Monday, April 20, 2009

The newest edition to Phenom Farms





Last week I adopted 4 hens and a rooster off of craigslist. They have been living inside the barn in a stall, as I needed to finish off a coop. Its not a fancy coop, but in the spirit of earth day - very "green"! All materials are recycled, reused or scrap. Hence the pieced together look! The nest boxes are kitty litter containers screwed onto a board, perches made of bamboo. At this point its just fancy enough to have a place for the hens to lay, and to protect them at night from the various forms of wildlife I have here. I'll have to see if I can still hear the rooster crowing now that hes a little farther away from my bed (I live in an apartment in the barn). He is right on time I have to say - starts crowing about 2 minutes before my alarm goes off at 5:30 am, and had the decency to wait until 6:45 on Saturday and Sunday, after I had already woken up from my weekly routine.

So far the hens have names, but the rooster is working on earning his. He's big and beautiful pure white. Dad suggested BBQ, which I wasn't too fond of until he attacked me Sunday morning out of nowhere! He spurred me, drew blood, and left a nice bruise below my knee before I drop kicked him across the barn! The girls are Rubia, Blanca, Zamba & Peliroja, and after Sunday, the roosters current name is Almuerzo for LUNCH! He was very humble today when I was chasing and catching them all - hung upside down from his spurs he wasnt so tough!

2 comments:

Mumzie said...

Your hen house is looking good, just make sure the chickens can get up and away from danger. Remember, coyotes love chicken for dinner. My first chicken house looked very similar to yours, from what I can see anyway. Well, some neighborhood dogs dug under the side of the pen and eat all but one of my little Banny hens and four of my chickens I'd raised from eggs. I was only ten at the time and it was devastating. As for the white rooster....all my white roosters were bad to the bone...I'd let the coyotes have him. Or, perhaps that "Peruvian Chicken" recipe I sent you might tenderize him.

Dad!!! said...

I told you!!!!
BBQ is right on the button!!
;-)