Chicken Embroidery

Why, thank you, those chickens do bear a striking resemblance to Matilda, the most beautiful bird in the world.

I can't sit through a plane ride without an activity bag of things to do. I need a book, a bullshit magazine that I can doodle in (can be the free ones in the seat pocket) and rewrite the ads for, and a craft project or two.

This time, I chose embroidery.



I stitched me and the mister a kitchen towel.

It's stitched with 2010 also. I think I might make us a new one each year.

I bought the pattern from Collage on Woodstock not too long before we left. I can't remember the company name, but it was one I hadn't heard of before, and based in Portland. It's the kind with carbon paper rather than iron on. I'll update ya'll once I find the package, or if you recognize the pattern, by all means, leave it in the comments!

Thanks guys! <3

brrrrrr

It's about 12 degrees with the windchill here. In Portland. Crazy.

So that means I have chickens in my bathtub. I couldn't leave them outside, even with the heat lamp. When I got home, they were in their coop as they should be, and far enough away from the heat lamp that I knew that they weren't *that* cold, but c'mon! their water was frozen. So Brownbear may be a bit cranky when he comes home and sees four completely daft birds in the bathtub, but I can rest knowing for sure that I won't wake up to frozen chickens.

Urban Farm Store

They are nice! And helpful! And sell local and locally sourced chicken feed!
(Nevermind that it's $14 for a 50# bag of Albers at Wichita Feed, and $29 for the same weight of the local stuff. I'm a bit batty, but I'm excited to open the bags and see which kind the chickens like best.)

Here's their blog!

Treasure

Thank you, chickens!

Bathing Beauties

This is how chickens take baths. They flip themselves in dust, making little depressions in the ground. It cools them off, and helps prevent and get rid of mites.



It has the added advantage of being really cute. So cute it qualifies them for the weekly Caturday post. Awwwwww....

(ha! you thought this was a HUMAN bath and body post, if you followed the label tag link. well, hopefully the cuteness factor makes up for it)

Nothing to crow about

We finally faced facts.

This is Tatiana.



Tatiana is a rooster. Notice that mohawk, rather than the puffballs Mensa and Middlefoot have as a cranial aura? Notice his proud stance? His keen eyes? Actually, all the birds have beautiful bright eyes, so maybe that's not a defining feature. Well, yesterday, his crowing was the straw that broke our denial camel's back (sorry dudes, too much crazy Sarah Palin speech watching lately). Tatiana was renamed Totes a couple weeks ago by Mr. HybridHopes, as in "Tats," Tats being her former nickname, "is Totes a rooster." Yeah, well, Totes is en route to Silverton where he can live out his days dodging coyotes and mackin' on the ladies.

Fairwell, Tatiana/Totes.


He left yesterday. The day before, I had noticed Francis squatting and not doing the thing chickens normally do when they do a little pause in their walk coupled with a slight squat. Yeah, I mean poop. I immediately freaked out, thinking she must be egg bound. I couldn't feel an egg when I felt on her lower belly, and she seemed healthy, so I left her alone.

Sunday though, Sunday she made a nest in the garage. THE GARAGE! I gently moved her off, no egg. Alright.



Go post about Tats. Put around picking ripe things in the garden. Find two responses. The first, Silverton. The second, a crazy response. Call the Silverton guy, who happens to be like 10 blocks away at the time I responded. We went out to catch Tats/Totes, but first I checked Francis's nest. Francis was frolicking with the other chickens at this time. THERE WAS A TINY LITTLE EGG!!! <3 and guess where she is this morning?

I'm about to have the smallest two egg omelette the world has ever seen!



To commemorate this super exciting event:


Did I ever tell you that Swamp Thing was filmed at my great aunt's home for slightly off kilter old folks? It may have been a sequel, actually. It's a bit of family lore I've been meaning to clarify.

Mensa the Magnificant

Yeah, her eggs are gonna be 1/2 to 2/3 the size of your average chicken. But I've grown a bit fond of this little half pint bird brain of a bird.

Happy Caturday.

Chicken Contest!

Hey happy readers!

I know I promised to do Tutorials on Tuesday, but, well, I'm not very good with rules. Even ones I make myself. However, this little contest will get you started on a chicken-how-to.

I know a lot of ya'll are the crafty gardening types. And one of the crazily simple ways to be nice to your garden is to have chickens. Yes. You. Chickens.

The pros: they eat bugs. they eat weeds. They poop, and their poop is great in the compost pile. they lay eggs. You can craft with their feathers. They're pretty easy to care for, and not very time-consuming.

The cons: they eat ALL bugs they can catch. they will eat some of your seedlings. They poop wherever, and you do need to age it a bit so you won't get nitrogen burn on your little plant-a-loons. People might thing you're weird, especially if you craft with their feathers. Depending on your area, you might not be able to legally keep chickens.

If you're interested in chickens and need to start off on your research, I've got the contest for you. I've got a copy of Keep Chickens: Tending Small Flocks in Cities, Suburbs, and Other Small Spaces. And it can be yours.

I got it at Powell's last month. I read it, but it's not really good as a chicken owner's reference. But it IS great for folks who are thinking of chickens and need a jumping off point, an idea about what to have when you first get your chicks, and what to expect the first couple months of life.

Keep Chickens can be yours. All you gotta do is leave me a comment with one bit of chicken lore, a chicken fact, or a good name for a chicken. I'll randomly select a winner next Tuesday!

ok, i'm bad

i'll start on my plan next week.

today, it was hot.

i went to the bybee farmers' market. bought some stuff. strawberries, 'cause the two to three a day we've been getting from the front yard plants isn't enough. also green onions (i donno why, i've got a bunch in the fridge already), and some chives. Also some lemon cuke starts because my starts failed to ... start.

weeded and pruned the overdue for pruning roses.

picked the mustard and spinach that went to seed. rules be damned, i'm gonna eat it! or at least the non tough parts.

held my chickens a bit. they tolerate it much more at dusk. i want them to be used to it. they were so sweet and let us hold 'em all the time when they lived in the brooder. now, they're anti-parent teenagers, sneaking in the garage to smoke. okay, minus the smoking. but they totally do sneak in the garage if i have it open. they are naughty and evil during the day. reverse gremlins. also, i've been complaining about the fairly mild heat. but the girls, they're losing feathers. not bad, they all have good coverage. but the backyard is LITTERED with black feathers, stripey feathers, fluffy white feathers, downy gray feathers. you'd think i had a whole massive flock of chickens. i don't.

what else. that's about it, i guess. i'm about to hop in the bath, 'cause i'm a bit stinky after the day's events. i bought some REALLY good smelling soap at Limbo. It's made by Camamu, and it's right here. It smells great, has a lovely texture, and makes me feel kinda soft, even in the hands after a long day in the garden.

Chicken names

It is a possibility that Tatiana and Middlefoot may be gentlebirds rather than ladies, but oh well.

The Slugbane Sisters: The Intrepid Explorer Francis, Matilda Crowfoot

The Ghost Chickens of Fateful Musery: The Pugnacious Tatiana "Tots" Ali, Loquacious Middlefoot the Artful Dodger, and Daft but Dear Mensa the Cuddler.

Spirit Chickens

My love of bears started early.

When I was four or so, Smokey the Bear was my hero. Still is, in a imaginary kind of way.

So, imagine my excitement when I see entire blog posts devoted to bears. Like this one, listing and describing the top 4 bears. One of them is the Spirit Bear. They have a slightly different genetic code than their close close close relatives, the black bear. Area native mythologies involve these bears, in part because of their ghost-like appearance.

I have spirit chickens.



Note that the spirit chickens, commonly known as "White Silkie Chicks," are much smaller than the two other chickens shown in these photographs. Spirit chickens appear to be mostly flightless featherfooted fowl. The symbiotic relationship of the the ghost chickens and the regular chickens is difficult to discern. However, we do know that they eat, chirp, and poop copious amounts, like regular chickens.


A photograph of intreped explorer Francis Lucille Slugbane:


Note her comb formation. She was purchased as an austrolorp chicken. wth. Maybe she's a barred rock.

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The black one with the white chest is also allegedly an australorp. It may be a jersey giant. *sigh*

Updates on the Silkies and Australorps

I think I have to resign myself to the fact that Francis is probably a barred rock chick.

Matilda (Tilly) and Francis looked very similar when we picked them out. Grayish-pink feet, about the same size, black fuzzballs with small white patches on their chest. Tilly had small tan spots under her eyes, but that was the only difference. They still act the same, peering at me when I check on the chicks. They both are very curious and much less timid than the silkies. However, about a week and a half ago, Francis started looking a bit stripy. A bit like this chick. Tilly though, looks pretty much like she should, especially if this 'lorp is at all typical. When I contemplated taking Francis back to trade her for an Australorp, though, I think it's too late. I've already grown attached.

I don't have any new pictures for you today. My camera's MIA. However, I do have weights!

We got the silkies on March 7. They had gotten to the nursery that Thursday, I think, so were probably about 4 days old.
Tatiana Ali, named for the pugilist, weighs an amazing 7.2 oz.
Mensa is almost half her size! She's 4.1 ounces.
Middlefoot is 6.1 oz. I hope Tats and Middle are not roosters, but they are a bit rambunctious and they're HUGE compared to tiny little Mensa.


The "Australorps" came home with us on March 13th. I think they were somewhere in between 2 days and a week old.
Tilly, the one we're pretty sure is an Australorp, tips the scales at 9 ounces!!
Francis is the second largest, weighting in at 7.3 oz.

Chicken M'aidez!!!

Help! Francis, one of the australorp chicks we got from Livingscape nursery, is developing stripes! She's had them roughly a week. She started out looking nearly the same, and nearly the same size as her sister-in-wings Tilly, but Tilly is much bigger and nearly solid black except for some small white patches on her face. They both have pinkish gray feet still, and have similar habits. They love to perch, and are curious and interested in people, although Tilly is much braver/bolder than Francis.

Are they both Australorps even though they look so different from each other?

Chick Movie

This is our largest Silkie chick. The smallest is like half her size. I'm kind of worried that this one, who we've temporarily named Tatiana Ali, might be a boy :/

Look at her feathers! They're coming in like mad! Her tail feathers started coming in about 3 days ago. She's about a week and a half old.

chickens!

silkie chicks, just brought home.

here's a glamour shot of one of 'em ...



I don't know if they're going to be buff or white silkies for sure...

Chicken Police, Friday Video Quickie

Srsly, you have to watch this. Alternately titled "When Good Bunnies Go Bad."