I know you’re all thinking that I decided to keep chickens because of the eggs, or because I love animals, or maybe just to drive my roommate nuts, but you are incorrect if you do.

The real reason I wanted chickens?  The fabulous accessories.

First, of course, is the coop.  If I’d had my way, I would have spent close to $2000 on this baby:

After shipping, it’s a spendy little guy.  But so damned cute.  And, it comes in fashion colors!

There are two other models as well, for those with fewer chickens, and the company also makes rabbit hutches, guinea pig hutches, and bee hives (“Beehaus”).  The simplicity of the designs makes me happy, the clean lines and the lack of wood to get soggy and splinter.  The wheels make it even better – you can just tote your chicken house around the yard.    The run also has a specially designed bottom edge, to keep out predators.

The Omlet website is also a great place to find other accessories…and lead me to hunting down more.

Like this.  I love it – it’s space saving, and would make it much easier for egg-access.  Unfortunately, America has yet to realize that refrigerating eggs isn’t really necessary, so a lot of this type of item can only be found in the UK or other more civilized countries.

From what I’ve read, as long as the egg is unwashed, they can be left at room temperature for a couple of weeks.  Sounds good to me – I can keep the “give-away” eggs in the fridge, and the “keep” eggs on the counter.

For the record, Eggsafety.org says this:

The general rule is that if food items are at room temperature for more than 2 hours, the safest thing to do is to discard the product. If you leave eggs anywhere that is not refrigerated, the best thing to do is throw those eggs away and buy a new carton.

Wow.  2 hours.

I’ve never been a freak about refrigeration though.  I’ll keep pizza in the oven overnight and eat it the next day, and I haven’t died yet.  I regularly keep my eggs in the collecting basket until I have to take them out to refill it.

Moving on.

This is great:

I don’t like the “got chickens” part so much, it’s one of those things that’s been way over used, but I do appreciate the “my pet made me breakfast” concept.

Even over the winter, I got at least an egg a day.  I take it as a sign that my ladies love me, that they lay in the off-season even.

Now, something for the meter reader:

It’s only fair that he get a warning when he enters the back yard, right?

My girls are generally shy of strangers, but they don’t always realize at first that it’s not me and come running willy-nilly from all parts of the yard. I imagine that this could be disconcerting for some people.

Although…it could save us some money on the gas bill…

Ok, one final thought.  As Seen On TV:

I really like this idea.  Perfect eggs…every time.  Seems like I get them perfectly soft boiled when I need them hard, and vicey-versy.

Besides…it comes with a free Bacon Wave!  I may need to start raising pigs!

I got some help in the yard today, in the form of 6 happy hens.  There were other animals in the vicinity, but considering them “help” would have been a gross misconception.

I was trying to find the edges of the small round “clearing” in the back yard, which is really just a maybe 6ft across circle of not-as-much-grass.  There is a stump in the middle, where the apple tree was before we moved in.  Like, it was there until days before we moved in.  It apparently fell over.

It’s also where we buried the kittens, when Twink’s first litter got mauled by Lola-dog (not out of viciousness, but out of some strange mothering instinct).  They are buried between the catnip and catmint plants, so they get lots of visitors throughout the day.

Last year, before I lost my job, I had planted all sorts of ground-cover as well, hoping it would grow over the low stump and make sort of a fairy-circle there.  They did really well, until the weather changed and they stopped growing.  The grass and weeds did not stop growing, so it got messy.

So today, I started pulling up handfuls of weeds, throwing them into the chicken enclosure.  Eventually the chickens got brave enough to come help, scratching and tossing, eating bugs and slugs.  Oscar-pug didn’t care for it, tried to charge them a few times, but eventually decided to pee on the last patch of weeds instead, which effectively stopped my weeding project for the day.

Then I decided to go ahead and rearrange the chicken run, since a couple of the girls have decided to continue to lay eggs in the bottom of the coop.  Stoopid chikins.

A few months ago, we went to Uwajimaya, an Asian market, and got a sampling of odd (to us) treats.  One of them was a small bag of Chiz Curls.  How can you go wrong with corn puffs and cheese powder?

Well, they weren’t really good enough to eat the whole bag.  There were six of us all together who tried, and no one ate more than 2-3 curls.  So they’ve sat in their bag, waiting for their moment.

That moment was today.

My roommate came inside from the back yard, and says, “Have you spent any time with your chickens today?”  Well, yeah, I’d gone out and gathered eggs and gave them a handful of 5-grain.  Apparently that wasn’t enough, because he had been beset by chickens when he went out.

So I looked around to see what I could take them, and my eyes settled on the lonely bag of Chiz Curls.  I took them out, handed one to Turken, and she pecked at it pensively.  The others soon came running to see what I had, so I dropped a few on the ground.

They liked them.  Now, I’m not saying that they got the same response as say, a corn dog, but they did like them.  And lucky for them, no fingers to turn bright orange!

Of course, this is newsworthy so I had to record it for posterity.

but the ladies are doing just fine.

All six of them are laying now, on a pretty regular basis.  This means a lot of “anyone want eggs” posts on my facebook page now, but no one complains.

I learned a great recipe the other day that will help use up a days worth at a time – the Dutch Baby.

My sister was passing through on her way from the coast going home (back to Idaho), and we decided that instead of her trying to find my house, we’d meet up at a breakfast place near the freeway – Elmer’s.  I used to eat at the one in Tigard when we lived there, and have never been disappointed.

Well, either they’ve changed or it’s just different here, but it was not the same Elmer’s I was used to.  This isn’t a bad thing, not at all.  There were things on the menu I’d never seen, and most of it looked damn good.  I’m a sucker for trying new things that don’t look gross, so I decided on a Classic Dutch Baby.

I was not disappointed.  It was great, not a huge heavy meal or too light and fluff.  Not sweet at all, except the powdered sugar topping.  The lemon was the perfect counterpoint.

Once I got home, I decided that I needed to learn how to make it.  I found that it was remarkably simple – whip up your eggs and flour, put it in a sizzling pan in the oven.  The recipe and method I used I go here.  No, it’s not as pretty as the one on Elmer’s menu, but it was still pretty good, and with the powdered sugar and lemon even my roommate had a second serving.

The large recipe took 6 eggs – one day of my girls’ hard work.  I think it would be a fun recipe to try with kids around, because you pour it in the hot pan, put it in the oven and POOF – it comes out all huge and inflated.  My teenager is a little old to be impressed too much, but smaller kids…I think they’d like it.

Anyway – try it out.  It looks like it is quite accepting of toppings, so have fun!

Our Sicilian Buttercup is the only chicken we have that lays white eggs, so it’s been pretty obvious that she hasn’t been laying all winter. She did some molting a couple weeks ago, so I guess she’s ready to start – we got our first white egg of the season today.

Better yet, she’s a fantastic poser:

I think it’s Turken’s turn to molt, now. I have read that they are supposed to molt in the fall, but my chickens are living life on the edge – breaking all the rules. Damn straight.

I visited Wilco the other day, talked to Jen (who does the chick ordering). I got a sneak peek at what they are expecting this year, and wow it’s going to be hard to not get more this year. I mean, I don’t need any more, but man. There were several types I’ve never heard of, but I guess that’s not too surprising considering how new I am to chickening.

I think that if I were to get any more, I’d pick a Dorking. I really like the looks of her.

But I have to keep telling myself: I will not get more chickens. I will not get more chickens. NO!

For the last few weeks, I’ve gotten only 2 brown eggs a day from my six girls. That means that the Aracauna’s weren’t laying at all – until this last weekend.

While I was gone chaperoning my daughter’s visit to a Kumo buddy, green eggs began appearing once more in my hen house. I still don’t know which of the brown-egg layers are laying, but now I can definitely say: Sicilian buttercup is not, turken is, now both Aracauna’s are. That leaves the barred rock and speckled sussex as wild cards.

Side note: Can’t not like chicken comics. I’ve tried, doesn’t work.

Due to the lack of exciting chicken news, I’ve decided to put up some links to some neat chicken hats.  This was inspired by a trip to The Mall yesterday, where we saw a chicken hat at the Elephant’s Trunk.

First, we have the World Famous Chicken Hat.  Says so right on the page.

Not bad, but not hardly a cold-weather headpiece, huh.

This looks a little warmer.   And, it’s the Best Little Chicken Hat on the Web. Again, it says so right on the page.

Super cute, covers the ears.  I like it.

Then there’s this.  The Clucker.

I just don’t know.  It looks like that man is enjoying his hat much more than is typically called for, and it sort of creeps me out.  Oh, and no ear flaps.  The legs don’t count.

For the party-chicken, there is the Oktoberfest Chicken Hat.

Another guy too happy with his chicken.  I’m not sure I approve of giving alcohol to chickens, I don’t believe they are of legal age!

Here, a nice homestyle hat – a Knit Chicken Ski Cap.

I gotta say, this is my favorite.  Not too flashy, not too childish, practical ear flaps and liner.  And tassels.  How can we not love tassels?

So, if anyone wants a holiday gift-giving idea for me, make it the tasseled chicken hat.

…that was my question.

Turns out, a lot of people have that same question, and as with armpits and bodily orifices, there are many differing opinions on the matter.

What I’ve done so far is this:  when I noticed the chickens huddling more to sleep, I put the brooder heat lamp outside the chicken door to the coop.  It shines some heat inside, some outside.  My logic (such as it is) is that they’re birds – birds have feathers and monster body heat.  But maybe just a little something near the feeder would be nice for them.

Then this morning, I get up and the water bucket thing is frozen solid, and it made me start googling again.  I found this thread on the BackYard Chicken forum, but like I said, it’s all opinion.

In the end, I’ll probably just end up leaving it as is.  I may move the light out a bit more, put the water bucket thing under it and see if that helps.  But if I block the light too much, where will the cats hang out??

As a side note, as I was googling for images of cold chickens, I came across this one:

Click it to see where it’s from – a coffee place in the San Joaquin Valley.  It sounds like a fantastic drink, and what a great name for it.  Makes me wish I lived anywhere near there.  Or at least could visit.

Since the last post, Oddball has gone to his new home. He stayed for a few weeks with a friend in Elmira, then a woman whose flock lost their rooster took him home. Now he’s got a flock of his own, and a wider range. Bonus: He now lives on Walton’s mountain. I think they should call him Odd-boy.

The hens, in the meantime, are doing great. They seem to be more relaxed and wander around more. A few of them duck and crouch when I reach for them, I’m told it’s because I now have rooster status. As my kid says, I’m one “sexy rooster”. Yay…?

I spent a “Girl’s day” with a friend of mine, same friend who housed Oddball for me. During that day, we took my cat to the Neuter Scooter to get her fixed, picked up some bottle calves, and built the main frame of my new chicken house.  A few days later, my mom came down with some tools and we added siding and a door for the nesting box.  Yeah…looks rough, needs a coat of paint and a bit of sealing in the corners, but my chickens seem to be happy with it.  They still have the house to run around in, but a safe place to go at night, now that it’s getting colder – and wetter.

The hope is that there will a dry weekend so my kid can paint it.  Not sure how likely that is, but I suppose the world won’t end if it doesn’t get done until spring.

The girls are laying pretty regularly, I can count on 5 eggs a day.  It’s nice to be able to give out a dozen eggs to people who are helping us out.  Since the jobless rate in our household has hit an all-time high, it’s a good feeling to know I can give back, at least a little.

I’ll have a later post on the eggs themselves – some of them have been pretty odd.  Googling “double yolk eggs” gets some really crazy stories, if you’re into that kind of thing.