of our beautiful flock of chickens. The lone survivor, Gina, never really recovered from the massacre and died yesterday. 

Although I was overwhelmed, Bill just went to work to rebuild and reinforce the chicken yard fence. He permanently locked up the big perimeter gates for a second line of defense and set about gathering a new flock. He found some young hens, just coming into their first season of laying; then he found ten Rhode Island Red chicks from a farmer down the road; and someone at the feed store handed him a free box of straight-run (unsexed) mixed-breed farm-hatched baby chicks. The feed store guy said that we could bring back any that turned out to be roosters and he would find them a home.

Within days, we had an even larger flock of chickens than we had started with. The big hens were able to go straight into the coop and chicken yard where they happily settled in, but the two batches of young chicks were housed inside in the newly-refurbished guest room (sigh) under heat lamps until they were old enough to live outdoors in the cooling fall weather. 

In addition to those mystery breed chicks from the free box, we have a Sex Link, the Rhode Island Reds, and some Turkens--also known as Transylvanian Naked Necks. I've never been interested in having such peculiar-looking birds until I met ours. They are friendly, chatty, calm, and sweet. We just love them and they are happy living here. One even laid an egg in the car on her way home to us!
 

The turkens (l to r: Barbidoux, Gloria, and Ruby) with the Sex-Link, Sadie,
 in the middle and an unidentified Rhode Island Red on the left

Meet Gloria, who always greets us with happy conversation.
After you get used to the naked neck, it seems quite elegant--almost as though she is
wearing a fancy off-the-shoulder ball gown

The teenaged Rhode Island Red chicks roosting in the Big House

Happy Chickens

We finally got our expanded chicken yard made and covered over with netting. At last the girls can run and flap their wings and explore a little more of the world while staying safe from predators and our playful dogs. I know the new area looks a little bleak - this is the desert after all. However, once the pecan trees start leafing out and our old lawn grass starts to grow, things will look better.

I know that any grass growing within the pen will get eaten before it can grow much but luckily I discovered grazing frames for chickens: You plant grass to come up through screens, allowing the chickens access to the greenery while protecting the roots, which the hens would otherwise tear out. See photos and instructions on how to make grazing frames here: http://www.thegardencoop.com/blog/2012/02/07/grazing-frames-backyard-chickens/. We may not be the greatest carpenters, but we'll try to convert some wooden pallets into frames so that we can plant some grass, marigolds, and nasturtiums for the girls.

In the meantime, I've been looking around for thoughts on what sorts of things make chickens happy. I've collected lots of articles and information on my Pinterest board, called "Chickens!" You can find it here: http://pinterest.com/clairz77/chickens/. If you haven't done so already you might have to sign up for Pinterest to see it. Don't worry, you'll enjoy yourself.

Not shown in the picture above are some of the things I've just added today for the chickens' delight: Some semi-rotted leaves which probably contain lots of interesting bugs, nice green weeds I've pulled, an old log to climb on, and a somewhat dead potted plant for the girls to deconstruct.

They've rewarded me a thousand times over. I love to sit out there, little Dweezil the Pup in my lap, and just enjoy the chicken world. The girls hum, and cluck, and chuckle and sing; they announce both upcoming and just-laid eggs, and they call out congratulations to the latest egg layer. They run after flies and take dust baths in the sunshine. They wander from the yard to their waterer inside the coop, and from the sun to the shade. They look like happy chickens to me!

Run, Mr. Coyote!

Peaceful Sunday morning. Coffee. Newspaper. 

Hey! Hot air balloons.

Grab the cameras, dash out front. Chihuahuas follow and make merry, cavorting around our heels. 

Hey! A coyote, coming this way through the orchard!

Grab the chihuahuas. Aim the camera. Hey! The battery is dying. Stick in a new battery, get pix of coyote as he comes closer... 

... and closer...

... and closer...

... and passes by, around the corner and out of sight. Hey! Run out back to check the chickens, to be sure that Bitey Albertina hasn't eaten the coyote!

Wave to the last of the coyote-herding hot air balloons. Wave to the passing drivers who are admiring my pink jammies. 

Peaceful Sunday morning. Coffee. Newspaper. 

*****

Disclaimer: As you know, exclamation marks are now an endangered species because of overuse on the internet. No exclamation marks were harmed in the writing of this post, and all will be set free in a safe environment as soon as I get changed out of these pink jammies. 

Behind Door Number Three: The Egg Story

Way down in southern New Mexico

In a green valley 

Along the Rio Grande

There is a pecan orchard

And in the middle of that orchard 

You will see a little adobe house

And a little adobe garage

And next to the adobe garage sits a little chicken house...

(Click to enlarge any of these pictures)

That little chicken house has three little doors.

Each little door leads to a little nest, but the best door of all is Door Number Three.

That's because behind Door Number Three, you will find...

Oh, no. Look out! It's Bitey Albertina and she is giving us that look.

Even though she pecks my arms, Bitey Albertina and her two Peckatini Sisters, 

Lizzie and Meg, give us three eggs every single day. 

The brown egg on the right comes from Bitey Albertina,
the other brown egg is from Liz, and the green egg comes from Green-Legged Meg.
Now, how many of you know the name of the hen who laid your breakfast egg?

If you would like to see some other home-grown eggs, check out Georgia's post, The Size, Shape, and Color of My Eggs. 

And while we're on the subject of hens, I forgot to tell you that November 5th was Hug Your Chicken Day! I'm sure it's not too late--you can still hug the first chicken you see today. You might consider wearing an apron, though.