And These People Want to Microchip my Chickens?

Have you read this AP story on Chinese seafood imports? You really need to read the unbelievable audacity of these governmental agencies who purport to safeguard our food supply. The shipments were clearly marked and tagged for further testing for carcinogens and unapproved antibiotics. The cargo was held on very large ships at major ports on the west coast. Everyone knew where the product was and what needed to be done to it.

And yet.......being that it's the government, something broke down and at least one shipment out of four was released for consumption without the required testing taking place.

The more the government tries to do, the more they do poorly. Which brings me to the point of the title of this post: the USDA has tried repeatedly to make mandatory the National Animal Identification System for every livestock animal in the USA.

Under NAIS, as the owner of a backyard flock of chickens, I would be mandated by law to implant a microchip in every one of my chickens. I would have to pay for the chips and the radio frequency device the local USDA office would use to "track" my chickens. USDA claims that having a nationwide database (which they promise they'll keep secret and secure) would allow them to "respond" to an outbreak of some killer animal disease (bird flu, hoof-and-mouth, etc.) threatening to sweep the nation's food supply.

Let me ask you to apply just a little bit of logic here: how am I supposed to believe that the same government that cannot manage or be trusted to test seafood shipped from China when they know where the seafood is (on the boat, in the port) and they know what's potentially wrong with it (contaminated with bad stuff that could kill Americans) can effectively manage my personal farm data on the backyard chickens?

Go to the NoNAIS.org website if you are unfamiliar with the program and read up on the punitive damages this same ineffective government would impose on me if I either mess up my paperwork or if they mess up my paperwork.

And then, do a little bit of reading about the hoof-and-mouth outbreak in Great Britain. Either the lab-originated virus was released on purpose as a sabotage weapon or it was released due to error by someone on staff at the government lab testing for antidotes for such a breakout. The Government that is supposed to protect will wind up being the party responsible for the death, carnage and economic loss suffered by the farmers.

I beg you to reconsider putting the federal or state government in charge of managing anything more than they are already doing (poorly) and in fact, I would welcome a serious discussion about scaling back their current responsibilities significantly.

Will It Ever Rain Again?

We are now approaching the end of our third week with no measurable rainfall. The last measurable amount we had was a quarter inch, and that was after two weeks of no precipitation. In that it's been six weeks since I last posted a blog entry, I would explain most of that time away being outside watering the garden trying to keep everything alive, and the rest either educating my children or goofing off.

The beets germinated nicely and are coming along fine after stalling in the first two weeks of April due to the cold weather. My potato plants took about a month to send up replacement green shoots to repair the freezing damage. I lost three or four, but all three varieties came back in some form.

The chard looks to be a little slow and thin. Disappointing. The Isar yellow wax beans have germinated nicely but seem to have stalled in this protracted dry period. Thus the daily watering. My okra (three varieties) has hardly germinated at all, with maybe ten plants popping up out of five 40 foot rows. Even okra needs some moisture to germinate!

We are three-quarters done with putting tomatoes into the ground and the Matt's Wild Cherry are already starting to bloom, so we should not be too far into June before we see some fruit. That will make me very happy.

On a bit of a whim, I ordered 100 organic strawberry crowns from Seeds of Change and they are beginning to sprout green leaves. I have water going on them now, which reminds me I need to move the sprinkler.

On a poultry note, the chickens are doing very well and growing like weeds (or weeds when we get rain....even the weeds are not growing much!) They are fiesty and fast and funny. The one remaining Pearl Leghorn Rooster found his voice the last week and he gives a very Peter Bradyish "cockadoodledoo!!!" almost on command. He's not loud enough yet to hear from the house, but when I check on them in the morning, he's more than willing to show off. The rest of the roosters have been slower to mature than this fella, so I'm sure he's feeling pretty superior.

Must make more of an effort in the next few days to journal. I'm off to move the water around and harvest a head of lettuce for supper.

I am a Chicken Hypnotist

After refilling water jars and feeders at night, I like to talk to my chickens. It seems they listen to what I have to say (which doesn't happen often around here) and several of them have become quite brave, coming up and investigating my hand or looking me over at length as I sit and talk.

I made a little noise tonight with my mouth, the kind of tongue/roof of mouth/lip thing I'm always telling the boys to stop making. The two or three hens right in front of me froze, tilted their heads and looked at me. I made the noise a little faster and louder, and a hush fell over the brooder pen as every single chicken stopped still, stretched it's neck out and turned it's head sideways to listen.

I've never seen so many necks stretched out so tall! Each was trying to out-stretch the next one, but they were silent and still otherwise as they listened to my noise. I switched to another mouth sound, a little faster, and their necks dropped back into regular position. When I started to talk to them again, they all loosened up and started slowly back to whatever it was they were doing before I entranced them.

I felt very powerful, just for a minute. Then I went back upstairs to wash the dinner dishes and reality came crashing back in.

Cleopatra Chicken

Is it my imagination, or does this Araucana hen have an Elizabeth-Taylor-as-Queen-Cleopatra eye liner thing going on? This little beauty will be four weeks old on Sunday and her feathers are coming in unevenly, making her look not unlike an awkward preteen with a strange hairdo.

In fact, the whole flock reminds me of pre-teenagers. They all look funny, they sleep late, they are eating me out of house and home, and there are quite a few "disagreements" over territory that usually involve belly bumping and loud squawking. Sounds like middle school to me.

We're one month closer to farm fresh pastured eggs than we've ever been before. And I'm excited.

Chicks

Got the phone call from the post office at 5:56am. The baby chicks are here, can you please come get them. Yes, sure, will be right over. On a Monday.

The first order, two weeks ago, arrived on a Tuesday morning, making me think that maybe the first flock spent an extra day in transit. Which might explain the high mortality rate we experienced (at least I thought it was high.....the CS rep at McMurrray didn't seem fazed by it.) There were two other shipments of day-old chicks today, too, and both of the other families were there to pick up their boxes. We had a nice little chat session in the lobby of the post office, comparing notes on what we'd ordered and what we already had at home.

These little babies look great and hopped right out of the box to drink and eat. So far, everyone's still alive and scratching. It's very interesting to see how much the chickens from two weeks ago have grown. I knew they were a good bit bigger, but they seem grown-up now by comparison to the fuzz balls that arrived this morning. So cute.

On a botanical note, the tomato plants are coming right along and the spinach in the raised bed has germinated. I love global warming.

Chicken Feathering

We have chickens in our basement. I've lost count on exactly how many. I think it's 59 total. They came in the mail as day old chicks and we've had them now for ten days.

I cannot adequately express in words how much I love watching these little chickens. They are completely instinctual at this point in their young lives and if the urge hits them to scratch or peck or stretch or fly, they follow the urge. Immediately. Sometimes they try to do two or more of these urges simultaneously, and that makes me laugh out loud. Which sets off another round of silliness in the brooder box.

When they came in the mail and I lifted off the box top, they were so cute and downy and small. Ten days later, they've lost the down on their wings and tails and their feathers have replaced the cute fuzz. When they stretch, they will move their wings to the side and back of their bodies and you can get an idea of how big the wings already are, even though their bodies are still small by comparison. The chicks have doubled in size, at the very least. But their wings look like they are four times as big.

And the feathers! Marvelous, beautiful colors and markings. The breeds are easy to spot but the markings on same-breed birds are ever so slightly different from chick to chick. Darker, lighter, more blond here or more brown there. It's just so amazing to watch their bodies grow and change day to day.

I think that's what I'm liking about farm life right off the bat. Being able to take the time each day to observe exactly what's happening at the moment, and pointing those things out to the kids so they can stop and appreciate the moment, too.

Did I mention I love those chickens?