"Everyday is like Easter when you have chickens."
~Mr.
~Mr.
(And sometimes you really do have to look under, over, behind to find them.)
Showing posts with label Chickens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chickens. Show all posts
Friday, September 2, 2011
Quotes and Observations
(And sometimes you really do have to look under, over, behind to find them.)
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Introducing - 2010 Egg Counter
I don't know about you, but I'm very curious to see how many eggs we'll get this year. So I'm going to keep you posted along the way with an egg counter that you'll see on the upper right side of the page.
We currently have 11 laying hens. Remember those cute little babies that I introduced this fall? They should begin to lay in March. At that time we'll have 18 laying hens (hopefully).
Here's a recap of the first 2 days of the year:
January 1 - 10 eggs
January 2 - 6 eggs
Grand Total - 16 eggs
How many will we have by December 31, 2010? Only time will tell.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Brrrr...It's Cold Outside
While I'm unthawing after evening chores, I'll tell you a little bit about taking care of livestock in the frigid sub zero temperatures of the Midwest. The thermometer is currently at 9 degrees Farenheit, which is a huge warm up from -1 that it read this morning.
My parents asked this very question a couple of weeks ago during our last sub zero stretch. I think they asked out of curiosity, but mostly to be smart @$$3$ about the inevitable answer. In short...it sucks!
So how is it taking care of livestock when the mercury doesn't even reach zero? The most obvious first answer is that the worst part is frozen water. But that isn't the worst part. Frozen water is not nearly as bad as the buckets of water that you have to carry out to them.
Why?
It's below zero and you're dealing with water so you can't wear gloves. So you're hands FREEZE! And as much as you'd think that is the worst part - it's still not.
The worst part about taking care of livestock in sub zero temperatures is that you're dealing with fresh water while not wearing gloves, so your hands freeze from the air and then they get wet and what do all of the animals' enclosures have in common? Metal latches.
I have a very real and very probable fear that my hands are going to freeze to one of the metal latches while trying to get in or out.
It's amazing what you can do with your hand tucked inside the sleeve of your coat. I've learned to open and close latches, but it's inevitable...I'm going to forget. I just hope that Mr. pays attention to the clock and comes out to check on me.
My parents asked this very question a couple of weeks ago during our last sub zero stretch. I think they asked out of curiosity, but mostly to be smart @$$3$ about the inevitable answer. In short...it sucks!
So how is it taking care of livestock when the mercury doesn't even reach zero? The most obvious first answer is that the worst part is frozen water. But that isn't the worst part. Frozen water is not nearly as bad as the buckets of water that you have to carry out to them.
Why?
It's below zero and you're dealing with water so you can't wear gloves. So you're hands FREEZE! And as much as you'd think that is the worst part - it's still not.
The worst part about taking care of livestock in sub zero temperatures is that you're dealing with fresh water while not wearing gloves, so your hands freeze from the air and then they get wet and what do all of the animals' enclosures have in common? Metal latches.
I have a very real and very probable fear that my hands are going to freeze to one of the metal latches while trying to get in or out.
It's amazing what you can do with your hand tucked inside the sleeve of your coat. I've learned to open and close latches, but it's inevitable...I'm going to forget. I just hope that Mr. pays attention to the clock and comes out to check on me.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Yuck, Yuck, Yuck….Yumm! – Butchering Chickens
I think I finally have everything related to Saturday’s chicken butchering cleaned up and put away. I will not lie to you…it is a lot of work, but well worth it. This is how the day progressed:
7:00 AM – Mr. heads out to string up the first 10. We have found (through our wealth of experience – HA, all two times) that the best way to kill a chicken is to hang it upside down by its feet and then cut its head off. This eliminates the whole headless chicken running around terrorizing the neighborhood. Could you imagine?!?! Let them hang for several minutes so that they bleed out.
7:30 AM – The plucking begins. We set up a propane turkey fryer and my large pressure cooker filled with water to scald the birds before plucking. The heat releases the feathers and makes plucking much easier. Trust me, it works. The first time we butchered chickens we didn't scald them. I found Mr. sitting at the counter in our kitchen with a pair of needle nose pliers trying to pluck a chicken.
The water needs to be very hot. They just need a quick dip. The best thing to do is to start plucking the feathers around the neck first. This allows the skin around the legs more time to cool so that you don’t rip the skin while you pluck those feathers.
We iced them down in a cooler while they awaited the final cleaning and bagging in the kitchen.
9:30 AM – First 10 are complete. We stop for breakfast…I know, how could we possibly eat after that? It’s a lot of work, but it’s really not that bad.
10:30 AM – Mr. heads out to string up the next 8. The water must have been the perfect temperature with this batch because the feathers came out with little effort.
11:30 AM – Mr. heads out to string up the last 7.
12:45 PM – Final cleaning continues in the kitchen and the cleanup outside commences.
2:00 PM – Everything outside is cleaned up and drying in the sun. All chickens have been cleaned thoroughly inside, have been bagged and are in the freezer.
6:00 PM – Dinner. And what do you eat on chicken butchering day? Only the freshest fried chicken you’ve ever had. Add some mashed potatoes with chicken gravy, corn from our garden and iced tea and you have the best, freshest comfort food you could imagine.
7:00 AM – Mr. heads out to string up the first 10. We have found (through our wealth of experience – HA, all two times) that the best way to kill a chicken is to hang it upside down by its feet and then cut its head off. This eliminates the whole headless chicken running around terrorizing the neighborhood. Could you imagine?!?! Let them hang for several minutes so that they bleed out.
7:30 AM – The plucking begins. We set up a propane turkey fryer and my large pressure cooker filled with water to scald the birds before plucking. The heat releases the feathers and makes plucking much easier. Trust me, it works. The first time we butchered chickens we didn't scald them. I found Mr. sitting at the counter in our kitchen with a pair of needle nose pliers trying to pluck a chicken.
The water needs to be very hot. They just need a quick dip. The best thing to do is to start plucking the feathers around the neck first. This allows the skin around the legs more time to cool so that you don’t rip the skin while you pluck those feathers.
We iced them down in a cooler while they awaited the final cleaning and bagging in the kitchen.
9:30 AM – First 10 are complete. We stop for breakfast…I know, how could we possibly eat after that? It’s a lot of work, but it’s really not that bad.
10:30 AM – Mr. heads out to string up the next 8. The water must have been the perfect temperature with this batch because the feathers came out with little effort.
11:30 AM – Mr. heads out to string up the last 7.
12:45 PM – Final cleaning continues in the kitchen and the cleanup outside commences.
2:00 PM – Everything outside is cleaned up and drying in the sun. All chickens have been cleaned thoroughly inside, have been bagged and are in the freezer.
6:00 PM – Dinner. And what do you eat on chicken butchering day? Only the freshest fried chicken you’ve ever had. Add some mashed potatoes with chicken gravy, corn from our garden and iced tea and you have the best, freshest comfort food you could imagine.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Meet the Babies
I would like to introduce the newest babies on our little farm:
The chicks…these are more egg laying chickens. Aren’t they cute? They are only a few days old here. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they are actually pretty.
Mr. did more research and these breeds (Welsummer, Plymouth Rock and Rhode Island) are supposed to be better layers than our current hens. I don’t know what we’re going to do with all of these eggs.
And these are just the cutest little things I’ve seen in a long time…
I mentioned our rabbits briefly here. We brought Buck and Zoe home at the end of March. They are Satins. They have an extremely thick coat that is unbelievably soft.
Zoe had these babies at the beginning of October; they are two weeks old now. I can’t believe how big they’ve gotten already.
The chicks…these are more egg laying chickens. Aren’t they cute? They are only a few days old here. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they are actually pretty.
Mr. did more research and these breeds (Welsummer, Plymouth Rock and Rhode Island) are supposed to be better layers than our current hens. I don’t know what we’re going to do with all of these eggs.
And these are just the cutest little things I’ve seen in a long time…
I mentioned our rabbits briefly here. We brought Buck and Zoe home at the end of March. They are Satins. They have an extremely thick coat that is unbelievably soft.
Zoe had these babies at the beginning of October; they are two weeks old now. I can’t believe how big they’ve gotten already.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Where did the phrase “Mother Hen” come from?
You got me. Where? I can tell you it didn’t originate from our chicken coop.
For today’s class, I must bow my head in embarrassment and say that I did not do my homework. And because of this, we had a very grim day on our little plot of 5 acres yesterday.
I had no intention of another chicken post today, but I have to share what we learned while the lesson is still fresh in my head. What I didn’t mention yesterday when talking about our 11 egg-laying hens is that we also have 2 week-old Cornish Cross chicks. These chickens are bred for meat instead of eggs, which means that they will only exist until the first weekend of November.
Since they are bred for meat, they grow Fast and the 32 little balls of fluff outgrew their brooder. After much thought, Mr. boarded up the bottom row of nest boxes so that the baby chicks couldn’t interrupt the hens. This allowed them free run of the coop, but still gave them access to their heat lamps and chick starter food. On Thursday evening Mr. let the baby chicks out and checked several times through the evening and first thing yesterday morning and all was well.
I took my afternoon stroll to the coop to check for eggs and to peek at the little balls of fluff and I was met with a very grim discovery. The hens killed 7 of our baby chicks. They pecked them to death. So while I’m now very unsure where the term “mother hen” came from, I now understand the phrase “hen pecked.”
OMG!?!? I was in pure shock. The remaining chicks were huddled into two different groups – one in the brooder, one freezing outside the brooder; but both trying to protect themselves from the hens who were still lurking about. They were scared to death and even though living, they all have battle scars. As of this morning, we have not lost any additional chicks, but only time will tell how many of the remaining will survive.
First chance I had last night, I hit the internet and searched for this very topic. I learned that you cannot put chickens together until they are approximately the same size and even at that time, you should watch closely to make sure everyone is getting along. I also learned that hens can turn on their own baby chicks and attack them.
I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined the sheer morbidity of what I saw yesterday afternoon. Another lesson learned and countless more to go.
As for the hens, they are very glad that I discovered what they had done instead of Mr. While I was unbelievably upset about the situation, Mr. has a much bigger temper than I have and he admitted that had he discovered it, we may have had chicken soup for dinner last night instead of grilled cheese and tomato soup.
For today’s class, I must bow my head in embarrassment and say that I did not do my homework. And because of this, we had a very grim day on our little plot of 5 acres yesterday.
I had no intention of another chicken post today, but I have to share what we learned while the lesson is still fresh in my head. What I didn’t mention yesterday when talking about our 11 egg-laying hens is that we also have 2 week-old Cornish Cross chicks. These chickens are bred for meat instead of eggs, which means that they will only exist until the first weekend of November.
Since they are bred for meat, they grow Fast and the 32 little balls of fluff outgrew their brooder. After much thought, Mr. boarded up the bottom row of nest boxes so that the baby chicks couldn’t interrupt the hens. This allowed them free run of the coop, but still gave them access to their heat lamps and chick starter food. On Thursday evening Mr. let the baby chicks out and checked several times through the evening and first thing yesterday morning and all was well.
I took my afternoon stroll to the coop to check for eggs and to peek at the little balls of fluff and I was met with a very grim discovery. The hens killed 7 of our baby chicks. They pecked them to death. So while I’m now very unsure where the term “mother hen” came from, I now understand the phrase “hen pecked.”
OMG!?!? I was in pure shock. The remaining chicks were huddled into two different groups – one in the brooder, one freezing outside the brooder; but both trying to protect themselves from the hens who were still lurking about. They were scared to death and even though living, they all have battle scars. As of this morning, we have not lost any additional chicks, but only time will tell how many of the remaining will survive.
First chance I had last night, I hit the internet and searched for this very topic. I learned that you cannot put chickens together until they are approximately the same size and even at that time, you should watch closely to make sure everyone is getting along. I also learned that hens can turn on their own baby chicks and attack them.
I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined the sheer morbidity of what I saw yesterday afternoon. Another lesson learned and countless more to go.
As for the hens, they are very glad that I discovered what they had done instead of Mr. While I was unbelievably upset about the situation, Mr. has a much bigger temper than I have and he admitted that had he discovered it, we may have had chicken soup for dinner last night instead of grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Which Came First – The Chicken or the Egg?
The answer to this age-old question remains largely unanswered, but in our case, the answer is the chicken.
I knew they were coming. It was inevitable. Mr. threatened to order chicks from our local farm supply store for many years in a row, but never actually did it. Despite my protest…to put it nicely, I am not a fan of birds. This was the year for chickens.
I knew they were coming. It was inevitable. Mr. threatened to order chicks from our local farm supply store for many years in a row, but never actually did it. Despite my protest…to put it nicely, I am not a fan of birds. This was the year for chickens.
I even tried to redirect and made the suggestion that we should get rabbits instead of chickens. He must have misunderstood me…ha, ha – he heard rabbits in addition to chickens. So after he finished the “Hilton” of rabbit hutches and filled it, Mr. set out to build a chicken coop this spring and spent many hours researching the best egg laying breeds.
He finally settled on New Hampshires, Red Stars and Black Stars; they arrived at the end of April. They are supposed to be cold weather hearty and produce a good number of eggs when they reach approximately 20 weeks old.
Unfortunately, these first eggs aren’t what you’re used to seeing from the supermarket…they are tiny to start out. What we didn’t know is that they aren’t tiny for very long. In fact, not only do the hens start producing eggs that are much larger very quickly, they also start laying double yolk eggs, which are downright huge.
Mr. was correct in the breeds that he chose…they have become egg laying machines. These eggs are just from yesterday. 9 eggs out of 11 hens – not bad at all.
Who wants breakfast?
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