Baby Chickens and Coyote Worries

I don't know if I mentioned that James the rooster is a father. Neighbors had a broody hen, so they put 4 eggs under her, fertilized by James, of course. Then, 3 weeks later, 2 eggs hatched out and the little babies went running off, so mama chicken got off the nest to chase them, and meanwhile, the other 2 that hadn't quite hatched yet, died. So mama took good care of the 2 wild little things for 3 or 4 weeks, and then we moved them over to our house. This is because Sandy felt bad that we had ended up with only 2 hens and a crazy rooster. So she figured maybe we would get more hens this way.

We brought them home Saturday night, Sept. 12. We have an old rabbit cage, so we put them in that to keep them safe from the big chickens and cats and predators and stuff. We carried them in the cage into the chicken coop, and they slept in the cage all night. In the morning, we carried them out of the coop, still in the cage, and put the cage inside the bird-net covered cold frame, inside the chicken yard.

That evening, Sunday, we went for a walk, and got back about 10 minutes after chicken bedtime. Rich headed right over to the neighbors to fetch James (which we have to do every night), and I went out to put the babies in the coop. Only they weren't in the cold frame. Then I heard peeping. They were already in the coop. They had escaped from the cold frame and found there way into the coop.

The next day, Monday, we forgot about the cold frame and just locked them in the chicken yard. Rich was home from work, and went out early afternoon to check on them. They weren't there. They had escaped and were in the tomato patch. He found where they had escaped from and fixed it, and we fixed the cold frame and used it a few more days, but more and more it was apparent that they were just ready to be "free range chickens." Rich was working at home all last week, so it worked okay. This week he had to go back into the office, so we thought about leaving them locked in the chicken yard. The logistics of keeping them in and still figuring out a way for the big ones to get into the coop to lay their eggs was too complicated, so we just decided to let them roam. As Rich said, they are probably roosters anyway! So, Monday, Tuesday and today they have roamed free with no problems. The big ones have pretty much accepted them. And amazingly enough, James has started coming home on his own. For 2 or 3 nights Rich has gone over there and when James sees him he heads over here on his own. Tonight I went out at chicken bedtime and he was already in the coop without Rich having to go over there at all.

Then, we were in the kitchen getting dinner ready, and Daryl came over to tell us that Lena Fisher (across the street) had a coyote in her yard at 9:30 this morning. So now we're all freaked. Rich is going to stay home tomorrow. Lyda's have Larry the Llama, which helps probably, and the people behind us now have horses and at least one dog, which also helps. But it is quite freaky and now we are worried about the sheep and goats, as well as chickens.

Baby chicken photos - they are having a dirt bath in the bean patch:
And here they are hanging out with Victoria hoping for some grapes to fall on the ground:












And in their safe place in the garden:
I am calling them Thing 1 and Thing 2. They will get real names when they become hens or roosters. My guess is that Thing 1 is a hen and Thing 2 is a rooster. I think the reason James has started coming home on his own is that he knows at least one of them is a rooster and he is not willing to give up his territory. It isn't because of fatherly hormones.

They are so cute and so adventuresome, it will be hard to give one up if he is a rooster. Don't know what we will do....
And did I mention that they fly? The cat sort of chases them and they fly across the yard. At night, they fly up onto the roost and up to check out the windows in the coop. They fly way more than the others did or do.

Happy Birthday to Me

My birthday is tomorrow. 61. Remember when we thought 30 was old???
Rich and I saw Julie and Julia friday night. It inspired me to do my blog more. Then I was trying to think of something I could write about, and I thought it would be fun to try to go to every restaurant in Yamhill County and write a review. You know, sort of like cooking every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook, but not quite so hard. Although going to some of the restaurants would be hard. Haven't decided all the rules yet. Like I know fast food is out, but how about all the little dives? But who knows, we might discover something wonderful. But there are lots of restaurants to eat our way through before we have to decide about the dives. Although I wouldn't want to save them all for last. Hmm.

So last night Sue offered to take Rich and me out for my birthday. I have been driving past this hideous building in Dundee for about a year now as they built it, too close to the road, and then that awful ugly style with fake looking stone and wood and you can't tell if they are going for the italian villa look or english tudor. All mixed up. And this one seems especially ugly. Everytime I drive by it I notice it and feel almost offended at it's ugliness. A realtor office opened at one end of it, and it looks like a bank is opening at the other end. I figured it must have been the realtors that built it. Then, maybe a month or so ago, a little sandwich board sign appeared on the sidewalk in front of it, announcing the Farm to Fork restaurant and the Red Hills Inn. Intriguing. So I looked them up on the internet. Even more intriguing. So I suggested to Sue that we go there.

The wine list is fantastic. We had the 2005 Domaine Trouvere Dundee Hills Pinot Noir. Fabulous. Tannic and fruity. I had this wonderful little dungeoness crab stuffed home made pasta thing. With buerre blanc. Rich had the duck, and he wants to go back every day for a year and have duck. And Sue had melt in your mouth scallops. The salads were delicious as well. And the desserts.
I had the Espresso Soaked Vanilla Bean Cake. More like a cake/pudding. Yum. I wanted to lick the plate. Rich had the Vanilla Bean-Mascarpone Cheesecake, and Sue had the Raspberry Napoleon “Dynamite”. What can I say? This place is going to be hot. It doesn't even matter anymore that the building is so ugly. They don't take reservations for parties of less than 6 unless you're staying at the hotel. They told us when we called that there would be no problem getting in at 6:30 or so. We got there at about 6:15 and were the last ones to get seated. They do have a wine bar also, so I suppose if you had to wait for a table you could sit and drink wine. But it is a leisurely dining experience, so you might have to drink lots of wine. My recommendation is to get there early. I'm going to want to go back there before I go to all the other restaurants in Yamhill County.
Sue told me that Hope went to Amherst with Julie Powell. They were friends, even.

Today we did the usual working in the yard attempting to make a small dent in the amount of work that needs doing. Then we went kayaking. First time this year that we have used our kayaks. We put in at the dock in Champoeg, kayaked down to Buttville, and back. The dock at Champoeg is very high off the water and it was really hard for me to get in. Rich had to have his boat outside my boat and stabilize me. I couldn't reach down far enough to get a good grip to balance myself. Then, when we got back, getting out was not even possible. I had to go over to the muddy bank and get out there. Fortunately there was sort of a worn trail so I could climb up to the dock ramp. Steep and muddy, but possible! I had to toss my rope up to Rich so he could pull the boat over to the dock and get out. A nice paddle though, but lots of power boats. Everyone was out skiing and tubing.

Busy times in Newberg!

Just to catch up!

Newberg Old Fashioned Festival was a couple weeks ago. We didn't go to the parade of course, but we were thinking about going to the fireworks. Then Alan, across the street, told us his band was playing, so we decided to walk down to the park to hear the music and then go to the fireworks. We ended up sitting next to our neighbor Emil and his son, and in the row behind Alan's whole family - brother, sister, grand kids, et al. I tried to get a good picture, but Alan is the drummer and he was way in the back, and the guitar guy kept stepping in front of him. You can sort of see in these photos....















Last weekend, Kaylee came to visit us. We went to Champoeg to the Saturday Living History event. They have these every weekend in the summer. This one was Grain Harvest Day. Wheat and corn. The kids got to grind the wheat into flour and the corn into cornmeal. Then there was a churning demonstration, and to top it all off, they baked fresh cornbread in a dutch oven over a fire and we got to sample it with fresh churned butter.
Here's Kaylee grinding flour:

Then we went for a hike, about 3 miles each way, to Butteville, for ice cream at the famous Butteville Store. Kaylee says next time we have to ride bikes!

Chicken Sadness

I was in Ashland last night. When Rich got home from work he couldn't find Elizabeth anywhere. When he was headed over to Lyda's to get James at bedtime, he saw a pile of red feathers in the yard next door. We think a hawk got her. She wasn't laying yet, so while the other 2 were in the nest, she was probably out wandering around by herself. She was so sweet. Makes me glad I was nice to her. After we got home from Scotland we were picking blueberries. She was hanging out with us, very quietly so she wouldn't have to let the others know where she was and share. Every time a blueberry dropped on the ground, she nailed it. I dropped a whole bunch on purpose for her.

Chickens

So at the time we left for Scotland, as you will recall, we had only recently discovered that we actually had 2 roosters, and only 3 hens. They were all pretty much full grown, but not fully mature. The roosters had only just begun to crow. They all hung out with each other all day in a little group. Henry was a really sweet rooster and would almost let us pet him.

While we were in Scotland, the roosters came of age. When Sarah and Shawn showed up on June 30, Henry charged them. He came up behind and pecked at them a few other times as well.

When we got to the Newark Airport, we had a voice mail from our neighbors, Jack and Sandy Lyda, the ones we got the chickens from in the first place. They said one of our roosters had found his way over there and wasn't leaving. So we called them and said we'd talk to them Monday evening.

When we got home, we learned that Henry had gotten so aggressive he essentially chased Jane James away. Jack was bringing him back over every night and putting him in our coop, but first thing in the morning he would run lickety split back over there. They have several hens, but they really didn't want a rooster, and quickly got rid of the few new chickens they kept that turned out to be roosters.

So, big dilemma. I didn't know what to do, as I really liked both of them. Before we left for Scotland they would come and crow at my window to wake me up. When I went out to the yard they came running, in a happy friendly way.

Now, Henry started coming up behind me and attacking. Okay, Henry, enough was enough. I put an ad on Craig's list and last Saturday morning gave him away to a very nice couple with a big farm and 6 hens. An email from them confirms he is happy and his new hens like him.

Big bad Henry before he went to his new home:

So, back to the James problem. We tried keeping him in the coop Sunday morning, but about 11:00 or so, Victoria was crazy to lay an egg, which she likes to do in the hay bin of the sheep house (yes, at least 2 of them started laying). So Victoria found a hole in the fence and got out, and James was right behind her. He then went running as fast as he could (which is REALLY fast) back over to Lyda's. So Rich has been going over every night and getting him and putting him in the coop, again. In the morning, Rich lets them out of the coop when he leaves, and then I go out and feed them and let them out of their yard when I leave. Monday, James was gone in a flash. Tuesday, he hung around and ate a little and was still here when I left for work. When I got home, he was over in their yard, but I could see him from our sheep yard. I called him and he responded to my voice. I lured him over finally - he jumped through the fence and raced back over here. I was amazed. But then, within probably 3 minutes, he chased down each one of our hens and had his way with them. They were not happy ladies.

Then, he ran back over to his other girl friends.

Tuesday night and Wednesday night we went and got him. Rich brought him in to the house so I could give him a talking to on Wednesday night:
Tonight, we went over to get him, and he was actually outside of their fence, looking like he was on his way back over here! So I called him and Rich followed behind him, and he actually came home and ran into the coop by himself. So we might be making progress!

Except I put an ad on Craig's List earlier in the evening. No responses yet. I guess we'll see what happens.

Meanwhile, Mary (the banty) is laying one perfect little tiny brown egg every day, and Victoria is laying a slightly bigger brown egg about every 2 - 3 days. Elizabeth, the red auracana, has not started laying, or is hiding them. They will be green. I don't think she is laying yet.

Chickens are fascinating. We are having fun with them, even though....

Our Cousin Jeanne

Today we drove from Inveraray to Campbeltown. On the way, we decided, based on a blurb in the guidebook, to stop at an old Abbey that was also something to do with the Macalister Clan. It sounded like an interesting place with nice grounds.We arrived and parked. Then we went up to the door and you had to ring the bell, which we did. A woman answered and asked if we wanted the tour of the house. We asked how long it would take and she said about 45 minutes. We sort of hesitated, as we were somewhat anxious to get to Campbeltown, thinking maybe the distillery would be open, even on Sunday. She sort of scolded us for being in a hurry, saying, "Americans are always in a hurry." Then she added, "I'm an American." Sue then said, "Of course, because we can understand you." Then Sue explained that we had spent a lot of time in Stonehaven researching our Barclay heritage. The woman looked at us strangely, and said, "You aren't Barclays, are you?" As it turns out, she is also a Barclay. Traced back to the same line as us, earlier than the Barclays who went to America. She has been in all the places in Stonehaven, including the mausoleum on the Ury Estate that we were unable to find. And she had pictures. She is the widow of the last Macalister Laird, who died a couple years ago.

So she invited us in to join a tour with two ladies that she already had in progress, and then she said she would show us her Barclay information. So we joined the tour of this beautiful house, with all kinds of mementos and artifacts and stuff. Then she showed us this room:

So what we learned is that she is 81 years old, from the east coast of the US and lived in California for a long time. She met her husband at a gathering of the clans, and married him in 1985 or so. She is a hand quilter and a collector. She took us into her private part of the house and showed us all her Barclay information, and made some copies of things for us. In her living room, she has heart things hanging on the walls (Sue has some photos of those that I will upload later), Country Living magazines, collections of duck decoys, and quilted stuffed hearts. It was uncanny. More photos:Baba made several quilts of this very same pattern. Sue and I both have one somewhere.

More of Jean's quilts:
And finally, the three "cousins" together:

Ancestral Home

In Stonehaven, Scotland, we are finding out lots of information about our Barclay ancestors. This is a photo of the house on the Urie estate, occupied by our Barclays in the 1600's and 1700's. This house is not the original built by the Barclays, but is built on the same site and we think must have some of the original on it somewhere. It is currently being restored, but work has stopped due to lack of funds. More on all this later when we get photos sorted out and stuff. We tromped all around this estate. Had to park on the outside and walk through. Working on uploading some photos to Picasa album but too late tonight. Tomorrow we head to Aberdeen and then a very roundabout route to end up in Pitochry. We're going to check out the Towie Barclays on the way. Distantly related somehow.

But we know for sure that our Thomas Barclay who went to America in the 1700's is the son of David Barclay of Cheapside who founded Barclay's Bank.

The Scottish Army Recruitment Center

After a fun Saturday night out in Stirling observing the men dressed up in kilts, Rich thought it would be fun to join the Scottish Army because part of the deal is they give you a kilt.

(I'm on a lousy internet connection. More later when we get somewhere with a better connection.)

Bye Bye, George

Since we got rid of that big goat we had, Capricorn, George has become progressively more obnoxious. He butted the other goats and wouldn't let them eat. The last straw was earlier this week when he pounded against the gate in their shed that separated the goat/sheep area from the grain and hay storage area, until he had successfully broken the latch and opened the gate. He let everyone into the storage area, where they ate a bunch of alfalfa, trampled the chicken feed bag, trampled the hay and straw and made a big mess. They also left goat and sheep poops on the platform of the new chicken coop Rich is building, which is attached to the goat/sheep shed. Plus, his little hoarse voice has been growing louder, and he has been more demanding, and starts yelling at us at about 3:00 to be fed, and doesn't stop until we feed him his molasses coated grain. Enough was enough. I put an ad on Craig's List and sold him for $15, to a good home in Carlton where his companion animals will be a horse and an old dog. Too bad so sad for George, who we loved and hated at the same time. But it is a relief to have him gone. The other animals behave much better!

Jane (James) is a Rooster Too!

Uh oh. So I'm behind in posting, but about last weekend, Jane (James) started crowing. He is a Silver Spangled Hamburg Bantam.

And here is a better picture of Henry, since the one I put in already was so dark.

Henry is a Rooster!

We have been wondering if Henry really was a rooster. We thought he was, because even as a baby chick he was bigger than the rest. He started developing a comb earlier and his comb is much bigger than the others. But I looked at pictures on the web last weekend, and it seemed that the roosters had much bigger combs than Henry does. But then we also noticed that he is still loosing baby feathers from his butt.

Yesterday, however, the bluebird people were here to check on the bluebird nest, and Lauri, the Bluebird lady, was quite positive that Henry was a girl. I was excited about getting dark chocolate brown eggs, which is what Cuckoo Marans lay, but I was puzzling over what to call (her), as there are no queens of England named Henrietta. We have Victoria, Mary, Elizabeth and Jane, after the queens. And Henry, after the kings.

Rich got up early this morning and let them out. I was dozing, trying to sleep a little longer. At about 5:40 am I was half asleep and woke up to a strange squawk. Or was it a crow? Outside my window? Then I heard it again and there was no mistaking. I got up, and there they were, on the back porch. Rich was laughing.

Henry is a rooster! Sorry the photo is so dark - there wasn't a lot of light yet I guess.

Rich and Danny left for work and left the front door open. As I was sitting here, I heard little noises at the front door. Evidently they have now found the front porch! I had to use the flash for this one:
That's Victoria in the lead. She is the boldest. I had to close the door, or they would be roosting in the living room right now.

70#

I bench pressed 70# at the gym tonight. I got a gold star.

Busy, sunny weekend

Saturday Rich put the finishing touches on the chicken yard and temporary chicken house made out of our old shower stall. We moved the chickens in and they were very happy to finally be outside with lots of room. Lots of fun all day eating bugs and scratching around in the dirt and eating all the leaves off the little roses that we foolishly included in their yard.

Last night we went out to dinner and so weren't here to supervise chicken bedtime. It was their first experience with night and darkness, as they have lived their whole life so far under a heat lamp. They didn't know what to do, and when we got home we found them huddled together in one corner of their yard. We had to pick each one up and put them into their house to get them to sleep in there. They did the same thing at dusk tonight, so again I picked up each one and put her or him into the house. They will figure it out. Just a little slow.


Today it was time to start shearing sheep. We have been working up to being able to catch them by letting them out of their yard to graze in our yard and not threatening them at all. So today they trotted right out. We closed a couple gates and then chased them in to their inner corral and trapped them. Then I sat in there with them for quite awhile just reading and ignoring them to calm them a little. Then Rich came in and we got ahold of Percy, and put the halter on him. Rich held him while I sheared. I think it took us about 2 hours. Had to flip him on his back first so I could do the belly. Then we stood him up and tied him close to the fence so I could do the rest. He has very dense thick wool. No shots during because we were both a little busy, but here's before and after!
Not a great job - lot's of second cuts and I didn't get him close enough, but not terrible for the first time either! I didn't quite finish, because I was being so careful not to cut his skin as I was doing the final trimming around his butt, and I cut my finger. Lots of blood, so I had to go in the house and deal with it. Hopefully we can catch him again. We have to wait a couple weeks to do Grizel. It's supposed to rain next weekend. It will also be good to give her a little time to forget about being trapped!

After we were done, we pulled our lawn chairs up closde to the chicken yard, opened a few beers, and watched chicken TV. Rich commented that we used to watch baby TV. Many years ago. Sigh. Since we have no grandchildren to stare at and marvel over, we're making do with toddler chicken TV.

Harrison Ford & Kelly Osbourne

See, exciting things do happen in Newberg, I just never find out about them until after the fact.
Harrison Ford is shooting a movie in St. Paul. At some dairy farm, I guess. They had highway 219 closed last night from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (we know this because we went to the Woodburn Outlet Stores), and the reason for the closure (which we didn't know at the time) was for filming. From what I read, they will only be filming in St. Paul for a week or so. They will be in Oregon for a total of 3 months, some in Portland and some other locations.

And rumor has it that Kelly Osbourne was in rehab in Newberg about a month ago. Didn't see her. Oh well. Maybe when I'm retired I'll hang out in coffee shops in Newberg and learn more about what's going on!

A Lovely Neighborhood, Except for This One "House"

Something exciting happened, not just in Newberg, but ON OUR STREET!
I saw them out there when I left for the gym yesterday evening - I just thought it was Ken Summers out there BSing with other neighbors...
Not so! Read all about it here...

It's the "problem" lot between Paul & Katherine's house and Stan's house - the one the people stole from Carol and then burned down the house and pulled a trailer in. This guy in the article is a renter I guess. The people who stole it from Carol don't live there anymore. We learned all this gossip at the annual water meeting a couple weeks ago.