A few weeks ago we headed to the city of Seatac to go to chicken school. Seatac is the “city” that is home to our major airport. I say “city” not to be snide – it’s just that Seatac has only been a city for a dozen or so years and it just seems kind of funny to me. The class was held at City Hall. In the city council chamber. Which is funny in itself, because it’s not like Seatac is a rural community – it’s mostly runways, hotels, parking lots and fast food places. To end all the Seatac talk in this opening paragraph, here’s all you need to know: We spent a night in one of the motels near the airport a couple years ago when we had an early flight the next morning – parking and airport transfers included. In the elevator is a sign. It says “No refunds 10 minutes after check-in.” Peculiar wording aside, two things immediately became clear: 1) the room’s not gonna be very nice and 2) best not to think about this too much.
The class was offered by King County Extension, essentially an outreach by our state’s land grant school, Washington State University. Here is some information about what land grant schools are – it’s pretty cool – basically a law signed by President Lincoln made it possible for the Federal government to grant land to the states; said land was to be used by the states to teach people how to do really useful things, like growing crops and making stuff. Not a bad idea.
I knew I was going to have a good evening after I texted our 14-year old daughter to let her know where would be, when we’d be home (like she cares!) and all that. I told her we were headed to a chicken seminar near the airport. Her response:
You guys are so awesome. CHICKEN SEMINAR.
How could I not be enthused after a response like that?
The Leghorn: a classic chicken
About sixty other people showed up, and it was pretty informative. We’d learned quite a bit on our chicken coop tour and not to boast, but we have become pretty poultry-savvy in a relatively short period of time. One thing about chickens though: there’s nothing really very intrinsically attractive or interesting about them. If you’re not into them, this whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense. So I’ll dispense with lots of chicken facts and just throw out a few highlights from the class, all of which stuck with me because of their strangely euphemistic quality:
- There are lots of resources out there, my favorite one being Backyard Chickens.com. (Before you look, guess how they represent the “o” in “com” on their home page!!) From the website comes a chart with over 40 varieties of chickens. Information is provided about their size (two only, standard and bantam); egg size, type and color; comb type (mostly pea or V-shaped, but also single, walnut and buttercup – you’re on your own here); climate hardiness (hot, cold, all); broodiness (frequent, average, seldom –this has to do with the breed’s tendency to sit on the egg and hope it hatches vs. its desire to give it up so you can go inside and make an omelet); and temperament (one to avoid may be the Buckeye – her temperament is described like this: aggressive, friendly, wild, restless. noisy.) Please email me if you’d like to make a smart remark about that descriptor. Anonymity is guaranteed.
- The program included a lot of good information, much of it focused on getting us to really think about the nature of the commitment involved in owning backyard chickens. One slide dealt with the issue of “The geriatric chicken.” As hens age, they lay fewer eggs – though one woman in the crowd who, based on her experience must have thought this was an upper division class, proudly shared that she has a 12-year old hen that laid 80 eggs last year -- still over one per week but nowhere near the 4-5 eggs younger hens produce each week. The bullet point that dealt with this issue, in its entirety:
o Keep for life-span or ?
Here’s a slightly creepy bit of wisdom someone shared: Craig’s List is a good way to find someone willing to pick up your no longer productive hen. I would suggest having them drop by the house while the kids are at school, however.
- Finally, this little item on another page of the presentation dealing with day-to-day care and chores, tucked neatly between “Food and water” and “Play time”:
o Cleaning the Vent
Perhaps the capitalized V should have been a tipoff…but this has nothing to do with airflow in and around your coop. It involves a Q-Tip, warm water, and one end of the chicken: the end opposite the one the food goes in. Kids thus far have shown heavy interest in certain aspects of this project, but the Cleaning of the Vent, not so much .
Following the class, we did make on significant decision: where to put the coop. Due to a strange building that was on our patio when we moved in, and I suspect something unpleasant having to do with drainage, there is a nice sized patch of dirt (where we’ve grown some great tomatoes this summer) surrounded by concrete on the patio, in view of the living room. We’re going to put the coop on the concrete, with the dirt area making up the “run” where the hens can spend some outside time. (They’ll also get time in the yard when they can be supervised.) Added bonus: the coop will be just a few feet from the Weber – not that we’re planning to eat the hens, but its ominous black lid and occasional smoke emanating from it may help the training process move along a bit faster.
The Plymouth: A classic dual purpose bird
