Wednesday, July 27, 2011

For those who would love to have lived 100 years ago

Charity

People often tell me I should have lived a hundred years ago since I love to bake, cook over a wood cook stove, garden, sew, can, and until recently milk a cow.  I personally enjoy modern sanitation, medicine, and hot showers too much to long for a different era.  But I do love the femininity and beauty of the fashions of by gone eras.  The women then, even poor women, wore clothes that put ours to shame.  Isn't it sad?  How I would love to dress in the more simple styles of these clothes on a regular basis.

 Calico Prairie Dress
Calico Blouse and Skirt
I found this site while looking for Victorian clothing and it is one of the best and best priced.  I have set a weight goal and when I reach it I'm going to order a few dresses.  We have a Victorian Society here that is very big, and did I mention I also live in a 100 year old Queen Anne Victorian home?

Make a cup of tea and enjoy!

http://www.recollections.biz

/Vest and Skirt

Keeping Chickens in Town Part Two: Housing

Housing is an interesting thing when keeping chickens.  Chickens are really not picky on where they lay their heads at night, but having a nice chicken house with roosts, feeders, and a laying box will make your life much easier.  Making it attractive on the outside will also keep your neighbors from complaining.

We once lived up the street from a couple that had free range chickens.  Now this was a town of less than 300 people and was very rural.  But still these chickens roosted in the trees, on fences, wherever! There were huge piles of poop under where they roosted.  The smell was gross and it looked terrible.  All I can say is I'm glad that I didn't live right next door because chickens don't understand property lines and made frequent neighborly visits.  Granted these people were in their 80's and couldn't keep up with the cleaning needed for free range chickens.

There are thousands of different chicken coops.  From the ornate palaces to converted dog houses.  All have their good points and bad points.  It just depends on how much money you want to spend and the kind of setup that makes you happy


Our first chicken coop was made of straw bales stacked up in a square with a plywood top.  We even put in a little window.  Not the most pretty thing you would see but it worked fine for the chickens and kept predators out at night.

Now that we live in town and cant free range our birds we are using a small plywood building.  We built a run for the chickens to go outside and exercise/dust themselves/get sun in.  It works great and is easy to clean and take care of.


So things to consider if you want chickens in your backyard.

Security


Chickens are tempting to many animals (and people) you will find in town.  Especially dogs and raccoons!  So having a secure place for them to sleep and roam is a good idea.  A fenced run keeps them within safe bounds and keeps unwanted visitors at bay. One small dog can kill all your chickens in less than an hour.  We use chain link for our run and buried chicken wire around the perimeter of the run after we found signs of digging under the fence.  The way that works is the dog/raccoon/skunk starts digging at the fence line and then hits the wire hurting it claws.  Suddenly chicken doesn't look so good!  Some people use barbed wire in places with lots of roaming dogs and raccoons.

 Also chickens are not what you call potty trained.  They poop everywhere they go.  So unless you are OK with finding chicken poop all over your yard, driveway, and walkways I suggest you have a run for them.
 

A cheaper way to make a nice looking chain link chicken run is to buy a used large chain link  outside dog kennel on craigslist.  You can find them for $100.00 and sometimes even free.  Get the six foot high ones and then cover them with plywood or more chain link. It's cheaper than buying the materials from the hardware store and is easy to set up.  Our plan is to get one soon, the run we made was just temporary.

Ease of Cleaning and Maintenance

If you are going to have a run that is not movable and a permanent building for your chickens make sure you can stand up in it.  Otherwise when you have to clean it out or go into it for any reason your going to have to stoop over the whole time.  Dirt floored or concrete are personal preferences.  We've had both and while you can bleach concrete I don't care either way for the small amount of chickens I have. I would never do wood though because it absorbs smells, moisture, and will eventually rot.

Litter

There are lots of different options here.  We use wood shavings because they absorb the poop better and smells nicer.   Straw is cheaper but it is much messier.  Cost is also an issue here so you have to go with whats cheap in your area.  We use a deep litter system where we clean the coop twice a year.  Then we put a couple of inches to start with wood shavings and add more as needed to keep it clean and smells down.  This works great for us.

Food and Water

You have to feed your chickens, even if your allowing them to free range.  You also must at all times provide water.  If they have no or little water they will lay less eggs.  You can buy feeders and waterers for your chickens.  I recommend the automatic feeder and waterer myself.  They keep the feed and water clean and prevent the chickens from wasting them.  We have a 5 gallon waterer and a large automatic feeder that hangs from the roof.  We only have to fill the water once a week and the feeder once every two weeks.  This cuts way down on your labor every day.  I just check them every day or so while collecting eggs (I have to fight with the children for this privilege) to make sure they aren't empty.

    
  Waterer                     Feeder


Scraps

I cant imagine how much food I would end up throwing away if we didnt' have chickens.  With 4 children there are many scraps everyday that go to the chickens.  Old milk from sippy cups, fruit and veggie peelings, bread crusts, rejected meals, food that sat out too long.  It all goes to those voracious bottomless pits.  I NEVER throw out food. Everything from the kitchen that goes to the chickens except poultry products ( possible cross contamination here) that go to our dog.  Chickens are like an amazing recycling program.  The more food a chicken eats the more eggs it will lay.  They also get grass clippings from our yard (we do NOT spray or treat our grass so be careful doing this), weeds from the garden, and any garden waste.  They love it!

Egg Laying Box



It's a good idea to have a nesting box for your chickens.  Otherwise they will lay on the ground or wherever they decide looks good.   This will lead to you not knowing if an egg is "fresh" or "old", eggs too dirty for use, lost eggs, and possibly even to the chickens eating them which is a hard habit to break.  You don't need anything fancy and can build it yourself or use a covered cat litter box picked  up at a yard sale.

Shade, Dirt, and Sun

This would also be under shelter but is kind of special in its own way.  All chickens like to sun themselves.  This allows them to get vitamins they need.  But they also need shade in the hottest times of year.  Our chickens always go back into the chicken house during the hottest part of the day because there is no shade in the run (yet, working on that) at midday.  If we had shade for them outside they would sit out in the shade.  Chickens also need dirt to dust themselves with.  It helps protect them from nasty bugs.  So make sure to provide your chickens with somewhere to dust themselves.

Warmth and Light

In the winter if you have really cold winters, you will need to either make sure your chickens have shelter that will keep them from cold wind and weather or resign yourself to no eggs.  The more energy a  chicken expends on keeping warm the less eggs it will lay.  If you use a small building/shelter and keep enough chickens in it they will huddle together and keep each other warm.  Also sealing any drafts and having glass windows will help.

Light is another issue.  Chickens need 12 hours of daylight or they slow or stop laying eggs.  Every winter we put a heat lamp in our coop to provide the extra light and a little extra warmth for our chickens.  That way we still get eggs even in the coldest winters. This winter was in the teens and under zero almost all season which is unheard of for around here!

Fly control

Your going to want to control flies no matter what.  Nothing is worse than ruining your outside time with flies everywhere.  Not to mention your neighbors will really hate it.  We use flytapes and also fly trap bags.  These work very well.  Some people lime the soil of their run and this keeps down smell and flies.  I can't seem to find lime anywhere so go figure.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Viking Boy Strikes Again

 


I was reading a post over at Rural Revolution about trashy parents  here  http://www.rural-revolution.com/2011/07/trashy-parents.html and was reading all the comments as well.  It kind of made me laugh because Viking Boy is constantly trying to escape the confines of our house.  We take him outside to play several times a day but I swear he would be happy to just live and sleep out there!  We now have to keep both a deadbolt and the regular door locks locked at all times.  At least once a week I am seen frantically searching our house and yard because he is missing.  Most of these times I find the door open (left unlocked by one of our other three children) and him trying to get to the tools in the garage (all potentially deadly tools we keep way out of his reach) or on the yard toys.  No amount of explaining, scolding, or spankings have made much of an impact.  Except perhaps they have made him learn the importants of silence when trying to sneak out.

Every time he has gotten out (count is up to five in the last 5 months) my heart is in my throat and I am close to tears.  Even though we live in a small town we still have 5 registered sex offenders and live next to a slightly busy street.  Busy for our town is a car going by about every ten minutes. 

I wonder what our neighbors think of me when I catch him and deliver a few good swats to his behind in full view of everyone telling him " We do not go out without mommy!"?  Because honestly he knows he is not supposed to be out there.  He understands when I say that's a no no.  He just doesn't want to obey me.  He wants to do his own thing.

Although I agree that there are trashy parents (I've come across many who are carbon copies to what Patrice talks about)  I just hope I'm not being classed with them in my neighborhood.  He didn't get the name Viking Boy for nothing!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Free From Fear

After two days of not sleeping at all I woke up from a half an hour nap and got really angry.  I was done with the fear and cast it off.  Because it is written that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power hope and a sound mind!  Well I've been being the victim too long, letting fear have a hold on me. So I woke up and said NO MORE!  Every time a fear thought or worry thought entered my mind I yelled in my head.  I do not have to fear.  I'm done.  Fear cannot hurt me, Satan cannot hurt me, and God is my shield and strength.  The event of fear is over.  God has shown me many things through this whole experience.  Things I am grateful for because I realized I was drawing away from Him.  So now the time of mourning is over and a time of thanksgiving has started.

Praise the Lord for He has set me free!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Keeping Chickens in Town Part One: Practical considerations beauty or usefullness?



Black Austerlops
I always recommend to people wanting to get chickens that they first and foremost read a good book on home chicken raising first! These are living breathing feeling animals and have a right to be raised in such a way that make their little chicken lives enjoyable. Almost every library in our nation has at least one book on chicken raising so you don't even need to spend money to learn if you really want to embark on a chicken adventure. One of the most complete books on chickens that I have read is Story's Guide to Raising Chickens

with a close second being The Encyclopedia of Country Living

 Both are full in information on the realities of chicken rearing.  And here are some good kindle editions  as well









That being said you don't have to do much to make chickens happy. Food water and a clean shelter is what they most desire with occasional scraps thrown in to make life interesting. Because we live in town our chickens are not let out to roam (chickens don't understand property lines and like to explore) but have an enclosed run. When we lived in Wyoming our chickens free ranged at will and we only lost one chicken to unknown causes. Chickens are the easiest farm animal to raise in our opinion.

Barred Rock Hen
OK so here is what we have learned from keeping chickens in town.  Part one is going to be about what you should consider before you even get your chicks.

The most important consideration is if you can have chickens legally in your town.  Surprisingly many cities and towns are now making it legal to have chickens .  Many times up to 10 hens although roosters are often banned due to their joy in crowing.  Or you might live in a town that doesn't have a law either way. That is true in our case.  Our town only stipulates that you get the city councils permission to have chickens.  My daughter (who does chickens in 4-H)  wrote a presentation on her chickens, got written approval letters from all our neighbors, took pictures of what we were going to use as a chicken coop, and also outlined how many chickens/what breed/fly control/waste disposal that would occur.  The city council loved her presentation and approved us on the spot.




So after you figure that you can have chickens what else should you consider?

First off what do you want out of your chickens?

Do you want exotic beautiful birds just to look at and enjoy?  Lots of eggs? Occasional meat? A little of everything?

These are important thoughts because many of the best egg layers are rather ugly and have skinny frames for eating when they are past egg laying prime.  And the more exotic chickens don't lay as well as a commercial egg laying breeds.

Buff Orphington Hens
For us we want both egg laying, pretty birds, and a decent rack for when the hen gets old.  Plus I wanted to get heirloom breeds to help keep them from going extinct.  The breeds we enjoy most are Buff Orphingtons, Rhode Island Reds, Black Austerlops, and Barred Rocks.  All of these birds are very attractive and lay eggs like crazy.  They are also gentle and non aggressive for the most part. 

From our 9 laying hens we get about 7 eggs a day in summer, a few less in winter.  We do not keep a rooster because they are very noisy.  Hens do make noise when they lay an egg.  They let out a cluck cluck squawk call for a few minutes, but that is much quieter than a rooster.  Our neighbors don't mind our chickens at all, especially since I give them periodic gifts of eggs.  Bribery works!

There are hundreds of chicken breeds so you are bound to find a breed that suits your taste in color, size, feathering, laying capacity, egg color, and temperament.  If you are looking at getting banties then also consider that they lay small eggs and not as well as the larger breeds, but as an upside they are very broody and make excellent mothers.  We once had a little black banty hen that was the best setter and mother we have seen.  So if you want to raise chicks (you need a rooster here to get fertile eggs) then having a banty or two will be a good choice.

Also I have to say that there is nothing like really fresh eggs for cooking and it is so exciting when you go out and gather your first eggs!