Happy New Year from the Coeur d’Alene Coop & Second Street Chicken Ranch!
2013 was a good year for the Second Street Chicken Ranch. We grew and sold hundreds of heirloom tomato plans at the Kootenai County Farmer’s Market (and we’ll be doing it again in 2014); we enjoyed a wonderfully long and hot gardening season, which was perfect for growing those heirloom tomatoes and our first crop of Glass Gem corn; and the fall brought cool temperatures and abundant crops of arugula and kale. Plus we were able to get two beds of garlic planted and under low-tunnels for a jump-start next spring.
Helen and Madge our “senior” hens.
On the chicken front, two of our hens have reached “senior” status — Helen will be 7 years old in May, and Madge will be 6 years old in March. They are officially retired as layers and somehow have managed to stay out of the stew pot!
The other two hens (Marigold 1 and 2), decided to take an extended vacation from laying, which began in July. Our discussions about the chopping block became more frequent as we moved into October, then November and finally December sans eggs. I swore I was not feeding four chickens all winter with no eggs in return!
Yet today, on New Years Day, I found four eggs in the coop,where yesterday, there were none. Looks like it’s going to be a Happy New Year after all for a couple of Second Street hens (but my threats of the chopping block still stand).
Here’s wishing you great success in your garden for 2014 and may all your hens keep laying!
We’ll have 3 hens hitting 5 years old this summer. Hope they continue laying for a few more years. But we have no plans for chicken stew yet. 😉