The Chicks Have Moved Out...

Out of the house and into their henhouse, that is. It's about time, too. They were getting mighty stinky. We don't have a garage, only a carport and I didn't think it was safe enough to move them outside in just a cardboard box. Even though we live in the suburbs, there are lots of critters roaming around. As I've mentioned before, we have two or more well established squirrel colonies in our backyard as well as a bunny family.  I doubt squirrels or bunnies would do more that just scrounge chicken feed, but we have also seen raccoons in our front yard and they would love a free chicken dinner for sure. So, we had to wait until the chicken coop was finished before we could safely move our little flock out of the house and into the carport. It's been pretty cool at night so they are still using their heater, but I think that by next week the nights will be warm enough that they can be moved out into the yard.

It may seem small, but when we move it to the yard, there will be a secure chicken run attached to the coop.


One phase of my "simple life" that I have been avoiding is growing a garden. My half-hearted attempts have been met with crushing disappointment, and my very fragile self just cannot handle it. Everything I've planted has been devoured by squirrels or rabbits or raccoons. I have no idea who the culprit is, I just know that when you go out to water your seedlings and some jerky animal has nibbled them to the ground, it is not a good feeling. I am usually a positive person, sometimes delusionally so, and it takes very little to bring me joy. It also takes quite a bit to really crush my spirit. Even with the hardships we've been facing lately, I know my family has it pretty good, and I have so many wonderful people in my life, I feel very blessed and happy most of the time. But a girl can only take so much. Last year, when I poured my heart and soul (I'm also a little dramatic) into my tomato plants only to have very single tomato eaten while still green was almost too much. This year, they've been nibbled to nothing before they could even bloom.

About a week ago I noticed that a bird or squirrel had dropped some sunflower seeds into the planter box where we dump our dogs' water bowl, and the seeds had sprouted. I was so excited! I love sunflowers! I told everyone in the house about the miracle sunflowers that just sprouted up all by themselves. Isn't nature wonderful? Uh, no. About three days later I went back to check on them and guess what...Gone. Eaten. All that was left was a forest of green stems poking out of the soil. Without leaves, plants can't survive, so I knew they'd be shriveled up in a day or so. I felt like crying. I wanted to kick a squirrel so bad that day.  It sounds dramatic I'm sure, but a feeling of doom just poured over me. I want a garden so much, but I have no idea how to stop the squirrels from destroying it.

I scored some cheap tomato and pepper plants from Home Depot a couple of weeks ago. Knock on wood, they are still alive and well. I decided to move them to my upstairs deck. I've had some pretty good success growing tomatoes in containers there. I guess until I solve the squirrel problem, I will just have to be a container gardener and not a farmer.

Chick Update... 4 Weeks Old

It's amazing how much some animals can change in such a short amount of time. It's hard to believe that chickens raised for meat are ready for the table at 6 weeks old. My girls are being raised for eggs, so they won't be ready for at least three more months. They are changing so quickly. Sometimes overnight!

Bread and Cheese...No Soap

I took another step towards my "simple life" by baking bread. I have baked bread before, back in the day when I was young and had more energy than I do today. This time, I brought out the big guns and used my Kitchenaid mixer to help knead the dough. Some people may say it's cheating. Some may say that kneading bread by hand is part of the process and a great stress reliever. I'm sure they are right, but I have some problems with hand strength and numbness, so I'm taking baby steps. I did knead it some, once it was together in a nice ball, and it felt pretty good. And oh man, there is nothing like fresh baked bread. I started with a recipe for foccacia bread because it was quick to make and seemed easy. It turned out really nice, so much better that any foccacia I'd ever had before. I was encouraged by the results, so the next day I tried out a recipe for French bread. Delicious! The next day, I used the French bread recipe to make rolls which we used for sausage sandwiches. They were so perfect! Yummy and soft inside, hearty enough to stand up to the sausage and sauce, but easy to bite into. My mouth is watering just thinking about those sandwiches. I was so empowered my my re-discovered baking skills that I decided to make homemade sweet rolls for Father's Day. Due to timing issues, I had to chill the dough before the second rise, and I don't think they raised enough before I put them in the oven. They were a little too dry and dense. I also used Rapid Rise yeast for the rolls instead of the regular yeast I'd been using for the bread, so that may have been the problem. Now I'm out of flour. I'm heading to the store today to stock up on flour. The mixer makes it so easy to bake fresh bread every day.

I also tried my hand at cheese making. I used a recipe for 30-minute mozzarella and the results were just okay. I had never made cheese before, so I wasn't expecting perfection. Making cheese is very different from the type of cooking I'm used to doing. It requires constant monitoring, adding ingredients at precise temperatures and exact measurements. I rarely even follow a recipe when I cook, so making bread is already way more structure than I am used to. Cheese is like a science experiment! I'm sure the more cheese I make the better it will be. My first attempt wasn't terrible, but it wasn't even as good as store bought and really, when you're making something from scratch you expect at least that.

So that just leaves soap. I discovered through further research that , no, you cannot use drain crystals to make soap. I dug a little more and found a local soap-making supply store right in my neighborhood so my plan is to try out soap making this week. I hope it turns out better than my cheese.

Rise and Shine!

When Greg first started his job, I was really good about getting up at 5am to see him off. My whole life, I have been a chronic sleeper-inner. That is a real condition. From about 5am to 8am is when I do my best sleeping. For some reason, sleep is just extra awesome during that time. I have no willpower. Greg is very good about getting up in the morning. He never pushes the snooze button, he just gets up out of bed. What?!? That's like having dinner with no dessert! (I have food issues too.) The alarm clock I'm using now has a broken snooze button, so I just shut the dang thing off. For about the first month of Greg's new job,  I hopped right up, made the bed, poured myself a cup of coffee and then sat on the couch while Greg got ready for work. Maybe that's why I stopped getting up. I wanted to show my support for him by being up at the same time, but as soon as he got up, he'd take his coffee and his book into the bathroom and I wouldn't see him again until after his shower. He'd get dressed, grab his lunch box and kiss me goodbye.

So I started getting up a little later each day. This past week, I have been sleeping until 8am. That isn't really that late, but I am a slow starter. I need to have my coffee, check my e-mail, search for a job, do my "business"... pretty soon it's 10 o'clock and I'm still in my pajamas. Yesterday I slept until 8am. It threw my whole day off. For one, our coffeepot automatically shuts off after two hours, so by 8am it's been off for an hour and a half. This means when I oversleep, I either drink cold coffee or I have to go downstairs to microwave each cup. What a hassle! Why do I oversleep? I have a problem!! By the time I check my e-mail & search for jobs I'm so depressed I want to go back to bed, but I have so much to do. And because I overslept, I only have about two hours of cool weather left before it starts to warm up. I hate being hot. It would be so much better if I just got up earlier. How am I going to be a farm girl if I can't get up early in the morning?

I got up early today. It feels great. It's not even 7am yet and I'm ready to start my chores. Yay!

Slowly but surely...

Everything I am doing to re-start my life is taking forever. Right now, we are in the process of building the chicken coop and I just wish it was done already. We are using reclaimed materials to avoid spending any money, but it requires so much more thinking and planning. Time is something I've got lots of, but it is draining my energy and enthusiasm. Of course, it could also be the weather. I can't stand hot dry weather. I realize people move to San Diego just for the weather, but that's not why I'm here. I'm a second generation San Diegan. I'm only here because I was born here and all of my family lives here. I'd love to move, but it would break my mom's heart...

There is so much more to my "simple life" than just chickens. I am also going to start baking bread, and teach myself how to make cheese and soap. I'm having a hard time finding the ingredients for cheese and soap, though. I had to go to three different stores before I could find lye, a crucial ingredient in soap making. And even then, all I could find was 'drain cleaning crystals' which contain sodium hydroxide, so I'm not sure that's even going to work. The cheese project is on hold until the chickens move outside. We don't have a garage, only a carport and even though we live in the city, we have seen raccoons in our yard. I just wouldn't feel good putting the babies outside in a cardboard box. They'll be out in their custom coop pretty soon, then the cheese making can begin. By the way, the chicks don't live in the kitchen. I just feel wary about culturing dairy products with farm animals inside the house. I'm also waiting to begin a sourdough starter.

Emergency Chick Relocation

Chickens are not super smart. Yesterday, I noticed that the chicks were trying to dust-bathe in their bedding, which is a custom mix of shredded newsprint, pine shavings and sand. I thought, "oh, they must want more sand" so I poured some in the center of the brooder. They were terrified of it. They freaked out at first, then finally settled down in the corner of the brooder, away from the scary sand pile.  After a few minutes, they summoned up enough courage to hop up on the perch and look at the sand from a safe distance, but they still wouldn't go near it. I was hoping they'd get over their irrational fear soon because they would have to cross the sand if they wanted to drink.

When I went back to check on the chicks they had overcome their fear of sand in piles and had worked it into the rest of the bedding. Then I realized their heater wasn't working. Yikes! Although you can use a high-wattage light bulb to keep chicks warm, I happened to have an infrared ceramic heater and thermostat which I bought when we got our Sulcata tortoise. Frank the Tank was no longer using the heater because he bailed his nice warm doghouse and found his own shelter out in the 'back 40' a couple of years ago. I chose to use the ceramic heater because I could more easily control the temperature, and because I didn't want to have the poor babies subjected to the constant glare of a red light bulb. Well, last night they didn't have a choice. They had to stay warm, so they had to endure the creepy red glow all night long.

They also needed to be moved to the "Big-Girl Brooder" because the heat lamp I have is so intense, I couldn't hang it far away enough to keep them comfortable in the old brooder. Luckily, I had already built the new brooder. I just wasn't expecting to move them for another week or so. We set up their new digs as fast as possible before it got too cold. Even though their new home is much bigger and the light is further away, it may still be too much for them. When I got up today & checked on them, they were all huddled up in the corner, far away from the heat lamp. I bit the bullet and went out to purchase a replacement heater this morning.

Baby Chick Update - 10 Days Old

The chicks turned 10 days old yesterday. Woohoo! Happy Birthday, lil birdies! They have lost much of their little chick fuzzy-wuzzy roly-poliness but they are still cute to me. They have adorable personalities. I think they are going to grow up to be very pretty chickens.

I chose 3 different breeds of chicks, each for their own special reasons. Three of the five chicks are White Crested Polish, two White Crested Blue and one White Crested Black. The blues aren't guaranteed to come out as true blue due to the genetics of chicken coloring. They have a 50% chance of being blue, 25% chance of being black and 25% chance of ending up splash, which is a mixture of blue, white and black. I was kind of hoping to get one blue and one splash, but it's still too early to tell.  I chose this breed because they look fancy and when I was doing my research, I read that they were a friendly breed and at this point, that's is what I'm looking for. After I ordered them, and upon further research, I read some conflicting information about them. Some books said they were skittish and flighty, others said they were friendly and funny. I guess we'll see. I'm trying to handle them frequently so they stay tame. Of all the chicks, the Polish like to be held the least. They complain loudly when you pick them up. I named them after my grandmother and her sisters because they are scrawny little loudmouths.


I got three of them because my research indicated that they might be picked on by the flock so I figured there would be safety in numbers although the Sisters (as I call them) are usually the ones doing the picking.  Polish aren't known for prolific laying, but hopefully between the five hens, we'll have enough eggs to keep us satisfied. This is Mary. It looks like she is going to turn out true blue.

The fourth chick is a Dominique. I chose her because she had all three of the attributes I was looking for in a hen: good looking, great personality and abundant layer. She makes the prettiest little peeping sounds, and she enjoys being held. The other chicks are sprouting feathers like mad, but darling Nickie is still a little black fluff ball. Even her new tail is fluffy! I'm pretty sure she is in charge of the brooder. Sometimes I offer the babies treat like roly-polies or pincher bugs, and Nickie is almost always the first in line.

The fifth little chicken is an Easter-Egger. Her name is Esther but I call her Kitten. She is the sweetest of the chicks. She loves to be held. She would probably sit in my hand and be petted all day long. She is the biggest chick by far and has the most feathers. I don't know if they are going to stay like this but I hope so. Her markings are absolutely beautiful! She was chosen because of her sweet disposition, dependable egg laying and beautiful egg colors. Easter-Eggers may lay eggs that are green, blue or even pink! We won't know until the first one appears in about 5 months.

For their 10-day Birthday the chicks went on a little field trip. Just to the backyard, but hey, they're only ten days old. I put them in a cage on the lawn while I cleaned out the brooder. At first they were nervous but after a minute or two they got into it and started pecking and scratching at the lawn.

So cute!

Slow Going...

Boy, building a chicken coop is going to be harder than I thought. It's only June 2nd and I am sweating my rear end off out there! I guess I'm going to have to adjust my schedule so I do the yard work in the early morning while it's still cool, then go online and fill out job applications in the afternoon.

My yard is such a mess. Squirrels and rabbits have made it their b!tch. There are burrows everywhere. I'm afraid that I'm going to come across a nest of them while I'm moving stuff around. I try to give them a warning by making lots of noise and jiggling things before I move them because I do not want to be attacked by a squirrel or rabbit! And the spiders, oh my gawd. I have never seen spiders so big in all of my life.

Well, I guess I should get back at it...

Baby Chick Watch...

Baby chicks are hilarious. Every time I pass by the brooder box I have to peek in. They are so comical,  I end up standing there for several minutes watching their goofy antics. It's hard to get anything done! They just crack me up with their child-like exuberance. I know, I know, it's because they are chicken children but it's still funny to me. Maybe it's because they're birds so you don't really expect them to have much personality but they do. They act like pre-schoolers on the playground. They run everywhere they go, scuffle with each other, and scurry around in little packs. The way they hop off their perch totally reminds of a kid, because kids don't just step off of stuff, they jump off of it. Hilarious.

The chicks turned on week old on Monday and I can't believe how much they've changed! They're growing real feathers and losing their baby fat. The changes happen overnight. On Sunday, none of the chicks had tails. By Tuesday, they all did. It's pretty cool.

It's getting easier to be "Green"...

I've been "green" pretty much since I was a kid.  The 70s are known as the "Me" decade, but it was also the time when Earth Day was born. Remember the "Childcraft How and Why Library"? World Book encyclopedias published a kid's encyclopedia supplement that came with your set of encyclopedias, and you also got an 'annual' every year, each devoted to a different subject.  I loved reading those! They were my favorite books as a kid, and to this day I read non-fiction pretty much exclusively. What can I say, I love to learn new things. Anyway, one of those "How and Why" books was about endangered species and it really made an impression on me.  As a kid, I was appalled at how humans were putting so many harmful chemicals into the air, water and soil. I couldn't understand why anyone would kill a rhinoceros and take only its horn. It seemed selfish to me. As a ten year old, I was against such things, but what was I really going to do about it? Not much. My parents certainly weren't green. They weren't using rhino horn, but the had no problem using whatever chemicals they felt were necessary to get the job done. They are still pretty bad. They don't even recycle! I know, it's disgusting. I have tried to tell them they are messing up the planet for their grandchildren but they just think I'm overreacting. My family thinks I'm weird.
So, even though as a kid I was "green" in spirit, I wasn't "green" in any practical sense until the late 80s when I was grown up and ecology was trendy again. My husband and I became vegetarians as a protest to factory farming. We reduced, reused and recycled, and when our son was born in 1989, my husband and I vowed that we would only use cloth diapers. Remember the big Pampers backlash of the 80s? We didn't want our son's diapers to live 100 years in a landfill! Great idea in theory, but not too practical for parents who work 40 hours a week. I'm sure it can be done, but we couldn't make it happen. My son was in Pampers when he was 6 months old. But at least we kept 6 months of diapers out of the landfill. Better than nothing, right?

Usually, something is better than nothing. Even though my parents don't recycle, they do use cloth shopping bags instead of disposable bags. Which seems so much harder to me than simply sorting your recyclables, but whatever. Also, in my parents' defense, they put their trash cans out into the alley & homeless people go through and pick out the recyclables so not everything ends up in the landfill. And that's something.