The kitchen remodel has begun in earnest, starting last weekend when the demolition began.

But first, here are some "before" shots. Technically, they don't give the complete "before" picture, because we stretched out some of the kitchen remodel prep over the past, oh, three years*.

In these shots, you can see we've removed all the cabinet fronts. That's because Dakota will be milling down the oak doors and turning them into hardwood flooring. This was an exceptional flash of genius, in my opinion. Not only does it embrace the all-important green principle of reuse, but it also saves us lots of money.



Here's the wall we're taking out. Those are temporary shelves and counter tops next to the fridge. A couple of years ago, we removed out the massive, space-wasting floor-to-ceiling cabinets that used to be there. We've been using the current set-up ever since. It's been perfectly functional, but, obviously, not ideal.



So, that's the before(ish). On to the after.

Last Saturday, our electrician neighbor came over and moved the wires out of the kitchen walls so Dakota didn't knock out all the power (or, you know, electrocute himself) when he started busting up the place. Dakota and our very nice neighbor usually pay each other in trade, woodworking for electrical. So, it shouldn't cost us too much to rewire the whole kitchen. And, we're finally rid of our old glass fuses. Hurrah.



Don't you just love that old wallpaper? To be honest, I do kind of dig it. But, I wasn't sorry to see it go on Sunday when Dakota set to work ripping out the wall. Here he is starting the demolition, and wearing his all-important dust mask. The plaster walls give off a lot of dust, and who knows what else is lurking inside those walls.



And here's the wall at the end of the weekend.



This is the view from the dining room side of the wall. Once this wall is completely out--by the end of this weekend, hopefully--the dining room and kitchen will become one, big space. No more skinny, annoying kitchen!

If you're interested, I'll have more updates very soon, including some in-depth discussion of our earth-friendly counter tops, paint and wood.

* While it was kind of ridiculous that we spent such a long time discussing, planning and saving for the kitchen remodel before we finally started, it actually ended up being a good thing. Our design is really carefully thought out, Dakota has come up with several excellent ideas for maximizing the space and green materials have become easier to find and less expensive. So, maybe it was a good thing that lived with a partially-demolished kitchen for so long.

A commenter recently asked about some LA chicken-keeping basics, so I thought I'd post the information here, so everyone can read it. From what I can tell, and this is what I'm going with, this is the official LA County ordinance about keeping chickens in your yard:

I found this paragraph on page 19 of the Los Angeles Animal Services Permit Book, which can be downloaded as a PDF here.

I think you might also be required to license your chickens, but I've had a hard time finding out if that's really the case. And, honestly, unless you live in a neighborhood with no real crime, no feral cats and no stray dogs, I seriously doubt you will ever be asked for your chicken license. I have satisfied myself with sticking to the distance rules, cleaning the coop so it doesn't stink and having only hens, no roosters. My neighbors know about my chickens, but only because I've told them. Three hens don't really cause much trouble.

The other question I got was where to get chickens in Los Angeles. There are actually quite a few places. Just call around to feed stores in your area between February and August, and you'll probably find someone selling chicks.

I have purchased chickens from three places in the LA area, although I'd probably only recommend Agoura Feed in Agoura Hills. As a general rule, I suggest you get your chickens as babies--preferably only a couple of days old--from a place that seems clean and that keeps the chicks away from older fowl. Ideally, you'd get them from a place that has only baby chicks. That just seems safest, disease-wise, to me. You can also order from My Pet Chicken, which ships small quantities of chicks and guarantees that they will arrive alive.

Try to get the chicks vaccinated for Marek's, if you can. It might save some heartache later. I'd also say a minimum of 3 chickens is ideal. You'll probably end up with extra eggs in the fridge, but just give them to friends. My feeling is that, if you have 3, if something happens and you lose one, you're not in a bind with one lonely chicken.

Hope that helps!

Those of you who know me know that Dakota and I have been just about to start our kitchen remodel for, hmmm, maybe 2 years. In fact, the current kitchen has been in a state of partial demolition for at least that long. Various considerations have kept us from actually making real progress, but, starting in September, we will be really and truly actively remodeling our kitchen. Really!

In fact, today we took another preparatory step and picked up our new dishwasher from the appliance warehouse. Our current dishwasher is fairly large and the kind that you roll over to the sink on casters when you need to do a wash. We wanted to get a built-in washer, and we also needed one that was more compact so that it would fit in a spot next to the sink.

First, we looked on the Flex Your Power website to see what rebates might be available (looks like a $30 mail-in rebate from SoCalGas is what we'd get). Next, I headed over to the Energy Star website to find out what compact dishwasher models were energy and water-efficient enough to qualify. They have a nice search function on the Energy Star site, so it was easy to find what I was looking for.

After poking around a bit on the Internet, we decided on a Fisher & Paykel model. It's a drawer-style dishwasher with two washing compartments that each hold six place settings. You can choose to run one or both drawers, depending on what you need to wash. Each drawer uses less than 2 gallons of water per wash cycle, and it has a delay-cycle function, so we can wash dishes in the middle of the night when other power use is low.

We got the model that allows you to make your own custom fronts, so Dakota will make fronts for the dishwasher drawers to match our cabinets. You'll barely be able to tell the dishwasher is there. And, it'll be right next to the sink for easy loading.

This dishwasher wasn't cheap (although we found a good deal), but since Dakota is doing all the labor himself, and because we have aquired some other materials as gifts or trades, we won't have to spend a lot of money on anything else.

If all goes according to plan, the only other major expense, besides the wood for the cabinets, will be a new faucet. We analized that situation today, and I think we're leaning towards something from a company called Hansgrohe. I'll let you know what we decide.

This summer, as usual, I am having some garden success and a fair amount of frustrating failures.

My squash situation has been almost embarrassingly bad. Several baby zucchini have started to form, and then turned yellow, withered and died. Considering the fact that squash are supposed to be extremely easy to grow, I'm kind of bummed that my plants have been so wimpy. I have fertilized the heck out of them, but I think the problem may be where I planted them. I suspect they need more sun. I think next year I will plant in the lower plot that gets the most direct sunlight. This would probably also help with the white mold problem on the leaves. I read on a new favorite blog, Homegrown Evolution, that the cold, moist coastal summer nights are tough on our squash plants.

On the bright side, I have had some nice tomatoes. They are finally ripening, and I am really looking forward to tasting a variety I am growing for the first time this year: the Green Zebra Tomato. Apparently, they are supposed to be kind of tart and are recommended for sandwiches and salsa. At first, I was worried I wouldn't be able to tell when they ripened, because they don't turn red or yellow like other tomatoes. But, I looked around online and read that Green Zebras turn a bit yellow-green when they ripen. And, they do. I picked one this evening and plan to try it tomorrow.

Here's an unripe one still on the vine. Aren't they pretty?



I have also harvested one of my favorite summer vegetables: green beans. Fresh picked green beans are so delicious, and these have been no exception. I am getting a decent harvest, although some of my vines got some kind of weird bug or leaf disease and conked out.



Sadly, there's been no corn harvest yet, and I'm getting nervous. The ants have put their little aphid buddies all over my corn stalks. I brought in some lady bugs, but they didn't really help. I think corn ears are wrapped up tight enough in their husks to be protected from aphids. At least, I hope so.

The okra plants never really got off the ground. A couple are still hanging on, but actual okra seem unlikely. The carrots are doing their carrot thing. I usually do fine with root vegetables. I also anticipate a couple more eggplants before the summer is over.

So, it's been the usual hit and miss summer of gardening. I am hoping that, with all my chicken poop compost, mixed in with the kitchen scrap compost, I will be able to get the soil in better shape for the Fall garden. Someday, I will have a big, fancy, productive garden like you see in magazines. Or, you know, at least a good one.

This weekend, the big project has been chicken integration. At the start of the weekend, I was determined to have Lisa, Peggy and Tina happily living and sleeping together by Sunday night. Believe it or not, chickens can be pretty tricky to combine. If they didn't grow up in the brooder together, they're often very aggressive towards one another. It's that whole pecking order thing one hears so much about. So, I wasn't completely sure if I was going to reach my goal.

I actually started this project a bit earlier, when we officially introduced Peggy and Tina to Lisa out in the yard. Here she is staring at the little peepers through the wire on the chicken tractor.



We let them peer at each other this way for a few days. Just getting Lisa comfortable with the idea that there were other chickens in the yard. Then, we opened the door to the tractor.



The idea was to let them all free range together. But, initially, that's not how things played out. Instead, this happened:



Lisa just sauntered right inside the tractor and started eating Peggy and Tina's food--much to the younger girls' horror. If you look closely, you will see Peggy and Tina frozen in fear towards the back of the tractor. Their main strategy to deal with Lisa at first was to huddle close together and stand perfectly still. You could almost hear them saying, "Just don't move and maybe the big scary chicken won't notice us. And whatever you do, don't make eye contact."

Once they got out into the yard together, their interaction was more varied. Some of the time they happily ignored each other, and other times Lisa would chase them or even peck them a little bit. Interestingly, Lisa mostly pecks Tina. I think this is because Tina is much bigger than Peggy and clearly the dominant bird of their pair. So, by establishing her dominance over Tina, Lisa was also putting Peggy in her place (as the number three chicken). I'm not sure why Lisa even felt the need to peck Tina at all. Lisa is so much bigger, and Tina is clearly afraid of her.

Here they are hanging out on the steps together.



Anyway, the point of all the introductions and group outings was to get the three girls comfortable(ish) with each other before we tried getting them all in the coop together. So, this weekend, the Frieda Farm Chicken Integration Project '08 reached it's final phase.

On Friday evening, I started experimenting with putting Tina and Peggy into the run while Lisa was out free ranging. I stood in there with them while the examined the new spot. Then, I brought Lisa in and the four of us hung out in the run together for a bit. Mostly, Peggy and Tina tried to perch up high out of Lisa reach. They made a point of avoiding her whenever she came near, jumping into the tunnel or on top of the waterer, if necessary.

Saturday was everybody-in-the-run day. My plan was to get to a point where I could leave them in the coop with the door closed and walk away. I started with a fairly long free range in the morning while I did some gardening. Then, I put them all together in the run, pulled up a chair next to the coop and watched what happened.

For the most part, Lisa stuck to physical intimidation, with fairly few pecks. At one point, she did seem to grab Tina by the back of the neck--almost like you would a kitten--and hold on with her beak. I ran in and broke up that fight, although Tina didn't seem to be hurt at all, just scared.

Lisa's main concern, at first, was keeping Tina and Peggy away from the food--both her feeder and theirs. She spent a lot of time rushing over to startle them when they would tentatively peck at their feed. I had expected this issue, as Lisa is a bit of a greedy girl. But, eventually, she let them eat their feed while she pecked at her feeder across the run. Further progress came when all three chickens drank from the waterer at the same time. I was psyched.

Finally, after several hours, I walked away and came back to find all three chickens eating from Lisa's big feeder. Success! This seemed like a very good sign. So, I decided to push it and see if they could handle a sleepover. It was dusk and I took my station up on the patio to watch their behavior from afar.

At first, Lisa seemed unwilling to retire with strangers in her run. But, after a lot of pacing and false-starts up the plank, she did go to bed. The two younger girls weren't sure what to do after that. They kind of wandered around for a while, and then snuggled down in the dirt in one corner. I went down after a while and shoved them in the coop door. Moment of truth time!

Dakota and I got a flashlight and stood outside the coop listening for signs of Lisa attack. But, none came. Peggy and Tina were doing a lot of their "I'm scared" peeping, but that eventually died down, and the three of them settled in. Lisa in the nest box, Peggy and Tina on the floor nearby. We went out for dinner with friends, and when we came back everyone was still fine, so we left them for the night. (Of course, I did set my alarm for 6 am so I could go down and open the door early in case Lisa woke up cranky.)

Today has been pretty low-key, chicken-wise. No big altercations, although the pecking and intimidation continues. I assume Lisa will bully them for a few days more, at least. But I'm hoping that eventually they'll all get used to living together and be a happy little family.

Here they are today. Note Lisa having a snack at her feeder while Peggy sneaks a nibble at the smaller feeder behind her back.



And here they are coexisting in a semi-comfortable manner his evening.



Tomorrow they'll spend a whole day unattended. Fingers crossed they don't get in any big squabbles while I'm at work.

When we left off on the story of the great chicken escape, it was dusk and Peggy had just vanished into thin air.

I had searched with my flashlight under nearby bushes, under the coop and under the little house. No sign of her. So, I expanded my search further out to the bushes nearer to the fence. Still nothing. I was getting nervous, now. The light was fading, and Peggy wasn't in any of the logical places. After more fruitless searching, I decided on a new strategy.

I went into the basement and grabbed Tina out of the brooder box. I put her back in the tractor, and she immediately started peeping very loudly, calling to her sister. Peggy will come out when she hears her sister's cries, I thought. But still there was no sign of her, and no peep in response to Tina.

While Tina called out to Peggy, I continued to look, and my friend Rachel arrived, expecting to go out to a nice, relaxing dinner. No such luck. She was quickly drafted into the chicken search. Now, the two of us began systematically the yard from top to bottom, flashlights in hand. By the time we completed our sweep, I was in tears. I called Dakota, and he started driving back home from his evening out. Things were getting dire.

We had covered every inch of the yard without finding Peggy, so I decided it was time to take the plunge into the neighbor's yard. Unfortunately, the house next to us was owned by an elderly woman who recently passed away. She hadn't kept up the yard in years, and it's literally a jungle of ivy, bushes and giant avocado trees, populated by skunks, raccoons and who knows what else. But, I was determined to find my chicken, so I put on long pants, hiking boots and a hat and went over the fence. (While I suited up, Rachel stood out in the yard, completely silent, listening for chick noises. Nada.)

I'm not going to lie; it was bad over there. There were giant spider webs, burrows that probably held skunks (luckily out for the evening) and lots of crazy undergrowth. Oh, and did I mention that both my yard and the neighbor's yard are on fairly steep hillside? Luckily, I didn't fall or get bitten or sprayed by anything. Unluckily, I did not find Peggy, despite a thorough search.

Rachel and I had now been searching for over an hour! We decided to regroup and collect our thoughts. How plausible was it that Peggy was able to scramble over a fence without me hearing anything? She's good, but is she that good?

So, we began to re-do our scan inside my yard, this time paying close attention to the undersides of everything. I got way up under the little house, just in case she was jammed up in there somewhere. As I moved to scan some nearby bushes, I heard Rachel say, "Audrey?" Her voice was unsure, but hopeful.

"Did you find her?"

"Uh, I'm not sure..."

I rushed over and looked at the tiny space under the boardwalk between the staircases where Rachel was pointing her flashlight. At first, I didn't see anything. But I looked closer and... way in the back... behind a pile of dirt almost the same color as her feathers... it was Peggy!

We were so happy to have found her, and relieved that she was okay. But man, that Peggy is one sneaky chicken. She'd been hiding under those steps the whole time, mere feet away from her crying sister, and hadn't made a sound or moved enough for us to hear her. I called Dakota to tell him the good news, and then, we started the process of getting Peggy out.

Here's where she was, although this picture was taken during the day, so picture it much darker.



Peggy was so far back under the boardwalk, I couldn't reach her with my arm fully extended. So, I got a hand spade, and we started digging her out. I tried digging holes in various spots, but couldn't get my hand through far enough to grab her. Eventually, we decided we'd have to shoo her out a hole ourselves, and then grab her when she popped through.

After a lot of coaxing, we finally got Peggy to squeeze through an opening I'd dug near the back of the boardwalk, and then Rachel and I grabbed her. I got her in my grasp, and was happy to have her safe but mad, too. Peggy was SO grounded!

Rachel, on the other hand, will from now on be known as my Chicken Hero. Or, Detective Rachel of CSI: Chicken Scene Investigation. I can't thank her enough for being such a good sport and for finding my sneaky baby chicken. Peggy owes her big, too. If we hadn't found that little chick, she might easily have been eaten by a raccoon or fox. I think Rachel will be getting a lot of fresh eggs from a certain someone in a few more months.

The End

Earlier this week, I had quite a chicken adventure. Or perhaps it was a chickmergency. I'm not sure of the correct terminology.

It started when I let Peggy and Tina out for a little free range action on Wednesday evening around dusk. They seemed kind of antsy after being cooped up in the tractor all day, and I thought they deserved some fun. The thought crossed my mind that it would be getting dark soon and maybe I should let them out some other time, but decided to let them out anyway. I should have listened to my brain.

At first, everything was lovely. They stuck close to the chicken tractor and wandered slowly around the nearby dirt, happily pecking and peeping. It was when I tried to pick them up to put them in their brooder for the night that the trouble started.

Tina, the black sex-link, is slower and easier to catch. So, it only took me a moment to trap her and grab her. Her sister Peggy, on the other hand, proved a more formidable opponent. As the twilight faded into dark, I chased that little chicken up, down and all over the yard. She jumped up on walls, hid under bushes, scrambled over the wood pile and even tried to squeeze through the fence into the front yard. She even flew a couple of times (as much as a chicken can fly).

I was getting exhausted, and it was almost completely dark, so I grabbed a flashlight and a beach towel. The chase continued. Finally, Peggy leaped from her perch inside a jade bush to the top of the fence post surrounding the garden. I tried to throw the towel over her while she was focusing on keeping her balance, but she jumped and flew out into the yard and around the corner of Dakota's little house. I ran around the corner of the house, and she was gone.

Gone. Disappeared. There was no sign of her. Literally not a peep.

I stood still, listening for rustling and looking for any sign of movement. Nothing. I got my flashlight and started searching the area. Looking under nearby bushes and structures. By now, it was dark, and I was really starting to get worried. Where could Peggy be? Why wasn't she peeping? Would I ever find her?

Find out tomorrow when the gripping story of The Great Chicken Escape continues...

Exciting news! The California Senate is about to vote on a bill that will significantly cut down on disposable plastic bags state-wide. The bill, AB 2058, will be voted on in the legislature this month, and I really hope it passes.

AB 2058 will require retailers to meet a goal of 70% diversion of plastic bag useage in their stores by 2011. Meaning, they have to distribute 70% fewer plastic bags than they are now. If they don't meet that goal, they will have to charge a 25 cent fee per bag--for both plastic and paper. The proceeds from that fee will go to local litter clean-up. The bill will also allow local governments to charge an additional fee on bags if they choose to. Basically, the fee should make it more likely that people get into the habit of bringing their own reuseable bags to the store.

Living in Los Angeles, it's hard not to see the negative effects of disposable plastic bags. They get stuck in trees, litter the sides of highways and clog up storm drains. And if you look closer, things get even nastier. Recently, the Good Girls (and friends) did a LA River Clean-Up with FoLAR (Friends of the Los Angeles River). We spent about 3 hours picking up trash in a section of the river near my house. As soon as we got down to the river bed, I noticed the plastic bags everywhere. They were wrapped around almost every single tree branch, bush and log. It was pretty disgusting. I think anyone who spent 5 minutes by the LA River would immediately understand why disposable plastic shopping bags have got to go.



I have already sent a message to my state representative asking him to support AB 2058. If you want to do the same, you can look up your representive here. Or, you can let Heal the Bay contact your representative for you by going to their website.

It was a weekend of new experiences for the chickens here on our urban farm. Yesterday made it ten days since Peggy and Tina got their Marek's shots, so they were officially allowed to go outside for the first time ever. Not a moment too soon, if you ask them. They were getting really rowdy in their inside brooder box. I mean, look at these two little trouble-makers.



Peggy and Tina took to the chicken tractor pretty quickly. They only stood frozen in terror for about 60 seconds or so before they started checking out their new digs. Yesterday, they were down by Lisa's coop, because that's one of the only available flat spots in the yard. Today, we moved them to their own personal chicken tier, which Dakota dug out early this morning.



Here they are inside the tractor. Can you believe how big they are already?



Lisa is quite curious about the new girls, as you might imagine. She has checked them out from every angle through the wire mesh of the tractor. She and Tina were practically beak to beak today. I'm not sure if she's decided what she thinks of the new chicks yet, but we're hoping they end up as friends. I don't plan to force it, though. I have read about babies getting injured in fights with bigger, more dominant chickens. I think several weeks of staring at each other through the wire will be important before they actually meet out in the yard. That should give Peggy and Tina time to grow a bit bigger, too.

I can already tell that Tina is going to be the leader of their little team. Whenever I go into their brooder with my camera or reach into the tractor to pick them up, Peggy runs behind Tina to hide. Like this:



Tina's a good protector, so hopefully she'll take good care of her smaller sister when they move in with this no-nonsense lady.



Don't you feel chastised by her disapproving expression? Lisa's actually a pretty sweet girl, most of the time. Although, the appearance of the new girls has gotten her a bit riled up. She's been hooting and hollering quite a lot this weekend. Lisa has always had a big, impressive cluck she uses to remind us how important she is, but she's been doing it even more the last couple of days. Dakota thinks she wants more attention. He may be right.


Lisa's Big Cluck from Audrey on Vimeo.

Finally, by special request from one of Lisa's many admirers, here's a full-body shot of her. Here you go Sarah! I hope this helps you figure out the sex of your Rhode Island Red.

Dakota and I were in Iowa last weekend, and we got to attend the Warren County Fair on Friday. Like most fairs, it had rides and funnel cakes and 4-H competitions. Of course, I was most excited to check out the poultry section. I mean, wouldn't you be?

We had to wander through several livestock barns and a few craft areas, but we did eventually find the poultry barn. Yes, only one barn of chickens and ducks. Can you believe it? (I guess it was a smallish fair. I'm sure the Iowa State Fair has several large barns full of chickens.) I was absurdly excited to check out the 4-H chickens. I guess I really am chicken-obsessed.

They had quite a few Aracaunas, although almost all were white, which I hadn't seen before. They had a really nice big Rhode Island Red, and some other classic breeds. There were also a lot of English Game Birds, which were so pretty and really small. They were cute but regal, I'd say. And there were lots of Silkies, including this fluffy lady. So cute!



Anyway, it was fun to see some fancy chickens in person. I wonder if I would have raised a chicken for 4-H if I'd grown up in the country. I think my future kids will probably really like our chickens. Dakota had a few chickens growing up, before he moved into town.

While at the fair, we also saw some prize-winning vegetables. Look at these zucchini! I wish I could grow squash that big.



Dakota's uncle, Tim, who lives in Des Moines, was growing some huge zucchini in his back yard. They were over a foot long and really thick. I think it's the super-rich Iowa soil, and all the rain they get. Plus, I think Tim is a pretty good gardener.

I do finally have a zucchini growing on one of my plants, though. I just hope it grows to a normal size. No blue ribbon necessary.

I finally did it! I got the chicks vaccinated for Marek's disease. It only took me two weeks of researching, calling, rescheduling and ordering online--plus a mid-day drive to Santa Monica. But, Peggy and Tina got their Marek's shots, and in 10 days they should be okay to go outside and be on the same ground that Lisa scratches around on.

I had heard rumors on the chicken message boards of a avian vet who saw chickens in Santa Monica. I emailed some folks through the board, and was able to confirm that there are vets at VCA Wilshire Animal Hospital in Santa Monica who will see chickens. So, I called and set up Peggy and Tina with an appointment. I mentioned I wanted to get them Marek's vaccinations when I set up the appointment, but when I called back a few days before the appointment to confirm, they revealed that they don't have that vaccine. Dang!

After some scrambling, I came up with a new plan. I would order the vaccine online from Jeffers Livestock, and the vet would administer it for me. The vaccine was FedExed to me this morning, and Peggy, Tina and I drove to Santa Monica this afternoon to get their shots, peeping all the way.

The chicks were very good when they got their vaccines. They didn't struggle or cry or anything. It's a small subcutaneous shot, so I guess it doesn't hurt too much. I watched the vet when he did it, and it actually looked pretty simple. I bet I could do it myself if I ever needed to. That might be a good idea, because the appointment wasn't cheap. The things I do for these chickens.

All the vet techs were cooing over Peggy and Tina while we waited for our appointment. They are pretty cute. And look how big they are getting! The girls were weighed at their appointment, and it turns out that Tina weighs a lot more than Peggy. She seems a lot taller, too. I guess that's the difference in their breeds. It'll be interesting to see how else their development differs as they get older.



As you can see, they've transitioned to pine shavings and a starter perch, and grown lots more feathers. Chicks grow up so fast. Sigh.

Last weekend, I decided that ordering chicks from a hatchery was not going to be a good option for us. So few places will ship small quantities, and no place will ship only two. Plus, we needed to get some chicks as soon as possible, since Lisa is all alone in her run since Jackie died.

So, last Saturday, we drove out to Agoura Feed in Agoura Hills, just north of Los Angeles, and got two little babies. Here they are: Peggy and Tina.



Peggy, the yellow and brown one, is either a Arucana or Ameraucana, although probably not a pure bred version of either one. These chickens are also known as Easter Eggers, because they lay light blue or green eggs. She's such a pretty chick, with stripes down her back, black "eyeliner" and fluffy cheeks. Dakota thinks she looks like a cartoon character. Eventually, I think those fluffy cheeks will grow into a feather "beard." For now, they are just extremely cute.



Tina is a black sex-link. Right now, she's basically all black. But she may end up with some gold feathers as well. She has a tiny pink comb, and her legs are black and pink. Not sure how that'll all turn out when she's older. She'll lay brown eggs when she grows up, and should be around the same size as Lisa.

The chicks really seem happy together. They snuggle when they sleep and spend a lot of time chasing each other around. And, of course, they're both peeping like crazy.

On a more cheerful note, Lisa has been doing splendidly lately. She's laying up a storm, and her egg size has increased. Here are a few of her eggs, just before I made them into a tasty scramble. I really do think her eggs are more delicious than the ones we get at the store.



Lisa is a very funny girl, and she and I have become good friends. When I let her out of the run in the morning or after work, she follows me around the yard for a bit, just to see what I'm up to. She's a very curious chicken. She also loves Crocs, particularly my orange ones. She likes the bright color, and often stands there staring at them and wondering, "What are those tiny pink things I can see through the holes?" (Answer: my toes.)

And check out her nice big comb and wattles. Snazzy!



Speaking of tasty eats, I have some really nice veggies getting close to harvest, including eggplant, tomato, green beans and corn. I can't wait to try some beans straight from the vine. My dad and I grew them in our garden when I was a kid, and they were so delicious. It's been fun to watch the corn grow, too. I'm sure it reminds Dakota of home. (Okay, probably not.) But I bet the corn will be tasty when it's finally ready.



Annoyingly, my zucchini has only produced male flowers so far, but I can see some little female flowers developing on the plant. (Not to be crass, but they look like tiny green penises. Am I the only one who thinks that? Probably not. Hee hee.) So, hopefully it won't be too long until we're inundated with fresh squash.

It's been a difficult few weeks, chicken-wise.

Last weekend, we had to put our new chicken, Becky, down. It was a really really hard decision, but I think it was the right one. Becky had been showing some clear signs of respiratory disease: a smelly crust in her nostrils, sneezing and a rattle in her chest when she breathed. I did a lot of research in my chicken books and online, and, unfortunately, I realized that she seemed to have infectious coryza. This is a very serious and contaigous disease found in poultry. She likely caught it at the feed store, since she was in quarantine the whole time we had her at our house. I looked into treatment, but the overwhelming consensus seemed to be that we should cull her. Even if she had got over her symptoms, Becky would have always been a carrier of coryza and would have spread it to Lisa and Jackie. So, it was the right thing to do both for Becky and for our other chickens.

Of course, killing Becky was the last thing we wanted to do. Many tears were shed. I wanted to do it humanely, but was pretty certain that neither Dakota nor I would be able to cut off her head, which is the generally agreed upon quickest and least cruel way to kill a chicken. It turned out, I was able to find a way to kill her gently. We used automobile starter fluid, which contains ether. We sprayed the fluid on some paper towels and then put a Becky in a bucket with the towels. The ether puts the chicken to sleep, and then she suffocates in her sleep. It was very sad, but I think Becky went peacefully. After she died, we had to burn Becky's body. We also either burned or washed with bleach everything else she'd ever touched. That's how serious infectious coryza is. Scary stuff.

We said goodbye to Becky on July 5. We only had her a week, but she was a very sweet and pretty little chicken. I'm sad we never got to know her.

Today, we had another tough loss. As you know, Jackie has been sick for several months now. Tonight, when I got home from work, she was lying very still on the side of the run with her legs stretched out and her eyes closed. She's certainly been weak lately, but I didn't expect to lose her this soon. I thought she was already dead, but she was still moving a bit. I tried to move her towards water in case she was dehydrated and went to call Dakota. By the time I got back to the run, Jackie had died. I was very sad to lose such a sweet chicken, and I imagine Lisa is pretty upset, too. We'll miss Jackie. I hope she's in a better chicken place now.

So, as you can imagine, things are kind of melancholy in our coop at the moment. Life must go on, though, and I plan to get some baby chicks very soon. Lisa needs some companions, as chickens are social animals and don't like to live alone.

Here's Jackie, basking in the sun, in happier times.

So, here's some more detailed information about Becky, the new girl, because I know you're dying to know more about her.

Becky came from Blacksmith's Corner, which is a good-sized feed store in Bellflower, a city near Long Beach. We got her on Sunday on our way back from Sunset Beach. The feed store had a pretty good selection of very cute baby chicks, but we wanted to get a chicken that was a bit older so she could hold her own with Jackie and Lisa. I am guessing Becky is between 2 and 3 months old. She's fully feathered, but still pretty small.

As I mentioned in the previous post, Becky is a black sex link. The benefits of sex links are (a) they are supposed to be hardier and (b) you can tell their sex at birth because pullets and roosters have different coloring. Becky has very pretty feathers. She's black with a gold chest, and she has nice black legs as well. It's nice to have a different-looking chicken, just to mix it up a bit. Sex link hens are also known as excellent egg-layers and tend to have lovely personalities. Hopefully, Becky will live up to her genetics.

Unfortunately, Becky can't hang out with her new sisters just yet. She has to stay in quarantine for at least four weeks. This is to make sure she didn't contract any chicken diseases at the feed store. If she is sick, we don't want her infecting Jackie and Lisa. For now, she's living in a stylish chicken tractor, designed and built by well-known chicken architect, Dakota. She stays in the tractor during the day, and at night she sleeps in Jackie and Lisa's old brooder box.



Now, I know what you're thinking: You've told us all about Becky's breed and living situation, but what's she like, you know, as a chicken? Well, so far, she's pretty low key. She still peeps, like a chick, and she's fairly docile--except when you pick her up. She'll get used to being held after a while, I'm sure. I'm excited to watch her grow up and to see what her personality turns out like.

This is our new chicken, Becky, who we just picked up this afternoon. She's a black sex link, which means she's part Rhode Island Red and part Barred Rock. She should end up about the same size as Lisa and lay brown eggs as well. For now, though, she's just going to concentrate on growing bigger and getting a clean bill of health so she can get out of quarantine and into the coop with her chicken sisters.

More on all that later. For now, please enjoy the cuteness that is Becky.

It was an exciting morning at our house today. Lisa did something pretty thrilling: She laid her very first real egg! That's it at the top of the post, as you may have guessed.

Lisa has been working on laying a real egg for a few days now. On Saturday, she laid a soft-shelled egg. Or, I should say I think that's what happened. Dakota and I went out for a fancy dinner that night, so we missed the actual event. But, on Sunday morning, I found some evidence of a soft shelled egg in the coop. Specifically, there was something that looked almost like part of a snake egg--white and soft--plus half of a yolky soft egg-shaped thing on the floor of the run. I was actually pretty surprised to see it, since Lisa is only 18 weeks old. But, I guess she's just precocious. I found something similar in the run on Monday evening.

This was all very exciting, at least for me, and I have been trying to make sure that Lisa is getting enough calcium in her diet, to help firm up the egg shell. I ended up baking some clean shells from some store-bought eggs in the oven for 30 mins on 250, as suggested on the BackyardChickens forums. Then I crumbled them up and gave them to Lisa, hoping she'd eat a few. It's tough to tell if she went for them.

I looked around and didn't see anything of note when I let the chickens out of the coop in this morning. But, Lisa did head back into the coop after a short visit to the feeder. Dakota put a snazzy new nest box on the coop on Sunday, and Lisa is a big fan, so I thought she might just want to sit in it a bit more.

Then, just as I was packing my lunch for work, Dakota called up to me from the yard with some exciting news: Lisa laid an egg AND she laid it in the nest box. (Apparently, many people have a hard time convincing their chickens to lay in the nest box, but I guess our Lisa is a chicken genius.) Of course, I immediately rushed down to the coop to see, and there it was. An egg!

It's a bit on the small side, and the shell is thin at both ends, but it's definitely a real egg. Dakota and I admired it for a while, and then popped it in the fridge. I haven't cracked it yet. Maybe we will tomorrow morning.

We couldn't be prouder of Lisa. Hopefully she'll keep up the good work. Now if I could just convince Jackie to get healthy!

My summer garden is really coming along nicely, and there should hopefully be a few delicious veggies ready to harvest in a couple of weeks.

This year, I'm growing a few things I've never grown before, including eggplants. These are actually plants I foolishly started last Fall, because I mistakenly thought they were winter vegetables. In fact, they need warm weather to bloom. Since California winters are so mild, I managed to keep a few plants alive until summer, and now they're thriving.

I am growing two varieties of eggplant, one small globe variety and one long skinny variety, usually used in Asian cooking.




I am also trying onions this year, both in pots and in the garden. They take a long time to mature, but I have planted them in stages, so hopefully I'll have one or two a month starting in a few weeks.



I have planted okra for the second year in a row. Last year, my okra was a complete failure. But, after a brief setback when Lisa hopped in the garden and pulled up all the okra seedlings, this year things are going pretty well so far. There are a good number of okra seedlings popping up out of the dirt. If they survive this weekend's heatwave, I think I may actually harvest some this year. Fresh okra, Mmmmmmm!

Also in the garden are tomatoes (of course), peppers, green beans, corn, zucchini, carrots, radishes and cucumbers. Some plants are doing better than others, but I think we should get a few tasty meals out of my efforts this summer. I'll keep you posted.

Sweet old Jackie is still hanging in there. It's hard to say whether she's "better" or not, but she hasn't really gotten any worse. She's still limping, but my main concern these days is her weight.

She's way too skinny, and her comb is very small and pale. Both of these symptoms made me think Jackie has some other issue beyond her limp. I finally decided to deworm her, in case she has some sort of internal parasite that's messing with her ability to get nutrients. I guess lots of people deworm their chickens, although there are not many dewormers sold specifically for chickens.

I ended up getting some SafeGuard Canine Dewormer based on the success of someone else on the Backyard Chickens message boards. They sell it at Pet Co. It comes in three 1 gram doses, and I gave her a little less than one dose each day for 3 days. I made a little mash of the dewormer powder, a bit of her food and a touch of water. She ate it right down because I fed it to her first thing in the morning when she was hungry. Today was the last day of treatment.

As I said, she hasn't necessarily improved, but I guess it may take some time. One positive sign is that her poops are more solid than they were (sorry, I know that may be too much information). On the negative side, her poops are also green. Green poops can apparently sometimes mean they are not absorbing their food. (The green is bile.) So, I am hoping to see some nice, normal, light brown solid poops from Jackie soon.

If she continues to be sick, I am not sure what to do. Other possible fits for her symptoms are coccidiosis (treatable) or lymphoid leukosis (not treatable). At least, that's what I could put together using the Internet and The Chicken Health Handbook.

It could also be something like lice, which is weird, but I guess someone else on the message board had similar chicken problems and it ended up being lice. Anyway, we'll see... I really hope the dewormer did the trick.

Cross your fingers for Jackie!

I thought I'd post some good chicken news for a change: Dakota has completed his installation of the green roof on the chicken coop. It looks great, too, and is only going to look better as time goes on.

Here he is securing wire mesh over the gravel in the roof frame. I don't know all the technical details, but basically the gravel is there to provide good drainage. Under the gravel is a sheet of resin, to keep the roof waterproof. There are drain holes drilled straight through the resin and the wood underneath it, in case extra water needs to drain.



On top of the gravel, Dakota put a mixture of cactus soil and broken clay pot. Then, he transplanted a plant from a planter on the deck into the roof soil. It's a sedum-like plant that shouldn't need much water or care, and will fill in and spread out over time.



Here's the completed project. Looks pretty classy, I think. It will also keep the coop cool this summer, when things get scorching hot around here. The chickens have yet to give an opinion on their new roof, but I have a feeling they will like it a lot.

It's been four days since we noticed Jackie's limp. Currently, I'd say she's doing fine, not great. Her energy seems high, she's eating normally and she doesn't seem particularly unhappy--if that's possible to tell in a chicken--BUT, her limp is still there. I don't think it's gotten any better, either.

Since Monday, we have been heavily dosing her with the children's liquid multi-vitamin and feeding her a mixture of special foods, including: plain yogurt, cooked oatmeal, banana, peaches and strawberries. I'm not sure if any of it is helping, and I don't want to make her fat, so I don't think I'll give her treats for much longer. I plan to keep up the vitamins for a while, though.

Luckily, Jackie is so nice and low-key, that it hasn't been too hard to give her the vitamins. I just pick her up and squeeze the dropper into her beak. Today, she opened wide for me and I got a whole dose down at once. Jackie wasn't too thrilled about that, unfortunately. She made some funny chicken noises, which I took to mean that maybe some of the vitamin went up her beak.

So, that's the chicken update. Some of my anxiety has subsided, which is good. My nervousness about Jackie's condition actually kept me up worrying for a couple of nights. But, Dakota and I have decided that, while we obviously hope she heals completely, we'll be okay with having a permanently gimpy chicken. Jackie's great, and I just want her to be healthy and happy. (Yes, I am still talking about a chicken, not a kid.)

Jackie is limping! We think she's sick. She's been more low-key, and smaller, than Lisa for a while. While Lisa runs all over the yard when they free range, Jackie usually sits under a bush and relaxes. I thought this was just a difference in temperament, but yesterday we noticed she's wobbly and unwilling to put weight on her left leg.

At first, we thought she might be injured. I looked at her leg and didn't see any cuts or swelling or anything. So, later Dakota and I looked in our chicken books to try to figure out what else it might be. Our current best guess is: chicken rickets.

Apparently, this is fairly common, although I can't find many personal stories about the treatment of chicken rickets online. Rickets seem to come from a vitamin D deficiency. The symptoms include weak legs and slower growth, both of which fit Jackie's current condition. The only place I really found info on what to do if your pet chicken gets rickets was on the forums of backyardchickens.com, and even that wasn't as specific as I would have liked.

This morning, I ran down to the drug store and got some liquid children's multi-vitamins with vitamin D and then to the grocery store for some plain yogurt. Then, we went down to check on the chickens. Jackie got her foot caught in the floor slats in the night, and I think she wasn't strong enough to pull herself out. It was very sad.

Jackie seemed really quiet and like she wasn't feeling well. I gave her a mixture of plain yogurt, liquid vitamin and cut-up bananas, Jackie's favorite treat. She ate a little yogurt and most of the banana. But, we were worried that she didn't get enough vitamins, so we put a dropper-full in her beak. She seemed to drink it down with no problem. We waited a little while, and then put her outside with Lisa (who was freaking out because we shut her out of the coop while we tended to Jackie and they hate to be apart).

Jackie did eventually perk up a little, and seemed to be somewhat okay--although still limping and sitting down, a lot. This afternoon, I got some unfiltered apple cider vinegar to put in their water. I guess it's supposed to be good for their digestion and to prevent infection and algae in the water and whatnot. Possibly an old wives tale, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

Tonight Jackie seems a bit better. She's still limping a lot and unsteady. We're going to keep giving her the vitamins for at least a week and see what happens. I really hope she gets better soon. It's really sad to see her limp and she's such a sweet little chicken. I have been worrying about her non-stop since we noticed the limp.

Here's a picture of Jackie snuggling up to my dad's Crocs a couple of weeks ago. Chickens love Crocs, and my dad.

Who needs air conditioning? Well... maybe us, but central air is not going to be installed in our little house for quite a few years. It's just too expensive. Sometimes little problems like this are good, because they lead you to find interesting and smart solutions. For example, a solar attic fan.

I didn't know much about attic fans until recently, but it seemed like a good solution for one of our major heat problems: hot air from the attic dropping down into the house on summer nights and turning our house into an oven. Attic fans help suck hot air out of the attic and keep cooler air cycling through. Getting a solar attic fan means we don't have to hook it up to our electrical system, saving us money and, you know, saving the planet.

Our solar attic fan is made by Solatube. It doesn't have a thermostat, so it just automatically turns on when the sun hits it. The stronger the sunlight, the faster it spins. There are other varieties that are a bit more expensive and have a thermostat, but we felt that it was better to get a simpler system with less parts that might break. This fan is really simple, and comes with a 5-year warranty for the solar panel. We bought it from a small distributor in Sherman Oaks.

The attic fan was quite easy for Dakota to install. He just cut a circular hole in the roof, slipped the flashing under the shingles and screwed it all down. I'd say the whole project took him about 45 minutes last Monday.


Dakota installed the fan on the front of the house, because that part of the roof gets the most afternoon sun. I was worried it would look ugly or weird, but the fan has a really low profile, so you can barely see it. It's also completely silent. I don't even know it's there. Of course, I hope I notice its effects once the weather starts getting hotter.

If you:
1) live or work anywhere near Burbank
2) have a lot of old sneakers you can't donate to Goodwill
3) like recycling
I have a tip for you. You can drop off your old sneakers at the Burbank Recycling Center. They collect a big bin of old sneakers and then take them to a Nike Reuse-A-Shoe drop-off point in Santa Monica. Nike takes all the shoes and grinds up parts of them to make sports surfaces like tracks and tennis courts.

I dropped off a bunch of our old sneakers at the Burbank Recycling Center a couple of weeks ago. We actually had a big pile, since Dakota really wears out his sneakers pretty quickly, and, of course, he wears a size 15. So, they'll have a lot of material to recycle of his old shoes.

I guess I have never really showed off the (mostly) final coop setup on this blog. So, here it is:



The coop and run have been completely connected by the patented Witzenburg Chicken Tunnel(TM), and Jackie and Lisa seem very happy with their little home. They love the tunnel, and enjoy hanging out in there, probably because it's both safe and shady. Here's another angle on their set up.



Since these shots were taken, Dakota has added some locks and other little items for safety and ease of cleaning. The whole compound is both stylish and secure, in my opinion. So far, there haven't been any incidents with predators, although there were some small holes dug at the edge of the run a couple of weeks ago, and we've seen some suspicious footprints. Dakota is confident that the chickens are quite safe when they're locked in the coop at night, though, and I agree with him. They seem happy in there, too.

The only things still needed are a nesting box addition on the coop, which can wait until Jackie and Lisa are old enough to lay eggs, and the green roof. We might also add a little shade-creating overhang or ledge in the run, for when things get really hot this summer.

Happily, Jackie and Lisa are quite comfortable with their daily routine. Every morning, I open the door to their coop and then close it behind them once they come out into the run. At night, one of us goes down and opens the door to the coop, then comes back a bit later to lock them in for the night. They are usually very eager to get inside at night as it gets dark. If we get home too late, we'll find them already asleep inside the tunnel, pressed up against the closed coop door. They sleep so soundly that it takes some effort to wake them so we can open the coop door to let them in. It took them about two weeks, plus some bribes and a little shoving, to get used to the schedule, but they seem pretty attached to it now.

I've been getting a lot of excellent harvests from my winter garden in the last couple of months, which is good, because summer is almost here. I had great success with the turnips, carrots and chard in particular. I've always been intimidated to grow leafy crops like chard and arugula, but they have turned out to be easier than I expected.

Dakota's favorite garden-fresh meal ever came from the vegetables pictured below. I peeled and braised the carrots and turnips together, using a simple recipe from How to Cook Everything. Then I cooked the chard with a bit of garlic and olive oil until it wilted, and steamed it briefly in the pan. Served with a bit of wild rice, it was a pretty delicious and extremely healthy meal.



Just a couple of weeks ago, I pulled these lovely beets. They're kind of striped on the inside, although not as stripey as the picture on the seed packet. I roasted them, which is my favorite way to eat beets.



The biggest crop this winter has been carrots. I've pulled several big bunches so far, and I still have quite a few left in the garden still waiting to be harvested. This winter I grew pretty traditional carrot varieties, but, this summer, I'm going to try a more exotic type called Dragon Carrots.



And of course this summer I'm growing tomatoes and peppers, plus eggplant, radishes and, for the first time, corn. The corn was planted last month and is coming along nicely. I hope it works out--and so do the chickens. They love corn.

We now officially have free range chickens. Well, semi-free range. Yesterday, since Dakota and I were both in the back yard, we decided to let the chickens out for a little stroll.

At first, they were pretty nervous. They walked up to the open doorway, cautiously stuck their heads over the frame, ran back in the run, considered again, then took a careful step out. This went on for a while, with Jackie and Lisa eventually getting about a foot outside the run, looking around, then running back inside again.

When they finally summoned the courage to venture out for a longer period, they walked practically pressed against each other at first. After stumbling around nervously for about five minutes, they eventually got the hang of the whole free range chicken thing and then began happily exploring the yard.



Here's a video of Jackie and Lisa checking out the yard, eating some grass seeds, scratching in the dirt and generally enjoying the afternoon. I think they had a good time, and we'll probably let them out again this afternoon and most weekends when we're out in the back doing yard work.


Free Range Chickens from Audrey on Vimeo.

The chickens officially moved into their coop on Sunday. Dakota spent most of Saturday making a connecting tube and getting everything set in the ground and attached properly.

Here he is (or part of him) attaching the chicken tube to the chicken run.



The chicken tube was Dakota's elegant way to attach our snazzy coop to the run in a way that looked nice and kept Jackie and Lisa safe. They actually really like the tube, and sometimes hang out inside of it insetad of going into the run.

Dakota put a little door in the top of the tube so we can access the chickens while there in there, and so we can open and close the door to the coop at night.



Here are the chickens taking their coop for a little test drive on Sunday. The hopped up on the perch right away and got comfy. They seem to really like their new home, as they should. It's a pretty beautifully-designed chicken coop, if you ask me. Perhaps it will soon be featured in the pages of Dwell Poultry or Elle Poulet.



They are still getting the hang of their new all-outdoor routine. It's a bit of a struggle to get them to go into the coop at night. (Lisa made a new, more grown-up sound last night when I was pushing her in there. It was something between a peep and a squawk, which I took to mean, "But I don't want to go in there!") And, of course, it's tough to get them out of the coop in the morning. Although they can be bribed with strawberry tops, their favorite treat.

I'm hoping they get the hang of the run in the day, coop at night routine soon. But, you know, they are chickens so I don't expect them to be fast learners. No offense, Jackie and Lisa.