It’s urban chick season once again, and past Tangled Nest posts on chickens, coops, and chick-rearing are getting a lot of readers. We thought we’d make things convenient by gathering our most salient “chicken wisdom” in one place. Here is advice gleaned from our twelve years of backyard chicken-keeping, taking you from fluffy chick, to [...]
Entries Tagged as 'chickens'
Eggs: Fresh and Freshest
April 21st, 2012 · 1 Comment
In France, farm eggs at the market are stamped with two dates: “Fresh until,” and “Extra-fresh until…” You can actually request extra-fresh eggs from your fromager/egg-monger! Eggs are extra-fresh until they are about 7 days old, and during this time are best for coddling, poaching, mayonnaise, aioli, mousse, or a very special cake. If you [...]
Chickens Versus Snowpocalypse
January 18th, 2012 · 24 Comments
Hi, Tom here… Lyanda’s away on a writing retreat so I am hijacking her blog for a few days. In Seattle it’s a snow day–we are having our annual “snowpocalypse,” when a few inches of snow completely shuts down the city and sends cars skidding into the curbs and children flocking into the unfamiliar white [...]
Tags: chickens, seasons, urban farming
Happy Solstice…
December 21st, 2011 · 5 Comments
…Peace to all creatures. Thank you for sharing The Tangled Nest this year.
Return of the Prodigal Chicken: A Holiday Story
December 8th, 2011 · 9 Comments
Most people ate turkey on Thanksgiving. Us? We came home from the holiday feast with a live chicken. Last May, our older chickens went into Urban Chicken Retirement at my Uncle Joe’s farm in Maple Valley. We’ve taken our aging flocks there in the past, where they nibble away their golden years in wide sun-dappled [...]
Tags: chickens, seasons, urban farming
Autumn Scenes from an Urban Smallholding
September 28th, 2011 · 7 Comments
I love the idea of a “smallholding.” It’s a term still used in England, one I re-discovered while leafing through a favorite book the other day, The Freedom Manifesto by Idler editor Tom Hodgkinson (also love The Idler…). A smallholding is a modest parcel of land, usually just one-family’s-worth, that supports some farming and other [...]
Tags: chickens, food, fruit trees, garden, urban farming
A Cool Coop: Caring for Chickens in the Heat
August 4th, 2011 · 2 Comments
Well, we’ve finally had a few sunny days in Seattle, and even though it hasn’t hit 80 degrees yet, I’ve noticed the chickens are seeking shade, and panting a little–nothing to worry about. But in much of the country it’s a great deal hotter, and I’ve been receiving questions from folks about caring for urban [...]
Tags: chickens, seasons, urban farming
Urban Chicken Retirement: What to do when older chickens stop laying?
July 26th, 2011 · 53 Comments
We were a host once again this year for Seattle Tilth’s Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour, and one of the main questions would-be chicken keepers voiced was what to do with older chickens after they stop laying, or slow way down? The numbers vary by breed and individual, but most chickens lay really well [...]
Tags: chickens, urban farming
Big Chicken, Little Chicken
May 25th, 2011 · 7 Comments
A pick-me-up pic for a gray Seattle day: Two Buff Orpingtons. I love how Marigold looks entirely put out by the indignity of a chick standing on her back.
Tags: chickens
Celebrating the Egg Moon (and a simple Huevos Rancheros recipe)
April 23rd, 2011 · 3 Comments
Dear me, I meant to write this post for this month’s full moon, but since we are getting ready to dye eggs for Easter today, I suppose this is just as well: In colonial America, the full moons of early spring were called Egg Moons. The longer days and increased light of the season stimulated [...]
