Planting Chickens

When it is really hot out when we let the chickens free rage they like to run straight for the back of the house.  There they seek refuge from the heat under the back porch.  The back porch is more like a covered deck.  It is something like 12 x 40.  There is lots of cool dirt and shade to cool off under.  The chickens like to dust in the dirt and shale under the deck.  They look like I planted chickens in the ground!

Yep I am now growing chickens.  They are so silly.  They dig a hole and lay in it and kick dirt up under their feathers and then they roll around in the loose dirt.  This does several things for the birds.  One it cools them off.  Second it rids them of any excess oils their skin/feather accumulate, and third it rids them of any bugs they may have.  My chickens do not have bugs.  I can pet and get close enough to inspect them often enough to know.  This is something I look out for.  You do not want your flock to get bugs....not good.

They enjoy wallowing in the dirt nests and I like to take pictures of them wallowing.  :o)  They will even kick each other out of a wallow and take it over.  I guess some dirt is better than others...?

Hopefully my next post will be a fun one.  I had to go to Omaha, Nebraska on a business trip for a week.  I did manage to work my butt off and also have some 'me' time.  I took tons of pictures and had a really good time.   Stay tuned!

Chickens almost burn down the house

So about 2 weeks ago my dear hubby was shutting all the windows to go to town.  We always shut the windows of the house when we leave sine we have been getting pop up thunderstorms.  As soon as he gets all the windows shut he smells smoke.  He really did not think anything of it since we live out in the middle of nowhere with no restrictions so folks burn stuff - a lot.  However the smoke was coming from inside the house.  He quickly went down to the basement to find the brooder litter on fire and smoking everything up.

Seems the peeps managed to knock down one of their lights and being a 75 watt bulb it was hot enough to catch the pine shavings on fire.  He quickly extinguished the fire and made sure the peeps were ok.  He called me at work to tell me what happened and I rushed home.  Since he took care of the fire he went on into town for whatever he was needing.

When I go home I started getting things ready to move the peeps to the nursery outside by the coop.  We have a large black watering tub that I stuffed down the bilco steps and squeezed through the doorway.  At that time our son just arrived home from school and he helped me wrangle the chickens and put them into the tub and then squeeze them back up the bilco and out to the nursery.

From there I put each peep into the nursery and talked sweetly to them.  They were not buying it.  Some even tried to point out the perp that knocked down the light in exchange for being put back in the basement.  Nope - they all were paying for the ill behavior of one, not to mention they really needed out of my house!!!

The peeps did not know what to think of the grass under their feet.  They were scared and confused.  We left them alone to huddle together in their new digs, and lean on one another for comfort.  The old chickens were quite the nosey nellies.  The kept pacing back and forth along their common cage wall trying to get a glimps of the new neighbors.

They would cluck and purr at the baby peeps to welcome them and try to encourage them to come out of the nursery.  They were probably wanting to get a peck at the baby's small toes!  Older chickens are like that.  They think that peep toes are worms and peck at them.  That is why we have the peeps segregated from the older ones until they get bigger.

In due time the peeps have adjusted and are doing well in the nursery.  They seem to ignore the older chickens but since they can see and call to each other they will get used to one another.

As ever day goes bay the peeps are more and more confident.  They even started out door classes in the morning.  They have flight practice every morning.  They are too quick for me to get a picture, but they do both the running take off and the helicopter straight up and down maneuvers.  I thought I heard one yelling WOOO-HOOO this morning as she was taking her turn.

Once we got them all settled into their new home I went down and cleaned up the mess.  I shoveled all the litter out of the brooder.  My son actually took it all the litter down and dumped it on the compost pile.  We folded up the burnt/melted tarp and found that the light landed on the only plastic piece in the whole basement....the drain.  Sure enough the light burned the litter, melted/burned the tarp, and burned/melted the basement floor drain.  I poured baking soda on the melted mess to absorb the burnt smell until we can get it replaced.  We have decided that if we continue to add to our flock we will not put the little ones in the basement again.  We say that every year and we still end up doing it!

Building the nursery

The peeps have been in the basement way too long now.  I am going broke buying air fresheners!  They need out!  At has been storming every day around these parts so it has been difficult to get time to build the nursery for the peeps.  We finally found a small break in the weather and ran with it.   We let the big chickens run loose so they don't freak out over the construction going on beside their coop and run.

First we had to mow the grass where the nursery and run will go.  We could have left at as they will eat and trample it down to mud, but we did not want to loose them in the high grass.

Then we had to get down the nursery walls from where we store them up in the rafters of the barn.

Zip tie the wall together.

Add braces for the 'roof'.

Add scrap pieces of plywood for the roof, and the front with a hole cut in it for a pop door.

Cover the whole thing in a tarp and secure it with bricks.

Cut holes in tarp for the pop door and the sun roof/entry point.

Get the young strapping son to pound in the T Posts for their run.

String the wire around the run.

Add the netting and get me stuck inside the run.  I had to be quite the contortionist to get out once we had all the wire and netting on!  Good thing I am flexible!

Line the run with bricks and it is ready to go.  It is a little shorter than the permanent run but that is ok.  The peeps will only be staying in the nursery for a few months then they well be integrated into the big coop with the older hens.

About that time the storms were rolling through so we could not put the peeps in.  That would have to wait for another day.  The older chickens were right there to help us and lend they building expertise 2 cents.

We quickly cleaned up, put all the tools away and wrangled the chickens back into the their run.  We will have to check the weather to try to get a break from these storms to get the peeps moved.

Meatloaf!

I will admit it - I love meatloaf....the singer and the food!  :o)  Mr. Meat can come over and make meatloaf any time....*sigh*....oh sorry I digress....  Back to the food.  Meatloaf is such a teased food.  Commercials make fun of it, kids cringe at the sound of it, but we in the Clucker's household love it, at least our recipe.  Dear Husband (DH) and I have several versions of meatloaf that we all like.  We have an italian style that is saucy and cheesy - sure to harden your arteries before you get to dessert, and the regular non-saucy version.  We have been tweaking meatloaf recipes over the years and DH seen a Mr. Food segment one morning on the TV news, but did not write it down or remember exactly what it was.  He remembered the jist of it so off we went to the store to get the main ingredients.  It took us a couple of tries but we have created a recipe that is wonderfully tender, moist, and oh so tasty.

So head on over to the What's Cooking page for the full recipe and give it a try.  It is yummy hot or cold.

Yummy Healthy Summer Squash and Eggs

I love summer yellow squash.  We usually plant a few plants and end up with more squash that one could ever use!  Since it is still way too early to be planting the garden in this neck of the woods, we bought some straight neck yellow squash at the store.  The sat around as we got too busy to cook them up that night or the next night, or the next.  So not wanting them to go bad I finally cooked them up and we all gobbled them down.  I had to make sure I packed my lunch before we all started eating so I would be sure to have some of this yummy dish for my next day's meal.

It is super simple, super easy, and wonderfully tasty.   It is a good source of vitamins and protein when it is completed with the eggs.  Head on over to the What's Cookin page for the full recipe!

Peeps are getting Big!

I had to clean out the brooder the other day.  I just could not stand the smell any more.  Having baby chickens in the basement is not the best set up.  Thankfully it is only for 2 months then we will move them out to the nursery outside until they are laying age.  Then they will be integrated into the coop with the rest of the chickens.

Cleaning out chicken litter from the basement is kinda tough.  I have to first open up the full brooder and shoo all of the peeps to the back new half, then block it back up while I clean out the front half.  To clean out the front half I have to use a flat head shovel and scoop up all the litter and put it into a big much bucket.  Then I have to carry the full muck bucket up the bilco steps and all the way down to the compost pile....again and again.  It took me about 4 or 5 trips back and forth to get all the litter cleaned out.

While I had the time I throughly cleaned the watering can while dear husband put down fresh pine shavings.  We added another set of blocks under the food and water to raise them up.  This will keep things cleaner for them.

We also added an 8 foot long perch for them.  It is a little high for them right now, but soon enough they will be all over it.

The peeps are growing like weeds!  The Easter Eggers are starting to get their fuzzy cheeks.

The White Lace Wyandotts are getting white heads and starting to lace out.

The Black Astrolopes are shiny and black.

I think I have figured out that the two mystery chicks are actually Red Laced Wyandotts.  They are pretty that is for sure.

The yellow/white peeps that I thought were the mystery peeps are turning out to be Easter Eggers.  They have the fuzzy cheeks like the rest of them.  It will be interesting to see what color eggs they will lay.  My last Easter Eggers both laid green eggs but one would lay an army olive drab egg while the other would lay a bright light green egg.  I hope these Easter Eggers have a range of colors and hoe to have a blue layer.

I think all the peeps are looking great.  Some will argue that they are ugly and look like little dinosaurs.  They are almost all feathered out and are getting more inquisitive every day.  They are starting not to run from me, and are actually starting to take an interest in me as I feed and water them every day.

Sloppy Joes

Here is another quick and easy week night recipe for busy people.  This sloppy joe recipe was put together by my Dear Husband and me one evening when we got tired of the the canned sloppy joe sauce.

Head on over to the What's Cookin page for the recipe!