Our Friendly Neighborhood Raptors

One day this summer I heard a slightly different sound from the chicken coop -- not necessarily an alarm sound, nor very loud, just different. I looked out the window to see this sitting on the gate:

I think it is a sharp-shinned hawk. Anyone have a definitive id?

Half the flock was cowering in the coop, half was in the fenced-in area cowering. These chickens aren't very smart, though. As soon as I came out the door, they all came running toward the fence, nearer to the gate WHERE THE HAWK WAS SITTING, happily clucking in anticipation of the treat they were expecting from me. Arrgh!! I waved and flapped my arms and yelled for the hawk to go away, which it did in it's own sweet time.

The other day I came down the stairs, looked out the window next to the front door, and saw this:

What, is he expecting a picnic? He flew away as soon as the flash on my camera went off. I didn't mean for the flash to fire, it was a cloudy day. Oops.

Coop Round Up

All winter we had the coop right out the back door in the yard. It was in a great spot to watch the goings on while standing at the kitchen sink. And it was a quick walk to get eggs, close it up at night and open it in the morning.

Plus, in January, it was right next to the ice skating rink. (Reason #623 why we don't have a manicured lawn.)

But we don't have a big yard, and the coop's position really ate up a good chunk of it. So this spring we moved it across the yard on the hill that marks the end of the yard and the beginning of the woods. There is a flat area that was an overgrown garden when we moved here and John used as a place for a metal storage shed, which he moved further up the hill and in the woods.

The chickens have more room to roam, have some shade from the trees, and have a great time scratching around in the hay we threw down. This photo is taken from our upstairs bathroom window, and it is one of life's simple pleasures to watch your chickens as you brush your teeth in the morning.

However, our original plan of having the coop like a "chicken tractor" that gets moved around the lawn hasn't panned out. It is cumbersome to move, the enclosed coop area isn't really big enough to keep six chickens happy, and they trash the lawn in about a day and a half. It takes much longer than that for the grass to come back. So the coop is parked.

But since the coop is on a hill, we had a problem with escapees. It took us a while to figure it out, but 3 chickens (are the others afraid of heights? Not as smart? Who knows!) consistently fluttered from the top of the retaining wall behind the coop to the roof, then walked down the roof and flew over the fence. Probably as close to soaring as a chicken will ever get.

We didn't mind it so much in the beginning, but chickens scratch indescriminately, and never throw the dirt where you would like it to go. If there is a sidewalk nearby, they will ALWAYS scratch dirt and mulch onto the sidewalk.

So after several attempts at baffles (see the orange tape in the photo above) to keep the chickens off the roof of the coop, we finally resorted to clipping the wing feathers of any escapees found in the grass. It seemed to work, and now that their feathers have grown back, they seem to have forgotten that it is possible to fly out. Good thing.

Why I Fell Off the Wagon

Thanks to Mrs. F. at my daughter's school today (no, they are not out of school yet!!!) for prompting me to get back on the blogging wagon again. She was too polite to say it, but I knew she has been thinking it is pretty lame around here every time she's checked for the last six months.


So thank you for your checking persistence, and letting me know there are at least two other people (Mrs. F and her daughter) besides my husband who wonder when the next update will be. And I think my husband only asks because deep down he is a narcissist and likes to see himself on the web. Or maybe it is not so very deep down. But that is a bit of psychoanalysis for a different time.


Well, where have I been? At 10:29 pm on March 22 I looked like this:




And by about 6:00pm on March 23 we looked like this:


Let's get a closer look at this big, healthy baby boy:




He looks very much like his dad (cheeks, nose, mouth). But he still has my blue eyes. Aren't blue eyes supposed to be recessive? All our kids have them, and dad's eyes are very much brown. The blue eyes in my family must have especially sharp elbows in the gene pool because my brother's two daughters have bright blue eyes and their mom's eyes are brown (that's Nana in the middle there):



So his statistics are:

born 4:51 pm March 23

weight: 9 pounds 8 ounces

length: 21 3/4 inches

And at 9 pounds 8 ounces, he is our smallest baby! Yes, I have some birthing hips, I guess. The other two children were 10 pounds 13 ounces, and 10 pounds 12 ounces. We were managing for smaller on this one and it worked (everything is relative). No, I did not have a C-section for any of them. And actually I didn't have an epidural either. I'm blessed that they come in a quick and orderly fashion (but not too quick, we do make it to the hospital).

However, I'm not one of those women who says she never felt better when she was pregnant. Blech, I felt nauseous, often. And I'm not one of those women who doesn't get stretch marks. Every baby makes their own. You won't see me in a bikini. Ever. Oh, and I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Bwhaa haa haa haa haa!!

But where are the chickens?? Funny you should ask. While Dad and I were at the hospital, back at the homestead, big sister and big brother were waiting patiently for the Easter bunny (it was Easter Sunday after all):

Popsie, who is serving here as their comfy chair, isn't used to all the morning energy around our house. It wasn't that early, either. TIME TO GET UP!! Go earn your keep and check for eggs!

A Record Day

Today we collected 5 eggs from 6 chickens--the most collected in a day so far. Will we ever have a 6 egg day? Charlotte found 4 this morning when she opened their door, and I found one at lunch time.

They still are using the nest they made on the floor of the chicken house, despite our putting warm comfy hay in their nesting boxes and putting in a golf ball. The golf ball is a ruse to get them to think that other chickens have laid eggs/golf balls in there, so it's real nice and they should lay their eggs in there too. Maybe they're smarter than I thought and we need a more egg-shaped decoy...

The Terrible Thomas Tragedy

Earlier this week I was upstairs, and I heard Peter crying a funny cry downstairs. He was upset. As he found me at the top of the stairs, I realized that his favorite battery operated Thomas engine with its rubber tires was firmly gripping a tightly wound strand of his hair. It was wound so tightly I couldn't see a good place to start unwinding, and it was so tight to his head I couldn't see where to get my scissors in to cut.

Oh great, I thought. Christmas pictures will be great with a chunk of his hair missing. Oh well, it will be true to his two year old image.

The train was still on, so I turned it off and realized I could spin Thomas around and unwind Peter's hair a bit. But I could only go so far, so it was time to break out the scissors. I was able to cut close the train and farther from his head. Yay! Only a few strands of hair left on Thomas and unable to be seen by the naked eye.

Our Bounty

We're up to seven eggs as of this morning. Yesterday I had eggs for lunch, using one of my favorite egg recipes made in the savory version. I first learned it as "Two Eggs and Four People" for breakfast, but I've also seen it called an Oven Pancake, Finnish Pancake, and maybe as a few other things.

I used 3 small, pullet-sized eggs for this one, but would have used 2 large eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup milk

about 2 tablespoons butter

some chopped up deli ham

some slices of cheddar cheese, or whatever you have on hand and sounds good.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. While oven is preheating, put butter and ham in a cast iron skillet or pie pan. We have an extensive collection of Griswold cast iron skillets (the best because they were made in my hometown of Erie, Pa) and I used the #6 for this one. Mix the flour, milk and eggs in a bowl, get everything wet, don't worry too much about lumps. When the butter is melted, swirl to make sure your pan and 1/2 way up the sides is coated. Spread the ham out over the bottom. Pour egg mixture into pan and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. I sprinkled cheese on the top before I put it in the oven:

When your timer beeps, it looks quite impressive, but deflates a bit as it cools:

Serve for lunch or light dinner with a salad.

Variations include slicing an apple into the melted butter, sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on top. Also can increase to 3 eggs, 3/4 cup milk and 3/4 cup flour for more people and a #8 or #9 skillet. Enjoy!

Looky, Looky

Tuesday morning I thought I heard funny squawks from the chicken coop as I was eating my breakfast, but later looked out and counted all six hens running around their yard. I ran some errands in the morning and didn't check on them until after lunch. When I opened up their back door, I saw this:



See anything in the hay? And this hen was nervously strutting around inside the coop:


This whole operation may look like a poultry exercise, but actually it is an economics lesson for our children. Lesson one is on Economies of Scale. Egg #1 is a very expensive egg. I think we'll bronze it. Isn't it beautiful?


Here it is next to an officially classified large egg from the farmer around the corner for comparison:

Hens lay pullet-sized eggs (smaller) for the first few weeks, then they get larger. I'd say they are about 75% of your usual supermarket large eggs.

I called my husband at work to tell him the good news, starting with, "Guess what we got today? Something we've been waiting a long time for!" He replied, "My package came!"

When I picked up my daughter at school for an after-school appointment and asked her to guess what came today that we've been waiting for, she answered, "Peter got words!!"

Upon further prompting neither one guessed chicken egg until I made clucking noises. Yup, we're all on the same page around here.

This morning I woke up right before sunrise to go to the bathroom, and I heard stressed squawking from the chicken coop. They have a light in the coop that is on for two hours in the morning to give them about 14 hours of light (so they lay eggs). I looked out, saw the light glowing in the coop window and wondered what kind of party was goin' down. I hoped it was an egg-laying party and not the chicken version of a Tupperware party.

I was tempted to go outside with a flashlight, but my warm bed sounded much better. An hour and a half later I sprang out of bed and went outside to check on the ladies. I opened the back door of the coop and was greeted with 2 eggs! Chickens lay an egg every day and a half or so, and I suspect that hen #1 laid another egg and a new hen started laying. Another possibility is that hens #2 and #3 started laying and hen #1 is still in shock about what happened to her two days ago. If they keep to the day and a half schedule, we should get another egg tomorrow afternoon. We shall see....