The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 20 - Peeps with Personality

Each girl has a different personality but they get along well. They travel in a pack of two, attacking the lettuce piñata, or inspecting the garden. Louise looked up yesterday and couldn’t see Thelma (behind a clump of blue oat grass). She stretched her neck up and clucked “Hello? Anybody here?” Thelma clucked back and Louise rushed over to where Thelma was scratching
Thelma’s cluck is deep, it almost sounds like a duck quack. She is lot more vocal than Louise. She follows me as I clean the run every day, clucking the whole time. She now tolerates a few pats on the back. Louise on the other hand, is still molting, and thinks I’m an axe murderer. I’ve only seen one of them peck at the other once, but they have lots of room, and plenty of food, so not really a lot to fuss over.

Ferrero Rocher, Spot the Difference.

Same Same but somehow different, have a look at these. Can you spot the difference?

Medical and Health Care Support, Hospitals in Kuala Lumpur.

As an expat in KL finding a good doctor or emergency services can be a minefield, especially when there are so many centres and hospitals to choose from. The 2 medical centres that I have had verbal recommendations for and that keep popping up in conversations are: Prince Court Medical Centre and Pantai Hospitals.

Prince Court Medical Centre is affiliated with the medical university of Vienna, Austria. For more details
please visit their website: http://www.princecourt.com/

Pantai Hospitals have various Hospitals around Malaysia. Details can be found at: http://www.pantai.com.my/

Most international companies and schools also have memberships with International SOS, who provide medical assistance, security and evacuation services all over the world. They also provide medical advice and information over the phone via a large pool of registered and recommended doctors. For more details have a look at: http://www.internationalsos.com/

Up and coming events, Where expats mingle & meet in KL.

A couple of events that a lot of expats will be attending over the next 2 months are:

1. Grand Prix at Sepang Circuit just outside KL (on the way to the airport) on the 10th of April, 2011.
You can buy tickets at: http://www.bookf1.com/

2. The MANZA Ball at the Hilton Hotel, KL on the 21st of May, 2011 from 7pm. Tickets can be purchased at the MANZA house. Go to: http://www.manza.org/

3. Scottish Comedy and Bags of Rock Concert at the Hilton Hotel, KL, on the 28th of May, 2011.
To buy tickets go to: http://www.ssas-online.com/

All three should be a great social event and the Scottish Comedy will definitely have you in stitches.

Enjoy!!

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 19 - Chickens in our past

My mom mentioned that my grandmother raised chickens. They lived on a farm in the Midwest and usually had about 2 dozen. She bought the baby chicks in town. Before my mom started school she used to help feed them the mash Grandma cooked for them in the morning. Grandma sold some of the chickens and some of the eggs. All the farms had chickens, vegetable gardens, compost piles, and fruit trees. Everyone canned their own veg and fruit.

As I talk to other chicken enthusuiasts they tell about their parents/grandparents keeping chickens here in San Francisco…how did we get away from something so fun and satisfying?

Blueberry Daze....happening all this week!

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 18 - Friends

My friend stops by to help in the garden. The girls crowd around him to see what he is doing, hoping for bugs.

I love watching them climb around or hop on something with those comical big feet. They come right over to an open hand, knowing there’s a treat. Love it! Louise’s appetite has returned and she comes to the food bowl again.

more spring color....

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 17 - Ladies with Attitude

Dinner is usually served between 5 and 6, but the closer it gets to 6 the more attitude I get. Lots of chirrups, some jumping, “Where have you been? Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?”, such entitled ladies!

I choose take-out now based on what I can share with the girls. They like different things too, and if the menu hasn’t changed in a few days Thelma comes up and looks me in the eye….her silence says volumes.

She is tolerating more pats on the back now, and just moves away when she’s had enough touching. Louise on the other hand has totally lost it while the molting is going. She’s not eating until after I leave and scurries away at the slightest movement. I wonder if she feels as bad as she looks?

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 16 - Feathers!

Louise is acting differently, more skittish, she’s usually the calm one. After talking to a friend I realize she’s going into “molt mode”. They do that in the fall. She has stopped laying eggs…..

…and is definitely molting. She looks like she went to bed with wet hair and woke up all rumpled. Some feathers are just hanging at weird angles and there are brand new feathers coming out on the back of her neck. When she stretches her head out her neck looks a little ‘porcupiney’ with all the new pinfeathers. When she does her shakeout now at least a dozen feathers drift away……the run looks like a snow storm some evenings.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 15 - Scratch That!

The girls come out for a wander in the foggy afternoon after work. They nibble the annual grasses I purposely left around the garden for them. Then they start pecking the soil around the raised perennial beds, using their beaks like hoes to move the soil. I decide to help with the bug hunt by turning over pots and rocks to uncover slugs, etc. The girls come right over and start pecking and scratching, because the Food Lady always finds bugs.

When Thelma sees me lift a jumbo pack of sedums she come right over because now she knows there are always slugs and baby snails in the crevices underneath. After she dispatches all those bugs I set the plants down. Thelma uses her large feet to scratch at the plants and turns the jumbo pack over and checks again for bugs. Hmm…must move innocent plants later. The scratching instinct is so strong, I can’t imagine how caged birds live without soil.

Chicken coops have arrived in our stores!

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 14 - Fog

Our Bay Area weather doesn’t seem to bother them.... The run is next to a small hedge so there is protection from the wind. I use redwood soil conditioner in the pen to keep the sandy soil from compacting or blowing away.

Thelma is the talker, she makes a questioning ‘rrr? rrr?’ sound and looks at me accusingly. I think she thinks breakfast should be more than three courses (fruit, leftovers, greens). She plops out of the coop in the morning and starts scratching the soil. Louise always heads for the lettuce piñata, preferring to start the day with a light salad. They inspect the fruit offered and sometimes turn the saucer holding the fruit over when the scratch instinct kicks in. Peck peck, scratch scratch…it’s actually very entertaining/relaxing to watch this ancient rhythm.

Then it is personal grooming time, they have a little shakeout and start preening their feathers. This rather unusual movement looks they’re rubbing their head against the base of their tail on their back. They are actually moving oil from the uropygial gland to coat their feathers. This helps prevent the feathers from becoming brittle and helps with insulation and waterproofing.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 13 - Free Range Fun

The girls get out in the yard a couple of times a week, around four or five in the afternoon. They jump up on the gorgeous rich earth of the veggie bed (not fenced yet) and scratch with gusto. Sometimes I try to do a little gardening while they wander, and if I find a bug I’ll hold it out for whoever’s fastest (Thelma). If I try to plant a little seedling they come over to investigate. They see the planting hole and say (I’m paraphrasing here) “I can dig that hole for you” and join in with great enthusiasm. Seedlings go flying, they scratch dirt on each other, all great fun! For not being lap-chickens they get up close and personal while I’m gardening, crowding up against me to check out the planting, stepping on my arms or legs to get in close to the action. They do chomp down on young tender green shoots of wayward grass, some of the dandelions…and they trim back new growth on the beets. Hmm. Must fence off veggie bed soon. I shake the scratch cup and they come back into the run for dinner, easy-peasy.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 12 - Food

Last year I took a drive to Half Moon Bay Feed and Pet Supply to check out the supplies needed and the costs, since I couldn’t find any in SF. This year I did find a feed shop in Tam Junction that carries organic feed and other supplies. Chickens need a healthy balance of fats, carbs, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Commercially prepared Organic Feed is available in crumble or pellet form.

The girls’ main diet is organic chicken crumble, which is available all day in a hanging food dispenser. There seems to be a lot of fine particles in the crumble, next time I’m getting the organic pellets to see if there is less waste. The 50lb bags run just under $30. They also get grit, which contributes the grinding element needed in the gizzard to break down grain and insoluble fiber. Chickens who free-range every day pick up little stones as they forage all over. Chickens who only free-range occasionally need grit sprinkled in the run. They also receive ground oystershell, which provides calcium for a nice thick shell.

Online grocery delivery, Kuala Lumpur.

If you are doing a hundred and five things and simply do not have the time to do the food shopping in person,
why not try ordering online and having it delivered? I haven't actually used any of these sites but I have met quite a few people who are simply run off their feet juggling too many to do lists. I personally like to shop for food so these are not an option for me but may be a real help to you.

Check them out: All information below correct as per each website on 23/03/2011.

http://www.presto.my/ :
Payment methods: Cash or credit card upon delivery at your door, credit card online or pre payment at a presto store.
Delivery fee:        fee structure according to total spend. Free delivery for 100 RM or more.
Delivery areas:     for home and office in specific areas. See website for list
Times:                 10.00 to 22.00

http://www.doorstep.com.my/
Payment methods: Cash upon delivery at your door, credit card or debit card, internet banking.
Delivery fee:        fee structure starting from 1RM. Minimum spend is 50RM..
Delivery areas:     for home and office in specific areas. See website for list
Times:                 10.00 to 22:00

http://www.virgrocery.com/
Payment methods: Cash upon delivery at your door, paypal (credit card).
Delivery fee:        Total spend below 50RM, 10RM fee. Free delivery for 50 RM or more.
Delivery areas:     Specific areas. See website for list
Times:                 Delivery windows between 10.00 to 22.00 but not on Sunday's

A walk through a wet market in Kuala Lumpur.

Follow me through a typical wet market. I love going places where I don't recognise all the food/vegetables/fruit/sweets on offer. Here in KL, I don't even have to go to a wet market, the supermarkets have tons of vegetables and sauces and noodles that I wouldn't have a clue what to do with. So here we go, a gentle beginning with some apples and pears:

How about some Durian: king of all fruits? The customer looks like a Durian stock broker on the phone with her client! Buy, buy, buy....   Sorry this is actually Jack fruit (Thanks Hannah for the correction!)

How about some flowers for your meal?  As a side dish, not for the vase!

Banana flowers:

or some pink flowers. I thought these were lotus flowers but I am sure I am wrong. Can anybody tell me what these are?

How about some dried fish and some fresh chicken?

I thought it was "The giant/Jack and the beanstalk and not "The Giant Beanstalk"? Does anyone know how to cook these enormous things?

And round it all off with "Hoof " on the barbeque!

There is much much more but will let you digest these first before posting more!

Wishing you an adventurous journey into the world of exotic food!

Try something different: Crocodile meat!

Yup, you have read correctly: crocodile meet or also known as "gator" meat! Where can the bold and adventurous among you have a taste of this delicacy? Well none other than at the lovely Havana bar at Changat Bukit Bintang. Don't worry if Crocodile is too daring for you, they have an extensive menu and beautiful seating inside and out. Upstairs there is a dance floor too, so you can exercise a bit after the meal.

The same owners of Havana also run the Magnificent Fish and Chips bar at 28 Changat Bukit Bintang. They serve an excellent typical British Sunday Roast and of course the famous British dish of fish and chips. The Magnificent is also open for breakfast!

So if gator meat is too wild for you, the option of a tamer meal can be had both at Havana and The Magnificent Fish and Chips bar. Bon appetit!

Photo of Crocodile meal below: very tasty!

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 11

We finally put up deer netting above the fence to keep the girls from taking an unexpected plunge next door. It is practically invisible, yay! It was such a hot day when we secured the garden this week, I sat down in the shade of the run to cool off. My friend looked at me from the other end of the garden and gave the command “Release the birds!”

I unlocked the door and sat down again, then pushed the door open from the side. (I don’t want the girls to associate a human standing at the door with playing in the yard). They plopped out and came over to peck in the dirt around my feet. Then someone’s little brain thought ‘Wait a minute, there’s spinach here someplace’… and off to the veggie bed where they happily ripped away at the spinach (it had bolted so why not?). They basically stayed in a small part of the garden and came back to the pen readily when I shook the cup and put out dinner. I can’t wait to let them out again.

This month's kitchen gardener: blueberries!

In this month's issue of the Kitchen Gardener, we talk about growing & cooking with blueberries. Read it here! http://bit.ly/hZw7oU

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 10

They got out! One Saturday after I fed them in the morning I forgot to lock the door to the run and went off to run errands. I came back, took a nap, and while I made their dinner thought to myself ’Hmm, the girls are quiet.’

I came out the back door with dinner and the ‘scratch cup’ to find them standing in the veggie bed. They looked up as if to say “You’re here!” I replied “and so are you!” They came toward me expectantly and I shook the scratch cup. “Come on ladies, time for dinner” I said as I went to the run. They quickly followed me, hopping over the step into the pen. Dodged a bullet that time, never again. I have to secure this yard.

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 9

Since the girls arrived already a year-old from a free-range flock on the peninsula, they are not lap-chickens. I’ve done some hand-feeding to establish that “open hands” means some kind of food (bugs, scratch, fruit). Closed hands mean no food. I’ve only caught and picked them up once, to put them in the coop the second night they arrived. That was traumatic for all concerned and after speaking to other chicken owners found that chickens put themselves to bed, just before dark. I didn’t read about that part while I was researching but anyway this works for us.

Another free-range owner told me he puts their scratch in a plastic cup and shakes it at nighttime. His girls all come running when they hear that sound and happily follow Pavlov back to the coop. I tried that technique and it works very well. The girls will jostle in to get close to dinner and don’t mind brushing up against me (the Food Lady). Once Thelma went behind me at dinner, found a paper towel sticking out of my pocket, yanked it and started shredding it. Now she always goes behind me to check, and once yanked on the white shirt sticking out from under my sweatshirt. Thelma will also jump up on my leg if that gets her a better position on dinner.

20% off ALL edibles SALE this weekend ONLY!

Announcing an amazing rainy weekend EDIBLES sale -- Today, Saturday & Sunday ONLY: **20% off** all vegetable starts, citrus trees, dormant fruit trees, berries and seeds.

wow! See you in the stores....

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 8

Why did I get the girls? Two reasons, first to have a constant source of chicken manure to enrich/feed my sandy soil and second for the company. I have to go into the garden every night to feed them, so after feeding I’ll putter; weeding, planting, grooming, watering, etc. I do enjoy sitting in the run talking to them while they eat, they are endlessly entertaining…but the gardener in me sees things to do.

They know that once I’ve left the run I generally don’t return, and they go about their business of pecking and scratching…instead of standing by the door waiting for me as I garden. But I do really want their company in the garden so my friend and I are working on a solution to free-ranging in a secure environment. I don’t want my jumper Thelma to go over the fence…and down into my neighbor’s garden. What if he’s not home? How can I safely climb up the fence (or the blackberry bushes from the behind neighbor) with a chicken under one arm?

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 7

Another behavior they seem to enjoy is something I call “ripping and shredding”. If I sit and hold a head of leaf lettuce by the base they rip off pieces enthusiastically and swallow them. If the lettuce leaves are laying on the ground or in a dish the reaction is a muted “What’s the fun in that?” When chickens free-range they rip off little bits of grasses and weeds they find and there is some resistance as they tug away. Sometimes I will dig up clumps of weeds, put on my gloves and let them go to town. Thelma always nips a gloved finger, Louise never does. I don’t react to a nip because I don’t want to encourage Thelma to draw any conclusions……

The girls now have a lettuce piñata! I bought one of the large cylindrical suet cages we carry, hung it from a cross beam and fill it with leafy greens for them, they love it. Thelma still jumps up trying to rip/eat the lettuce as I load the suet cage…impatient girl. They don’t mind that the piñata swings and turns a little, they crouch underneath it and pull bits off from below too.

Hot off the printing press!

Out March/April Gardener's Notebook newsletter is hot off the printing press this week. In this issue: Grow your own Groceries, backyard fresh Eggs, California native plants, Vertical gardening….and more! http://www.sloatgardens.com/gardeners_notebook/default.htm

The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 6

Since the ladies are already a year old and come from a large flock on the peninsula they are not accustomed to petting or cuddling. But they do come right up to see what goodies have arrived, even to people they’ve never met. I’ve had many friends over to meet and admire them. My friend J, who is an old hand at birds, caught each one so we could have a look at their feet. Thelma flapped a little but calmed right down and neither squawked or struggled while being held. When they were set back down they each shook their feathers and turned right around to see if the ‘hands’ held out any treats. They will ‘batten down the hatches’ if any large birds fly close enough to hear, since they are listed as dessert in the food chain. The sound of my voice seems to relax them, unless they can understand the words ‘impenetrable fortress’.

Bomb craters…that’s what my friend calls where the ladies take their dust baths. If you’ve never seen the dust bath process, you might think something is wrong. Hens will scratch, then sit and wiggle down into soft, sandy soil and kind of flop around. Then they fling soil onto their backs with their wings. This can be done several times, until it feels just right. My two hens do it right next to each other, it looks like they’re taking a nap together. The dust helps keep the mites away, it’s a natural cleansing behavior. That explains the tiny pile of soil on Thelma’s back one evening as they gathered for dinner.

Where to Live in KL?

New comers to KL who wish to stay in up market areas which are popular with expats need to decide 3 main things:
1. How far do they want to live from their work place?
2. Do they want to live in a house or a condominium (condo)/apartment?
3. Do they want to be in the city centre or a bit further out with some jungle views?

Most expats live within 15-20 minutes drive to their office and others even walk it. KL is beautiful in that way. It is a very green city with pockets of parks and vegetation here and there. Traffic permitting it is very quick to get around. Traffic is very slow though when it rains and during rush hour and even more so when traffic is held by street police to allow a VIP convoy to pass. So with this in mind pick a location near to your office so that you are not wasting time increasing your blood pressure whilst stuck in traffic!

A hot spot for those who work in the Oil and Gas industry is right in the Centre of town close to the Petronas Towers and Suria KLCC. There are several condos in the area and the prices reflect the prestigious location. Rents range from 7000 to 10 000 and above malaysian ringit per month for 2-3 bedroom apartments.

Some other popular areas are Bangsar, Damansara Heights, Damansara, Ampang, Mont Kiara and Sri Hartamas.
All areas have a mix of houses and condominiums with the latter being more prominent. Condominiums tend to come with a shared pool, a small gym, parking, a snack bar, a jacuzzi. Others have creches/nurseries, saunas, tennis courts, badminton court, squash court and a small convenience store.

I personally live and love Mont Kiara. It is in the suburbs and a bit cut off from the city centre but in return we have a view of the jungle and a view of the Petronas Towers (albeit a view of 2/3rds of them). Situated on a hill we also have a cooler breeze in the evenings and less city noise. A very good location if you work in Bangsar or Sentral.

Depending on your budget there are of course so many other places in KL to choose from.

For more details on prices and pictures of properties visit one of the many sites available.
For example: http://www.iproperty.com.my/

Any questions, please leave a comment and I will be glad to help out.

Picture of a typical condominium below:

Grow your own groceries this spring....

lettuce

lettuce and chives

artichoke

tomatoes

citrus!