Welcome to this weeks edition of the Gazette.
While perusing the news this morning I ran across an article in the WP discussing Silicone Valley’s new status symbol, the humble Chicken! I was befuddled by the headline, it seems of all things chickens have become a status symbol for the elite high techies. It appears owning a Chicken is on par with owning a Tesla.
Some of the breeds owned by techies are Alexas, Silkies, Jersey Giants, silver laced Wyandottes, Easter Eggers (for their pale blue eggs), and the golden laced bearded Polish chicken.
Silver Laced Wyandottes
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The owners of these high bred chickens provide them with the finest accoutrements money can buy. While us backyard chicken enthusiasts spend 15 to 25 dollars on a chicken, the techies spend 350 dollars on a rare heritage breeds. These birds are picked based upon their breed, calmness, beauty, and the coveted color of their eggs.
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Colorful eggs from Heritage Hens
Their chickens are housed in sophisticated coops (some costing 20,000 dollars) and are feed organic salmon, watermelon and steak in addition to pricey organic feeds. They eat better then we do!
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Their cozy coops often have solar panels for opening doors, lighting and video cameras so their owners can check on them from wherever they may be, some even have water plumbed into the coops. Adding a nice run complete with consultant it can cost upwards of 4 to 5,000 dollars.
Don’t believe me check out Coop Tender You can also have WiFi installed.
Napa Valley wine used to be gift of the techie elites when attending dinner parties, now the status gift is a six pack of colored eggs laid by their pampered poultry.
The question is why and what is the fascination in the valley for heritage breed chickens? Apparently it’s not just the eggs or the “bawk bawk”, they enjoy the activities of petting, feeding, and watching them.
Who knew here @mother2chicks that we were ahead of the curve in offering our fresh colored eggs to friends from our not completely organic regular old chickens! We didn’t even need to be invited to dinner. However, our chickens do free range on grass. I’ve been told by numerous people they’ve never tasted eggs that were so delicious. I always have requests lined up for the girls colorful treasures.
Eggs collected from my hens this morning, not bad at all
Now moving on to an update on the girls of “Fuss and Feathers” homestead.
The girls are laying well with the exceptions of Sweet Pea and the episodic Brownie, even Henny Penny is a good layer. I’ve been getting as many as 6 sometimes 7 per day.
Shelly and the Leghorn triplets molted so quickly, they were nearly bald then within a short time all her feathers grew back. Dot, Brownie,and Blue molted so slowly, it took well over a month. Not sure Sweet Pea molted at all, she’s a runt.
Dot and Blue both had slow molts, but their new feathers are beautiful
What I’ve come to learn is chickens who molt quickly and regrow feathers seemingly all at once are the best layers. There appears to be a lot of truth in that statement.
I was aggravated this past week when discovering Dot, Blue and The Professor had been laying under the shed, right smack in the middle where it was impossible to reach. There was a ladder shoved up under the shed and they decided to nest between the rungs. I heard Dot carrying on, lo and behold (while laying flat on the ground) I spotted her sitting there laying.
They thought about going under the shed, but thought better of it
Pulling the ladder out I broke 3 eggs and could see there was a pile. I got a very long pole and gently rolled 6 more to the edge where I could get them. It probably looked as if a game of pool was being played as I prodded around trying to push the eggs out.
They stay in the coop longer now, until they lay! Live and learn...
Henny Penny is still not a member of the flock, she gets harassed constantly if placed in the coop with the others. Don’t want her to get hurt. It’s better if they are all in the run where she can get away. Otherwise the others free range while she gets the run and coop to herself. I let her out yesterday for a short to free range, she did fine, although she stayed to herself. I’m not giving up on uniting her into the flock, patience is required.
Henny Penny out enjoying the weather and her feed
Purchased 50lbs of layer feed, and some mealworms, grabbed some hay for the nest boxes. Got a feeder for HP that is harder to turn over. It’s all good.
See you again for the next edition of the Chicken Gazette Issue 29...
