Tour de Coop 2008 Monday, July 28, 2008

 

I  have been waiting for this day for a year! Last year i missed the Portland Tour De Coop for reasons i cant even remember now but i vowed i would not miss it this time around. it was so great! I learned a lot about my own girls and what i should and should not stop worrying about.

there were coops of every shape and size and material. I was impressed at how inventive people were and how happy their girls were in any environment. i also realized that my ladies are pretty darn lucky!

here is what i learned

1. the girls LIKE dirty water and mud
2. They LIKE to eat things in the mud.
3. They DO NOT like to get wet and it is really bad for them.
4. For Melanie, who asked me about hens that roll over on their sides and dont move, i took this picture for you of a pullet. They LIKE to roll over on their sides and scare the crap out of us…it makes them happy.
   

   kicking it sideways

5. I can start feeding them laying feed now and one lady told me her eggs were so hard they would roll off the hen house roof and hit the ground and bounce, not crack. Poster children for the strong bones calcium commercials i say!
6. They can live in some pretty nasty little coops and still lay eggs. Although i would never treat my girls with such disrespect.
7. my girls are pretty darn spoiled

We also went to the egg co-op out at Zenger Farm. It was really great and a gorgeous farm. They take really good care of their space out there.

the girls

They have lots of girls who are all the same breed. I had seen pictures of their coop before but in person it is really beautiful. The 8 nests were full of layers and each nest had at least 2 eggs in it from previous visits that morning.

Zenger Farm

The volunteers there also had lots fo experience with the ups and downs of chicken maintenance. I learned first had what to look for in a hen vent…i think it would be considered hen porn so i felt wrong taking pictures. sorry