Friday Update

We're still getting whalloped with this snow storm. It started a week ago and when I last measured, yesterday morning, we had 16+" of new snow. We're to get another 2-4' during the day today. That doesn't include that it snowed all night, so I bet by tomorrow morning I can measure and it'll be over 20".

I can tell you that as my corgi's go out in the doggy yard for a business run, only their ears are sticking up if they have their heads held high trying to see. I wish the runs ran a different direction so I could get some pics of ear tips and occasionally a nose sticking up!

And to think 3 weeks til Spring! Please HURRY!

Calgon... take me away! Do you remember that old commercial?

Hen House News

I just heated my cup of coffee and thought I'd say howdy! I've been really busy so haven't had enough time to post.

The hen house news is rather long! With Winter, I have so much time to ponder on what I'd like to do, want to do, have/need to do, shouldn't do..... and what would just be FUN and interesting to do!

I was right in suspecting one of my 2 black Cochin hen's is a roo, so I have 2 Cochin roos. The other is a blue. That will be fine as it's better to have a black x blue cross for mating as blue x blue causes splash blues. Doing that can affect the intensity of the color in the blues if one trys to breed back to blue.

I'm planning on penning the black roo with 3 of the blue hens and the blue roo with the black hen, a blue (for a short time) and the dark, feather-legged hen who was suppose to be an Americauna (who I think is only half Americaunca) and the half Orp/half Americauna gold hen.

I should be getting the Favorelle trio that I'm doing a roo trade for the feather-legged-suppose-to-be-an-Americauna roo Saturday. Then the Favorelle roo will get to keep his 2 Favor hens (coming with him), get my Favor hen and the little half silkie/half colombian-something-or-other hen. I think the Orpington hen may go with this bunch for the time being as she lays a brown egg so I'll know which eggs belong to the Favs, the Silkie cross and the Orp. I'd love to have several of this little Silkie cross. She's by a blue Silkie so at some point maybe I'll be lucky enough to get a couple silkies who need a new home.

So that will pair the roos up with the hens and I just have to get the tractors done for them. And to think I use to just have a big flock of mutt chickens, collected the eggs, butchered a few and that was it. Now I think I want to do some other "fun" and interesting things with my chickens too - especially since I can't let them free range.

I also bought an incubator! The one up in the barn was going to cost more for parts than buying one. I only got a Little Giant for now and I still want to get a Genisis 1588 with a few bells and whistles when I can find a good deal and have the money. If I do enjoy the hatching and want to get into it more, I would eventually use one for incubating and other for hatching as they need different humidity levels for the hatch so the egg membrane doesn't get too dry and keep the chicken from tearing it's way out of it.

I'm looking forward to hatching some of my Cochin and Favorelle eggs for now. Right now the Cochins, Americaunas, gold Oprington/Americauna and Orpington (she's got to move shortly) are together and with the 2 Cochin roos. The roo I'm trading is in the barn with my 2 Favorelle and Silkie cross hens. Americaunas and half Americaunas lay the green/blue eggs. The Favorelles lay a pinkish egg and the others lay brown. This helps narrow it down as to who is laying. I have more plans too but that's the beginning of them and for the current time.

Chicks will be available in the farm stores around here the middle of March and I plan on getting a few IF they have something I want. I'd like a few Orp chicks, few Australorps and some buff and light Brahmas. I should be able to get the Orps and Australorps there. I have an offer of some shipped eggs to get another breed I'd really like and may need to do this for the Brahmas. Reading these poultry catalogs might just be an incentive to get into "trouble"! I like seeing all these other breeds!

My hens haven't had winter lighting so they are just starting to lay. I got 2 nice brown eggs yesterday and 2 the day before. Prior to that, for the last month I've been getting 3-4 a week. Don't these look nice? Soon I'll need a larger basket! Finding eggs is fun and a bit exciting at this time of the year! Well, other than the fall into the snow I took yesterday trying to get to the eggs. These girls are in with a couple bucks who were trying to help me with my egg hunt or whatever I thought I was doing down there in that corner!

Also I just got 8" of snow on top of the 10" from a few days before, so have a lot of snow I'd like to give away. This is the perfect packing snow for making snow men and other statues! Have you seen this one:
The pic came in an email and I have no idea who it belongs too or came from. I just think it's creative and neat!

So, I think I'll stay busy as the goats will start kidding in a couple weeks! I have the 2 who will kid first and the 2 who will kid after them paired up with a goat panel divider between the 2 pairs so it's quieter for all. The herd queen is in here and 2 others would gladly be queen if they could. Spirit, the new doe is one who'd like to be queen but she's with Daisy, the 3/4 Boer doe who is very laid back and has no interest in climbing the royalty ladder. Daisy just wants her attention and fed and she's happy.

Today is National Pancake Day. I think I'll make pancakes for supper! We can have sausage with them.

Catch you all later, enjoy a cup of coffee or drink of your choice, and have a good day!

Busy Week Busy Day

I can't believe I've not gotten anything posted in a week. It's not from lack of topic, but rather I have been soooo busy! I had to get ready for a snow storm and got 8" and then have had to deal with the resulting snow and chores. Now that it finally got nice out yesterday we have freezing rain and another 8-10" of snow coming in tonight and thru Monday.

Bah humbug to Winter! I'm ready for Spring (and only 4 weeks or 28 days to go). Today I've already dealt with a buck doing a head butt on the chain link gate and it popping open. He then let himself in the barn so all 3 bucks were loose to butt heads and have a good ole time! The 2 out of the barn promptly went to the pen of the escapee to buck scratch and butt the rubbing tree and have a good ole bucky time. One of my ND does was out and of course she's in heat! But..... I didn't want to breed her til next winter. She is just 12 months. She was pretty much velcroing herself to the ND buck thank heavens but I'm still wondering...... Gotta make a decision.

Of course the buck getting out means the gate was wide open for the chickens. They got a chance to clean up some spilled grain for me but I had to herd them back in along with having the bucks in the way. Fortunately the pen is the safe spot for the chickens so they did want to go back in instead of running off doing crazy "I escapeed" things.

Now that the goats are corraled, the wood stove going good, I need to run to town and get a few sale items from the local grocery store, run to the hardware store and pick up my feed order. Then I need to come home and unload everything! That does me in as those grain bags are heavy and my body is lacking the strength and endurance it requires. It must be unloaded as the van needs to be back up to the house due to the storm and ice coming in tonight.

I also need to get a few days' firewood in as I don't want to be out traipsing on ice with it when it can be done in advance.

Before I can go I have 2 chairs in the back of the van that need brought in. I've not been able to get the front gate open as it's iced down. I may just have to back up to the horse trailer and sit them in it for a few days until I can get them into the house. Hubby had a few doctor appts. this week se were were out and about and made a stop at a 2nd store and picked up some sale items at a grocery store. (More appts.this coming week too!)

This is a royal pain. ;) Living where it's cold and freezes up for months is really an art in juggling one's life around to meet the needs of the humans, animals and Mother Nature's efforts to thwart activities. This is why I say bah humbug to winter. Everything needs to be dealt with pending the weather or instead of being at issue level it becomes challenge level!

So, I'm off again and I hope to get back soon! I've added several writing topics to my list as I haven't had time to post! See you soon!

PS I need a housekeeper!

Did you know that....

... the "The Kellogg's Corn Flake Rooster" was named Cornelius and was a Welsummer rooster? I didn't and my father worked for Kellogg's as a printer! I wonder if he knew?

I was referred to the following website which sells chicks and hatching eggs along with many other farm activities. http://www.whitmorefarm.com/content/5091

There's a pic of a roo at the top and further down a carton of eggs showing how dark they are and some are spotted too. Then there's a pic of some Welsummer hens. I'd have to describe them as "patchwork" rather like a homemade quilt. They have distinctly colored areas on their bodies just like a patchwork quilt! Welsummers are reported to be very friendly.

I think I'm becoming addicted to chickens! I'm going to look at chicks Tuesday while in town and wanting an incubator BADLY.

Is this just a sign of spring or what? What ever it is, I'm becoming "one sick puppy" over chickens and what to add to the flock this year! And I'm so waiting for spring, and counting the days as you can see from the countdown banner above.

Where does one get a diagnosis for this? Is the treatment just to get over it and get some rather like "chicken soup for the soul"? After all, chickens are the hardest working critters on a farm other than draft horses! I do so love those eggs and sure get a lot of enjoyment out of collecting them!

Chicks and Garden Catalogs

... = SPRING!



I've gotten several seed and chicken catalogs and I'm so tired of winter...and so ready for spring I can't wait!

Then, I heard that the chicks are coming! I can't believe how excited I am to hear the chicks are in and are in the sale flier there.

So, of course I'm going to go check out the chick breeds available next Tuesday at a farm store while in town. Fortunately, the place I'm going to keeps their separate by breed so one can get the breed desired, just not sexed. Bantams are all inter-mixed though.

I don't know what make incubator they carry but will be checking that out too!

Also, I'm going to stop into TSC tomorrow while going to meet a gal for a rooster trade off. I want to find out what they'll have, when and if they have an incubator. I know they carry the Little Giant which isn't the most impressive but I don't have an impressive income right now either. I think I need to get one and then upgrade in a year or 2.

Geez, I'm so tired of winter that chicks and garden catalogs are better than Christmas! I'd say I'm pathetic but I'm hearing the same on a lot of my yahoo groups!

Hundreds

When you think of "hundreds" what comes to mind?

When I think of "hundreds" there are some things that come to mind for me that others would think of and some they might. Some of "my things' are:

100 years ago
100 pennies are 1 dollar and yet many think pennies are worthless
100 pounds of flour or sugar aren't so much if one bakes a lot and cooks from scratch
100 words
100 parking places in a lot - I wonder how many are really there!
100 dollars (I wish I had to "spare" for the "fun" things)
100 chickens giving me 100 eggs per day
100 goats would be a whole lot of fun but also a whole lot of work
100 bales of hay isn't much at all but sure takes up space
100 # of grain for the chickens might feed that 100 chickens for a day
100 # of goat feed won't last long
100 trees would be a nice sized number for summer shade and the goats to get some leaves from
100 jars of home canned tomatoes needs to be my 2010 goal
100 # onions is about what we consume over the winter
100 # potatoes won't last a whole winter
100 times my dogs run in and out in a day it seems
100 senators in the senate (per hubby)
100 syringes in a box for a diabetic only lasts a month but 100 farm syringes lasts "forever"
100 cups of coffee - I wonder how long it takes me to drink them
100 calories makes a good snack amount
100 degrees on a hot day is toooo much
April 10th - 100th day in a year
100 mph would be good for a trip to jail
100 cm in a meter
100 miles is about a 2 hour drive if not in a big hurry
100 clouds in the sky can pass over on a windy day
100 M n M's - how many are there in that 14 oz bag?
100 jelly beans in an Easter basket is exciting
100 seeds in a packet of flowers
100 pounds or gallons of goat milk - yum
100 gallons of milk equals 10# of cheese
100 fence posts makes a nice size pasture
100 bottles of beer on the wall

And, 100 is the number of this post on my blog! Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you'll be along for the next hundred!

Spring, Oh spring! Wherefore art thou?

AD:

FREE SNOW!

I have MORE than enough for all to share so there's no need to fight over it. There's no need to push and shove in line to collect your share!

If you have back problems, NOT a problem! The trees are also laden so you can just shake it down without bending over or lifting!

I just want it GONE.... NOW!

Please.... PLEASE....

Make it go away!

Spring, where are you?

And, I slept through the earthquade here in the midwest! I'm not at the epicenter .... but I claim not fair! We shouldn't have a snowstorm and earthquake at the same time!

Busy Day

Actually, a very busy day.... cutting, hauling and stacking firewood. Nothing wears me out faster than the days of bustin' my fanny with firewood! It means everything else "slides".


That being, I have a "treat" for you! Take a surf to:
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/
I can't believe you wouldn't get a kick out of it. It's not all wrecked cakes. Some are actually really cute and neat ideas. I love her terms of "wreckreporter" and "wreckorator" too. She can really see the humor in her subject! There's not a lot of writing but there is a lot of humor! Have fun seeing the photos and taking note of how not to order a custom cake!