It's been a while!
Last time I posted I mentioned an HGTV show wanted Kaj and I to appear on it as we wowed them with our personalities...ha ha. The show hadn't aired yet but after chatting with the producers I'm really glad I chose not to go on it. Home reno shows...that's always been my dream! This show was Consumed and was about people with lots of stuff. I've now had the chance to view the show and really glad I wasn't on it. It's about people that are consumed with rooms full of "stuff" and I only have a garage full of building supplies. I use this "stuff" all the time and so it gets cleared out until my next project. I swore up and down that for the time being I had enough fosters in my home and wouldn't be taking in anymore. I wanted to catch up on reading, and not think about building fences, installing floors, toilets, painting gutters...ect. I think I overdid it a bit the past couple months. Nope I was going to take it easy for a change. I found a book called , The Pig Who Sang to the Moon. I thought it was going to be a feel good story about an animal. Once I started reading it , I couldn't stop. It was heart wrenching and told stories about the horrific lives of farm animals in huge commercial places. (This isn't about small family farms that allow their animals to free range and are treated humanely). After putting the book down I started a discussion about chickens and Kaj said don't you be thinking about it. I said nope..no worries I don't know anything about raising them. Well some of you who have been on here for years - knows that I always have some weird karma or something as the following day ...guess what were seized in a cruelty seizure? No one in my area could take them as my city has an ordinance unless you happen to have acreage. Hmmmm I have that. I almost cried when I saw these poor skeletal creatures and didn't know chickens kinda purr and love being petted. So now I'm a momma to Abby, Betty, Cindy and Dorothy. Sadly Edna didn't make it but she was surrounded by warmth and comfort before she passed. Gilligan loved the chickens!!! (not for dinner either)  You've also probably fiqured out by now that I'm busy reviewing plans for a super duper chicken coop for the girls. So that's what I've been doing.Merlin, Panda, Snoop and Gilligan are all doing fine. Gilligan has a new special friend as kitten I've been fostering for the SPCA. This kitten flings a ball in Gilligans direction and seems to take special enjoyment in watching Gilligan try to chase after it. It then chases Gilligan. Never a dull moment. I'll post pics of my new girls soon. Marianne |
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| Oh Marianne I need to keep you away from David! Someone in my neighbourhood has been petitioning city council to allow for urban chicken coops and David thinks it is a terrific idea! If he finds out that he has a kindred spirit in you I might end up with chickens in my backyard!! As for the commercial farming, on the flight home from Europe I watched a documentary called Food Inc. I have since switched to the more expensive free range eggs and am in the process of trying to find a local source of meat. Watching that documentary made me really feel for the few family farms that exist and I want to try to support them as much as I can. It costs more but, well, I eat too much anyway so it won't kill me to cut down some anyway. Oh, and great names for your new clucky friends!!! |
| You are really something but more power to you for what you do for the animal world. I hate those large commercial farms and I too try to buy what I can from small family farms. Wisconsin was always considered the state with family farms and the largest producer of milk. That has changed, very few farms where I live now and that's all it used to be. We are getting more and more of those factory farms in the state and I feel sick everytime I see one. I don't think the cows ever get out of the barn, they are computer raised and there is nothing I hate more than those little pens for calves so they don't put on too much muscle. Take good care of those girls and you may be rewarded with those wonderful fresh eggs. |
| Yes it has been awhile! You will love having your clucky girls...mine are good and fun...but only in the dog house when they scratch up my flower beds! Our chickies are free range too I have a friend in the larger port city of Duluth (on Lake Superior) who has chickens now. They built a great coop and chicken yard this summer. They are just starting to get eggs, and they even had a bobwhite quail show up to live with their girls |
Still waiting for our city council to allow urban backyard chickens....  |
Baba wrote: Still waiting for our city council to allow urban backyard chickens....    Looking forward to see the pics, Marianne.So many different kinds and nice looking chicken, sound like a lot of fun!  |
| I would have expected none the less from you. Thank you. Had chickens and enjoyed them, even cleaning to coop! Loved their sounds and clucks especially when you bring them extra yummies, "Oh you shouldn't have but thank you, thank you, gobble!" Could have done without the roosters! I designed and we built a nifty chicken coop. Probably got the basic idea in Mother Earth News decades ago. Alas when Shane decided he wanted his meals fresh, literally caught him with a ducking foot hanging out of his mouth, decided it was time to stop the poultry parade. I sorta miss the girls and their noises.......and yeah, the boy and his noise. |
| I've always loved going somewhere, not necessarily a farm, entering the front yard and a couple of chickens scatter underfoot. I love the sounds too. |
| Thanks for the comments everyone! So far, the dogs haven't harrassed the (the girls) <<<<stops at this point momentarily to explain as all the chicken sites I've viewed, the majority of chicken people refer to their chickens as "the girls" I'll refer to Merlin Panda, Snoop and Gilligan as "the boys". So far so good, the boys have wagged their tails when they walked by the girls enclosure. The chickens are temporarily contained in a 6 by 12 dog run which was occupied previously by the bunnies who have now been moved elsewhere. Who knows they could be wagging their tails cause they're thinking" oh dinner" but I think they're pretty good with smaller creatures. However, taking no chances I only let the girls out when the boys are safely inside. Unbelievably, the girls follow me around single file and go a bit zany if I walk out of site of them. They squawk and flap their wings and run full speed until they catch up with me. I love their cooing sounds too. Haven't got eggs yet but they were in such sad shape that they needed to conserve their energy until they get better so I don't mind. (I've posted pics of them in photos) They met one of the cats yesterday who came running over when he saw them out in the yard...decided he'd better not tangle with these giant birds and walked away. I've modified the dog run to house the chickens but now am going to start a new project of building a permanent coop. Marianne |
| Not sure how you find the time to look after all these animals but I'm sure glad you do!!! Welcome back! |
| "why did the girls cross the stone path" to follow their mom everywhere!!!!!! if i wait long enough, they'll be erecting a sign above marianne's yard!!! Vancouver Zoo  |
| I would like to try Chickens but quite a bit of work to get a coop and fenced area up. Also have the problem of being gone with no one we could trust to take care of them so guess I'll have to enjoy them at places around here. |
| I've often heard if you work lots - you'll have the extra money but no time or if you have the extra time - you won't have the extra funds. Well my hours were cut drastically this year and this is still when we were reeling from that heavy loss from the unscrupulous contractor. Deciding that he was not going to ruin my dream or my outlook on life, I spent months searching Craigs List for materials and did the jobs myself. There are three things left to do but I can live with that and my house is looking nice again. (it also explains all the building materials I've accumulated in my garage.) I also met tons of people in my neighborhood who I never had the chance to meet previously. This time I was doing stuff in plain view of everyone when I built the new driveway gates, fence and scrubbed/painted trim and gutters. Before no one saw me as I was always working in the yard and with tall hedges and high fences no one could see me. It was so nice having so many people chat with me and now I have waves from people in the neighborhood..I like it! I've now lived here for 3 years and while I loved the huge yard it was also a bit of a hinderence in getting to know people in the neighborhood. So....building a fence was a good thing. Marianne |
| Nice to "see" you again Marianne. I love hearing about your life and your stories. |
| Great to hear from you, Marianne! Your adventure with the girls sounds really interesting. I have recently been impressed by the inventive chicken coups that turn up in a few of my decorating magazines from time to time. I've been buying free range eggs for some time and they are far better to eat than the others. Also it helps to know that the $ are going to small farmers. |
| I love the idea of you becoming part of the community more. Now, these girls sound wonderful I have images of Chicken Run in my head, and a very interesting picture of an 'urban chicken' complete with leather jacket and graffiti spray can  I think your girls idolise you I can't wait to see pictures of the girl's chalet and run |
| Lol, I haven't seen Chicken Run but I've seen previews and posters. Yup, My "girls" are pretty comical. Then again so am I! I turn the heat lamp on for them at night and stay there a bit (I was worried about all that straw) and so I get lots of time to observe my girls before I tuck them in for the night. I'm hoping to come up with some comical line about throwing hen parties or being cooped up or something. It's so nice to be back here !! I'm trying to catch up on stories and photos I've missed. Good "seeing" everyone again!  Marianne |
| Hi Marianne, That sounds like a great project. We have friends here who have rescued loads of chickens and ducks from battery farms in the UK. They have such a great life now. We live on the Isle of Man (small(ish) Island between Liverpool and Ireland) we are not part of the UK and have our own parliament and laws. One of the great things is that all the farming on here is Free range chickens, cows, sheep you name it. It makes such a difference to know that we live in a place where the quality of life for animals really matters. Cheers Debs |
| Hi Debs, Nice to meet you and I appreciated learning more about the Isle of Man. From the numerous YouTube vids I've watched, it seems the UK is way ahead of other countries in providing rescue for battery hens. Battery hens for those who are curious are the ones kept in large commercial operations. The US also has regulations regarding the humane treatment of them. Ironically, just days ago it was discovered that McDonalds largest suppliers of eggs were abusing their hens. The punishment was swift with McDonalds terminating it's contract immediately and the farm posting it's changes.I didn't watch the now infamous undercover vid as I've heard it's pretty graphic. Just knowing about it was enough Sadly, I also found out that there exist no regulations in Canada. This may change as just a few months ago backyard chickens were finally allowed in Vancouver and people will become more familiar with them. I live in the burbs outside of Vancouver and we still have an oridinace disallowing them unless you live on acreage. Lucky I'm an acception to the rule and I have a feeling I'm now hooked on them. These girls now live with Merlin, Panda, Snoop Gilligan (the canines) numerous elderly and special needs cats, bunnies (also special needs) , Stevie the blind guinea pig with neurological problems and Chico the other piggy who was seized in a cruelty seizure by the SPCA (some nut case snipped at his ears with scissors). I'm not a rescue but foster for numerous organizations and provide long term care for the injured or sickly ones. The ones that never get adopted just stay with us. (we adopt them) We love our furkids  and now our feathered ones too and try to provide them with the best of care until they pass.I still have to be careful how many I can help as we don't want to overdo it and the ones currently in our home are our first responsibility. As time has passed and we modified our place so that all have their own spaces and can live as natural a life as possible. My life not so much..ha ha...as I don't take off my coat or boots for the first three hours that I'm home and spend an enormous amount of time on dog walking each one and now I'm "chicken walking" too! Ah well as least I go to bed at night with a smile on my face Marianne |
| oh smiley, i forgot to compliment the fence, splendid job. |
Thank you! |
| http://www.jokeroo.com/pictures/animal/ ... icken.html looks like your girls could come in handy.  |
| Hey Marianne, Good to hear from you and always entertaining to hear what you are up to! Fresh eggs, woohoo. |
| Thanks! I'm looking forward to fresh eggs some day! (Right now the girls are still conserving energy to get stronger). Guest - You made my day - that photo was priceless!!! Thanks for posting it. Marianne |
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