Bungalow Ranch Style

The chicks are really enjoying their new habitat. I think this is the first wide angle shot of the completed coop. You can see their little dust-bathing area directly underneath the coop. It’s filled with playsand, so they can really dig in and make a mess.

We cobbled together a ladder from another chunk of art crate. The “this end up” arrows were re-purposed as “this way down” arrows, just in case the girls needed instructions to figure it out.

They also have a lovely hunk of tree limb for perching out in the run area. We covered the ground in the run with a layer of sand and pine shavings, to keep it from getting mucky. Some of the girls have feathered feet and don’t stay very clean in muddy areas.

We’re going to plant some climbing vines in the vicinity. Hopefully they’ll crawl up over the run area and provide some shade. For now, there’s a piece of tarp (really an old museum banner) providing shade and protection from the occasional rain shower.

The cold frame is in the foreground. We have some lovely tomato, bean and herb starts growing in there.

I cheated last night and made french onion soup from canned Wolfgang Puck onion soup and store-bought croutons. The organic Wolfgang puck onion soup and tomato soup are so good, I don’t even bother to try and make tomato or onion soup from scratch anymore.

I even made it with white cheddar cheese, because I didn’t feel like going to the store to get gruyere. At least it was extra delicious biodynamic cheddar. The nice crust on the top is because I also sprinkled it with a little panko right at the end of broiling.

My favorite…

I think the magical secret to my Bolognese is that I deglaze with sweet vermouth. There’s something about vermouth and tomatoes that creates this magical umami.

Ingredients: Olive oil, bacon, celery, onion, fennel, ground pork, garlic, sweet vermouth, tomato paste, chicken stock, half and half, semolina spaghetti

The chicks are all moved in and enjoying their new found freedom in a cage. It’s a little windy today, so they’re only venturing out into the run when the wind dies down. Otherwise, they tend to hunker back in the area underneath the coop in a little chicken puddle. They figured out how to come outside without our help this morning, but they haven’t figured out how or when to go in to the coop on their own.

They’re really not chicks anymore. They’re more like mini-chickens. At this point I’m pretty sure they’re all pullets, even though two of them are threatening to be roosters.

Coco does this “silent crowing” thing, especially if I sing to her…it’s like she’s singing along. But, everything else about her is hen-like. It’s not unheard of for hens to act the rooster role when there aren’t any roosters around. I think she just considers herself the alarm-sounding chicken, even if it is just a silent alarm.

Bunny has a short tail and a reddish tinge to her comb. But, she’s the smallest of the bunch and feathering like a hen. She’s really the only one I feel like I might have to wait and see…

Anyhow, all is happy in chicken-land.

Kitchari of millet and red lentils with leeks and kale, finished with a little fresh lemon juice and red onions.

The tikka consists of black pepper, ground red chili, coriander, turmeric, black mustard seeds and asofetida.

Steve has been on a ghee making and ayurveda kick lately, and I’ve been really into one-pot meals. The result is kitchari…lots of delicious kitchari.

The door, the roof and the paint went on today. We’re almost done. All that’s left is attaching the rest of the hardware cloth to the coop, now that it’s painted, and adding the coop door, a chicken ladder and some roosting poles.

We’ll be adding the nesting boxes a little later, once the girls are actually a little closer to laying eggs. That will be a few months down the road. We plan on using an old kitchen cabinet that’s just the right size. It will get mounted on the outside of the coop and we’ll cut some access holes to the inside.

We’re also going to be spray painting the pvc pipes a “hammered” bronze color and painting the wood around the doorway the same blue color. After that, we’ll add a layer of sand and a layer of pine bedding to the run area, and the chickens should be able to play in the run, even if we haven’t finished the interior of the coop yet. They’ll just have to come back inside in the evenings.

They went outside to play today. They we’re particularly lively, but it was fun seeing Merv watch them from the window. We’ll probably be able to leave the curtains open in the guest room and he’ll be entertained all day.

There are some more pictures over in my flickr set, including one showing Merv in the window checking out the chickens. You can also see that the color of the coop matches our house. So, now we all live in a little blue house…even the chickens. We had the paint matched and we even used the same shingles on the roof of the coop from a batch that we bought to patch the roof after a windstorm.

This is the curse at the hardware cloth and inadequate tin snips phase. Oh and, zip ties are the new duct tape.

Steve raised the coop today while I was at work. This was a great surprise to come home to. It’s already super cute, but once it has a little shingled roof and some blue paint to match the grande casa azul, it will be adorable. We’re going to build the run out of pvc pipes, similar to a hoop house, only using hardware cloth where the plastic sheeting is normally attached.

The coop itself is primarily constructed of a salvaged art crate…thus the “FRAGILE” warning labels. Our chickies are not so fragile, though.

The rain and contract work schedules have prevented us from building a coop, and we’re down to the wire. The chicks are now 5 weeks old and my guess is that by the end of next week, they’ll be ready to move outside. Luckily, they still have plenty of space in the brooder, but I also think they’re getting bored.

To start acclimating them, I’m contemplating turning off one of the heat lamps in 2 days, and the second at the end of next week. They have plenty of feathers, with the exception of a few patches on their heads and chests. I have a feeling the last of the feathers haven’t come in yet because they still think they’re living in the tropics. If they get cooler, they should grow these final feathers a little faster.

I’m also pretty confident that they’re all girls. At this point, they all have pretty diminutive/non-existent combs that have no redness. A couple have a bit of pinkness, but these are both white skinned/legged chickens (Bunny and Lulu) and I think that’s pretty normal. None of them have any sign of wattles other than little bare spots on their jaws.

Meg is a Mystery

We have decided that Mystery Meg is not a Buff Orpington. She’s a red chicken of some sort. Compared to Lulu, who is all curves, Meg is downright gangly too. I would guess that she’s a New Hampshire red, but her legs are the wrong color. I’m just stymied at this point.

When I open the brooder now, I tend to end up with a crowd on my lap. Usually it’s Bunny, Coco and Sookie. This morning, Kiki decided that she wanted in on the action too. I ended up with Bunny and Coco roosting on my right arm and Sookie and Kiki hanging out on my left leg. They’re all large fowl that will weigh in between 7 and 12 pounds. This means they’re going to have a hard time adjusting to one chicken at a time at some point. I can’t imagine 30 lbs of chicken taking up residence on my arms or lap. Then again, it could be a good additional upper body workout while I’m doing yard work.

And, of course, our next big project in the yard is building a coop. Stayed tuned.