Busy Housewives

We've been very busy this spring & summer.  Many hooves & feathers have been joined us. We've also built 3 chicken coops between us. Oh and another quail coop too.  Unfortunately we've learned about predators.   We'll do our best to catch you up.

The Silkies are coming along nicely. We've got a nice variety if colors and lots of BOYS!  I haven't actually figured it out but I think we've hatched about 75% boys.  Silkies are very rare around here & I've been able to find homes for the extra boys.

DIY Brooder

This chick brooder was very easy to make. The hardest part was cutting the hole in the top. I used a box cutter to do it, I'm sure there has ti be a easier way but that's what I had. I used hubby's cordless drill to put several holes just big enough for a zip tie to fit through (I won't lie, I got lucky with the first bit I grabbed) I cut a piece of plastic poultry fencing a little bigger than the hole. I attached it to the lid with the zip ties.
I think this will be perfect for the quail when they hatch.
No more escapees :-)
Kitty made a big brooder for the Silkies, they are now 6 weeks old and have most of their feathers. They have so much room now.  It's still a bit cold here so they aren't going outside just yet.

Artificial Sun Light

I decided to add some light for the quail. I think it may have been too drafty for them and one of them did not make it when the temperature dropped to the teens and it was very windy. I put a board up to block the wind but that made it very dark in there...off to Menards I go.
I'm not allowed to use incandescent light bulbs in my coops because of the fire hazards. Fluorescent bulbs won't turn on when it's cold out side (and this is the only time I'll need to supply artificial sun light)  The do sell a cold start fluorescent light fixture but $50 is a bit to pricey for me. While wondering Menards I found a LED light bulb!  Perfect, no heat and I can put it in the $5 clamp on light fixture.

I also added some artificial eggs hoping they get the idea :)

Quail!

Corturnix Quail have been aded to the menagerie of animals.

I'd been thinking about getting some quail for a couple of months. Their eggs are supposed to be delicious and they don't have cholesterol.

I found someone that was giving her quail away, she was moving and couldn't keep them. She really didn't know anything about them.  She thought they were all females.  She was also giving them the wrong kind of food. She told me she hasn't gotten an egg since October, this could be why she didn't get any eggs. (Hmm maybe they are boys is what i'm thinking) the coop alone was worth the hour trip there. Did I mention they were free :)  Quail will mot lay eggs if their diet doesn't have enough protein in it. They will also not lay eggs durring winter without artificial light. 14 hours of light is needed to create an egg.

They make this cute noise kind of like a cricket. So they cheerped on and off on the car ride home. Then a much louder call was made, I knew there was a boy in the mix. He's not very loud and will not disturb the neighbors. Just sounds like a wild bird.

I tried to check them out when we got home but it was too dark to get a good look at all of them.  I could tell by the markings that 1 is a male, 1 kept hidding in the corner so I couldn't get a good look. The "Tuxedo" colored one will require further "inspection"  you can flip them over and check it's vent to tell it's gender.

I'm going to give them some time to adjust before I add artificial light to encourage egg laying, so I won't have any eggs for a bit :(

Hatch-aholics

Both incubators up and running again :-)  we've got 7 Silkie eggs and 8 Ameraucana eggs this time.

The Blue Silkies can come in three colors, black, blue or splash. The picture is of the splash  variety. The Blue Silkie picture belongs MyPetChicken.com This is where the hatching eggs are from

The Ameraucans will be blue or black. Their picture belongs to Chichen Scratch Poultry. This is where the hatching eggs are from.  

Hot Chicks!

All four of the chicks that developed past day 7 hatched!  It was a very looonngg process.  The first pip must really take a lot of energy out of them. Once they make a hole about the size of their beak, it goes much faster. It took about 20 hours from the first pip to hatch.  I missed all but the last one hatch :(

The incubators are all cleaned and sanitized and awaiting the next shipment of eggs...which should be here tomorrow!

Hot Chicks at 1 Day old

Enjoying the warmth of the Brinsea EcoGlow Brooder

The Longest Week

The chicks should hatch this coming Saturday!
Just 4 of the 12 are growing. (I did break 1 egg)  The 4 seem to be doing well, it's difficult to see much now when candling because the embryos are getting so big.
Wednesday is "lock down" day. The humidity will be increased, no more turning the eggs and no more candling. The chicks will begin to move to the wide end of the egg where the air sack is, and they will start pip.
The picture of the egg in the dish is from one that was fertilized but did not keep developing. I think it stoped around day 2 or 3.
The other picture is from today day 16.

Chicken Run

The housewives took a road trip today. I'm sure we were getting all kinds of crazy looks with this in the back of the truck.
This will become the grow out coop for the chicks. I've already started making plans for it's improvements. I'm going to add a window for ventilation, a roost and a couple of nesting boxes. The wheels are turning....I'm sure I'll come up with some other ideas.
I also found this funny saying "Wicked Chickens lay Deviled Eggs"  so I'm going to make a plaque to hang on the coop.

17 days to go

I candled some of the eggs tonight and some are starting to develop. So EGGciting

Uh Oh

Bummer, the eggs were too close together and one got smashed when I put the lid on. Which is why I thought we need another incubator. So now we can safely set 14 eggs at a time.

Let the Count Down Begin

I loaded up the 'bator. 21 days to go. What great care Kristin at Two LLamas and a Whole Lotta Drama took when packing these eggs. Not even the USPS could break one during shipping.

First step to kid goats..

Went out to the barn this morning and Charlie was screaming mad, packed her in the car and drove her to meet the father of her kids and MAN does he smell, but she seemed to enjoy it.  After courting and flirting we think the job was done, rather quickly may I add, like 2 seconds.  WOW!!  Hoping for the little kidlets the first week of June.

Let the Hatching Begin

We ordered Silkie hatching eggs from Two LLamas & A Whole LLotta Drama and as long as the post office holds up their part of the bargain we will pick up the eggs today (Saturday)  The will have to rest for 24 hours before they can go in the incubator.
Silkies are cute little puff balls and lucky for me my husband wanted them, otherwise no more chickens for me

Dreams do come true...

Originally posted 9/14/2012

Well it only took about 35 years for this dream to come true.  Meet Sebago the newest addition to The Real Housewives of Wayne Township.

It didn't take long for Sebago to live up to his nickname if Houdini. In less then 30 seconds he had his stall door open.  I guess he really wanted to be with Dynamite & Tylia because there was grain in his bucket.

What to do with all these eggs??

Mike eats his breakfast on the go. It's usually a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich on his way to work. So I thought I would give it a try and make some for him. Am I going to get up early and cook him breakfast everyday before he goes to work? Nope, not a chance, but I will make several at a time and freeze them.

I got some tips off Facebook.  I think the best one was to weave the bacon, it stayed flat. Another tip was too bake the eggs in a muffin pan so they areround and all the same shape and make a nice looking breakfast sandwich.

Here's how I did it

4 Eggs

4 English muffins

4 slices of bacon

2 sausage patties

4 slices of cheese

butter

pan spray

I sprayed ramekins with pan spray. I decided not to use the muffin pans because I thought the egg would be too thick. Cracked the egg and put it in the ramekin. I then broke the yolk and slightly scrambled it. I baked them in the toaster oven @350 for 13 minutes.

(I didn't want to heat up the kitchen with the oven in this heat)

I cut the slices of bacon in half and did a "basket weave" with 4 of the slices (so 2 full slices) and then fried them. They stayed flat and perfect for the sandwiches.  Cooled bacon on a paper towel

Fried the sausage patties then cooled on a paper towel.

Let the eggs cool for a few minutes then removed them from the ramekins to continue cooling.

Toasted the English muffins and let them cool.

When everything was cool enough not to melt butter & cheese I assembled the sandwiches,

Buttered the muffins, added the bacon or sausage, added the egg and topped with cheese. They were individually wrapped in Glad press & seal and then frozen.To reheat, remove the plastic wrap, wrap in paper towel, microwave on 30% or defrost for 2 minutes then cook on 100% for 45 seconds.

I'm not that great or creative with my cooking. I only cook because I have to, but I must say these came out pretty good.

~Kim~

Cookie's a Dude!

When I was picking out my new chicks this past April my two biggest concerns were ending up with a rooster & scissors beak. Well looks like I got both.  

Scissors beak is when the top & bottom parts if the beak do not line up. Cocoa seems to have a very mild case of scissors beak, in fact I did not notice it until just recently. She seems to be able to eat and drink just fine. I'll just have to keep an eye on it. She is a little smaller then Cookie but guess what...Cookie's a Dude! (I mean rooster) so I am assuming that's why Cocoa is smaller than Cookie

I follow a couple of blogs and asked one of them if they would post Cookie's picture, hay ya never know maybe someone wanted a rooster for something other than eating. Well it turned out good for Cookie, there are a few people that just fell in love with him and it looks like he is going to live on a farm in Wisconsin....for real. He is quite the handsome little roo

Eggciting News

I was in a rush to get home from work today because the power has been out for a little over a day now. So my poor chickas didn't have their fan or mister too help keep them cool. Oh, by the way it's like 100°  and the big tree that shades the yard came down in the storm. So I was worried about them all day at work thinking they'd be half dead from heat exhaustion. I bought some ice and water (we're on well & septic so no water either) to put in their waters.

The first thing I did was open the coop door to let the little ones out and there it was, a tiny little brown egg right in the nesting box.

I just assumed it came from Rose because she's the biggest, but there's a black feather in there. Rose is reddish in color. So my next guess would be Margarita, she's the one with the huge comb & wattles.

Citrus Cleaner

I found a recipe at the Fresh Eggs Daily Blog for Homemade Orange Peel White Vinegar Coop Cleaner and thought I would give it a try.

I got a little nutty and made a few different varieties.  All varieties have the basic reciepe of orange peels & vinegar.

I made two batches for a chicken coop cleaner with cinnamon sticks to repel mosquitoes & vanilla beans to repel flies.  I made one for my Mom (to clean the parrot cage) with lemon peels & one with lemon peels and cinnamon sticks to use around the house.  After it cures for a month I will strain it and put into spray bottles. I can't wait to try it.

It is supposed to work great on the coops, you can just spray and leave it or let it set and wipe it off.  I think I know what I'll be giving my chicken loving friends for Christmas :-)

Wayne Flag Day Parade