Every Fiber of my Being - Cortni Frecha

Monday, February 09, 2009

Big Red, maybe Red-zilla

The largest of six “roosters” in this group of 13 chickens, Big Red is the dominant force. He’s not really mean, but being who he is he’s not exactly nice either. He could have about an acre to roam and maybe 20 more hens to really have his needs met. It’s a lovely spring-like day today, 40 degrees or more. We walked on the pond and it felt unsafe to me so I beat it for the shore and skulked along on safe old terra firma while Mark and the dogs enjoyed the open space on the ice and took some photos. We cleaned the llama-chicken coop: 3.5 wheel barrows of bedding. 

Sunday, February 01, 2009

light returning

The chickens tell me the days are getting longer. Slowly their production is inching up from the dark tunnel of no eggs. This year they went from a fall moult directly into the darkest month and then a cold spell. Who would want to give birth to an egg every day under those circumstances? So now as the angle of the sun rises a little and it’s no longer dark at 5:00pm, we get four or five eggs a day instead of one or two. I celebrated this morning with belgian waffles using two large eggs and three bantam eggs (small). The waffles were moist and light - yum!

I, too, am feeling a little more elastic. I can feel my sap beginning to rise to the call of spring. In my woodsy walks with the dogs I see some buds considering the idea of swelling: blueberries and swamp azalea. At home I want to plan changes to the garden, sort my seeds and order some, strategize on where to start seeds indoors as my sunny windows are full of geraniums.

Monday, August 25, 2008

moving toward a show

I’d like to have enough good photography and a cohesive body of work to enter some shows. Here are one or two recent shots.

personalities

At just under three weeks the baby chicks are already quite developed and have each their own style and personality. They also move as a flock and seem to beginning to interact socially.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

a humble coop

This is the first chicken coop we built (friend Tom and I) ten years or more ago. It is in panels and can be dismantled and re-assembled with some effort. Imagine a table-like floor, wall panels and two roof sections - one each side of the peak. The little nesting boxes were the "condo" add-on. General features that are good about this design:
• aforementioned Portability
• Rear pooper-scooper door - the back wall (on right in photo) is comprised of a plywood panel hinged at the top to open completely allowing the farmer to place a wheelbarrow beneath the opening and draw out soiled bedding with a hoe or rake.
• Overhang and stilts - provide a dry area for chickens to relax out of the rain. Large overhang also allows a window to be left open all summer (screened) and no rain gets in.
• Nesting box add-on - with an external door and easy visibility this little area is very handy
• Goat proof entry - on this coop we needed to prevent the dwarf goats from sticking their heads through the door and eating all the chicken grain. I made a little tunnel (this technique is used to protect the mouths of wood-duck nesting boxes) and the goat cannot reach into the coop to get the grain.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

sunny/rainy

Rain: again today. This summer's been like some tropical place where every day it clouds up and rains. Unless it was already rainy from the day before. What I remember of Mexico (1967) it cleared after the 2pm rain and was beautiful again. Here it seems to intensify...



Sun: baby chicks. 34 little balls of fuzz in assorted colors. How can I think these dinosaurs are so cute?? Well some of them grow up to be quite attractive - if you're into chickens!