Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Some very exciting news! The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously on Friday to pass the new chicken rules. That means I no longer need to get the signatures of my neighbors to have chickens. It’s not that I thought any of them would object, it was the bother of it all. Most of my neighbors work and catching them at home and getting them to open their door when it is freezing cold outside is not something Bookman looked forward to doing. So the only thing we have to do now is finish building our coop and pay for a permit. Easy!
To celebrate, Bookman and I went to Egg Plant Urban Farm Store today to gather supplies and talk to the folks there. The authors of my chicken book are not from Minnesota and had no advice about when the chicks would be able to go outside. After talking with the people at the farm store we learned that six weeks is about the right time. Given we still need to finish the coop and spring weather is inherently unreliable, we decided to hold off ordering our chicks for a couple weeks. So instead of having babies the first weekend of March, we have postponed new parenthood until the first weekend of April which also happens to be my birthday weekend.We did, however, buy the supplies we needed to set up the brooder, that is not something you want to be doing when you have four confused new babies that need warmth and food and water. We got a big bale of pine shavings, a feeder and waterer, and a heat lamp with a red bulb. The red bulb is so the light does not disturb the wake/sleep cycle of the chicks. We will get the feed when we get the chicks. I was worried it might go stale if we had it sitting around for a month.
We haven’t built the brooder box yet. I need to bring home one more cardboard box from work. Then Bookman and I will get creative with the box cutters and tape to make a nursery for our babies.
I admit to being a little disappointed to have to wait until April for the chicks. I wanted so badly to throw all caution to the wind and order them today. But it’s best to make sure we won’t be scrambling to finish the coop and/or have to keep them indoors longer than we should. And okay, I admit, baby chickens for my birthday is a pretty cool thing.
Seed starting also began today. I am trying something new this year. Instead of playing musical seed
trays on top of the refrigerator, I have placed our mini greenhouse in front of the south-facing kitchen window. The tray of seeds I planted is mostly cipollini onions with a few pots of leeks. I have not had any luck growing either of these to full size because I think I have always started them too late. Maybe this will be the year it all works out.I continue making paper pots and hopefully next weekend I will have enough ready to get peppers started. We have a couple different kinds of bell peppers and quite a few varieties of hot peppers. Last summer was unusually mild and the peppers did not do well, they like it hot. I hope they do well this year, not because I want a hot summer, but because Bookman is very excited about purple jalepeños. I like spicy but hot peppers are not my thing.
In spite of several days of arctic temperatures last week, it doesn’t seem like there has been much winter at all this year. I feel like I have barely gotten a chance to breathe and rest before beginning the whirlwind of seed starting and early spring. I have all the supplies and plans prepared, now I just have to get my brain and energy focused there. It’s a shift I’ve known I have to make but it still feels like everything is rushing at me. Then again, it feels like this every spring. I’m like a hibernating bear that has smelled spring coming from its den for a few weeks and now that it is imminent it takes a bit of stretching and shambling about to shake off the winter. But it’s all good; just have to stretch a bit and maybe scratch my back on that tree over there…
I am sooooo glad that Bookman is not going door to door to get the signatures…it is just one of those things that ..well are not the most joyous chores in the world. Chicks for Birthday…what more could one ask?;)
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cirtnecce, Bookman is very glad he doesn’t have to go door to door too! The disappointed of delaying getting the chicks is outweighed by having them on my birthday 🙂
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Exciting news, Stefanie. I am glad for you. 🙂 I like how you keep referring to them as babies. I look forward to reading more posts about the chicks. Also, some pictures. Could you also tell us what motivated you to choose raising chickens?
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Best of luck with your chicks. That’s good news about not needing neighbours signatures – always bound to be one who will object. I hope all this won’t traumatize Waldo and Dickens too much!
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Ian, thanks! I was dreading someone bringing up bird flu and trying to convince them it would not be something to worry about after last year there were several turkey farms in southern Minnesota with flu outbreaks where they had to kill thousands of birds. No explaining needed now/ Waldo and Dickens are going to really freak out and not be pleased about the interesting fuzzy peeping things closed in a basement room. Keeping them out is going to be challenging.
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Deepika, thanks! There will be lots of photos when I get the chicks and video too 🙂 I’ve briefly mentioned mentioned why I am getting chickens but I will definitely put together a post with more specifics very soon 🙂
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Hooray! I’m so glad you don’t have to get neighbours’ signatures. As you say, it’s a bother you can do without. If you were going to have roosters it might be another thing, but hens are so quiet it’s good to see that sense has prevailed. I’m sorry you have to wait another month – because that means I have to wait another month too 🙂 – but better to be sensible.
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whisperinggums, we are very glad too. Roosters still require signatures but hopefully we won’t have to worry about that. Waiting another month seemed the best the thing to do for both our sanity and the chickens’ wellbeing. This is one of the few instances I hope March is warmer than usual!
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Congratulations on the news regarding chickens.
I never raised them but several of my neighbors and friends have done so for decades.
Here on Long Island New York we were having a mild winter into two weeks ago. Since then we have had two major snowfalls and it was 1 degree Fahrenheit here this morning. I am eagerly anticipating spring.
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Brian Joseph, thanks! It is nice to not have to worry about getting signatures. We’ve got you beat on the cold here in Minnesota but you definitely win on the snow! Here’s hoping for an early spring!
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Happy Valentine’s Day! What a lot of exciting things you have happening right now!
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Joan, thanks! Yes, so many exciting things I am almost giddy 🙂
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I am absolutely finished with winter. It has been cold and snowy and dreary and I have fallen twice on the icy sidewalks, so it is time for it to go now. Not, of course, that I get to choose, but still…. I’m done! 😉 Yay on that new (and sensible) rule. That is a most excellent Valentine’s day gift and I am completely sympathetic towards having to play the waiting game. Now that it’s a go, of course you want your chicks. But, at least it will be nice to have something to look forward to. And seeds are a sure sign that spring really IS coming! Yay.
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Danielle, heh, well hopefully spring will come early just for you! 🙂 A very sensible change to the law that makes things just a little easier. It is hard to wait for the chicks, but they are worth it. So exciting to be starting seeds already. Every morning when I mist them I peer at them looking for green sprouts even though I know it will be at least a week before anything starts to poke through the soil. Anticipation!
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I am impatient for the chick to arrive too, but of course you are right and it’ll be nice for them to arrive on your birthday. I was amazed when we had chicks how tiny and fragile (yet, luckily, resilient too) they are, and just SO sweet when they’re fluffy. They grow up so fast!
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Helen, I was surprised they’d be big enough to go out in the coop after only six weeks I was thinking it would be more like 8-12. They must grow really fast! I will be sure to enjoy the little fluffy stage during the short time it lasts 🙂
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