garden news-rehoming new chickens

GARDEN NEWS-REHOMING NEW CHICKENS

from left to right here are their names
apricot vanilla oreo peaches ninja hershey
ms b says oreo is her chicken
mr hudson likes vanilla as his chicken

the previous owners named them 
i estimate the owners age at about 10 and 13

heres our new chicken story

5 years ago when i arrived we had about 4 or 5 chickens in our community garden
over these 5 years through attrition sometimes tragic we were down to 1 chicken
how old she is i dont know but she is at least 5 years + old

the chicken coop is where folks especially kids gravitate to after they enter our garden
lucky the remaining chicken namd poppy loves humans and love handouts

we have debated now for months about getting new chickens in the garden
but no decision could be made on what to do
so
this below happened

ms b and mr hudson will be moving to a new home 
this new home came with these beautiful healthy although a little skittish chickens

a momma chicken named ninja who is 3 years old and her 5 1 year old adopted chicken kids

it seems a fox removed all but one of the original owners chickens
that one left was mommy ninja
she went broody which means she sat on eggs unfertilized eggs all day long
they hardly eat or drink when they go broody
so
the owner went to the feed store and bought 5 one day old chickens
shown in the picture above with mom ninja
they put the new chicks under mom and she happily raised them to where they are
today

mr hudson a kidney transplant patient is on immunosuppressant drugs which can make him susceptible to infections
when he saw his pediatric nephrologist and consulted the infectious disease doctor they said he couldnt be caring for chickens in his new home

so
do you want these chickens 
you betcha
i said
knowing ms b and mr hudson could always visit them without having to care for them
so
one night just after the sun went down right before it got pitch dark and the chickens were all snuggled up on their roosts in their coop
i stealthy like a racoon went in and scooped them off the roost without traumatizing  them too much

if you have ever tried to catch chickens during the daytime you know how hard that can be for the catcher and the chickens

i caught them with the help and supervision of ms b and mr hudson and the assistance of my wife she and the careful eye of the previous owners
we moved them to their new coop at our community garden

they were skittish for several days but now after being fed crack chicken scratch and bushels of fresh veggies they kinda of like their new digs
i heard them talking the other day 
they said its not bad here is it

they are now producing about an egg a day per chicken

i get a few eggs a week since i provide the feed and care for them
the rest around 30 eggs get donated 

the chicken waste will be composted on a regular basis to provide fertilizer for our community garden

from the time the poop leaves the chicken to the time it gets used in our garden will be well over 6 months if not longer

they also provide an attraction for our garden
they provide chicken exposure with less risk for mr hudson

its turning out so far to be a win win for everyone

they seem happy and content in their new home

theres nothing like fresh organic grown eggs

the organicgreen doctor