Stuff

One of my white leghorns started laying, which made me pretty dang happy!!! It feels like we are putting in a lot of work, (and feed) for very few eggs. Some of the eggs we were getting, we aren't getting because we had to butcher those due to the fact that they were eating eggs. (oh joy) Now we do highly suspect that our leghorns are eating eggs, but we are working on trying to break that since we've been working with them since November when we got them as baby chicks. We are thinking about setting up an area in the one garden where we can put them for a while to see if segregating them will help. We are hoping that we can break them of it...although I think we are having a problem with our Rhode Island Reds as well.
We are pretty positive that the Leghorns are our worst culprit, because I put some fake eggs in the chicken house that look pretty darn real. Well I stood back and watched to see what would happen, and the Leghorns attacked them pretty viciously. I was really worried that my roosters were involved in this, but they just kind of walked in to see what the girls were doing, and turned around and walked back out. SO thankfully that takes care of that.

I took a picture of the new Leghorn egg, and then took a pic of it with my red star egg. She's been laying longer than anybody in the hen house...about a year now I think. I wanted you guys to see the size difference between a new layer, and a well established layer. Its fun to see I think.

Since I put everybody outside in the grow out area so they could finish getting big enough to be with everybody else, my chicks have really grown!!! They are really happy out there too. They have a blast running, and pecking, and digging, and jumping. My Easter Egg chicks have grown and gotten quite beautiful. All 4 of them have different patterns, which I find to be quite fun. This one was the only one who stayed still long enough for me to get a pic.

The two worm tubs that I set up in trade for the rabbits are nice and active. They have really started reproducing well, and are really working well. The hubs has started assembling the rabbit hutches. I helped him to get the wire cut yesterday (sort of).  We're going to go to Tractor Supply today, because somebody there has Easter Bunnies, and we're thinking about maybe getting one to add in for the fun of it.

Wildflowers are in bloom!!! They are absolutely beautiful!!! These are blood root. This is the first year we've seen them. Mostly because of the brush. Thanks to a group on FB, I was able to find out what they were. One lady was even nice enough to send me a link to them, and I find them quite fascinating. Native Americans used to use them for many different things, and I found that to be a fun fact!!!

Well, Hope everybody has a great weekend!!!!

Gardening Stuff

While I'm having my morning coffee break, I thought I would sit down and share todays adventures in farming!!!

As you can see, I have my celery planted, and we are off to a pretty good start so far...just as long as I remember not to fertilize it with coffee grounds like I did the last one...*sigh* that was literally my bad.  I'll just have to make sure to keep it nice and moist for the next few days. I would have loved to have used the same orange pot that I used last time, BUT I left it on the porch, and forgot to bring it in, and it cracked when it got buried with snow over the winter, so its gone with the wind. Its not like I don't have a shed full of pots anyways.  I'm planning on starting a second celery plant once I get some more celery. I'll be needing some here in the next few days so I wont be long without the celery bottom to get started again.

My seeds I planted last week have taken off!!! The squash plants literally pushed the lid off of the one seed tray. Here as soon as I finish my coffee break, I'm planning on heading out and getting a bag of dirt. I'm going to go ahead and get them in some Dixie cups, in hopes that they take off nicely. If I was smart..(I said IF) I would have been saving the little pots that my previous veggie plants came in that we bought, and I could have just put them in those to grow nicely....but I never said I was smart. I have plenty of those little Dixie cups, so no big deal....although I do have a huge pile of the red solo cups as well, so If I wanted to plant them in something they could really grow in...ahhh...sweet ramblings.

Yesterday the Hubs and I went and got the wire we needed, and the feeder and water containers for the rabbits. We just have to get the wood so that he can frame them up, and the food, and then, well I've got to pick up the rabbits. We're planning on having those put together tomorrow evening...BECAUSE...on Saturday at Tractor Supply (such a dangerous place) there is going to be somebody there selling Easter Rabbits...and the Hubs thought that it would be fun to get some of those as well...Just like chicken math, I believe that there is rabbit math as well...and its started here before we have even gotten our first batch of rabbits.

While we were at Lowes getting some wire, we walked by the books, and saw some interesting books on Chickens. Well we are book people here, and we decided to get this one. Its through the FFA, which in my mind is a grand establishment. This book is full of beautiful pictures, and so much information. In the beginning of the book it goes over some of the history of chickens, which I find to be very interesting.  If you happen to run across a copy of it, I highly recommend you pick up your copy of this book.

Well, coffee cup is almost empty, so I'd better close this up and get moving along!!! Enjoy this day, its going to get up to 72 here today, so I'm planning on enjoying every bit of this sunshine!

me, chickens, celery and ramblings

Well, Happy Wednesday everybody!!! Just thought I'd share some pics with you guys today, the first one is of me, yes...and I didn't realize just how high my hair line is....It could just look like that too because of the way I have my hair pulled back...don't know...but anyways...That chick in the pic with me is a Rhode Island Red, Dark Brahma mix, and its a pretty little thing in all reality. I have yet to be able to figure out if its a he or a she. All I know is I plan on keeping it, because if nothing else, I can use it to breed barnyard mix. People like those, sometimes a mutt bird is the most fun bird!

So, I'm trying to grow celery again, this time, I'm not going to fertilize it the way I tried to last time...I kind of killed it pretty good when I did that...SO lesson learned, and I should be able to put it in the dirt here in the next day or two. I'm just waiting for the roots to get a little bit longer.

Some of my daffodils have bloomed, and they are quite pretty. They are the only ones that have bloomed for me this year. I'm thinking I'm going to have to thin out some of the ones I have planted around. I'm thinking that the poor little things are probably over crowded..but that's ok, because I have some plans, that I hope "take root" Ok, yeah that was a pretty bad pun there.

My red star seems to have decided she likes to be in with the chicks, but I think its more she likes their food better. She doesn't however want to stay in with them all of the time. She will go in with them for a couple of hours, and then want right back out. She reminds me of my dogs, in and out, in and out...

I'm thinking that these pretty white leghorns, that are at the right age, size, and weight should be laying. In fact, we've gotten one from them...Just One...*sigh* I don't think our egg eating problems are over just yet in the chicken house. We are looking at the possibility of having to go ahead and cull out the rest of the chickens. Not something we really wanted to do, but it looks like we're going to have to if we cant get it stopped. If we do, we plan on going ahead and letting the chicks in the big run, and then going ahead and getting some chickens off of somebody else that are already laying, and quarantining them for a while, until we are sure they are disease free. I must say, we've been having some serious chicken frustrations here lately. Hopefully we can get it worked out.

Today I've been working on quilt stuff some. I'm getting close to being done with the first quilt top. I'm thinking I might just go ahead and finish them as I go. It just seems like it would be easier than making all of the tops, and then doing all of the pinning and quilting and edging. Haven't decided just yet, but I'll post pictures for sure once I get somewhere with it. I do know I have a quilt top finished from last winter. I want to get that finished so I can put it out on the back of the couch. I really like it, its a pinwheel quilt. I don't think I have posted a pic of that. I'll have to take a good pic of that for you guys. I'm thinking about making another one full size as part of the Christmas gifting...haven't decided yet...I'm a very undecided person here today with my sewing!!

Well, everybody enjoy this nice pretty spring weather!!!  I need to get back to everything else that needs to be done!!!

Weekend pictures part 2

I took more pictures on Sunday, than I did on Saturday as you all can see!!!
Sunday, we moved the door wall back in the chicken run, and then capped off the end with another piece of kenneling. Then we moved the coop out and all of the crates, and tubs full of chicks. We now have a grow out area for all of the chicks we have. I'm pretty happy because that means that caring for these chicks that are growing swiftly will be a bit easier. they are all fully feathered, and the nights aren't as cold as they were, so they will be ok. (I moved the dog house up there for them this morning) Its great that they get to run and play and scratch and chase each other around.

Then once we had the space opened back up in the chicken house, we built another roost, and put the nest box on the end of it. As you can see by the one pic, our Buff Rock was the first to jump on and check things out.

I was quite happy to discover a leghorn egg. That thing is huge, and its the first one we've gotten. So that means that the egg eaters have been getting them before we had a chance to see the leghorn eggs. But now that the egg eaters have pretty  much so been eliminated, it would seem we are getting eggs we haven't before.

I started some seed trays on Friday, and I already have some peeping through!!! I love to see those little green buds starting. The first to come through were squash and tomatoes, I'm going to keep a close eye on them to see what comes next!!!

Well, now you've seen our weekend here on the farm!!! Always something going on here.

Weekend pictures part 1

Good Morning, and Happy Monday to you all!!!I took plenty of pictures this weekend of happenings around the farm here, so I thought I would break them down into 2 parts. I didn't take any pictures on Saturday, but here is from Friday and Sunday.
  
Friday I had been working in one of the raised beds getting it cleaned up, and ready to go. I filled a bucket full of grass and weeds, and worms, and tasty treats. I then emptied the bucket in the chicken run, for the chickens to dig through and enjoy. As you can see, enjoy they did!!! then at the end of the day they were tired and happy from their day of getting into everything.

Yesterday

Yesterday was a bit of a sad day for me here on the farm. We've been having problems with egg eaters, and the three biggest culprits were my two French Black Copper Marans, and the black star.  My hubby and his partner in crime Aaron, butchered those 3. I would have loved to have found a way to keep them from having to be butchered, because they were 3 of my first 8 girls, but it was a habit that had gone on for far, far too long. When they butchered and cleaned them, they were so full of fat, that it filled a bucket pretty good. On the upside of this, there is hope that our egg numbers will start going up now, and that nobody else is eating them. We're thinking we may have to hook up a web cam in there just to make sure of it.

Now I did get to a quilting bee yesterday, that's here in town. That's always a blast. It was a full house as well. There was much talking, and sharing going on. I'm thinking that I'm going to have to cut out some stuff to have something to work on while I'm there. I've been wanting to make a grandmas flower garden for many years now, and that's something that's hand sewn traditionally anyways, so maybe I'll do that. Just get myself a little basket, and have that to work on. Maybe it will be something I'd want to work on here in the evenings during my down time or something. Who knows with me!!!

I got part of the raised garden cleaned up on Friday. That was fun, I ended up covered in dirt and mud, but who cares, that's part of the charm of gardening.  I got the onion bed part cleaned up, and I moved some of the walking onions around so that I can plant some other stuff in there with them this year. I'm going to be putting the cucumbers in with them. I got some bush cucumber plants, so I'm kind of eager to see how that goes. I'm thinking that I may put a tomato cage over them though to help protect them from Sam and Jasper. I'm hoping to make pickles this year. I already have my cucumber plants started here in the house.

I'm also planning on trying my hand at making ketchup this year. If all goes well, I'll be making pickles, ketchup, salsa, and maybe even tomato juice. I love homemade salsa, its so great on eggs...there's nothing better than eggs with salsa and cheese on them.

I'm thinking about doing a giveaway here on this page to get some people to start following my blog a bit better. Once I make my decision, and decide what kind of a giveaway to do, I'll let you all know!!!

Great Day!

Today was another great day weather wise. I was able to turn off the heat, and to throw open the house windows. It was so fantastic to be able to start airing out the house. It got up into the 70's.
Yesterday we borrowed my FIL's truck and hauled off a bunch of stuff from around the outside of the house, and got some stuff we needed to build another perch for the chickens.

Today I started working on cleaning up the raised garden bed. Instead of replanting strawberries in it, we are going to turn it into a tomato garden this year. There is also plans to put up a net fence around it to keep the dogs out of it. Franks Egyptian walking onions have taken quite the beating from the dogs these last 2 years, so they need some recovery time. We did notice that the horse radish is coming up quite nicely though, so plans are going to go ahead to harvest those and grind them up to make some.

I got 2 seed trays started today. We need to go and get the rest of the seeds we need for the garden. I'm pretty excited because this year, I'm planning on growing some eggplant. Not enough to be able to save up for the fall and winter, but enough to enjoy through the summer. After the incredibly cold winter we have had, these nice days are like a balm to us.

Oh, I did get another celery stalk started. Its still in the water bowl stage, but its starting to take off, so hopefully soon I will be able to get it in dirt. (yay)

Well...I'm off to clean up the dinner dishes!!! Happy Spring!!!