saying good-bye to the city chicks

 

 Back when the city chicks were young…

If you’ve been reading here a while then you know that we are the people to four city chicks.  Getting the city chicks was a step in the direction of preparing ourselves for our dream of a home in the country.  It was also a step towards blooming where planted as we started an urban homestead and practiced sustainability. 

There was one problem with our city chicks and it was this:  our city is not really chicken friendly.  Oh, you can talk with council members and you’ll hear a couple of things.  Some will tell you that you can not have chickens.  Others say that you are not supposed to have chickens but if your neighbors don’t complain, you are ok.  Still others will tell you that the ordinance was vaguely written and did not explicitly state that you couldn’t have chickens. 

Even with the mixed messages, all would tell you that if the neighbors complained then you would have to get rid of the chickens and you would face the probability of a fine. 

For me, that was a problem.  A huge problem. 

 One last free range before they left.  Poor Bitey (the white one), was molting.  I guess she got to see how the other girls felt about losing their feathers to her as she is the top of the pecking order in our flock and kept them in line with feather pulling.

I was in a constant state of stress as I tried to keep the chickens from being chickens. 

Let me explain…

Chickens aren’t really noisy often but they make noises and the noises can be loud…say when they are laying an egg.  Sometimes they will complain very loudly if they are wanting to get out of the run or missing the other chickens.  I guess I just thought that they’d be quiet all of the time. 

Well, that didn’t happen! {smile}

I was constantly looking out of the window especially if the city chicks were in the fenced off area to free range because chickens can fly (even though we clipped wings).  One chicken even ended up in the front yard one day.  (And I discovered her when she very loudly called for the other chickens.)  If they happened to get loud, I would rush out of the house and try to discover what was upsetting them.  I could not relax with the city chicks because I was afraid that a neighbor would complain.  It.was.stressful.

 Loading the city chicks into the chicken tractor for their trip out to the country.  Each chicken was thanked for the eggs and given a talk about raccoons and such.

Since I am in the process of simplifying my life and reducing stress, we decided to find a new home for the chickens.  Our city chicks are now country chickens.

I miss them.  I cried like a baby when I made the final decision to let them go.  I felt like I had let them down.  And I felt like I was losing a piece of a dream that I have had for so long.  I knew that I would miss their silly antics and taking scraps out to them and watching them run to me for the treats.  Of course, I will miss the eggs.

 Last three eggs from our city chicks

Today I got word from my friend who adopted the city chicks about how they were all doing well and laying eggs.  I know they will enjoy the room to run around and be chickens and do chicken things.  I hope that our city will realize that the urban homesteading movement and knowing where our food comes from are very important in this world of genetically modified foods and the chemically laden foods that are on the store shelves.  I hope that with continued persistence from people wanting the ordinance to change that our city will realize that much bigger cities like Dallas and Nashville allow chickens within the city limits.

Maybe as people begin to realize that it is important what we put into our bodies and what we put into our food…maybe then, city chicks in the backyard will be more of the norm and we can all relax and enjoy the simple pleasures that chickens can bring to our busy lives. 

 How many times have I looked out this window to see what the city chicks were doing?  I still find myself looking out many times a day…It’s awfully quiet out there.

The chicken coop

When we built our chicken coop last year, one of the visions that I had was that the coop blended into the garden.  We placed our coop on the shady side of the garden and I filled in with a few plants.  But it just wasn’t what I had envisioned.

Until this year…

The grape trellis is close to the chicken coop and since it was growing like crazy, we figured it will work well to add some green to the coop and run.  David used some fencing material and wire to build a long trellis down the long side of the coop/run (right above the little white fence).  We then trained the grape vines to grow down the trellis.

Some of the grape vines are even trellising over the coop and run…

At some point this may get kind of awkward as the grapes grow on these vines but for now it is providing shade for the chickens and “softening” the edges of the coop and run.

Now we are adding plants around the base of the coop and run.  These cast iron plants were dug up from the front of our house.  Instead of throwing them away, we replanted them here.  We actually have plans to expand the run so I’ve not planted more.  However, once the run is enlarged, I plan to fill in plants around the coop and run to make it seem like a part of our garden.

 

I love the old-fashioned appeal of the flowers spilling out of the bed, the white fence, the grape vines, and the little white chicken coop!  It’s my slice of country living right here in the city!

City Chicks update

 a favorite activity of the City Chicks:  taking a dust bath

It’s been a while since the City Chicks have had any blog time.  For newer readers, we have four hens that we added to our “city farm” last year.  Actually, they are the whole reason that our home was called a city farm to begin with. 

So what have the girls been doing lately?

They have been:

• Laying 2 – 3 eggs a day.
• foraging in the chicken tractor
• foraging in the yard when we are outside
• taking out a few plants here and there  {ugh}
• eating lots of yummy leftover treats.  Their favorite so far this year:  cantaloupe and tomatoes
• eating bugs
• taking dust baths

We also have a broody hen!  She is not laying right now but sitting in the box constantly trying to hatch the unfertilized eggs.  It’s kind of funny but sometimes worrisome.  So what are we doing for our little broody hen?

• Collecting eggs from under her despite her opposition (she has yet to peck us…she’s a real sweetie)
• Forcing her out of the coop to take care of chicken business (she’ll come out for a yummy piece of watermelon but quickly goes back)
• Praying she soon realizes that her broodiness is futile and starts laying yummy eggs again!

 

Some have asked why we have City Chickens.  Some of the benefits of our City Chickens are:

• the eggs are more nutritious than most store bought eggs
• the chickens create compost for the garden {the best plants this year are in the boxes with composted chicken manure}
• the chickens eat many of our scraps therefore reducing our trash
• our children get to learn responsibility in caring for animals
• we have a source of entertainment that is not electronic

Not only are we enjoying our City Chicks but many of our neighbors are as well.  We often get visits from people who want to visit the chickens.  We’ve even been told that we have the coolest backyard in the city.

We love our City Chicks!

 

What the City Chicks have taught us

It’s hard to believe but we are nearing the one year mark of being the people to some City Chicks.  When we got chickens we knew zilch, nada, nothing about them except what we had read in books.  (And maybe a little hands-on time knowledge for me if you count gathering my grandma’s neighbor’s eggs when visiting my grandma and those summers in the commercial chicken houses…I’ll spare you the details of my job there!)   It has been an interesting and educational year as we’ve discovered some great and not-so-great things about chickens.  

Chickens can be noisy!  In our reading we thought we only had to worry about roosters making noise.  Nope.  The hens do this little bach-bach-bach-BAAAACH song for about a minute after laying an egg.  (Except for Scratchy pictured above.  You just hear her egg hit the floor of the nesting box.)  They will also let you know if their water is frozen, if a crow has some how wandered into their run & is flying around, or if they want a snack.   Our neighbors have told us (with out us asking) that they honestly don’t hear them very often.  I really don’t hear them much either but it’s funny when you hear a chicken singing bach-bach songs in the city!

Speaking of snacks…our chickens love me!  When they hear me coming, they come running.  They will jump at whatever is in my hands.  Why?  Because I am the snack lady. 

Ok. So maybe they really love the snacks but it makes me feel good that they are so happy to see me.

And chickens will eat almost anything.  Any kind of veggie or fruit (except citrus and onion).  Leftover pancakes.  The ends of the bread that no one wants to eat.  Even spaghetti noodles and cooked rice.  They even like…scrambled eggs!

My kids think that is weird but I see the protein going into our new eggs and the lack of leftover food being wasted in our home. 

I don’t want to say this one but…chickens can be mean.

I know it’s what they are supposed to do with the pecking order and all that.  But it breaks my heart to see my sweet Pecky Sue missing feathers because ol’ Bitey maintains her place at the top of the pecking order. 

I just wish they could all get along and play nice!

But nature is nature.  We just try to minimize the pecking and feather pulling by having things for the chickens to do. 

Some of the City Chicks favorite activities besides free-ranging are: (And I think this would not be as big of a problem if they could free range more but we live in the city so we are limited.) 

digging through leaves from the leaf compost pile (and breaking down the compost for us)

searching for chicken scratch and black oil sunflower seeds under those leaves

digging through the piles of weeds from the garden and flower beds

taking dirt baths

eating heads of cabbage (keeps them busy for a while)

One thing we are going to do to hopefully cut down on this pecking problem is to extend our chicken run to have more room.

(By the way, our chicks have been handled by us since they were babies.  They are not mean to us at all.  This is just the whole pecking order thing that you read about.)

The City Chicks are funny!  They are so peculiar in their ways sometimes.

For instance, they only like one side of the nesting box as opposed to the other.  In the picture above, one chicken is sitting in the nesting box, one is waiting in the coop for her turn, and one is waiting on the walkway for her turn!  There was plenty of space for another chicken to lay but no – it had to be right there in that spot!

One day, just to see what they would do, I moved an egg from one nesting box to the other.  The silly chickens pushed it out of the side that I had moved it into!

They really are partial to one side of the nesting box!

The City Chicks are also full of personality!

They really do have personalities.  One chicken is kind of bossy (even to us).  One chicken is shy and quiet but very sweet.  One chicken is the boss of the other chickens (she’s kind of like a rooster hen).  And one chicken is called our lap chicken because she likes to be held.  Many times, she’d rather be held than walk around.   

Our “lap chicken” loves to fly up and sit on David’s shoulder in the mornings.  This morning, I was in charge of morning chicken duties.  Tundra, the said lap chicken, was eyeing me to fly up to sit on my shoulder.  And I didn’t realize it until she landed…on my head!  Good thing I had not washed my hair yet! 

This year has taught us a lot about chickens.  Not all of it has been good.  Would I still get chickens knowing what I’ve learned this year?  You betcha!  Despite any negatives, the chickens have turned out to be fun and loving animals that give back in a tangible way. 

 

Resources for city homesteaders {and people who love to garden}

It is amazing that there is such a growing movement towards people becoming city homesteaders.  I love to open magazines and see pictures of other urban gardens or find new blogs about the same.  It is wonderful to see others taking this journey with us! 

Maybe you’re interested in learning more about city homesteading or gardening a bit in your city home.  I’d like to share some books that have helped me along on this journey.  (Click on the book to learn more about the book.)

The Backyard Homestead

I love that this book shows illustrations of how to lay out a backyard homestead on various sized lots.  This book gets pulled out each year when I’m looking for information on various vegetables and pruning brambles & grapes.

 

 

Little House in the Suburbs

This is a new to me book and I absolutely love it.  The authors (who have a blog by the same name) have humorous writing styles and include pictures of their gardens.  Have I mentioned how I love pictures of gardens? {smile}  This book has inspired me to do more towards self-sufficiency (more on that later, I’m sure) and has given me some new ideas to try around our city farm. 

Carrots Love Tomatoes

My friend, Salinda, had gotten this book and after asking her many questions about companion planting, I decided to get it myself.  Because of this book, I’ve planted onions, strawberries, and lettuces in one small space.  (A lot of food in a small space)  I’ve also been planting my green beans with my strawberries.  I’m interested to see how it all turns out. 

Square Foot Gardening

I love gardens planted in rows but we just don’t have the space for it.  We can plant so much more in our little squares because we plant intensively.  This book tells you how to do that.  (And I really do like the visual appeal of the tidy little garden boxes.)

 

A Chicken in Every Yard

I’ve not gotten very far into this book but so far am loving what I read.  The kids and I have enjoyed reading about the different breeds of chickens and finding out that we made good choices (or probably just got lucky) in our choices of chickens last year.    David said that he wished that we had this book last year because it contains very detailed plans for building a chicken coop. 

Weekend Homesteader ebook

I have been reading these very affordable (99 cent) ebooks on my Kindle.  Don’t let the price fool you.  These ebooks are a wealth of information.  I referred back to one just this weekend as we worked with our raspberry and blackberry bushes. 

 

Do you have any books that you love to refer to as you work on your city homestead or in your garden?

In the garden {end of November}

Gardening has been on the light side lately since the temperatures have been dropping.  We’ve finally been getting some cold temps at night so I brought in the  last of the peppers this week.  I’m hoping to squeeze in a little pepper jelly and pepper sauce making time.

I love gardening in the fall.  Granted, you can’t plant some of the favorites like tomatoes and watermelons.  But it’s just not too hot to work outside.  It is downright pleasant to dig in the dirt right now.  And I really love…

that I can fill the pockets of my favorite sweater with my garden finds.  Today it was pecans from the neighbor’s tree that it generously deposited into our yard.  Sometimes it is eggs from the chickens and sometimes it’s a pepper or two. 

Remember in an earlier post where I talked about giving the chickens leaves from the yard compost pile to dig through?  The chickens turned those leaves into some beautiful looking soil.  That soil has been added to some of the garden boxes to work its magic over the winter.  This spot is marked for tomatoes!  Can’t wait to see if our city chicks will help boost our soil quality and garden production.

The garden looks quite bare right now but there are some winter crops planted.  So far we have collard and mustard greens, turnips, and carrots.  The peppers will probably be composted soon and the pumpkins pulled. 

We have never been able to successfully grow pumpkins before (those squash borer worms that get my squash get my pumpkins too).  I decided this year to just persevere without using chemicals.  The vines looked rather rough but some of the pumpkins did make it.  This pumpkin is just starting to turn orange.  I haven’t a clue what I will do with an orange jack-o-lantern pumpkin in the winter! 

And a garden post wouldn’t be complete with out a picture of our girls!  They are working hard and giving us 3 – 4 eggs a day.  They are also eating a lot lately.  I’m not sure if it is because it is getting cold and they need more food for energy to stay warm or lack of grass but they are really eating a lot.  David built a new little feeding area to keep their food dry since we usually get rain during this time of year.  So far, it works well and looks super cute!

Since we are entering winter, a lot of garden dreaming will be going on.  I’m sure you’ll see a post or two in the future as I dream of our spring and summer gardens!

A day in the life of the city chicks

 The city chicks are up with the birds…literally.

{And don’t even think about being late or Pecky Sue will fuss at you!}

A little breakfast of chicken food and some fresh water prepare the city chicks for the hard day’s work that lies ahead of them.

Later in the morning usually means a snack of kitchen scraps for the city chicks

and

checking the nesting boxes for eggs.

 A brown speckled egg…not sure why it is speckled.  Need to research that because sometimes they aren’t speckled.

Most of the city chicks’ days are spent exercising and digging for bugs.  Sometimes they exercise in the run, sometimes in the chicken tractor, and sometimes {if they are lucky and we are home} they get a day of roaming around the yard.  They love those days!

 

In the afternoon, another round of snacks are delivered to the chickens (they are definitely well fed).  Some days it might be kitchen scraps.  Most days it is a few shovels full of yard compost (leaves, grass clippings) and some chicken scratch.  They also get some fresh water and chicken feed.

As the sunlight fades, the city chicks tuck themselves in for the night. 

We simply come in to close the coop door

and

say goodnight to our hard working city chicks.

 The girls on their roost for the night

Tomorrow morning, we awake and do it all over again

and

enjoy the fruits of having some city chicks. {smile}

The fall garden and the city chicks {October}

I figured that since it was the last day of October that it might be a good time to write a garden update.  What I’m wondering is:  Is it seriously the last day of October?  Has this year flown by or what? {smile}

 From the looks of the picture, it might seem that the garden is kind of neglected right now.  That would be because it is.  Between the drought, the extreme temperatures this summer, and school starting, there has been little time (or want to) to spend out in the garden.  When the kids are having a school break in the mornings, I will putter around the garden and pick a thing or two here and there.  It is so neglected that I feel like the whole title of this blog is a fraud.  But a girl can hold on to her dream even if she hasn’t the time to live it…right?  {smile}

So what is growing in our Little White House garden?

 Peppers

 Pumpkins

 This box was filled with green bean plants until the city chicks scratched them up.  The girls have now been banished from the garden unless they are in this:

 We built a chicken tractor to hold the city chicks so that we can move them around the yard.  We simply put the tractor over a raised bed, place the chickens into it with a little water for drinking, and they work to scratch up the ground for us.  They get bugs to eat and we get well worked soil.  A win-win for all. 

  We’ve also planted collard greens and carrots.  We will share the collard greens and the green tops from the carrots with the chickens this winter. 

Things to do still for a fall/winter garden:

plant mustard greens, more carrots, and possibly cabbage for the winter

replant turnips (also met their fate from scratchy chickens)

plant a few fruit trees

research transferring bramble berries and strawberries

build a new trellis for the grapes

cover unused boxes with black plastic for the winter

 We now have four chickens.  Three of those four are laying eggs.  Well, actually, the fourth also laid about three eggs and then quit.  We haven’t a clue what happened there.  The three layers are giving us about 2 – 3 eggs a day.

 Two of the chickens will lay eggs in the nesting boxes.  (Actually they seem to prefer only one box.)  The third chicken likes to lay her eggs right inside of the large door that we use to access the chicken house.

One day the kids told me that one of the chickens had laid a really big egg and I needed to go see it.  Here is what they were talking about:

 I knew they were joking with me so I’m glad it was just a basketball and not something that would scare me like a bug or snake or anything of the creepy-crawly origin.

 Even though the city chicks have been with us for a while, it is still a very big deal to get eggs from the coop everyday.  The kids will even wash the eggs and they love to count them.  Everyone loves the little green eggs that our Ameracauna lays. 

The garden posts will probably quiet down for a while now since the garden won’t be producing much over the winter.  But I’m all ready planning for next year’s spring garden and possibly a few more city chicks to add to our flock so I’m sure I’ll share a bit here and there.