Scratch and Peck

OMG, I love this blog! I made the switch to Scratch and Peck feed a few months ago, and really like the quality of the product. So, check out this chicken blog and I think you will like it, too.

Little Barnyard Miracles

Kitty is my "handicapable" pet chicken. She was attacked by a cat before she came to stay with me, and has a little difficulty getting around. She can do her chicken thing just fine, although she isn't very graceful about it, but she tries. We had some bad downpours a week or so back, and well, poor Kitty somehow managed to get stuck in a brush pile overnight in the rain. When I finally found her the following day, she was soaked, on her back in a puddle, and couldn't walk or stand up. She would instantly tip over and her head would point skyward. I thought she had some type of stroke on top of her old injury flaring up, or maybe her little chicken brain just can't work when it's upside down.

Anyways, she was quite pathetic and unable to fend for herself. The other hens started picking on her too. Knowing that she was going downhill, I placed her in a chick brooder with a heat lamp and hand fed her chick mash, corn and suet, hoping she would turn around. The next day she developed an audible pneumonia and could only lay on her side with her wings stretched out. I began to see she was suffering, and I started making preparations to euthanize her, but had a bit of a moral dilema in regards to how it should be done.

She is a pet afterall, doesn't lay, and I have always made special efforts to keep her safe and fed above the others, or lend her a little helping hand if she couldn't quite make it to a perch. It didn't seem morally "right" to slaughter her, so I opted on humane euthanasia at the vet the following morning, giving her one more night to turn around.

Imagine my suprise when I walked into the coop the following morning, and saw Kitty standing upright at the feeder and waterer drinking and eating on her own. Even when she was near death, she never gave up. She wouldn't just lay there waiting for death and quietly slip away. She made every effort to cling to life even if it ment dragging her body across the coop floor to peck my feet so I would pick her up. She is the embodiment of the term "plucky," and has safely secured a permanent place in my heart, not the table.

Kitty, the morning of her miraculous recovery.

Happy Easter for Chickens and Shibas

Being that it is Easter, and spring fever is in abundance here, it was only fitting that I ended up bringing 8 more chicks home to the flock. These are special chicks, and are the first heritage breed to take residence on my little homestead. They are week old Mottled Java chickens, and are generally very rare, and have a very interesting history as far as chickens go.

Java's are supposed to be an excellent table bird. They are listed by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy as threatened, which means there are less than 1,000 breeding birds in the United States, and 5,000 world wide. They are an efficient dual purpose bird, with a good feed to weight ratio, but may not be as hardy in colder weather as the Buckeye. I guess my quest for the perfect dual purpose, large egg laying, good meat weight, attractive, friendly, calm, hardy and thrifty chicken breed has officially begun.

Here is a good comparison chart listing stats on each breed. Dual purpose heritage breeds I will be investing in the future, are the attractive jumbo egg laying, large meaty Delaware, the Buckeye, and the flashy olive colored egg laying Copper Marans. I'm also interested in Jersey Giants for their large size and jumbo eggs.

The new Java's. They are very cute and sweet and seem to
be doing well in their hutch under the heat lamp.

This hutch is covered on several sides to help retain heat.
Hatchlings are susceptable to drafts until fully fledged. They
must be kept seperate from the larger hens to avoid being
pecked to death.

The Shibas know there is something interesting inside.

A Veritable Smorgasbord

Thank you to Tacoma Boys, for sending me home with a free 30 lb goodie box of fresh organic greens for my hens. This will last through the week, and the chickens love it. Their Friday and Saturday goodies were grass and weeds from the yard, with a large pile of dirt clods and nightcrawlers to kick around. Chickens have modest needs and will eat almost anything that is green or wiggly.

Goodies for the Chickens

I bought some organic food pellets for the chickens, but I also want them to get as much green stuff as possible, since they can't range where the dogs go on the lawn. A good solution suddenly occured to me when I was at my local green grocer/deli, Tacoma Boys. They make a lot of their own goods, and source organically from local farms. I asked for any green stuffs passed selling date or left over from their kitchen prep. This is what they were awesome enough to give me FOR FREE!

Zucchinni, cabbage and apples. They have a few other people who take the bruised fruits/veggies for their animals. So, not only do I absolutely love this store, now I can get FREE organic goodness for my little flock.

I chopped up some cabage heels, strawberries and apple cores to make the mix more yummy for them.

I turned down the free onions. In general, avoid giving your hens onion or garlic as it will taint the natural flavor of the eggs. Same applies with egg storage. I don't refridgerate my eggs, but I am careful not to store them in the onion or garlic basket since they will absorb the odor. However, if you have fresh herbs that are good in omlettes, you can put them in a paper sack along with the morning eggs for a day, and this lends a very gentle flavoring to an already delicious home grown egg.

Chicken and Rice, or Another Misleading Blog Title

I had some leftover brown rice from dinner, so everybody got a little on their food. The Shibas enjoyed it.

 The chickens enjoyed it too! They appreciated the extra moisture as the air has been a little dry recently.

Grym had a little taste and a raw, fresh, chicken egg. Now that he is becomming a big boy, he wears a goat bell so that I can hear where he is given that he likes to explore the bramble patches looking for rodents. He has a few more shows comming up, and he is looking very handsome and bearish.

Wilkommen zu Die Henne Haus

I hope my German is readable, but just in case I mistranslated, "Welcome to the Hen House!"

The Hen Hut

I've been told that chickens have modest needs, so I converted an old pioneer shack on the property into chicken quarters. Yep, fall is here and the chicken digs was built just in time for a torrential downpour concentrated directly above my house. They would have been simply soaked and miserable outside in the tractor.

Grym likes it inside the Hen Hut

I paid a $150 visit with Grym to Del's Feed and Farm supply for wood shavings and chickenwire, and 1/2 a day later, we had our fancy shack. The dirt floor is lined completely with chickenwire, and the busted out windows wire lined as well. The electric hookup will be nice during the dark months, and allow me to warm their water. Nesting boxes and perches are soon to follow. Also, a doorknob would be nice I guess...

He thinks the chicken feed and poo are manna and sweet ambrosia