Preparing the Chickens for Winter

I should have posted this a few months ago, but towards the end of fall we started to winterize the chicken coop.  Our birds are pretty much out in the open so we needed to give them protection from the elements.  We tend to just work with what we have, which luckily is a lot of gardening equipment left from the previous owner.  So a few tarps, some PVC, recycling and lots of hay has gotten our chickens through the winter!

We covered the roof and two sides of the coop in a large tarp.  The back of our coop is also almost all covered, except for a 2 foot strip of chicken wire which has been left open for air flow.  The front side of the coop is also left open, and we have a large board that we can place in front of the coop for extremely cold or snowy nights.  Air flow is important because too much moisture in the coop can lead to frostbitten chickens!

 

We had issues in the beginning with water pooling up in the tarp flat across the roof.  So we rigged up a mini hoop house by feeding PVC pipe through the lattice roofing.  The rain and snow just slides right off and keeps the coop relatively dry.

The chickens sleep in this box, which has a wire floor.   Throughout the winter we keep the bottom layer full of hay.   I have to clean it almost daily, or every other day just to help keep the moisture out.  I just use a small shovel and clean it like a litter box, changing the hay out every week or as needed.  We put another tarp over the little house on extra cold nights, below 20° F.

We have also made few additions to the coop since they started laying eggs.  The nesting box is simply an old dog cage with 2 milk crates full of hay.  Works perfectly!

We hung their food bin from the roof which has kept it much cleaner.  I want to hang the water but I’m a little afraid of the weight. 

This is where the grit and oyster shells are.  Simply an old plastic sugar jug cut in half and stapled to the wall.

So far so good, all the chickens are healthy and happy.  And hopefully only another month or so of cold nights to get through!

Chicken Coop Addition and the Adventures of Integrating a New Hen

What a busy month it’s been!  Lots of projects in the garden preparing for winter, and a million things to make for the holiday season!

 

And to add to all the chaos I brought home a young hen to add to our flock.  There were supposed to be 2 little hens, but one was killed by my Dad’s older hens.  So I was really cautious about integrating The Buffster, as we have come to call her.  She is a Buff Orpington, and we kind of just liked that as her name, so Buff for short.  This page is an excellent resource for integrating chickens.  Apparently some people just put the new hens in with their flock when they are sleeping, but my city chickens are pretty tough and much bigger than Buff.  I used the other two options, seperate spaces and caging the bullies.

 

Unfortunately the 2 quail that were living in the garden died a couple months ago, but I was able to use their old cage for Buff.  I set it up next to the chicken coop so all the chickens could see each other and get used to the changes. 

This is how the integration began:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not horrible fighting, but lots of pecking and chasing.  It was mainly the #2 hen, Corn Flake, that would pick on the Buffster.  I seperated her from the others a couple times when she was out of control.  It was strange though, her aggression seemed to bump her up in the chain of command and now she is the Alpha Hen.  We gave them time together almost every day and let them scratch around the backyard where there was plenty of room for Buff to run away if she needed to. 

 

After about a week the older hens didn’t bother her much at all.  So it was time for full integration.   We decided to actually combine the 2 cages.  The original coop needed a bit of reinforcing to begin with.  Once everything was covered in small mesh chicken wire we lined the quail cage up next to the chicken coop with the doorway facing in towards the coop. 

 

We cut a matching doorway out of the side of the chicken coop by cutting a vertical line through the center, then horizontal cuts along the top and bottom of the door.  This allowed us to bend the cut chicken wire into the quail cage to secure the gap between the two cages.  We used gorilla tape around any sharp edges that we couldn’t bend smooth. 

 

 

The overall plan is to add a sunroof to the quail cage section using an old window pane.  We plan to use the top of the main part of the coop to catch rain water, store supplies or turn it into a green roof. 

Even though there was still a little pecking and fighting between hens at this point, we left them alone together to sort out their differences.  And they were fine!  It took another 2 or 3 days until the older chickens let Buff sleep in their house, but now they are one happy flock.

 

Here is one last addition I’ve made to the coop that has made a big difference.  I saw this idea here.  The purpose of the rocks is to keep the chickens from throwing hay and dirt into their water.  Basically I laid a couple logs down in the corner of the coop to close in a square section which I filled with rocks and bricks.  It’s not perfect but much cleaner.

Turkey Feather Hair Weave

My sister gave me these wonderful turkey feathers months ago.  I haven’t been able to figure out anything to do with them other than hanging them around the house.  I wanted to put one in my hair, but they are so stiff and bulky I wasn’t quite sure how to do it.  I finally just went for it and this is what I came up with.  Still a little stiff but worked out ok.  And even though I bent it sleeping the first night it still holds its shape nicely.  I’m hoping my hair will just dread up around the feather, but it looks good either way (and it’s been about a week since I did this)!

MATERIALS:  Feather, wire, clear drying craft glue, thread

First I cut away as much of the center stem as I could using a razor blade (be careful!) and some heavy duty kitchen scissors.   And I cut some of the top off so the feather was a little shorter than the length of my hair.

Then I poked a couple holes in the top of the feather with a sewing pin (any needle-like tool will work, I’ve even used pin backs for this).  I threaded a piece of wire through the holes and then wrapped the wire around a small section of my hair near the roots.  Wrap as tightly as possible and cut off any excess wire.

I divided my hair in 2 and braided my hair around the feather using the feather as the third braiding piece.  I continued braiding past the feather, and then wrapped the excess hair around the base of the feather.

I took a little bit of sewing thread and stitched the braid end in place, knotting it a couple times for added security.  Then I dipped the tip of my hair in glue, let it dry and I was good to go!

Today’s Harvest – Feathers, Veggies, Herbs and Art

I love days when I don’t have to go to work!  I can do so many wonderful things!  I started the day with a little photo shoot, taking pictures of a couple new skirts to put up on Etsy.  There is this amazing alleyway next to my house that is filled with colorful graffiti, so I can literally walk 2 minutes to a perfect back drop for my photos!

I came home, cleaned up some chicken poop and collected a bunch of feathers. We didn’t choose our chicken by breed, just took a group of random chicks my dad’s neighbor hatched. And at first I was disappointed that 2 of them are white, because I thought their feathers wouldn’t be that exciting. It didn’t occur to me then that this was a wonderful thing because now I can dye their feathers. Apparently you can use good old Rit dye easily and get all kinds of colors. I also have been interested in experimenting with pokeberries, so I plan to dye feathers this way as well. I found this great site for information on using pokeberries, which you may very well already have growing in your back yard!

Along with the feathers we also harvested these amazing veggies and made a big salad for lunch.  Then I picked a ton of herbs and made Italian herb bread.  Actually I made 3 loaves of bread; one for dinner tonight with a few friends, one for making bruschetta tomorrow for dinner with my family and one for the house!

And in between the bread rising and baking I splatter painted some fabric for future rock and roll skirts!  As you can see!  I wish everyday could be a day off “work”.  One day.  I also officially started my future farm savings account last night so I’m ready to get serious!

Mini Death Shrine Earring

Ok, so it’s not really a death shrine, but it sounds way cooler calling it that!  And I did go through a lot of pain (at least monetarily!) getting those wisdom teeth removed!  The dentist looked at me like I was a little crazy when I asked if I could keep my teeth, but I knew I could do something cool with them.  Plus with the addition of some of my chicken’s feathers, this is a totally unique and personal earring.  So if you have some old teeth and feathers lying around, here’s one idea of what to do with them!

MATERIALS: teeth, feathers, wire, earring hook

First I wrapped the 2 teeth together with wire and added a little bit of glue on the back to hold them in place.  I did the same with 3 feathers, wrapping them as tight as I could and adding a bit of glue.  (Unfortunately my glue was so old it already turned yellow, but at least it’s just on the back!)

  

I also left plenty of extra wire attached so I could connect them once the glue dried.  I simply wrapped the teeth onto the feathers and then attached and earring hook.  Super simple, you just have to get the teeth and feather lined up how you want them and wrap away until it looks right.  Cut off any excess wire and you’re good to go!

Chickens!!!

This weekend was very busy, and amidst the craziness my 3 chickens were finally ready to be picked up!  We aren’t sure what breed they are exactly, because they were hatched by someone’s wild backyard flock, but they sure are adorable!  Luckily the guys I garden with already built a coop out of one of our hoop houses we took down, plus some scrap furniture found around the neighborhood (if only I had been home to take pictures of their process!).  So far it’s holding up just fine and the chickens are happy! 

I will be posting more about our chickens as we learn more and start incorporating them into our gardening.  We still have several months before they start laying eggs, so right now we are just trying to get them comfortable in their new habitat and making sure they are totally safe from raccoons and other predators.   I’m so excited to learn how to raise chickens and start this new adventure!

Real Bird Wing Necklace Tutorial

I found this bird wing in my yard weeks ago.  I didn't know what I would do with it, but I knew it would be cool! 

While brainstorming about Mother's Day it all came together.  I thought about this crazy project my mom had us do as kids, where we had to go around collecting dead birds and pin them on a poster to study their anatomy.  My mom's pretty cool and I make her all kinds of crazy jewelry.  And then I remembered that bird wing I left sitting on my front porch.  I didn't want to give it up, but it was too perfect!

I don't condone killing any birds, but if you happen to find a bird wing yourself you should try this!  If I had made it for myself I would have done a hairclip, but there are many variations you could do!

MATERIALS : found bird wing, resin, hand drill, necklace chain, clasp

STEP 1 :  I made up a small batch of resin (I use Easy-Cast, but any brand should work) and I coated both sides of the bird wing.  I let it dry over night on a piece of parchment paper. 

STEP 2 :  I clipped off the excess resin on the edges and drilled 2 holes in each side.  I used a hand drill, but anything small and sharp should punch through the resin if you do it soon after it has hardened.

STEP 3 : I bought a simple chain and clasp made by Vintaj brand (which is about the only company I can find at craft stores that produces jewelry findings made in the US).  I attached the chain through one hole and the clasp through the other so the necklace connects in the front.

The necklace turned out great and my mom loved it!  This project got me thinking about road kill and other ways to reuse found animal parts.  Not sure if I have the stomach for it, but there are all kinds of opportunities there and at least it would give some purpose to the animal's death.