Fly the Coop

So, last week, we could sprinkle a bit of mash in the chick's bowl once or twice a day, and they would barely make a beak-sized dent. Now, we make quickie-stops home from work to keep their food bowl full! They are growing quickly, stretching their wings, and sprouting adorable little tail feathers. This morning, William even found a little poop on the TOP of their water dispenser...which is curious and suggests our little girls might be stretching their new wing feathers a bit.

A Coop, therefore, needs to soon be built. Here are the requirements:

Wing-room for 4 full size chickens to walk around comfortably, at least one roost (branch) and a single nest that they can share that we can access from the outside.

A solid floor that slopes to one side, where we can push everything toward a trap door.

A weather-proof roof, wire mesh covering all opening of less than one-inch in diameter, fresh air, sunlight, and insulation.

See: http://www.backyardchickens.com/

We plan on starting the build this weekend, so please post any suggestions!

Home Fry Chicken

Becky and I have been talking chickens for quite a while. On Sundays, we ruminate over the pros and cons of owning laying hens. Cons: someone has to feed them when we are sunning ourselves on foreign beaches. Pros: Lovely pet-like creatures that naturally compost our left-overs and produce happily-laid eggs. So, last Wednesday, after my Bar Bri review course and before work, I picked up Willie and headed a bit west to the Farming Store to pick out two new-hatched pullets.

However, after talking to an equestrian-esque teenage pony-tailed employee, we learned that chickens are intensely social animals. In fact you cannot raise a single chicken. It will die of loneliness. And, if you have only two and one dies, the other will immediately pass away of, as she told us, a 'broken-heart'. So, we decided to get four chicks, since there are four humans involved in this project (Becky, W, David and I).

As I type, four little chicks are pecking around in a large plastic bin in my pantry (yes, the pantry: its not dirty...its been done for centuries). They happen to be the most precious little things to ever find their way out of an egg. And in 18-20 weeks, they will each (hopefully) produce an egg a day. And I will be able to make delicious and fluffy pastries without worrying about the suffering of chickens raised in larger operations.

Going on a Holladay (garden)

Chris, Becky, David, William, and I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon tilling mulch into the thick clay soil of our new little garden plot near Becky's house in Holladay. I think we are the only participants in the community garden to own their own dump truck. So, William donated a dump-truck load of compost/mulch for our garden. We took turns fighting the tiller down the rows and then planted! We have a couple of rows of tomatoes, we have squash, pumpkins, beans, radishes, and a full four rows of summer corn.