Me vs. The Broody Hen Huckleberry.

 Huckleberry is a five year old lavender silkie hen.

Huckleberry is the matriarch of the flock and since her flock mate Winnie died last fall she's been lonely.  

Bear in mind that for her age (think Betty White) she looks fabulous (think Betty White).

Huckleberry acts like Rose, lays like Blanche...often and proudly.  After Winnie died, Huckleberry has been determined to have company by spring and has been fussing about her nest and laying eggs. This is the winter. It's Idaho. And it's the winter.

Everything in her nature should be telling her that this is not the time to lay eggs, not to mention everything in syndicated T.V.... ex: the episode when Blanche thought she was pregnant. It was wrong then, and for different reasons, it's wrong now, ie: chicken ordinances, and the fact that it's winter.. in Idaho! Blanche was entering menopause, by the way, that's how that episode ends...chuckle! Do chickens go through menopause? Discuss...

So every morning its into the unusually warm Idaho weather to collect her eggs, and any others she lifted from other nests. Stealing eggs is a nasty habit she's formed. She's turning into a regular little flock-yard kleptomaniac. This is an actual diagnosable condition according to my Vet's Desk Reference.

To "break a chicken's broody" means essentially to disrupt the behavior of sitting on it's nest.
Depending on the chicken the behavior modification tactics can get downright scary. Ice in nest, dipping feathers in water, locking of the coop, caging in a crate. 

Finally, one day, I went out and found she had retaliated. She had laid her egg in a pile of mud! Clever move.  I used to think that if she could talk, she would sound like Dolly Parton. Now when I admonish Huckleberry: "I will get you! Stop laying eggs in the mud!", it's Moriarity's voice who answers back in a sing song, "Oh no you won't!". .  (the new creepy Moriarity from PBS's Sherlock.)

Days and weeks went by and she would steadily lay her 2-3 eggs a week out in the mud...just taunting me. 
She's back to being in her nest box again. She's not laid an egg in the mud now for almost a week.
 But if she does, I will continue to pick up her eggs, wash them off...
...and pop them onto a frying griddle to be served with Idaho hash browns.

Game. Set. Match.

Urban Farm Online $10 for 1year subscription! Expires at Midnight!

Dusk sets in around 5pm this time of year.  Daylight is at a premium in a household of many children whose super power is channeling Jack Lalane and Jack Black.. at once.
Our use of electronic devices  sets our energy bill at a premium.

My chickens of course are oblivious to this non-weather we are having.
Soon my crocus' to will pop out at me like Steve Martin complete with banjo.
 ((Actually that I would really enjoy that.   Just putting that out there Universe.))


So we've been doing a lot of reading.. for today only you can get Urban Farm Magazine for $10 for a full year subscription. I subscribe every year and wanted to share this year. I can't tell you how useful this magazine is, seriously order your subscription today. Then we (all four of you who read this blog) will have so much more to talk about.

Happy New Year

Urban Farm Magazine $10/1yr. 01/05/12 only

Dead Fancy Bird Zen

It doesn't matter how far I travel I'm always reminded that born and raised in Idaho back in the 1970s was about living in a farming community. Everyone had chickens, gardens, squash patches, fruit trees and most of all grown up trees. Big trees.
I took from this upbringing the revelation that there is inherent good in those who care for their environment. Their land, their family, their character.

So why am I writing about a Dead Fancy Bird? 
HRH Margaret is.. or rather, was, my fancy breed bird. She was a Belgian d'Uccle Mille Fleur.

My Spidy-senses should have been tipped off by the fact that her name weighed more than she did. 

If anyone has happened to catch my previous posts, on my ill-fated dabblings into the magic of hatching eggs, you will understand the following better than anyone else.


Maggie was the lone chick to have survived my inept hatching contraptions and various flock attacks by dogs and the weather.  She was almost a year old, and quite gorgeous. You might remember that I ordered all those wonderful fancy eggs not too long ago. Yep. I thought I was Caroline fricking Ingalls. In reality it was a little closer to this:

Anyhow-- she managed to survive my best attempts to snuff her here at Chicken Survivor Island.
Over this last year it seems I've become the female equivalent of Lenny from the Grapes of Wrath.
Thank God someone talked me out of rabbits. Gretchen Anderson might have had to give some quote on how many Backyard Chicken Keepers go off the deep end.

Ok.. I have to stay focused.

Maggie's breed type and champion lines were what attracted me to her. Her brother Winston died last year from-- I kid you not-- a heart attack after a vicious puppy barking incident involving my chihuahua.
Heart attacks in certain fowl are not uncommon. This can actually happen in some breeds of birds... and I knew that.
I also knew that even with champion breed lines, certain birds requires a home for which those types of breeds are more suited.

So...at the end of the day I'm left with no one to blame and a Dead Fancy Bird. I get the Zen and learned my lesson from her death. So please don't flame me with hate mail.

Still, the Idaho Matriarch in me didn't like not having something to show for the effort. Needless to say I have a ziploc bag full of beautiful speckled super soft feathers that I'm determined to make into jewelry.
I'm sure my creations will be picked up immediately for Paris Fashion Week and I'll start a charity in HRH Maggie's name dedicated to congenital heart defect among fancy bird breeds.

But most likely they will end up gracing our Holiday Tree... glued to macaroni art and covered in glitter.

I promise to think about my Dead Fancy Bird Zen every time I look at the feathers.

Determining-chicken-egg-quality-all-you-need-to-know

 

 

 

Grading Eggs

Commercial chicken eggs are sorted — according to exterior and interior quality — into three grades established by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA): AA, A and B. For all grades, the shell must be intact. Nutritionally, all grades are the same.

Grades AA and A eggs are nearly identical, the main difference being that Grade A eggs are slightly older than Grade AA eggs. Grade AA eggs therefore have firmer, thicker whites that hold the yolks up high and round, whereas the white of a Grade A egg is “reasonably firm,” meaning it spreads a little farther when you break the egg into a frying pan. Grade A are the eggs you are most likely to see at a grocery store. Both grades are suitable for frying, poaching and other dishes in which appearance is important.

Grade B eggs have stained or abnormal shells, minor blood or meat spots and other trivial defects. They are used in the food industry to make liquid, frozen and powdered egg products, so you are unlikely to find them at a grocery store. Homegrown Grade B eggs are best used for scrambling, baking and similar recipes in which the eggs are stirred.

Any egg that does not fit into one of these three categories is unfit for human use and consumption. Although you needn’t worry about grading your homegrown eggs, the USDA grading system offers a guideline for assessing the quality of the eggs your hens produce.

Exterior Egg Quality

Exterior quality refers to a shell’s appearance, cleanliness and strength. Appearance is important because the shell is the first thing you notice about an egg. Cleanliness is important because the shell is the egg’s first defense against bacterial contamination; the cleaner the shell, the easier it can do its job. Strength influences the egg’s ability to remain intact until you’re ready to use it. The shell accounts for about 12 percent of the weight of a large egg. It is made up of three layers:

The inner, or mammillary, layer encloses the inner and outer membranes surrounding the egg . Between these two membranes is the air space that develops at the large end as the egg ages.

The spongy, or calcareous, layer is made up of tiny calcite crystals consisting of 94 percent calcium carbonate with small amounts of other minerals. Viewed through a microscope, these crystals look like thousands of thin pencils standing on end. The spaces between them form pores connecting the surfaces of the inner shell and outer shell so moisture and carbon dioxide can get out of the egg and air can get in to create the air space.

The bloom, or cuticle, is a light coating that seals the pores to preserve the egg’s freshness by reducing evaporation and preventing bacteria from entering through the shell. Sometimes you’ll find a freshly laid egg before the bloom has dried. Most of the pigment that gives the shell its color is in this layer.

When you wash an egg, the bloom dissolves, making the egg feel temporarily slippery. To replace natural bloom, commercial producers spray shells with a thin film of mineral oil, which is why store-bought eggs sometimes look shiny. If you wash an egg, rubbing the dried egg with clean vegetable oil somewhat replaces the bloom.

An eggshell’s strength is naturally influenced by the vitamins and minerals in a hen’s diet, especially vitamin D, calcium, phosphorus and manganese. Shell strength is also influenced by a hen’s age — older hens lay larger eggs with thinner, weaker shells.

A shell gets strength from its shape as well as from its composition. The curved surface is designed to distribute pressure evenly, provided the pressure is applied at the ends of the egg, not at the middle. The middle of a shell must be weak enough to allow an emerging chick to peck all around and break out of an incubated egg. Some chefs take advantage of this characteristic to make a big show of breaking an egg with one hand — what you don’t see is the thumb they press against the middle of the shell. By contrast the ends of an egg must be quite strong so a newly laid egg won’t crack when it plops into a nest, blunt end down.

One way to test the strength of an egg is to press the ends between the palms of your hands. For a more precise measurement, use an ordinary bathroom scale. Stack some boards or books on the floor to equal the height of the egg when it’s standing on end. With paper towels, fashion a ring around the bottom of the egg to stand it on end, next to the books. Rest one edge of the scale on top of the books and the other edge on the top of the egg. Press on the part of the scale that’s just above the egg. A well-formed shell should support up to 9 pounds (4 kg) before it breaks.

Except for preserving the freshness of eggs, shells have no culinary use (although I was once served a blended health-food drink containing a raw egg, shell and all, and I must admit it tasted pretty good). Shells have plenty of other uses. They may be:

1. Dried, crushed and fed back to hens as a calcium supplement
2. Added to compost to sweeten the soil
3. Placed in tomato planting holes to prevent blossom-end rot
4. Decorated for a variety of arts and crafts

Interior Egg Quality

Interior quality refers to the appearance and consistency of an egg’s contents, which may be determined easily by breaking the egg into a dish for examination. In doing so, you will discover the egg has more than one kind of egg white, or albumen. Two clearly visible kinds are the firm white around the yolk and the thinner white closer to the shell. A less obvious second, or inner, thin layer lies between the outer thick white and the yolk.

The outer thin egg white repels bacteria by virtue of its alkalinity and its lack of the nutrients needed by bacteria for growth. The firm or thick egg white surrounding the yolk cushions the yolk, and its composition includes defenses against bacteria. The older an egg gets, the more thin white and the less thick white it has.

Another kind of white is the chalaziferous, sometimes called the inner thick (in contrast to the other thick egg white, which is called the outer thick), layer made up of dense albumen surrounding the yolk. During its formation, as the egg travels through the oviduct and rotates, the ends of this layer become twisted together to form a cord of sorts, or chalaza (pronounced kah-lay’-za), on each side of the yolk. These two cords anchor the chalaziferous layer and protect the yolk by centering it within the white.

When you break an egg into a dish, the chalazae snap away from the shell membrane and recoil against the yolk. Misinformed cooks sometimes mistake the resulting two white blobs at opposite sides of the yolk for the beginnings of a developing chick.

A chick develops instead from a round, whitish spot on top of the yolk called the germinal disc or blastodisc. When an egg is infertile, the blastodisc has an irregular shape. If the egg has been fertilized, the blastodisc becomes the blastoderm and organizes into a set of tiny rings, one inside the other.

Egg yolks get their color from xanthophyll, a natural yellow-orange pigment in green plants and yellow corn and the same pigment that colors the skin and shanks of yellow-skin hens. The exact color of a yolk depends on the source of the xanthophyll. Alfalfa, for example, produces a yellowish yolk, while corn gives yolks a reddish-orange color.

Excessive amounts of certain pigmented feeds can affect yolk color. Alfalfa meal, clover, kale, rape, rye pasture, and certain weeds including mustard, pennycress and shepherd’s purse make yolks darker. Too much cottonseed meal can really throw off yolk color, causing it to be salmon, dark green or nearly black.

The yolk is not of uniform color throughout. Look closely, and you will see that it consists of concentric rings. At the center is a ball of white yolk, around which are alternating layers of thick dark yolk and thinner white yolk. Although you might never see it — except maybe in a hard-cooked egg — a neck of white yolk extends from the center to the edge of the yolk, flaring out and ending just beneath the blastodisc.

As an egg ages, both its white and yolk deteriorate. Their quality may not have been all that great to start with, depending on the hen’s age and health, the use of medications, the weather and hereditary factors. The better an egg’s starting quality, the better it keeps.

Reprinted with permission from Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, published by Storey Publishing, 2010.

Chicken Mites the not so glamorous side of chicken care.

Ok Folks-- just warning you in advance- this is not a post for those wanting to see chickens frolicking in beds of clover, or chickens basking and napping in the sun in the shape of a heart.
Ok Just one.

Now it's time to be a grown up adult who is a responsible chicken keeper.

It's time to check your chickens for mites, ticks, worms.

There are several different types of mites/lice, but the most common ones have tell tale signs that are easily visible by inspecting the bird.

So lets all buck up and take a look at some good ol' chicken mite infestations.

Chicken with mites infestation on comb

Chicken feet with excessive 'crusty' looking scales are a sign of mites.

This is a close up of the chicken lice/mite eggs-- it looks like pretty gross.

These are the atrocious offenders in all their nasty glory. 

Feather mites leave behind what looks like mold on chicken feathers.

I won't post a picture here because honestly-- it's too gross.

But the big and most important place to check it the chicken's vent... *butt* this is where the mites will be most obvious since it's where the ticks and mites seem to thrive. 

I dusted my girls buts just this afternoon with an old salt shaker full of diatomaceous earth.  I got quite a work out chasing down chickens and sprinkling powder on em.


I personally like to treat minor infestations with Food grade DE (diatomaceous earth) which has less than 5% silicon. . This is a must have for any chicken coop. Dusted directly onto the chicken it will kill mites, ticks, and other nasty critters.

It's a bit hard to find Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth.
D&B Supply sells 50lb Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) for $31.99, which should last you about a year.

I also keep the ticks away and the smell of chicken poo to a minimum by dusting areas inside the coop, roost areas, and dust bath areas.


If you find that your chickens have a particularly nasty infestation nothing works better than good ol' Dawn dish liquid and Neosporin, followed up with regular a regular daily dusting of diatomaceous earth.

Then I came inside and washed my hands---- then I took a shower .... twice.

You chickens will love you for caring for them-- and honestly it's a easy measure for the gorgeous and delicious eggs, pest control and entertainment we receive.




How can you tell the difference between mites and lice?
Table 1. Comparison chart to distinguish between lice and mites.

	Lice	Mites
Size	2-3 millimeters long	1 millimeter diameter (ground pepper)
Speed	Fast-moving	Slow-moving
Color	Straw-colored (light brown)	Dark reddish black
Egg location	Base of feather shaft	Along feather shaft
Egg color	White	White or off-white
Best detection time	Daytime	Nighttime or Daytime
Location	Lives only on host	Lives on host and in environment

If your flock does have a serious infestation download this pdf guide here on how to treat your flock.

Common External Parasites in Poultry: Lice and Mites

Yawn-- coming out of hiberation.

Despite the recent show of snow and the harsh winds-- this is my type of weather. Brisk and sunny.
I've crawled out of my warm blankets and smile at chickens who are happy to see the ground and the beginnings of green shoots once again.

To further set the mood two of my chickens now more than a year old have gone broody.
My Showgirl Silkie (Freydis) and the other  black silkie (Kitten). Sadly they have no rooster to fertilize their eggs, but I may be bringing back our beloved silkie rooster Ralphie to help out with that department.
My spouse of course sports a sigh that tells me he remembers having to deal with Chez Ralphie-- a makeshift box in the mudroom where Ralphie slept and stayed in until 10am or so in the morning. This was necessary to keep peace with our neighbors-- and to not expose them to a 5am wakeup call.  Ralphie is coming back for vacation for a short time from the country to help the ladies fulfill their needs as mothers.
Soon we will have a few new clutches of silkie baby chicks and showgirl baby chicks.

The eggs have come with more consistency and we are averaging about 5-8 eggs a day. And I'm looking forward to keeping anyone who might be reading this blog entertained with the new spring and it's many adventures in backyard chickens.

Winterization for chickens...

Indian Summer  has entered and is brushing her skirt of golden leaves over the valley. Fall is officially here and winter is coming soon.

If this is your first fall with chickens, there are a few things we might want to think about doing for our feathered friends.

Coop Maintenance:  The winterization of your coop depends on what type of coop you have.

It's time to make sure that your coop is going to keep your little chicken nuggets from freezing over the winter. Many have insulated walls in their coops making this process pretty easy.

Most breeds of chickens are very winter hardy, but in case you might have treated yourself to a rare bantam breed or two you might want to read up on how to properly care for them in the winter.

Here is a guide that will give you info on how cold hardy your chick-a-dees are.


So now we know about our chickens and how cold hardy they are. Of course I'm not at all opposed to letting  the most delicate roam free in the house with a fashionable chicken diaper on.

 I have a cedar slatted coop with an open tool cloth wire floor.(ahem-- that I made myself, ah-- thank you very much, oh your too kind, stop applauding...

  My little 6x4 coop has been oh-so handy dandy  in the summer to clean quickly and keep and allow for ventilation.
Now with the winter coming I plan on using the deep litter method on the floor. This will allow the coop to be insulated by hay and keep the hay changing to a minimum so as to not freeze my toasties off.

On especially cold nights I also have a handy dandy heat lamp that setup in the coop. 

So what is the Deep litter method, you ask? Well grab a lap chicken and a cup of tea and I'll tell ya!

The Deep Litter Method for the coop is just what it implies. Allowing the litter (wood shavings) to build up over a weeks, months helps heat the coop (because that's what chicken manure as compost does). It in turn helps keep the chickens warmer in the colder months.
This means minimal cleanings and only occasional upkeep.

DEEP LITTER METHOD:

 You will need

• Pine Shavings, and Hay if desired.

• 1/2 lb of  Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) --a natural substance which has long been used to as a natural pest control and absorber and dehydrator. (It helps dry chicken poopie). It also has a side use as a nutritional supplement.

• I usually buy my Diatomaceous Earth at the North End Organic Nursery.

1. If you have a open wire floor like mine, you will first prepare the coop by laying down a cover on the wire floor so the shavings won't fall through. Light weight board, or thick cardboard would work great.

2.On the floor of the coop add 6 inches of pine shavings. You can add only a few handfuls of hay if you like as well. I like to add it to keep the litter from clumping too much.

3. Sprinkle a fine layer of food grade Diatomaceous Earth on the pine shavings. (I use my flour sifter)

4. Lightly rake the shavings and the DE together and every other day or so as needed.

5. Every month or so afterward add another 1-2 inches of pine shavings and another sprinkling of DE. Then lightly rake. (your chickens might even do this for you!)


In the spring time you can clean out the coop and add the litter to your compost pile. It makes a wonderful addition flowerbeds and plants.

Nice clean comfy coop in the winter will help our flocks stay happy and in turn be better for egg production, which is already tough in the winter.

For more information on Diatomaceous Earth - click below to find a study on litter quality and chicken broiler performance. The study is done on broilers but I think can be expanded to apply to all chicken breeds.

University of Georgia study on Litter Quality and Broiler Performance -

Heat, Death and Eggs.

It's been freakin hot... and I've been busy getting our little suburban micro farm ready for the heat. Soooo... that's my excuse for the long absence. Not a very good one eh?

Well the green house is up, the new shades are in place, the a/c is getting a tune up and we've invested in a water-evaporator cooler to try to relieve the power meter from running round and round and burning a hole in our budget. Anyone else who  has done anything to prepare their house for summer? Tips, Idea's? Please do tell!

The chickens are doing well. Here is nut shelled update.

A dog we were fostering killed Ferdinand and Isabella my Rosecomb Pair and Ruby our big reliable Easter Egger. Children crying, feathers everyone, dog gone the next day.

RIP Ferdinand & Isabella





This silver lining was that now I deserved a trip out to Schwartz Farm in Parma Idaho.

Martha was out back and  I picked out a mottled blue banty Cochin, (Fluffy). Martha was good enough to let me buy her gorgeous Japanese/Serama Rooster ( Henry), and his mate- a petite grey Japanese bantam (Anne).

All are happily enjoying the backyard and all the bugs they can eat.

Oh oh!! The first chicks we bought from Schwartz Farm back in February are now laying eggs! For the last two eggs we've been finding a big beautiful soft suede colored egg in the coop.

Winnie our partridge silkie hen has become broody and is sitting on a clutch of eggs-- all of them are Henry and Anne's. She only leaves her nest twice a day to eat drink and indulge in a quick dust bath. This is her first try-- so I'm not going to get my hopes up. :(

My summer of failure ended in a happy note with finding a breeder in Ohio who sold and shipped me her beautiful blue silkie hen and some black silkie chicks.   I am still on the hunt to find some Showgirl chickens...

The chickens got under the solar tarp on my garden and made quick work of all the leafy greens, sparing only the prickly bush of the zucchini-- making it necessary to build a  greenhouse. Crafty chickens--- all my greens gone from our raised beds.

Still at the end of everyday I look forward to sitting on the lawn and watching the girls come running at me, heads bobbing back and forth to noodle out any treats in my hand.

They talk and parp at me and each other as if they are asking me questions then settle in next to me and nap at my feet.

A Turken's day out.

Jenny is our bantam turken. She is the only hatchery chick I still have in my pen.
I sold my hatchery silkies at the recent IBBA auction because I needed to make room in my pen for the hatchling's I was expecting.
All are show quality lines- these should be really gorgeous birds. Like Marylin Monroe chickens.. if she were a chicken.

Jenny on the other hand is more of a Pippi Longstocking looking little thing. Bear in mind that for a turken, she is quite cute. She also has the softest demeanor and is so very docile and actually quite cuddly.

We took a turn in the yard yesterday together and smelled the flowers and watched the other chickens peck about the yard at fat bugs and juicy weeds.. and occasionally my plants..

I will admit- I am smitten with my chickens.

Who loves free?

I've decided that for the few readers out there-- all three of you right? I would offer a give away this month..

To sign up- simply become a friend of Boise Backyard Chickens on Facebook
Or  you can become a follower of this blog by clicking on the follow me box in the lower right hand corner.


If you do both- you'll be entered twice and double your chances to win! 

I'm not Oprah- so no one will get a new dishwasher or tv, so calm down. Instead the winner will get...
A BRAND NEW CAR!  Just kidding.. ahh.

I'll draw names out of a hat in two weeks so go click that link now.

The winner will get:

The Joy of Keeping Chickens: The ultimate guide to raising chickens for fun or for profit. 

 

Incubation - Part II The Aftermath.

If anyone out there is actually reading this blog.. maybe someone may have been interested in what happened with my hatch.
It was a complete failure. 32 eggs-  Not one chick.  Not one hatch. In my hatching group everyone else got tiny bodies of lovey joy wrapped in fluff. I got a rock... then I got the rock taken away because I broke it.

Most likely my Franken-Bator was the final death blow.

I saw movement, but no pips, no little beaks breaking through the shell. On day 24 I candled them again-- no movement.  I opened them up yesterday (ironically) on Mother's day to find that their umbilical cord had not closed and they were all covered in a gooey sticky membrane with un-absorbed yolk sacks. 

Feeling like a gooey sticky membrane myself, I studied each little lifeless body to see that they also had malformed head and beaks. I referenced the "what went wrong" guide and figured it was the roller coaster ride of temps and humidity. 

I learned quite a bit. Darling hubby and kids brought up my spirits with coffee, good chocolate and a new book about chickens.



Relief is a much deserved after thought. In the future to anyone who might actually read this blog-- if you want to start hatching your own chicks here are a few very important lessons I will heed in the future.

1. To save my sanity- get three thermometers. A digital thermometer/hygrometer, a mercury and a stem thermometer.
2. Only candle eggs at 10 and 18 days. I think I candled the eggs too much and all that handling and opening the incubator took it's toll. 
3. Incubator location needs to be in a stable temperature area. I put my incubator in our mud room which fluctuates by 5-10 degrees... bad bad.
4. Don't use expensive eggs on your first hatch.  In hindsight I should have offered to hatch some barnyard eggs for someone else before popping in my super nice and spendy silkie and cochin eggs.
5. Learn from mistakes. ie: Don't do anything I did in my last post. Bad Bad.


I have a new sets of eggs in the Hovabator which I have placed upstairs in my walk in closet of all places.

Meticulous is my mantra for this hatch.

News Flash: We have lockdown, I repeat Lockdown.

It is officially 18 days from the first day I put my eggs in the incubator.
That means it's time for lock down.

Lock down happens 18 days after first day of incubation. On day 18 the incubator stays closed unconditionally for the next three days while the chicks hatch.

After fighting irregular temps and humidity in the Hovabator I am taking a risky and potentially dangerous course of action.. (cue movie trailer music and throaty guy voice over).."Lock down in a home made incubator".

So, okay, while obviously not the wisest course of action I was feeling entirely powerless with the fluctuating temps and humidity in the current incubator. I was also (probably irrationally) scared that there was no air flow in the incubator.

*warning: the following is going to make most of you seasoned fowl professionals cringe and or possibly induce eye rolling- please stop reading this woman's misguided actions now*

Faced with the idea that all my clutch (possibly five) that survived thus far are potentially a loss.. I made my own 'bator.
Ingredients for my idiocy.

1- 10 gallon fish tank (washed and dried)
1- Utensil tray (unused and waiting for a yard sale, to hold the eggs)
2- Kitchen sponges (brand new, to draw water up from the bottom of the fish tank)
2- Locker mates shelves (un-assembled and laid flat)
1- Toddler sock (soaked in water to aid in the humidity)
1- heat lamp 250 watt (make you crazy red bulb)
1- Fish tank air pump (gets sock wet with the bubbling action and also works as a fan.. sort of.)
1- Thermometer/Hygrometer (Timex: because if it fails me, it's going to take a licking)
1- Soft bath mat and or stroller snuggly (for insulation)

This is the result: (chicken experts after you've finished laughing at the above, please avert your eyes from the below)

The temps have been holding steady at 99-100 degrees and the humidity is steady at around 50%.

I've had my few schizophrenic moments of sitting next to the tank for what seems like hours, glaring red light burning my brain, staring at the eggs, swearing I just heard something or saw something move, I swear I heard something... I may have swatted at a few imaginary flies.
It was like living in the Kenny Roger's Roaster's Episode of Seinfeld.



My husbands laughter turned to a odd worried look when I told him I wanted to sleep in the mud room with the incubator, just in case I hear something again.

I'm waiting for that all glorious first pip.. that first sign of life.. and the relief and elation that I'm not a complete failure at hatching eggs.

Update in the morning-- I'm going to put another pot of coffee on.

Incubating Joy-- pt 1.

I am in week two of my incubation journey.

Two weeks ago I started with setting, what is now a staggered hatch.

Set on 04/16 Silkies @ 12 + eggs from Kentucky Silkies - Non standard colors

Set on 04/18 Cochins @ 12 + eggs from Ozark Bantams- black and white

Set on 04/20 Silkie Cochins @ 6+ eggs from the
T he Bantam Barn - Barred & Black silkie

After candling.. I think too much.. I'm down to

11 - Silkies, 6- Cochins and 4- Silkie Cochins.

The last two days were a frustration of fluctuating low temperatures (ideal is supposed to be 99.5) and my temps varied from 88-94. Humidity stayed pretty steady at 40-50 percent.

Luckily I have many good chicken keeping friends who are sending me lots of good juju.

It helps to have as much knowledge, even if it is hindsight. Here is a great Incubation Troubleshooting Guide I found on the Back Yard Chickens forum

I'll keep you updated.

New Chicks on the Block.

I couldn't resist. On Easter Sunday we happened to be in Parma, and I just had to stop by and see Jim and Martha and pick up something for me.
I had fully intended to pick up a red silkie.. nothing more.
Until I saw the sweetest partridge silkie with the biggest darkest eyes. I made her mine and named her Wilhelmina.
My son had to have one of his own as well. So we picked up 9 month old Amerauacana/Easter Egger and named her Ruby.

Ruby and Wilhelmina (Mina) are settled in nicely at home. Pictures to come.

Chicken Coop-- the saga.

It wasn't going to be that hard I thought.

I worked for weeks on plans and finally had a solid idea of how to go about things.

Lowes was my go to place for materials. I spent about $300 in materials and tools.. then spent the last of my sanity and hand strength building the darn thing.

Looking back- I would have still built the coop myself. It was the only way to get the satisfaction I wanted with the price tag I was ruled by.

So now I have a lovely tractor coop. It is 4x4x4.5. It has a chicken door, a back large access door. Tool cloth floor to allow for the deep litter method and easy cleaning. Vented ceiling that is screened in with tool cloth. Sloped roof and even a drop hatch door that leads to a chicken run beneath the whole coop.

I've never built anything larger than a cat scratch post.. which took me three days. eeysh.

So here she is in all her glory.. sporting all cedar walls---

I would have written sooner-- by my hands are still recovering from what I swear is carpel tunnel from building the glorious coop.

My little chicks are all settled in an cozy.

We lost 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte chick to some strange illness. But we are still ahead of the curve as far as fatalities go. We had been estimating we might lose as many as four. To date we have a happy healthy flock.

I am very attached to my Ameraucana's. Specifically a splash blue wheaten Ameraucana-- I've named her Ginsberg. Her sister Ameraucana's are Fehrlingetti and Neruda.

They are keepers for sure!

They're heeeerrree!

And it almost didn't happen.. thank you very much google  maps.

Yesterday my husband and I headed out with our youngest to the Schwartz Chicken Farm in Parma Idaho.

We knew we didn't have too much time because of long set appointments that we had scheduled.

So we drove out to Parma. We pass through Caldwell... and then into Notus.. and then into Parma. I've gotta say I'm biased because I love Parma.
I love the rolling spaces and the blue brush and the stark beauty of it all. It was looking especially gorgeous this morning with the fog sitting on the hills like gauzy cotton blanket.

So we took out our handy dandy phones/pda's and google mapped the directions to the Schwartz Farm.
3500 Elmore Rd Parma Idaho.

The maps directed up to a golf course. Then do a dead end street off of Ward lane. We'd been driving over 1 1/2 hours and we were due to be on our way back to Boise already.
Conversational polite scuffles ensued when my husband kept insisting that we come back another day.
I finally made a statement... "I'm not leaving Parma without my baby chicks!"

Silence. Then pouting on my point. My husband realizing how important it was to me charged ahead on our mission (I think the twelve point verbal presentation about the importance of getting what I want helped)... then there it was. I saw the Schwartz Farm Coop! We're Here... I think I actually clapped.

**Insert glorious opera aria here**

It may be a bit of a drive-- but oh so so so worth it.

I had exactly thirty minutes to get in there pick out my chicks and head home.

Ok-- so forgive me if the following sounds like an infomercial, but I have to brag on my chicken breeders Jim & Martha Schwartz. (and this is NOT a paid endorsement)

Jim and his Martha were wonderful. Big smiles and greetings from both of them.
They showed us around the coops and gave great information on the chicks. Martha was great at giving a guided tour of the chickens and any detail you want to know.
And the chickens! Oh-- I was like a hypoglyciemic kid in a candy store! Beautiful chickens everywhere, and in such great shape.
I chose Jim & Martha Schwartz' smaller chicken farm because I wanted a more personal experience. Here are some other reasons why.

• They guarantee the sex of their standard size chickens. If you by chance get a rooster.. just take em back and they'll make it right. 
• They are both founts of chicken knowledge and get back to you with quick responses. All of my questions were answered in a personable way. They really want to help their customers.
• They really care about their chickens and it shows. The chickens were all in such good form and really beautiful. 
• They are local! Buy Idaho! 
• For the experience. There is something special about going to a working chicken farm. Buying from a commercial hatchery or pet supply store is ok.... but I guarantee that you won't get the experience and the memories you will from a real personal experience. 
• They want  you to succeed. The relationship they have with their customers doesn't stop after you pick up your poultry. It will be a relationship.

If you are in the market for a coop you should definitely check out Jim's Coops! He has a selection and different types and styles. My favorite was the coop that looked like an outhouse, complete with toilet seat brooder ports! And his coops are made of cedar- (way good for chickens). But he can also build custom coops too.
If you are looking for a more personal experience in getting any of your poultry stock you really should go to the Schwartz farm first.

And psstt... they are getting a shipment of the Belgian D'Uccle Mille de Fleur' Bantams on Friday... EEEH!!! These are such sweet docile beautiful birds and sold out on almost all the chick provider sites via mail order and finding them around here isn't much better.
They are gonna go fast so better get your deposit in now!

So without further ado... meet my new baby chicks.!

2- Buff Orpingtons
2- Plymouth Barred Rock
2- Ameraucana's (I wish I had gotten more)
1- Buff Silkie
8- Silver laced Wyandotte

They are all settled in and cozy.

Here is the info for the

Schwartz Chicken Farm Coops or Chickens
3500 Elmore Rd Parma ID 83660
208-674-1012.

And here are the directions. Coming from Boise take I-84 towards Caldwell.
Take the exit 20, then make a left. Stay on through Notus and Parma. Then turn right on Pearl Rd and stay on the road. Turn left on Elmore to 3500 Elmore road. It should be on your right.
Just stay on those roads and you'll get there. 

P.S. Jim is also an author and has several Country lore books for sale. Definitely worth a read and priced way reasonable! I'm going to pick up a couple next time I'm out-- they will make great gifts for any Idahoan.
Check out the page and order your books online at JimSchwartzBooks.com then pick them out when you go to pick up your chicks!

Chick-mas eve

It's Chick-Mas eve! I can only liken the excitement to being a 11 year old with front row seats to the Jonas Brothers concert.
YEEEE!!

I was able to find everything I needed at the local Zamzows. They were really helpful, but a little low on stock as they said that Chicken stuff is starting to fly off the shelf. I did have to settle for plastic feeders. (I would have preferred galvanized. Brooder lamp with the 250 watt bulb is set up.
But the supplies I bought will more than do. 
1- Adjustable Brooder lamp $12.99
1- 250 Clear white brooder heat bulb $6.49 (I bought the cheaper clear lamp instead of the red one which only emits heat. The sales clerk let me know that it doesn't really matter which type you use)
1- Pine shavings in a compressed bale $9.89
1- Package of Zamzows starter chick feed - $11.99
1- Feeder base - $2.99
1- Fount base (water) - $1.99 (I actually grabbed the last one they had on the shelf)
2- Poultry Jars 1 qt. 2x 2.49 - $4.98
1- Poultry Vitamins $3.99
Total with tax came to $58.63 

Not bad I think for everything my chicks should need for the first few months of their life. 

I used an empty storage bin and a shelf in our mud room.

My brooder has been sanitized, a thin layer of pine shavings laid. Starter feed is loaded, and water is waiting to be filled. We have a cloth screen that will lay underneath a heavier metal screen.
I need to pick up a thermometer to ensure that the temp stays 99 degrees. Then each week after we will have to lower the temp from the brooder lamp by 5 degrees but shutting if off at times or using an oil heater I placed on the floor next to the brooder. 

I am agonizing about having to look at a silkie chick and just say no.. I'll tell you this readers.. I'm going to really try.

My biggest challenge is going to be keeping our kitty Pabu and our dog Moosie from disturbing (ie: eating) the baby chicks. Family members have been instructed to keep animals out for the first week.

Next post you'll see from me I will be the proud Mama of 14 baby chirpity chicks!

T-Minus three days...

Giddy with egg-citement.

My chicks are coming, my chicks are coming! This Thursday I will be picking up my chicks. My order has increased and changed a bit.
I was expecting to have a coop well underway in the construction stages by now. Unfortunately some sad family business kept us from being able to dedicate any amount of time to it.

Instead I used my handy-dandy computer to email my favorite chicken breeder- Jim and changed my order.
All are 1 day old chicks. This hopefully will allow for more time to get our coop built and chicken ready within the three months before introducing them to the wilds of our backyard.
2- Australorp
2- Ameraucana
10- Silver Laced Wyandotte

Did I mention that Jim Schwartz will guarantee the sex?!  How awesome is that! If a little rooster hardware begins to appear I can just swap him for a hen from Jim. (I wouldn't even begin to know how to sex a rooster.. I guess I'll know when he starts crowing).

I am getting a few insurance chicks as I hear it is normal for casualties along the way. And I'm going to try my best not to buy a few silkies... I wonder if they make a chicken patch for addictions.

I think I've almost perfected my coop plans and am now in the bidding war process. Thanks to everyone for their input on the coop design and for letting me know what is important to you. I promise if my coop goes well.. I will be happy to endorse the builder to you. And YES- for those DIY'ers I made sure to ask about a DIY Kit option.
To be safe I want to make sure the work is quality work. I've had bids so far everywhere from $200-400 in price range. While it would be easier to go with the lowest bid, I want to make sure that I go with quality too.
From the input I got the average spending range is $275- $375.

So keep checking for updates, better yet, become a subscriber and you can receive updates as they come. Save yourself the time of checking in every day.

For those of you who have chicks coming the release date for most hatcheries is Feb 17--- so make sure your brooders are ready! For information on setting up a brooder visit one of the links visit Backyardchickens.com

Bawk- Bawk!