(Wow, time flies when you're working on Holiday things and indoor crafts instead of tending the garden! Didn't mean for two months to slip by without an update!)
This holiday season, I did as I always do: I baked and cooked myself into a complete frenzy. Every year I throw a big party for friends and family, and as part of it, I cook good food and confections and baked goods and feed everyone until they waddle out the door, and then some. And this year, I had my girls to provide fresh eggs for absolutely everything I did! And oh, do they make a difference. Between those and my discovery this year of King Arthur Flours, I think I did about as well as I've ever done at most of my goodies, especially the divinity...which is just egg whites and sugar to begin with!
But if you don't have ready access to hard-working chickens in your own back yard, how do you ensure you have the freshest, healthiest, best eggs possible? With all the choices on the market today, it's something of a mystery to most shoppers. Some of the labels you might think actually meant something, like "cage-free", don't really amount to much.
Where Eggs Come From
First, you should know how the majority of large-scale egg farmers operate. In general, large-scale farms (like those that produce your basic, uninteresting dozen eggs you'd pick up at a store) use battery cages. This means the birds are stuffed in wire cages, inside a building with no fresh air or sunshine, up to 8 hens in a single cage. They have no room to lay down, stretch their wings, nest, or perch. They have a mere 67 square inches (smaller than a single sheet of letter-size paper) per bird. And that's how they live, day in, day out. In addition, many producers cut off the beaks of their hens to prevent the pecking that would likely result from these cramped conditions. Some also regulate egg production by forcing the birds to molt on the farmer's schedule, by withholding food. This weakens the birds' immune systems, and actually causes some to starve to death.
Sounds great, doesn't it?
And what happens to the male chicks that hatch out of the system? Given that about half a clutch of eggs will result in male chickens, that's a lot of boys. Boys don't lay eggs. Where do they go? You might think they're raised to adulthood for meat, but it isn't so. In general, they are gassed to death, which although sad, seems to me to be at least painless. One of the more gruesome practices is the newer technique of pitching the baby males into a large grinder, which results in (theoretically) instantaneous death. Death by garbage disposal. Neat.
Note: While most males in the egg producing farms are killed, about 2/3 of females in the meat producing farms are also killed, so they don't get off the hook either.
So. If you decide as I did that those conditions are deplorable, and decide to support a more humane way of getting your eggs, what do you do? Of course some of us decide to raise our own birds, but not everyone has the space, time, money, or inclination to do so, and that's fine. Where do you go to buy eggs, then? How do you decipher the Egg Lingo? This guide isn't all-inclusive, but maybe it'll help some:
Age of Eggs
Most eggs will keep 5-7 weeks, even when purchased from the grocery store. Commercially produced eggs are usually washed, which removes their protective bloom and can in some cases drive bacteria into the eggs themselves. However, they're also usually sanitized, which farm eggs are typically not. Mother Earth News did a study in the 70's on unwashed farm eggs, and showed that they last in the refrigerator for literally months. Problem is...how old are the eggs that reach you at the store? Look at the carton. USDA graded eggs are marked with the Julian Date, which is the day of the year on which they were packed. It'll be the last three numbers of a serial code which may include a code for the packing facility. 001 is January 1st, and 365 is December 31st. So if you buy a carton of eggs on February 3rd, and the number on the carton is 003, you know your eggs are about 1 month old before they reached you. If the eggs also have a "Sell By" date, the date will be within 45 days of the pack date, by regulation. After that, you still have 3-5 weeks even by conservative government safety measures to use your eggs.
Me, I rarely have eggs more than a couple of weeks old total in my fridge.
Omega-3 or Enriched Eggs
Changes in the nutritional content of eggs is generally brought about by a change in the feed. Hens with access to their own forage and the ability to eat bugs, weeds, and tidbits of their own choosing have recently been shown to have higher nutritional content in their eggs than hens fed strictly a commercially-produced diet. And claims from egg producers about the nutritional content of their eggs should be viewed rather skeptically. In general, asking the person selling the product for proof is not the best course of action; find third-party testing sources, like consumer advocates, as they don't have a vested interest in the results.
By the way, the color of the egg is determined solely by the breed of the chicken. In the US, most commercial egglaying hens are of a breed that produces white eggs. White eggs are not bleached or altered to achieve that color, and they are no more or less healthy than brown eggs laid by hens raised under the same conditions. I do personally find them to be much less interesting than the rainbow of browns and blues produced by my girls, but that's just aesthetics.
"Other" Living Conditions For Hens
Cage-Free Eggs
So after reading about the cramped battery cages, "cage-free" is better, right? Well, marginally. The hens can probably walk around and stretch their wings, maybe lay down, and interact with more birds. However, they are usually kept in giant warehouses with no access to outside and no fresh air or sunshine, and no population cap. They can be fed pretty much anything including antibiotics, pesticides, drugs, or unhealthy animal byproducts. The cutting of beaks and the forced molting are still allowed. Worst, there's no regulatory agency checking to insure eggs marked "cage-free" actually come from uncaged hens.
Free-Range/Roaming Eggs
These girls are a step up again. They can walk and stretch, lay down, and interact with one another. They usually have some access to outside. But like the cage-free girls, there's no regulatory agency ensuring these standards are met, and there is no actual requirement for access to the outdoors. Still no feed restrictions, and beak cutting and forced molting are still allowed.
Certified Organic Eggs
This label is actually regulated and earned from third-party auditors (not the farmer, and not the government.) They are required to be uncaged with access to the outdoors, and to be fed an organic vegetarian feed free of antibiotics, drugs, pesticides, and animal byproducts. However, the amount and duration of the outdoor access isn't regulated...a small door accessing a tiny yard far too small for even a fraction of the flock is acceptable. There are no regulations capping population density, though because they're not allowed to use antibiotics, the farmers usually keep the density much lower than for situations where they can use antibiotics. Beak cutting and forced molting? Still okey-dokey.
Certified Humane Eggs
Here the girls must be uncaged, but may or may not have outdoor access. They must have enough room to perform their normal, natural functions such as stretching, preening, roosting, and dust bathing. There is actually a population density cap on these, and the farm is also required to have a certain number of nest boxes and perches. As with organic their feed must be vegetarian and free of antibiotics, hormones, and animal byproducts. Forced molting? Not allowed. Beak cutting, however, is still allowed. Wilcox Farms and Stiebrs Farms both comply with this label. Certified by a third party.
Animal Welfare Approved Eggs
Hens must be uncaged and have continuous access to the outdoors. There are standards for population density, perch availability and nest boxes. Diet as in Organic and Certified Humane eggs. Forced molting and beak cutting are finally a no-no with this label. Bad news? There are no participating producers that currently sell to supermarkets, so you're probably looking for farmer's markets or direct from the farmers on these eggs.
United Egg Producers Certified Eggs
Most egg producers in the US comply with this program, where forced molting is actually disallowed. Certified by third party vendors. No forced molting is about the only difference between this and "regular" eggs, though, as they can still be kept stacked in cages with only 67 square inches of personal space, and have their beaks removed.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm not a vegetarian, nor an activist, and I don't have any particular agenda. That said, I do think people should be aware of where their food comes from and the effects that result from choices they make at the grocery store. Some people choose to forego eggs altogether, seeing it as a violation of the chickens' animal welfare, and that's fine. I'm not one of them. Some people choose to raise their own chickens. Some will learn to carefully read labels and weigh factors before choosing eggs. Some will support local farmers or neighbors with chickens. And of course many people will continue to purchase the mass-produced eggs that have become a cheap source of nutrition and protein, and that's also fine. Some folks have neither the economic luxury nor the geographic ability to find anything else, either, and they shouldn't be vilified for their limited choices. But that's really the key: knowing your choices, knowing the economic and biological reality, and just thinking about the world around you instead of blindly consuming.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit
I mentioned a couple of posts back that I had decided to dry my beans. Why? Well, I'd originally planted them to eat them green, but after only a couple of times of that, I just fell behind and ended up with plants full of fat green beans at the end of the season. Once they get those full beans (the seeds) inside, they're no good for eating green anymore. I could have let them dry on the vine if we'd had nicer weather, but about that time it turned wet, and we had frost predicted on several occasions. Frost that never materialized and hasn't to date, but it meant bringing them in.
I went out and pulled all the bean plants and stripped them of their fat pods. I had four teepees of beans, with three stakes per teepee. Each stake had two plants, which means a total of 24 bean plants about 6' high. Took me a couple of hours to strip them all bare and pull out the stakes, pile up the vines and leaves for compost, and put all the beans into a bucket.
After I had all the bean pods inside, I used some heavy cotton sewing thread to stitch them all into 3' long strings, by simply running a needle and thread through the end of each bean. Once I had about 3', I tied the strings to the bottom of a sturdy coathanger, about 5 bundles per coathanger. Then I took them down to the woodstove and hung them from cracks behind the stove, against the brick, to dry out thoroughly.
A few days ago, my husband came to me with a handful of chocolatey brown beans and let me know that the pods were splitting open and dropping their beans everywhere. I interpreted that as, "Your stupid beans are getting everywhere, do something!" So tonight I took them all down, got a bucket, and shelled all the beans out. We ended up burning the dry pods, but I was thinking that they'd probably make good feed supplements for ruminants, if we'd had any.
After all that, I wound up with about 4 pints of beautiful brown beans. 4 pints. I figure it was about 2 hours each picking, stringing, and shelling, so over an hour to get a single pint of beans. *looking at large bag of beans picked up at Costco* Well, at least I know these are organic! Plus, drying them wasn't the original intent, it was just the result of wanting to save the last of the beans from going to waste. Now, we'll see how they actually taste...
I went out and pulled all the bean plants and stripped them of their fat pods. I had four teepees of beans, with three stakes per teepee. Each stake had two plants, which means a total of 24 bean plants about 6' high. Took me a couple of hours to strip them all bare and pull out the stakes, pile up the vines and leaves for compost, and put all the beans into a bucket.
After I had all the bean pods inside, I used some heavy cotton sewing thread to stitch them all into 3' long strings, by simply running a needle and thread through the end of each bean. Once I had about 3', I tied the strings to the bottom of a sturdy coathanger, about 5 bundles per coathanger. Then I took them down to the woodstove and hung them from cracks behind the stove, against the brick, to dry out thoroughly.
A few days ago, my husband came to me with a handful of chocolatey brown beans and let me know that the pods were splitting open and dropping their beans everywhere. I interpreted that as, "Your stupid beans are getting everywhere, do something!" So tonight I took them all down, got a bucket, and shelled all the beans out. We ended up burning the dry pods, but I was thinking that they'd probably make good feed supplements for ruminants, if we'd had any.
After all that, I wound up with about 4 pints of beautiful brown beans. 4 pints. I figure it was about 2 hours each picking, stringing, and shelling, so over an hour to get a single pint of beans. *looking at large bag of beans picked up at Costco* Well, at least I know these are organic! Plus, drying them wasn't the original intent, it was just the result of wanting to save the last of the beans from going to waste. Now, we'll see how they actually taste...
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Food Preservation Tips
A few tips and preservation techniques I thought I'd pass along. Seems like the appropriate time of year, when people are hauling in the last of their crops!
* Beans to be dried for later use in soups or bean dishes can usually be left to dry on the plant. When they rattle in the pods, they're dry. If you live in an area, like I do, where frost or rain would threaten the beans before they're dry, you can pick them early. If you have the space, pull the entire plant and hang somewhere warm and dry until the pods turn brown and the beans rattle. If you don't have space, pull the individual pods, then string together 2 or 3 feet-worth on a heavy beading thread, and hang somewhere warm and dry (such as near a woodstove.) When the beans rattle in the pods, you can either continue to store them in the pods, or pop them out of their pods and store them in a glass jar.
* Many vegetables can be sliced and dehydrated. You can follow the instructions on your home dehydrator, or you can use your oven turned to the very lowest setting, around 175 degrees. Celery should be blanched first. Zucchini, apples, pears, eggplant, carrots, and tomatoes can be merely sliced and dried. All of the above can be stored in glass jars. (Note: Potatoes need to be blanched and steamed to absolute transparency before dehydrating. Skipping this step or under-steaming will result in your dried potatoes turning black.)
* Most herbs can be dried by gathering a bunch early in the morning (when the aromatic compounds in the plants are at their peak) and then hanging them upside down somewhere cool and dry.
* Winter Squashes can be stored for months. Pick the squash, leaving at least 2-3" of stem. Allow to toughen on your counter for 2 weeks, then rub the skin lightly with olive oil. Store on your counter if you like, or in cold storage. Do NOT store in a basket or bowl, as the restricted airflow and retained moisture may cause them to rot prematurely. Thinner-skinned summer squashes can also be stored longer by the same method, though they should be refrigerated and may only last a couple of extra weeks.
* Other things can be fermented and made into "sauerkraut"-like concoctions in the same way sauerkraut is made. Shredded carrots and red onions make an amazing combination.
So, if you want to extend the life of your harvest and don't want to dry, can, or ferment your pickings, you can also keep them in a kind of "suspended animation" using vinegar, salt, or a combination. This would be the kind of storage folks used before refrigeration, when copious quantities of salt or storage in cold root cellars were the preferred method for storing foods.
* Basic Brining Formula - 1 Tbl salt per 1 quart of filtered or spring water. Pour over green beans, sliced carrots, peppers, eggplant, or other vegetables to extend their storage life. Keep in the fridge for up to a month. The salt retards the growth of mold and other spoiling organisms, as does the cool temperature.
* Basic Vinegar Formula - Wash your vegetables and dry thoroughly. Pack a jar with your vegetables, poke holes in larger ones like Japanese eggplants and peppers. Fill jar 1/2 full with vinegar, 1/2 full with good filtered water, and top with a few drops of olive oil to create a seal at the top. Store in cold storage for several months.
NOTE: I don't vouch for the safety of storing foods without proper canning or refrigeration, unless fermented safely as in sauerkraut. Botulism, while uncommon, is a dangerous potential side-effect of improper storage under anaerobic (low oxygen) conditions such as produced when submerging vegetables in liquid and sealing the surface with oil. The acidity of the vinegar should provide protection from most toxic growths, but as it's not a measured, tested recipe, variables may change results. Proceed at your own risk, and do your own research online or in books!
* Beans to be dried for later use in soups or bean dishes can usually be left to dry on the plant. When they rattle in the pods, they're dry. If you live in an area, like I do, where frost or rain would threaten the beans before they're dry, you can pick them early. If you have the space, pull the entire plant and hang somewhere warm and dry until the pods turn brown and the beans rattle. If you don't have space, pull the individual pods, then string together 2 or 3 feet-worth on a heavy beading thread, and hang somewhere warm and dry (such as near a woodstove.) When the beans rattle in the pods, you can either continue to store them in the pods, or pop them out of their pods and store them in a glass jar.
* Many vegetables can be sliced and dehydrated. You can follow the instructions on your home dehydrator, or you can use your oven turned to the very lowest setting, around 175 degrees. Celery should be blanched first. Zucchini, apples, pears, eggplant, carrots, and tomatoes can be merely sliced and dried. All of the above can be stored in glass jars. (Note: Potatoes need to be blanched and steamed to absolute transparency before dehydrating. Skipping this step or under-steaming will result in your dried potatoes turning black.)
* Most herbs can be dried by gathering a bunch early in the morning (when the aromatic compounds in the plants are at their peak) and then hanging them upside down somewhere cool and dry.
* Winter Squashes can be stored for months. Pick the squash, leaving at least 2-3" of stem. Allow to toughen on your counter for 2 weeks, then rub the skin lightly with olive oil. Store on your counter if you like, or in cold storage. Do NOT store in a basket or bowl, as the restricted airflow and retained moisture may cause them to rot prematurely. Thinner-skinned summer squashes can also be stored longer by the same method, though they should be refrigerated and may only last a couple of extra weeks.
* Other things can be fermented and made into "sauerkraut"-like concoctions in the same way sauerkraut is made. Shredded carrots and red onions make an amazing combination.
So, if you want to extend the life of your harvest and don't want to dry, can, or ferment your pickings, you can also keep them in a kind of "suspended animation" using vinegar, salt, or a combination. This would be the kind of storage folks used before refrigeration, when copious quantities of salt or storage in cold root cellars were the preferred method for storing foods.
* Basic Brining Formula - 1 Tbl salt per 1 quart of filtered or spring water. Pour over green beans, sliced carrots, peppers, eggplant, or other vegetables to extend their storage life. Keep in the fridge for up to a month. The salt retards the growth of mold and other spoiling organisms, as does the cool temperature.
* Basic Vinegar Formula - Wash your vegetables and dry thoroughly. Pack a jar with your vegetables, poke holes in larger ones like Japanese eggplants and peppers. Fill jar 1/2 full with vinegar, 1/2 full with good filtered water, and top with a few drops of olive oil to create a seal at the top. Store in cold storage for several months.
NOTE: I don't vouch for the safety of storing foods without proper canning or refrigeration, unless fermented safely as in sauerkraut. Botulism, while uncommon, is a dangerous potential side-effect of improper storage under anaerobic (low oxygen) conditions such as produced when submerging vegetables in liquid and sealing the surface with oil. The acidity of the vinegar should provide protection from most toxic growths, but as it's not a measured, tested recipe, variables may change results. Proceed at your own risk, and do your own research online or in books!
Must Be Fall!
Yesterday I spent most of the day really feeling like it was fall. Got up to a fairly steady, normal fall rain, even!
First I went out to the Apple Festival in Venersborg, WA. Venersborg is a very, very small hamlet about 10 miles east of Battle Ground, WA. (When I say small, I mean VERY small. Friend of mine who grew up near there said, "I didn't know Venersborg had a 'festival'. I didn't even know they had a building.") It was settled in the late 19th and early 20th century primarily by a colony of Swedish folks who grew fruit and dried it for shipping around the country. The festival was held at the little one-room schoolhouse where their children went to school until the colony disbanded in the 1930's.
The Venersborg Community Club had over 300 varieties of apples out for tasting, ranging from your normal boring Red and Yellow Delicious, ubiquitious Granny Smiths, locally popular Gala, Fuji, and Honeycrisps all the way to the pink-fleshed Hidden Rose and a very nearly extinct Gideon Sweet. We tasted a few, and my daughter seemed to enjoy it even when she found apples she didn't like and handed her slices to me or her father for consumption. We looked at crabapples, and pictures of various trees, got information about the Venersborg Community Center, and saw a couple of acquaintances I seem to be seeing more and more often. We also took the apples from our front tree to be identified. Turns out they're a sauce apple called a Keswick Codlin. They're not very nice for eating as they're very soft, but they do make really great apple sauce. Plus our chickens like them! Also had a giant apple identified for a friend. Hers were easily spotted as Hanner's Jumbos, largely by being the size of a grapefruit and bright red; they're a mutation of a Red Delicious, so very similar only hugemongous. They were surprised that someone was growing them in a local backyard, as they were from Hood River and only a few orchardists have them. I happen to know that the former owner of my friend's house was an orchardist, and probably brought the tree with him when he moved to the place.
After we left the Apple Festival, I parted ways with the family and went on to a Food Preservation class and demonstration sponsored by Dee Creek Farms. The woman who owned the house had a lovely Garden hive out back of the solarium where the class was held, and I saw at least two Ameraucana chickens roaming around the lawn. Another funny thing, one of the gals who had been helping at the Apple Festival turned out to be at the class, and after chatting with her I found out that she knows Jacqueline Freeman of Friendly Haven Rise Farms, where I've taken several classes, and she also knows a woman who used to be the leader of the 4-H Goat group my best friend belonged to in high school. Small freakin' world, this slow-food CSA chicken-raising beekeeping bean-hugging-dirt-worshipper world!
The Food Preservation class was interesting, and I picked up a few tidbits. Discovered that I wasn't so terribly clever as I thought when I decided to string my still-green beans on a thread and hang them behind the wood stove; apparently that's an accepted method for dealing with dried beans when they don't have a chance to dry outside before they have to be harvested and brought inside due to frost or rain. I must have read about it in Little House on the Prairie or something...
The class also prompted me to come home and start harvesting and preserving the last of everything else in the yard. I have a batch of celery drying in the dehydrator, plus I'll be putting the last of the peppers in vinegar and brine to preserve for later salsa making. I'll post another short post with some tips I gleaned, for your own food preservation!
First I went out to the Apple Festival in Venersborg, WA. Venersborg is a very, very small hamlet about 10 miles east of Battle Ground, WA. (When I say small, I mean VERY small. Friend of mine who grew up near there said, "I didn't know Venersborg had a 'festival'. I didn't even know they had a building.") It was settled in the late 19th and early 20th century primarily by a colony of Swedish folks who grew fruit and dried it for shipping around the country. The festival was held at the little one-room schoolhouse where their children went to school until the colony disbanded in the 1930's.
The Venersborg Community Club had over 300 varieties of apples out for tasting, ranging from your normal boring Red and Yellow Delicious, ubiquitious Granny Smiths, locally popular Gala, Fuji, and Honeycrisps all the way to the pink-fleshed Hidden Rose and a very nearly extinct Gideon Sweet. We tasted a few, and my daughter seemed to enjoy it even when she found apples she didn't like and handed her slices to me or her father for consumption. We looked at crabapples, and pictures of various trees, got information about the Venersborg Community Center, and saw a couple of acquaintances I seem to be seeing more and more often. We also took the apples from our front tree to be identified. Turns out they're a sauce apple called a Keswick Codlin. They're not very nice for eating as they're very soft, but they do make really great apple sauce. Plus our chickens like them! Also had a giant apple identified for a friend. Hers were easily spotted as Hanner's Jumbos, largely by being the size of a grapefruit and bright red; they're a mutation of a Red Delicious, so very similar only hugemongous. They were surprised that someone was growing them in a local backyard, as they were from Hood River and only a few orchardists have them. I happen to know that the former owner of my friend's house was an orchardist, and probably brought the tree with him when he moved to the place.
After we left the Apple Festival, I parted ways with the family and went on to a Food Preservation class and demonstration sponsored by Dee Creek Farms. The woman who owned the house had a lovely Garden hive out back of the solarium where the class was held, and I saw at least two Ameraucana chickens roaming around the lawn. Another funny thing, one of the gals who had been helping at the Apple Festival turned out to be at the class, and after chatting with her I found out that she knows Jacqueline Freeman of Friendly Haven Rise Farms, where I've taken several classes, and she also knows a woman who used to be the leader of the 4-H Goat group my best friend belonged to in high school. Small freakin' world, this slow-food CSA chicken-raising beekeeping bean-hugging-dirt-worshipper world!
The Food Preservation class was interesting, and I picked up a few tidbits. Discovered that I wasn't so terribly clever as I thought when I decided to string my still-green beans on a thread and hang them behind the wood stove; apparently that's an accepted method for dealing with dried beans when they don't have a chance to dry outside before they have to be harvested and brought inside due to frost or rain. I must have read about it in Little House on the Prairie or something...
The class also prompted me to come home and start harvesting and preserving the last of everything else in the yard. I have a batch of celery drying in the dehydrator, plus I'll be putting the last of the peppers in vinegar and brine to preserve for later salsa making. I'll post another short post with some tips I gleaned, for your own food preservation!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
New Digs for the Chicks!
Since we had a hen go broody several months ago, we've been planning the expansion of the chicken coop. We started with five girls last year, and after acquiring three new girls from a neighbor and having 4 babies hatch from our broody hen's clutch, we now have a total of 12 chickens. The coop that was more than adequate for 5 girls was just a little snug for 12, both in the "bedroom" and the outdoor run. Never fear, husband to the rescue!First, he laid a new, dug-in foundation of cinderblocks to prevent any pests from digging into the coop easily. Given the hardness of our all-clay soil, I'd be surprised if anything could dig under the coop in one night even without the blocks in the way, but doesn't hurt to be safe. Then we moved the entire coop, chickens and all, using a hand truck and a lot of heaving and cussing. Fortunately, we only had to slide it over by the length of the coop.
After the coop was moved, Todd built a new run for the outside. He left the original coop roofed over, and the new run has a roof made of sturdy galvanized chicken wire. It more than doubled the fenced-in run space the girls have. Since we leave them in the run more often than not, we wanted to be sure they had adequate space to get away from one another and roam, and a place for me to throw treats and entertainment (it's amazing what an entire uprooted cauliflower plant does for the activity level of the girls!)
Then he started in on the "bedroom". Our original design was nice, with the nest boxes and roosts enclosed up above an open area on one side of the coop. It left more floor space "outside" that way, but it had a couple of inherent flaws. First, the girls' exit door into the run flipped up instead of to the side. Being short, that presented a problem to me, given that it was over halfway up from the floor and I sometimes had a hard time latching it open at the top. And since it was up high, we had to have a ramp in the coop for the girls to climb up to their "bedroom", which took up space and presented a lovely platform for poo-collecting. However, the biggest problem was cleaning the inside area; in order to clean the floor of the roosting area, we had to flip open the entire back of the coop, remove the nest boxes and roosts, and shovel it out. Big disruption to the girls, and not quick or easy for the humans.
Human Access Door
The door into the run/coop from the outside. The girls know I'm going to open it soon!
The new setup has less "outdoor" space, since the area under the nest boxes and roosts has been enclosed, but they can walk in and out of it all day as they like, so they're not really out any floor space. Since it's siding over chicken wire, the back and sides of the bottom enclosed area can be opened up during the day in the summer for ventilation and closed up again at night to provide added protection from weather and predators. And since the floor of the space is now at the same level as the rest of the coop's floor, and there's a human-sized door to access the area, I can just rake out the floor. Yay! We're also working on a small storage area inside above one of the nest boxes, to store small containers of grit, oyster shell, and scratch.
The "Bedroom"
Two roost bars are natural tree branches from an old lilac of ours, and two are squared wooden rods, so they can choose whichever they like. There are now four nest boxes, the rightmost being the brood box the four little ones standing on it were hatched in. Above that box will be a new storage cupboard. The bottom left, back, and right panels can be removed for ventilation as there is also sturdy chicken wire in place.
The girls have gone from 3 nest boxes, two very short roosts and one longer one to four full-length roosts and 4 nest boxes. When we put them inside it last night, they sat and gabbled loudly, just as if one of them had just laid an egg. Complete confusion! We apparently upset their long-established roosting order, and everyone had to call dibs on a new bit of roost. Two even went back to their old habit of trying to roost in the nest boxes. The four little ones decided they'd be safest up on top of the only flat-topped nest box, and we didn't discourage them last night. Soon that's where the storage area will be, so it'll be a moot point.
The New Wall
The entire roost/nest box area used to only take from the center bar upward. Instead, we've moved the chicken access to the lower left floor, removing the need for a ramp, and we've installed a human-access door to make cleaning easier. Everything can be locked if necessary, but we usually just latch it.
Poor little ones spent all day inside the roosting area, since they're new to the flock and smaller than the other girls. I gave them their old feeder full of adult (high protein, all organic) feed and their old waterer full of clean water. Once they assimilate a little better into the pecking order in a week or two, I'll remove the extra feeder and waterer, but for now I'd rather they not be starving and dehydrated as well as stressed out!
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