Chicken Condo Upgrade

The Chicken Condo


As the girls are getting bigger their needs have been changing as well. for instance they no longer need a heat lamp. They no longer need ramps to get from one side to another. They do now, however need a roof.




Pre-roof they all wanted to roost as high up as they could.





And invariably chicks went exploring, which lead to them leaving a trail of unprocessed fertilizer behind.




The Myrtle the Turtle complex

Dr. Suess had it dead on that not only humans in penthouses but turtles and apparently chickens will go to great lengths to be higher than everyone else. Note the bird tangled up in netting as she tries to regain access to the roof perch.




I added this high perch. Very popular indeed, in fact there is absolutely no space left.




So here we have improved security. They found many ways out prior to my adding a "door". So far so good, the chicks have not escaped to this point.




A new roof, a new door, and a new perch. For us to do the same in our house it would cost thousands of dollars. Here, little more than time, which is still a lot.



The biggest change though is with the chicks. They do grow up so fast.

America's Next Top Chick(en)

Inspired by the finale of America's Next Top Model, Skye and I arranged a photo shoot for the one-day old chicks that arrived in the mail April 12 from McMurray Hatchery, are now 6 weeks old, and have grown from tiny fuzzy little chickies to the equivalent of chicken teenagers and they are ready to leave the nest as it were. We can only keep a couple of them and even that will be pushing the limits of our hen capacity.

We are unsure as to the breed of the different chicks, they came in a "Rainbow Layers"* mixed special and the 5 and the "bonus" chick are from their "Rarest of the Rare"*2 selection. So if you have an idea what kind of chicken is pictured, please add that in the comments, or e-mail me, lokano7@aol.com.


With that let me present you with the Chicks:








This lovely girl we believe to be a Blue Andalusian. One of the four older chickens we have is a Blue Andalusian, so this one will be looking for a new home.






This is the one bird that we are certain of the breed, a Naked Neck chicken, however because she came from our incubator one of the 5 hatch-lings, we are unsure whether it is hen or rooster. Her name is Ostrich, which fortunately works out either way.



You must be.....?







This is Senor Egghead , one of our hatchlings. All of the hatchlings are around a week younger than the one-day old chick group.



It is hard to see her pattern from this angle




I am guessing a Buff Orpington, like our own sweet girl Blondie, who has been laying an egg a day rather consistently for a while now and is a very lovely chick indeed.




Ms. Blackberry, So many possibilities....




We have a couple of these very pretty girls




This I believe is an Americana, the type that lays the green/blue eggs. She is one of the "keepers", unless of course Marianne, turns out to be Mr. Marianne. Then its quite another story.




"I'm a girl, I promise!!!!"

What are the Odds?

Will they grow up be beer-can chickens? That's what Skye refers to chicks that are roosters and who might feed us not with eggs but....

Most of them are hens, only six of them could be roosters, but we don't know which six. You see we ordered 25 day old female chicks to which they gave a bonus "straight-run" chick, meaning 1 that they didn't determine the sex. You pay more for hens so their bonus really just confused things. Then there were 5 that hatched out of the incubator, so those 5 could be either hens or roosters. At least we know which 5 those are, at least we used to, I am a little unclear on that now, but Skye seems to be quite sure.



Hanging out with Marianne before the shoot.

Rainbow Layers, as put by McMurray Hatchery, "If you aren't set on a particular breed, here is your chance to get a variety of layers that all lay well. Chickens which lay white, tinted, and brown eggs will be supplied in this beautiful assortment. At least 5 different varieties of our choice are included in Rainbow Layers from these groups of chicks: White Egg Layers, Heavy Breeds, Araucanas, and Rare and Unusual Varieties. We cannot guarantee that breeds from all groups will be included. If you're looking for good layers and want a discount price, our Rainbow Layers will fit the bill."

Rarest of the Rare- "This is a truly deluxe collection of the rarest, most beautiful and exotic birds. Have you ever seen any of these: Sumatras, Dominiques, Golden Laced and Silver Penciled Wyandottes, Silver, Golden, Buff Laced, and White Polish, Golden Campines, Golden Penciled Hamburgs, Silver Penciled Rocks, Partridge, Black, Buff, Blue, & Silver Laced and White Cochins, Araucanas, Dark and Buff Brahmas, Phoenix, Fayoumis, Salmon Faverolles, W. L. Red Cornish, Lakenvelders, Black and White Langshans, Red Caps, Silver Leghorns, Crevecoeurs, Silver Gray Dorkings, Modern BB Red Games, Sultans, Buttercups, & Spanish? These exotic, beautiful varieties are found only in your larger poultry shows and are extremely rare. Each order of Rarest of the Rare Assortment will include straight run chicks of at least 10 different varieties from the breeds listed above. We cannot guarantee to include or omit specific breeds from the above list. If you must have only certain varieties, please order the exact variety, sex, and number of each you want."

So as you can see there are an enormous number of possibilities and I am by no means a poultry expert, but it seems that I am heading in that direction.

A quick trip to Palm Springs

Cindy and I headed up to Palm Springs to take a few days off to relax, just the two of us.

Not really, we did go to Palm Springs, but it was only for the evening, but it was just the two of us and it was relaxing. We wish we could of spent more time up there but we needed to pick Skye up from a nearby Girl Scout sleep-over she was attending so that we could get her to her Shakespeare rehearsal on-time.

But it was amazing, none the less.



Cindy booked us in this very central and very cool, just-the-right-size hotel, The Chase Hotel.

Beautiful accommodations and wonderful staff, highly recommended.



The air was so clear and the clouds made a point of putting on a good show.



Oh so wanted to use the pool, but just didn't have the time.



Cindy, just chillin' after our drive in from LA.



"Coming out of the Closet"....???



Having to say good-bye, in the cool desert morn



Amazing windmill just outside of Palm Springs.

A different kind of FUN-ctional Fitness

My first "official" work out consisted of a little jump rope warm up followed with some Indian Club swinging (more on that later) some work on the Aerial Silks, a bunch of core work and then finished it off working out with a few sets with my custom concrete "pinch" weights (more on that as well). I was easing into it, for good reason.

Had a good jui jitsu session on Tuesday. I followed that up with some "Gardening/Landscaping" training.



Tools of the trade.

Nothing like unstable footing, coupled with irregular shaped weights from 30 lbs to 85 lbs and even more unstable bags of gravel (50 lbs) along with swinging a pair of 5 gallon buckets of dirt.

Today was some commuting bicycling. Some downsides to commuting bicycle when you live in Baldwin Hills, well actually the opposite of a downside, I mean it's a downside but that downside is up hill, really up hill, bordered by some streets that are more like highways than than streets. Additionally my bike is a dual suspension mountain bike, not the ideal ride for the city. I felt loads of energy getting sucked away with each pedal push.

My legs burned, burned, burned.

Just a few very different examples of FUNctional Fitness, more an emphasis on function than fun on these "work-outs"

Fooling Myself Out of Shape

Over the last several weeks/months, I have been gearing up to really get in shape, to get serious about fitness, to get that shredded and ripped "beach" body, six-pack abs and all, minus the tan of course.
And not to beat myself up too much, I did run the LA Marathon, (the last of four marathons I had finished in the course of the last 18 months), I ran that Warrior Dash, 3 mile obstacle course and I was flying around with Skye doing aerial arts a couple of times a week, and as "out of shape" as I always claimed to be, my level of physicality was never my undoing in Jiu jistu.

For being in my forties, hell for any age, I would considered "fit" or "in shape".

But I was planning on being more than just average or even just above average and yet I was not and have not been realistic or consistent to that end, respectful of what it takes to achieve those goals. I was coasting along, maintaining at best, sliding back here and there.

It is why in the last LA Marathon rather than going sub-4 or at least getting a personal record, I had my worst time, literally and figuratively of any of those 4 marathons. It's why the Warrior Dash punished me rather than me eating up the course. It's why although I have been able to keep my weight consistent, my doughy mid-section has remained contour-less, more keg than six-pack.

So I eased into a new work out regime/mind-set yesterday and finally "worked-out". I have to work out the details and goals, but I have definitely decided that my little to no effort, resting on my laurels approach isn't getting my where I want to be.

I want to be closer to the top, above "just-above-average". And you can't coast uphill.

That said "ripped beach-bod" here I come, just in time for summer. And of course, have FUN getting there.




I'm serious this time......................

......................

........................................ really, I am.

And don't to forget, to check out the new blog/website www.functionalfitnessdiy.com. Currently it is simply the FUNctional Fitness posts from this sight, but it is growing and gearing up to be much, much more.

Lakers to the Finals, Suns Must Set First

GO LAKERS!!!!! GO LAKERS!!!!!
GO LAKERS!!!!!GO LAKERS!!!!!

So the Oklahoma Thunder ran the Lakers up and down and did a good job waking them up and reminding them that the regular season is over.

A beat up Utah was next. The broom came out for a nice sweep. In fact, 3 out 4 of the semis were sweeps. Only the battle between the Cavs and Celtics which ended up with an upset went more than four.

I predict we'll take out the Suns in 5 or maybe 6 games and then onto the Orlando Magic, who took out the Celtics in 5. Lakers win the Finals in 6. Kobe Finals MVP. Very much like last year.

GO LAKERS!!!!! GO LAKERS!!!!!
GO LAKERS!!!!! GO LAKERS!!!!!

Jiujitsu Training-Having FUN Tapping Out

Even though Cindy was coming home in a few hours and the house was beyond a wreck, I was determined to stay committed to my goal of going to jiu-jitsu more regularly.

I've been studying under the Machado Bros forever, first under Rigan and Roger. Rigan gave me my blue belt over ten years ago. I took a 3-4 year hiatus. Honestly I thought that I had hung up my Gi for good. But I missed it too much. So when I found out that John Machado had a studio ten minutes from the house, I dug out the ol' Gi and got back into it. I have been with John for a couple of years now, semi-recently receiving my purple belt.



This is where I roll.

Skye was playing around with my camera and some how missed all of my good moves. Capturing the end of what had been a long hard fought battle(on my part). The black belt I was rolling with has an excellent, beautiful and smooth game. I never had a chance, but it was amazing practice and I was curious how long I could last and endure.

For me this is fun.



Remember in my FUNctional Fitness philosophy it is about having fun and fun is different things to different people.

New Digs and Sad News

Chicky, Chick, Chick

I'll start with some sad news. "Baby Huey", that's the name I gave to the chick that was growing like 3x as fast as any of the other chicks, well Baby Huey seemed to be growing too fast. She seemed to be having a hard time supporting her own weight. She would constantly dropping down to rest. She seemed to be literally eating herself to death. And then she died. I called the company where I got the chicks from and as I described Baby Huey it turns out Baby Huey was a meat chicken and with meat chicks you are supposed to take their feed away in the evening, otherwise they will just keep eating and eating. Until they literally eat themselves to death. Which is exactly what Baby Huey did. Poor Baby Huey, RIP.

The rest of the chicks continue to grow and grow.

And they needed more space, so I had to build an extension.

Let me present the Aviary.











It might not look much but the chicks dig it. It took a couple of days before they got the hang of ladder but now they are up and down and enjoying the extra real estate. BTW look at how big they're getting.

Rabbits, a Road-trip and the Renaissance Pleasure Faire

It was April 24th and I was up pretty early, probably too early because when I ran across an e-mail with info about the 2010 Giant Chinchilla Nationals that was taking place on May 1, in Columbus, Ohio, I thought the timing could be perfect for a road trip. It still made sense to me when I woke up Skye and told her about my plan before heading out to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market and Malibu Feed where we were going to get 25 lbs of Quick Grow for the flock of chicks that were rapidly growing in the garage. It was somewhere on the PCH that it hit me, what a bad idea it was.

Skye was pissed. No roadtrip. No rabbits.

2010 Giant Chinchilla Nationals
Sponsored by the Giant Chinchilla Rabbit Association
Saturday, May 1, 2010
9:00 AM
Columbus, Ohio
(In conjunction with the OSRBA Mini Convention)
Open & Youth
A.R.B.A. sanctioned

Honorable Judge: Bob Shaftoe
Show Superintendent – Carl Filliater
Show Secretary – Richard King
3360 Graham Rd.
Rising Sun, OH 43457
419-288-3296 email: rnking@woh.rr.com

Entry Fee: $4.00 per rabbit Fur: $1.50 per rabbit
Day of show entry

Giant Chinchilla Specialty Show – May 1, 2010
Judge Bob Swartz Entry information the same as the nationals
Membership questions: Mary Ellen Stamets, GCRA Secretary-Treasurer
732 782-0462 or mrabbit67@yahoo.com
************************************************
A.R.B.A. National Convention, Minneapolis, MN
November 1-5, 2009

This announcement made be dream of the open road and big bunnies.

Instead it was off to the Renaissance Faire, it was the Swashbuckler's weekend after all.

The Renaissance Faire

Within moments of entry we quickly realized we weren't in 2010 Los Angeles anymore.

Yes, its real.



And the characters just got stranger and stranger.



Okay I get the mermaid, Swashbuckling Weekend slant but what's it got to do with chocolate?



What Swashbuckling Weekend would be complete without Jack Sparrow. What it has to do with the Renaissance is beyond me but then again, I don't really get the inclusion of Brazilian Capoeira



Or an Indian Peacock Dance...The Tibetian monks found it to be photo worthy.




I found this to be a pretty cool line up.








Now a Dutch knife-throwing comedy routing, that's what the Rennaissance period was all about.



Skye was amused and kind of made a friend.




Skye almost got one of these dragons, even though they cost way too much, but after the rabbit road-trip disappointment of the morn she had me feeling really guilty. But luckily she couldn't make up her mind about which dragon she wanted and then just decided against it.


Later that evening we went to see a wonderful home-school production of Boris and Bella.

It was a long, wacky, beautiful day.

Mayday, Mayday

Mayday, Mayday

A call of distress, is repeating it twice like May Day, as in May 1, a second-time over, a do-over. Am I making sense? April left with all its fool's but somehow I'm still feeling quite foolish.

Ok enough of the silliness. Today, I had much on the agenda, much on the to-do list. And at the end of the day, I got a respectable bunch of stuff done.

Started a couple of new blogs and a website. I understand that that might seem a little nutty, given how behind I am on this blog. But there is a method to the madness. You see, I know not everyone is so interested in the "farmer" side of my life, and others might not be so interested in the fitness and sports part of my life. So while initially, I will have all my posts on this sight and the more specialized on entries will go thusly....

Exercise and fitness--http://www.functionalfitnessdiy.com/
&
http://farmerjon67.wordpress.com/

Fool's Rush In, April Rushed Out

WOW !!! I really am far behind. April had my Ecology Class end with a Science Fair, Chicky, chick chicks growing, growing, growing, the Lakers mostly winning, at least enough to keep moving on in the play-offs, a quarter of the way through the year and we will revisit the almost New Year Resolutions, the Ren-Faire, Cindy's return solidified(yay and yikes), Backyard Buddies(Wait that was back in March, but still yet to blog/take the next step etc on it), worked a bunch, for money that is,which these days is a novelty that has become an annoying necessity, benefits and all that you know.

Wait a second, is this one of those promissory blogs where I say what I will blog about and then the blog ends up at best being a preview but often I end up skipping out on many of the posts I promise.

It is.
Stay tuned and check out tomorrow
for new posts
pics
stories
videos
and
more
I PROMISE