I am sad to inform all of you that we have lost another coop family as well as another chicken. As you know, Keith has decided to drop out for now, as other priorities have trumped his desire to care for chickens, though he remains a friend of the coop and will buy eggs from us. He tells us the experience was very positive and he has no issues, just doesn't have time for it now. He is also interested in any other resilience initiatives we may come to in the future. But this morning I found one of the Rhode Islands dead on the coop floor. I am fairly sure it would be the same one that was trying to crawl under the nest boxes late yesterday. I pulled her out, but she didn't seem to have much energy. Is this a coincidence? The last time a chicken died it was shortly after we found out that the Moehle family was in fact not going to be involved any longer in the work of the coop. Do the chickens know that not so many are needed now? With two families dropping out from the daily care of the flock and leaving the coop, and the eggs piling up in the fridge, maybe they are doing a flock reduction. Just speculation. There are no marks on this chicken. It has not been pecked. Since we do not know why this one died, I am inclined to bury it with Daffy. Let me know if anyone has other ideas.

We are re-naming the co-op the Homestead Coop, as it is now down to the core group of three families living next to each other here on Homestead Road, who have assumed the responsibility of caring for the chickens and maintaining the coop basically for the last five months. The two families that enjoyed the building part and the initial organization of the co-op have found that they have other time commitments now, and caring for the daily needs of a coop and chickens are not on the agenda. We will miss their unique contributions, and assume they will check us out now and then to see how we are progressing. Hopefully they will still come to us for eggs once in a while. There are some lessons here for others considering coops. It is important to realize just how much time it takes and be clear on how much time you can really put into it. It is important to remember that the daily work is the bulk of the operation. The beginning excitement settles down into a routine, if you are organized, and each person needs to look at how they feel about being a part of that mundane routine as well as how they feel about the overall concept. So starting out with more people than you may end up with is a good idea. If there is a strong core group, you will survive attrition. Same thing with chickens. It would be rare not to lose a few here and there. We started with 26 and are now down to 24. This means we still have lots of eggs to eat and sell. We are able to cover all our expenses now with egg sales. The list of friends of the coop grows. The girls are still laying between 15 and 21 eggs a day. Once in a while they go down to 13. A few are showing signs of molting, so they will stop laying during this time. Esmeralda was accepted back into the flock and is still doing well. Jeanne and Peg have returned from vacation, so Wendy, Matt, Frank, Jennie and young Keith get a break from all the good care they provided over the last several weeks. They even fed the fish, filled the bird feeders, watered the house plants, and brought in the mail. What great neighbors. We do not think the coop group will stop with egg production. There are plans in our heads for other things as well on this 40 acre parcel we three families share. By the way, Pete has been on his best behavior since we returned. Guess he doesn't want to be the next to go. It is good to be back to the real world of cleaning the coop and talking to the chickens.

from Peggy, humble servant for 24 chickens

Hello all. It seems that the girls miss Peggy & Jeanne's daily interaction and are protesting their absence by not laying as many eggs. Production has been down. We have attempted to lavish them with extra attention and treats and it may be working because today we are back up to 21 eggs as of 4:00 this afternoon. Matt and I cleaned the coop yesterday and let them out to "play" while we worked. Mostly they wanted to help by standing right where we wanted to clean. They do seem to be enjoying our January Thaw. We switched the light so that a regular light comes on with the timer instead of the heat lamp. It has been pretty toasty in there.

There's a little more work to be done with the return of cold temperatures. Wendy and I stopped by the coop this afternoon and discovered that the water had frozen solid. Since our girls need regular access to water (I read that being without water for as little as a few hours can reduce overall health and egg production) I guess we need to watch this closely. Wendy and I can pop over most days, but we may need a little help from time to time.

In other news, at least one of the hens has decided that it is far too much effort to climb up in to a nest box to lay her egg. We've found an egg on the floor in the morning for a the last four days. They're not all that easy to see (particularly when partially covered with straw) and we have stepped on a couple. In case you're wondering, chickens just LOVE fresh eggs and went into a feeding frenzy over the broken eggs. We cleaned up best we could, scooping out the egg-sodden straw. We don't really want the girls developing a taste for eggs...

Matt & Wendy

It looks like the flock is going to accept her back. She got through the night well, no signs of injury, and she seems to be firguring out how to keep a low prifile. There are a few bullies in the bunch, but they sem to bully everyone, not just her. She gets a peck in the head now and then, and a few have shown mild interest in her wound, but she moves out of the way and they leave her alone. She does come right up to me when I arrive in the pen. Guess she got used to all that special attention. We are lucky, as I hear not all flocks will take back one who has been away for awhile. We make sure our girls don't have to fight over food though, so she doesn't have to starve at the bottom of the pecking order. All is well for now. We are all sending out our good wishes and thoughts for Amy's dad, who is having surgery very soon. Esmeralda is particularly sympathetic we are sure. The humans will keep your family in our thoughts. Peggy

A victory for Esmeralda today. She announced this afternoon that she was ready to return to the flock. She was pacing and restless, making it very clear that she wanted out of her cramped quarters. She was also talking about it alot. So Wendy and Matt came over and we put her back with the rest. We had them out in the pen or hanging out by the open coop door, and just set her down. They barely noticed, as they were busy with all the goodies we gave them. She just joined the rest and acted as if she had been there all along. We skipped the Vicks this time, and though you can see her wound a bit, most of it has healed over and can barely be seen unless you know what to look for. In fact, it is likely that only the intensive care medical staff will know which one she is now. She has not laid an egg for two days however. Perhaps she was saving her energy for the stress of re-introduction. We have checked on her regularly throughout the day and all is well. The red light is on and the flock sleeps peacefully. We can certainly feel a sense of relief that she has made it so well. It was a rather nasty wound. Pete seemed to leave her alone also, which will help with the healing. Thanks especially to Wendy and Matt for all their dedication to her care. Peggy

After two months of egg production, some of you may have noticed an occasional egg with the tiny and vaguely bloody beginnings of an embryo. There are two reasons for this as I see it. Number one, is Pete, who is behaving himself with the humans, so is still with us. He is a very busy rooster, although the cold weather has slowed him down a slight bit. But we can assume that a good number of these eggs are fertilized. The other thing is that a few of the hens think it is their job to keep the eggs warm and brood them until we lift them up and remove the clutch they are guarding. So some eggs may be getting incubated a bit. We try to get out there several times a day, but some days we only make it twice. Esmeralda's eggs are definitely not fertilized these days, as she is still in her private room in the garage. She makes up for it by putting an extra sprinkling of blue dust on her eggs.