A Case for Keeping Chickens

A Family Portrait...Grace, Sweet Potato, Sugar Snap and Cousins.

We have kept chickens for several years now, and I can't think of a single reason why you wouldn't want to keep chickens.  There are a lot of misconceptions about chickens, and a lot of confusion out there, so let me try to shed a little light on it, and share some of my (hard learned) knowledge in the hope that my kids' childhood trauma can be your lesson learned.  Before you fall in love with the idea of chickens, it's important you know the law in your neighborhood.  Where we live, if you are on an acre you can keep chickens.  We own exactly one acre.  If you are in an HOA you can be sure that they have rules about it.  Don't get discouraged, however.  I know plenty of city dwellers who keep chickens.  I just think it's important you know the law so you can choose whether to break it or not.  The truth is, chickens are fairly quiet (unless you have a rooster) and they do not smell bad, so unless you have an a**hole neighbor, you could try getting away with having a few chickens.  You might even sweeten your neighbors up by offering to share your fresh organic eggs, which in our area cost $4/ dozen!  The eggs are incomparable to those found at your local supermarket.  The yokes are thick and golden, and they taste fresh and delicious.  A pretty little basket of organic eggs makes a wow, yet inexpensive, hostess gift.  From here on out, let's do this FAQ style.  I'll try to answer the questions I get the most:

How many chickens should I get?    Figure it this way:  for every chicken you have you will get about one less egg per day.  For example, if you have 6 chickens you will get 5 eggs a day.  That's an average.  There are a couple of times a year when production drops dramatically because the brood is molting or it's too hot.  Also, it does depend on the breed.  Amerecuanas/ Aracaunas are not as reliable layers as some of the other breeds, but I like to keep a couple becaue the blue-green eggs are so pretty.  We keep 6 chickens, and that is enough to supply us, another family, and Sugar Snap's first grade teacher with fresh eggs.

Should I get baby chicks?  Not if you have kids.  Chicks are cute and fluffy....for a very short period of time.  They are not generally very hardy; they tend to succumb very easily to a variety of diseases/problems.  In our adorable suburban naivete we went out and bought 6 baby chicks the first time.  Overnight, we lost two who drowned in their water bowl, and soon later lost a third.  The other consideration is that you will feed a young chicken for 6 months before they start laying eggs.  Buy a good young layer hen, and start getting eggs immediately.

If I get baby chicks, when will they start laying?   6 months.

Do I need a rooster to make eggs?  I am so surprised by the chicken ignorance out there.  You do not need a rooster to get eggs.  Chickens make eggs happily without roosters.  The roosters  have a tendency to sexually harass the chickens frequently and kind of violently (I realize it's natural...that makes it no less disturbing).  You only need roosters if you want to make more chickens.

Do chickens smell bad?  Not if you do it right.  If you have a "chicken tractor", or mobile chicken house, then by moving it on a fairly frequent basis you will keep the odor down.  Our chicken house is immobile, so we will periodically pour a big bag of cedar chips (buy this at a feed store) into the coop.  You can also let your chickens roam around your yard like we do in the summer when all the garden produce is kaput.

Are your chickens pets?  No.  We no longer name our chickens.  First of all, chickens are bitches.  They are meaner than pre-teen girls.  There is a reason for the term "pecking order".  They will literally peck a weaker older chicken to death.  Also, although a chicken can live to be about 20, they just aren't as hardy as a dog or cat.  We have had a few die due to heat, and a few killed by critters.

What size coop should I have?   They don't need a whole lot of space, we have 6 hens in 8x5 pen.  There are many available to buy, some are fancier than my house.  Ours is hand built out of chicken wire, salvaged metal sheets and old political signs.  Just make sure it's secure enough to keep out critters (dogs/ possums/ racoons/ rats).

What do I feed my chickens?  We feed ours 1/2 coffee can scoop of layer pellets and kitchen scraps.  Chickens will eat almost anything except citrus peel.  We give them watermelon rinds, shrimp shells, leftover peelings, scraps of stale bread, really any kitchen leftovers except anything with chicken in it.  You can do it.  They will eat it.  But in my opinion it's just wrong.  I won't even give them beans cooked in chicken stock, although Hubby thinks it's silly.  I also won't give them eggs for fear that they will develop a taste for them.

How long do the eggs stay fresh?  If you just bought a dozen eggs at the store they were probably laid around the 4th of July.  Any eggs you get from your own hens are going to be much fresher, but they keep for months.

What breed do you recommend?  We like Jersey Giants. They are great layers of nice brown eggs.  I like Amerecaunas/ Aracaunas because of the pretty blue green eggs, although they are don't lay as frequently.  Bantams lay tiny little eggs.  Rhode Island Reds are good.  Mys sister-in-law likes her Production Reds.  Ask at your local feed store what they can get for you.  We shop at Wabash Feed on Washington in Houston.

Do you ever eat your chickens?  I could have done it.  We had a pain in the ass rooster that I would have been happy to get rid of the old fashioned way (gumbo), but again...the kids.  One of these days  I am sure I will pluck a chicken for coq au vin, but will probably have to wait until Sugar Snap has gone to college.

So, there you go....all my chicken knowledge in a nutshell.  What are you waiting for?  Get some chickens!!!

White Trash Yum: Chocolate Bacon Cake Balls w/ recipe

Today is Hubby's birthday!  To celebrate, Sugar Snap and I made chocolate bacon cake balls.  That's right.  Chocolate.Bacon.Cake.Balls.  Cake balls and cake pops are all the rage, and are really easy (albeit messy and labor-intensive). I have found the "WOW" factor on these little treats make them worth the trouble.  I have made them many times for all sorts of occasions and in many different flavors, but for Hubby's special day we decided to combine two of his favorite things:  chocolate and bacon.  If I could have infused it with Shiner Bock beer, that's the only thing that would have made them better as far as Hubby's concerned.  Here's how we did it:
Following the directions on the box, bake one chocolate cake.  While the cake is baking, fry your bacon to crisp.  I made 32 fairly large cake balls using one cake, and used about 16 slices of bacon.  Drain the bacon on paper towels:

Allow the cake to cool.  While the cake cools, crumble the bacon, saving 32 small pretty pieces for decoration.  Set the bacon aside. Crumble the cake into small crumbs in a big bowl.  Add 3/4 of a can of chocolate frosting and 3-5 drops of liquid smoke and mix together.  Refrigerate for an hour or so to get the mix firmed up, making it easier to handle.  Once it's firm,  make 32 more or less equal balls.  Roll each ball nicely, and using your thumb, make a hole in the middle and fill with crumbled bacon, and wrap the dough ball around it, fully encasing the bacon inside:

Once all the balls are all made, chill a while and in the meantime melt in the microwave your chocolate chips.  I used about 2 1/2 bags of chocolate chips to cover all of the cake balls.  Getting the chocolate on the balls is a messy messy process.  There is no way around that.  So, put your apron on and roll up your sleeves.  I hold the ball in one hand and use a spoon to coat the bottom half, and then place it on wax paper to coat the rest.  After you completely coat the ball, top it with a bacon piece and let dry on the counter.  Do not put them in the fridge or freezer to hasten the process.  They will weep and discolor.  It's best to just let them sit.  Voila!

Chocolate Bacon Heaven!

Repurposing: A Coffee Table w/ Storage

For years we went without a coffee table.  I just couldn't find one that fit the space and that looked good with the rest of our funky decor.  I finally quit trying to find an actual table I liked, and instead stacked a few of the vintage suitcases I had sitting in the closet.  These are the old square suitcases with flat sides, which work much better than the rounded ones.  I can still find these in small town thrift stores for under $20.  If you look in the urban vintage shops you will pay a lot more.  I put a neat tray on the left side to add some interest.  I like that they stack so nicely and can double for storage.  The small one on top holds all our important documents - passports, immunization records, deed to the house, etc.  In Houston it's important to have all of that stuff together and ready in case of a hurricane evacuation (ask any Houstonian their Hurricane Rita evacuation story).  The blue one holds my scrapbooking materials.  Yes, I scrapbook.  I found some great old travel stickers at my favorite funky shop in Galveston, Hendley Market, which is on the Strand.  The have everything from unique handmade soaps to squirrel pants.  The stacked suitcases could also serve as end tables, in place of a chest at the foot of a bed, or even as a toy chest in a kids room.  Here's how mine look:

Ok, Houston:  share your Rita stories in the comments section.

WT Beauty Tips

For  Christmas last year I asked hubby to get me a face lift.  He bought me Fiestaware.   Seeing as how our current budget doesn't allow for a trip to South America, I am left with less expensive options available to me.  I do exfoliate daily and use a moisturizer with vitamins A, E and C.  But it's no match for gravity (which is assaulting not just my face, but other parts of my anatomy as well - but that's a blog post for another day).  My sister passed along this recipe for a home made inexpensive face mask that can be made from ingredients you already have in your pantry.  It will leave your skin firmer and softer!

Using a spoon in a bowl, or a mortar/pestle grind up one aspirin and one vitamin C tablet.  Add a little honey.  If the honey is too thick add just a drop or two of warm water.  Smooth this sticky concoction over your face, giving it a little scrub to allow the tiny bits of the tablets to exfoliate.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes before rinsing off with lukewarm water.

It Ain't a Facelift

What To Do With All That Ephemera!

I collect vintage ephemera.  My favorite eras are 1920's through the 1950's.  I love and save boxes of: old wallpaper, sheet music, postcards, movie posters, magazines, advertising, illustrated book pages, seed packets, recipes, paper dolls, seed catalogs, menus, art, decorative papers of any kind.  I come by it easily and try to find creative ways to display it.  After all, it doesn't want to live in a box!  One of my preferences is to decoupage any available surface (see previous post).  Some large special items get framed and put on the wall.  Recently, however, a large surface became available for papering.  My friend Toni, who is a professional decorator and organizer, came over to help me turn our two bedroom house into a three bedroom house.  Quite a challenge!  We decided to use bookshelves as a divider in our large study/music room to create a cozy bedroom for hubby and me.   It worked well, but left the backs of the ugly exposed bookshelves.  Toni suggested we cover it with fabric - a good idea.  But, I thought, what about my ephemera?  I started playing around and using tiny nails covered the backs of the bookshelves with much of my paper collection.  It think it's beautiful, and it has become my favorite room to be in, and not just because I love sleeping more than anything except eating.

Before:  back of ugly crappy Ikea bookcase

After!

New in the Garden: Lemon Cucumber (w/ recipe!)

That's a cucumber on the left!

I have planted these every year for the last few years, and this is the first year they have really taken off for me.  They are cute little guys - the size, shape and color of a large lemon, but they are cucumbers!  Use them in any dish you would normally use a cucumber.  They have a good cucumber flavor, but you will want to seed them as the seeds are tough.  Also, don't let them get too big or the skin will be tough.  I don't know why they are thriving this year.  Because of the drought I did a lot of watering at the beginning of the season, so maybe they like a lot of water.  Whatever the reason, I like having them.  I take a few as a hostess gift whenever we are invited to a dinner party, and they never fail to make an impression.  There are not enough cucumber recipes in the world to use all the cukes I have on my vines right now.  I have been making cucumber water for my family.  Sugar Snap (my girly girl) loves it.  Do this:  slice seeded clean cucumbers into a pretty pitcher, fill with water and chill.  We discovered this in a chi-chi spa in California.  The cucumber imparts a subtle and refreshing flavor to the water, perfect on a hot day!

                                                My Favorite Cucumber/Dill Sauce for Fish

In a bowl, combine 1/2 c. mayonnaise and 1/2 c. sour cream,  1 finely chopped seeded, peeled cucumber, and a healthy shake of dried dill or, even better, a handful of fresh dill.  Add some cracked pepper to taste.  Serve over grilled or poached fish.  4 servings.

Kitchen Must Have: The Cast Iron Skillet

I have had mine for 20 years.  Actually, it belongs to hubby's ex - girlfriend who moved out of their tiny Denton apartment leaving everything but her clothes behind.  I came along three months later and got rid of everything but the man and the skillet.  I have been enjoying both ever since.  There are a few myths surrounding the care and maintenance of cast iron skillets.  It has been a much debated topic among home cooks and professional chefs alike.  The heavy question is:  Should I wash my cast iron skillet in the sink with dish soap?  The answer:
                                                                      YES!
 I have heard so many people say it's a no-no to wash them, you should use salt and water to scrub it instead.  That's a load of B.S. Wash it the way you wash any other dishes  - I don't ever put mine in the dishwasher, although I'll bet it would be fine.  Soap and water doesn't hurt anything and it doesn't make the pan less "seasoned".  Speaking of seasoning, I got a phone call from a friend with a brand spanking new cast iron skillet who wanted to know the best way to season it.  I don't know why "seasoning" a cast iron pan is important, but there seems to be an awful lot of people concerned about it.  Mine came seasoned, and if you buy yours at a garage sale yours will be, too.  If you have a new one and are concerned about seasoning it, here is what I have read:  coat the bottom of the pan with a little olive oil and bake the pan for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven.  Maybe that works, I don't know.  Just use the thing.   It will soon become your favorite pan in the kitchen for it's versatility.  I love that you can move it from the stove top to the oven (providing it has an iron handle, not a wood one).  It's a great way to cook steaks - brown them nicely on each side and then finish in a very hot oven for a few minutes (we like our steaks very rare - even Sugar Snap prefers hers to still be mooing).  You get the added benefit of trace amounts of iron in your food whenever you cook in cast iron.  I love mine and use it daily.  As for the ex-girlfriend, if she showed up on my doorstep tomorrow wanting her stuff back I think I'd give her hubby before I gave her my skillet.