The Chicks' New Digs

Ameraucana

Barred Rock

Ameraucana (Bandit the (we think) Rooster!)

Buff Orpington (This one's bigger comb makes us think he's also a rooster.)

The chicks are all at that gawky teenager stage now. They're getting tall and leggy. Their feathers are coming in and they're losing their fuzz. But we think they're still so adorable!

They were getting too big, messy, and active to keep in the house anymore, so we were keeping them outside in a makeshift pen made of wire fencing by day, and in a large rubbermaid box with a heat lamp by night. But they quickly outgrew the box so we needed a solution. They won't be big enough to defend themselves against the big chickens until they're at least four months old, so we couldn't put them in the coop. 

Once again, McGyver came through for us. He made some adjustments to the greenhouse, so they live there now for the time being. We moved it into the shade and replaced a few panels with hardwire cloth so they won't get overheated. 

We put their food and water up on this plank so they won't keep scratching dirt and leaves into it. The milk jug is a waterer Wesley made. He drilled a hole in the bottom and placed a little gizmo called a chicken nipple in the hole. The chicks peck at it and it releases water. They love it. And the water stays clean and fresh!

Chicken Nipple in action - from the Avian Aqua Miser website

They love their new home. Chuck also placed a roost in there for them, and they love to sit there and clean their feathers. But they don't sleep on it like the big chickens. They sleep huddled together in a box filled with pine shavings. 

They also like to take naps huddled together.

This little sweetie is a Barred Rock. We think she's a hen, but won't know for sure for a while. She is the first to come running up to us when we enter the brooder. She likes to sit on your shoulder or head.

See how watchful Bandit is below? He's always got his eye on you, especially when you're holding one of the flock. If he's a rooster, he'll be a good protector.

We still haven't named any of the others. But I don't know if that will make a difference in how we'll feel if we lose any. When you care for animals, you tend to get attached. Thank goodness we keep our chickens for eggs and not meat!

Garden Update- April 2012

We have been very busy working outside lately, enjoying this gorgeous weather. Between the garden, the yard, and the chickens, I can always find an excuse to be outside. 

I thought it was about time to post a garden update. I can't believe it's been a month since my last garden post! The garden is very downscale this year. I think it may take a few years' experience before I get more involved and plant more difficult things. 

We've almost used up all our finished compost. (Thankfully there's more "brewing".)

Over the weekend we used a few wheelbarrows full to plant some blueberry bushes. The dirt in our yard is clay and sand. It needs a lot of amending before anything other than weeds will grow.

We planted two blueberry bushes right here, between the compost bins and the greenhouse-turned-chick brooder. (I'll post an update about the chicks next.)

Here's the strawberry bed, looking much the same as when we planted them. They keep putting out flowers and tiny berries, and I keep plucking them so they will devote all their energy this year to developing good roots and runners.

Below you can see onions at the back, and the Blue Lake Bush green beans in front. They're getting big. It's hard to see the beans when they're ready to pick. In fact, I didn't even know that some were ready to harvest until my friend pointed it out over the weekend. I was surprised and picked a few handfuls of beans.

Here you can see some tiny new beans growing.

Poor yellow squash. Our chickens kept getting into the garden and digging up the cucumber, squash, and zucchini plants, even after we fenced it in. I've replanted these squash and one of the zukes at least three times. We finally had to put the chickens back in jail their pen. They are not happy about this.

They are not looking their best, but they are producing their lovely yellow flowers, so I have hope.

The cucumbers are also flowering. I had four of them in this bed, but one of them did not recover after being dug up the second time by our chickens.

I love how the tiny tendrils on cucumber plants grasp onto anything within reach so they can climb up to reach the sun.

This is the herb bed with tomatoes in the back and an orange pepper plant down front. It's looking quite odd because I've had to move a few things around. 

The tomatoes are getting taller, despite all the cool weather we've been having. On the left is the heirloom German Queen variety, and the remaining three are Better Boys.

They're already putting out flowers!

Here's a tiny yellow pepper growing.

The red pepper plant is flowering, so we'll see some peppers soon.

And all the marigolds are looking lovely as usual. If you are afraid to garden, I recommend planting marigolds. They're hard to kill and always look pretty and bright. They helped me overcome my fear of green things.

What's in your garden?

Pea Pickin' Cake

Pea Pickin' Cake

Like most Southerners, I grew up with this cool, creamy, delightful cake. It seems to be most often served at Easter, though it also tends to make an appearance at the Family Reunion, Fish Fry, Barbecue, and Pot Luck.

It's the perfect summer dessert in warm climates because it's served cold and includes tropical flavors like orange and pineapple.

 Pea Pickin' Cake has many other names such as Pig Pickin' Cake, Sunshine Cake, and Mandarin Orange Cake. I've heard varying explanations for the interesting names, implying that this cake was often present at gatherings of folks who were either roasting a whole pig or picking and shelling peas.

Those explanations all sound plausible, but I like to think its name has more humble beginnings. Maybe, in the heat of summer, some Southern housewife wanted to serve her hardworking husband a cool, refreshing dessert and hit upon this concoction. Upon tasting it, her loving, appreciative husband looked upon his wife with adoration and exclaimed, "Why this is the best pea-pickin' cake I've ever tasted in my whole cotton-pickin' life!"

It really doesn't matter what you choose to call it, what matters it that you make it and see for yourself why it's such a popular dessert here in the South, where we KNOW how to enjoy dessert.

You can make this cake in any shape or form; 2, 3, or 4-layered, 13x9, sheet cake, or even cupcakes - though I've most often seen it layered as I've made it here. 

Using undrained mandarin oranges in the batter makes it extremely moist and flavorful. I like to use Duncan Hines' brand Butter Recipe Yellow Cake, with REAL butter. But you could use any yellow cake mix, and oil, if you prefer.

The cake really needs to stay in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight, so make sure you plan ahead, especially if you're taking it somewhere.

The recipe I'm sharing here is the one I'm most familiar with- the one my mom always used when we were growing up. There are other variations, though. Some folks like to add coconut, chopped nuts, and even cherries for garnish. I prefer the simple, basic version.

Pea Pickin' Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

3 eggs

1 - 11oz can mandarin oranges, undrained (Save some for garnish!)

Frosting:

1 package instant vanilla pudding (5 oz)

1 can crushed pineapple, undrained (20 oz)

1 large container Cool Whip (the tall one- can't remember how many ounces and I already threw the container away!)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour three 8 or 9 inch cake pans. Mix cake mix, softened butter, eggs, and mandarin oranges (with juice) on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Distribute batter evenly between the 3 cake pans. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. (Mine were done at 20.) Do not overbake! Let cakes cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

While cake is cooling, combine pudding mix with crushed pineapple (with juice). Fold in Cool Whip. When cake is COMPLETELY cool, frost. Garnish with reserved mandarin oranges. Cover and place in refrigerator for several hours to overnight.

 If you take pictures of it later, try not to eat it as you go. I tried. I failed.

I couldn't help it. Want a bite?

Our Chicken Coop

I'm going to show you our coop, which isn't pretty, but is functional. It's still primer white, which makes it look kind of dingy. But it's clean- for a coop.

Chuck and the boys built this chicken coop 2 summers ago. Chuck designed it himself after looking at trillions of chicken coop pictures. We used a lot of scrap material to keep costs down. The roof is a piece of old, cast-off aluminum. The plywood floor is covered in a piece of cheap vinyl flooring, for ease of cleaning. Much of the wood is scrap wood.

Summer 2010

Wesley "helping"

 I was planning to paint this coop, and I still am. But it's not really a necessity, so it's not a priority. We're doing a lot of painting in the house, so maybe I'll have some leftover paint I can use.

We put the coop in a shady spot in the back of the yard, so the chickens can stay cool during the summer.

The coop is 4 feet wide and 8 feet long - the size of a standard piece of plywood, which they used for the floor. It's two feet off the ground with hardware cloth wrapped around the bottom to keep predators out. Chuck built it off the ground to create more square footage for the chickens to roam underneath, and to make it higher, and easier to get into for cleaning and replenishing. Initially we were going to keep the chickens enclosed here, so we wanted as much space as possible. But now we only close them in the pen when we're traveling, and the rest of the time the chickens roam the back yard free.

The pen (or run) is attached to the coop and is completely wrapped in hardware cloth, even on the top. This is a large pen for our small flock, and they would be fine staying in here. But our chickens are spoiled and are used to being free-ranged. Last year we put up fencing around the coop and pen so the chickens would have an even larger area to roam, yet still be enclosed to keep them out of the garden. They did stay in there during last year's growing season. But this year we got the bright idea to put a fence around the garden and let the chickens out. It works beautifully.

Above you can see where we bent back the hardware cloth for access into the larger pen, or "yard" area. The galvanized trashcan is where we keep the feed. You can see in these pictures that the roof area is raised a bit to allow adequate air flow, and the windows are open and covered in chicken wire. Chickens require plenty of ventilation to keep from getting sick.

In the above picture, I've opened the coop doors to let you peek inside. We keep the feed and water containers on concrete bricks to keep them free from droppings. Free ranged chickens don't tend to eat huge amounts of feed since they gorge themselves on delicacies they find in the yard. But it's available if they need it. During the week, it is Wesley's job to check the feed and water, and to collect eggs. At least once a week he washes out the waterer. Taylor does these things on the weekends.

Looking to the right, you can see the chickens' roost. It's just a scrap piece of wood reclaimed from some other project. This is where they sleep at night. Every evening, the chickens just wander back into the coop on their own. Well, Jingles has yet to catch on to this and tends to roost on our windowsill. So Chuck has been carrying him to the coop himself and placing him on the roost every night. Hopefully he will get the idea soon.

Here you can see the nesting boxes to the left. Chuck built four of them because he had the room, and in case we have more chickens in the future. It is recommended to have 1 box for every 3-4 hens, so clearly we have more than enough. Our hens like to use the same box.

This is looking inside the nesting boxes from the side panel shown in the first and fourth pictures. 

Eggs! It doesn't matter how long you have chickens, every time you find eggs in the nest you get a little thrill. It feels like a successful treasure hunt!

We use pine shavings for the bedding. Since our chickens are free ranged, the coop stays remarkably clean. The only place that gets dirty is where the droppings collect as the chickens roost. It's easy enough to clean that spot frequently, and the droppings get composted, along with the shavings. Surprisingly, we only need to clean out the entire coop maybe a few times a year.

Are you thinking about keeping chickens? Is there anything else you want to know? Any burning chickens questions keeping you up at night? Ask away!