Snow hens

From time to time, people ask me how well the chickens do in the colder weather. I worried a lot about this as well the first couple of winters. Until someone pointed out to me that chickens have survived a few thousand years of domestication, winters and all, without too much effort. 

They do tend to slow down in the winter, but that's as much about having fewer hours of daylight to get out and scratch for interesting tidbits as anything. As you can see, while ther sun is out, our hens take maximum advantage to soak up the rays. 

These are all 3rd generation birds of our flock, less than 2 years old. (The second one from the left is a Speckled Sussex and the others are all various shades of Araucana, which lay pale green, olive or blue eggs). The older birds tend to be a little slower to make their way out into the snow, and stay back in the more sheltered areas. 

The biggest issue with snow is that it covers up all that lovely dirt for scratching and the hens can get a little bored (which can lead to some issues - more on that below). This year, I planned ahead a bit more and rather than having to go out and clear the snow away by shovel, I created a wind & snow barrier around part of their coop to give them an easy place to get out and stretch their legs. Just a simple structure of stacked hay bales does the trick.

Added bonus, the little vermin that naturally seek out the hay bales to nest cozily through the winter provide an interesting diversion for the hens. 

About the only real challenge in the winter months is keeping their drinking water from freezing. Fortunately, I ran electricity out to the coop a few years ago, which allows me to put a low voltage heater under their water supply, designed to keep things liquid and accessible (available at pretty much any feed store). 

This also allowed me to put in an overhead light on a timer. Hens want between 12-16 hours of daylight for consistent laying (depending on the breed). Clearly not going to happen without artificial intervention during the colder months of the year.  There's still some slowdown, but generally, they keep going right through the winter months.  Just don't leave the eggs out too long, or they will freeze and crack.

I'll admit to one other concession - I put a red heat lamp in the coop during the darkest months of the year as well. Partly for the heat (although they really don't need it). But also the boredom of cooped up hens (Ha! "cooped up") can lead to pecking. And if they draw blood, they'll keep at it until it causes a real problem. The red lamp disguises any red they might see, and minimizes that kind of issue. 

This really shouldn't be too much of a problem, as long as your hens have ready access to the outside and something interesting to do. Like kids, they just get up to trouble if they're left without a better and more constructive distraction. 

This speckled Sussex is one of the friendliest (i.e. dumbest) birds in my flock. She's also one of the prettiest.

There may be a correlation between these facts. 

So there you go. Hens are really pretty easy to keep all year round, in even the colder parts of the country, with very little special preparation.. And seeing a pretty girl like this out pecking and hunting for interesting tidbits all fluffed up to keep herself warm will keep you entertained about as long as you can stand still in the snow yourself. 

Last dregs of the autumn garden

The autumn weather in New England can be kind of hit or miss. We had snow at Halloween, but the past few days have been in the mid 50's. This weekend was down right glorious, and much needed, as we had been kind of slow to do the final clean up of patio furniture and the last little bits of the gardening in preparation for the coming winter months. 

We're still enjoying a few last bits of harvest. The Boy isn't as happy that the last of the beans and peas have gone, but he'll still help me harvest a handful or two of arugula to top a steak or a risotto. 

We still have a number of the heartier herbs available. Rosemary and thyme and oregeno. I'll be out in the garden picking fresh herbs as long as possible. Not much of this will go to waste. I was really happy with these couple of pots right at the entrance to the bigger of our garden plots - a perfect way to grow the herbs we wanted.

I don't know why I didn't plant sage this year, though - definitely going on the list next year. 

I didn't harvest nearly as much of the collard greens as I had in past years, but we still put several quarts worth in the freezer. It'll be perfect come early spring, when I'm really craving some fresh green something. 

In the meantime, I'll put The Boy to work hauling these out of the ground for the chickens. They'll definitely enjoy a bit of the garden leftovers.

My kale, though, will be fine in the ground for some time yet. A good hard frost makes this black tuscan kale even sweeter.

This was definitely one of our favorite new crops this year, and will be on the list from here on out. I'll keep coming out to the garden for a bowl full whenever we're making soup or pasta this winter, as long as it lasts.

Surprisingly, we have a bit of mint still growing under the fallen leaves. No more fresh peas to go with it (that'll have to wait for spring again), but there should be enough left for a few more mojitos, and memories of summer days. 

When I turned aroung to look for him again, the Boy had disappeared. He was supposed to be pulling up collards. I guess it all got to be too much for him, and he needed a break.

There was one other surprise left in the garden. Two whole rows of onions that I had thought a lost cause had sprung to new life in the last few weeks. I'm not sure if these will be productive or worth having or not, but I'll let them keep going until things get a bit colder for a last minute harvest. Leeks are harvested after the snow falls, after all... maybe we'll get lucky with these.

The Critter wasn't quite so productive as the Boy and I had been. But she still managed to get a little bit of fresh air in on this last, sun-drenched autumn day. 

 

An open letter to my town

9 November 2011

To the Editor, 

 I want to congratulate the planners and all who had input into the design and presentation of the new CCHS facility. It's clear from the overwhelming support that the community is in clear agreement on the need and solution to secure the future education of our students.  I was among the supporters in the crowd at the Town Meeting, and impressed again with the preparation involved. 

 However, I also want to reflect that the impact of this and the Carlisle school project combined is a significant new burden for many of our residents, and harms our ability to create an affordable community for our neighbors and newcomers. It will be difficult to offset the significant increase in property taxes that we will all bear. In every responsible household and business, we plan ahead for big purchases, set aside a little each month, and save up for what we know will be the big expenses, to reduce the painful impact of those purchases and live within our means for the long term. If we had, for example, agreed to a $100 or $150/year average increase in our property tax per household for the last 20 years as a set-aside for major improvements, we could have avoided altogether the need to see those taxes rise by $600-$1,600+/year to pay off this loan.  This is the same principle underlying the Community Preservation Act, setting a bit aside each year to ensure we create and preserve a town worth living in. Why wouldn't we do the same to ensure we can affordably pay for major school & civic investments? 

  It doesn't take a crystal ball to know that there will be other bills due: maintenance, upgrades and replacement of other aging parts of the Carlisle school in coming years. I would look to the Carlisle Long Term Capital Requirements committee to take the opportunity now while these costs are still fresh in our minds to bring forward alternatives to see that we do not ever have to bear such a painfully sharp and beyond-our-means expense again, be it 2 years, 5 years or 50 years hence.  

Ken Grady 

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