Life Transplanet

The weather has had a pretty big change here.  As I say that Puerto Rico just experienced Irene!  So I suppose change is all relative.

Once a year Cassie and I like to camp out in our backyard in a tent that was given to us as a wedding gift.  I spent quite a bit of time camping up in the mountains when I was growing up.  While it was fun, it’s one of those things that I have done quite a bit so it isn’t something that I feel I need to do.  Sleeping outside under the stars with Cassie is a lot of fun and we don’t have to drive, pack food, pack clothes and figure out all the details involved with a ‘camping trip’.

Our Tent

I used to also camp out in my backyard as a kid and across the street at my friend Matt’s house.  It was a lot of fun and I am sure parents enjoy it because your sleepover (loud kids) is outdoors!

We figured we had better get our once a year backyard camp out done because we have entered into the Fall season (maybe not officially, but you can feel it).  The weather is cooler, the veggies are ripe and the growing season is slowly coming to an end.  We’ve been getting more food from our garden lately too.

Fruit, Vegetables and Eggs

With the change in season we are starting to think about Puerto Rico too!  I hope there isn’t too much damage to the property, but if there is we can just fix and mend like we usually do!  We really enjoy our summer here in Colorado, but the winter is so long it will be nice to have a place to go where we can plant, pick garden and camp out!

I hope all our friends are doing well in PR after Irene.  The few Facebook posts we’ve seen indicate it wasn’t too bad and I hope that is the case.  I’d actually like to be down there for a tropical storm / hurricane at some point.  Just for the experience of it.  Not a major one of course!

The yard is becoming quite the wonder once again. I wish it could be spring, summer and fall all year round because our house and yard look awesome and produces some terrific food in the bright sunshine. The chickens would be happier too!  But if that were the case, we might not be planning our escape to Puerto Rico!

The chicks are getting bigger. I think they are still too small to live outside, but they might be able to here in about 3 weeks. We had to put the Schnoodle baby gate over the top of the box because they kept flying up on top of the box sides and pooping.

The big chicken continues to lay her eggs in the newly constructed chicken coop, but still wants to sleep in the greenhouse. One day we closed the greenhouse to see if she would go to sleep on her own in the new coop. When we checked on her, she was sitting right outside our back sliding door, so we just let her into the greenhouse once again.

Here’s a few pictures I took today. Beware, they contain scenes of a sunny nature:

A chick exploring in the flower garden (under supervision)

Here’s the chick on my arm and the adult in background

Columbine plant (Colorado state flower) in Greenhouse

Looking up at a columbine in greenhouse

The chicken knew spring was coming weeks before the time change.  All of a sudden she started popping out an egg a day again.  I think the amount of light that they get helps them start egg production.  Since the sun is up longer now, she is an egg laying machine.

Chicken eggs

Another of the blogs I wrote for the Greeley Tribune was printed today. I am an official blogger for the Healthy Habits blog on their website, and occassionally, they will publish a blog into hard copy. It is fun to see your work in print. This particular one is based on our experience with our chickens, that I have written about here as well. The only downside to getting printed is when the editing is done by someone else. They took out probably the most important paragraph:

“<p>Overall, chickens are a fun addition to any sustainable-living adventure, and I would recommend them whole-heartedly. These eggs have health-benefits that go above regular eggs as well. Not only are you lowering the number of confined animals (sometimes over 30,000 chickens in one hangar never see the light of day or step on the ground), but eggs from chickens that are allowed to roam freely in the yard have a higher omega 3 ratio than those who are fed only grains. They also usually have larger and more brightly-colored yolks which indicate high-vitamin levels. And contrary to popular belief they do not increase blood cholesterol levels in a healthy diet.”

I wish they would have put this picture in to illustrate it as well. Store-bought egg left, Home-grown egg, right

I have a feeling it has something to do with the fact that we have so many confined-animal feeding operations (CAFOs) all over our county…hmmm

That is the general response we hear from people when we talk casually about the chickens. (We hear the same similar response and incredulity when we talk about Puerto Rico, too!) The chickens are awesome! Here are a few fun facts about chickens that we learned, and hopefully they answer a lot of your questions about chickens. If you have other questions, I’ll try to answer them!

1) They generally lay one egg a day. This is not a 24 hour day, however. Our chicken lays one about every 30 hours, so we skip a day every so often. They lay based on the amount of sun – or day length. In the winter, some breeds stop altogether. This is a natural response so that the chicks would have the best chance of survival (spring, summer, and fall). In commercial enterprises, they use artificial lighting to keep them laying through the winter.
2) You don’t need a rooster to have eggs. You only need a rooster to fertilize the eggs. Unless you have a lot of room or want to have chicks in the spring, don’t get a rooster. The hens are not noisy at all, but roosters can start crowing at 3am, which may make you the least favorite neighbor ever.
3) They start laying at between 3-5 months old. The black one still hasn’t laid.
4) They spend the day on the ground looking for things to eat, but like to sleep up on a board. This is the “roosting” habit. They should have shelter from the elements and predators. A lot of chicken predators (foxes, skunks, weasels, etc) are noctural and strike when the chickens are most vulnerable.
5) They do poop a lot, and their poop is considered “hot” but is excellent fertilizer. We usually just hose out the greenhouse every so often and that takes care of the smell.
6) Regardless of what your egg carton might say, chickens are not naturally vegetarians. They LOVE grasshoppers, spiders, beetles, etc, and they are GREAT at catching them. One day, Kitty caught a baby bird and left it dead on the back porch for us as he likes to do recently (yuck). I went to go move it from the porch but got a little distracted. When I came back about a 1/2 hour later the chickens had finished him off, feathers and all…Is that cannibalism if it’s in the same family?
7) They are “flock” animals. I wouldn’t suggest getting just one. They have their own language and squawk when we come out to let each other know we are there. They are always together, sleeping, eating, pecking around in the yard.
8)- The egg comes out of the same part as the poop, but it is through a different tube (think: our throats are used for food and for air), so they are completely sanitary unless they land in poop on the ground (the shell would be dirty).
9) Overall, chickens can be used as: pets, meat, eggs, feather source, fertilizer, entertainment, bug abatement and much, much more
10) Oh, and yes, they are legal to have in Greeley city limits. Other towns like Fort Collins are also considering it.
BONUS! When Britton and I were in Puerto Rico last, they were talking about how chickens are great for catching unwanted critters, especially scorpions. Well, that’ll help you sleep at night.