Special Needs Chickens

About a month ago, we discovered that one of our chickens could no longer move one of her legs. We brought her into our office to isolate her and see if her health improved -- she seemed generally healthy, except for her leg. She lived like a queen in a large dog crate for about a week, supplementing her regular diet with fresh greens that by luck had been started as a seed viability test. We changed her newspaper bedding many times a day. Her digestive system certainly worked. This was not a sustainable solution for our farm chicken ....

In a small backyard chicken setting, a chicken with only one functional leg might be manageable. In a modest-sized farm chicken operation like the Learning Farm's, this chicken required special care that we did not have the capacity to provide. She was not able to compete with the other hens to access food and water, and would not survive in the flock. We were not able to continue nursing her inside for the long term, and her leg was not improving.

The hens' future looked uncertain, but bleak. Culling birds who are injured, diseased, or past their egg production years is an unfortunate production-flock management reality. None of us were eager to end this hen's life, but we knew we were unable to care for her.

I dug through my email box and located a woman who adopted a few hens from our last flock. I emailed her, changed the newspaper in the crate again, waited, and hoped for a new home for this chicken.

Success! Within short order (but a few more newspaper changes) this person connected me with a woman who not only wanted to adopt this chicken, but actually had a home for her in a special needs flock. The perfect scenario! Kerri is a vet tech and "chicken eggspert" who has chickens of her own, in addition to helping other poultry hobbyists (www.thechickeneggspert.com). Kerri dubbed the chicken "Rhoda" (she is a Rhode Island Red), and took her home to join a one-eyed rooster, a one-legged hen, and a few new friends. Whew!

I recently heard from Kerri that she x-rayed Rhoda's hip and found that it was dislocated. While Rhoda was under anesthesia, she put the hip back into place, but the surrounding tendons and ligaments were unable to adequately support the joint. Although her hip pops in and out depending on how she moves, it doesn't seem to be painful. Kerri continues to provide excellent care to Rhoda and hopes that with continued cage rest, eventually her ligaments will tighten up and provide more stability to her leg.

Rhoda's future plans include making new friends, munching on grass, and discovering bugs. We're happy she has found a new home, and thankful for people like Kerri who work hard to care for special chickens, and support the growing backyard chicken phenomena!

Hen House Helpers needed!

Have you ever wanted to work with animals? Do you want to have a unique experience that makes a difference and contributes to the availability of local food?

Volunteer as a Hen House Helper at the Prairie Crossing Learning
Farm!


The Prairie Crossing Learning Farm offers a real farm-work volunteer experience helping to care for our flock of free range chickens. Hen House Helpers (HHH) volunteer for a regular weekly shift at the farm – either in the morning (9-10 a.m.) or afternoon (3-4 p.m.).


HHHs collect the eggs, wash them, and package them for sale. There are also substitute HHH who fill in when needed – the regular HHH is responsible for finding a substitute when they can’t cover their regular shift.


I am currently looking for volunteers for the March 18 – June 9 session. I will also hold a training session for new HHH once the schedule has been finalized.


Interested? Available to cover a Tuesday afternoon or Thursday morning
shift? Please email ecummisford@prairiecrossing.com

Chicken Valentine!

I wanted to share this beautiful chicken valentine from Abby -- a talented young artist who volunteers with her family as a Hen House Helper at the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm.


I'm speculating on the artist's inspiration (always a dicey proposition), but I know that Abby developed a special relationship with one of the chickens, who she named "Lucky". I love her beautiful chicken drawing, and the possible double entendre with her use of the word "lucky". I am so thankful that Abby loves our chickens and that her mom emailed this to me on Valentine's Day!


All of our chickens are lucky to have enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers like this young girl and the rest of her family. Our Hen House Helper program connects volunteers with a rare opportunity to do real farm work with our flock of free-range chickens. It's educational, helps support Learning Farm operations, and is FUN! More information about our Hen House Helper program, including how to get involved, is at www.prairiecrossing.com/farm/learning.php


The mission of the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm is to educate and inspire people to value healthy food, land and community through experiences on our farm. We LOVE receiving stories, pictures, drawings, poetry, etc. about our farm! If you have something to share, please send it to ecummisford@prairiecrossing.com


Thank you to Abby for the picture that now hangs by my desk, and to her parents for granting their permission for me to share it!

"Chicken" Chickens

After such strange and unseasonable weather this winter, I was anxious to see how the chickens responded to the recent snow. After all, it's been a LONG time since these chickens have seen measurable snow! These chickens came to the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm last November as day-old chicks, and didn't venture outside until February. Even if they did experience snow last season, does a chicken have a long term memory? Hmmm.

I wondered if the chickens would be excited ... like my children who love to play outside until I fear for their extremities. Of if they would be exuberant ... like my dogs who run like crazy whenever it snows. Or if they would be confused ... like my cat on the day I carried him to a patch of snow on the back porch (he looked really interested from inside the house, and I thought I'd broaden his horizons).

I didn't imagine that the chickens would be too "chicken" to even venture outside. Sheesh. If you look closely at the picture above, you might see a chicken barely peeking outside at the snow. 165 chickens, and zero footprints on the very shallow snow outside their door. I've since learned that this is typical for chickens, and that they wait for humans to shovel a path for them through the snow. Not a bad gig.

It's hard for me to judge the chickens for their dislike of snow, because it's not too far removed from my own feelings. My family will affirm that I too mostly wait for others to shovel the snow. Like the chickens, I would rather be toasty warm inside during a cold wintery day instead of trudging through the snow. This reminds me that I need to give Logan Beausoleil credit for venturing out to see what the chickens were doing in the snow, and taking this picture. Because I was too chicken. And forgot my snow boots.

Whether they're enjoying this weather or not -- the chickens are working hard to produce lots of tasty organic eggs. If you're the sort who loves the snow, hike/ski/sled to the Prairie Crossing Long Barn during daylight hours and purchase some. Or send your friend. Although I forgot my snow boots yet again, I will head outside to purchase eggs tonight. They are absolutely worth it!

They're back! Farm-fresh organic eggs!

After a brief lull, the egg production is starting to increase slowly. There are plenty of eggs in the Long Barn for sale today! We expect production to slowly increase as the days get gradually longer after the winter solstice.

That's good news for everyone who loves farm-fresh organic eggs, and for those of us who look forward to more daylight hours!

Stop by the Prairie Crossing Long Barn today to purchase eggs for last-minute holiday baking! To purchase eggs, follow the posted instructions in the barn.

Hen House Helpers, hens and hawks -- oh my!

I have had the pleasure of volunteering at the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm for almost a year now. I was so excited for the opportunity to care for (but mostly pick up and pet) chickens! Since last December I have gone to the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm in Grayslake as much as I could to see those little balls of fluff, and every time I’ve been delighted with the squawking, energetic hens awaiting me.

Perhaps that’s why, only several weeks ago, I was especially surprised to walk in and spot a bird in flight in the henhouse! Somehow a clever hawk had made its way into the henhouse and was swooping over the poor chickens. My mother and I panicked and ran to get help.

Luckily two farmers were just next door. They ran into the Hen House and tried coaxing the hawk outside, but had no luck. As soon as the other helpers left to get more equipment, my mother opened a large side door and the hawk successfully flew out of the Hen House.

This experience demonstrates how in touch with animals we seem to have gotten since volunteering! Between watching them grow and (sort of) saving their little lives, volunteering at the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm has always been exciting.

Hen House Helper "D"

[Editor's note: Thank you to "D" and her parents for volunteering as Hen House Helpers! Thanks also for sharing this story with our blog readers.]

Where are the eggs?!

You may have noticed that the Learning Farm egg production is low right now -- I wish that this were not the case, but unfortunately it is. As with everything else we do, this situation presents a learning opportunity.

The Learning Farm chickens are heritage breed birds. They are selected for their friendliness and so best serve our core mission of education, but they are not known for prolific egg production. Egg-specialist breeds raised by commercial egg operations produce more eggs, but are more flighty and not as nice to work with, particularly for children.

We’ve had this current flock for about a year now. At this point in their life cycle they are molting -- they gradually lose their feathers and put much of their energy into re-growing them, which negatively impacts their egg production. The shorter days also cause their egg production to decrease. We are not currently providing supplemental lighting to increase egg production, but will begin to do so later this winter as daylight hours increase and the extra light supports the hens’ natural rhythm. Our flock management strategy is intended to respect the chickens, and allow them an opportunity to rest and rejuvenate during this time period.

Some egg operations butcher the hens when their egg production decreases like this. Other operations push egg production in ways that are stressful and shorten the hens’ life span – which doesn’t matter to them. Our chickens are used to provide learning and joy, and that extends beyond their ability to produce eggs. For example, 8th graders at the Prairie Crossing Charter School are tracking egg production data and analyzing the downward and upward trends. A volunteer group of parents and kids are doing an independent research project on food safety as it relates to egg operations, and contrasting the Learning Farm model with large commercial operations that have been reported about in the media. Younger kids love to pet the chickens whether they’re laying eggs or not.

The current plan is for the Learning Farm to maintain this flock until fall of 2012 – about one more year. I hope this information helps you to understand, to be patient, and to anticipate and enjoy fresh organic eggs that much more when production rises again. Thank you!

Chicken Time-Share

As the weather starts to get colder, it's time for us to prepare the chickens' winter home for their return!

The Learning Farm chickens spend the summer roaming the farm in their Egg Mobile, a brightly colored pioneer-style covered wagon. It's lovely to "camp out" during warm weather, but the chickens need more protection from the frigid Chicago winter. Brrrrr!

Luckily the chickens also have a cozy winter home in the Learning Farm Hen House, a permanent structure that is attached to our Egg Wash Station. Our current flock of chickens spent their early days inside this warm structure as they matured from day-old chicks last November to full-grown chickens.

And now it's almost time to move back "home." Except . . . there are other chickens in their house! While the Learning Farm chickens traipsed around in the Egg Mobile, another Prairie Crossing farm business' chickens settled into the Hen House. A chicken time-share, if you will.

As with all moves, there is a lot of cleaning that needs to be done beforehand. With chickens, there is a LOT of cleaning! And then, even more cleaning, sanitizing, and airing out of the Hen House. All this cleaning is important for general safety reasons and for the continued health of the flock.

Healthy chickens = healthy eggs = healthy people!