Winter 2014

Hello! I realize it has been a long while since my last update.  We have had the coldest winter that I can remember.  Lots of snow and temperatures in the negative for much of January.  We have also had lots of snow! I have been collecting photos to post for the last few months though and thought I'd share them today and give you an idea as to what I've been up to!

Despite the cold weather, the chickens have been troopers....I have gotten lots of eggs!

This is Freebie, she is the only one I have who lays white eggs!  Many of which are double yolked!

When the temperature was in the minus range for days on end, I had to mix up some treats for the chickens.  This was to reduce pecking at each other, since they couldn't be outside.  I also added a lot of straw to their coop and as you can see, they enjoyed that!

This was a mix of laying feed, sunflower seeds, crushed eggshells, cracked corn and molasses. Baked at 350 until brown and crisp on the top.

Because its been so cold we've had visitors that are not out usually in the daytime...this was an obvious worry.  This one is only a baby, but a baby can kill all of your chickens.  There was also a really large raccoon out by the pen earlier that I didn't get a photo of.  I had to close up the chickens early both days. He's cute though.

This one I call Baby Beard. One of the chicks hatched by Big Mama.  All grown and laying brown eggs!

I call her Rainbow, because she has so many colors.  These chickens are mixed breeds.  It has been fun seeing what they would grow up looking like.

This one is also one of the babies.

 Me and Big Mama chicken.

 Me and Blackbeard, one of my blue egg layers!

Soon I will be planting vegetable seeds and flowers!  I also plan on starting some greens for the chickens in the greenhouse as soon as temperatures permit!  I will give you updates on those things soon!

First Blue Egg!

Yesterday, after Thanksgiving dinner I went outside to close up the coops and found the first blue egg! Which means, one of my Easter Eggers has started laying.  I took a few photos so you can see how small a pullet egg starts out, and how it looks nice in the carton with the rest of the brown and speckled eggs I have.  I also combined both flocks of chickens today.  I will maybe take some video if it warms up above freezing.

DIY Plastic Tote Chicken Nest Box

Just thought I'd post a quick update.  The chickens I got this summer are about to start laying eggs.  I haven't combined both flocks yet because I haven't had a couple of days off in a row so they can be monitored.  In case they begin laying eggs before I combine flocks I've made them a temporary nest box out of a plastic storage tote.  I didn't come up with this idea on my own, I found it on YouTube.  A couple of different videos.  I took a couple of photos and videos.  Here they are!

First Snow!

I thought I'd post a couple of photos from our first snow! 

Fall Update

I haven't updated this in quite awhile, so I've got some photos and a couple of videos for you!  First I'll post the videos and then let you all know whats been happening.

Update on my current flock of chickens!

Recycled Coop Tour

One of the Easter Eggers!

This is Freebie.  My free chick that was included in my hatchery order.

This is mama and the 5 babies she hatched! You can see how small they are in the video post before this!

Construction this summer on the coop.

Tree limb roost

This was how foggy it was this morning! Ended up being a nice photo though.

Not related to the farm really....but its Halloween! Freddy Krueger Pumpkin!

She Hatched Babies!

I had a Buff Orpington hen that went broody about a month ago.  We tried to get her off the nest and she just wouldn't stay off.  So, we decided to place some fertile eggs under her to see if she'd hatch them. Well, hatch date was August 20th and they began hatching on the morning of the 19th!  She hatched 5 babies!  She is very happy and doing much better than she was.  Here is a short video I took this morning of them.  I will get a better video here soon.  

Harvesting, Canning and a Hatch Date!

Hello everyone, I realize it has been awhile since the last update.  I was on vacation and have been working two jobs now for about a month. Busy!  Things are moving along here though. I've got some photos for you!

Here are about half of the tomatoes we have picked so far.  We have been canning already!

So far we used one of these baskets for salsa.  We ended up with 11 pints out of that basket.

We also made my Grandma's Ginger Pickles!  The only sweet pickles I like.

Here is another basket of Yellow Squash, Zucchini, and some misshapen cucumbers!

Here is the most exciting part of this update.  One of my Buff Orpington hens has gone "broody"....meaning she wants to hatch her own babies.  Since I do not have a rooster, we got some fertilized eggs from a friend of ours who has roosters.  He gave us one dozen fertilized eggs and she has been sitting on them for 2 weeks now.  The hatch date is August 20!  There could be hatchlings on the 19th or the 21st too.  We will have to wait and see.  I am hoping for her sake she gets at least a few hatchlings.  Here she is, sitting on the eggs.  I will of course update on or around the 20th to let you know if any of them hatch.  They will be mixed breeds...the fertilized eggs were a mix of cream color, speckled, and blue eggs!  I can't wait!

Stay tuned!!!  Thanks for reading!