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When Curmudgeon and Philanthropist Battle It Out
Submitted by junglemonkey on November 29, 2006 - 11:19pmI've been submitting like a fiend lately. Well, credit where credit is due - my lovely and capable assistant has been submitting like a fiend on my behalf lately. The point is that over the last year, a boatload of my work has been sent out for consideration.
Desperation is the Mother of Stink Bombs
Submitted by junglemonkey on October 19, 2006 - 8:40pmThe new nesting box design has shown us a new side of one of our chickens in particular. If you refer to the photo in the last post, you can sort of see that the bottoms of the nesting boxes angle toward the back, and the backs aren't solid - there's a gap at the bottom of each box for the egg to roll to a little shelf at the back. The gap is about 2 1/2 inches and the lip that holds the eggs is another three-ish inches.
A Weekend of Madcap Whimsy
Submitted by junglemonkey on September 26, 2006 - 9:38pmIt's taken us (and by "us" I mean the Pirate) two weekends to finish the new nesting boxes, but finished they are.
As you might recall, we'd gone through a period of egg eating. It had gotten bad enough that we were losing two or three a day for a few days, until I realized that we had 6 nesting boxes and now 13 hens sharing them. They were feeling a bit...crowded.
As you might recall, we'd gone through a period of egg eating. It had gotten bad enough that we were losing two or three a day for a few days, until I realized that we had 6 nesting boxes and now 13 hens sharing them. They were feeling a bit...crowded.
My Family and Other Animals
Submitted by junglemonkey on September 16, 2006 - 5:12pmI have had trouble sleeping the past couple of nights. Thursday night, even though I had to get up an hour early to make it into Oakland for a 9 o'clock meeting, I didn't get to bed until 11:30 and I woke up promptly at one when the cat was doing some kind of nocturnal kitty version of Riverdance in my bedroom. No amount of "persuasion" (read: yelling and chasing out of the room with much invective) was working to keep the stupid cat out of my bedroom and quiet, and I ended up getting back from my daylong business meetings feeling like hell.
It's a GIRL!
Submitted by junglemonkey on September 16, 2006 - 4:51pmWhen we had the first group of chickens, we ended up not realizing that we had two roosters until it was sort of too late to make one into soup, so we ended up giving it away. It's tough - araucanas are built different from other chickens. They have rose combs that don't really start getting impressive until the rooster's 6-8 months old. Their saddle feathers (another reliable rooster difference) also take about that long to come in.
We're Egg Rich!
Submitted by junglemonkey on September 8, 2006 - 9:58amOkay, so it's not the amount of playtime. It's not feed or water or sexual activity.
At this point, I'm pretty sure that what it comes down to is weather. The productivity of our chickens seems to depend most on the temperature inside the henhouse. Too hot, and they don't want to be inside the stuffy coop while they lay. Too cold, and it's winter and they're not really laying anyway. Right now, it's juuuuuuuuuuuust right!
At this point, I'm pretty sure that what it comes down to is weather. The productivity of our chickens seems to depend most on the temperature inside the henhouse. Too hot, and they don't want to be inside the stuffy coop while they lay. Too cold, and it's winter and they're not really laying anyway. Right now, it's juuuuuuuuuuuust right!
A Little Experiment
Submitted by junglemonkey on September 3, 2006 - 8:32pmThe long weekend has been rather quiet here. The Pirate's parents were here, but due to a family emergency, they ended up leaving rather quickly. The hens laid five eggs and we let them out for some play time. When we let them out, they run out and give themselves dust baths, and then they eat every green thing they can find.
Overachievers
Submitted by junglemonkey on August 24, 2006 - 8:56pmThings have been very quiet, indeed, lately. All the chickens we bought in the spring have either been assimilated into our flock or into our freezer. Since we got the new layers in early April, we expected them to start doing their thing in early October, but obviously, one of our Myras (the name given to all the new araucana hens) has been inspired by her proximity to the older girls and has decided to give this whole egg thing a go.
Amazing Data
Submitted by pirateguillermo on August 7, 2006 - 8:24amAoibheall and I are perennially trying to get the house organized. Thermodynamics is against us, but we still put up shelves and file papers away. One thing that's been on our minds recently is our freezers. We have two - one in the kitchen, next to the fridge, and a deep freeze downstairs in the basement. The deep freeze is currently full of frozen chickens and some other things which we won't know about or get to until after the chickens are out of the way. (Subject of another post: how many freezers do we really need? Some say three, others five...)
And You Thought High School Was Bad
Submitted by junglemonkey on July 26, 2006 - 8:59pmRemember the Old English Duckwing? He was our "free rare chick," except that he was a rooster and we can't really keep two of the little dears. I had been sort of dragging my feet about getting rid of him, mostly because there was no hurry. He wasn't crowing yet, so he wasn't bothering anyone.
Or so I thought.
Or so I thought.
