What Can Chickens Eat?

Actually, I should say - What should chickens be fed because I already know they can and will eat anything!

We've been in a debate recently about what to throw them from our refrigerator. I'm of the belief that everything once intended for people-consumption is a-okay, but Ted treats them like human toddlers! He's been caught pealing the brown parts off fruits and dicing large vegetables, etc.

Is old lunch meat okay? How about very wilted beet greens? Fritos chips? Lemon rinds?

I'm going to do some internet research on the topic and get back to you, but in the meantime, let me know if you have any advice.

Our Girl had Twins!

In case you've ever wondered if chickens can have twins, they can! One of our girls layed a giant egg with a band around the middle that looked as if two eggs had been fused together. Hope it didn't hurt coming out!

As you can see below, two seperate but attached yolks came out of the big shell:

Egg-celent Layers

I'm sorry, but I have to brag about our chickens again (obviously, I'm going to be a very annoying parent!)

Statistically speaking, hens ovulate once every 36 hours and generally produce an egg every other day. But, all four of our girls have been laying everyday, and one day, we had 5 eggs in the nest boxes! That's virtually impossible (according to the internet), but it happened. I swear.

A Perfect Day for Dustbathing

I walked outside today and my chickens were doing this:

Flapping dust on her back and carving out a hole with her claws - was Frieda trying to burry herself alive?! Then, Sensei started doing it too, but her style was more twitch and squirm. Blanca seemed embarased about the act because she popped up every time I came close for a photo. What the heck were they doing?

From a bit of internet research, it seems this is a perfectly natural act. "Dustbathing" is what chickens do to protect their feathers from lice and mite infestation. Some owners have to dustbathe their hens in a bucket of ash, but our girls figured it out all on their own. I'm so proud!

An Egg a Day

This is our cute little egg shelf we got in Scotland! Like tomatoes, eggs taste better at room-temperature. Once refrigerated though, they lose that ability to stay fresh.

The thrill of finding a perfectly-shaped brown egg in the nest each morning has not yet lost it's luster. So far, we've been finding at least one, and sometimes two, eggs / day, which means that at least two of the birds are laying.

Last week, we had a Compound Feast of home-grown Juevos Rancheros. Delicious!

Little Lyla looks a little unsure about her egg-meal, but we're pretty sure she loved it. I mean, fresh eggs fried in butter - what's not to like?!

Surprise!

Okay, I've been a little absent on the Compound Blog because for a while there our chickens were just pecking, eating and you know.

But last weekend, Ted and Katy finally got around to building their nest boxes (little cozy cubbies to induce laying) and on Thursday, there was a beautiful little egg sitting in the upper box! It was perfect and completely unbelievable, except I saw it (and ate it) myself!

Here's how it went down: on Thursday morning, we awoke to a chicken-cooing fest happening outside our window. Ted went to see about the fuss, but nothing was happening. Frieda was chillin in the bottom nest and Sensei and Ruthie were sharing the top.

Later in the day, the girls were making a new and different sound. It was like, "Buck, buck, buck, buck-gaaa!" And, here is what we found when we went to check on them this time:

Neither the photo nor the egg have been touched to add sensation to the experience.

In London: Inspired by Bill Cunningham

This post has absolutely nothing to do with the Compound except three of us spent 10 days in the UK and our chickens survived our absence perfectly fine.  Special thanks to Liza, Alyce and Betsy for giving the girls special treats!

While walking the streets of London, I remembered by Bill Cunningham's Sunday vlog in the NYTimes and decided to try my hand at fashion-reporting.  I must admit, snapping photos of unsuspecting persons is much harder than it seems!  Anyway, here is my expose:

Spring had sprung and Memorial Day was just around the corner during the last weekend in May, but Londoners were already decked out, from head to toe, in the color white.  And many, including men and street performers, went so far as to don tight white tights.

Before arriving in London, a very fashionable Scottish woman told me (disparngly) that Londoners adopt "the fashion of the week", even if the newest trend looks terrible on them or clashes with their personal style.  I certainly found this to be true with the white tights.  

Fat and thin, young and old - everyone embraced opaque white leggings.  It was incredible - 5 out of 10 people wore white tights and none of them had VPL (visible pantie lines). Sadly, I didn't get a shot of the more ridiculous white-tight-wearers, but you can use your imagination.

White was hot for other parts of the body as well.  Pretty much everyone had white shoes, white purses, white polka-dots - you name it - it showed up in white.

White was so prevalent than some people had pushed the fad into the neon realm.  Neon pink, yellow, green and blue were often worn to offset the articles of white.  Check out these two white and neon twins:

To be honest, I had no idea London was so mind-blowingly fantastic.  Art, theatre, food, shopping - all seemed so far ahead of what you see here in the Bay.  I can hardly wait for my next trip!