The littlest hen lays the biggest eggs

The night we killed all the roosters, Tim did everything he could to talk me into letting Big Chicken, #20, one of only two "buff" (orange) chickens live. That was the chick Tim kept sneaking into the house after the others had moved out to the barn. Big Chicken was the one to sit by the warm air vent on Tim's computer and keep him company. Big Chicken was the one to snuggle up on a reluctant and curious Tilly. Big Chicken was named such because he was nearly twice as big as the other chicks even in their first weeks of life - a tell-tale sign of being male. Meanwhile, Little Chicken, #19, the only other "buff" (orange) chick, the mini-me to Big Chicken, was the last to fit into the leg bands, weighing more than an ounce less than Big Chicken by the time they grew their first feathers (at a wee 4 ounces).

Little Chicken was always a little odd - while the other chicks grew in a round and fluffy matter, little chicken grew long and sleek. Other chicks weighing less than Little Chicken had fatter legs and feet, fitting the leg bands a week earlier than Little Chicken. Little Chicken was the first to grow a full set of wing feathers, which further accentuated the difference between the long thin bird and the fluffy, round flock-mates.

It's cheating to post the same picture twice, even a year later, but it must be done!

Here is the first batch of chickens, last year, early June.

Note the clear rooster perched on the bottom rung with a bright red comb growing. 

Also see the two orange chickens, Big Chicken on the left and Little Chicken on the right.

When it came time to kill off the extra roosters, only the two we still have looked anything like roosters - the rest looked pretty generic and indistinguishable from the hens. To pick which to kill and which to keep, we compared their growth charts - roosters are supposed to grow and develop a little faster than hens; we watched their behavior for signs of dominance - young roosters attempting to learn the chicken mating rituals; and we looked at their combs. While both roosters and hens can grow combs, the roosters tent to have big, beautiful, bright red crowns on their heads and waddles under their beaks, while the hens keep their combs more dull colors and close to their heads. In a flock of all-hens, one hen sometimes has a comb that is a little redder and fuller than the others, and takes on more of a leadership role, but that's as much as I've seen - and only when there is no rooster.

Some of the young hens last summer had almost no visible combs, while some of the young roosters clearly had bigger combs than I'd expect on even a full-grown hen. Other members of the flock were harder to tell the difference, but overall, I felt we did a good job with our sexing, and that the numbers came out to be about half the flock male and female was reassuring.

As the remaining hens and two roosters grew, my confidence in our process grew as we seemed to be right on all accounts. My fear we had accidentally killed a star-layer, mistaken for a rooster, before she had a chance was countered by the distinct lack of hidden roosters in our flock - until one day in fall. Suddenly, my smallest, most effeminate chicken was sporting something big and floppy and red off the top of it's head. It looked like a mistake that should be removed. The other chickens seemed to agree and picked at it a bit. On top of this tiny hen was a comb big enough to rival our star roosters, but flopped over and sad looking.

Suddenly I had doubts. Most strongly was the doubt that this particular bird fit into what kids these days call the "gender binary". I had yet to see crowing, particularly striking tail feathers, any sort of respectable size, or mounting, yet I also hadn't seen any time being done in a nest box, being mounted by the roosters, and there was that comb to think about. And maybe one striking tail feather starting to poke up. Chicken #19 was changed from "her" to "it" and marked for the next butchering date. Tim, desperate to save the last little yellow chick, tried to convince me of Little Chickens merits - reminiscent of the plea for Big Chicken. This time, however, Tim tried to claim that Little Chicken was the mysterious hen behind the large, round, white eggs in the hayloft of the goat barn. No evidence.

This morning, I headed down to the the barn for our morning ritual of feeding and letting everyone out, counting chicks and gathering eggs. As soon as I opened the door to the barn, the flock followed me in. If Little Chicken and Russia had elbows, they would have elbowed me out of the way. First, the big white hen jumped into the hay manger. We fed another flake of hay to the goats last night, so their cozy nest was gone. Russia circled and scratched and tried to get cozy for some laying. Little Chicken watched from her perch on the wall, squawking what sounded distinctly like "HURRY UP IN THERE! I GOTTA GO!" After a minute, Little Chicken gave up on waiting and hopped down to the hay, crawling under Russia and booting her out of the nest. Russia gave up and hopped down to the floor, protesting loudly. In under five minutes, a large, round, white egg popped out of our very little bird. I've had chickens since I was about 3 years old, but surprisingly, today was the first time in my life I have actually watched a hen lay an egg. I don't think Little Chicken even bothered to sit on the nest for a minute - more pushing and squatting than what Mama Number 9 is doing with her developing eggs.

Little Chicken on the hay-nest (They do have nice nest boxes in their own barn...)

- Side note - Speaking of those mama hens, Mama Ukraine and her three chicks have joined in the evening levitation practice, sleeping way up on the nest box shelf instead of down on the floor. I am trying to get them used to sleeping somewhere else before our December 1st hatch date when Mama Number 9 will hopefully need the good spot on the floor.

Back in the house, I added Little Chicken's latest egg to the carton and noticed that she is my dominant layer - providing a third of the eggs and being the only hen to seem to lay every day. Russia Hen, who was next onto the hay bale, gave me a tiny brown egg, making her my second most frequent layer and producer of the smallest eggs of the flock. In one glorious morning, Little Chicken has moved from the "red banded" kill list to the "green banded" long lifespan list. As the only bearer of such bright plumage, and best layer, she has proven herself to have valuable genetics, floppy comb included.

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I hate to make our family a footnote to a lengthy post on chicken gender identity, but so it goes!

Fish Expo: Ronnie posing as a fisherman, Ariel, Tim, and Joe admiring.

Tim's dad, Joe, and Joe's bride, Ronnie, returned to California yesterday after a brief visit during "Fish Expo" - the Holiday Market of Commercial Fisherman - radars and rain gear galore! Ronnie made a large batch of cookies the night before they left, but the cookies didn't even last until their departure. Thank you Ronnie for the delicious cookies!

Daniel shoveling and packing leaves, Petunia Goat helping by eating some.

Brother Daniel and his fiance, Amanda, spent today house-hunting on the mainland - hopefully they will soon have a place of their own. Yesterday Daniel got busy helping me with some manual labor around the farm - moving leaves down to the compost pile and stacking firewood by our bedroom door.

Dry firewood piled against our bedroom door. Old barn door leaning to act as a roof. 

This is the wood from the branches Dad "pruned" when we first moved in, now well seasoned.

We are looking forward visiting Tim's birth mother, Dawn, as well as Joe and Roni and meeting Roni's family, over Christmas. My parents are planing to be here, gifting us with farm and puppy-sitting for a few days while we get away. I try not to post about the future - it's cheating and not being present - but this is exciting news to share.

The last delicate flowers to survive the week of frost and remind us of spring.

Golden orbs of future

I have made a few posts recently explaining the wonders of chicken biology, and now I have some pictures for illustration. 

Our farm-sitting neighbor, Nancy, is finally home after a long trip to visit family, which meant it was finally time to open up and try the goat cheese I made over two months ago. It has a strong, goaty, good flavor, a bit like manchego cheese. We also stopped into the hen house so I could show off the mamas. 

The baby chicks are getting so big! They are rather feathered, and even ventured outside today in the below-freezing weather to peck at grass and learn about the ramp back into the house. 

Meanwhile, Mama #9 remained steadfast on her nest - warming and rotating her eggs with the utmost dedication. Unfortunately, her sisters don't seem to properly appreciate the important work she's doing and instead treat her like a nest-hog (despite the empty nest box next to her). Last time I counted, there were 14 eggs under her! And today, two more had been assimilated. A hen really shouldn't have to deal with more than 12 eggs at a time, particularly when it is below freezing out and she's a first time mama, doing everything she can to keep those babies warm. 

It seemed prudent to do what I could to lighten her work load - first removing the fake egg from her next, then marking all the eggs in the nest so fresh ones can be easily removed (and eaten), then finally "candling" each egg by waiting until dark and holing each egg against my brightest flashlight to reveal the mysteries inside. 

Fresh, empty egg - no baby growing in here!

I went through all the eggs twice a few hours apart, first with Nancy, then with Brother Daniel and Amanda, to be sure I wasn't snatching any developing babies from their mama. Mama #9 was very patient and calm as I felt around under her, drawing each egg out in turn, checking it, then moving it to under her other wing. The empty eggs we collected to take inside. 

This egg revealed a speckled shell in the light. The spots made identifying an embryo difficult. 

With the number of eggs under the mama reduced nearly in half, she can now spend more time and energy and heat caring for the fertilized eggs. The other eggs, with no signs of life, proceeded inside to phase II of testing: the float test. About half the eggs under the hen were growing and the other half were not. About half the eggs we removed were still good to eat (sunk to the bottom of the bowl of water) while the other half were not so fresh (stood on end in the water - due to a drying out egg with increased air inside the shell). The good ones we will be eating while the other four will be thrown as far as I can off the cliff.

Veins and an eye spot showing through the shell - sure signs of future life!

Seeing into the unborn shell of the chick was magical - like a chicken ultrasound but instead of looking at a screen with a scratchy image of the baby-to-be, looking through the eggs we could see the actual babies moving around, active in their shells only a week (or less) into their three-weeks of shell-bound growth. I didn't realize how much they would be moving about inside their shells, kicking their not-yet grown feet, flapping their undeveloped wings, and maybe looking back at the bright light with their newly-forming eyes. 

I am hopeful and excited for the December 1st hatch, though I made a point of not counting my chicks before they hatch. Less than 14, more than 3 eggs under her now - and a to-be-determined number of chicks in the future. 

To give a quick update on our current Honeymoon Point Census, we now have Grandpa, Tim, Ariel, Brother Daniel, Soon-to-be-sister Amanda, Father Joe, Mother-in-law Ronni, Tilly Puppy, Oliver Pig, Petunia and Esther Goats, 2 roosters, 11 hens, 1 androgynous chicken, 3 chicks, many eggs - and Daniel and Amanda's 4 bunnies (and, of course, all our spider friends living in the corners). With Joe came a very special birthday present for Tim which Joe has been traveling with for the last few months.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but Tim was making the most delighted face I have ever seen on him.

Tim now has a miniature metal lathe/mill machine, the perfect miniature counterpart to his larger machine, only about 4% of the size - I did the math and it really is about 4% of the size of the other machine, no exaggeration. Tim's large machine is as large as he could imagine ever needing for all our projects, though it struggles with the tiny precision of amateur rocket nozzles and some of his other projects. This miniature lathe is just the thing for those fine finishing touches, and even works with some of Tim's tools and accessories that were just a little small for the big machine.

Winter

The first morning of grass crunching as I walk,
Each step breaking through the top layer of frost.
The first morning of greeting the chickens,
By breaking apart the layer of ice on their water.

Too late to plant garlic - none for next year.
Too late to dig steps - it will wait for next year.
Too late to grow lettuce - they'll die off 'till next year.
Too late to turn compost - it will settle for the year.

This is the time for sewing, repairing, mending, making.
The season of baking, warming the house and bellies.
Now I can clean, organize, unpack, decorate.
The quiet indoor time of year.

Trying to get through the last of the fall chores before winter, I spent Monday spreading the left-over barn sand in the chicken run - covering the slimy, slick layer of mud and getting the sand off the dying grass. Tuesday, Daniel ran the leaf-blower over the property as Tilly and I stood suited up for helicopter training with eye, ear, and body protecting, practicing around the loud noise, fuel smells, high wind and flying debris. She was stoic as always. Then Amanda and I dug up the remaining half of the potatoes - about 5 gallons! I estimate we harvested about 10 gallons total this year and I am hopeful next year will be even more spectacular on the potato front, though we will have nothing but Safeway powdered garlic to put on them. Last year, I planted the garlic just before Thanksgiving I think, but this year it is already freezing out. The garlic is supposed to have three weeks frost free to get established before winter but I might be too late. If it warms up sufficiently today, I may haul a couple wheelbarrows full of potato dirt onto a garden bed and plant some garlic anyway - hope for the best. Also against mid-November policy - Monday I noticed a second hen spending a little too much time in the next box. I put two extra eggs in the box next to her and she quickly gathered them into her warm feathers. It looks as if we may be having December 1st chicks if she has any success. It's not the ideal time of year to start a family, but who am I to tell her what to do!?

While digging potatoes, we uncovered this little guy trying to stay warm in the pile and rather fat from all the bugs down there with him. Our potato patch has the happiest looking worms, bugs, and now lizards I have ever seen.

I'm thinking today might be the day to start wearing my fleece pink-elephant pajamas under my clothes. It might be the day to move as much firewood as possible into the new firewood shelter by our bedroom door and keep a fire going for the next 4 months or so. Eventually I still need to clean the goat barn for winter but... maybe after I build a fire.

Light

Daylight savings time came into effect as we were camping with our friends Mike, Holly, and Zakariah at our favorite spot in Galena. Camping is a great way to make the transition in sleep schedule as we tend to go to sleep incredibly early in the woods and wake up as soon as it is light out - particularly when it is rainy, dark, and cold in November. Brother Daniel and Amanda stayed behind to look after the farm for the weekend and missed out on the two hour hike over steep, muddy woods and across hard pavement. We brought three tents with us - two super high quality four season tents and one $20, 20 square foot summer children's tent. We set all three tents up on the same sandbox platform, touching nearly wall to wall.Tim and I fitted our rain fly to our tent, but neglected to stake out the ends as it wasn't so windy and wet and cold - why bother?

In the morning, I opened my eyes and looked up at a little puddle suspended above our heads. I poked it gently and water flowed out of the pouch and onto our faces. Well, I was about ready to get up anyways! A little cold water on your face is a great motivate to go build that fire and leave the equally wet and cold and sleepy husband. From the outside, I could see the problem; the rain fly had sagged, touching the tent and making a little cup for water to accumulate. I pulled the end of the rain fly out to where it should have been staked for contrast. The puddle flowed off the tent and hopefully down the side, hopefully not on to Tim's face. I did not hear yells, so I assumed all was well and went to start the fire.

Back on the farm, the meaning of Daylight Savings took effect. I hear Daylight Savings was invented to help the farmers somehow but as a farmer, I'm not seeing it. Before the change of Time, I would wake up around 7, help Tim get ready for work, have breakfast, then see to the animals as he left for work around 8. Now I must leap out of bed and rush to let the chickens and other animals out as early as possible, then get back in to help with the human-morning things and Tilly will be awake by then and need to go out, all before 8. I squeeze what used to be the 7am to 9am routine into the hour before 8 or suffer waking up at what is now 6 and was 7 before Daylight Savings struck. I am searching for the advantage and not finding it. I suppose if I planned to get up at 6 either way, the extra light may be an advantage, though that's not the way farming works. The animals consult the sun, not the clock, on when to get up. Being young adult, going to bed by 10pm to wake up at 6am, even on a Friday night, just makes me weird. If I were designing the clock for the farmers, I would put sunrise around 8 or 9 am year round, and let sunset fall a little later in the day - then all my friends (husband) would go to bed shortly after sunset and wake up around sunrise and all would be well in the world with a unified schedule for the night-owls and the farmers. Also, who's going to complain about a rooster that starts crowing at such a reasonable hour as 9am?

Our littlest chickens are starting to grow their own little feathers, which hopefully will be keeping them warm and dry on these wet, cold days. Moving here from Alaska, we are forbidden from ever complaining that the weather is gloomy or gray when there are "only" patches of blue sky or intermittent rain. I've been watching for warm, sunny, dry days to try to encourage Mama hen and her three wee chicks to venture outside. So far no luck. Some days have had a spot of sun, only to start heading towards dusk at 1 pm, before the dew has time to dry. Other days have been so windy and rainy it would be cruel to do anything but close up as many windows and door as I can for the poor little critters and maybe throw some extra bedding in for warmth.

Thursday was a particularly blustery day, granting us with a 12+ hour power-outage. Even when the avalanches wiped out miles of power-lines in Juneau from the city to the hydro-power-plant, the city generators were up and running with the power back on in a matter of only a few hours. Here, wind knocked over trees and branches, cutting power to counties all over Washington and areas all over our island. I heard the power crew had to come from off-island to do the repairs (guaranteeing an hour or more before work can even get started). After a few hours without electricity, including the well's water pump, the internet, or our cell-signal booster for phone service at the house, I started to worry about our 100 pounds of sockeye salmon fillets filling the freezer. I made some desperate calls and found a generator to borrow to keep the food cold and was so grateful to have such good neighbors.

Our closest neighbor, however, still had power. The house that was built as a mother-in-law to this one, sharing a property, a well, and a driveway - that house had power. We were the last house in line without power; on the cutoff between power coming from Freeland and power coming from Greenbank. Unfortunately, our neighbor wasn't home and our houses seem to have been built before exterior outlets were invented or we may have been running extension cords between the houses.

Our relatively short time with limited electricity (thanks to the generator and Tim's great wiring skills) was a good reminder of how fortunate we are to have electricity and how dependent we are on it for so many things - even our water. When we are camping, we are choosing to put ourselves away from power and are ready for it - plus only crazy people go camping when it's dark and windy and rainy and cold in November! When the power goes out unexpectedly, we find ourselves at a sudden loss - figuring out where to get a generator and if it will power the microwave to make a TV dinner and going out to a diner still operating with heat and light and music and hot foods.