Chicken Apocalypse 2

On a sad note, we lost one of our chickens (Paige Jr.) in the last two weeks. Once the duck project had ended (with Bob's untimely demise and Mabel's adoption to another family), we had been pretty much letting them do what they wanted. They roosted high in their home and woke up as well as put themselves to bed. No more getting up at 7AM to open the enclosure. We thought we had gotten sooooo lucky.  Was not to be.

One day we went out and I couldn't find PJ. She was kind of a little bitch. 

Aside: Here is where I would totally volunteer that she was just like her Mom in that sense but that isn't true. We named her PJ because she was kind of always off doing her own thing, just like me. Also, she wasn't afraid to be herself, again, just like me. She was complicated. That was something that I liked about her.

Her partner was around and not giving us any clues. There were some feathers in the greenhouse but PJ had started to molt, so alarm bells didn't immediately go off.  We looked and looked and it was me that found her. Something came into the greenhouse, snatched her off her roost. By the amount of feathers, we were able to piece together her last, violent moments. I am proud that she fought so hard to escape and I know that if there is such a thing as chicken heaven, that she is there. Her body was hidden under a ramp, her head was chewed, her eyes gone and her body ripped to pieces.  A neighbor came out told us that she had heard a loud commotion that woke her up and sounded like "geese" but she did not investigate because she was home alone (and she did not come knock on our door to tell us either).  It's not that we could have saved her. In fact, if we had been outside when it happened, it might have been like that time the squirrel got into the wood stove and I lit the stove not knowing it was in there. Watching something tragic happen and being able to do nothing about it.  No, I mean that it would have been nice to have been with her so that she didn't die alone. That was the worst part for me.

PJ and No Name in a favorite spot

We buried her in the yard next to Bob. Then of course, Otis decided that a new patch of dirt was perfect to roll around in for a few days.  :) Either way, we adopted two new chickens that looked like they came from a concentration camp. All three are now happily hanging out together in the yard everyday. We go out every night and close them in after dark and every morning, I have returned to getting up with the sun to open it up again. A small price to pay so that we don't have to bury another one.

Ryan says that pets are just a tragedy in waiting. Do you agree?  I look around and our life is so full of joy in ways that the people in my life have never provided, save a small handful. One of these posts I'll tell you all about Cleo. She is the "special needs" kitten that Ryan brought home a couple of months ago.  I don't think that she will ever stop being entertaining.

Meet our animals

This weekend I attended the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby, OR. To those of you who like to spin or knit, or who just think that animals are cool, it is something that you should really try to check out.

A couple of months back, Ryan and I were researching the lawn. Right now we have a neighbor, Mike, who mows the property for us. Once we are out there however, we don't want to have to spend a few thousand dollars on a big lawn mower. That would kind of defeat all of the good that we are trying to do by having one of those. To address this we have decided to add to our brood once we get to the property. I will tell you what we have decided in a later post but at this time, I feel it appropriate to introduce everyone to our current animals and more importantly, why we have them.

On our 75' X 100' lot here in Vancouver, we have a lot of animals already. Well, I should qualify that.

For years and years and years, we had two dogs. Period. Our dogs are all rescued. Lacey is rescued from the big Burns, OR, cruelty case that you all may have read about a couple of years ago. Lacey will never be normal because she was deprived of food and shelter for the first two years of her life. She will always be scared but we are working on her self esteem. Ginger was an accident of a breeder / hoarder and she is the Viking Explorer of the group. Fearless and feisty. She will protect her yard against all invaders that are at or near her size. Ginger and Lacey are each others safety, as it should be. Best to have a friend. We all need at least one good friend, don't you think??

Why so many animals now???

Recall my next door neighbor. You may remember him from the Clothesline post. The guy with the Tyvek.. Anyway, about 5 years ago a screw came loose in his head when it came to me and I became afraid. I was afraid for 4 years. Then, due in part to my relentless recordkeeping and sheer strength of will, he suddenly stopped doing what he was doing. Four years of being scared to go in my yard affected me deeply.  Ryan and I decided that we live here too and we should be allowed to do what we want and to not be scared to do what we want anymore. What we wanted to do was to have a couple of chickens so that we could have fresh eggs and so that we could cease having to use fertilizer on our lawn. It is expensive and I was always a little worried about the dogs getting it on their paws and maybe poisoning themselves.

Well I don't know anything about chickens but it seemed pretty easy. We figured that we would just eat them after they were done laying and that we wouldn't really care one way or another. While researching what the best chickens to get, I stumbled upon this duck site ( Live Ducks ). I am a water person, I have always liked ducks and ate them once ( they tasted weird). I started talking to Ryan about getting Ducks too because their poo is just as good as chickens, they eat the same food as the chickens and they are super cute. Ryan was worried that they would fly away but I didn't think that they did and once I found proof that they were not all going to disappear, he as willing to try them out. We figured that if they didn't work out we would just eat them and that would be the end of the "Great Duck Experiment".

I ordered the ducks from Metzger Farms (see Resource List) and we set about to get the chickens. We picked up the chicks from the Urban Farm Store in Portland. The baby chicks were cute and everything but they were ravenous feeders. They would attack your hand when you got near them. I saw that it was going to be easy to eat these chickens. They seemed like little serial killers in a feather covering.  The ducks were arrived the next week. I think Ryan finally came on board when he told our mailman to be on the lookout for some ducklings and he replied, "You'll be the first this year."  That signalled that this "duck" idea wasn't as "out of the box" as he thought. The ducks arrived and Ryan was in love.

It has been a year now and I have a lot of chores out in the yard,. This has helped me with my fear and been very helpful in getting me to feel like myself again. I always liked being in the yard and the birds are a very good reason.  The ducks are teenagers now and have a pond. They tried to have a family this spring but we didn't let the eggs hatch. The chickens have grown up and are as friendly as can be. One of them, A Buff Orphington called "No-Name" is just like a dog. She follows us everywhere,. She helps me with the gardening and she is a very pleasant chicken. The Silver Wyandotte called "PJ" (for Paige Jr.), is just a little bitch. She is moody and just seems on the verge of having a nervous breakdown most of the time. We named her Paige Jr. because she was so fearless and independent as a chick. She didn't hang out with everyone else and did her own thing... just like me. I have to admit these last 5 years have made me a bit moody and sometimes I wonder what else is going to happen to me. So maybe I can identify with how PJ feels a little bit.

Either way, we don't even think about eating anyone now and are, in fact, excited about the possibility of Mabel and Bob having some little ducklings once we get to the property. Bob spent two months on her nest this year and she just seems to really want to be a little mother. We are going to let her do that. Dorothy is the runt of the ducks and we don't know if she will ever feel like being a Mom. We are currently hoping that she makes it through this winter. She seems to be the more sensitive to cold and illness and she was slow to understand how to take care of her feathers.We watch her everyday and cheer her on as she preens and tries to keep her feathers waterproof. The test will be this winter.  Bob and Mabel seem to be old pros and we know that they will make it. Luckily, we have a friend that will help us if it comes to that.

So now that you are up to speed as to why we have animals, it is time to meet them...

Introducing Bob, Mabel and Dorothy.  Welsh Harlequin Ducks

Swimming

Grazing

                    And No-name and PJ, the Chickens...

Not to mention Ginger and Lacey, the dogs...

Did I mention that this week we rescued a cat? Ryan has always missed having a cat.

Everyone, meet Otis. He was taken in by one of my clients on a fixed income. He is so friendly and mellow that the kids in the complex often threw Otis up in the air, and down the slide in the playground... because they could. Otis is lucky that they never broke his legs. He is the most mellow and friendly, not to mention smart cat that I have ever met and we feel lucky that he likes us. Even Lacey and Ginger (who hate cats) seem to be getting used to him.