Three Little Hens Go To Summer Camp

For various reasons I came to the decision to try and find a home for my 3 hens. They have been laying sporadically and I was really counting on high production this summer. Eggs were the main reason I originally wanted chickens. The entertainment and the manure for the compost were just gravy, so to speak.

And they have become very noisy, especially Queenie the Barred Rock. She starts squawking as soon as the sun came up and has taught herself how to crow like a rooster. And I've been thinking about redesigning the coop to be more accessible and easier for my neighbors to manage whenever I go out of town.

So I decided to take a break from chicken keeping and maybe start again next year with a new coop and some new chicks. I wasn't sure how difficult it might be to place 3 adult hens. They are 2.5 years old. So I posted an ad on the chicken board for my area and I had an offer within 24 hours from a specialty poultry farm called C & L Farms.

So now it was time for me to take them to their new home. I figured I could take them in separate boxes, hoping the darkness might keep them calm. Queenie and Scarlet went happily into their chicken carriers, aka cardboard boxes, excited about their new adventure no doubt. But The Fonz, my Black Australorp took me 5 tries and we were both the worse for wear afterward.

When I got to C&L I was certain I had found a good 2nd home for them. Exotic roosters strutted around the front yard and I could see all sorts of fancy birds in pens, Quail, Guinea Hens, Ducks, etc. They also raise goats and pigs at C & L.

Curtis, the owner took each of my hens out of their boxes, told them they were pretty birds and assured each of them that he had just the boyfriend for them. He intends to breed them for a while and then keep them for laying, unless he finds a customer who wants to keep grown chickens.

Now my girls are country girls instead of city girls and they have already outlived most of the chicken population in this country, since most battery hens are butchered after just one year of intensive egg laying, stimulated by round the clock daylight.

I thought I'd be more sentimental about parting with them, since they really were like pets for a while. But for me a chicken is really more like an employee than a pet, and if I stick with this analogy, I guess I had to let them go on to pursue other opportunities. Not exactly fired, since I found them a new gig.

Grow Some Grains For The Girls

What a great idea to add greens to to the mix of treats for the chickens, and keep them busy. It also helps keep the run from becoming dry hard pan in the summer and a muddy bog in the wet months. I am definitely going to give this a try.

Greens for Hens

Transition Time

Time to clean up some of the summer plants, harvest before the cold, and move into a fall mode.

Here is the driveway plot where the tomatoes used to be. I brought them all inside to finish ripening in anticipation of precipitation and cooler temperatures. I planted Austrian Field Peas here as a cover crop. You can see an earlier planting of the same peas on the left side of this picture.

And here's the genius part, Naomi at Concentrates reminded me that cover crops can also be used for grazing. Grazing for animals and for people too. Pea shoots are tender, sweet, and delicious. I've been snipping the tender tops of these peas and putting them in salads and sandwiches.

And when I brought the hens to the front yard for a little field trip they headed straight for the peas.

Below are just a few of the Manzano pepper, related to the Rocotto, a cold tolerant pepper from Peru. I grew 3 plants this year and 2 of them did really well. Super prolific. I've gotten at least 25-30 peppers so far, all the size of a golf ball. They are wonderfully sweet, like a bell pepper, but have some heat. And they dry really well. I'm going to try to keep the plants alive outside for the winter. We'll see how cold tolerant they are.



Another fall project that has kept me from writing; it's time to make pesto, and lots of it. This bundle is from one location in the yard where I had basil growing. Although this year was not great for tomatoes and squash, it was terrific for basil.



My homage to Thomas Kinkaid. A late afternoon shot in the front yard. Who says you can't shoot into the sun. Sometimes being a mediocre photographer really pays off.

It's A Great Idea By Any Name

Urban Homesteaders

Here's a story from the Denver Post about some folks doing what I'm striving to do.
It make sense, it's good for you and your community and it's fun. I love running into like minded folks at the nursery or farmers market. Usually they are so enthusiastic and so willing to share information