Just wanted to let everyone know that there are new pictures posted - Some awesome winter shots of the chickens and some very un-winterish pictures of a Great Horned Owl. These were all taken by Peggy; the chickens right in her own yard and the owl while she was visiting her mother in Florida. Click on the "Homestead Coop Photos" link above, or here to go to the pictures.

Today the girls went all out and for the first time it looks like every hen laid an egg. We had 23 in all, and that's all the hens we have. The last was put out late this afternoon. Pete probably needs an award too, as he has obviously been busy judging by the look of the backs and sides of some of the hens. A number of them are getting quite bald in some places. Yesterday the girls only left us 14, so they must have had a meeting to increase production today. Who says chickens slow down in winter? Our girls spent the afternoon outside in the sun, rumaging in the compost bins. But they took the time to get in there and lay also. Twelve of the eggs were there when we arrived this morning, so having the light go on at 3AM seems to be working well for them. A few of the Buffs have taken over the job of brooding, and tend to spend the day sitting in the boxes on top of any eggs left there. Often when a hen wants to lay she will just climb in on top of another hen and drop the egg. The broody types just keep them all warm no matter who it belongs to. The kids really look forward to that bedtime snack of scratch I have been putting on the floor of the coop. No problem getting them all in for that so I can close the door. We need to find a source of roughage for the winter. They went nuts over the lettuce we bought for them the other day and seem to really need such things. Maybe they won't eat so much of the straw if we give them more green stuff. All contributions welcome. I hope we can eventually find a store to give us leftovers.

Here is a helpful little technique I have developed for getting the girls and Pete into the coop when I want to close it up for the night. Usually when you get there two or three are still outside and the rest run right out when they hear you unhook the rope. So, leave the rope unhooked. The door will not fall down on its own. Get a cup of scratch and sprinkle it slowly on the floor in the coop. Those outside will hear it and come running in for their night time treat. They love pecking it off the floor. Pete will come in also. You will be standing quietly in the doorway. When you think they are all in, particularly Pete, you reach down and pull the door down from the inside. Done. Then I go around into the pen to make sure none are left outside and make sure the door is securely down. They are coming to expect this little ritual. Since they are all on the floor by now pecking away, you have one last chance to check for late eggs. FYI, they also like mellon, pineapple, and celery. The remains of a reception at BACN are now either in the pen or the compost pile. We have been letting them out to forage in the pile late in the afternoon if the weather is good and Boots is safely at home (or on the leash quivering with enthusiasm while watching them.) They like to have the coop door open also for awhile, particularly if the sun is out and they can sop up the rays on the coop steps. I usually close the door after about an hour so they get the idea to start heading home around through the pen. They usually go back in the pen on their own after boredom sets in. A few hens are looking very raggedy, particularly one of the Rhode Island reds. I think she must be Pete's favorite or she is in a serious molt. Production is sliding a little, averaging 15 - 16 a day now, so some are most likely molting. Others are just spending too much time with Pete.

from Peggy, chicken herding specialist

It seems our girls want to celebrate Inbolc, or Candlemas, early this year, by a day. They are welcoming the increasing light and the longer days by finally increasing production after a little slump. We were down to 14-16 a day for a short time, but today they went to 21 again. A few are showing signs of wear on their backs near the tail and on their flanks. We suspect Pete is serving those more than the others. Some show no signs of a single misplaced feather (the Buffs and the Barred Rocks) while the Araucanas, the White Rock, a few of the Rhode Islands, a few Wyandottes, and Isa Brown are all looking kind of ratty. The Black Astrolorps are holding up well also. Pete has settled down some though, and does not seem to be on as much hormone overload as he was this fall. From what I am reading, he is behaving like a normal good rooster, dedicated to protecting his flock. He makes sure they eat first while he watches for preditors. He comes after us if we try to herd his girls or we are carrying something that looks like a weapon and keep it too high. The literature says, as does Matt's research, that we should hold him if he gets aggressive. He may not like it at first, but will settle down once he realizes we are at the actual top of the pecking order and don't plan to hurt him. Kicking and other aggressive actions on our part are counter-productive. They only make him think he has to fight us. It is only when we are stressing the hens in some way that he really gets aggressive. I think we should appreciate his fine rooster qualities. Once the girls are out free ranging this spring, we will most likely appreciate him even more. We do need to be aware that he will not respond well when we are trying to move the girls around or herding them into the coop, and particularly need to be on the watch for aggressive behavior when young Keith is with the flock, and Pete is likely to misunderstand his intentions. I am hoping to get a chance to try the holding thing soon, but he just doesn't seem to get mad at me much, so there has been no opportunity. They say he will sacrifice himself for the flock, signaling them to hide if a hawk is around, but leaving himself exposed until all are under cover. He has two warning calls, one for an overhead attack and one for a ground attack, so the girls know which way to run. From what I am hearing from others, our Pete is pretty well-behaved as far as roosters go, though it may not seem so if you are on the receiving end of a body slam. It helps to make sure you are standing upright as much as possible if you are doing something that might stress out the girls, so you look too big to mess with.

Related to this, I am reading about what happens to all those male chicks that no one wants from the hatcheries and it is not a pretty picture. It raises some really sticky ethical issues with regard to selecting a new batch. But it also reminds us that we will someday have to deal with the issue of culling or not culling the flock when we need to replace hens that no longer lay, how to do that, and when we might want to think about using some of our chickens as meat birds in the future. Or not. We chose heavy layers so they could serve as both, but I know I for one find I avoid the issue of actually butchering one of our chickens someday. At the same time, I know that a homestead way of living requires a diverse food supply that includes animals and plants in a conscious relationship with each other, for example as Joe Salatin does it. Since all of us seem to eat meat to varying degrees, we will have to look at how we face our food. I am personally feeling that I should take some responsibility for getting the food on my plate and not expect someone else to do the dirty work for me forever. I certainly welcome thoughts on this issue. The two hens which have died have been buried because we didn't know why they died, which got us off the hook to some extent.

Peggy, on the verge of Imbolc and the waning of the wolf moon.

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