May 27-28 Hot and dry

A hot, dry wind yesterday erased all the rain from the day before. We carried on with planting the garden and managed to finish. The tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, and pumpkins are all in. The corn is up. All the rows are on drip irrigation. It delivers water efficiently and can be used even when it’s windy, which cannot be said for the overhead sprinklers that Terry planned to use. It seems to be a good deal windier here than at our previous location.

Hilda discovered that the chickens are easier to pick up if approached with the hand palm up and scooped from underneath. It makes perfect sense when one considers that chickens have a long history of wanting to avoid attacks from above by hawks and eagles. They run like crazy if you try to pick them up by putting your hand over their backs. I found that the chicks will calm down immediately if rubbed under the chin. I can’t explain that evolutionarily. I’m not sure what prompted me to do it for the first time except that the same thing often works with cats. We’re still trying to pick them up at least once a day. Some cotton to it better than others. Ina remains the feistiest and most difficult to catch. Most of the chicks have noticeable comb development, which is most pronounced on the Dominques. The chicks’ feet are getting enormous and dinosaur-like. I made a perch of 2 x 4s yesterday. The dowel rods are getting much too small for both their feet and their weight. I read that in cold climates the 2 x 4 perch is preferred because the chickens will sleep with their bodies resting on their feet, preventing frostbite.

Sara's comb is getting larger. Check out those giant feet!

Clarissa and Ellie chat on the new perch; Giada looks on from the feeder.

Here’s another random observation about chickens: I suspect they may be able to control when they poop even though I have always heard that birds cannot be housebroken because they are physically unable to restrain their bowel functions. Chickens poop a lot. Really a lot. Seconds after we change the bedding, it looks almost as dirty as it was before. And yet, I have been picking up 10 chickens once or twice a day for nearly 4 weeks and been pooped on only twice—once the first day and again a few days later.  I would think that if poop happens (as the saying goes) on a random schedule, I would be pooped on much more than I am. This should not in any way be construed as a complaint.

Terry has the siding and the roof on the chicken coop. We have to leave Wednesday for his niece’s wedding, so we will have to finish the inside and the shingling when we get back. We’ll be under the gun to get it done before the girls have outgrown their box. I won’t recognize my babies after a week away! I hope they remember me, but as I have mentioned, it is not clear that they remember 5 minutes previous.

Look for the next post about June 6.

The coop with siding and holes for the chicken's window and the people's door

Terry secures the first board for the roof.

The roof is completely covered. Terry trims the edges.

May23-26 Wind, rain, and a chicken coop

The building inspector came to check the placement of the chicken coop on Wednesday morning and gave us the thumbs up. Terry framed out the front and back walls on the driveway, and we carried them around and held them while Terry secured them to the platform and braced them in position.

Wall #1

Wall #2

I had to go to campus for a meeting Thursday morning. After the meeting, I worked on cleaning my desk until 1:00. . As long as I had the car out, I went to Elgin to visit Jane. I’d been thinking about getting a new camera for a long time. Jane had researched various options and found that the best pick within my budget was a Canon Rebel T3. Canon was offering rebates, and Jane found a really good deal at a camera store in Batavia at which I could get the additional telephoto lens for $100 less than the price of the same lens at competing big box stores. So off we went. I certainly didn’t think the 12 mile trip was going to take 2 hours, but that’s Randall Rd. for you. I had already discovered that it was impossible to get from Point A to Point B by any route without bumping into road construction. Welcome to summer. It was 4:30 when we got back to Elgin, and I still had to get groceries. I scrapped my plans to make spaghetti for supper and bought a frozen pizza.  

When I got home nearly two hours later, Terry reported that the wind had blown at 40 mph all day. He had made the rafters for the coop, but putting them up was out of the question. The only work he did on the main structure was to build frames for the door and window. Hilda hadn’t been able to garden at all. The wind blew so hard that it had unscrewed the bottom of the hummingbird feeder, which lay on the ground. The physics of that process boggles the mind.  

Wall #2 with window frame and door frame

Friday, in contrast, was a lovely, calm day, although hot. We started by putting up the nine rafters. After each was positioned, Terry braced them in two places with 2 x 4s.  He framed one of the side walls, and we held the siding in position while he put in anchor screws. Hilda and I planted 35 sweet peppers and 32 hot peppers. It sounds like a lot. I will admit it is too many, and I will live to regret it. It is, however, the same number I have planted for many years, and I just can’t seem to cut back. As Hilda says, there’s always the food pantry. 

Putting up the rafters

Adding the braces to hold the rafters in position

The end wall framed and sided

At 3:00 Saturday morning, I woke to the sound we’ve been so hoping for: rain. We had 0.4” by 7:00 and have had more since then. I’m sure the neighboring farmers are breathing an even bigger sigh of relief. The crops are, for the moment, saved. Perhaps we can get the rest of the garden in this afternoon before it gets unbearably hot and humid.

We have named the chicks. It turns out that the beaks were different for the Dominiques as well as the Brahma. As I often tell my students, the basis for finding differences is in careful observation. Here are their portraits.

The Dominique

Ellie

Sara

Giada

The Light Brahma (the Two Fat Ladies)

Clarissa

Jennifer

The Araucana

Bridget

Ina

Ingrid

Julia

Nigella

The telephoto lens was a good purchase. I have been able to take bird pictures from the kitchen. They are a bit fuzzy because of the window screen, but I like them anyway.

Eastern bluebird landing in the orchard
 (quite a long distance from the house)

Hummingbird at the feeder

Hummingbird on the shepherd's crook that holds the feeder

May 21, Day 20

We had our housewarming/chick viewing yesterday. Pat S., who is a director of professional development, brought a motivational mobile for the girls, which we hung on the light stand. Pat’s birthday is in September, and she hopes to be harvesting eggs as close as possible to that day. She might be more excited about it than we are!

Pat's motivational mobile to inspire our chickens to be good layers

Foxgloves

The housewarming was interrupted at intervals by scattered thundershowers. We were glad for the rain, but we could have used more. Despite periodic downpours, the total precipitation was less than 0.2”. An inch would have been better. As I often tell Terry when he is thinking wishfully about the weather, rain is not like financial assistance—it is not awarded according to need. Wishing does not make it so. The foxgloves bloomed just in time for the party. They are doing very well this year.

The chicks are starting to get their combs. The Dominiques are showing the most growth in this area. One of the Dominiques has learned to sit on top of the feeder. Ingrid has to share. It is time we got serious about naming the chickens. I noticed that the two Brahma differ in the amount of pigment developing on the top of their beaks. The Araucana are all different colors, making them easy to differentiate. I haven’t figured out how to tell the Dominiques apart yet. Sara is still a little bald on her backside, but when her feathers grow in, she will look just like the other two.

Comb is getting visible on the top of the Dominique's beak

A Dominique perches on the feeder while Ingrid
looks on jealously

The stems of the sprouted potatoes did not turn green. They are brownish, which I think indicates the development of some chlorophyll. In any case, they are sprouting leaves now, and I anticipate that they will have a head start on the others. A few of the purchased seed potatoes are breaking the soil. There is also a collection of sunflowers coming up where a potato should be. Damned ground squirrels! Always stealing seeds from the bird feeders and caching it in the garden where the soil is soft.

Potato leaves from winter sprouts

Sunflower sprouts in the potato bed

The lupines have gotten their first true leaves. I heard from our Boundary Waters outfitter that lupines are invasive up there. I checked Plants of the Chicago Region, which lists it as native to sandy soils and not present in McHenry County. It is also fire-adapted and disappears in fire-suppressed areas.  I think I’ll be lucky to get it going in our heavy clay soils. Nevertheless, I’m going to plant it in places where I either don’t care if it takes off or can contain it if it does.

Lupines with first true leaves

Terry and I built the floor of the chicken coop today. He made the base of six 4”x6” boards and laid down hardware cloth to keep out the rodents. I was then called in to nail down 17 planks with 2 nails in each plank over each of the six 4”x6”s. That’s 204 nails. Terry pre-drilled holes to help with setting the nail. This avoided smashed thumbs that invariably occur when one has to hold the nail to get it started. I used two hands on the hammer even though it made me look like a girly-girl. It was not work I normally do, and I knew if I tried to nail in a hundred nails one-handed, I wouldn’t be able to make a fist for days. Besides, Terry would never mock me. He’s just glad I can pound the nail straight and happy that he doesn’t have to do them all. I was proud that I did more than my share and only bent one nail.

Terry sets the first two planks on the hardware cloth-covered base

Trimming the edge after all the planks were nailed down

May 19, Day 18

Lordy, it's hot today. And dry. Hilda and I have been out in the garden, melting in the 90 degree heat. The girls are keeping cool in the garage. I had a plan for setting up a little enclosure for them under one of the oak trees if they got too hot, but this turned out not to be necessary.

We started giving them bits of grass and chickweed yesterday, more for their entertainment than nutrition. If they were being raised by a free-ranging mama chicken, they'd be eating all sorts of things by now. We are less experienced, and I hesitate to stray too far from the prepared chick feed.

Sara suspiciously eyes a bit of chickweed

It took awhile for the chicks to eat the grass. One chick would grab a blade and run off for a secluded spot to examine it more closely. Of course, there are no secluded spots in the box, so as soon as she dropped it, another chick would pick it up. I saw Sara and Julia pass a bit of chickweed back and forth several times. Once two chicks had a little tug of war. The run, drop, swipe, run, drop, swipe scenario was far more common, however.

Mine! The chickweed is mine! (Chick on right)

After all the excitement of the vegetation, the chicks had to take a little nap. They sleep flat on their bellies, chin on the ground, with their wings a bit out to the sides. The first morning we thought they were all dead, but we've gotten used to this peculiar posture. No one has slept on the perch yet as far as we know.

Resting Dominique (left) with wings out.

The chicks are very close to being able to fly out of the box. One of the chicks has learned to stand on top of the feeder.

Ingrid surveys her territory

Everyone seems to be doing well. They look more like chickens all the time. 
Here are pictures of Hilda and me to give you an idea of how big the chickens are:

Hard to imagine today that I needed a heavy flannel
 shirt yesterday moring

The Brahma's feet are getting quite feathery

Construction on the chicken coop begins soon. Terry and I went to Menard's for the first time today. We picked up the door, two windows and a bunch of hardware. He'll go back tomorrow for the siding and 2x4s. If we can build a garage without getting a divorce, I expect we can get through a coop.

May 14, Day 13

Kids grow up so fast! Seemingly overnight, our cute little chicks have entered their awkward adolescent stage. I thought that one of the chicks was getting pecked on the back of the neck because the down seemed sparse. Closer inspection revealed that an illusion of baldness had been created by the shafts of the real feathers coming in.

Shafts of true feathers coming in at the neck of an Araucana

Raising chickens has led me to marvel, as I often do, at the evolutionary connectedness among organisms. There are differences in how down and hair grow, but baby chicks seem just as furry as kittens. If blindfolded, I doubt I could tell them apart by touch. I'm willing to bet there's some genetic homology there.

The Dominiques are getting stripes on their tails and wings. The size difference between them and the larger chickens, especially the Brahma, is getting more pronounced. Sara's behind is still bald, but I think I see signs of the feathers growing back. I am being careful not to rub with the wet paper towel. I see no sign of infection, so I have stopped putting the ointment on. Sara was certainly very lively when I was trying to catch her for the evening brooder cleaning.

Dominique (not Sara) with striped tail and wings

The Brahmas are growing quickly. Tonight they seemed easier to catch than the other chicks. Is this a sign of their reportedly mellow personalities? Or are the little ones just speedier?

Brahma (note feathers on feet)

We put a thicker, taller perch in the box yesterday. We positioned it at an angle so there would be thermal zones along it. The first perch, about two inches high, was parallel to the short side of the box and about equidistant from the heat lamp. The angle of the new perch causes one side to be warmer than the other. I have been fascinated by the chicks instinctive thermoregulatory behavior. We fretted and fretted about getting the heat lamp correctly positioned before the chicks came home, but it turned out, yet again, that the books were right. The chicks will tell you if it's too hot or too cold. If they are huddled beneath the lamp, the lamp needs to be lowered. If they are plastered against the side of the brooder opposite the lamp, the lamp is too close. They could not have learned these behaviors. They were just hatched knowing.

All the chicks still sleep on the floor. At some point they will sleep on the roost. Here is a picture of two of the chickens resting peacefully on the new perch after all the excitement of brooder cleaning.

Chicks on the new perch

May 12, Day 11

We almost had a crisis this morning. Hilda went out to do the morning chickie chores. We've been moving the chicks to the green storage container while we clean the box. We have a second heat lamp over it to keep the chicks warm. Hilda moved one of the Brahma to the green container, then remembered that she hadn't plugged in the heat lamp. The outlet is not far away. It could not have taken even a minute for her to turn the lamp on, but when she returned, the chick was perched on the edge of the container. Luckily, she returned to the inside. "If she'd gotten out," Hilda said, "I have no idea how I ever would have caught her." We are now being careful to keep ALL boxes covered with screens. We're also thinking of getting a net, just in case. I don't think I've ever mentioned that we are keeping the chicks in the garage. There are lots of hiding places out there.

Our littlest chick looked better this morning. She didn't seem to be eating at the feeder, though. She pecked around in the pine chips near the feeder where there was likely to be a good deal of food. Chicks do not eat neatly.

Pat and Nancy came over to see the chicks in the afternoon. Nancy wanted to be sure to see the chicks while they were still cute. Also, they had not see our basement apartment since they helped us move on March 26. 

Nancy with a Dominique

Pat with a Brahma

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Chicks with chicks

We have been waiting to name the chicks until their personalities come out. (I have to laugh when I read articles reporting on scientific studies that try to experimentally demonstrate that animals have personalities. Really, haven't those researchers ever owned a cat?) I have proposed naming the chickens after TV chefs. We decided that the littlest one would be Sara. Also, the brown Araucana will be Ina's Outrageous Brownie because she (the chick) is chocolate colored (I've been calling her "Brownie" all along), and she is outrageously fiesty. She settles down pretty well after she's caught, but catching her is another thing entirely. (If you are looking for a brownie recipe, Ina's Outrageous Brownies are awesome. Jane made them for Terry's retirement party and described the recipe as "three pounds of chocolate and a cup of flour.")

May 11, Day 10

Friday morning, Hilda noticed that the smallest of our Dominique chicks seemed to have an open sore on her backside. I did a quick search of backyardchickens.com and found post that seemed to describe the condition exactly--no feathers and broken skin. The recommendation was to isolate the chick to keep the others from pecking her, dab the area with diluted Betadine (dilution was not specified), and put on triple antibiotic cream with no pain killer. I only had cream with painkiller. Hilda had both, but the one without the painkiller had expired in 2006. We had an outing planned anyway, so we added a stop at a drug store to the itinerary.

Mom and Dad took us to breakfast at the Grandview Inn on Lake Geneva, followed by a few shopping stops. The day had warmed nicely by the time we got home. I doctored the chick as best I could and put her in the green storage container by herself. She cried and cried so pitifully that I soon relented and put her back with her peeps. I watched for quite awhile to be sure no one was pecking at her sore. We really have not had any of that behavior at all, and I hope it stays that way. Everyone left her alone except for one of the Brahmas, who kindly removed a pine chip that was stuck in the antibiotic ointment. 

I worked in the greenhouse for a bit, putting impatiens in a planter and potting up the Jack-in-the-pulpits I bought last weekend. I put some other plants out in the ground and spread mulch around them. I baked bread in the afternoon, and we all assembled on the deck to be sure the bread was fit to serve to company on Saturday. Hilda brought out a bottle of wine, and we had a lovely time.  It was exactly what I envisioned when I thought of the best possible day on the farm.

I repeated the treatment of the sore during the evening brooder cleaning. It already looked better. The chicks are getting farther off the ground when they flap and using the perch more. Their tail feathers are getting longer daily.

Araucana (brown) with noticible tail. The Brahma (top) is getting color on her wings



Group photo, day 10



May 10, Day 9

Thursday, May 10
We have some chick worries. A couple of the chicks showed early signs of the dreaded pasty butt. If poop dries in their vent (the combined opening for the reproductive, excretory, and reproductive tracts), they can become permanently plugged and die. When I first heard about it, it seemed disgusting to deal with, but it really is not that hard to wipe their little bums with a wet paper towel and/or carefully cut the dried material away with scissors. The new worry was that we had been a bit too aggressive, as a couple of them ended up with naked bums. For the most part, they look quite healthy.


The chicks are using the perch more and testing out their flight feathers. The change from day to day is remarkable.

I think I can fly!

Dominique perching

After chicken chores we planted the potatoes. The soil was perfect. Slightly moist but easy to work. Terry dug the holes, Hilda cut the potatoes, I put the potatoes in the holes and covered them up, and Hilda put down markers. After many years of planning to mark the potatoes when I planted them, it finally came to pass. No more trying to find the hills long after the plants have died back. We ran out of seed potatoes about halfway through the fifth row. Terry retrieved some sprouted potatoes from the cellar to finish out the row. We are still eating last year's potatoes, despite sprouts that are approaching a meter in length. The Native Americans referred to the full moon in February as the Hunger Moon. In our house, the months of February through June are the Moons of the Wrinkled Potatoes. This year, I tried leaving some of the sprouts above ground. I think they will turn green. I am photodocumenting for possible inclusion into my Plant Science course.

Potato sprout one day after planting. No green yet.

I am delighted that I have gotten the lupine seeds Jane and I collected last year near the Boundary Waters to sprout. Direct seeding was a complete failure. I tried all combinations of freezing and refrigerating with nicked and intact seed coats. It was nicking the seed coat that did the trick. Water was able to reach the inside of the seed, and two days later, sprouts were visible. I planted them in the green house and more leaves are visible every day.

Lupin sprouts

Another success was the rescue of the trillium from the base of an oak tree where 13-stripped ground squirrels had nearly dug it out. I transplanted what was left of the corms (or are they bulbs?) to a safer location. They are doing as well as can be expected. Jane and I collected these plants from the woods at the Girl Scout camp where we worked for years, and they have great sentimental value to us, particularly in light of the fact that the camp was recently sold to the Wisconsin DNR.

Trillium in their new home