Chickens in the Edible Landscape

Edible Landscaping -- including Chickens!
posted by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

I consider myself a fairly decent gardener -- and I do a bit with edible landscaping in my own front and backyards.  I also own several of Rosalind Creasy's books on that very topic.  But watching this youtube video of Creasy showing part of her home edible landscape, makes me realize how much I still have to learn -- and how much I could (and should) still do!

Even just this photo makes me want to get out there and start planting stuff!

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Creasy "grows chickens" in her edible landscape, too!

Check out the youtube video here!  

Chickens and Weather

"Hens in the Wind: Acceptance"
Posted by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

The following paragraph and photo were posted yesterday on Jon Katz's Bedlam Farm Journal blog (Bedlam Farm Journal):

"I admire certain things about animals. They don’t squawk about the weather, and they don’t need weather alerts or names for storms. They accept the weather as a natural part of life, and today when the wind hit 50 mph gusts, the hens dug themselves into a small dip in the grass, closed their eyes and offered warmth and support for one another. This seemed a metaphor for me, another thing I learn from the animals I live with."

At the Learning Farm, our current flock of Bovans Browns seem to be of less-sturdy stuff than Jon's hens.  We often have a fair bit of wind whipping about the farm, but we've had some exceptionally crazy weather of late here in northern Illinois (where were you when the torrential rains -- and a wee bit of hail -- hit last Wednesday afternoon?).  

For the most part, our chickens hole up inside the coop during inclement weather, and wait for things to clear up.  But as I type this from home -- on a cold, but calm and sunny Saturday morning -- they are no doubt happily scratching about, outside in their chicken yard.

"Chicken Chore Crew" Farm Camp

New at the Learning Farm –

Our Chicken Chore Crew!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

Our spring “Chicken Chore Crew” Farm Camp had begun!  We have ten chicken enthusiasts – ages 8-12 – that have signed up to be a part of our first-ever Chicken Chore Crew.

 

 

 

We’ve met on two Monday afternoon’s so far, and we have two more Monday’s to go for this spring session.  Fortunately, this unusually cold and wet spring weather has been fairly nice to us – and we’ve been able to do most of the outdoor chores that we were hoping to do.

Here are some of the chicken chores that we’ve accomplished so far (some of these chores we did on both days, some only on one day so far):

·         Harvested mealworms and fed them to the chickens.

·         Fed greens and “chicken candy” (scratch grain) to the chickens.

·         Collected leftover chicken feed from feeders; made “chicken gruel” and fed it to the chickens.

·         Raked straw off the Children’s Garden beds; brought the straw to the chicken yard and spread it around.

·         Cleaned the ledges and roosts in the winter chicken coop by scraping chicken poop into our infamous “poop bucket.”

·         Learned how to pick up a chicken, then picked up and held lots of chickens!

 

 

 

 

 

If you think that you might like to spend some time hanging out with our chickens, our chicken farmers, and some other kids that like chickens – then you’re in luck!  We have both summer and fall Chicken Chore Crews on our camp schedule!

Summer Session Dates:  July 8, 15, 22, 29
Time for Summer Session:  10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Fall Session Dates:  Sept. 9, 16, 23, 30
Time for Fall Session:  4:00-5:30 p.m.

Cost:  $25/child/session

For more information and to register, visit the Learning Farm website!

 

 

Chicken Visit

Visiting Previously-Adopted Chickens!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

If you’ve been following our hen blog for a while, you may recall that the Learning Farm held a chicken adoption event last November, and was able to adopt out many of the hens from that flock when they were about 2 years old.  One very friendly woman who adopted two of our hens that day, Nan, invited me to come to her house anytime to visit them.  I didn’t try to visit over the winter, but now that spring weather has finally arrived in northern Illinois (sort of), I recently contacted her to arrange a visit.

Even though it’s still early spring, with little green showing or growing as of yet – it was obvious to me that Nan is quite the gardener.  I can’t wait to return later in the spring or summer and see her yard in all its growing glory.  Nan has a rather large yard, and a rather large backyard chicken flock – currently nine gorgeous hens of a variety of breeds. 

 

 

 

 

The two she adopted from us were new breeds for her – a Black Australorp (which she named Asti) and a Barred Plymouth Rock (which she named Oreo).  Both integrated into her existing flock with little fanfare!

 

Nan's backyard chicken coop was built by her own hands!  She started with a free coop design that she found on the Purina website (you can check out the original design at Purina Henhouse and Hutch Design), but made many modifications to suit her needs.  It serves its purpose well! 

Nan told me that her neighbors often contribute vegetable scraps for her chickens – and she, in turn, shares the bounty of eggs from her hens with them.  She also explained that the neighborhood kids come often to her backyard to visit and play with the chickens – and she welcomes their visits.  What a rare learning opportunity for them!

It was wonderful to watch her flock of nine happy hens, roaming the yard, scratching and dust bathing in her garden beds.  These birds are clearly well-loved and well-tended.  It was a joy to see it – and to “talk chickens” with such a like-minded soul! 

 

Many thanks to you, Nan!

 

Chicken Fiber Art

Chicken Potholders!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

Maria Wulf is a fiber artist who focuses on creating “original functional art from recycled clothes and fabric,” according to her website.  I love this idea of repurposing old into new, and have been experimenting with some of that myself.  I am not a fiber “artist,” but more of a fiber “crafter.”

As an artist, Maria has her own website (http://www.fullmoonfiberart.com/) from which she exhibits and sells her fiber art.  She has just posted some adorable chicken potholders that she’s made.  I’ve included a photo of my favorite one here, but if you’re interested in seeing more, pay a visit to her website.

Most of these potholders appear to have been sold already – but since she seems to have sold them so quickly, my hope is that there will be more chicken potholders created in Maria Wulf's fiber art studio.

Chickens at the Library!

Here a Chick, There a Chick – 

at the Grayslake Library!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

Last Saturday, Anya and I presented a kids program at the Grayslake Library (for grades K-4).  The library staff advertised the program as “Here a Chick, There a Chick!” – and, no surprise, our program was focused on chickens and their chicks!

We brought Rhubarb and Rutabaga, our Rhode Island Red and Buff Orpington backyard chickens (very much adults at 2.5 years, not chicks at all!) to the library to meet the kids.  I talked a bit at the beginning of the program about chickens – and the fact that there are many different breeds (types) of chickens of many different colors.  Not all adult chickens are white, and not all baby chicks are yellow. 

 

Anya read aloud one of my very favorite chicken books, I Bought a Baby Chicken by Kelly Milner Halls.  Then we taught the kids how to do a simple craft, making a chick of their own to take home with them after the program (many thanks to Kayla, a high-school age library volunteer who was a huge help to us, especially during the craft-making session!).

After the program was over, we hung out a bit longer so that some of the kids who didn't attend the program could still get to meet a friendly chicken during their Saturday visit to the library.

This is the second year we’ve done this spring chicken program at the Grayslake Library.  The kids certainly seemed to enjoy it, and so did we!  I think even Rhubarb and Rutabaga had a good time (can you actually tell when a chicken is having a good time?)!

Words from Bedlam Farm Journal

The Barn Cat and the Hen
from Jon Katz's Bedlam Farm Journal Blog, March 26, 2013




Life on a farm is strange. Minnie is a strange cat, even for a barn cat. We feed her each day, and she loves to hang out on the rocking chair on the back porch. So do the chickens. I have never seen a cat nap next to a chicken, or a chicken next to a cat. No chicken would go near Mother [another of Jon's cats], and I never saw Mother hang out with the hens. Minnie grew up in the Bedlam Farm barn around chickens. I remember when Winston I the rooster fell ill, Minnie sat by his side day and night at the end of his life.

Still, I have not seen her cozy up with a hen. So it came down to these two farm animals, both wanting the same chair. Seems to me they came to a reasonable and collegial compromise. They napped together much of the afternoon while Strut the rooster paced nervously back and forth. I could watch animals all day. I do, really. They never cease to surprise and challenge me. They are not like us.

Photography is as curious and unpredictable as a farm. I always carry my camera. This chair, which we didn’t even expect to use until the summer, and then not much, has become the focal point of daily photos capturing the animals here in a different way. I could never have imagined that.


Note from Sharon:  My cat, Moira, is getting used to having to share her turf with the two Learning Farm chickens that I bring home on a daily basis, but I doubt that I'll ever see them sharing a rocking chair like this.  I'll let you know if I ever do though!

Chicken Volunteering!

My Time Volunteering at PCLF
by Erin Childers, Austin Community College Student

Over spring break from college in Austin, Texas, I traveled to Illinois to visit family and to volunteer at the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm. This was an awesome experience! I have been playing with the idea of farming land for a while now, and when I was assigned volunteer hours for my “Introduction to Social Work” class, this seemed like a great opportunity to explore these ideas.

I worked a majority of my time with the chicken flock. I had a great time. One of the most fun things was making a “play ground” for the chickens out of stumps. I was not aware of it, but apparently chickens can get bored. One way of avoiding chicken boredom is to give them things to jump on, climb under, and peck at. After we moved some stumps to the chicken yard from another part of the farm, we spread chicken feed around the new objects to engage the chickens, and watched as they jumped up and around, pecking at their food.
 

Another chore I was given was to fork the straw in the floor of the coop, and scrape the ledges and roosts clean. The bird waste would gather in the straw and on the ledges, so both of these chores were essentially making sure that the smell was not over powering, and waste management. Even though both chores were somewhat gross in nature, the tangible result of hard work was very satisfying. Much more so than running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike.

The week I spent at PCLF was a great experience. I am looking forward to helping in the future, if schedules permit! Thanks for the opportunity, Sharon!