Last blog post...

And Another Good-bye

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

This will be my final post on this hen blog.

During the years that I have worked at the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm, I have always been fascinated by and involved with the Learning Farm chickens.  In fall 2012, due to an opening up of my work responsibilities and schedule, I was able to take on the management and care of our chicken flock – including the exciting task of starting a new flock from day-old chicks this summer.  

Also last fall, I took over the writing for this hen blog.  If you have been following this blog, you have traveled this chicken journey with me.
 

Unfortunately for me, the care of the Learning Farm chickens – and, I’m guessing, the writing for this hen blog – will soon be taken over by others.  The education program director position which I currently hold is being phased out, and I will no longer be working at the Learning Farm after this week.  As you might imagine, this is a sad time for me.

While growing up in Chicago, I had a strong childhood dream to live on a farm.  I watched the then-popular T.V. series “Lassie” with deep envy.  I so wanted to be Timmy, living on a farm with a farm dog of my very own. Fast forward many years later, and I still do not live on a farm, nor do I have a farm dog – but for a while I was able to make my livelihood on this farm (and, well, I do have a cat that nine years ago was born on this farm!).

My childhood dream was not quite fulfilled, but I was closer than I had been – and I poured myself into this job, heart and soul.  I learned so much while working here – about farming, about farm animals (particularly chickens), and about myself.  I will always be grateful for the opportunity to explore my inner farmer.

I have had the good fortune to have worked for many fascinating people and wonderful organizations in my life.  I am thankful for that.  I am hopeful that I will continue to be as fortunate, as I explore what’s next for me – both professionally and personally.

I've always enjoyed writing, and have truly enjoyed this first experience writing for a blog.  For this reason, I’m considering starting my own blog in early 2014.  This new blog won’t focus entirely on chickens, but backyard chickens are likely to figure prominently (especially since the Lake County board recently passed an ordinance allowing backyard chickens on ¼ acre lots in unincorporated Lake County –  at last it's legal for me to have my own backyard chickens!).

In addition to chickens though, I expect I might dabble in a wide spectrum of suburban homesteading and health-conscious topics – growing, preserving, and cooking with veggies, fruits, and herbs; making certain foods from scratch (granola, yogurt, cheese – and maybe chicken soup!); crafting of various types; and physical fitness (with a particular focus on yoga).  If a blog of that type might be of interest to you, please feel free to contact me at my personal email address (smgaughan@att.net) and I will be sure to let you know when it’s up and running.

Until then, I wish for you the happiest of holidays – and lives filled with peace and joy, and dreams fulfilled.

 

Cooking Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup for the Soul

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

I’m not a strict vegetarian, but I don’t eat much meat – and I almost never cook meat at home.  Today, however, I chose to embark on a different (for me) culinary path.  Today I made my first ever homemade chicken soup from scratch – and I made it with one of the very chickens from our adult flock that we slaughtered earlier this week. 

This is the ultimate in knowing where your food comes from.

Because these hens are much older and tougher than the chickens one would purchase in a grocery store, they are considered “stew hens” – to be cooked slowly in the stew (or soup) pot.  So, chicken soup was my goal today – chicken soup for the body, and for the soul...

I found the chicken-soup-making process to be a long and somewhat messy one.  And when it was all over, I decided that while the resulting soup was certainly tasty – it was not as tasty, I thought, as many of the vegetarian soups that I typically make. 

I’m very glad that I made this soup today – it was something worth experiencing on many levels.  I have two more chicken carcasses from this week’s slaughter in my freezer, so I will definitely be making chicken soup again (well, actually, I have four more chicken carcasses in my freezer – but two are destined for my mom’s soup pot). 

But after those are gone, I think I’m likely to stick with making my various veggie soups, and leave the chicken soups for other chefs to make and enjoy…

Saying Good-bye to Our Adult Flock

Good-bye Sweet Hens...
posted by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

This week, a number of us -- both Learning Farm staff, as well as some of the students from the Montessori Adolescent Program -- participated in the pre-winter slaughter of the Learning Farm's adult chicken flock. These were the Bovans Brown chickens that we purchased as adults last fall from Sandhill Family Farms, so these hens have been with us for just one short year.  

Because Bovans Browns are a hybrid, bred to produce a lot of eggs, we started seeing some reproductive issues during the past few months as these hens approached their second year. For that reason, we decided not to offer these birds for adoption as we have in the past, but to slaughter the entire flock instead.  

This is the third chicken slaughter that I have participated in at the Learning Farm -- and I have participated with mixed feelings every time.  It is not an easy thing for me.  I don't think it is for any of us.

What follows is a reflection that was written several years ago prior to an earlier Learning Farm chicken slaughter.  It was written by Eric Carlberg, the Learning Farm manager, and the farm educator for these Montessori students.


Chicken Slaughter Reflection
by Eric Carlberg

For me, it’s not easy to kill the hens I’ve cared for over the last two years.  It’s not easy to write about either.  During the last couple of days, as I’ve begun to gather the necessary supplies to organize a processing station, gathering and organizing my thoughts into a clear message has proven more difficult.  But I believe it is every bit as important.

One hundred years ago, the majority of Americans still lived on farms.  Most 12-14 year olds – the age of the students who will help with our slaughter – would have seen and probably helped with the killing of farm animals.  They would have known these animals well, feeding, observing, and carting off their manure on a regular basis.  This intimacy with the life and death of animals would have conveyed what I find to be an uncomfortable truth: animals die so that we can continue living. 
         

Today our relationships with animals are full of contradictions.  We spend tremendous resources protecting their habitat.  We spend hours marveling at them and sometimes petting them in zoos.  We invite them into our homes to become part of our family.  We watch movies and travel to theme parks portraying animals that think, speak and sing not like actual chickens, mice and hyenas, but like human beings.  As a culture we are anthropomorphizing animals to an unprecedented degree, and yet, we are eating more animals than ever.  And we usually place those animals in living conditions exponentially worse than when most of us raised and killed them ourselves.

In many ways the Learning Farm exists to illuminate these contradictions.  We strive to shrink the tremendous gap between the food on our plate and the sacrifice, by animals and humans, needed to get it there.  Slaughtering our chickens every two years provides one of our best learning opportunities.

The adolescents that will help end the hens’ lives know the animals.  They have fed them regularly, receiving the chorus of coos hens make when food arrives.  They have washed, packaged, cooked and eaten their delicious eggs.  They have helped me move their fences and wagon around the farm so that the hens’ manure will nourish next year’s crops.  They have protected the chickens from predators.  And alongside us, they have analyzed the shrinking egg production graphs and feed costs and concluded, as farmers do, that at this point in their lives the hens are placing an unsustainable financial strain on the farm. 

They will feel as sad about this as I do.  And on the day of the slaughter, because they know the chickens, because they appreciate all the hens have done for us, they will help me give the chickens the most humane death we can.  It won’t be easy.  And it shouldn’t be.

Chicken Poetry

Sharing a Chicken Poem

posted by Sharon Gaughan,
PCLF Education Program Director

This poem was included in “New Yorker” magazine several years ago, but I just came across it again recently when cleaning out some files.  I thought that I would share it here. 

 

Those of you that know chickens will be able to relate well to these words, I’m sure...

 

 

A Glossary Of Chickens

by Gary Whitehead

There should be a word for the way

they look with just one eye, neck bent,

for beetle or worm or strewn grain.

“Gleaning,” maybe, between “gizzard”

and “grit.” And for the way they run

toward someone they trust, their skirts

hiked, their plump bodies wobbling:

“bobbling,” let’s call it, inserted

after “blowout” and before “bloom.”

There should be terms, too, for things

they do not do—like urinate or chew—

but perhaps there already are.

I’d want a word for the way they drink,

head thrown back, throat wriggling,

like an old woman swallowing

a pill; a word beginning with “S,”

coming after “sex feather” and before “shank.”

And one for the sweetness of hens

but not roosters. We think

that by naming we can understand,

as if the tongue were more than muscle.

Chicken Treats!

Trick or Treat for Chickens!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

Our chickens love treats, and we love to treat them well!

Both our adult flock and backyard flock are given greens on a regularly.  In addition to what they glean from the pasture, we toss a variety of greens and other veggie scraps to them on a regular basis.  We also make “chicken gruel” for the adult flock from time to time. 

You may recall from previous blog posts that chicken gruel is the powdery remains from their chicken feed that we then mix with water to make a gruel-like consistency.  Despite the fact that the chickens weren’t the least bit interested in eating the powder, they gobble up the gruel with enthusiasm.

Our young pullets are given organic greens and chicken gruel (or perhaps I should call it “pullet gruel”) on a daily basis.  They’re also given organic chicken scratch (aka “chicken candy”) occasionally, and live mealworms about once a week. 

Mealworms, you ask?  Mealworms are the larval form of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, a type of darkling beetle -- and chickens love them!

Some may consider the feeding of live mealworms to be a bit ghoulish – but that’s what makes this an especially appropriate post-Halloween blog post!

We've been raising the mealworms ourselves, in a 10-gallon aquarium in the office that Anya and I currently share.  Our pullets get excited no matter what the treat – but nothing compares to the feeding frenzy that occurs when mealworms are offered.

Here’s a short video that shows a bit of that feeding frenzied excitement -- and the relative calm that follows, once there are no more mealworms to be had.

Enjoy!

Cats & Chickens

Cats & Chickens: Can They Get Along?
posted by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

At the Backyard Chicken workshop last Saturday, we briefly discussed whether cats and chickens could get along.  When I started bringing the Learning Farm's backyard chickens to my home for visits to my backyard, my cat, Moira, slowly evolved from being absolutely terrified of them, to being cautiously alert but tolerant.

When I saw this post on Jon Katz's blog (http://www.bedlamfarm.com/) this morning, I thought of sharing it here...

Minnie’s Healing Journal And Album Today

Posted: 29 Oct 2013 05:27 PM PDT

Minnie is in her third week of recovery from an animal attack that cost her her right rear leg. She has struggled with pain, medications, disorientation and a lack of balance and movement. Her ordeal has opened a vivid window for me into the power of healing in animals. Today, Minnie began to emerge from her hiding place in the barn, seek out the sun, and somehow she found it healing and safe to be with the chickens.

She has healed in a number of different ways – in the barn, by gathering herself and being still, by exploring the world cautiously, by being with Maria, by being with the hens, by finding her warm and safe spots in the sun.

Minnie came to me as a feral kitten and lived in the big barn at Bedlam Farm for the first months of her life – I left food for her, but she was shy and cautious and I never saw her. I sometimes looked through the barn window and saw that Minnie was at  ease with the chickens, when my rooster Winston was sick Minnie sat with him for days and nights until he died. Minnie grew up around chickens, she has always been at ease with them, is often seen with them. It is not surprising she would turn to them for comfort and company for her own healing.

Today was Minnie's coming out day. She spent most of the day outside of the house and outside of the barn where she had been hiding all day. Every time we came outside, she was in the sun, usually with hens around her, sometimes with Maria. I chronicled this day in a series of photos which I am putting up on Facebook. Tonight, we brought her inside, she is still unsteady on her legs and tires easily.

 

Backyard Chickens Workshop Update

Backyard Chicken Workshop a Success!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

Saturday’s Backyard Chicken workshop turned out well!  We had nine very enthusiastic participants – all of them full of questions and comments, and stories to share!

I would love to be able to provide a photo or two of the workshop in action, but I was so involved in the teaching that I forgot to take any photos – even though my camera was ready and close at hand!

But I can share a few of the comments from the participant evaluations:

“Great information.  Exactly what I was looking for.”

“I came to be introduced to chickens and how to raise my own.  I am walking away with a new found respect and great info to raise my own with confidence.”

“Great fun!  Loved interacting with the chickens – and the other like-minded classmates, of course.”

“Abundant amount of information – especially for novice chicken enthusiast!”

“Lots of fun – good mix of inside and outside learning.”

“Chickens are fun!”

Chickens are fun...  So true!  So very, very true!

Crowing Pullets

Something to Crow About!

by Anya O’Halloran,
Hen House Helper Coordinator & Hen House Assistant

Our pullets are growing up and are now nearly four months old!

Since the day we received our chicks, Sharon and I have wondered how many of them would be roosters.  When you order chicks from a hatchery, you have a choice between sexed or straight run chicks.  We ordered sexed female chicks, since we want them for egg production.  But because it is so hard to identify the sex of a chick, with the number of hens we ordered you usually get a few males anyway.

Now that our chicks have grown up into pullets, we can begin to see physical rooster qualities coming through on some of them – bigger combs and wattles, larger tail feathers, and larger body sizes. Based on these qualities we believe we have at least five roosters in our flock!

But the quality that really confirms whether our “suspected roosters” are really roosters is when they begin to crow!

One of our “suspected roosters”, a Black Australorp whom Sharon named "Oscuro" (which means dark in Spanish) recently confirmed his identity as a rooster.  Early one morning just before the sun came up, Oscuro gave his first short and immature crow ever(?)!  I was able to witness this exciting moment and it took me by surprise!  All the other chickens in the flock reacted similarly to the way I did.  After his first crow, they all stood there frozen for several seconds, taking in this new experience.  I wonder what was running through the hens’ heads.  For me, my thought was – Oscuro just crowed, so he really and truly is a rooster!

Ever since that morning, Oscuro greets the day with 3-5 crows just before sun-up.  Then he goes about his day, crowing whenever the urge strikes him.

A few days after Oscuro’s first crow I decided to take this video so that I could share the excitement with you all!  Here it is…

 

 

I continue to eagerly wait for “first crows” from our other four “suspected roosters.”  It has not happened yet – at least not that I’ve heard – but any day now they’re sure to decide that they have something to crow about too!

 

Adult Workshop on Backyard Chickens this Saturday!

Last Chance to Sign Up for our
Backyard Chickens Workshop!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

Just a final reminder that our Backyard Chicken workshop is this coming Saturday.  There is still space available, if you'd like to come join us!

We'll start with introductions and a presentation in the Yellow Farmhouse, but we'll also be spending time with each of the Learning Farm's three chicken flocks -- something we do with kids all the time, but rarely with adults!

More details about the workshop follow.  Visit our website to register!

Backyard Chickens

Do you like the idea of having fresh eggs available to you on a daily basis? Are you looking to add some animals to your yard that will also provide you with food, fertilizer, and pest control? Are you wondering what it takes to keep a few backyard chickens? If so, then this workshop is for you!

Backyard chickens are becoming increasingly popular in both urban and suburban areas! We will discuss the basics of backyard chicken keeping – including chicken breeds and behavior, where and how to obtain your hens (or chicks!), how to feed and house your backyard flock, local ordinances, and other things to consider before you get your own hens.

As part of the workshop, we will also tour the Learning Farm chicken flocks in their different locations on our farm, discuss the similarities and differences between the flocks and how they are being housed, and tie those observations back to best practices for backyard chickens.

Date: Saturday, October 26

Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
What to bring: Nothing required.
What to take home: A resource handout on keeping backyard chickens and a sample half-dozen of our very fresh, pastured-poultry eggs!
Cost: $30 per person
Instructor: Sharon Gaughan,
PCLF Education Program Director

Double Yolk Egg!

Two Yolks for the Price of One!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

One day a week or so ago, I went to the nest box that our three “backyard chickens” share – Rhubarb, Rutabaga, and Radish – to collect whatever eggs might be there.  Depending on the day, I might find one egg, maybe two, and sometimes three.  On this particular day, there were two eggs nestled in the wood shavings – but of two very different sizes!

I suspected that the larger egg contained a double yolk, so I waited until my nieces were visiting before I cracked it open.  Sure enough, two yolks fell out of that one very large egg!  We scrambled those two yolks – along with a few others – for a delicious breakfast that morning.

There’s no way to know which of the three girls laid that large egg, but our sympathies certainly go out to her!  Ouch!

Public Hearing on Backyard Chickens!

Backyard Chickens in Your Backyard?

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

For those of you who live in the area and have wished that you could have backyard chickens of your own, you may be interested to know that the possibility is currently being discussed for both the Village of Grayslake and for unincorporated Lake County.

This Thursday, October 17 at 6:00 p.m., there will be a public hearing to discuss several local food amendments (including the possibility of allowing backyard chickens, as well as bees and hoophouses) in unincorporated Lake County.  The public hearing will be held at the Lake County Forest Preserve’s Independence Grove’s Visitor Center (16400 W. Buckley, Libertyville). 

 

Come let your voice be heard!

And if you would like to learn more about what’s involved in keeping backyard chickens, you might consider attending our upcoming workshop on that very topic!  Workshop info follows this photo of Rutabaga, one of the Learning Farm’s very own backyard chickens…

 

Backyard Chickens

Do you like the idea of having fresh eggs available to you on a daily basis?  Are you looking to add some animals to your yard that will also provide you with food, fertilizer, and pest control?  Are you wondering what it takes to keep a few backyard chickens?  If so, then this workshop is for you!

Backyard chickens are becoming increasingly popular in both urban and suburban areas!  We will discuss the basics of backyard chicken keeping – including chicken breeds and behavior, where and how to obtain your hens (or chicks!), how to feed and house your backyard flock, local ordinances, and other things to consider before you get your own hens.

As part of the workshop, we will also tour the Learning Farm chicken flocks in their different locations on our farm, discuss the similarities and differences between the flocks and how they are being housed, and tie those observations back to best practices for backyard chickens.

Date:  Saturday, October 26

Time:  9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
What to bring:  Nothing required.
What to take home:  A resource handout on keeping backyard chickens and a sample half-dozen of our very fresh, pastured-poultry eggs!
Cost:  $30 per person
Instructor:  Sharon Gaughan,
PCLF Education Program Director

Pullet Visit!

Young Nieces Visiting Young Pullets!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

My sister’s three girls spent a lot of time here on the Learning Farm this past summer, since my sister, Michelle, was one of the main summer farm camp teachers (and has been increasingly, during the past four summers). 

 

Hannah, Allison, and Amanda played an important role in helping us prepare for the arrival of our new chicks, and then in helping care for them in their critical first days and weeks of life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of their important jobs was to help spot the chicks that were showing signs of "pastey butt," so that we could then catch those chicks and get them cleaned up.  Mandy (Amanda), my youngest niece, was particularly good at spotting (as she mistakenly called them) "tastey butts"!

 

Then summer camps came to a close, and school started up again – so it’s been a while since my nieces have had a chance to see the chicks (now pullets).  They came up for a visit this past weekend, and were excited to see how much the new flock of girls have grown! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Chore Crew

Fall Chicken Chore Crew Completed!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

This year for the first time, we offered a “Chicken Chore Crew” farm camp – one in spring, another in summer, and again in fall.  Our fall camp just ended this week.

“Chicken Chore Crew” is different from our other farm camps.  We don’t do arts and crafts, we don’t harvest and cook from the garden – we just hang out with our chickens, and do some of the “chores” necessary to keep them healthy and happy.  For the summer and fall crews, that included working with our new chicks (now pullets).

I’ve been a bit protective of the new flock – and while we allowed the campers to feed and pet the young birds, I was a bit hesitant to let the kids pick them up and hold them.  But on the last day of fall Chicken Chore Crew, we decided to make a compromise.  After giving the kids some instruction, Anya and I caught some of the more cooperative pullets and placed them into the arms of some very excited campers.

 

 

 

This was undoubtedly the highlight of this particular camp – for the kids, and for me and Anya.  And, who knows?  Maybe even for the pullets themselves!

 

 

Outdoor Pullets

Our Pullets Are Loving the Great Outdoors!
by Sharon Gaughan,
PCLF Education Program Director

The pullets seem to really enjoy their new freedom.  Most of them spend most of their time out in the chicken yard -- roaming, running, scratching, exploring, dust bathing -- soaking up the sunshine, or lazing in the shade.

It does my heart good, to see them so content.