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.

In the last few weeks, everything in our yard has burst into bloom. It's been really nice to watch all our plants flower, especially since they are mostly low-water-use perennials.

In the back yard, we have flowers all over the place.

Daisies





Lavender



Various blooming bushes





Even the trees are blooming



The front yard is looking pretty great, too. The plants have really matured and grown bushy in the past year. It looks nothing like the boring, ugly grass yard it was when I moved in. I feel pretty proud of all the work Dakota and I have put in to make it nice. And I think our neighbors appreciate the effort, too. They often comment on our healthy plants. Plus, I haven't had to water it in months. I love native plants.



I am still working on the plot on the left side of the house, and much of the backyard still needs work, but this years bounty of flowers gives me some encouragement. I can't imagine how gorgeous Spring will be in another couple of years, once I've landscaped some more, added more veggie plots and used my super-fertile chicken compost to improve the terrible soil. I can't wait.

Last weekend was another eventful one for Jackie and Lisa. They got their first chance to inspect their new chicken run. Dakota got all the sides and the top on the run completed, and so the girls got to spend much of Saturday and Sunday outside. Here he is attaching wire to the top of the run to keep out the hawks.



The run is probably four or five times as big as their brooder box, and they really loved the extra space. Jackie and Lisa are getting so big, and their brooder is starting to feel a bit cramped. In fact, the other morning, Jackie tried to jump out of the brooder when I was changing their water.

There's not much inside the run at the moment, but they seemed to enjoy just scratching around in the dirt. Once they move in permanently, we'll put some perches and logs in there to keep Jackie and Lisa entertained. Here they are in another wildly exciting chicken video.


Jackie & Lisa in the New Run from Audrey on Vimeo.

The chicken area is really looking great, and I'm excited to move the chickens outside permanently in another couple of weeks. The only work left to do on the run is to install the door and add some boards on the lower part of the run to prevent raccoon attacks. Then we have to set the coop up and attach it to the run.

I have already discovered that I really like just sitting and watching Jackie and Lisa wander around and do their chicken thing. For some reason, I find it very relaxing.

I wanted to do a little winter garden update, especially since it's pretty much Spring here now. It's supposed to be in the mid to upper 70s this weekend. Nice! Luckily, the veggies I planted a while back are getting close to harvest, and some are even ready to eat now. But I'll get to that in a second.

The chard is probably still a week or two away from being ready to pick, but, it's really looking good. I am excited to eat it, perhaps with some garlic and olive oil. Here's some I've plated in a pot on the deck. It's Rainbow Chard, so there are red, yellow and white stalks growing. Pretty and delicious.



And, down in the garden plot, there's some chard in the front, and tasty carrots in the back. I'm pretty happy that the garden plot is actually producing some nice veggies. Last year, the carrot situation was pretty bleak.



Finally, the big thrill: The first turnip harvest! Aren't they pretty? They are a Seed Savers variety, of course, called Purple Top White Globe. That pretty much describes them. I cooked the turnips up and we had them for dinner on Sunday and they were delicious. I feel like the flavor was fresher and more delicate than other turnips I have eaten.



I also cooked up the turnip greens with some mustard greens and had them for lunch. Of course, first I had to wash off the thousands of aphids that were covering the turnip leaves. They were everywhere! I guess my turnips are healthy enough not to be too effected by the bugs, at least not yet. Since I am gardening organically, I guess I will just leave the aphids be for now. If they start to kill any of the veggies, I'll look into getting rid of them. Soapy water spray sometimes helps.

So, that's the current vegetable gardening news. I think I should have a good pea harvest soon, too. I noticed some pods when I was watering this morning.

Jackie and Lisa had a very exciting day yesterday: They had their very first outdoor experience.

The chicks have been getting pretty rowdy in their brooder box lately--knocking over their feeder and filling their water with shavings--so we thought they could use a change of scenery. We brought them outside while we were both working in the backyard.

Jackie and Lisa spent a few hours hanging out in an improvised chick playpen--just a circle of wire set on the ground under the deck. They really seemed to have a good time, pecking around, picking at the grass and weeds and enjoying the sunny day. I even made a little video of the occasion, because I knew you'd all want to see them in action. (Ahem.)


Jackie & Lisa's First Day Out from Audrey on Vimeo.

It was great to see how much the chicks enjoyed being outside. It seems like they will be ready to go outside for good, or at least for longer stretches, in just a couple of weeks. Luckily, Dakota is hard at work on their coop and run, and it's coming together nicely. Here he is yesterday placing the posts.

So Arrowhead now has this "eco-shape" water bottle that is supposedly so much better for the environment because it uses 30% less plastic. When I saw the commercial for this a while back, I was immediately annoyed. I mean, the idea that any bottled water can be considered eco-friendly is absurd. Classic case of greenwashing.

And speaking of the scam of bottled water, here's some more info on that from Food & Water Watch. They are leading a campagin to "Take Back the Tap," by putting out the real truth about bottled water by highlighting:

• the fact that tap water is much more strongly regulated for health and safety than bottled water
• that bottled water pollutes the environment during its production process, its transportation to stores and the empty bottles that end up in landfills
• that it's a big waste of money

If you're interested, you can sign their Take Back the Tap pledge by clicking here.

And if you want to find out more about the water coming out of your tap, check out the National Tap Water Database.

Now here's a photo of my sister's dog enjoying some natural spring water in the San Antonio River.

It's now been two weeks since we got Jackie and Lisa, and they have grown a lot. I was out of town last week, and when I got back on Friday night they really looked different. They are definitely taller with bigger feet and longer necks. But, their most noticeable growth has been their feathers. They have more wing feathers and tail feathers, and their bodies are getting feathers now too. It's a bit of an awkward teenage look, but I still think they are cute.



While I was gone, Dakota switched their flooring from paper towels to pine shavings. He also put a stick in the brooder for them to use as a low perch. They seem to like the perch so far, and are getting better at standing on it and gripping it with their little toes. They've been trying out some other fun chicken behaviors as well, like scratching and dust baths--although, in this case, they are shavings baths.

They have been getting a bit rowdy at times, running and jumping and chasing each other around a bit. Dakota put a wire mesh over the top of the brooder to keep them in. We don't want them hopping out and running around the house while we're gone. What would Nigel think?



So, the chicks seem pretty happy and healthy at the two week mark. It's been fun raising them so far, and I'm excited for all the adventures to come.

As of today, we've had Jackie and Lisa for one week. Both chicks seem to be quite happy and thriving, and they are growing very quickly. As of today, they have some wing and tail feathers, and they've grown much taller and leaner. Here they are this morning by their feeder.



We'd better get to work preparing their outdoor coop and run. Dakota is planning to add a nest box area on one side of the coop. Then we'll need to create a fenced-in run so that they can hang out outside during the day, but still be protected from predators. Besides our neighborhood cats, we'll need to protect them from skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyotes and hawks. It's a dangerous world out there for Jackie and Lisa. But, I'm confident Dakota will make something safe and secure for them.