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We lost our last silkie rooster, Sumo, on Wednesday. Just like the previous one, we’re not sure what finally did him in but he’d been a bit wobbly for awhile so maybe he was just old. This leaves two silkie hens in with Sr. Modelo…who’s happy not to have to sit on the perch to avoid Sumo anymore, but I hope he doesn’t start bothering those little hens.

It falls quickly for guinea keets. (meanwhile Blanco/a gets cuter).

The incredible bearded women:

Guess what?

Another canning weekend. My mom and I did 14 quarts of spaghetti sauce. With any luck we’ll get that much more from her garden, then maybe we’ll buy tomatoes locally to do salsa.

This is our new rooster, Negra Modelo (or Sr. Modelo, or Macey). He is an Ameraucana, born earlier this year. We got him from the Klossners. He spends a lot of time stalking hens, grabbing them by the tail and then quickly jumping on them before Red comes over and knocks him off. We have him penned separately until Red stops attacking him on sight. He’s a really pretty boy; sure hope he works out OK.

We’ve been spending a lot of time trying to convince the chickens to go home to the new coop at night. They are conditioned to go to the old coop at nightfall, and it’s hard to break habits. Two nights ago we got all but 3 hens and Negra, then today it was just Negra (who had to be lured into the coop storage area using a hen).

At least two of the baby guineas are ker-plonking (hens). Whew. We’re still not sure if the white Ameraucana baby is a pullet or a cockerel; it acts kinda cock-ish.

Moving has not affected egg production. We have over 7 dozen in the fridge. Phil better get his ass over here or I’m going to have to distribute them at work.

The first tomatoes came in this week which means we started canning (although we did do a couple of batches of pickles already). This time it was Corn and Tomato Soup; soon we will be doing tomato sauce, salsa, peppers, and other tomato and pepper variations. Our crock pickles were a disaster; probably too many cucumbers and too little brine, so they went moldy. Oh well, maybe next year. Our cucumber vines had some kind of blight so we didn’t get many anyway.

The little birds made it into the new coop first. See that triangle at the top? They managed to fly up there and escape to the main coop two nights in a row (8 feet up). Today I put some mesh up there, for their own protection.

We had to transfer them one at a time from the old coop to the new one. We’re keeping them in for a few days, until hopefully they won’t go to the empty coop anymore.

Or not so empty, because later this week we’ll be picking up another rooster (and possibly a couple of hens) from jkk. Which will bring the total to 26-28 birds (depending on hens).

This little dudette didn’t make it. She never really ate properly and petered out on Friday night.

One of the keets isn’t looking so good, either; is eating ok but having a great deal of trouble at the other end. It spends a lot of time under the heat lamp. The other chicks and keets are quickly outgrowing it. Poor thing is all dirty; we keep cleaning it, it keeps pooping itself. It does seem to like blow driers; after one cleanup effort it stood on the palm of my hand while I dried it, and it didn’t even try to run away. Hopefully it will either correct itself or expire on its own; the alternative is no fun.

I say ‘it’ because keets are not vent sexable and thus ‘it’ to us until they start making ‘buck-wheat!’ noises (or not) in about 7 weeks.

The remaining 5 chicks are 90% certain to be pullets (hens), although I’m having my doubts about the little yellow one.

Invisubul corn plant? Or, chick high by the fourth of July.

all arrived OK, although we think one of the Ameraucanas might not make it (she is not digesting food well). Also, it’s really weird going to the post office and picking up live animals. That image link goes to the gallery where there are like a hojilion new pictures, some of which are video.

It’s not enough that the Japanese make great tractors, they have to make them look Japanese, too. :)

The Pixar folks got Frank the Combine SO right.

Finished painting. Now if only we could find someone who does blown-in foam insulation and who would actually call back. None of the interior work can start til we get that done.

Unfortunately, we lost Squeak last Friday to unknown causes. She had been under the weather for a few weeks; tried mite dusting, yogurt, and keeping her in a quite spot, but to no avail. I had been just about to start getting her broody to raise the chicks we have coming in 2 weeks. I’m hoping we can get the silkies to do it instead; otherwise it will be heat lamps and the kiddie pool again.

We ordered a new tractor today, a Kubota L5740, a mid-size one. No cab, because we will be attaching a backhoe. Also ordered a front bucket and a 6′ bush hog (larger won’t fit through the woods). 0% financing, although it’s a bit disconcerting taking on debt again, especially as it cost way more than our car. Rather than paying it off fast, we’ll probably make payments and put extra in a high interest savings account every month.

Yet another sign we are hicks. Rusty pickup truck, riding mower, commercial mower, tractor, chickens, guns, and having gone to the emergency room with a chicken-related injury. And we once used an old toilet as a planter in the yard. Window air conditioners (not our fault–no basement, no duct work). OK, not the Subaru. And the fact that our new chicken coop is nicer than most third-world human housing. Not the servers and vanity domains, or the complicated a/v setup. Tacky lawn kitsch…could go either way. But here’s the thing. My boss has a barky dog and he got an anonymous letter from a neighbor in his mailbox about it. Here, nobody can either hear or see whatever annoying or eccentric thing we chose to do. I can no longer even fathom living somewhere where we’d be in a position to annoy neighbors, nor do I want to.

Dude, I can’t wait to drive that tractor around. Seriously.

Also, check out the Squidbillies art! Deerbait and Moon #1.

-epe

The Spore folks reconsidered after a lot of bad press and complaints. So, our pre-orders are back on!

The new John Williams score for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is out. How can an 80’s kid possibly resist?

Not to mention a Richard Cheese-ified version of the Indiana Jones theme on Itunes (Plus, so no DRM, if I read the fine print properly).

Baby chicks–Ameraucanas– (and keets–pied) should be here by June 27th or 28th. With any luck the coop will be mostly done, if we can find someone who can blow in insulation before then. If we’re super super lucky, we will get Squeak and the silkies to raise them.

Icky’s on chemo. So far so good, but he can’t have any doggie visitors for awhile. We still aren’t exactly sure what’s wrong with Cupcake’s liver and lipomas, but she goes in for more work on Thursday.

-epe

Coop II work continues. I feel queasy thinking about all the inside work that has to be done before we can get chickens in (insulation, wallboard, plastic sheeting, nestboxes, chicken dooors…) We’re hoping for more Ameraucanas and some pied Guineas this year.

Icky starts chemotherapy this week. He’ll be on Chlorambucil and Prednisone.

New coop project is finally of the ground. Had the neighbor from San Diego up to do the foundation and brick work. (Yes he’s a neighbor and yes he lives in San Diego… <(^.^)> )

Pictures so far are here:

http://erkkila.org/gallery2/v/Projects/ChickenCoop2/

Make sure you check out the cement truck :)

-pee

Paul found Leo dead in the silkie pen this morning. Oddly enough, he had seemed fine. Hopefully whatever it was isn’t contagious.

Leo was named after ‘Big Leo’, the character from The Freshman. Leo. Big Leo. They’re synonymous (”That’s right!”). Love that movie.

Please don’t feel sorry for us. If he attacked my legs one more time this summer Paul might’ve decided to help him on his way to the big chicken coop in the sky anyway. so in a way, this was easier on everyone. Sumo, our remaining silkie rooster, seems ecstatic…he’s left with 3 hens all to himself, including Squeak. When Paul went into the barn, the three silkies were STANDING on the corpse but Squeak was nowhere to be seen (top was purposely left off last night, so Squeak could roam the barn)…she didn’t return until we removed him.

I haven’t blogged in awhile. Just haven’t felt like it. :P

• I have ordered a bag that bites after seeing one on Jenna’s blog.
• Cupcake had a liver enzyme reading that was a little too high before she had her last lump removal/dental…but after taking her off her l-thyroxine (she’s hypothyroid) and cutting the ground beef out of her meals, it’s coming back down. *Sigh*. 3 small dogs over 10 and the big one going on 8. It will be expensive for awhile I think.
• Candy mania. I ordered Easter chocolate from See’s (can’t resist the various filled chocolate eggs) and more Japanese candy from J-List/Jbox. A little every day, that’s the key.
• We might go to Dublin (Ireland) later this year as that’s where the next IETF is being held. Whoot! (assuming Icky is not sick, in which case Paul will go but I won’t)
• Our future neighbor (lives in San Diego currently) called and rather sheepishly asked if his friend the mason had ever come by to build a chicken coop last year…nope, and we still have windows purchased for the project in our barn. But he himself is coming to town in April and is lining up work, and asked if we would like it built! So maybe we’ll be picking up a few more Ameraucanas after all! Maybe some Jersey Giants, too. /me crosses fingers for more green eggs in the fall.
• Squeak is out of the house and living with the silkies in the barn in a little swimming pool pen. Everyone’s happy not being picked on in the big coop. Hopefully in the new coop we can subdivide into pens for this sort of issue. Thank God. Squeak is cute and all but she’s terribly loud and smells horrible.
• Speaking of ’smells horrible’, the RIR hen caged in our kitchen better get her feathers back soon. OMG. She has gotten so friendly, though.

Oops, dinner.

Had to cull Charlie the silky rooster today.

I won’t really miss the cranky little bastard but I’m still a bit sad. I’ve done that particular deed a few times now and it hasn’t gotten any easier.

-pee

We used to worry that we didn’t have enough space in the chicken coop for 18 chickens. Apparently there isn’t (64 sq feet), and the way they’ve chosen to remedy the situation is by having chicken cage match fights every night.

First one Rhode Island Red turned up with a bare, bleeding rear. We put her in a cage in the barn. Next day we noticed another one, so we set up a little pen in a kiddie pool in the barn. Not a big deal; last year every one of our hens and the rooster ended up with bare spots. At least there are two so they can snuggle together when it’s cold.

Next one of the silkie hens turned up with bloody peck marks and tears all over her back. She was starting to moult anyway, so we moved her into a large guinea pig cage in the house. She is VERY quiet for a chicken and managed not to stink up the house like Squeak’s been known to. We were ready to let her stick it out another month until her feathers came in.

But then, yesterday, Squeak was making weird neck motions as if she’d been injured. We figured the silkie hen was healed at least, so we swapped them.

This afternoon we went out to check and as we opened the coop door, only 4 silkies hopped out. The moulting hen was nowhere to be found. We feared that the others had killed her and covered her with litter (not intentionally; they do a lot of digging and scratching during the day). Then we heard some plaintive ‘buck, buck buck’ing coming from somewhere inside the coop. We have the waterer on 4 hollow cinder blocks set tall-wise…this little chicken had managed to wedge her way INTO one. When we extracted her from the block, we saw why, or perhaps saw a result of her wedging in head-first…her entire tail and back end feathers were picked almost completely off and most of her back end was torn skin! Paul had to make a quick run to Country Max to buy another cage…we now have a chicken duplex in the kitchen. Now get this. While I’m home waiting for the cage, I put the silkie in with Squeak. That ‘poor’ silkie pecked Squeak 2 or 3 times! There is no empathy in avian society.

At this rate we’re going to blow our coop budget on 18 individual cages or pens. WTF?

I had to wash poop off a rooster’s butt today (along with a lot of quill-trimming). I can’t say he was much happier about it than I was. Now I have to disinfect the shower. I’m just glad he took it so well (it’s Leo, the silkie that loves to attack my feet). He looked more confused than anything, then crowed up a storm in a guinea pig cage while he dried.

Got halfway through a project mounting a flat-panel heater (Shop the Coop) and a timed light in the coop and realized the 100 foot extension cord we bought was about 10 feet short. Had to go to Lowes in Macedon to buy a 25′ extension and parts to put the joined section in a weatherproof box. Maybe when the insulating/waterproofing foam dries I can plug the whole mess in and see if it works without setting things on fire (heater’s fused; using a thermal detection outlet to turn the heater on/off automatically; got a timer on the light, and a GFI power splitter, and lots of super heavy duty extension cord which is more than adequately rated for heater + light).

Waiting for the Pastitsio to be done now. Been meaning to make this for awhile and this is the perfect time, with an open bottle of red wine left over in the fridge. Don’t knock wine-and-cinnamon flavored beef until you try it.

Today:

Walked 1 hour.

Mom started ahead of time with Chocolate Dipped Stars. (Come to think of it, I don’t think she used that recipe, I think she used the Mrs. Fields recipe but I don’t have it in front of me right now).

Then we did the dough for:

• Ribbon Cookies
• Chocolate Marzipan Pinwheels
• Nutmeg Logs

Went home. Fed and walked dogs. Fed chickens. Cooked nutmeg logs and just barely finished in time to take Grep to the vet. While mom stayed at our house and cookied the pinwheels, Paul and I bought chicken feed, a small waterer and feeder for Squeak, peanut hearts for chickens, and rawhide for the dogs, gassed up the truck, and picked up a box from the post office. Went home. Helped mom dip stars and a few pinwheels in chocolate at her house. Went home and baked Ribbon Cookies. Ate leftover lasagna standing up in kitchen. Typed cookie recipes into wiki. Did this blog entry.

Imminent collapse. Putting off the Christmas cards.

Islamic car…sales pitch: ‘and the Jihad model comes pre-wired for explosives!’ -pee
(and why doesn’t anyone ever buy the extended warranty or service plans?)

My mom’s observation of chickens running: faster than a speeding pullet

Native Alaskan’s favorite spreadable substitute…I Can’t Believe It’s Not Blubber -me

Another beautiful weekend. I’ve been walking with my mom every morning for a week now (around the property, about 45 minutes); normally during the week I then start work. Today instead I threw together a quiche and am waiting for it to be done now. Later it’ll be hanging out in the barn with the chickens and maybe a little bit of that Japanese candy (Pocky, Morinaga Hi-Chew, various gummies, Shigekix) I got from Asian Food Grocer, reading, enjoying the cooler weather. Yay! (Wish fall weekends were longer). Incidentally, that’s Red at left with his new, improved plumage (if only the Reds would stop picking at his neck…)

Fortunately, this weekend has somewhat made up for the indignities of last week (see post of mammography)…

It must be fall:

• Honey crisp apples were available at The Apple Shed, along with fresh donuts, cider, and those dried bunches of indian corn to hang on your front door
• Red (rooster) is finally getting pretty feathers again after getting them all plucked out by our insane hens all last winter
• Lots of things to burn…especially after the clearing we’ve paid Mike Means to do. Rather alarmingly a lot, as Pee found out after lighting one huge pile on fire and having to tromp through the pine trees stomping on little smoldering spots started by floating leaf ash. But the wood smoke added tremendously to the general atmosphere of fall. Along with what must’ve been a large amount of carbon. :}
• Dark chocolate peppermint Starbucks Frappuccinos in bottles (whoot!), a seasonal flavor
• bright blue skies
• slight coloring on the trees, although they’re pretty crispy from the drought conditions this summer
• a new batch of easter pullets almost ready to start laying…just wish they’d hang out someplace other than the barn for now (poop machines)

We would’ve liked lower temperatures (60s F would have been nice), but otherwise, not bad.

OK, so back around Easter we wanted a chick to stick under broody Squeak, so we went to Country Max during chick week, only it turned out you can’t buy fewer than 6 chicks in New York state. So, we kept one and gave 5 to Jon (one of our hunting friends). Poor Bubble didn’t make it to summer; a fox got her. But Country Max chicken karma came back to haunt us; Jon decided to give away all his barnyard poultry and we took back the 5 pullets, all Rhode Island Reds. Hopefully we’ll have some pictures soon. We’re lucky he caught them! His other chickens roost WAYYYY up in pine trees, but these pullets don’t fly much. Jkk got lucky and caught three ducks for his flock; we talked our way out of taking any ducks or turkeys, although they’re pretty adorable.

With any luck they should be laying within a month, if they’re not already! And with more luck we won’t lose any more to foxes this year.

We stuck them in the pen and at first, all they did was eat wood chips until they found the plate with the pellets. First one, then two, then all of them began pecking furiously at the pile of food and making little happy noises. Chickens are so freakin’ cute. I’m finding it hard to prepare whole chickens even from the store these days (eating our own would be out of the question), although I can still eat it if it’s just chunks in something. No pigs or cows for us I think.

I was never nuts about birds, but now when I watch movies or TV shows with chickens we always have to go back and freeze frame and try to identify breeds.