Chickens in Manhattan (and other digressions)

Soup remains our …. special chicken. Sometimes she puts herself to bed, but more often than not she’ll roost in the doorway of the coop until one of us comes out and chucks her the rest of the way in. She’s the lowest on the pecking order and still hasn’t produced any eggs. She also doesn’t have the sense to come in out of the cold.

The other day it was pouring rain. When the boyfriend and I went down the check on the chickens, Soup was sleeping with her head out in the rain.

This is what a sad, bedraggled silkie bantam looks like. We toweled her off as best as we could and set her among the aspen bedding where she went back to sleep. I fear when it starts to snow and she falls asleep in a snowdrift. The only frozen chicken I want comes from my freezer.

Kung-pao has been taken to Long Island. All reports say that he is doing well there. His new owner let him acclimatize to the new environment in a horse stall.

Once he gets used to the new place, he gets to be a permanent resident of the chicken hotel!

I don’t know, looks like he’s going to have it pretty good…. That chicken was supposed to go to Chinatown, but instead he went to Long Island. What a lucky bird. The other chickens were a bit discombobulated on Saturday when Kung-Pao was taken, but now their little lima bean brains have forgotten there was ever another chicken on the end of the roost.

Meanwhile, Tandoori is laying eggs like it is her job. Which, come to think of it, it kind of is. I have some photographs of the first breakfast we had last week with the chicken eggs. There is a definite different in the color and the taste of the eggs, mostly having to do with the yolks. Mmm, eggs.

Well, so long Kung-pao. You were a good chicken, a thankfully quiet chicken, but had the misfortune to be a rooster.

After doing some scrambling, I found Kung-pao a new home at a horse farm out in Long Island. Roosters aren’t illegal out there, so hopefully he will be happy. He’ll have to get used to having grass (remember, all of the chickens still fear walking on it) but he will adjust. I’m just glad he’s been keeping his little beak shut these past few days and we don’t have to cook him.

Hopefully removing Kung-pao won’t mess up the chicken pecking order because right now things are going pretty smoothly. This week, so far, we’ve gotten about 7 eggs.

This evening I was sitting at my desk in my office and I heard a commotion from outside. I ran downstairs to hear Kung-pao making a truly awful noise. I checked for eggs; no eggs. It probably only lasted a minute, but it got the other chickens all riled up. I stood in front of the coop shushing them all, feeling pretty dumb.

I went upstairs and started to do some research on forums and on YouTube.

Sure enough, little Kung-pao crowed for the first time tonight.

She is a he. And he is illegal and has to leave our backyard before one of the neighbors complains to our management company. I sincerely hope he keeps quiet long enough for me to find someone who will rehome him.

Sigh.

(Thanks to my uncle for giving me the title of this post!)

I have been silent these last two months. The summer has been busy for me, and the chickens have been growing up. Last night when my boyfriend got home from work, he took a peek inside our egg box and lo and behold! The chickens have started laying!

Tandoori (the easter egger) seems to be laying green eggs. We aren’t sure which other chicken is laying, but it has to be either the General or Robot. The eggs are not quite as big as supermarket eggs (yet). We were warned that the first eggs would be small, but I actually think these are pretty reasonably sized. We haven’t eaten one yet – maybe this evening. We need to get them set up with oyster shells for good, well calcified eggs.

I figured I’d go out and take some updated photos of the girls today as well. It’s been raining, so there are all sorts of tasty goodies for them to forage on the grass and patio. Soup is particularly fond of the worms she finds on the patio! They have all developed combs and wattles except for Soup.

Soup, checking out a tasty leaf.

Kung-Pao, heading out

Tandoori, heading out of the coop. We thought maybe she was laying another egg while I was taking photo as she was scraping in the egg box, but when she came out and we opened the door, there was no egg. She’ll probably lay another one tonight or tomorrow morning. Yesterday I was watching the chickens in the afternoon and I saw Tandoori fly into the coop and I couldn’t figure out why she’d be roosting so early in the say. Duh.

The General, also looking for tasty treats on the ground. She’s been noisy today – I suspect she’s going to lay an egg soon.

Robot, looking very pretty with her silvery feathers.

So that’s the status! So far, we are bartering our extra eggs for bread from a baker and for honey from a local home beekeeper. We need someone with enough light to grow vegetables so we can barter for those too.

See for yourself!

The one and only Soup!

Apparently our chickens are true city chickens because they do not like to step on grass. They like to eat grass, they like to eat bugs, and they will even chase bugs into the grass. But if you put one on the grass, she will flap her little chicken wings and spring off of it as fast as possible. The BF and I have tried to explain that they are chickens and they should like the great outdoors, but then they just trundle on into their concrete run and take a nap.