Coup tour pics, several weeks later

I'd intended to take a bunch of pictures of all our visitors from the coup tour. It was such a lovely, perfect day, weather wise, that we had a ton of people come through. Of course I took zero photos, but I did get these of the driveway (above), and the coop complete with the poop on the roof that we forgot to rake off.

Wild goose chase? Searching for a way to test our eggs for lead. Is it important?

Miss L is 5 months old now.  Pretty soon she'll start eating solid food and we're hoping that Tami Taylor & Tyra's eggs will be on the menu.  A few years ago I read about lead contamination in backyard chicken eggs.  It makes sense that chickens in the backyard of an older house might have gotten their beaks on some lead paint chips, for example.  And we don't want to mess with lead and a developing brain.  BUT... Finding someone who can test our eggs for lead has been tough.  Well, impossible, actually.

I called the OSU Extension office who sent me to another extension office who sent me to the Ohio Department of Agriculture who sent me to Food Safety at ODA who sent me to Animal Health at ODA who sent me to the OSU Vet Clinic who tried to send me back to ODA but instead sent me to the Avian Health Clinic, a private practice vet in Columbus.

It seems nobody tests eggs for lead.  They can test a chicken (preferably dead) for lead poisoning, but not the eggs.  The very nice vet at the Avian Health Clinic said that a chicken who was passing lead in her eggs would be very sick -- sick enough that we'd notice.

So, should I drop it and just trust that everything is a-okay?

This is not our baby.  I don't even think she's eating eggs.  But she is cute, so...

Backyard Chickens in NYC

Many of you may already have seen this story, but here's a tale of backyard chickens running up against a homeowners' association. http://nyti.ms/1jgDhay

Next Saturday is the Spring Coop Tour!

Next Saturday, from 1-3, our coop will be open to visitors. There are 4 other stops in Bexley, so you can see a bunch of chickens without going far.

http://www.cityfolksfarmshop.com/chickens/spring-coop-tour/