Sunday, June 21, 2009

Stupid people tricks


So I locked the keys to the coop in the coop.

The chicken yard was originally a dog run for a large mastiff (that was a little redundant). The fence is 6' chain link on the inside with lattice on the outside and wood framed. For chicken safety and our sanity Chris stapled chicken wire on the top.

Short of breaking the door (padlocked) that he built. There was no way in.

But I had a ace in the hole.

Nothing can keep out an adventurous 4-year old.

We were not prepared for the chicks to leave their cozy box on the front porch after 2 weeks. So there are things in the yard we have not found a home for yet. You can see the wheels that is a partially build cart. But more importantly there is a 6 foot ladder leaning against the fence next to it.

After 20 minutes of pulling staples from the wood fence between yards, I had a small opening. Mesha happily scrambled through and down the ladder. Then, stopped to check out the chicks.

Here she is with one of the Naked Necks, the Polish, and what I think is a Dominique.

I need to get spare keys. But knowing me, I will have to do this a couple more times before that happens.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

the naming process




The first chick has recieved a name. Mina is the smallest of the 2 Transylvanian Naked Necks. She is docile and always seems to be one step behind the others. I always wait to see some kind of personality trait before naming my animals (my children weren't so lucky) but here breed definately played a part.

They are spending the day outside. It will be the first time in the chicken yard without the brooder box around them. It is warm and sunny, much more enjoyable than the front porch I reckon.

BTW, Mina is standing on one of the two tumbling composters that are inside the run. Being that they are on stands the chicks happily scratch underneath them. And I will not have to carry dirty coop droppings very far. I hope the addition of chicken poop will give me hot compost, a goal that is yet unrealized in my years of gardening.

Thursday, June 4, 2009


Today the chicks went outside. It was warm, after dropping to 43 last night and their indoor home has a removable bottom, so we just took the top outside. They were so busy, scratching and pecking. When I transferred them back in they all fell over asleep. They are so like toddlers.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

It starts here


Five baby chicks arrived this morning.

I lay the blame entirely on Jenna Woginrich. A couple months back I read her book. It is called Made from Scratch but I think of it (fondly) as get off your ass and get chickens already.

So here we are in the inner city of Minneapolis a coop in the backyard.

Yeah - all my peeps live in the 'hood.

They are all female and except for 2 Transylvanian Naked Necks (also known by the boring name Turkens), I don't know what kind they are. I couldn't decide so I ordered the "grab bag". Actually the whole set-up is a gift from my husband. I could not have done this without him.