6... Out of 14,314

There is an article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan about their recently passed chicken ordinance, which allows residents to keep up to six hens. When the ordinance passed there was a lot of contentious discussion about the potential problems of having these animals in the city.

Well, it's been a year, and the numbers are in. Over the last year the Fort Collins Animal Control has received a total of 14,314 calls. Want to guess how many of those calls were about chickens?

Six. Yup, six. Four of the six calls were for "accidental" roosters. It's very common to order baby hen chicks from a hatchery, only to have one of the little girls turn out to be a boy. The roosters were moved out of the city - problem solved. The other two calls were for noise or odor complaints that were investigated by Animal Control and turned out to be unfounded.

6 out of 14,314. Sounds like the hens are a HUGE problem for the city, doesn't it?

Click here to read the full article.

Snow Angels

Our recent snowstorm completely blanketed the barnyard, relegating the animals to their shed for the better part of 3 days (the chickens slept in their little coop with a lightbulb at night). The animals weren't unhappy, but the snow was definitely something new for them!


The first day of the storm.


Peeking out.



Before breaking the first path for morning chores.



From inside the cozy shed.



Dasha and the hens.





"Hmm... should we go out?"


Dasha re-breaking the path after new snow.



Wondering if Peaberry is going to come...



Yep, she did it!





"Um, Mom, can you pick me up?"





"That's much better!"




After the snow stopped, Cinnamon and Peaberry went on a little adventure.





They kept getting stalled on the single path, so I made them a loop through the barnyard.



Cardamom checking out what Cinnamon is up to.




Looking regal, even in the snow.

Queen of the Roost (subtitle: "Uh Oh")

A few days ago I discovered Rosemary on top of our goat shed, which is oh... about 8 feet tall at the top. Meaning it's 2 feet higher than our backyard fence. Yippee.

Rosemary emerged in adolescence as our alpha-hen. She's a lovely blonde Araucana, and she's a little bigger and more inquisitive than the other chickens. Any visitor to her barnyard - whether it's a goat, a cat, or a chihuahua - is likely to be greeted with her curious stare and a nice firm peck on the nose. No incidents of child-pecking yet, thank goodness!

So far, even with Rosemary's adventures, there haven't been any incidents of the chickens escaping their barnyard. They seem to like to stick together. I can always clip their wing feathers (which is permanent) if rogue chickens become a problem, but I'd like to avoid it if possible. I like keeping my chickens' wings intact for the same reason I don't declaw my cats --- I want to leave them their natural defenses, just in case.

Oh, and even though Rosemary is big and tough, she still gets kisses and hugs just like her sisters. She can't escape it.

Green Eggs (but no ham)

Yesterday I was excited to find our first green egg in the nest. Our Aracaunas (Sage and Rosemary) have been a little slow to start laying, but we expected that. A few of the hens - the Rhode Island Red, White Leghorn, and the Silver Laced Wyandottes - are known to be "good layers." But our Dark Brahma and the Aracaunas are more renowned for being pretty than hard workers. Even so, we'll soon have multi-colored egg cartons, with brown, white, and green (or blue) eggs!

And yes, those are golf balls in the nest. It's a time tested method for teaching the hens where to lay their eggs. Kind of silly, but it works!

Hard Worker

Happy Egg Day!

Today I went into the barnyard to let the chickens into their run for lunch. Six of them went in quickly, but I couldn't find Cayenne (our White Leghorn) anywhere. After searching for a while, I finally found her tucked into a corner of the shed, nestled on a pile of straw.

I took a step toward her to herd her into the run, and she started squawking at me. Really loudly, and persistently. I left her alone, just hoping that she wasn't injured. After a minute she hopped off the straw. I ran over, and guess what I found?!?

TWO eggs actually, which means that Cayenne started laying yesterday. We know they're both from her, because she's the only one of our chickens who will lay white eggs.

I scooped her up, and she let me hold her for a while (which is unusual).

We're so proud!

I would be tired, too!

Here are the eggs in the straw stack. I hadn't put official nests in for the chickens yet, because they're not due to lay for a little while. I guess Cayenne is just advanced for her age!

Our lovely eggs. (and yes, that's chicken poop on the eggshell)

All cleaned up and ready for their closeup.

Just 2 inches across right now, but the eggs will get bigger as the chickens continue to grow.

Delicious fried egg.

The yolks are a beautiful red/orange, from the beta-carotene in all of the weeds the chickens eat.

Our little chicken, just 19 weeks ago...

Way to go, Cayenne!!

Kids and Chickens

This weekend was full of family fun. My sister Katie drove up for a visit from Albuquerque, with her husband Aaron and kids Denae (8), Nathan (6), Jayden (4) and Lincoln (2). On Sunday night we all had dinner at my house. The kids had fun harvesting herbs for the pizza and vinaigrette, and they also picked nasturtiums for the salad.

After dinner we indulged in a little barnyard fun. All of the kids took turns petting the chickens and goats, and Denae and Nathan also did some chicken-holding. The personalities of the chickens were readily apparent, with Cardamom patiently allowing herself to be held endlessly and Thyme kicking and scratching at anyone who tried to hold her.

I foolishly forgot to use my camera until these last snapshots at the end, but my mom and sister both took lots of pictures that they'll send to me (right, guys?) so we'll have a "part 2" of the barnyard fun soon. For now, we have these...

Nathan proudly holding Cardamom, who he caught all by himself.

Jayden with a found feather (which fell off of Sage), Nathan and Cardamom.

Hangin' with My Peeps

Our baby chicks were born on March 21st, and arrived (via mail!) on March 22nd. We've got pictures of the day-old chicks first, and then at the bottom of this post there's a link to a video of the chicks at 2 days and 2 weeks.

We tried to get chicks that would produce a variety of beautiful - and tasty - eggs. The Rhode Island Red, Silver Laced Wyandott, and Dark Brahma lay brown eggs. The White Leghorn lays white eggs, and the Araucanas lay blue and green eggs.


For the first day the chicks needed to be on newspaper, so they would eat their food (instead of their bedding). Newspaper is too slick for them to walk on for long, so after the first day we switched to pine bedding.

Sage (Araucana) and Thyme (Silver Laced Wyandott).

Cinnamon (Rhode Island Red).

Cayenne (White Leghorn).

Sage, Cardamom (Dark Brahma), and Cinnamon. Cardamom has feathers on her feet!

The flock - Sage, Cardamom, Cayenne, Rosemary, Parsley, Thyme and Cinnamon.

Sage stretching her legs.

Sage smiling for the camera.

If you'd like to watch a great video of the chicks at 2 days and then 2 weeks, click here:



They grow so fast!