Chicken Karma

Ah…the trials and tribulations of chicken ownership!

The story of Anna continues…

Every day when I enter the chicken run Anna attacks me.  By attacked, I mean that she puffs herself up, flings back her head and wings and charges me….then bites whatever she can get her beak around.  Now this probably doesn’t seem like a big deal…I’m a lot bigger than a measly 4-½ pound chicken.  But, she actually draws blood.  It has gotten so bad that I now wear knee high (not thigh high…you perverts) rubber rain boots to protect myself.  I made the mistake of wearing my barn shoes the other day and she pecked through my jeans leaving a bloody nip and nasty bruise.  The attacks have intensified...

I just can’t figure out why she does this to me every single day…I feed her, give her water, mealworms and fresh greens.  If I’m going to be out of town, I have a chicken sitter come over to feed them and make sure all is harmonious.  Anna and her girls have a heater and clean shavings in which to lay eggs.  As chicken lives go, they lead pretty good ones!

To try to solve this issue, I’ve been researching and reading…and I think I’ve got it figured out.  I think Anna is trying to be the dominant chicken!  And she is trying to dominate ME!  One book suggested I pick her up and hold her upside down until she submits.  I tried this the other day and as I was putting her back down, right side up, she nailed the side of my head with a vicious peck!  Another source suggested I charge her.  Well, I tried that too.  She definitely backed away, but then when I had my back turned, she surprise attacked me.  I’m at a loss. 

I have considered the possibility that Anna is demented.  I mean she does have the brain of a chicken!  One indication that this might be the culprit is that she has rubbed her head on something so that her beautiful topknot of feathers looks like it has been shorn into a Mohawk.  That can’t be normal chicken behavior…

Anna also tries to follow me into the “big girl’s pen” containing the Silver Wyandottes who like to “kick chicken butt” whenever they come into contact with the Polish girls.  It’s like she is tempting them to “Bring it”.  She should recall that the last time she had a run in with the “big girls” she didn’t fare too well.

Alas, I believe I will have to live with this behavior awhile…at least until the chicken psychologists come up with more strategies for me to try. 

So for now…every time I head out to the pen to check on the girls, I don my knee-high rubber rain boots for protection!

Something Happened on the Way to the Chicken Coop

A funny thing happened on the way to the chicken coop…I lost my voice.  Not physically…I just didn’t have any thing to say for a few weeks, well okay, months.  Or, I just didn’t think I had anything to say that any one would want to read.  But, then, friends and family asked me where I went.  They enjoyed reading my blogs…little vignettes of my life and my crazy menagerie of critters.  So I started thinking and realized that "I" enjoy reading my little stories and reflecting on the moments of my day. If others enjoy reading about it too, that makes me happy.

So, welcome back to life in my ever-changing city garden.

My chickens are in a slump these days…you’d think they’d be thriving and that egg production would be incredible, but not so.  As soon as I integrated Anna with her Supremes (Sydney, Melinda and Jenny), she laid an egg and then promptly molted.  Not an easy-going, a few feathers here, a few feather there…but full-on dropped most of them so she looks like she’s going through chemo.  Not a good look for a chicken let a lone a glorious Polish chicken!  And if that wasn’t bad enough, she hasn’t laid one egg in two weeks.  Recently, she has taken to attacking me whenever I enter the coop.  She literally flies feet first at my legs and then pecks me.  The first time she did this, I wasn’t expecting it and was wearing shorts and flip-flops.  Since then, I’m wearing jeans and my barn shoes for protection.  The little bitch!

The Supremes are now 5 months old….so any day they should start laying.  I put the “fake” eggs in the nest boxes in the hope that they would “get” what they are for.  But, so far, I don’t think any of them have ventured into the nest boxes even for a look-see.  Meanwhile, the Silver Wyandotte girls are happily enjoying stalking the smaller Anna and the Supremes through the wire fencing that separates them.  They are still laying…a little less predictably now that the daylight is waning.  But, I’m hoping the 40-watt bulb installed in their coop set to go on at 6:30 a.m. and off at 9:30 p.m. will help to pick up production. 

I recently finished reading a wonderful book, City Farm, by Novella Carpenter.  Novella is a true urban farmer living in Oakland, California.  She describes in detail, not only how to raise and care for chickens (ducks, turkeys, pigs, bees and goats), but also how to humanely kill and process one.  Anna better watch her back…

New Chapters

I’ve been MIA in my garden for several weeks now and I’m anxious to get back to my daily routines.  I’ve loved being with my daughter at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (Junior Equine Olympics), but after 7 days, I’m ready to be home.  Jessie has been to the NAJYRC three times, earning a Silver Team Junior medal, but, alas, no medals this year for the Region 3 Young Riders.  She had good, solid rides and she is proud of herself and her dad and I am so incredibly proud of her.  Now it is time to shift the focus to  college…which is just around the corner. 

And once I take her to Sewanee:  The University of the South, I close a chapter in my life that I’ve loved sharing with her.  We’ve trailered to more horse shows than I can remember, some close to home and others 16 hours away.  We’ve been a good team.  I focus on the horse and let Jessie do her thing. …ride.   I love the rhythm of grooming, mucking out stalls, cleaning and filling water buckets, throwing grain or hay…I’m glad I was able to be a good partner to her and her horses. 

So, now I’ll have lots of time to tend my gardens, the chickens and the pups.  I’ll start this week with seeing what has survived neglect and harvest!  I’m hopeful the garden has not become too overgrown with weeds…my least favorite task.

My to-do list is long…and I know it is going to take me some time to “catch up”, but I wouldn’t have traded this summer with Jessie at horse shows for anything.

I know, as I close this chapter and begin the next, that Jessie and my relationship will change.  But, I’m pretty sure it will be more towards that of becoming my friend.

Dian's Garden Fresh Pesto

Dian’s Garden Fresh Pesto

2-3 cups fresh basil leaves (rinsed)

½ cup marcona almonds

¼-1/2 cup olive oil

¼ grated Parmesan

2 cloves garlic

Process in food processor or grinder:

Basil, almonds, ¼ cup olive oil, whole garlic cloves

Add Parmesan cheese and additional olive oil to desired consistency.

Toss with hot pasta or use as a spread on hot bread or as a complement to cheese.

Back to the Books!

What I like about gardening is that I never accomplish what I set out to achieve.  What I don’t like about gardening is that I never accomplish what I set out to achieve.

Weeds are the bane of all gardeners.  As soon as you finish hours of pulling them they seem to sprout before your eyes.  And no amount of mulch or landscape fabric seems to keep them from appearing.  Even through the cracks and crevices, they find a way to take hold and grow.  This year my garden seems to be particularly  bountiful in the weed department.  And while I ponder a better way to keep them from taking root, I’m scratching my head at the lack of tomatoes growing on the vines.  What am I doing wrong?

I know that the basis of a good garden is soil.  My father-in-law, Tom, and I have amended the soil annually and some areas of the garden look to be healthy while other areas are still dense with red Georgia Clay.  Where is the compost, coir, Nature’s Helper, and mulch going?  Where are the earthworms?

Now don’t get me wrong…we’re harvesting patty pan squash, Fortex pole beans, blackberries, beets, potatoes, and peppers.  All is not lost.  It is just that I can’t figure out why all of my crops aren’t producing, indeed in abundance, the way some are. 

I’m stuck in the house today and decided to take the time to peruse gardening books and magazines looking for wisdom on growing the perfect tomato, the components of healthy soil, beneficial insects and organic pest management.   I’m hopeful that something will “click” and I’ll solve the mysteries.  But in the meantime, I’ll pull the weeds, water and fertilize, mulch and harvest and hope for the best.

Try, try again...

Gardening can be a maddening venture.  I can’t figure out why some crops thrive and produce in abundance when others whither and die.  I feel like I’m doing everything I’m supposed to be doing!

This past week, after 2 weeks of not gardening, my father in law, Tom and I met up to weed, feed, water and, hopefully, harvest.  We got lucky and harvested a hefty bag of green beans; lettuce and I pulled a few beets to take to my son in Baltimore, whom I visited over the weekend. There are lots of little baby carrots and little baby peppers growing.  And the blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are heavy with fruit.

Unfortunately, we had to relocate the Sugar Bush Watermelon plants, as they seem to be stunted in their growth, we pulled 5 dead or dying tomato plants, and all the withered cress, too.  I bought new heirloom tomato plants at Pike’s and will plant them in a new space in the garden.  The pole beans are growing…no blooms yet.  The Okra looks miserable, so we planted a new crop and we’ll see what happens with the first crop. And, once again, I’m fighting the Mexican bean beetle on the eggplant.  I will spray them down with insecticidal soap and hopefully avert a take over!

The dogs were full of energy!  They ran.  They chased.  They dug…yes…dug.! Oscar, the mini wirehair dachshund was a mess.  His face was literally caked with earth.  I had to hose him off.  Lulu has suddenly decided my lemongrass is delicious and chewed on it off and on for an hour.  Felix spent the better part of the morning chasing rodents…real or imaginary.  And Hazel just hung out.  The rest of the afternoon the pups were passed out on the bench seat in my kitchen!

There are new bluebird eggs in both birdhouses!  We couldn’t believe that they reused the nests.  Usually, we have to clean the boxes out so they will build new nests and have a second family.  We did clean out the chickadee nest in the wren box, though.  So, in a few weeks we’ll be on the lookout for another crop of bluebird babies. 

Gardening is a labor of love and an exercise in patience.  If at first you don’t succeed…Try, try, again.

Unexpected Chickens

Today, a biathalon took place, partly, on the street we live on.  I had the chickens out front in their “tractor” grazing, like I do every day.  But today was different…Jeff, my son, was on the front porch, reading, while the race portion of the event took place.  I was out back cleaning the chicken coop.  He texted me that the chickens were a big hit with the runners.  I had to laugh, because they do draw a lot of attention.  As the runners ran by our yard, they would yell out “Chickens!”.  One group of girls actually stopped and watched them for a few minutes before resuming their run.

My husband ran into a former neighbor with his kids the other day and they asked about the chickens.  Michael ended up inviting them back to the house and the kids had a blast and even climbed into the tractor with the chickens.  Luckily, there were eggs in the coop so they had a “take home” from the visit. 

I think the draw of chickens is that they bring us closer to our food sources.  I’m not a loyal locavore, but I appreciate the fact that I know what my chickens eat and that they are well cared for.  (My husband would tell you they live at the Ritz-Carlton…) I know that the eggs they provide are the best quality and they are good for my family!

I suspect the draw also has something to do with the element of the unexpected…

Surrounded by highways and skyscrapers, in my little patch of country in the city, folks run by my house and see chickens in the yard.  “Chickens!”