urban chickens

Chicken Little 1, Snowflakes 0

September 21, 2011

I went back to City Council yesterday for round two of the Snowflakes. The good news is I think I nailed my second chicken speech, and the city is going to research and discuss the issue at a future meeting. The bad news is that the future meeting probably won’t be for a few months, and the city is enforcing the ordinance NOW, so the Snowflakes have to go! BOOOOO! HISSSSSS! Fortunately, I’ve had a Plan B has been in place for a while, so the Snowflakes will go to a new home that is pro-chicken. Depending on how things go in the future, maybe the Snowflakes will be back, but in the meantime, the Snowflakes will be flying the coop.

Here’s my speech from yesterday’s meeting:

Honorable Mayor and Coronado City Council,

Since I spoke at the last City Council meeting two weeks ago, my chickens, the Snowflakes, have been flying high with all the publicity. My speech went viral but not in the avian flu kind of way. It’s been a very positive response all around, which was eggs-actly what I was hoping for! My blog, 3000Tomatoes.com (that was a shameless plug!) has gathered quite a flock of followers. A Coronado High School English teacher had her freshman and junior classes read my speech, so I had commentary from a couple of hundred students. And it was featured in the Union-Tribune. Mr. Mayor, just for the record, columnist Tom Blair threw down that chicken gauntlet, not me!

On a Sunday morning ten days ago, two Coronado police officers showed up in my front yard, saying they were following up on a report of chickens on the property. I thought my friend, a local Police Sargeant, was playing a yolk on me, but when I realized the officers were serious, you could have knocked me over with a feather. It turns out Chicken Little squawked again. Chicken Little needs to realize that the sky is NOT falling, it’s just coastal morning fog. It’s gonna burn off.

Other than puffing out their feathers a little with all this attention, my Snowflakes are just doing what they do best; eating, laying eggs, scratching for food, and making a mess. Every day, I clean up their cock-a-doodle doo, throw in a bunch of chicken feed, and give them fresh water. As of today, the total egg count from the Snowflakes since they laid their first egg on December 31, 2010, is 464.

I would like to continue to be the hen mother of my little coop troop because I prefer quiche over chicken pot pie. Hens, I request that the Coronado City Council change the current ordinance, allowing a few chickens, NOT ROOSTERS, and defining acceptable chicken coop parameters.

I will continue advocating for my Snowflakes, sunny side up, but hopefully, you’ll get cracking on this issue because I’m running out of punny material. Thank you very much!

What?.........

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Fleeting Moments of Fame

September 14, 2011

My chicken speech has been working its way around town, and has gone viral on the internet, too. Apparently, I’ve struck a nerve!

I was at the Sunday concert in the park and was approached by a couple of people who watched the city council meeting on TV and saw my speech. They loved it.

I discovered that a local high school english teacher had her students read my speech and comment on it. It’s been a lot of fun to read the students’ impressions of my speech! I’ve been interviewed by two publications. I’ve had phone calls from people I don’t know who want to help by drumming up support, so now I have an entourage.

I spoke with the city administrator to find out when I could expect my issue to be on the council’s agenda and, in between giggles, she told me that it’s on next Tuesday’s agenda.

All of this hoopla isn’t going down well with Chicken Little who called the police on Sunday. Seriously, it was 9/11, a day of remembrance, but Chicken Little squawked and two officers showed up at our front door. The officers were only doing their jobs and are required to investigate all complaints, so I showed them all my documentation and explained that I’d been to city council. In the end, they didn’t cite me. I asked how much a citation would be, but they admitted that they had never been called out on a chicken complaint so they had no idea. That would be interesting to know so maybe I’ll call on that. I assume the officers had more pressing matters to follow up on so I felt badly that the Snowflakes diverted their attention.

Note to Chicken Little: I’m willing to have a conversation so I wish you would at least make an attempt to strut your stuff along the high road. (I’m not getting my hopes up. Chicken = needs to man up. Little = the size of his hard boiled eggs.) Sorry, I needed a snarky moment.

Anyhoo, today in the Union-Tribune, I was featured in Tom Blair’s column so another minute of my fifteen minutes of fame has been spent. Check out “Mayberry West”.

In the meantime, the Snowflakes are busy doing a whole bunch of nothing which is still a lot when you have to lay an egg every day!

Who doesn’t love a dirt bath?!

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Drink Up, Girls!

June 11, 2011

That’s something you might hear at my book club, but in this case I’m referring to the Snowflakes. I give the girls fresh water every day and they usually run over to drink as soon as I put the water down in their coop. Fresh water is important to keep girls in prime shape for laying eggs. Apparently, if hens are deprived of water it can stop egg production for a while.

Here are the Snowflakes, bellied up to the bar.

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Ignorance is Bliss – oops!

April 1, 2011

The Snowflakes are doing great in the front yard despite the fact that I’m a clueless city girl. I’m learning more and more which means more and more questions but mostly I’ve been operating under the premise that Ignorance is Bliss.

I bought another composter last month to handle all the chicken coop poop. 1. Chicken poop definitely piles up. 2. Chicken poop is stinky. 3. Chicken poop is stinkier when it’s been in the pile for a while. 4. Chicken poop makes a compost pile really “hot.”

Whaaaaaaaat?!

This is where the ignorance part comes in. I was stirring the compost pile around and realized that the pile was REALLY hot in the middle. And I mean REALLLLLY hot. Then I started to worry. How hot is too hot? Could a fire start spontaneously? There goes my bliss!

After Googling ‘Compost Fire’ and reading about spontaneous combustion, I decided that I needed to deal with the compost pile out there with the girls. I emptied out the compost bin and found a pile of ash from the middle! No wonder the pile was hot – it had been smoldering in there! Oooopsie!

I filled up five recycle tubs that I placed together in a square. Once I filled them up I moved the chicken cage over on top of them so they can age for a while. I read that it takes about 90 days to mellow out the chicken manure and kill the bacteria so I’ll just leave those piles alone until at least July 1st. Hopefully, smaller piles translates into less combustible.

The girls seem to be thriving despite me!

All's well that ends well....

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Chez Snowflake

January 23, 2011

Life is good at Chez Snowflake. We’ve had the chickens for over a month and life has settled into a good routine. The neighbors are cool with our newest addition, with the exception of one neighbor possibly. Time will tell on that front but for the most past the front yard has turned into a little field trip for a variety of people in the neighborhood and beyond.

Eggs are being laid every day and the size of the eggs has gotten bigger since the Snowflakes dropped their first egg on New Year’s Eve. We’re getting two eggs a day, once from each Snowflake. Fresh eggs, still warm from the nest, are a real treat. Hmmm, eggs with flavor – what a concept!

The chickens are now used to me, and I to them. They drop and spread their wings when I put my hand over their backs so I can now pick them up easily when I go into the coop. When I’m cleaning up in the coop, they peck at me. I’ve got the care and feeding down to a good routine which is easy and quick.

A few things I’ve learned. 1.) Chickens aren’t too smart. 2.) Chicken poop is everywhere. 3.) They squawk pretty loudly sometimes which I think means they’ve just laid their eggs. 4.) I’m thoroughly enjoying the Snowflakes!

My girls - the Snowflakes

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I’m coming out of the closet…..

January 6, 2011

It’s taken me a LONG time to get this act together, but finally, (drum roll, please) I’VE GOT CHICKENS!

Before the holidays my brother came over to put lights up in the big cedar tree out front, but when I mentioned that I wanted to make a chicken coop, he was all over it and the lighting project went by the wayside.

We scavenged the yard and piled up construction material: Bamboo poles, screens, trellises, plywood, boards, netting, zip-ties and wire.

Assessing our building materials

The only materials that I purchased specifically for the project were chicken wire and a few more bamboo poles. A very sustainable project. It was pretty amazing how well the project came together considering the mish-mash of materials. It’s a great looking chicken coop! My brother did a “fowl” chicken dance blessing in preparation for the future occupants.

Doing the chicken dance

Then next morning I went to City Farmers Nursery to get a couple of chicks. When I first visited the nursery in July I had seen lots of chicks running around, but when I arrived on Friday, there were no chicks to be seen anywhere. I found out that they don’t have chicks during the winter so I would have to wait until spring for the next batch of chicks. Bummer! But, it turns out, my brother had intervened before I got there and convinced City Farmers owner, Bill, to sell me two of his hens. (Thanks Chris and Farmer Bill!) So, I went home with two White Leghorn hens. Actually, I was a bit relieved that I’m starting with more mature birds rather than little chicks. So, let me introduce you to the Snowflakes, named for the cold weather we were having during the holidays. Oh, and they are white.

The Snowflakes - White Leghorn hens

They started laying eggs on December 31 which also happened to be Mi Esposo’s and my 30th wedding anniversary so it was nice of the girls to put out a celebratory egg for us!

It's an egg!!!

My friend Susan, former farm girl, showed up with a bale of straw because she insisted that they needed straw for bedding instead of the shredded paper I was using. I was making a good attempt at being sustainable, but I have to admit, the Snowflakes really like the straw and now, everyday, I go out and gather two eggs out of the nice little nest they made. Thank you Susan, and the Snowflakes thank you, too!

I'm sure Susan's husband was thrilled when she made him detour to the farm supply store to buy this bale - NOT!

The neighborhood is in on my little secret, so we have cleared the first hurdle. We’ll revisit the Snowflake saga from time to time but know that right now, I am having so much fun with these two additions to our family!!!