Problems Part I

...ompletely back to normal. As a friend of ours who grew up on a farm says, chickens are either on or off.” Once they get sick they often don’t come back “on”. We’ll hope for the best. This problem brings to mind two lessons we’ve learned in the past year of backyard chicken keeping: 1. When you build your coop think about creating an isolation ward. A real farmer would just cull a sick bird to keep the flock safe. For those of us with just a few h...

Read…

Waking up on New Year’s Day with the world of long crowing roosters

...s of years, it’s a reminder that people have been placing fun and entertainment before utility for a long time. An anthropology professor I once had speculated that the musical bow came before the hunting bow. Other anthropologists theorize that chickens were domesticated for fighting before people figured out the whole egg and meat thing. Far from a defect in human behavior, for me things like long crowing roosters prove that innovation comes out...

Read…

A Transportation Cocktail: Bikes, Trains and Buses

...the Central Valley has two of my favorite signs of civilization: backyard chickens and nopales. At the dramatic end of the line for the San Joachin train lay the forlorn streets of Bakersfield, immortalized in Buck Owen’s song, “I came here looking for something I couldn’t find anywhere else Hey, I’m not trying to be nobody Just want a chance to be myself I’ve done a thousand miles of thumbin’ I’ve worn blisters on my heels Trying to find me some...

Read…

Plymouth Rock Monthly

...down to 200 members from a peak of 2,000. Thankfully, interest in keeping chickens is now on the rise again and an informative magzine, Backyard Poultry has been revived. Plymouth Rock fans can read an artcile about the breed in the latest issue of Backyard Poultry. Speaking of poultry, the American Poultry Association will be holding their annual meet in nearby Ventura, California on October 25th and 26th. More info here. You can bet that Homegr...

Read…