About
Looking for something specific?
Chicken Gitmo
We were a little late to the chicken party when we got our babies in July. It turns out, the right time to get them is early spring so they can move outside once the weather warms up and they begin to lay while days are longest.
After calling every feedstore within 50 miles, we finally found one that still carried a decent selection of chicks. On July 11, we went up to Monroe Farm & Feed and picked out our three girls.
A week old, they spent all of the rest of July in the downstairs bathtub. Seattleites will recall we had a heat struck at the end of that month, so the chicks moved out a little earlier than under normal circumstances (and I think our housecleaners were very happy for that event).
Our chicks ate and pooped and grew and pecked and did all the things little chickies do, except for lay eggs. They were going to reach “maturity” in the middle of winter, right around the shortest day of the year. We were afraid that the lack of light might mean their lay day would be delayed, so we gave them some help. Craig found a low watt bulb and installed in in a reflector inside the coop. At first, we figured we’d extend their day by a few hours in the morning and a few hours at night.
During a cold spell in December, we left the light on all through the night, hoping it would also provide some warmth. It turns out, we were doing the equivalent to Chicken Guantanamo. We’d peek outside before bed and find the chickens wandering around their house, wide awake. They didn’t appear to be sleeping at all. It was torture! We were keeping them awake all night and they’d stumble around all day. This went on for days before we figured it out and turned out the light, figuring they could brave the cold in the dark. But think of the secrets we could have extracted from them!
