Kale Flowers Are Yummy

Posted on May 3, 2012 by jkmcintyre

Last weekend a neighbour was surprised to learn that chickens eat foods other than grain. OK, fair enough. Except that he grew up on a farm. With chickens. It is a good reminder of the general ignorance in our industrial society about what it takes to grow food, including what our food eats!

Since our chickens are (mostly) kept out of the main yard, their access to greens has significantly declined. They have access to the compost bin, and we bring them kitchen treats as they are produced (ranging from fresh carrot peels and broccoli ends to lasagna pans and restaurant leftovers), but fresh greens have been elusive since they ate their way through what naturally grew in their (800 sqft) pen.

Instead, we bring them fresh treats from the yard. Dandelion leaves. Chickweed. Fresh cut grass. Bugs. And spent plants, including the flowering kale. They don’t have teeth, and they aren’t as smart as crows who will step on their food while they tear off pieces. Instead they grab a leaf and shake it around until a piece breaks off. Smaller leaves they are able to ratchet in. But a bouquet of dandelion leaves or kale flowers is best served by holding on to the plant and letting them quickly pick it apart.

Posted in chickens, education, food, kale | Tagged | 6 Comments

One-dead-baby-chicken, two-dead-baby-chicken, three-dead-baby-chicken …

Posted on April 30, 2012 by jkmcintyre

The day I found that first dead baby chicken (Thursday) I left town for a conference in British Columbia. On the train that evening, I got a call from the homestead. Our friend Darryl said, “There is an egg with a crack in it that is going ‘Peep! Peep! Peep!’!” I felt like beaming to the whole train: “My chicken is having a baby!”

The next morning (Friday) the hole was bigger and the chicken was still peeping. By afternoon she was found hatched out and dead, Calamity Jane again sitting in the empty nest box next door. The baby, who Darryl was going to name ‘George’, had blood on her head. Did the baby die from exposure or from being brained? Who brained her? Was it CJ? Or was it another chicken when CJ got up to take a break?

I got back to town Saturday night. I checked on the nest and found CJ again sitting in empty Box #2. In Box #3 with the eggs was one that was cracked through with a wet chick sticking out the sides, you guessed it – dead. Bloody. Gross and sad. I buried it in the garden with the first chick.

Nothing happened Sunday. It is now Monday and CJ is sitting on the remaining eggs. Of the original six, three were from a Buff Orpington cross, three from an Austrolorp cross. The first three hatchlings were from the Orpington cross. The Austrolorp cross may have a slightly different hatch timing, in which case we may see activity today, or they may have suffered too much chilling time and will never hatch.

Lessons to-date? 1) Never leave home, 2) Install coop webcam, 3) Isolate mamma and her eggs. Unfortunately, I don’t have the resources at this time to do anything more than check frequently when I am home. A disappointing experience thus far, I welcome any and all stories of trying to hatch eggs.

Posted in baby chickens, broody hen, chickens, eggs, nest boxes, update | Tagged , | 3 Comments

One is the loneliest number

Posted on April 26, 2012 by jkmcintyre

Baby chick found in nest box on Day 21 of incubation

This morning I found a beautiful, perfect, dead baby chick in the nest box with the fertilized eggs. Down still matted, eyes still shut tight. Calamity Jane, the would-be mother hen, was sitting on a clean empty nest next door.

What happened? Did it die of exposure? Was it trampled?

After removing the baby, CJ returned to the eggs with a little encouragement. The eggs are due to hatch today, 21 days after the eggs were laid. Five eggs to go. Will they hatch at all?

Posted in baby chickens, broody hen, chicken coop / run, chickens, eggs, update | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Asparagus = Spring

Posted on April 17, 2012 by jkmcintyre

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Seriously excited that spring has finally arrived in Seattle. Some crops have overwintered in the garden; kale, spinach, lettuce, carrots. That’s great and all, but it is asparagus that tells me it is Spring – at last.

In 2009, the first spring at our new house, I planted something like 15 asparagus crowns. I was so excited to get started on this investment that I planted them as early as I could: March. And I planted them deep. If 4″ is good, 6″ is better – right? And then it rained. And rained. As it will in Seattle in Spring.

Two years later I was down to one viable plant instead of the platefuls of steamed asparagi I had anticipated. Disappointed, but undaunted, I replanted. Lazily towards the end of April, I dug in the crowns, made a concerted effort to dig out competing roots from grasses and trees, and then waited to see what happened. The crowns all produced. By summer I had strong 4′ fronds, but I was still holding my breath.

This spring up come 16 shoots. They look good enough to eat. But I won’t do it. If they survive until next year I might nibble on a few. But I’ll be a good girl and give them their 3 years of establishment. I’m in this for the long haul.

Posted in food, rain, spring, vegetable garden | Tagged | 7 Comments