Sunday evening
The snow is falling, the fire is blazing, there is no football, so my thoughts turn to the garden.
Who am I kidding? My thoughts are always in the garden, or the barn, or the greenhouse.
Gardening by the fire, my dad would say.
Last years accomplishments at Asparagus Annie's include the addition of a greenhouse in one corner of the pole barn, a new chicken house, and a hoop house that the chickens are loving this winter. Once the snow stops falling, I'll use the hoop house for plants once the weather warms up and the chickens don't need it. The first year when we only had 18 chickens, they were allowed to run loose in the barn on the days it was too cold to go outside. This year I knew there was no way I was going to let 41 chicks run amok in the barn.
I had originally wanted a lean to that would have served as a walkway area from the two stall in the barn that the chicks occupied, to the hoop house. It was suggested that building them their own home would be a more permanent solution. I'm all for growth and not having the chickens taking up two horse/goat stalls in the barn. The building phase seemed to take forever and then the hoop house had to undergo a few 'back to the drawing board' moments before it was complete. But finally, before any serious snow flew, they were both complete.
I was excited for the chickens to sleep in their new home. I was excited, they wanted no part of it. They loved to hang out with George while he was building. He would say they were wanted to help build the new house, but they can be quite curious. They are creatures of habit. Each night we would leave the new chicken house open, but as night fell, they would make their way out of the new house and back into the barn. We tried shutting the doors to the barn and just leaving the door open to the new chicken house, but they would all gather around the barn door, waiting for it to open. It was push and shove to be right up next to the door. Reminded me of the days of open seating at concerts. Eventually we would open the door to the barn and let them in. They would rush to their favorite roosting spot and settle down for the night.
I was beginning to think that no matter how often they went in the their new home, they would never see it as home. We moved their food and water into the new digs, didn't let them into the barn at all during the day, but they just would sit by the barn doors, pushing and shoving each other waiting for the doors to open. Every night, I gave in. However, one night I had an idea. What happens if I wait for them to roost in the barn and then move them into the new home? They wouldn't go out of the new chicken house into the dark, so they would have to stay in the new house.
George and I fed the horses and goats, made sure the chickens had food and water for the morning and we waited. The chickens soon calmed down on their roosts. I went in quietly and picked up one of the 2nd year girls and carried her out to George on the other side of the gate. He took the chick and sat her on the new roost in the new house. We did this over and over until all the ladies were transferred. I went to the house feeling proud of us.
Thinking a night in the new coop would do the trick, I was quite surprised to find the next night, the girls were clustered up against the barn again, awaiting the opportunity to get inside and roost. We had removed their roosts, but when we opened the barn doors, they rushed in. When they didn't find anything to roost on, they became a little confused. We swooshed them back out of the barn, grabbing a few chicks at a time and again moved them to the new coop. We did this for the next couple of nights until we were able to change their habit. Before the week was over, the chicks were going into the new coop on their own at dusk with no hesitation.
Well, it seems like I've done more reminiscing than planning tonight. Time to turn my thoughts back to the future plantings of Asparagus Annie's, and leave the story telling to another time.
Sunday, January 25, 2015
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