Chicken Update

This is Joniah.

Joniah is a year old Special Dual Purpose Meat Bird.

The reason she is not in my freezer,

is that a certain son tamed her,

and she became a pet.

She is very much like a dog.

If we come out of the house,

she comes running.

When we get home,

and drive into the drive-way,

she comes running.

Now, to be fair,

I do believe it's because in both cases she is after food.

Sadly enough,

when we open the van door there is very often chip crumbs,

or other such goodie that she can glean.

Being as she's tall enough to reach the floor of the van....

Here she is next to a regular size laying hen.

(Lucky that butterfly was flying by... Ava had forgotten a certain item a clothing...)

Ava loves Joniah...

so she will live out her days here,

eating loads of food, begging for more food,

and providing me with nothing....

WHAT!?  Nothing?!

Oh, sorry.

Joy and love for my kids.

This is Howard.

He is an almost mature Barred Rock Roo.

His crow still sounds like a croak.

Isn't he pretty?

"Why yes, thank-you.  I am."

"Here. Get my good side."

"Did ya get it?"

Yes, Howard.

You look great.

Okay, that's enough of talking roosters.

Why do I want a rooster, anyway?

Well, I like the crowing.

I do.

And the protection of hens.

But most of all I like the thought of a sustainable flock.

And so, I have a rooster.

See?

Do you see the little chicks?

These were free.

Hatched out by chicken on the right in the above picture.

Chicken on the left was also brooding,

only she was about 4 days behind Mama Red.

So, when Mama red's babies hatched,

brain-dead chicken on the left ABANDONED her almost hatched eggs,

and tried to take Mama Red's.

There were originally four chicks,

Mama Red kept these two,

Brain Dead took the other two.

Brain Dead lost her two,

no idea how.

But now she "helps" with these two.

Mama Red beats on her a little, I think.

But BD just won't quit.

So, long story short,

these two baby chicks have 2 Mama's.

Oh, and their Daddy?

Remember Ninja Roo,

the Special Dual Purpose who got away?

He is.

And for the record,

he is now in my freezer.

No more siring of little cross-breed chicks.

They are cute, though.

The end.

"Hey, what about us?  We do all the work around here, laying eggs and all."

No.  I said no more talking chickens.

The real end.

For real.

Blah

That's how I feel.

I haven't mentioned it,

'cause I think that if I don't talk about it,

and I don't acknowledge it,

maybe it didn't happen.

But it did.

Winter is...... back.

Argh.

I went to bed the other night,

and it was Spring.

No snow on the ground,

birds back and chirping,

the barn was finally drying up....

and woke up to a snowstorm.

We already had a foot of snow everywhere,

and it snowed and blowed all day.

Sideways snow.

And since then,

it's been freezing.

It's not back with a mild -2, oh no.

It's back with -14.

Last year was an early Spring.

I checked back,

and this post was from March 19.

I remember.

It was warm.... sweaters only.

And winter did NOT come back.

But I do also remember,

in 2002,

we had snow the weekend of May 16.

'Cause my oldest son turned 2, so we had a party.

And it SNOWED.

I guess this is life in Canada.

But seriously.

A little Spring, Lord?

Please?

I also have a wicked bad cold.

You know how some colds aren't that bad and you can still function?

Not this one.

My brain doesn't work, and I feel in a fog all the time.

And what my body tends to do with colds,

is turn them into pneumonia.

I felt it coming on strong yesterday,

it hurt my lungs to swallow.

But my Mom took my kids for the afternoon, and I slept.

And slept.

Got a good 3 hour nap.

And woke feeling better.

Even made it to Nathan's final Hockey practice/ party.

I can swallow and talk without my lungs hurting.

I hope I'm on the upswing..

things are not right when Mom's are sick.

Here's what it looked like today:

On the right is bikes, on the cement pad.

Ha.

I tell the kids that's why winter is back....

because they got their bikes out.

Pax is wearing his blanket again...

and dealing with frozen water.

Notice no chickens?

That's right.

They are back to being stuck in the shack.

They don't like cold feet.

The wind is howling outside,

and I have to bundle up and head out to care for my animules.

I do have one thing, well a couple things,

that tell me Spring has got to be coming....

I went for 10 Barred Rock Layers,

and 1 Barred Roo.

Came back with 23 chicks.

I ordered another 10 layer variety while there, and apparently they threw in another 2.

So, in a few months,

I will be selling fresh, delicious, free-range eggs.

Get your orders in now, people.

I was HACKED!!

Seriously.

Worms, Backdoors, Trojans,

all things I don't understand but know are bad.

22 items, most listed as critical.

Uh-oh.

So, I took my computer, like immediately,

to my Dad.

'Cause he's a computer guru.

And, he fixed it.

Took him longer than I wanted,

'cause I have zero patience for waiting and like things done yesterday,

but he did it.

And my computer is now my own again.

I couldn't help but laugh at the hacker though...

as a Mark I'm pretty pathetic.

Nothing in my inbox but hockey e-mails,

articles on self sufficient farming and homesteading,

daily devotionals,

horse magazine articles,

animal rescues updates,

and family group e-mails.

Nothing at all exciting.

And though I do have internet banking,

I have one account and as soon as money goes in there it heads back out.

So, basically, I'm very boring.

Not really worth the trouble....

It was kinda violating though....

However, it's fixed.

Yay!

In other news....

got some 3 dollar shirts at Walmart.

Question about this one:

Is this too young for a 30, uhhhh how old am I?

Hang on, gotta think.....

32 year old?

It's kinda teenage girl, a little bit.

But, I liked it.  And it was 3 dollars.

On another note,

what's with all the faces on shirts now?

I have to say that 90% of the shirts I looked at had a face,

or features of  a face,

on them.

I have a face.

I don't need a second one on my chest.

Just sayin'.

In other other news....

This guy

Has to have surgery.

He has a problem with testicular torsion,

and yes, it is what it sounds like.

His testicles twist up like a pretzel.

Excruciatingly painful.

It has happened to him 4 times,

twice he's gone to the emerg.

The problem with this condition,

besides the painful part,

is there is a 5 hour window from when the torsion happens to when he has to be under the knife in surgery.

If no surgery, testicle dies,

and that brings it's own set of problems.

So, it's pretty serious.

It happened again last weekend,

and he had a hockey game.

As soon as he told me,

I stuck him in a hot bath,

'cause a couple of times that has helped.

It didn't this time.

He got out of the bath and sat in the chair by the fire,

legs curled up to his chest,

and a few tears squeezing out.

(Side note: he is the toughest kid I have. Best kid when he's sick, no complaining.)

I sat at his feet and rubbed them,

after giving him an Advil.

I was kinda waiting,

seeing if it would get better.

'Cause when it untwists it's like a miracle cure,

he's better right away, like nothing ever happened.

But, it didn't,

so I packed up everybody and after dropping the other kids off at their Dad's,

headed for the Hospital.

We got in pretty fast,

same as the last time.

(No fooling with this condition.)

On the way in Nathan had started feeling better,

but I wasn't sure whether that was just the Advil finally kicking in or not.

When the Doctor came in,

after asking questions and examining poor Nate,

I was in trouble.

First of all,

he chastised me for waiting.

I should have headed for the hospital immediately.

I told him it had happened a couple times before,

and had resolved itself at home,

and he gave me an eyebrow.

And said,

"Five hours.  Five.  To be in surgery."

Second,

I went to the hometown hospital,

and that was wrong.

Should have gone to the city hospital,

which is only 15 minutes farther away from me.

'Cause he said if it hadn't untwisted,

(which it had)

they would have stuck him on an ambulance to the big hospital anyway.

I said,

"Are you sure it's untwisted?  I gave him an extra strength Advil."

He says," Advil doesn't touch the pain."

Ouch.

So, he explained that because this has happened now a few times,

it's time to get the surgery.

Because, if I am away,

like at hockey,

or camping

and it happens,

it's going to be hard to get him into surgery in time.

So.

To the specialist we go.

Until then,

every night during bedtime prayers,

Nate reminds me,

"Pray for my balls, Mom."

So, I do.

Chicken were out today...

nosing in on Pax's lunch.

Goodnight!

Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens

Anybody remember that song?


It was Eric Nagler,
On the Elephant Show, with Sharon, Lois and Bram.


I loved that show.







Okay.





Pictures!




Of chickens.

Lot’s of chickens.








Here they are, in their coop.
You can see the little door to their run.
It took them a long time to get brave enough to venture out…
We had to throw a couple out there.
But now they are getting the hang of it.


As you can see, I use river sand as bedding.
And I LOVE it.
It keeps them dry, and clean.
And provides grit.

These are my cleaning tools.
Every day, I scoop out the poops,
takes me about ten minutes.

I sift through all the sand,
and gather all the poop.

Then I rake it, to keep it nice and loose.

When it’s really hot, the chicks dig down
and find the nice cool sand underneath.

Once a week I sprinkle DE on the floor.
Keeps the mites away.

Chickens at the feed trough.
I’m going to be adding another feeder this week.

They are changing over from chick starter to this special blend of feed.
No corn or wheat in it.
Our allergies to corn is so bad,
that eating store bought chicken usually makes our stomach hurt.
Cause those chickens are fed corn.
So, hopefully this will work.

These guys are a Special Dual Purpose breed, not the fast growing White Rocks.  They will take 15 weeks to be butcher ready, instead of the 8 weeks for White Rocks.

But they are a healthier bird, and I’m guessing the meat will be better.

I have 80 of them, and only lost those 3 that were killed by something.
I plan to keep 40 for me, and sell the other 40.

And here is their run.
Yes, I used snow fence.
Because it was free.

You can see that there is lot’s of trees in the run.
To provide shade, and cover from hawks and such.

Happy boys.

If you look closely, you can see the back fence between the trees.

Chicken heaven, no?

They’re gonna be yummy…..

See my stylin’ boots?
They’re camo.


I’m the “Stealth” Farmer.

Even though I’m going to eat them,
I like them.

And I really enjoy caring for them.
Of all the jobs I have to do,
being out in the barn is my favourite.

And here is the ladies quarters.
I only have to scoop their poop once a week.

Their bed.

Their door

Their side

Their poop.

The front of the Shack.

And here are the Ladies.

They have certain spots for certain times of the day.

It’s a giant circuit of the yard.

These were taken right at midday.
At this time they hang out under the giant pines.

It’s nice and cool.

Can you see them?

Freddy.
He has a rock in his mouth.
He is always hopeful that he can get someone to throw it for him.

Cyrus.
He’s not dead, just hot.

Pretty Thelma.

Beautiful Agnes

And adorable Ava.

 Here's the Song.



I couldn't find Eric Nagler's version.