My first chicken spay...

Well it's been a bit of a week! Not only have we gotten more rain in 3 days than we normally do in the entire month of June, but Minerva is sick. I noticed a week or so ago that she seemed a bit less active, but she was still eating. This week she was fluffed up and her belly felt very firm. After a trip across town to the avian vet, the presumed diagnosis was salpingitis and yolk retention. Sort of like an ectopic pregnancy, chicken style.

Unfortunately, there's no way to get all those yolks out of the body without surgery. And apparently removing the ovary of birds is a REALLY big deal and very dangerous. So the best we can do is to remove the oviduct and the uterus and hope the ovary stops trying to produce eggs. If the ovary keeps up production after surgery, the eggs have no place to go and the chicken will eventually die.

I adore my chickens. And Minerva and I have great history, since she survived her dog encounter. But even with that, I just couldn't swing the (very reasonable) $650 for surgery

with the avian specialist. However, she said it's straightforward surgery (no doubt for her it is). Since the other option was euthanasia, I gave it a go myself...

figuring out the anatomy

1 3/4 pounds of oviduct!

Three hours post op she's up and around and drinking water.... I won't rest easy until we're a few days out, but at least she got a chance to get back on the farm. If she makes it, I'm a bit worried about how she'll try to use up the other seven of her nine lives.

Sleeping off her anesthetic

Plight of the bumblebee

I'm a lackadaisical gardener--I mulch too late, water too little, and can't always tell weeds from things I've planted. I let a huge spikey wildflower with a 4 foot diameter grow along my fence last summer just to see what the heck it would do. It's taken me the past two weekends to make even a small dent in the carpets of unwanted vegetation outside my door. But the time has been well worth it. I've discovered the microcosmos of my dirt--millipedes, centipedes, bizarre cocoons, spiders, and above all thousands of earthworms. And above ground, bees, bees, and more bees!

Thanks to the chickens, it's now been 2 years since I've used any herbicides or pesticides in my yard. I used to be a fan of Roundup, as it's relatively safe for mammals, but since someone told me it kills earthworms, I've sworn off it too. Though often mistaken for a mud-worshiping Hippie, I'm actually a fan of scientific advances in pest and weed control. I just happen to be much fonder of my chickens. Which is really the only reason I stopped using chemicals on my weeds. Now, I have yet another selfish reason to keep the yard pesticide free--I love seeing the bees and the butterflies and the earthworms going about their business. And I love the fruits of their labors!

By now, most folks have heard about the decrease in bee populations. Winnie the Pooh and his Hunny aside, the concern is that without bees to pollinate our crops, we'll have no food. No apples, no corn, no tomatoes, no eggplants. No cherry pie, no salsa, no hard apple cider, no wine. Today, my apian visitors were happy--drunkenly buzzing around the catmint and the allium and the lavender. I want my honey wine and my salsa and my homemade applesauce. So my little corner of the world will remain pesticide free, and hopefully the bees will stick around, providing that perfect, soft sound that lets me know summer is coming and everything is right in the world.

I'm mollllting....

The chickens have developed Fall pattern baldness. And they're not happy about it. In this typical Portland fall weater (gray, damp, 40's), they sit huddled on the back steps waiting like vampires for an invitation over the threshold. No luck there, but leftover pasta (sans garlic) will temporarily stay the baleful glares.

About a month ago, as the first leaves started to turn, Sol started losing her feathers. First a little neck tuft here, a wing feather there. Finally I woke up one morning and all her tail feathers were askew. By that evening when I got home, only a little bald nubbin remained. Slowly she's grown her feathers back, and is now fully fledged again. But I returned home today to find Ruby and Luna a homely, moth-eaten pair of ladies. And Minerva with a suspiciously windblown look to her hinder.

The new feathers are still cocooned in their covers, waiting for each girl to sit at her barnyard vanity and preen herself back to beauty and warmth. If Sol is any indication, by Christmas everyone should be cozily wrapped in her new outfit.

Winter Harvest

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originally uploaded by Crittercam.

As anyone still checking in may have guessed, not much has been happening down on the farm in the dark days of winter. However my wondrous chickens are all grown up and laying eggs every day. A dozen or two to the family with the new baby next door, and last weekend a delicious scramble to feed the pilgrims in town to celebrate my friend Val's birthday.

Snowbirds

Chilly chickens

We're having a wonderful, but unusually long, snowy season here. Fluffy white everywhere, and then the clear, cold, windy days that are a rare joy in the land of winter rain. The girls seem to be doing ok--with some extra winter steps. Their water freezes quickly, so they get warm water a few times a day. And each morning I make them oatmeal. Tomorrow I think I'll add some berries and share their breakfast. Spoiled? You betcha.

To each her own

Variations on a theme.

Thanks to the garden....

I've never had wonderful luck with pumpkins in my yard, but I try each year anyway. This year I planted a Cinderella pumpkin (Rouge Vif D’Etampes for you qui parle heirloom squash). The result was a single beautiful red fruit. It sat on the dining room table for weeks, waiting for the livery-clad mice.

No rodents arrived, so by Thanksgiving, I decided to try to make pie from my solitary squash. Chopped and roasted initially in a 400 degree oven until soft. However I noticed as I scooped it out of the skin it seemed a bit juicier than the old canned Libby's. Onto the stove it went, then 4 hours of simmering until one pumpkin yielded about 2 cups of pumpkin meat.

From that point, I followed the Libby's recipe for pumpkin pie (thanks chickens for the eggs). Of course adding more ginger and cinnamon than the recipe recommended(no supertaster, I) .

The result was delicious--creamier and with a fuller, earthier taste than my traditional pie. All eaten in warmth with new friends and old. Thanks Cinderelly!

Last harvest

It's Fall now. Walking the dog under the misty full moon this week, I heard the geese high above. It's been lovely-foggy mornings lazily giving way to blue skies and burnished leaves. The veggies are about done, though the remnants of the tomatoes loom. I found a recipe for curried green tomatoes, and the Oregonian had a great recipe for whole wheat pasta and green tomatoes that's on the list for this week. We'll leave out the bacon I think...

The chickens have been helping with the garden cleanup. I'd like to think they've learned their lesson with Minerva's dog encounter, but more likely the grass and weeds have had the chance to recover since they've been confined so there's more to snack on. In any case, I appreciate their help and supervised their work yesterday while sitting in the sun reading the sequel to Chocolat...