Go Barry Go!!

We were honestly a little concerned that we got a dud of an Easter Egger. I mean, Barry is the oldest chicken and still wasn't laying eggs. Then one day we got 3 brown eggs, all slightly varied in one day. So we thought, that Barry was not going to lay blue or green eggs. Then we decided, that maybe Barry wasn't inclined to lay colorful eggs because we kept calling "her" a "him".  So we've made a solid effort to call Barry a girl for the last two days and this is what Barry gave us in return:

Go Barry GO!

Now that we're comfy...

We're beginning the planting process in the chicken yard. And might I add that fall is the best time to purchase shrubs/grasses/plants because they are butt cheap. We had spent the summer with just some mulch as ground cover until we got used to the chickens and they got used to the yard. Chickens are surprisingly playful and are forever wanting to climb and jump on everything.  Unfortunately that included the weed wacker and other items not safe for poultry play.

I'm telling you now that this book has been my bible for creating the perfect chicken garden.

And it's only $15. So after reading many many tips, and remembering our history with craptastic soil...I decided on the following shrubs/grasses. We went with 3 red Barberry shrubs, which we have in the front yard and grow like crazy in the sun. These also change colors with the seasons and have pretty little flowers in the spring. There are thorns, which I'm hoping deter munching by the ladies. Next, 2 Dwarf Burning Bush(es) which will turn bright fiery red in the fall. Also a full sun shrub. Maiden Grass, which gets it's colors in the late summer and fall and dries and turns into beautiful tan curls in the winter. 2 Switch Grasses which also turn colors in the fall and last, a Honeysuckle goldflame just for fun. 

I also gave the kids a bit of an art project.

Barry's sign is on the way...

More photos will follow once I get those last 3 planted, but it's already becoming exactly what I'd hoped. Bring on the chicken TV...

Identity Crisis

Our poor, poor chickens. If you recall, they began as Elinor, Maggie May and Strawberry Blonder Manilow. Part of the problem letting a 4 year old, a 7 year old (and apparently a 35 year old) name their chickens is that they want to change their name whenever it strikes their fancy.

Lucy, age 4, first chose Elinor as her Barred Rock chicks name. This was in honor of the mom from Disney's Brave. Then she decided she'd like to just call the chicken "Brave". But mom liked Elinor, so she became "Elinor Brave". Flash forward to when Elinor Brave's feathers came in and she turned into a beautiful speckled hen. Elinor Brave just didn't fit anymore. What did fit? Sprinkles.

Elinor Brave Sprinkles

Sully, age 7, named his chicken Maggie May. If you recall, Maggie May #1 turned out to be a rooster. So we picked out Maggie May #2, a Black Australorp. Because Maggie May #2 was 4 weeks younger than the other two, and a tiny peanut in comparison, she was dubbed "Little Foot". Adorable right? Until Little Foot quickly outgrew the other two chickens to become the biggest girl in the yard. Then it was back to Maggie May. I might add that she has the prettiest green iridescent feathers on her back. What a looker.

Maggie May Little Foot

Last, Uncle Blonder, age 35, originally named his Easter Egger Strawberry Blonder Manilow, Aka Berry, which I was informed should actually be Barry, and that this lady chicken should be referred to as a "he", because Uncle Blonder didn't want a girl hen, but alas, that's the only option. He later decided to recall the first name in order to change it to Barry White. Who happens to be much cooler than Barry Manilow.

Strawberry(barry)Blonder Manilow White. AKA Barry.

So it shall be.

A lot has happened since May!

Barry Became Famous!

Photo Credit: A.M. Roy

We made a sign.

We got our first egg!

 Our chickens got B.I.G.

Back to school means back to blog!

Thought for the Day

You know what they say about the curious cat?

That he got his ass beat by chickens.

That is all.

Chicken TV has healing powers...

Our daughter has croup. She's spent the last 3 days miserable in bed. I made her get up and get dressed yesterday so we could go to the doctor. When we got home for the evening, I pulled up my favorite outdoor chair, a Tiffany blue mid century cutie, for some quality chicken TV. Lu curled up on my lap while we watched the chickens discover that their coop door was open. As they clucked around in the yard, Lu got up and started slowing following them around the yard until Barry stood still long enough to be caught. This was seriously the first smile I'd seen all day...

And of course, my favorite chair:

P.S. Chicken TV is best watched on a warm spring evening with a full glass of wine...

Finished coop

Please GOD don't buy the coop we bought. Definitely a "you get what you pay for" situation. This thing is a TOTAL piece. Of poo (to clarify). We're going to spend all weekend reinforcing all the pieces that BROKE during construction, including the door. We're also planning on adding some corrugated plastic to the top for aesthetics...

Here she is:

Elinor (Brave) and Barry (I've been informed it's with an A) romping in the yard..

End result with stain and outdoor paint:

Took a total of about 5 hours with 2 pretty smart guys putting it together. The screws were all the wrong lengths, there were no words on the instructions and the materials are crap. The wood kept splitting and we had to use wood glue and clamps to fix the door after opening it only a couple of times. Nothing is level. But until we have the budget to splurge on something fancier this will do.

We predator proofed it by burying chicken wire (hardware cloth would be better, but home depot didn't have it. Weirdos.) about 3-4 inches under the dirt. It goes about 3 inches into the coop and then protrudes about 14 inches out from each side of the coop. Good thing too since our neighbor's dogs seem uber curious about what's happening back there and have dug all the way under our fence. That's a whole different beast. Literally. To see how we started our deep litter method on the bottom, please check out the Coops and Poops post from March...

The chickens don't know to go upstairs for the evening, so we're trying to teach them. Luckily they're not sleeping in their nesting boxes, just laying below their roost, all snuggled together in the corner. The first few nights I didn't put their food and water up there for night time, but I moved it up last night since the door is broken and they won't have as much free time as normal. It's also dipping into the low 30's tonight, so I figured they didn't need to be out tomorrow in the predicted snow showers. So they'll have everything they need in their little lofted coop. So far, so good...

How do you know if you have a rooster?

I can tell you. Why? Because we got one.Yes, Maggie May, our easter egger, is a freakin' rooster.

1) He's WAY bigger than the other girls hatched the same day.
2) He's always been an ass to everyone and the other hens.
3) He crows. LOUDLY. (this started around 8 weeks of age).

Luckily we bought from a farm that will take returns if you get a rooster. So it's back to the chicken swap this weekend!

Toodles Maggie May...

Chris Farley

3 years ago we adopted Chris Farley. AKA Farley, for short. He's a Bernese Mountain Dog mixed with a Newfoundland. He's 100 lbs of pure love. He was a rescue dog. We "rescued" him from a loving family who lived on an actual farm in Nebraska. Why were they giving away this ball of furry awesomeness? Because he was eating all their chickens. In fact, his behavior report said "awesome dog, as long as you don't have chickens."  So there's that....

Hot Chicks!

We did it! We found our chickens. We went to the Denver Urban Homesteading Chick Festival and picked out 3 little winners. We ended up on compromising between a newly hatched chick and an older bird. We chose 4 week old chicks that are just about done with their heatlamp phase and can move on outside whenever it stops snowing in Denver.

We chose 2 Easter Eggers, which we've been told will lay eggs the color of their ears (yes, chickens have ears) and 1 Barred Rock (known to be a great egg producer).

Meet Elinor, the Barred Rock:

 Maggie May: Our Easter Egger #1

And last but not least, Strawberry Manilow (Aka: Berry) our tiny Easter Egger.

Let me start by saying. Chickens are nasty. They're messy and rude. I keep trying to replace their bedding chips and they thank me by promptly kicking them out of their cage. I bring them fresh water and they poop in it. However. They are fun. The kids love holding them and checking on them, which is happening frequently today since we have some sub-zero windchills at the moment. They're very loud when they're unhappy. They've been snuggled up by their heat lamp all day and when we try to hold them, they flip out because they're cold. It's a good way to learn about the complaining that chickens do.

They also eat a ton. We had a gallon baggie of feed and we've gone through half in 3 days.  And, they drink almost an entire mason jar of water every day. We've been checking on them about 3-5 times per day, which is recommended at this age. So be sure you have the time!

And! They're already establishing their infamous "pecking order". Maggie May is the biggest, and therefore, the bossiest. Every time we take Berry or Elinor out to hold, (and we're trying to hold them frequently so that they're used to being handled by the kids. Makes for more kid friendly hens) upon putting them back in their pen, Maggie attacks them with pecks, feathers spread. It's kind of hilarious. And Sul-train, my almost 7 year old, scolds her and tells her to play nice with our friends.

So now what? Now we build our coop. Of course this is Denver, so it was 70 yesterday, 7 today and should be in the 60's by Friday again. So that will be one of our weekend projects. Stay tuned for photos of the side yard transformation to our soon-to-be-awesome chicken garden!

Purchase Coop CHECK!

Coop has been purchased. While it's not the sleek, modern coop I was hoping for, after a discount coupon that I found online and with shipping, it was only $197. I looked on craigslist repeatedly and just couldn't find what I wanted. And all the modern coops for purchase online are like $1000. Seriously? I think we'll still try to make some hip modifications. Like a corrugated roof for starters. I'll keep you posted on the difficulty level of putting this bad boy together too. Remember, we are not handy people. If this thing shows up Ikea style with all the holes pre-drilled and whatnot, we're good. But if we need to saw and drill, we might be screwed...no pun intended.

Now we just need some consistently nice weather so our snow can melt and we can begin transitioning our side yard into our chicken garden!

Chicken Swap round 1

Well, we hit up the chicken swap at Earthdog Denver through the Denver Urban Homesteading organization. It was awesome. There were at least 6 different vendors from different farms with chicks as little as 3 days old all the way up to full grown chickens. There were bunnies, goats and a llama that rode in a jeep. The kids were in heaven.We're going to their Chick Festival on April 6th in hopes of finding our new flock. We're going to go with 4-5 chicks, anticipating that all won't survive, although if they do, we've been told that they'd be a piece of cake to sell online. We've decided on Easter Eggers (Americaunas) for sure and then hopefully a silver or gold laced Wyandotte or a Buff Orpington. I've researched a ton and these seem to be the nicest mix of beautiful eggs and friendly with kids. Hopefully we're right!

After the swap I discovered the best Margarita in Denver at El Noa Noa. How have I lived here for 16 years and never realized that they had such a delicious Gold Marg?? It was a nice sidetrack to the day for sure. Then we continued on to our chicken class at Denver Urban Homesteading. The instructor, Jennifer Loyd, was an amazing wealth of knowledge on all things chicken. She has an urban farm in Lakewood, Co and is also in her first week of her own blog Idlewild Urban Farm. She is much more looking for her blog to be a resource sharing forum with less pontification than I plan to do here. Anyhoo. Jennifer has years of experience under her belt and was eager to share all of it. I was pleased to hear that she also utilizes the deep litter method of poo control/composting. She had great info on predator proofing your coop as well, which is something I needed more of. The class was $36 and was totally worth it. You can register for them at Denver Urban Homesteading. After 2 hours of chatting, we walked across the street to an urban farm with roosters and chickens and met this guy:

It was the highlight of my day.

Coops and Poops

I like to think we're pretty hip and modern. So we can't have some dumpy, country kitsch coop in the backyard. It's gotta be clean lines, urban inspired and look nice through my kitchen window. And I suppose it should be conducive to chickens as well.

So I bought this book:

I love every single design in this book. If only my husband were handy with a saw and a drill. If you are handy, this is definitely a great resource. It's available on amazon for $13 or so.

Unfortunately every single coop I like is like $1500. Did I mention we're teachers? $1500 for a chicken coop is definitely not in the budget.

So we've decided to buy something simple and then make modifications. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

So now for the poops.

Chickens can be smelly. I know I said they're not, but they can be. I've been told to avoid using straw and hay at all costs. That's what causes the coop to smell like a barn. We're also pretty lazy when it comes to cleaning up poop in general. We had to hire a service to clean up our backyard weekly so it doesn't get out of control. So I've decided that the "Deep Litter" method is the most convenient and practical method for coop clean up and here's why.

You can compost! According to the Lazy Homesteader who is also from Denver, but apparently has recently relocated to Texas, but still has awesome resources on her blog, this is the easiest and least smelly way to tend your coop.

Start by laying down 4-6 inches of organic yard waste (leaves, grass, pine shavings). Then sprinkle some DE (Diatomaceous Earth) on top of it and mix it in with a rake. Then let your chickens poop to their hearts content. When you start to notice a lot of poop, give it a turn with the rake, sprinkle more pine shavings on top and let the poop continue. Every 6 months or so, clean it all out, put it in your backyard compost bin and start fresh. I figured we'd time it with our fall and spring yard clean up.

The reason I like this method is because, like I said, I hate cleaning up poop. But more importantly, it can get freakin' cold in Denver in the winter. Because your coop litter is composting, it produces heat and will help warm the air in the coop for your chickens. Pretty sweet right?

Check out Huckleberry Farms for more great info!

To Chick or to Chicken?

Apparently there are many different stages in a Chicken's life in which you can procure it as a backyard pet.

Newly hatched chicks: Cost: $3.50-$5.50 each + Brooder and supplies ($60 or so)

You literally get these little suckers the day after they hatch. Or maybe the day they hatch. Who really knows except the farmer, pet store owner or homesteading hobbyist that you're purchasing the chicks from. And unless you want 25 or more chicks, that's who you'll be buying from since most urban areas will only let you have between 4-8 hens at any one time.

Raising chicks is only about an 8 week indoor commitment from what I've found.  By the time they have feathers, they're good too move outside into their coop. You're going to need a brooder. That's the little pen that they'll live in. You can buy kits online or likely from your chick farmer. (I like "chick farmer" better than "chick seller". Makes them sound more wholesome, don't you think?).  I just went on craigslist and searched for baby chicks. There were quite a few to choose from. I emailed a couple, but the most helpful by FAR has been Gina at Wildfire Farms in Erie, CO. Now she doesn't ship, but if you live here in Colorado, she'd be a great resource. We planned on purchasing 2 chicks to start. An Easter Egger (which, if you didn't know, lay multicolored eggs!!) and a Silver Laced Wyandotte, which is just gorgeous.

Gina recommended starting with at least 3, and in the nicest way possible hinted that if one doesn't survive, then the singleton left would be devastated and lonely, which does not equal a happy chicken. So we decided on 3. But then talked to some friends that have raised from chicks and started with 4, lost one, and now have 3 very happy chickens. So now we're thinking 4.

Personally, my main reason for starting at day one with chicks is to let my children (a 4 year old and an almost 7 year old) handle them, learn to feed and water them at a small stage, and adapt to them as a family responsibility. Plus I hear chickens are almost cuddly if you raise them right and I'd hate to have one chasing and pecking at my kids in the yard. But, knowing the fragility of young chicks, I think I may advise my kiddos to hold off on naming them to avoid any extra heartache....

Pullets: On average, $20 each...

Technically a Pullet is a chicken or hen that is less than 1 year old. The benefit to a pullet is that you don't need to mess with the 8 weeks of brooder living in your home. They're also much closer to producing eggs. From the research I've done, chickens start laying as early as 4 months but also as late as 8 months. So you can average on about 6 months old. If you want the quick return, this is apparently the way to go. You can literally bring them home and stick them in the coop.

Another excellent resource for obtaining pullets locally here is the Denver Urban Homesteading organization.  The first Saturday of each month they have a chicken swap, where you can go browse the hens and make purchases. We're going this Saturday, so I'll reflect on that experience at a later date. The only reason we didn't go this route was that we really wanted our chickens to be as kid friendly as possible. And you never know how the chickens are going to mesh once you get them all together in the coop. Although I guess that's a crap shoot with the chicks too. Decisions Decisions....

Phew. That's a lot of chicken crap.

Taking the Plunge

We're getting chickens.

Not to eat. To raise. For eggs. Hopefully lots of yumtastic eggs. We live in the heart of Denver with 2 kids, 2 dogs and a cat on a 6500 square foot lot in a teensy but perfect 1940's bungalow. Urban homesteading, that is, raising chickens, ducks, geese and even goats is allowed in our city limits.

So we're getting chickens.

Our decision has come truly after over a year of research. It's not something that you rush into. After attending an Urban Hipster themed holiday party at a good friend's house, while hanging out in the backyard with his "sassy chicks", my husband got the itch to own our own. The kids were running around with them, carrying them, and marveling over the coop that was adorned with tiny multi-colored bulbs. They gave away 6 packs of eggs as party gifts and they were the prettiest eggs I'd ever seen. Still. Chickens? Aren't they smelly and mean? Turns out not so much.

So we're getting chickens.

And so the research begins...