Renny; A Flood Refugee

Renny is a Sussex hen

Longmont and other parts of Colorado were taken by surprise a few weeks ago when the Saint Vrain river flooded and changed it mind about where it wanted to be. Renny's neighborhood was one Longmont area that was badly damaged in these floods. Her owner had just enough time to grab Renny and her dog before running out to the car as the water rose around her house and filled her basement. After carrying Renny around for a few days in a cage she came to my house to live with my flock of chickens. We kept her separated for a few days so that the flock could get used to her. Now she seems to be doing fine with the other chickens and has adjusted to her new home. Its likely she will be here permanently as her owners have plenty of cleanup to do and her henhouse was washed away.

Flooding occurred as a result of Boulder county getting 20 inches of rain in a week's time in September. Average rainfall for September is only 1.7 inches and average yearly rainfall is only 20 inches. After suffering 10 years of drought, Colorado ended its drought in one week.  As creeks rose and flooded, neighborhoods were evacuated, some people going to temporary shelters set up at churches and schools. Other people were trapped in towns as roads were wiped out; those people were airlifted out.

It was a devastating flood for many people in Colorado; particularly those in Longmont, Boulder, Lyons and then small towns downstream like Milliken. Volunteers stepped up immediately to help pump water and remove sludge from basements in the affected neighborhoods and now continue to help with restoration projects.  Hundreds of miles of roads and bridges have been destroyed in Colorado during these floods. Temporary fixes are being made as quickly as possible, but much of the work will take years.

Talks are now going on as to how, when and if to put the St. Vrain River back into its banks.  Irrigation ditches that are used in farming are no longer connected to the river because its changed it's course. This could have a huge effect on agriculture in the state. We are thankful in Colorado for the help we have received though and will continue to rebuild.


For more information you can view this slideshow from Denver 9News or this article in the Daily Camera.

Wordless Wednesday Madgellan, Snow, Moon

This is a picture of Madgellan, our Leghorn rooster with his hens behind him. Picture taken on Monday.

Footprints in the snow on Tuesday morning.

Moon setting over the mountains on Wednesday morning. Snow is gone but its cold.

I struck gold when I checked the laying boxes in the chicken coop this week and found several eggs! Our flock of seven birds hasn’t given us eggs for a few months. Although chickens will typically slow down during the winter months due to decreasing daylight, ours have never completely stopped in previous years. For some reason they just haven’t seemed too happy after moving to our farm this year. Perhaps it’s the raptors flying overhead or the coyotes that come out at night, I don’t know. But hopefully they are out of their slump and we have gotten 8 eggs in the past 3 days. We have a variety of types of chickens, some laying brown eggs and some laying bluish green eggs. Some we bought as baby chicks and some we bought as adult layers. We don’t have any white egg layers so I will probably buy some at Easter so that we can color them.

Chickens are an interesting and entertaining lot and a small backyard flock is certainly something to consider. We first got chickens 7 years ago when we lived in the suburbs. After that several of my neighbors got them because they realized how fun they were and how good fresh eggs taste. Chicken manure is a good fertilizer for the garden and is high in nitrogen. Eggs are a good source of protein and a good gift for friends and neighbors just for being there. Chickens don’t like to be alone so if you get chickens get 2 or 3. You can set up a small run for them next to your garage. Do protect them though as they are prey to many animals including raccoons, foxes, coyotes, hawks, even neighborhood dogs.

There is a documentary I saw on TV once called “The Natural History of the Chicken”. This is a funny and serious look at the joy of chickens. Part of the movie focuses on a hen that wanted badly to be a mother. If you have chickens you will love this movie, if you don’t, it will make you want them.

Today is my brother’s birthday; Happy Birthday Corey!