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4B - The Michigan Daily - Weekend Magazin - Thursday, April 15, 2004
JESS PISKOR - COOKIN'UP A SORM
The Michigan Daily - Weekend a
Frosty walks win Frieze 'Worst' title
PUTTING MY DEGREE TO GOOD USE
My mom received a call from
the post office last week.
They called to inform her
that a fragile package had arrived,
and she needed to pick it up immedi-
ately. She and my little sister Lydia
dutifully trooped down to the
Traverse City post office, and the
friendly postman handed them a box
with a few ventilation holes cut in
the side. He instructed them to open
up the box and make sure the con-
tents were undamaged. Carefully
opening the top, Lydia uncovered 27
healthy, day-old chicks. They happi-
ly chirped, and with an excited 10-
year-old in tow, my mom went home.
The chickens are mine, but my mom
is raising them for the first month
while I finish up school - my
housemate Sam forbid me from rais-
ing the chicks in my basement here
in Ann Arbor.
This summer, I plan on raising
chickens and growing vegetables on
some land I am renting from my
grandfather. The chickens are the
centerpiece of the operation. They
are all hens, so I will have plenty of
eggs. Lydia is kindly letting me turn
her playhouse into a chicken coop.
Whenever I tell people about the
chickens, I get the same questions.
How can you ship chickens in the
mail? Well, when chicks are first
hatched, they ingest the remains of
the nutrient-rich yolk and white. This
concentrated energy will sustain
them for the next 48 hours. As soon
as the chicks hatch they are put in a
box and shipped airmail all over the
country. A minimum order of 25
chicks is necessary because this way
the chicks all huddle together and
stay warm. I ordered from the
McMurray Hatchery located in Iowa.
They hatch up to 100,000 chicks a
week and are the main supplier to
small farmers. In addition to chick-
ens, they also sell turkeys, geese,
ducks and peacocks (for show, not
for eating).
People are also concerned when I
tell them that I only ordered hens.
Afterall, they ask, don't you need a
rooster if you want eggs? In fact,
chickens lay about one egg every
other day regardless of they are fer-
tilized. These liberated chickens
don't need men and, in fact, are hap-
pier without one - roosters just
chase around and generally harass
the hens and are always looking for
sex. I guess chickens and people
aren't as different as we like to think.
I ordered a mix of a variety of
breeds of chicks. They came in a rain-
bow of colors. Yellow, white and black
spotted, charcoal and rusty red, each
variety has a different temperament.
Already they are sorting themselves
into a rigid hierarchy - it's where we
get the term "pecking order." The
more aggressive ones peck and push
their way to the front of the food
trough and bully the rest. One little
red chick is the runt of the batch and
gets the most abuse - naturally this
one is Lydia's favorite. Some of theG
chicks are very skittish. Others seem
to enjoy it when they are held. One of
them will even roll on her back and let
Lydia pet her belly.
Unfortunately, I won't get to see:
the chicks while they are in this
exceptionally cute stage. By the time
I get home they will have lost their
baby fluff and will have regular
feathers. They will no longer want
people to hold them. They will lose
their cute cheeps and develop throaty
squawks. But for all their develop-
ment, they won't mature much in the
way of intelligence. There's no doubt
about it - chickens are pretty dumb.
For example, if you decide to intro-
duce new chickens to an already
established flock they will team up
and attack the new chicken, unless
you introduce the chicken when it is
dark out - they won't notice. Once
they start laying eggs, I need to
quickly remove the freshly laid eggs.
If the hens get bored, they might
decide to see what their eggs taste
like and eat the whole batch. Once
they develop a taste for eggs, hens ยข;x
turn into omelette lovers and eat eggs
faster than I can gather them.
The hens should start laying in.Courtesy of
mid-September. To keep them full, I Susabella, one of Jess's many chicks, gets comfortable in her new home.
will feed them a mixture of grains, my garden. Chickens will eat bugs with their droppings. Everyc
ground oyster shells (for calcium) and will help my garden by nibbling the crack of dawn, I will have
and whatever they can forage from weeds and fertilizing the ground out and fill their feed trough a
By Amanda R. Shapin
Daily Arts Writer
For many students, location is one
primary concern in the already
painful process of registration. Aside
from selecting first-rate professors,
finding times that work well and
getting classes that fulfill distribu-
tion, another aspect of a good class
is its location. Two very unpopular
choices on campus are the Frieze
Building, located on South State
Street, which The Michigan Daily
voted worst building on campus, and
the Modern Languages Building, on
Thayer Street, whose basement was
voted to have the worst classrooms
on campus.
Not only is the Frieze Building the
farthest building from the Diag, it
has tiny classrooms and with its
locker-lined halls, it is reminiscent
of an old forgotten high school. In
fact, before the University pur-
chased the building in 1956 it served
as the Ann Arbor High School.
"I really don't like having class
there because it's so far away no
matter where you are, plus the
building is incredibly dark and
dreary," commented LSA sopho-
more Amanda Benkoff. Many peo-
ple greatly dislike the long walk to
Frieze, especially during the cold
Michigan winters.
In addition, "the desks are really
small and also there's only one very
slow elevator," which contributes to
the hassle of getting to class., added
Benkoff.
For added creepiness, classrooms
on the higher floors of Frieze some-
times shake whenever a teacher
paces the room. Of all the buildings
on campus, the Frieze Building is
the one most in need of an extreme
makeover both inside and outside.
For similar reasons, the basement
of the MLB was easily voted to have
the worst classrooms on campus. In
addition to the small rooms that are
packed with anywhere from 30 to 50
students, there are tiny desks which
hardly have room for a notebook.
The worst part may be that there are
no windows, causing claustrophobia
the minute students enter.
"The classes are so cramped that
it almost feels like a jail cell," LSA
freshman Becky Weinstein said.
The cinder-block walls and the
inconsistent, disorganized seating
The Frieze Building, one of the least a
as an Ann Arbor high school.
arrangements contribute to the jai
cell feeling.
Some classes are already unbea
day at
to go
nd get
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C CHINESE FOOD
Congratulations to Chef Jan
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them fresh water. They can forage
for the bugs themselves.
Maybe it's a good thing I won't see
them in their cute stage. After all,
once my farming operation is over in
mid-October, I'm not sure what to do
with the chickens. While I haven't
decided yet, it's possible the chick-
ens might get the axe. Homemade
chicken soup, anyone?
- Jess wants you to sit down and
enjoy food. Food is love. For more pic-
tures of his chickens, e-mail him at
jpiskor@umich.edu.
MR. STADIUM
Open 24 Hours
Since 1972
" 1999: Top Gold Medal Special Grand Prize -
Forte Cup 20th Century Asian Pacific Art Competition
* 1999: Chef Jan Awarded 1st Prize - The French,
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" 1998 & 1997: Top Gold Medal - Award Winner
International Professional Culinary Competition in New York City
" 1996 & 1983: Top Gold Medal Winner - The Detroit
National Professional Culinary Competition
s 1978: Winner of the Washingtonian
Best Chef Award - in Washington, D.C.
Chef Jan
35 Years experience
127 washers and dryers
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Home of the clean machine
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