Backyard Chickens & Bees

Well, we introduced the older chickens and the 11 new chicks this past weekend. For now they are being supervised, as George likes to chase them around (she is, surprisingly, the dominant one; Emily is just very vocal about it all: see the video below for a demonstration) and pecked at a few, resulting in [...]

Q: How do you get chickens from the coop to the pen without fear of them being attacked by dogs, raccoons, or other varmints? Also, how to do that when you’re not there to watch them? A: A Chicken Habitrail™!

We heard a bit of a commotion from the hens late tonight and looked out the window to see that the murderous black-and-white dog was back and trying to get into the coop! I chased him off and put on the egg-laying light inside the roost to be able to see and maybe make the [...]

Not quite penned yet, but soon! My friend William was over this weekend helping Veronica and I build a massive chicken pen that will keep the chickens in a safe, enclosed area where dogs and raccoons will not be able to get them easily. At least, not until they have opposable thumbs. (Granted, opossums have [...]

An e-mail that came in this morning from Matt provides a key to which chick is which. Apparently Claire and Samuel named all eleven of the new chicks, and took photos to aid in identifying them all. The images are below:

I was at home this morning (after having gone to the opening day for the Portland Farmer’s Market and working on various chores) and Matt came by to say that they were heading over to The Urban Farm Store on SE Morrison and wondered if I was interested in joining them. Of course I was! [...]

The chickens seem to be settling in to the new coop quite nicely! The neighbors have had a light on in the coop for egg maximization, so it’s easy to see them pretty much all the time. They like the roost and are constantly battling for the prime spot right next to the light. I [...]

We worked on the hen house again today, this time installing a few bells and whistles and putting up all of the chicken wire to keep out the raccoons and other varmints. And, in typical Pacific Northwest weather, it was pouring the entire time. At least I got in a hot shower afterwards, and don’t [...]

Well, this past weekend was dedicated to the March CHIC (Community Home Improvement Collective) and additional work on building the new chicken coop. We worked at Matt and Kristin’s place this month (they are my immediate neighbors to the South), with a long laundry-list of tasks to complete, including a full remodel of the chicken [...]

We had a dog vs. chicken attack this past weekend on my property. Veronica and I came home from running errands and noticed a dog standing by the raised beds with his back to us. As soon as we got out of the car, he turned around and we saw that there was one of [...]