A story just came out about rabbits being kept in horrible conditions. I suspect as the issue of keeping livestock in Oakland become more defined through community meetings and policy development, there will be more news about Animal Control doing busts, specifically on rabbits. The director of Oakland Animal Services is quoted saying “This blurs the lines for animal cruelty. When is it OK to raise something for food, and when is it cruelty?”

That’s a very good question. I’d say for those of us that eat meat, its ok to raise an animal for food when the conditions are humane and the animal has what it needs in its living space to be comfortable and healthy. Perhaps a more important question is, how do we know and best provide what they need?

What people need is educational resources. This applies not only to raising animals but to growing food in general. The public needs to know how to test soil, how to remediate soil, how to use soil amendments like manure without contamination, how to control pests without use of toxic pesticides. There will always be the case of ignorant choices made. However defining the best way to do something and educating folks on it is a great way to reduce, even eliminate, these cases.

Luckily Oakland has an abundance of willing people and resources to address this. Luckily, there are many large national cities that have made it legal to raise your own animals for food. These cities provide successful examples.

Where I cannot follow in this article is how the very valid concern for animal welfare gets interwoven into the debate about whether it is ok to eat meat. An advocate that believes rabbits are strictly companion animals says that they are companions in “our society.” This is not true at all. They are strictly companions in her culture, but not in many others. The U.S. is made up of many cultures, not any one. Also, those cities that have made raising animals for food legal allow rabbits. So, they must not have gotten that memo about “our society.” Oakland is proud of its diverse cultural heritages, which include food traditions. I hope they continue to preserve this unique aspect of the city.

This “our society” sentiment coupled with the belief that that gang violence can be mitigated if we all just stop eating meat, speaks volumes of the narrow cultural demographic of these advocates. It is extreme and unreasonable to expect people to give up their cultural practices and conform to such narrow beliefs. I am tired of this attitude that we need to shed our traditions to be righteous.

At the last tour we had at Pluck & Feather, it was pointed out to me over and over again that my hens were really quiet. I had not noticed but yes, my hens do not make much noise. My hens may cackle a bit when they lay eggs but its brief and its not distracting. I just hear a chicken, versus a dog barking, or a cat meowing or a bird chirping.

However, if my girls need something from me they will vocalize.The few times this has occurred, I poked my head out a house window so they see me which makes them stop. Then I go address whatever it is they need and, voila, no more noise.

So if your birds are making some noise they are talking to you. The easy to identify factors that may contribute to quiet hens are of course having food, water, snacks (they like variety), and enough space. I think one very special arrangement I have that helps my flock feel content is that nearly each side of their run is flanked by plants. The top is covered with a potato vine and the sides are covered by a pineapple sage, lavender, and nasturtium. If my hens are in fact quieter, I’d attribute it to the added sense of security.

The inside of the run feels very jungly and cozy.

The plants are also perfectly edible (the potato vine is nontoxic to chickens). So they feel shielded and have snacks poking through. If you have some noisy hens try creating a space that feels more protected for them.

Anabelle, the rabbit, is doing incredibly well. It is clear from the manner in which she bounds around that she is content in her space. It is also clear that after spending a couple of months not attempting to touch her but letting her approach me, she has gained a great deal more confidence. In fact, it is a near miracle that she now approaches me and wants to be stroked. She now lets me touch her whole body and check her ears. I am working on being able to check her paws and her teeth. This is a huge change from just two months ago when she seemed in a constant state of fear.

However, I have noticed that her behavior is still different than the other rabbits. Initially, I could not put my finger on it but she just didn’t have the same mannerisms. She also did not appear to look directly at me the way the others do. This got me thinking that maybe she has some sort of impairment. I began to note the differences in how the three rabbits respond to visuals and sounds. I am still trying to understanding visual acuity of a rabbit. I know their hearing is their primary organ and highly acute. This might be obviously from the exaggerated size of a rabbits ears.

As it turns out, Anabelle has some level of hearing impairment. She does not respond to noise. She shows no signs of infection or ear damage (no unusual head or eye movements). I think the darn rabbit is just deaf. So there it is. That explains why she would be so fearful, why her ability to care for her young would be compromised, and why so many normal rabbit behaviors have eluded her.

A friend asked if that meant I was going to eat her. No, it does not. 1) Anabelle is an adult and passed the age of eating. While i most certainly eat rabbit, I  would not eat any of my adults. 2) I don’t have market pressure to have highly productive females on hand. If this were a money making endeavor, this would be no place for her. I would have to find a home to adopt her. 3) She has had enough transition from East Coast to West Coast, around and then to my home.

Due to these factors, I have decided to keep her. We’ll see how things go with her mama instincts. I let her run around in the garden. She goes directly to Virgl’s pen. Perhaps her natural instincts are healthy and fine and she just needs things to be on her terms. I understand that.

I recently learned the Spanish word for broodiness is clueca, thought I’d pass that on. So what to do with a broody hen. Well, when a hen goes broody her bum heats up to keep the “fertilized” eggs warm so they will live. However, in my case there is no rooster so the eggs are not fertilized and a broody hens just means a hen that is not eating or drinking water regularly and that has stopped laying eggs. I do not know what prompts broodiness other than leaving a clutch of eggs for too long. It is best to remove eggs daily. I also know that sometimes a hen is just prone to being broody. So what do you do once they go broody?

I have had only one hen go broody in all the birds I have ever kept in my flock, 9 birds over time. For this one hen, I have had great success lifting her from the nest. Blowing on her bottom to cool it off and placing her near the food and water. I have had to do this multiple days in a row but she has always snapped out of it. I have a friend for whom this has not worked so she moved to the next stage and submerged the bird’s bottom in cool water but even this did not work.

I have read in several sources that another way to interrupt brooding is to place the hen in a cage that is off the ground so there is air flow beneath it. Give her food and water but do not give her bedding to nest in. I have never had to go this far but depending on your hens determination, it may be a next step. Lastly, in some cases a hen just will not stop. First off, broodiness is not always a bad thing. If you want to integrate new chicks into the flock and ensure their well being, slip them under a broody hen. You can of course also slip fertile eggs under her and she will hatch them and care for them. I know a woman that does this with her fertile duck eggs. Apparently the duck mama is not so good about brooding.

[Insert here photo of Esperanza as a blurred streak of activity]

The Urban Farm Tour was a smashing success! It was a real pleasure to host folks that have such a strong interest in growing and raising food. The first tour started at 11AM but early birds started crowding at 10:40AM! They were trying to beat the crowds. Oh dear. Dipak and I were still hunting down pens for sign-in at 10:59AM. However, after that it was smooth flow of visitors, no attendee jams.

I wish I had photos of the event. I was unable to photograph as I was zipping around and talking the full six+ hours. I am still letting off heat from all the sun I absorbed. I feel like I may actually glow in the dark.

A highlight of the event was the herbalist that joined us to present on medicinal uses of native plant.

Tellur Fenner of Blue Wind Botanical Medicine Clinic featured medicinal extracts of plants that grow in the East Bay climate and which I also have tucked into my backyard. He also discussed medicinal qualities as they pertain to men’s health. This was part of the days theme of Father Medicine. The tour was on Father’s Day and many families were on the tour as part of their Father’s Day activities. It was very sweet to see sons and daughters taking their dads out. I love being able to share how food grows with families. I have wonderful and informative conversations with mature generations who still remember how their parents and grandparents grew and raised their food. I often get amazing tidbits of advice. For the little ones, the food and animals are tactile and meaningful way to teach where food comes from.

Thank you people of Oakland and the greater East Bay for coming by. I hope everyone enjoyed the tour as much as I did!

And thank you Dipak for all your help!!

Keep your rabbits cool today! Provide ice for them to lick and offer a little mint to chew on . It helps cool the body. Also, if you have chickens avoid giving them cracked corn on hot days. It increases their metabolism.

A prolapsed vent on a laying hen occurs when there is degeneration to the muscular system responsible for laying- it is a form of herniation. This can occur when the shell of eggs is not forming properly due to a lack of calcium. Soft shelled eggs are harder to pass through the oviduct and can cause this strain injury. Hens can also be more prone to this injury if they are being forced to continue laying passed a natural cycle of laying (using lamps to extend their laying in the sorter days of winter).

You can help prevent a prolapsed vent if you 1) provide enough run space for the hens to walk and scratch. This retains the muscle health of the hen. 2) Support a natural laying cycle and 3) provide calcium supplement to their diet, such as sprinkling ~1Tbs of fine ground oyster shell per birds in their feed once a month.* 4) I have also read that common weed, Shepherds Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), provides a general boost to chicken health.

However, if your chicken already has a prolapsed vent (signs: swollen red bottom, blood, egg oozing from cloaca, other hens pecking at her vent), you have to treat her. There are  common and effective ways to treat your hen. The first step is to remove the hen from the flock to prevent cannibalization. Reduce the hens feed (or even don’t feed her for one day) to interrupt laying. This will give her a much needed break in laying.

Effective herbal care:
Wash the protruding organ in lukewarm water and using a natural oil (linseed oil or sweet oil), gently press the vent back into the body. Repeat several times as needed. Then wipe the vent area with a cloth or cotton ball that has been soaked in witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana).

Witchhazel is an astringentand anti-inflammatory that tightens skin, soothes, reduces swelling. It is used, among other things, to relieve the pain of hemorrhoids and bruises.

Effective non-herbal care:
Wash the protruding organ in lukewarm water and using petroleum jelly, gently press the vent back into the body. Repeat several times as needed. Then treat the vent area with a combination of Preparation H and antibiotic ointment. Preparation -H reduces the swelling tissue and allows the tissue to recede.

Continue these steps until the hen is healed. In severe prolapse where a purse suture may be need to the cloaca, contact your local veterinarian to find out if they can provide this procedure, or if you eat your hens, cull the flock of this bird.

*While this amount of calcium has kept my hens’ eggs firm and in great shape, literature does recommend free feeding calcium supplement in a separate feeder. I am going to switch to this and observe any differences.

Well, this was the last week working with my excellent intern. It was a great learning experience for me as I was constantly gauging the extent of information to to teach and the depth of projects. JH is very polite so it was hard to know if a task was engaging for her. I also found it challenging to assess how much of information was being retained though two opportunities were revealing. One was the garden tour where JH served as a docent. It was clear from the answers she was providing to the public that she picked up a little something something. I also later learned that due to her experience at Pluck & Feather, she was serving as a project lead on a soil project in her environmental science class.

As part of the internship I would involve JH in cooking, something she has not done much of. Our last day she actually made a souffle!

I am looking forward to continuing to offer training to youth in the coming school year. Who knows, maybe JH will even return for more advanced projects. I will be working with a high school teacher to develop what this might look like.

For anyone considering offering an internship opportunity, you may want to be aware of the criteria of an internship (It also helps for the student to be able to earn school credit).

An intern is defined in California by the following six criteria:

1.     The training, even though it includes actual operation of the employer’s facilities, is similar to that which would be given in a   vocational school;

2.     The training is for the benefit of the trainees or students;

3.     The trainees or students do not displace regular employees, but work under their close observation;

4.     The employer derives no immediate advantage from the activities of trainees or students, and on occasion the employer’s operations may be actually impeded;

5.     The trainees or students are not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period; and

6.     The employer and the trainees or students understand that the trainees or students are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training.

I am pleased to be a part of an article that celebrates growing and raising your own food! What I appreciate the most about the article is that its focus is not on urban farming as quirky but rather on why so many people have chosen this lifestyle. Its hard to be trendy with growing and raising your food because it  requires so much labor to keep it going. The choice to do it is sincere.

I also think its hilarious that so many folks reacted to this article calling it a “hippy notion.” That’s plain crazy talk. Non-hippy ethnic communities have been growing and raising their own food for generations in the U.S. (see the book The Earth Knows My Name). We do it because it is a sacred act that retains our culture and brings us closer to our source of life.

The Perennial Plate Episode 57: Lord, Lord, Lord from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.

Check out the organization National Policy and Legal Analysis Network (NPLAN) To Prevent Childhood Obesity. They have a wealth of resources for groups and individuals looking to create healthy food and water access in their communities. In fact, they have a legal toolkit for starting and running community gardens as well as information on establishing land use protection for community gardens. Check out their Document Library for more information, such as limits on government power over private property.