The Advent of TUF

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Gains, Loss, The Future

ah, the beginning of fall. when the temperatures drift down into the balmy mid-nineties, and there is a chance of rain sometimes. actually, all facetiousness aside, the mornings and evenings have been beautiful! and enough rain has fallen that the back yard is full of chickweed and egg production is ramping up again. i'm excited about the change of seasons, and fall air is some of the best air.

sadly, we have lost another chicken. this time there was no disease or predation involved...earlier this week bolo vanished without a trace! there she is to the left, the big black one, having a roll in the dust with pearl last sunday. by tuesday, however, she was gone. just gone! no feathers, no yard kerfuffle, everyone had been in the run all day. all other fowl were fine and normal. but when i went out to the yard after work to give the ladies and gentleman their yard time, she simply was nowhere to be found.

i keep hoping she might come back, but i think it's been long enough that such hope is lost. my best thought is that she's been bodily assumed into heaven, rapture-style. at least that's my favorite theory...several others make perhaps more sense but are far more depressing. she was a non-flyer, but had accidentally hopped out of the run once a long time ago--she was never one for adventure.

needless to say, all remaining chickens now have flight feathers 1-8 clipped on their right wing, like i did sammo a couple months ago, to prevent further chicken raptures.

i wonder if she accidentally hopped out again, went for a mosey, got lost....and then was bodily assumed. at any rate, wherever she is, i hope she enjoyed her life here and is enjoying her next life. if not, i'd like it if she would come back.

in other, better news, we recently acquired two new girls to bump up egg production and add some new feathers to the flock. introducing tony parker and scotty pippen!

tony parker

tony parker is a lovely young barred rock hen, a classic breed. true to her name, she is especially quick and agile, and does not seem to like to get picked up yet. however, once caught, she will happily sit on the available lap for pets and chicken talk. she should start laying big brown eggs any minute!

scotty pippen

scotty pippen is a beautiful red star chicken who, unlike her new sister thus far, is quite friendly. she seems to enjoy being picked up and cuddled, and even hangs around waiting for such attention. her breed is also an egg-laying machine, and so we are much anticipating her egg scene debut. in fact, she was destined to go to an _actual_ egg laying machine--a big production chicken house--which explains why her beak was cut. but here on the TUF, her beak can grow back in all its glory and she can party in the run and yard all day. i look forward to seeing her beak back!

all chickens have made the adjustment seamlessly, both to the new additions and the loss of dear old bolo. the flock numbers six once again--tumblr (the rooster), sammo (easter egger), pearl and ninja (original silkies), scotty pippen and tony parker. we pause to remember the TUFlock chickens who have gone on to the great free-range in the sky: soft grey twitter, baby lil' bitz (we barely new ye!), and big black ol' bolo. thanks for all the eggs and fun.

milk snail enjoying a fall morning

and finally, a bit about the future: dan and i are pleased to be expecting a new HUMAN addition to the TUF to join us in early march 2013! all is well so far, and of course we will appreciate another TUF hand around to help care for all these crazy creatures. that's why people originally starting having kids anyway, right? more help around the farm? maybe we can actually start that garden i've been screaming about since the beginning of this whole experiment!

speaking of experiment, and as a final note, here is a picture of the fantastic carrot soup i concocted the other day. i had also (true to TUF philosophy) used a bunch of farmer's market vegetable odds and ends, and the frozen carcasses of a roasted local duck and chicken, to make a killer-awesome no-waste stock as the base for this soup. i basically used this recipe, with lemon juice but no zest, a zillion cloves of garlic, and only 1/4 cup of cream, and it came out pretty dang delightful. and healthy! mostly!

anyway, there is much coming up to discuss, what with the changing seasons, new girls, new food, new future prospects and all. thank you for reading, Dear Reader, and though i'm clearly not the best at it, i'll renew my efforts to keep y'all posted and document the process!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Summer 12: The Happenings

so, needless to say, it's been awhile since i've posted anything. i have been delinquent, yes, but it's because a lot has been going on! dan and i took a big trip to south korea from july 15th-july 24th, and the weeks leading up to that excursion were full of activity and non-cookery. indeed, the extent of my cooking this summer is best represented by the following picture:

no, those are not home-made waffles. yes, that is a home-sliced organic banana. yes, i definitely meant to spend way more time cooking and chickening and gardening and writing this summer, but alas, it has not been. now i have two weeks left before science teaching starts again, and so we'll see what happens. here are a couple things to catch up on...

this sweet little chicken was in our lives but briefly. back in early june, she (mighta been a he) was acquired as a new flock friend after the untimely demise of dear twitter. everything was going great (for like 2 days) until she met the SECOND snake to plague our coop this summer. turned out that snake had a taste for more than just eggs, and so she was murdered. in a fit of hammurabian rage, the murderous snake was also murdered. it was not the most shining of TUF moments. but, live and learn and live. she wasn't even around long enough to get a permanent name, so she will live forever in my memory as "Lil Bitz."

earlier this summer, we took another trip to Port Aransas like we did last summer, and stayed at the same place, although it's now called Amelia's Landing. this time we brought both dogs, and they were salty beach dogs for the first time! great fun was had by all, and though there was a plethora of beautifully scary and goopy man o' wars (men o' war?), no one got stung. yay for the beach!

i have no pictures of this at the moment, but we attended my beautiful sister's wedding shower in dallas july 14th. she's getting married on september 2nd, and i'm the MaidTron v.2012 of honor. ("matron" sounds too...well, matronly. and old and fat. and i'm trying to avoid those kinds of connotations.) i also partied (gently) at her bachelorette shindig on july 28th. i am so excited for my darling closest relative's celebrations! and i'm so honored to be her MaidTron.

then of course came the Big Fancy Trip we had been planning for some time, to South Korea. thank goodness for the family and friends who looked after our zoo while we were gone. a dear friend from school took all the rodents and reptiles into her BRAND NEW HOME for the 10 days, a responsible kid from the neighborhood was on am and pm chicken duty, another dear friend from the neighborhood and my beloved uncle came to check on the cat and house, and the dogs got to go to camp at the Canine Hilton down the street. what with all the animal accomodations, we needed to make this one count. AND WE DID!

huge market close to hotel in seoul

seoul street art

beautiful architecture

awesome hair and beaches in pusan

secret buddha

it really was an amazing journey. and so, two more weeks of summer vacation! what else might happen?

how about this enormous stick bug that dan came in to tell me about AS I WAS TYPING THIS VERY POST?

The Saga of Sammo

here is sammo, the free-rangiest of all our chickens. she is a beautiful easter-egger, laying lovely light-green eggs nearly every day. she has a delightful beard. she generally seems to be in charge of the flock, holding sway even over tumblr, the incorrigible rooster.

i say she's the free-rangiest--she is the most capable of flying, and has generally been able to go where she wants, even if the rest of the flock is in the run. captivity isn't for her, and she enjoys moseying about the neighbor's yard, exploring the immediate behind-the-fence area, and checking out points inaccessible to less savvy, ground-bound chickens. when we let the rest of the flock wander around the yard, she will come back from her ranging to hang out with them--but if they're in the run, she'd prefer to be on her own, thank you.
i knew her ranging posed an inherent risk, but for months she hadn't run into any problems, and seemed well-equipped to handle herself in any number of chickenrisky situations. when she came to us last summer, her wings were clipped, probably to discourage her wandering tendencies and keep her safe, but i just couldn't quite bring myself to re-clip once the flight feathers grew back....she seemed like such a self-actualized chicken!

HOWEVER. the other day she ran into some trouble. it looked like a cat, perhaps--i think the nearby potential dog perps would have done more damage, but who knows. at any rate, on friday she didn't come flopping into the yard when i let the other birds out, and i saw her standing forlornly on the neighbor's bird bath, tail drooping, eyes nearly closed. i had to pick her up and bring her back over.

there was no blood that i could see, nor any broken bones, but it seemed that her legs just didn't quite work, and i could see broken and torn feathers on her wings and back. (below right is how she looked today, way better, but you can still see some broken feather stumps!) i figured she'd had some trauma, and hoped dearly that a couple days rest and extra attention would get her walking again. so, much to her annoyance, she took up temporary residence on the back porch in our chick-cage-turned-hospital room.

poor sammo! she hates being cooped up in any form, so this was really the ultimate bummer for her. i felt terrible--i was trying to let her be this free-rangy self-actualized chicken, but that which i hoped wouldn't happen turned out to be the inevitable after all. lesson learned--chicken injured, but not dead, and i had hope that she was fighter enough to get her leg use back!

she got some excellent foot, leg and back massages, and got to eat some tasty strawberries, yogurt, cheese and mangos. she dutifully sat and rested, and soon seemed more able to get on her feet. today marked 3 days since her injury and admission to the back porch hospital, and she was able to stand without wobbling and walk about a bit. i thought i would try putting her in the yard, separate from the other ladies and gentleman, to get some exercise and practice walking again. i knew she wanted to be back with her flock friends, but i also didn't want mr. tumblr to take advantage of her weakened state.

i also decided, with some sadness, that i would clip the flight feathers on one of her wings. i knew that as soon as she was walking she would try flying again, and i would like to avoid any further injury. since i had no previous experience with wing clipping, i visited the indispensible Back Yard Chicken Site's How-To on clipping chicken wings. i only clipped the right wing (political implications notwithstanding) to throw off the balance needed for flight. i hope she forgives me.

unclipped left

clipped right

Graphic courtesy of "A Guide to Raising Chickens" by Gail Damerow and BYC. I love when things look just like the diagram!

at any rate, she seems much better today--tail up, walking around, the occasional wobble, but sturdier every minute! i'll let her sleep in the coop tonight with the others, and depending on how strong she seems, i might let her re-integrate with the flock tomorrow. (though tumblr was unable to get to her through the fence, she was "assuming the position" as soon as she saw him!)

(from bottom left) pearl, bolo, ninja and tumblr are confused without sammo bossing everyone around!

everyone will be back to normal soon!

Monday, June 11, 2012

On Recent Foods

i strongly recommend that folks

should eat a lot of artichokes.

steamed or sauteed, stuffed or dipped,

i am fully arti-whipped.

these were from a local farm,

pricey? yes! but what's the harm

in steaming up a few to see

'bout total veggie luxury.

pull a leaf off, scrape with teeth:

discard, repeat, 'til a wreath

of cast-off leaves rings 'round your plate,

and leaves a heart you're glad you ate.

grass-fed, local, gently raised--

one tastes the plants on which s/he grazed.

within the parthenon of meat,

little lamb chops reign elite.

garlic shards and fresh green beans,

lightly butter-sauced and steamed

lend the taste of summertime

to any plate they touch of mine.

early corn! the sun's warm rays

are captured, into sugar made

and packaged into rows and rows

of tasty kernels. tall it grows,

'til harvested and grilled in foil.

corn demands such little toil--

touched with salt and kissed by butter,

it makes gastronomics flutter.

seek the holy leafy grail?

look no further than sweet kale.

green of leaf, oft veined in red

kale is cabbage, finely bred.

chopped, sauteed and garlic-blessed,

this queen of greens outshines the rest.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

RIP Twitter :(

she was a pretty, blue-gray soft girl. she passed on to the great free-range in the sky today, not sure why. she was a fine chicken.
this is the most recent picture of her i have, from about a week ago.

she was an odd girl, always separate from all the other ladies. i saw tumblr take her on dates a few times, but she kept to herself most of the time.
the flock did not dictate her actions!

she was always just a little off, somehow. it's weird, she was almost exactly a year old,
practically to the day. a full-fledged hen. (she was about 6 months in this pic.)

she hadn't even gotten her comb yet here!

this one is from about a week ago as well. she was normal most of the time, and then sometimes acted really strangely. i half expected her to die at any moment. but she never seemed to be in pain or depressed...

she took our bout with fowl pox hard, worse than any of the other ladies. but she got through it.

she was a cute and fuzzy baby. also very suspicious.

she laid beautiful chocolate brown eggs, for which her breed (french marans) is known. she will be missed.

thanks for all the eggs, Twitter! you were a very good chicken. i hope you had a good life with us, and have gone on to something even better!

dan buried her in our place for honored pets passed on. we then spent the day improving the back yard and filling one of the garden boxes with cameroneil compost. her memory will be honored with continued dedication to enthusiastic chicken keeping and garden having.