Wilma the Grey Becomes Wilma the White

Well July 30th was the 1 year anniversary of starting this blog, and it would have been pretty slick of me to actually write a blog post on July 30th, but I didn't.  Enjoy this one on the one year and 2 day anniversary instead.

 

In the middle of June, I started to get a little suspicious that our grey Barred Rock (Wilma) was not going to be a good egg layer, because she was a he.  I did a little research and found out that usually the grey barred rocks are roosters, along with all of the other signs (redder comb, larger comb and wattles, raggedy tail feathers instead of rounded ones).  So we went back up the First Farms, LLC to exchange Wilma the Grey for a new Wilma.

 

Farewell Wilma the Grey

A little back story.  When EG and I went to choose the chickens, we wanted to get three different colorations so that it would be easier to tell them apart and just more fun aesthetically.  I decided we would get one Buff Orpington and one black Barred Rock.  EG wanted to get a white chicken, but we weren't sure what breed it was because it wasn't one of the kinds that they had ordered.  I really liked the grey Barred Rocks, so that's what we got.  Oops.

We went back to the farm at the end of June to pick out a new chicken.  We still wanted to have three different colored chickens, and they still had some white ones, and we still didn't know what kind they were, and EG still wanted a white one.  So that's what we brought home.  After a little bit of research, we determined that it was a White Leghorn, which are also good egg layers.  So Wilma the Grey went back to his home on the farm and we brought Wilma the White home to the city.

Hello Wilma the White

 

The introduction was a little violent at first (they call it henpecking for a reason).  We suspect that there was a battle for dominance while we were away getting the new chicken because there were feathers everywhere.  For a few days, Betty showed her dominance by chasing Barbie and Wilma around the yard and pulling on Wilma's feathers.  Wilma, however, did not give up.  She stayed a few steps behind and followed the other two around the yard, until finally they accepted her.

She is a super sweet addition to our brood and she's proving to pull her weight.  She's the first one to lay eggs!  We found three smaller white eggs in the coop while cleaning it out today!  Barbie should lay light brown eggs and Betty should lay dark brown eggs, so it must be Wilma.

A New Start

All is right at the Orange Pants Family Farm again.  Just under two weeks ago, EG and I made the trek up to First Farms, LLC. to pick out our new chickens.  The farm was a beautiful sight.  And we had our pick of any of these babies.  They were about 8 weeks old, only 2 weeks younger than our Buffs that we lost, but they were much smaller than our Buffs.

So many to choose from.  EG pretty much wanted one of each.

We decided, in advance, that we were just going to get three and we wanted them to be at least two different colors.  After seeing how big they will actually get, compared to our Bantams, we are glad we made that decision.  I had also done some research on the types of chickens we would be able to choose from and their personalities.  We chose two Barred Rocks (one black and one grey) and one Buff Orpington.

 

Little did they know how their life was about to change.

It took a few days for the girls to get used to their new home.  I imagine it was quite a change for them.  They were living with 30+ other chickens and now there are three of them.  But they are adjusting well.  They love to explore the backyard, lay in the sun and peck at their flock block.  And the weeds that had grown back inside the coop have since been annihilated.  EG and I were gone all last week and I couldn't wait to see how big they had grown in one week.  And grow they did.  I think they are adjusting just fine.

It took us a while to come up with good names for the new girls.  Coming up with good female trio themes is a little tricky.  So we went a different route this time.  I kept thinking about the fact that two of our girls were Barred Rocks, which made me think maybe of finding good female Rocker names for them, but I also thought about the Flintstones.  So we combined those two themes.  Introducing Barbie and the Rock(er)s.  Barbie is our Buff Orpington and the Rock(er)s names are Betty (black bars) and Wilma (grey bars).

 

 

It is so fun to look out in the back yard again and see chickens in our chicken coop.  That was something EOP and I would often remark about when the coop was empty.  We really missed seeing the girls playing and scratching and exploring.

Sad News on the Urban Farm

For about a month now, I have been planning out a new blog post about adventures with our chickens and chicks. 

I was thinking about writing about how I had finally discovered what kind of chickens our new chicks were.  After a little bit of research, I'm almost positive that we had three Buff Orpingtons.  I wasn't totally sure that we had three HENS, one of them was looking more of the rooster variety.

Our Buff Orpington hens (and suspected rooster.)

I was also thinking about writing about the adventure of introducing the chicks to the chickens and getting them to "like" each other.  We spent several days keeping Gennie, our dominant hen, from pecking the chicks, chasing them into bushes, and pulling out their feathers.  We locked the big chickens in the coop, separating them from the babies in the chicken run underneath.  We let them roam the yard separately and together until they were finally at a point where they could tolerate each other, even though the babies always kept an eye out for the bigger chickens and scattered quickly if necessary.  And finally, we had gotten them all to share the coop together for two peaceful nights of slumber.

Goldie, Frankie and Murray exploring in the chicken run.

But this blog post will not be about either of these topics because, sadly, the bliss didn't last for long. 

On the third night of the chickens being in the coop together, we had an attack.  A giant raccoon had been seen by neighbors and is said to be the size of a medium sized dog. With his determination and brute strength, he broke the hinges off of the coop door and killed our entire brood of hens.  I went out to check on them during the day and found the aftermath of the slaughter (sorry for the graphic language, but it was pretty graphic).  The only survivor was Gennie, but she was too injured to save.  Luckily EOP was home and took care of the mess, but it was pretty devastating for all of us.

Daddy's hugs make everything better.

We were pretty discouraged too.  It had been almost exactly a year to the day since we had gotten our first round of chickens and we had done quite a bit of work in that year to get the few eggs we were getting.  There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel, now that we had three (or two) full sized hens on their way to providing us with full sized eggs.  The idea of starting over with chicks (in the house) was not appealing to us.  Then I got a message from a friend who raises chickens and understood our plight.  She offered us a condolence gift of new chicks, around the same age as our chicks!  Old enough to go straight into the coop without stinking up our basement.  We have decided to take them up on their offer!

First, we had to fortify our chicken coop.  We have doubled the number of latches on the doors and fortified some weak areas to deter even the most determined city predator.  We are hoping that our modifications will keep our new flock safe for years to come.

We are so grateful to John and Kristin Derby at First Farms, LLC. for their contribution to our farming efforts.  We can't wait to go pick up our new babies and bring them back to their urban oasis.

So farewell Gennie, Ronnie, Goldie, Frankie and Murray.  You will always hold a special place in our hearts.

The last picture of Gennie and Ronnie playing in the yard.

{Spring} Hope Springs Eternal

Spring is teasing us.  We have had almost 2 weeks of lovely weather.  It is doing wonders for scaring away the winter blues.  The chickens are emerging from their dark cave and wandering around the yard.  We are taking advantage of the sun as long as it sticks around, but I'm not holding my breath.  I've been a Michigander for far too long to believe that Spring is here to stay.

 

We are getting ready for spring in other ways too.  We purchased 3 more baby chicks from the farm store at the end of February.  They are of unknown variety, but supposed to be good egg layers.  They are pretty hard to tell apart right now, but from smallest to largest we've named them Gold (Goldie), Frankincense (Frankie) and Myrrh (Murray).  They are currently in a pretty awkward stage, but here is a picture when they were still cute and fuzzy.

 

I've also started some garden seeds to add some green (and gardening excitement) to our house.  EG helped me plant them and is having fun watering them and watching them grow. 

 

We've done a few home projects this month.  I painted our hallway/stairs to the basement and the downstairs bathroom using leftover paints from our basement (mixed a few colors together to make a color I liked).  And a (very) long awaited home project was completed last weekend as part of my birthday present.  We removed the 90's blue carpet from our living room and hallway and revealed our beautiful oak floors.  They hardly have any marks or scratches, just a few paint splotches, staple holes and character dings.  We feel like we have a whole new house!

 

 



 We are all looking forward to Spring and all that it brings, but for now we will enjoy our pre-Spring warm weather as much as we can.

The Early Prepper Gets the Egg

In anticipation of a hectic end of November/all of December, I started our winter chicken coop preparations early.  Many of you know that Michigan experienced an early "Polar Vortex" in mid-November.  It seems that my usually ridiculous planning ahead obsession ended up being the vital step in the survival of our chickens!

We consulted one of our urban farming friends about their chickens in winter.  They don't have electricity to their coop, so they just check on the water 2 times a day and break the ice off of it, and their full-sized chickens just huddle together for warmth.  Our little Bantams could probably survive this way too, but I'm hoping to keep up their egg production during the winter, and I'm too lazy to check their water twice a day in feet of snow.

I also found some blogs on Pinterest with tips for tending chickens during the winter months.  One idea was for a water warmer made from a cookie tin, a lamp kit and a 40 Watt light bulb.  It seemed worth a try.  So I purchased the necessary supplies and got to work.  The cookie tin cost 90 cents, about $10 for the lamp kit and a pack of 40 watt light bulbs.



Photo from blog link.  My photos are in limbo on a broken external hard drive.



Photo from blog link.  My photos are in limbo on a broken external hard drive.

We installed a heat lamp in the coop when we built it, with the intention of setting it on a timer over the winter to give the girls a little extra light and warmth.  However, our only electrical source has to run the heat lamp and the water warmer.  After our cold November, the water was not staying ice free on an intermittent warming schedule. We can switch to a higher wattage light bulb in the dead of winter if it seems the 40 is not keeping up, but for now, the timer is no more and the chickens are enjoying 24 hour heat lamp comfort, and ice free water.

So far, we have seen continued egg production, although not always salvageable.  A few eggs have cracked from freezing if we didn't get to them fast enough.

When we first started getting eggs, they were always in the laying boxes.  It seems that we can attribute this solely to the fake egg that I put in there.  We had to remove the plastic egg from the boxes to eliminate broody behavior in our non-laying hen.  Since then, we have found eggs everywhere.  On the ladder is one of the favorite spots.  Every once in a great while they end up in the laying boxes.  While we were gone for Thanksgiving, she laid all of her eggs in a spot directly behind the laying boxes... so close. 

Fabulous Fall

October is a very busy month for us.  It's football season, and this girl loves her some football.  I am especially fond of my Chippewas of CMU, although they have surprised me this year (not always good surprises).  EG is becoming quite the little football fan herself, which I am delighted about.  She declared at the last game we went to that it was the "BEST DAY EVER!"  That's my girl.

We have also been participating in other normal fall activities, cider and donuts, pumpkin patch parties, making applesauce, preparing for Halloween (more on that later) and raking leaves.  So.  Many.  Leaves.

I have learned a few things while raking leaves this year.

1.  It doesn't matter how many lawn and leaf bags you think will be plenty, you will always have more leaves than bags.  You can always use just one (or two) more bag(s).  In the country, you just blow the leaves into the field, or the woods, but in the city, you always run out of bags.



(the leaves left after the first time raking the yard and after bagging 6 bags of leaves, it took 10 more bags)

2.  The trees will mock you while you are raking by dropping leaves on your head or dropping them where you just raked with a loud thud.

3.  The wind will mock you by destroying your neat piles of leaves before you can bag them.  See also: helpful small children.

4.  If you want to show off that you actually got outside and raked leaves during the day while your husband was at work, the only evidence of such raking left when he arrives home will be the leaf bags by the side of the road.  Another example of the trees and wind (but probably not helpful small children) mocking you.

5.  One good frosty morning, followed by a windy day can completely cover your freshly raked ground with enough leaves to fill 12 more bags, but you will only have 11.

(the second pile of leaves after the frosty/windy day)

6.  Chickens are very intrigued by leaf piles (and what's underneath them), but not people raking.  They will sneak up behind you but if you turn toward them, they will run away and hide.

 

7.  Even if I have to rake leaves, fall is still the best time of year.

 

Which came first?

Well in our case, the chicken came first, the chick to be exact.  But one of our chickens has finally laid an egg.  We have only had one so far, but it was so exciting to find an egg!  AND it was in the laying bins where it was supposed to be! (Update: Gennie has been consistently laying an egg every other day).

After researching the 2 types of chickens we have, I have determined that the Silver Sebright (the one that acts like a rooster and I was starting to wonder about) laid the egg.  The Welsummer should lay dark brown eggs with or without brown spots.

It looks so tiny next to our eggs from the farmers market. Hopefully soon they will both be laying eggs and these tiny little guys will add up to something!



Here is what they look like inside. Two eggs is essentially the equivalent of one full sized double yolk egg.

 

Other fun tales in the world of urban chicken raising.  We've started letting our chickens wander the yard on a daily basis, and for a while they stayed in our yard with no trouble.  Our Welsummer only has one wing, so she is flightless, but our Silver Sebright was sticking to the yard pretty well.  One day I did find her on top of the chicken run, looking in the window of the coop, and we wondered if she would try to be a little more adventurous.  And then it happened.

One evening, our neighbor knocked on our front door and told us Gennie was in his back yard.  They noticed her when they let their dogs outside and they stopped in their tracks because they'd never been able to get that close to our chickens before.  EOP went over and caught her and brought her back over.  They had to be locked up until we figured out a solution.

After searching the web and polling our chicken raising friends, we clipped one of her wings.  They only had to stay confined in their chicken run for 2 days before we clipped her, but they were so excited to get back out in the yard!  So far, we haven't had any other problems.

Back Yard Chicken Fun

We are at the time of year when my excitement for garden fresh produce wanes.  I can't even look at a tomato right now without getting queasy.  My creative dinner ideas that incorporate tomatoes are tapped out.  It was fun while it lasted...

 

Earlier this summer, we tried letting the chickens out to walk around the yard.  At that time, they were not really interested in exploring.  However, now that their coop has been in the same spot all summer, they were more than ready to explore the lush green of our back yard. 

 

For about a week, we've been letting them out for a few hours every day, and every day they get more and more brave on their radius of exploration.  The first day they were more than content to just munch on the grass surrounding their coop/chicken run.  Today, they were all the way up to the back porch and checking out the sand box while EG was playing in it.  They were nice enough to clean the bugs off of the walls and top too!

 

It's been fun to watch them play out there.  I've noticed that they are out in the morning earlier than they used to be, hoping that I will let them out.  Whenever we go out to check on them, they come running to us from wherever they are in the yard, probably because I usually lure them back into the coop with a treat (they're not sick of tomatoes yet.)  I've also been entertained by Gennie chasing a squirrel out of the chicken run.  It seems he was getting too close to their flock block.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Labor Day Fun

Happy Labor Day friends!  We had a very low key day today after spending the previous 2 days on the road, visiting friends and family.  After the crazy storm came through and nearly washed our whole neighborhood away, the sun came out again just in time to warm up the grill.  We grilled the last of our 1/16 of a cow we purchased last New Years - a giant sirloin steak and topped it with garlic and herb goat cheese (from Trader Joe's) - and a zucchini we purchased at the city farmer's market last week.  We also had tomatoes from our garden and fresh sweet corn from Papa's garden.  What a delicious way to end our last summer long weekend, and celebrate the labors of many Michigan growers. 

 

 

Even the chickens enjoyed the tomato and corn cob leftovers, especially EG's, who has not perfected eating every kernel of corn like her parents have.

 

The Tomato Tale and Other Backyard Stories

The garden is finally starting to produce!  This year we planted 3 tomato plants, two red beefsteaks and one yellow variety.  The plants are huge!  I started pulling the tomatoes a day early to ensure we get to eat them.  I was able to make this from our garden (except for the mozzarella, still looking for a way to get that fresh from our backyard).

 

Mmmm, fresh caprese Salad

 

These are our insanely tall and tippy tomato plants.  I can't keep them upright, not with a 48" tomato cage, or with a stake driven into the ground with a 48" tomato cage zip tied to it.  They are out of control, but they are producing tomatoes, so I'm not going to mess with them.  The middle one tipped over and the top branches broke, so now we have a bunch of green tomatoes - I see fried green tomatoes in our future.

 

 

Don't you love our rainbow of tomatoes (and one jalapeno) on the windowsill?  Yummy yummers.  There was a time - a long time - in my life when my response to tomatoes would not have been yummy yummers.  I used to dislike them greatly.  I was that girl who always special ordered everything with no tomatoes.  But around 2008, I discovered the beauty of the garden fresh tomato.  I was forever changed.  Now I very rarely ask for no tomatoes in food, unless they are cherry tomatoes - those still have too many guts for me, or as Miss Elaina (Daniel Tiger reference) would say they are too squirty for me.  In fact, my lunch today was a yellow and a red tomato, sliced with salt and pepper - so delicious.

 

Our compost always tends to give us extra plants that we can replant in appropriate locations (like the raised garden or in a spot not directly under the tomatoes).  Usually we have a lot of tomato plants and squash plants.  We have an extra grape tomato and roma (I think) tomato plants.  The squash plants are always a mystery until they start producing squash.  We've had (unplanned heirloom?) spaghetti squash, zucchini, yellow squash, and whatever this is.  The flower falls off of these, but nothing starts to grow/something is eating them, so we haven't been able to identify it yet.  Please excuse the weeds, I haven't gotten out there in a while to take care of those, plus this plant has spines, so I'm not going to mess with stuff underneath it.

 

The yard is also blooming.  We've done a lot of work to this yard in the 4 years we've been here, but this year may take the cake.  We've pulled out 3 large (overgrown) bushes from various locations along the fence and pulled some other invaders that required heavy machinery to remove.  Also we filled in some low spots along the fences (with a high spot under one of the bushes) and planted grass seed.  It's starting to finally look like someone cares around here.  These are the flowers in bloom right now.

 



 

 

 

Weekend Adventures

We tried something new this weekend.  We stayed home - ALL WEEKEND LONG!

  

 

So we spent Saturday blueberry picking at our favorite blueberry farm - Cook's Berry Farm in Charlotte (3534 W. Kalamo Hwy).  I discovered this farm, 5 years ago, totally by accident when I was trying to find another place that I had been told about.  Last year, I wanted to find this one again, but I couldn't remember the name of it, or where it was.  So we looked up another blueberry farm, just in case we couldn't find it.  After about an hour of searching, we gave up and started looking for the one we had directions to.  We got to the address - and it was the same one I had been looking for!  I took a picture of the sign last year so I would remember what the name was for future blueberry picking excursions.  Like this past weekend.  Got there this time with only one wrong turn!

 

EG loves picking (eating) blueberries.  We had a rule this year that she had to put 2 in her bucket before she could eat one.  MOST of the time, that happened.

 

The Country Mill leases Cook's from the owner and runs the blueberry picking operation.  They also sell donuts there.  Mmmm donuts.  We wanted some, and the ones that were there were not the kind we wanted, so we drove to the Country Mill afterward.  Our wedding reception was at the Country Mill, so we try to make a trek there once a year for apples and donuts and cider slushies.  Mmmm cider slushies.  We never got this picture on our wedding day, so we had EG take the pic this year - 3.5 years later.  Not a bad shot for a toddler. 

On Sunday, we decided to see if we could let the gals out of the coop to graze in the yard, under supervision.  I also wanted to check them over to make sure there were no obvious issues with them (chicken lice or the like).

 

So we started with Ronnie, since she's down a wing and can't fly away on us.  We opened the coop door and coaxed her out on the top of the run.  She was too scared to jump down so we had to set her down on the ground.  She immediately dropped down to the ground and tried to get as close to the ground as possible.  She looks good though, no bugs and her wing is healing well (the feathers are growing back too).

 

Then we tried to get Ginnie, coaxing her out with grapes.  She came out for about 2 seconds and then ran back in (Ronnie was already back in there by that point).

 

EOP grabbed her out again so we could check her over.  She calms right down when you cradle her on her back.  We didn't see any issues with her, so I think we are good to go for now.

 

As a reward for being tortured, we gave them a little bit of plain yogurt.  They LOVE yogurt and it's good for their digestive system.  It's fun to watch them eat it and then wipe their beaks on the grass to clean them off.