Brooklyn Feed

Today we set up lights and Neil took some photos of the chicks while I made sure they didn’t jump off our set. I guess I was the chick wrangler.

So, meet the girls…

The names are a work in progress, and we are only keeping two of these four, so bear with me while we work this out. Also, when you involve a 7 year-old in the naming process, things can get wild. Our friend now has a dog named Party Hat…

So, first off we have Razzmatazz (Lindsay was drawing with a Crayola crayon by that name). The name has some spunk, but doesn’t easily roll off the tongue. Besides, can chickens make jazz hands? Razzy is a Plymouth Barred Rock. You can look at my earlier post to see links of what all these gals will look like as adults.

Second is Stripey. This is definitely *not* going to be the final name if I have any control over this. Both of these little ones kind of resemble penguins with their white bibs. She is also a Barred Rock. So far these two are the bossiest of the bunch. Stripey is showing signs of pasty butt, which can be life-threatening. This is when the droppings aren’t soft and kind of block up and “paste over” their bottoms. You have to remove what you see on the outside and keep the plumbing moving. If it makes a plug, the chick can die. I saw a looser

Third off is Midnight. She’s a Blue Andalusian, although she’s probably going to be black and not what is considered blue. She’s the most mild-mannered little sweetheart. She’s one of the ones I’m fostering and I will have a tough time parting with her. She was the little one who I was so worried about when I first opened the box. She looks like a little wild bird and not a chicken. She’s doing very well.

And last of all is Edie jr. She’s an Easter Egger who we got to replace our beloved chicken Edie who died last summer. This one is quite a character. She seems very independent and feisty. So it will be fun to see how they develop.

And how insanely cute are those fuzzy butts??

Today was the big day. Our peeps arrived in their little boxed nest in the mail. It’s so funny to have a peeping box handed to you. I was glad to hear the peeping because I was very anxious about them during their journey. It was extremely hot here yesterday, which adds stress to an already stressful journey. Fatalities can occur, which is extremely sad. Fortunately my gals seemed to be fine.

Once I opened the box, I dipped their tiny beaks into the water dish to help rehydrate them and to let them know where their water source is. One seemed a little sluggish, but I kept giving her water and she seems to have perked up nicely. Those are marbles in the water dish, which keep them from falling in the water their first week and drowning.

They all kind of look the same right now, but there are 2 Plymouth Barred Rocks, which have a white dot on their heads. There’s one with a little orange on her, who is our Easter Egger, and the little black one is the Blue Andalusian. It turns out that the blue color only happens 50% of the time. Unless something changes when she gets her true feathers (which I don’t anticipate) this little gal will stay black. But, hey, black is still a very chic color here in NYC!

I knew that there had to be videos on YouTube for how to dust your chickens for mites, but I never could seem to find one. Here are a few videos that are very helpful.

Dusting or Powdering a hen

Doing the “Shake and Bake” method

Shows a serious mite infestation

red mites

Yesterday I brought our chickens to my daughter’s school for their Earth Day celebration. We were representing backyard chickens. This is one of many school visits we’ve done with them, so they are seasoned pros. We have a dog crate, which is the perfect size for an afternoon. Many factory hens live their entire lives in cages many times smaller than this, but that’s another discussion.

Last year I picked ivy from our garden for the kids to feed them. With the winter being so long, we don’t have ivy leaves yet, so I bought a tub of spinach leaves. The kids had a blast feeding the hens and the piggy little girls wolfed down almost every leaf presented to them.

There was another table with worm composting, and towards the end of the day, kids were bringing worms over to feed our girls. They wolfed those down as well, enjoying the change from spinach. They even ate the feed I brought them. It was really kind of amazing how much they ate in those 2 hours.

By 5pm, they were tired and ready to get home. I was afraid Lulu was having a mini nervous breakdown because she was continuously making a noise I had never heard before. Kind of like a donkey bray with a hiccup at the end. But this morning she’s good as new and even laid an egg. It’s probably so rich with beta-carotene from all yesterday’s spinach!

Happy Earth Day to everyone. How are you celebrating?

Here’s a great article from the NY Times that a friend forwarded me. It sums up chicken keeping in New York perfectly.

When Neil was doing the farm chores this morning, he noticed that there were two eggs in the nest box. It seems as though our girls start laying right around Groundhog’s Day each year. I am thrilled to have fresh eggs again, and I’m sure the girls are happy to have more daylight. Now if we could just get rid of some of the snow in the backyard, they would have more room to roam around. Seems with their older age, they don’t like to stand on snow. Can’t say as I blame them. I wonder if there are any crazy chicken people who put little booties on their girl’s feet.

Here are some photos from today’s snow of 15″. Everything was covered with a heavy, wet snow. New Yorkers, who are usually freaked out when confronted with nature, are now taking all this snow in stride.

Here’s a story about chicken keeping in my section of Brooklyn. The writer Molly Culver interviewed me among others for her article.

Here is an insanely gorgeous chicken coop that was designed in the UK. It is made out of cedar, stainless steel and glass. It is obviously for free-range hens as there is no run. I look forward to peeking inside of one of these someday soon to better see the roosting and nesting areas. They made a pull out droppings tray, so it’s not just pretty, but practical as well. You can read more about it on their website. I wonder if this will make it to the US. She says hopefully…

Today was a beautiful day, so my hubby worked outside getting the coop ready for the cold weather. He wrapped the smaller run with some plastic to keep out the cold winter winds. He also brought the extension cord out there so when it gets colder we can have our heated water dispenser. We haven’t had a frost here yet, but it’s good to get ready. The girls had a nice afternoon running around the yard and inspecting the renovations.

As you can see, the head of cabbage we hung in the larger run is hanging there totally ignored.  Not at all like the eager cabbage-pecking I saw from the chickens on youtube. I thought this might happen. Kind of like when you buy a cat scratcher and the cat still uses your sofa.