Chicken Attack

Not. Coming. Out. Ever.

We’ve had backyard chicken “drama,” but we’ve never had “trauma” quite this severe.  My poor hens are so upset after a couple of recent attacks by large birds of prey.   I’m not sure if they are hawks, eagles or falcons, but they’ve been seen circling the area, and last week one of them attacked and killed either Kaitlynn or Allison (Unfortunately, I could never tell them apart!).

A couple of days later, the predator came back and tried to take Harley – I know it was a bird because I heard the flap of wings and saw a shadow fly overhead right after a loud commotion. I assumed she was gone after seeing a bunch of black and white feathers in the corner of the yard. 

Harley, safe and sound.

It seemed like such a lost cause, I didn’t even bother to pray, but miracle of miracles!  She came back in good health (minus a few feathers) a couple of days later.   That girl knows how to scamper!

Another local friend who owns chickens told me that a falcon attacked one of their hens.  She was found laying on her back, screaming and paralyzed.   After several days of care, she was still unable to walk and had to be euthanized.

My hens seem terrified.  They’re not eating with their usual appetite. and there hasn’t been a egg laid in over a week. 

They seem reluctant to come out of the coops, and spend most of the day huddled together in a corner, behind the compost bins. 

"You can't see us."

Is there such a thing as chicken PTSD?   I wonder how long it takes for chickens to heal after an event like this.   It’s so sad to lose a hen – they are our pets, after all.  I try to console myself with the knowledge that some desperately hungry being is getting fed, and it’s part of the cycle of life.  In three years of keeping a total of 8 chickens, I’ve lost 2 to predators.

See also Goodbye Stella

The Chickadee Brain

Are you also the type of person who, in this age of information overload, tucks tidbits of interest into the files of your brain, intending to follow up on them later?   Only to forget until something occurs to jostle the memory files?    Maybe I need a brain more like that of the chickadee, expanding and contracting and adapting as needed by the season. 

So the black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) are back at the feeders, and so is my memory of  reading something extraordinary about the chickadee brain last year  and wanting to investigate.  Of all the wild birds that visit,  the chickadees seem to be the most fearless and friendly.  In fact, they’re often the only ones that aren’t afraid to approach even after I’ve appeared on the deck, pointing a camera at them.   Frustratingly, they are also among the quickest and most reluctant to pose. 

Research done by Professor Colin Saldanha, now at American University, showed that the chickadee’s brain can grow up to 30% larger during times when they need to find food for storage.  The brain is expanding, adding new nerve cells,  in order to help them remember the hundreds of hiding places where they’ve stored the food.  Then, in the spring, the brain shrinks back to normal size, when their memories are needed less.

Another study, done by Vladamir Pradosudov at University of Nevada in Reno showed that when birds live in harsher conditions, such as Alaska, they not only find more food than those in milder climates, but they’re better at finding their caches, have better spatial memories, and have larger brains than the same species in Colorado. 

I would never say that I want my brain to shrink, but wouldn’t mind being able to shed some of the mental baggage and unproductive ways of thinking that marked the past year.  Out with the old, in with the new!  Make room for more meshugaas!  

Wishing you an open-minded, peaceful and rejuvenating New Year.

Dark Days

Since last week’s tragedy in Newtown, it's been harder to let the kids out of the house. The instinct is to keep them under lock and key, but every morning we have to open the door and let them go.  To the movies, to the mall, to walk to the bus stop in the dark.  Like many parents, I’m trying to wrap my head around this and figure out how it will impact my family.   At this age, it is less about trying to shield them from the news. It’s mostly about answering questions like “Why don’t they want to say the killer’s name?” "Why did that mom have a gun?"  “Would you ever get a gun?”   "Did he know any of those kids?"

These are the darkest days of the year, and this year sad circumstances have accumulated around me to make the days seem even darker than usual.  Long ago, the ancients thought the sun was leaving them, getting farther and farther away.  Each year they feared that it would never return.  It’s no coincidence that Christmas falls during the time when the ancients realized the sun was coming back.  Winter Solstice -  the day before the light starts to return.   Right now we are waiting, lighting the Hannukah and Advent candles.   

We spend so much time trying to teach our children that violence is wrong -- that loving each other is the reason we’re all here on this earth together.   We want them to know that love is our highest purpose.  That to feel  it is a blessing, and to express it is a gift, not to be taken for granted. Yes, we can teach them to accept that some people have disabilities that make it hard to cultivate love, or express it.  Acting out in anger is something we struggle with daily as a family.  But it’s impossible to explain  how someone could face a blackness as dark as what prompted last week’s horror.

Have you ever heard the saying that a broken heart is an open heart?   Right now it feels like the country is joining hands,  praying for the love in our hearts to pass from one hand to the next.  I’m hopeful that those grieving find their way out of the darkness and are touched by returning light and love in the coming weeks.

Please visit  The Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence 

My Black Friday Helper

Living so close to the second-largest mall in New York State just makes me want to hide in the house on Black Friday.  It’s hard for me to believe that people think it is fun to wait in line for a $12 popcorn popper.  An astonishing number of people even go on Thanksgiving night!    

After we spent Thanksgiving Day with our cousins in Brooklyn, they came and stayed with us here in Nyack for a couple of nights.  My 5-year-old niece Xeta and I spent much of Black Friday outside in the garden.  She helped me feed the chickens and rake leaves.    

Then she asked what we could plant.   All my flower bulbs and garlic were already in the ground, but it was such a beautiful day and I had such an enthusiastic helper.   The sun was shining and the temperature was in the low 60s.  We didn’t even have jackets on!  It definitely seemed like weather that could still germinate some cool weather crops, so we’re trying some kale, cabbage and lettuce.  I have a row cover that I’ll put over them and hope for a head start on some spring seedlings at the very least. 

One of the other fall projects that Xeta helped me with is building up the beds,  We put compost, chicken litter (wood shavings and chicken manure) and shredded leaves and grass on top of the vegetable beds.  Throughout the winter, the mixture breaks down and in the spring the beds are fertile and ready for planting. 

I can't believe this is my 400th post on this blog.  I started it in 2008 and still have ton of tons of things to write about -- the problem is finding the time.  When I look at my first blog post...oh my lord ....it was so pathetic...  I'm grateful for all the friends I've made through this blog, around the world and locally and hope to continue to write about everything under the sun. 

What is #GivingTuesday?

Spread the word!  We're kicking off the holiday giving season this year with a new national tradition called #Giving Tuesday.  I'm proud to say that the idea was initiated just a few months ago in the halls of the wonderful nonprofit where I've worked for over 20 years: 92Y.   Since we have a day for giving thanks, and other days (Black Friday, Cyber Monday) for getting deals, why not a day to give back?   The cool thing about Giving Tuesday is that everyone can choose their favorite charity -- or volunteer to provide an act of service. You take it to your town and work in your local soup kitchen or sign up to lead a team to pick up litter in your neighborhood.   An impressive number of corporate partners and other nonprofits are signing on, and the idea has sprouted in all areas of social media.  Hope you'll share this idea with your friends and followers too!  Here's the website where you can find out more.

Fall Update: Hurricane, Harvest and Hen Hierarchy

Now that Hurricane Sandy has passed, life is finally getting back to normal.  Our area was hit hard, but we were lucky – just a few tree limbs down and power disrupted for 5 days.  School was cancelled all last week and again Monday  – this made my kids very happy until they were reminded that they may still be attending in July to make up the extra days.  We’re still waiting in line for gas, but it seems like a small thing to endure when others in the NYC area are contending with such major losses.  There are at least 30,000 newly homeless in NYC right now and people are still having trouble getting around. We count our blessings with every news bulletin.

This was the last weekend for the community garden – everything needed to be out of the plots Nov. 4. I harvested lots of fennel, savoy cabbage, beets, Brussels sprouts, radishes, kale, lettuce, parsley and dill.  Plus a nice bunch of very fragrant sage given to me by a neighbor.     

I’m hoping some it holds out til Thanksgiving. 

An experiment – I took the fennel roots, cut the stalks, and replanted them in my perennial bed.  Since it’s one of the hardier vegetables, I’m hoping to get a head start on some for next spring.  German hardneck garlic and tulip bulbs were also planted this weekend. 

I don’t believe I’ve introduced you to my three new white chickens.   I adopted them from a man who decided he didn’t want to keep them through the winter.  Since they were originally purchased to amuse his grandchildren, I thought it only appropriate to name them after the kids: Hayden, Allison and Kaitlynn.   

Don't ask me which is which!

I was a little anxious about how they’d get along with the four current residents, especially Harley, a bantam Silver Spangled Hamburg, whose head is often plucked bare of feathers by the bigger girls.  She tried so hard to assert herself.  She was the first to confront the new hens – she fluffed up her feathers and boldly attacked.  They weren’t afraid of her though, and she’s still the little picked-on, bullied runt around here. 

It’s especially sad that she seems to be exiled from the coop.  It's like she has cooties.  The six others will typically squeeze into one coop, leaving Harley alone in the other one – even though 4 is supposed to be the maximum in one coop.  Poor Harley.  (She’s named after Harley Quinn, of “Batman” fame.  Guess who named her!?)  I’m trying to think of ways to give her more status and some roommates.    

I was so happy about the election results!  But would love to know why Prop 37 was defeated in California!  I find it very surprising because I thought they would be more progressive.  I heard there were ads.  If anyone knows where I can see one of these opinion-swaying ads, please leave me a link.  To learn more about the campaign for GMO labeling, visit www.justlabelit.org.