Oh MY!

Whew! Christmas is over and here comes the new year ahead. Most of the decorations have been taken down, of course not the tree, not until the New Year is here. I am still not sure why we do that, it is just one of those things that become part of the tradition and you follow it. *Note to self: Find out why we do that*
In the midst of all the Christmas Chaos my dryer died. I was sad for about a minute and a half until I realized that it might not be completely dead. It still ran it just would not get hot. So off came the back of the thing and upon inspecting the heating element it was burnt up. So a new part was quickly ordered online and then we had to wait. Waiting is not something the laundry in this house does very well. It was either too cold or wet outside to hang the clothes on the line so we hung lines across the bedroom. My oldest just shook her head at the hillbilliness (Is that a word? Probably not.) of it all but hey, you do what needs to be done and that is all there is to it. Today the blessed part arrived! Yea! I immediately hooked it all back up, gave it a bit of a spin and voila, heat was made. So, $60 for a part vs. $400 for a new dryer.....we win.
As a family we accumulated quite the stash of games this year for Christmas and boy has it been fun. Sarah got Disney Scene it! for her birthday and Are you smarter than a 5th grader for Christmas, both have been fun and the kids really enjoy playing. We got Yahtzee, which we taught Taylor how to play, Jenga and Pictureka (sp?) Fun, fun and more fun. Blue got a trivia game for the PS3 that has buzzers and it is really cute. Did I mention the "family" got rock band 2? Ok, we all love to play it, but Blue....He holds us all hostage until we play and then keeps saying three more songs until we have done maybe 50. lol He REALLY likes that game. It is good to see him so happy.
The chickens are sooooo mad at me. When it was so cold out we had bought them some Scratch grain as treats in the mornings and evenings because it boosts their body heat. Well the little addicts started holding out for the treats and have slowed on eating the real food, so I cut them off. They are so not happy. They knocked the water over, just for spite. They yelled at me like they were starving to death when the food trays were full. They keep kicking litter into the feed to hide it so I will feel sorry for them, I don't. I threw a hand full of food out like it was scratch and they all went running for it, but when they realized what it was I swear their was some bad words coming from those sharp little tongues. I gave them some greens and went on my merry way, oh I dread the wrath of tomorrow.
Well, in the immortal words of Scarlet, "I'll worry about that tomorrow." Have a great night.

The Three Sisters

For those of you who are stuck inside from the weather and dreaming about the garden you will soon be starting, I wanted to share a story with you. I was born and raised in Oklahoma and the amount of Native American culture that abounds there is amazing. There is so much we can all learn from the way they have always gone about things and that includes planting our gardens. The story goes that there are three sisters and these three are all you need to sustain life. Corn, Beans and Squash are these sisters. They are to be planted together in the same mound. If you do this it will all be good and this is why.... The corn grows tall and provides a pole for the beans to climb, in return the beans provide a stability for the corn against the wind. The squash will spread out at the bottom and take advantage of the shade from the corn and beans. In return the squash provides a natural covering for the ground that prevents weeds and keeps the ground cool and moist. This is the ultimate in companion planting, don't you think?

Hobby Farm Holidays

It has been really hopping around here but not so many pictures have been taken outside lately. That is because it has been raining forever. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the rain, I missed it so much when we were living in CO. Oh it rained there but it was usually short cold rains. When we first moved here I tried explaining to my kids that it was warm rain and they could play in it, they weren't buying it so I had to push them out into it. No that is not mean, they were pleasantly surprised and have come to love to go out when it is raining. But I digress. I really do need to go take some pics of the chics in the rain, it is sad really, they look like drowned rats with beaks. Yes they have a nice cozy hen house and they even have a covered area to play in but for some reason they like to stand in the rain and complain to me about it, it is just how they are.

As we were decorating for the holidays the kids decided that since the dogs have stockings maybe the chickens should too. Oh I had to draw the line. I am NOT going to make 19 stockings to hang for those goofy birds. Can you imagine? My family already thinks I have lost my mind, I am afraid that act would buy me a one way ticket to a padded cell.

We saw Christmas lights at the Tractor Supply that were made out of used shotgun shells but they were very expensive. I wish I knew someone who hunts that would be willing to give me the casings that they use, I would make my own shotgun shell lights to hang on the barn. If you know where I could find a bunch I would love to hear from you.

They say that chickens are stupid animals because their brains are so small, but I am not always sure that is true. My girls know me and trust me. They know that I keep treats in the pocket of my coat and if I do not hand them out quick enough they will see if they can get them all by themselves. Taylor calls them "Crack Ho's" because they will do anything to get their fix. They do however get distracted easily. I made the mistake of painting my nails again. Now the girls follow me around, jumping trying to peck my fingers. When I pet one I have to do it with the back of my hand or the others will peck my nails and freak the petted one out. Ok, so maybe they are not so smart. lol

This is the last day of work and school for my bunch and so I am not sure how much time I will have to post over the next week or so. If I am not back for a bit I hope you all have a beautiful, blessed Christmas.

December Begins

With the cooler weather and lately, the rain, I am spending less time with the chicks than I would like. They are letting me know that they do not appreciate it either. Oh I take them extra treats but still Turkey girl follows me around talking to me in a voice that almost sounds like a cry. She is a mess! She tattles on her sisters constantly.

I had started the deep litter method in the hen house but we have had to add a twist. Because of all the wet weather lately the run is muddier than any of us are happy with. We have started raking some of the inside litter out into the run, under the covered area just outside the house, to give them something other than mud to run around on. Then I just replace the missing litter with new pine chips. We tried the straw and it would have been good but the wet conditions kind of made it hold moisture, which I was not happy with. I spread DE into all of it to try and help get it a bit more dry and it seems to have helped some. Silly me, I was worried about how they would dust bathe with all the mud. They are just finding a spot in the hen house to bathe, they enjoy that the litter is deeper and they burrow out a hole and go to town, throwing litter every where. The bad part is that the favorite place to take a bath seems to be just inside the door and when I want in, they do not necessarily want to move to oblige me.

I am already dreaming of next spring and the garden we will have. The seed catalogs call to me but there is so much else to be done. That and everytime I stuff some money aside for my endeavors, the kids need something. For some reason they seem to think shoes are important, and a band trip in the spring has sprung up also. Oh and the birthdays are coming on, starting with Miss Sarah in a couple of weeks. Oh well, I can dream and make my plans anyway.

The dogs are loving the cooler weather, Sunshine wants to play frisbee or with a soda bottle every time we go out there. Their whole bodies wiggle when they see us, it is cool. I think I can relate on some level to how happy they get, I felt that way as I watched my husband and kids leave my house yesterday after five days home for everyone. lol I love having them home but there are things to be done and not much gets done other than playing keep up when they are here.

Well time for morning chores so stay warm and have a beautiful day.

Reducing and Preserving

I am on a mission. The mission is to recycle, compost or repurpose as much as possible. It is astounding how much we have reduced our trash. Of course we try to cut back on the amount of pre-processed foods we use as well and that helps a lot. The opportunity to get creative in the re-purpose part is kind of fun. The real process does not start when you have trash, the process really starts when you decide you NEED something. The question that begins it all is: Is this a necessity or not? Do I already have something on hand that can work or is there another way to go about this? It really is amazing the answers you will come up with and the amount of trips to the store you can reduce.

Now, it is exciting when you run across something you never knew before. This year we were able to start canning some of our food and look forward to doing even more next year. I grew up in a home where most of our food was canned or frozen. I NEVER knew you could freeze eggs! Did you? Not in the shell of course, they would explode. If you want to know how to do it go HERE. It is my understanding that eggs will do well like this for up to six months. This was music to my ears because our hens have been really being generous with the eggs and we have not built up a client list of buyers. I would hate for them to go to waste, this way they don't have to.

Kids! Feathered and otherwise.

The weather has gotten colder and the days are shorter. This means that even with the timer on the lights the chickens are spending more time indoors. I think some of them are getting a bit short with each other, one girl has become a full on bully. I have been turning their dirt and sprinkling clover inside the hen house so that it gives them something to do and they won't get bored, but to no avail. I am not spending as much time with them lately because I am sick and they almost act like kids when they feel ignored.

The other day I was turning the dirt, or I guess I should say TRYING to turn the dirt, and while they all stay in front of the shovel, one even rides the shovel so she can get her claws in the break of the dirt to help turn it (I guess I don't go fast enough), Turkey girl was instead following along beside me. The whole time she is looking at me and talking, it was like she was tattling that the others would not let her get to the bugs. Those chickens are funny birds.

Sarah has been having a tough time with feeling she doesn't have a spot. Taylor is the oldest and she has band and is gone a lot. Daniel gets lots of attention because of his diabetes and Asperger's. Sarah does not see her specialness. I tried to get her in the SibSaturday program at Vandy but I was very disappointed in the chaos of trying to jump through all the hoops. So I came up with a different idea. Sarah is going to be my apprentice. After afternoon chores the kids wanted hot chocolate to warm up. I told Sarah I would show her my secret to making the best hot chocolate ever and she was very excited that only she would know, not Taylor and not Daniel, just her. So I told her that I have many things that my Grandmother taught me that I could teach to her and her eyes lit up. So I think we may have our answer. Of course I did not know that Daniel was hearing the conversation and later he addressed it. He asked me, "You know when people die they leave boxes?" I said, "What boxes?" "You know they leave people stuff in a box." "OK" "Well, when you die you are going to leave Sarah a box of recipes huh?" The way Daniel sees things is pretty black and white. I hope that what I leave all of them is more than a box of stuff, I hope that I leave them with some wisdom, some history, some life lessons and a ton of love to last them their whole lives.

What's News

Our neighbor told us to take some of the pears from a tree in the yard next door. There was a ton on the ground and the bees were taking them over so not wanting them to go to waste we obliged. I sent the kids over with bags to pick up a bunch. Daniel was scared to touch any because of the bees but Sarah being the brave little "big" sister found that if she kicked them the bees would scatter and she could pick them up. Then in order for Daniel to not have a meltdown or to not get in trouble for not helping, she would pick up one for her bag and one for his bag. It was really sweet in a sneaky kind of way. Anywho, they came back with a lot of pears.

I had a plan for my day and it had not included fruit but what a welcome blessing. I sat everything else aside and started preparing the pears and canning them. We ended up with 12 pints and 1 quart. (I ran out of pint jars.) There was a bunch of scraps from this ordeal, the peels and cores and a few whole pears where the bees had done too much damage. Oh but the chickens had a field day with the yummy treats. =) Sunny decided she likes pears too so I gave her a couple, one she ate and one she kept to play with. Now when we go out to the barn she grabs her pear and wants to play keep away. Dixie was not as interested in the pears, I think it was too much work for her to have to chew, she is a funny dog.

We have an enclosed back porch with storm windows but it still gets pretty chilly out there. I am in the process of putting the shrink wrap stuff on all of the windows to hopefully create a warmer environment. We bought a five shelf stand and plan on buying one a month until I have four to connect together along the long wall. I have some of my plants on the shelves at window level and will make a curtain for the bottom shelves to store canned goods and material. I am hoping to make the porch a makeshift greenhouse so I can start all my seeds early. It will also be a good place to sprout wheat berries this winter for a green treat for those silly chickens.

We finally put a timer on the light in the chicken coop and it works fabulously. The light comes on at 5am and goes off around 7ish at night, this way they can continue to have the 14 hours of light to continue to lay. They seem good with it. Blue gets so tickled at them because when you go out to the coop the bird herd hurries towards you to get some treat, usually clover. Well the ground is hard and they sound like a basketball team running. I went out a couple of days ago to turn over some of the dirt in the run, they love this. It gives them fresh ground to scratch at, it helps keep the soil cleaner and oh the bugs and worms to be had with each shovel of dirt. The problem is that they try to stand on the shovel in order to be the first bird to get the treasure. I have to be very careful not to cut someone's toe or beak. They are nuts I tell ya.

Saturday morning I headed out to the coop to let the chickens out and on the way was surprised to see I was being stared down by a big white cow. Now I would love to have a cow, but I don't. So who was this visitor to Redbud? On further inspection I found there to be about a dozen cows behind my barn. Turns out that they belong to a neighbor I did not know and the cows had broken a fence that I was unaware of. I called a neighbor that I knew had cows and he figured out who these pretty animals belonged to for me. It was cool to meet new people and as I took pics of the visiting bovine, it seems they are camera shy, they headed back towards the hole in the fence and kept everything low key. The fence has been mended and all is good. Part of me thinks the cows left so gently because somehow they knew they were eating the chicken's clover and if unleashed those birds would go all Kung-Fu on them for that offense.

The leaves have been turning beautiful colors lately and we have been grabbing every opportunity to capture some of that beauty with the camera. I so missed having Fall and trees when we lived in CO. I just wake up everyday feeling blessed to be here.

I have continued to work on crochet and sewing projects. The school needed winter items for baskets to be auctioned off. So, not having a ton of money these days, I decided to crochet some items. I made a scarf for each basket and then the kids said that nobody was bringing stuff in so I made a stocking for one and for the other made a beenie in school colors along with a Harry Potter Scarf Bookmark in school colors. I was going to do some mittens as well but figured maybe they were tired of me sending in homemade stuff. I hope it was ok. I am working on a hanging clothes organizer for Daniel so he can pick out his clothes for the week and each day have it's own shelf. I had some green heavy fabric that will match his room nicely, I will post a picture when I am done with it. I am sure that Sarah will want one too, just so everything is Even-Steven, and I have some dark denim fabric with whith hearts on it that I could use for hers. I wish I knew a good place to buy fabric locally. Wal-Mart doesn't have a fabric department anymore and I have not ventured too far to look since we are down to one car.

The kids want to plant popcorn next year. Yea! I also want to plant more sunflowers since the harvest from this years plants was so good. We ended up with a gallon and a half of seeds that I processed after taking some out for next years planting and the ones that Taylor stole to give to the chickens. We also stapled a few heads to posts for the birds. I am thinking of doing a Sunflower house with the kids. So the walls would be Sunflowers and maybe Indian Corn planted alternately in the form of a large square. Inside we would plant herbs that have a relaxing scent when crushed and on the outside planting a companion flower along the walls. I think it would be fun for the kids to have a living play house.

Finishing Up

The final tomato cage has been stored for winter, the okra has been allowed to go to seed, the garden is now empty. We won't be enjoying a fall garden this year but definitely will next go around. Fall is here and it is kind of sad to make those final preperations for winter. The hummingbird feeders are coming down until next spring as the wee ones make their trek to warmer winds. As we say goodbye to our little friends, they will be quickly replaced by all the beautiful birds we feed through the winter.

The house plants have come inside from the porches and the enclosed back porch is being re-vamped into a temporary green house. This is where we will winter some flowers and plants, as well as start new seeds later on for the garden. Soon we will be building a cold frame just off the patio to see if we can successfully make use of it. Most of the black walnuts have been gathered and hulled, hanging to cure. Those will be tasty when they are ready to be shelled and stored.

We have changed over to the "green" light bulbs in the coop and barn. These are supposed to have a longer life and use less energy. While our family is not big believers in the whole "Global warming" issue, we do believe that we have a responsibility to be as good to the Earth as we can. A quote that really hit home with us was this, "The Earth is not a gift from our parents, it is a loan to us from our children." We believe that we should treat it as such.

The days are getting shorter, with dark coming on earlier and a chill in the air. This is the time we turn our attention to more indoor work. We have lots of projects lined up, some carpentry, some organization and some for fun and function. Here are a few more of the crochet projects that I have just finished up....

A baby Koala for Sarah.

A "Dammit Doll" for Paul.

A Ninja doll for Daniel.

And a Gir for Taylor.

Introductions, Goodnights and Projects

Now that we are expanding this blog to include more, I am not sure where to start. I think we will just start and add in some backstory as we move forward.


This is Sunshine, or Sunny. She is technically Sarah's dog but she loves us all. We adopted her and Dixie from the animal shelter shortly after moving here to Redbud. They have been total blessings to our family. Sunny is a Border Collie/Terrier mix and she loves to herd things, anything and everything. We keep her chained up because she likes to herd cars. This actually works out well though because she can stay cool in the barn or lay out in the grass, she has plenty of leash to roam and romp and she loves jumping through the window in the barn. The best thing is that since she is a herder and NEEDS to have something to herd and guard, she is next to the chicken run. She protects the girls and even though they are inside wire and can't get away, she thinks she is keeping them together. At any given time you will see her sitting or laying at the corner of the run, like in the picture, watching them and feeling like she is doing her job.

This is Dixie. We are not sure exactly what she is and I don't think she does either. Sometimes she thinks she is a cat, sometimes a goat, you just never know with this one. We originally chose her to be Daniel's dog. We thought maybe we could train her to be an alert dog for Daniel's diabetes. She has a good sniffer but she is dumb as a rock. Actually Sunshine has alerted Daniel on several occasions that he was low, but Dixie, not so much. We love her just the same. She is a funny, funny dog. We could let her roam loose but it makes Sunny jealous, so it is just easier to keep her chained up too. If you are having a tough day, Dixie is the one to cheer you up even when she doesn't intend to do so.

Fall is here and the trees are starting to turn. I love this time of year, nature is going to sleep but not without a colorful goodnight message.



The Sunflowers are still trying to hold on, they are not ready to sleep yet, which is fine with me.


Well, the garden is about gone, the canning is done, so I guess other than some fall plantings and transplants it is time to move indoors for some projects. I have a quilt top to get quilted. Daniel is wanting his blanket to be made. I need to finish the hole I cut for Sarah's closet and varnish the wall I uncovered. I have already started some crochet projects in the evenings.

Here is one of my latest crochet projects. I just finished it a few days ago. This thing is loooong, the leg part alone is about 33". I used Black and Cream yarns, it is cute.

The next one I did was this polka-dotted stocking. I thought it would be cool to alternate the color order on each of the circles but now I think it would have been better to do them all the same.

I can't wait to start planning Spring. I want to turn the back porch into a temporary green house so we can get a head start on the garden. The plantings and doo-dads for my family roots project went rather well this year, I can't wait to add to them. I have started my bottle tree but it looks a bit ragged yet so as I get it to where it needs to be I will add pictures of that. I want to research fruit and nut trees that work in this area. We have a black walnut tree out back near the creek that has furnished us with quite a few nuts this year. I know everything will come together in time but I am so anxious to get everything up and running. =)

Poultry Pictures

Poultry Show and more

The girls are 7 months old now! Wow, time flew by. The 19 we still have after that bout of illness are all doing wonderful. They are up to about a dozen eggs a day now and all seem very happy. We have named another one. There is one girl that is solid black and she yells at us all the time, she never shuts up. Well, Daniel and his Asperger's tend to do the same thing. He talks very loud and constantly. I made the comment to the bird that she is loud and never hushes, so Daniel said we should call her Danielle because she is like him. lol Soooo, that is her new name. The one we call six-piece is now also known as Turkey girl because she makes sounds like a turkey when she is upset. Matilda still pecks me every chance she gets but is getting edged out by Fuzzy. Fuzzy took on a whole new persona after the recent 4H Poultry Show. It is like she is a world traveler now and that gave her some sort of elite status, if even in her own mind.

Oh, the poultry show was fun. Even though the girls were being judged for production, we thought it would be a good idea to make them presentable to be in public so we bathed them. Let me just say that this is an experience. My oldest daughter said that when they are wet, chickens look like little dinosaurs, they kind of did. I built a keeper pen to put the clean ones in and we set it up in my husbands work shop so it would be warm. We gathered the five that would be going to the show, we washed, rinsed and dried them. We put wool's fat on their combs, wattles, legs and feet. (It really helps soften them so it is easier to clean.) They did not like it at all but for the most part were little troopers about the whole thing. They had to stay in the keeper pen over night and during the day they would call to the ones in the coop. It was sad in a way, they did not like being seperated from their sisters.

The next morning we loaded them into a pet cage and off to the show we went. Daniel was so excited because Zelda was in the group. Personally I would not have chosen her, while she is very pretty she does not possess the strongest production qualities. But she is his favorite and this was his thing. Of course if Zelda was going then Sarah made sure Fuzzy was in the group. Again, not one I would have chosen because she is a little less mature than the others, but for us this show was more about the kids. They allowed me to choose the other three birds based on the requirements.

We arrived at the Ag building and signed in. It was wonderful because we were greeted by our county extension agent, Ms. Carol. It was so nice to meet her after having phone conversations with her. Everyone was so nice. We moved the girls into the assigned pen and attempted to get them to calm down. Their feathers were definitely ruffled by all the chaos of the trip and a new environment. It was fun for the kids to see the other birds that had started their lives in TN with our girls. The definite visual difference from one cage to the next was interesting. While all of these birds were the same age and breed, some were far more mature than others and the sizes varied a great deal. It was a chance to show the kids the difference diet, environment and care really make.

During the judging one of our girls produced an egg, this led to an all out free-for-all in the pen. She was trying to protect it and the others were trying to take it from her so the kids hurried over to sneak it out of the cage. Daniel was so excited that they had given him an egg at the show that he almost did not even care about the judging. Kids on the Autism spectrum often find joy in the little things. The girls did however pull in a blue ribbon, which absolutely made Daniel's day. The icing on the cake was that he also received $15. We decided that since Sarah helped so much with the girls that $5 would be hers, $5 would be his and the other $5 would go into the chicken fund.

We had the opportunity to strike up a conversation with another mother. She was so nice and her little boy had definitely put his heart into his birds. When the announcement came of the champion pen, it was her son's birds that won. We were so happy for them, definitely the right choice regardless of requirements. He had big healthy birds and I am sure they were good producers, but the great part was that he really put his all into this project. I was not sure how Daniel would do with the news that Zelda had not landed him the grand prize trophy, but never fear, my boy was too excited about his blue ribbon and egg to even care.

The girls were very happy to get back home with their sisters. The first thing Fuzzy did was take a dirt bath which ended up being more of a mud bath. She seemed pleased with herself.

Apparently there were 8 pens of birds last year and there ended up being 19 this year. That is so wonderful that more kids took part. We have really enjoyed this process of the chick chain as a family and look forward to many more years of having chickens be a part of our family. I will post a slide show of pictures from the Poultry show and the process leading up to it.

NOTE: I am going to continue this blog even though the chick chain is done. I think we will expand it to include not only the chickens but all of our adventures here on our little hobby farm.

Feeling Better

Please forgive the long time between posts, there is a lot going on around here. The last time we posted the girls were very ill. We ended up losing 5 chickens and now we have 19. There is a definite change in the flock with the loss of those who died. The 19 we have left are doing much better now. Their feathers are getting that shine back, their combs are full of color and slowly but surely they are gaining some of their weight back. At the time the illness started we were getting about 20-22 eggs a day, then we had none, now we are consistently getting an egg a day.

First we had to get the Cocci under control. To do that we used Corid, the main ingredient being Amprolium. It is off label for chickens but we were going on the advice of the vet because Sulmet, which is usually used, is not supposed to be used for layers. I found a recipe for home-made electrolyte water and mixed the corid in with it. Once the cocci was slowing down, we realized we had a secondary problem, worms. The vet suggested Wazine and so we added it to the water as well. The Corid really has no withdrawal time, according to the vet, but the Wazine does. The vet says 5 days but I have read where people follow a 14-21 day withdrawal time after the final dosing.

It is very disheartening to say the least when it comes to treating poultry for anything. The FDA approves Wazine for poultry but says not to use it in layers. If you do the research, nothing can be used in layers where the eggs will be used for human consumption. You know why? Because apparently it is not important enough for them to do the studies, therefore they stay on the cautious side and just say no. Studies have been done on some meds as to how long it takes to leave the meat of a bird but not the eggs. The meds you treat your birds with are usually a form of the meds your doctor will give to you only at much less amounts. The problem would be that if the meds did find their way into the egg and a human was allergic to that particular med, there could be a health issue arise. So what do you do? How do people who are certified organic do it?

Certified Organic is a hard title to come by. What it really boils down to in terms of meds is that if a chicken gets sick they just have to cull it. That is not an option for people who love their chickens and keep a flock more like pets. There are some natural ways to go about worming and the like, ways that were used back in the day before modern medicine. It all comes down to personal preference. It would just be nice to have definitive answers from the people who are supposed to know.

Thankfully Zelda survived all of it, she seems to be the healthiest one in the flock. Some good lessons came from all of this as well. Not only did we learn a lot about meds and illness in poultry, we also learned that when you turn the dirt in the run the chickens love you. You must be careful if you are doing it with a shovel, they will get right under you so they can be the first to grab the hidden treat. I am glad to say not one bird lost a beak or a toe, but they did come close. We also learned that if you put a tarp down in the coop before the litter, you can cut your cleaning time by a huge amount. It also allows you to disinfect better.

The girls are currently re-determining the pecking order but they still understand who the head chick is. =) We pick clover and other soft grasses for them every day since they can not get out to them. When my husband brings them treats they act like he is a rock star, when the kids bring them treats it is the same thing, but when I bring them treats they yell at me and give me those looks. You know those looks, the ones that say, "Is that it? We want more!" It is nice to have them back to their former sassy selves.

Our babies are sick

Since the moment we were blessed with our girls we have been trying to raise them as natural as possible. We have not medicated them or given them any un-natural products but instead kept them healthy with management of their surroundings and a healthy diet. For six months we beat the odds and had a very healthy, happy flock.

The kids have learned a very important lesson. NEVER allow anyone from outside your farm to go in with your chickens. EVER! We had talked about this before but apparently it is worthy of repeating. If someone comes into the run or hen house who has been where another flock lives, they can carry things on their shoes that you can't see but that can be very dangerous to your birds. This is what we think has happened to our girls. A friend wanted to see the girls so the kids took her in the hen house. She has chickens of her own and within a week our girls were in dire trouble for the first time ever.

Saturday morning Sarah and I went out to let the girls out into their run and turn on the light. We quickly discovered one of our girls had passed in the night. There were no visible signs on her body to explain what had happened. Life had been busy during the week with canning and family activities, so I had not been keeping as close an eye on the bird's stools or spending as much time with them. While we were heartbroken at the loss we had no answer and could not do much unless someone else were to get sick.

Sunday afternoon I noticed one of the girls in the corner of the run by herself. I went to see her and noticed she was very pale and inactive. We immediately pulled her out of the run and checked her over. She had clear eyes and nose, nothing in her craw, but she did show signs of loose poop. Further inspection in the coop showed she had bloody diarrhea. We isolated her into a seperate cage with a heat lamp because she was cold. We straw fed her some sugar water and spent time making sure she was comfortable while we tried to come up with a diagnosis.

All the signs said coccidiosis. The odd part is that our girls are the only chickens, to our knowledge, to be on our soil. At six months of age they should have built an immunity to this problem. Still, the symptoms were there. We went backwards in time to see if anything out of the ordinary had happened that could explain it. The only thing we found was the visitor in the coop. Now, looking for a treatment proved to be a journey. The most common solution for chickens suffering with coccidiosis is Sulmet. There were a couple of problems here. First, this is a sulfur drug which is hard on the digestive tract and would continue the bleeding and the girls are already miserable. Second, Sulmet is not approved for layers. Studies have been done on how long it takes for this medicine to completely leave the meat of the chicken, that would be 10 days, but no studies have been done on the eggs. Chickens are born, like women, with all of the ova they will have and so if the medicine were to damage the ovaries it could affect eggs now or two years from now. If we were to give this to our girls, we could not in good conscience sell the eggs or ever sell the girls as layers without disclosing that they had been on this drug.

Next we researched Amprolium. A product, Corid, has this as a main ingredient but it is marketed for cattle. I called the local co-op to get some words of wisdom and the gentleman was not sure what to tell me but he gave me the number for the state office. I called and they connected me with their veterinarian, who is an amazing person. He said that our only option for layer hens would be the Corid. Since we would be using it off label he gave me the dosage to use for our girls and assured me that it would be totally safe for the girls and their eggs. Apparently it is used commonly in animals for public consumption. When I asked him about what to use to sanitize the coop he explained that chickens are very sensitive to chemicals and their smells and it can give them chemical pneumonia. He recommended a product called Nolvasan and said it is safe to use on everything. For the run, because it is hard to sanitize dirt, his suggestion was to tear up the dirt and allow the sun to disinfect it.

By this time we have realized that all of our girls were under the weather. We made up gallons of sugar water and added the Corid for the girls. We made sure that the ones that seemed further along in the illness were brought to the waterers and dipped their beaks to make sure they started drinking. The first one that we had pulled out, we named her GG for Gloria Gaynor who sang the song "I will survive". That first night we thought she would not make it. After getting some sugar water in her she started drinking on her own around midnight. Still not eating but hanging in there. Yesterday morning we gave her some fresh cucumber, which she ate and slowly started eating some of her layer ration. Once we gave her the water with Corid, she started perking up. Last night she had gotten some of her color back, she was up and about, she knocked her water over and kept hitting the bowl with her foot to get my attention. She was telling me she was ready to go home. While her sisters slept, we snuck her back into the hen house and she joined her flock.

Now we continue the treatment and pray that they all do as well as GG.

Redbud Roost Routines

21 weeks old tomorrow.

As you know the girls have started laying eggs. We are now getting about an extra egg a day and yesterday we had 10 for the day. They are getting there. I spent some time with them as they were laying yesterday. Usually I try to leave them to their work but I am glad I spent some time in the corner observing the ritual.

When I first went in the coop Fuzzy was in the bottom left nest, Zelda was in the top right and there was one of the almost solid black ones in the middle top. One of the hens went up and attacked Zelda and forced her out of the nest. This happened twice. I have not figured out why. In the meantime, there was a hen on the top of the boxes cackling orders to everyone below her. If someone wanted to enter a box, she had to tell them what she thought first. When she was done they would enter. Fuzzy was the first to lay her egg. She stood very still for a few minutes afterwards and then started trying to throw litter at it, I guess to cover it and keep it warm and safe. Then she left the nest as several of the other girls on the floor were cackling at her as if to say, way to go, good job.

By this time Zelda was back in her nest and they were leaving her alone this time. One of the black girls climbed up into the nest where Fuzzy had been. She started moving the egg to the side so she could sit down. Throughout her time in the box she would stop and make sure the egg was up under her breast. Once she was done she checked on her egg and then on Fuzzy's egg, threw some litter at them from the next box and went on her way. Again the cheering section was on the floor cackling at her to let her know how well she had done.

Finally Zelda was ready. She ruffled up and let her egg go. But she sat there afterward for the longest time. Almost like she just wanted to hatch it. When she did leave the nest she went to the nest next door and was throwing litter out over her shoulder. I think she was meaning to cover her egg but she was no where even close to it. No one cackled for her so she cackled for herself as she got down.

During the process of all of this you would see a pale faced hen sit in front of the nest of one of the layers. It was almost as if she was watching to learn for when her time comes along. I am not sure if that is the reason but it would make sense, they don't have a mama to teach them so maybe they learn from each other. Either way it was fun to watch all of this and how they relate to one another.

Here are some pics of how things have been going in the Redbud Roost....

This is our first weeks worth of eggs.

The kids bought this at a yard sale because they said we needed a rooster.

Here is Matilda.

Miss Zelda.

Of course, Dumplin.

Here is a partial load of clover for snack time. These girls are something else.

They do like the fresh greens every day though.

We probably should get some of them a bib, or at least a book on etiquette.

Nesting is good....

But apparently it is better when you have two of your sisters sitting on you while you lay your egg.

Yesterday we found a monster egg! There must be a goose among them.

Daniel was so excited to show it off.

It takes muscles to hold an egg that big. ; )

I built a grass box (it is in the top right hand corner of the picture) to plant wheat grass in. It is covered with wire so the grass can grow through but they can't scratch it up. It will be a nice treat to have around when I can't get the green stuff to them fast enough.

We are all having a great time with the girls. Next time I will tell you about how to confuse the daylights out of them, literally. Oh and about the girl that did not want to go to bed.

It Happened!

Tomorrow will be 19 weeks for the girls. Saturday we found our first egg. The incredible part is that it was actually in the nesting box. The kids were so excited because we had been telling them it would still be a couple of weeks before we would see an egg. There are apparently two girls laying because we got two eggs on Saturday, one yesterday and one so far this morning.

I think they are all a bit hormonal though because they all want to yell at us every time we get near them. Yesterday Dumplin was getting on my last nerve. That bird is nuts! First thing in the morning, I was still in my gown, she was jumping a foot off the ground to peck the flowers on my gown. Then later when I was getting ready to clean the coop I was bent over and she pecked my right on the tush. In the afternoon I went into the coop and they gathered around me and she kept pecking my pants. I picked her up and was loving on her, which she absolutely hates, and when I put her down she walked away. Then she got on top of the nesting boxes and came to the edge to stare me down. I guess she thought if she was as tall as me she would win. She always thinks she must be the center of attention and will get in your face as much as possible.

Here are some recent pics of the girls.....