Category: Chickens

Another Busy Weekend

Another busy weekend is in the books. And we didn’t get near as much accomplished as we would have liked. We did, finally, get the chicken run completely done. Yeah! The babies are now in with the older girls. That’s not going as smoothly as I would have hoped. I really hope they make friends with each other soon so I can quit worrying. We are constantly going out and checking on them, afraid we’re going to find one of the babies dead. Those older girls can be mean.

We started out Saturday checking things off our to-do list. Joe got the mowing done, I got the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers planted and the rest of the my flowers. As we were getting ready to start on the mulch Joe got a phone call. Quick change of plans. Friends we hadn’t seen for ages called and asked if we wanted to meet in the Amanas for the afternoon. Of course we said yes! I wish I had taken pictures but I totally forgot.  We had so much fun getting caught up with our friends Fred and Denise. They moved here from Texas 13 years ago and we met them right after they moved. Fred’s sister was with them visiting. This was her first time visiting here and she loved it.  It was a great afternoon and evening catching up with old friends and  making a new one. Definitely worth the break from getting projects done at home!

Sunday we thought we were going to work on getting the mulch put down but once we started we realized that to do the job right we really needed to get some landscaping materials to keep the mulch in around the last two sides of the house. Otherwise it just keeps washing away. And we want to finish a deck we started a few years back because it just looks awful right now the way things are. So we did a lot of measuring and talking and figuring out and measuring and writing things down and we have a list so we can go back to Menards, again, and get more supplies. This is the year of getting things done around here and I’m so excited! One night this week we’ll run to Menards and then we’ll have everything we need to get two more projects finished. Yeah!

Later we met Dad and Mom at Belva Deer for our first picnic of the season. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Drew took his new scooter and had fun on it. We walked around the campground and stopped and talked to the Sigourney campers that were there. Our camper is still in storage. We’ve decided to get our  projects done before we think about camping – but after being out there and talking to friends, Joe was talking about bringing it home this week. I’m not ready to camp but it’s always nice to have it home!

 

 

Harper’s Corner

I ran out to Harper’s Corner, the local Amish greenhouse that opened up last year, to pick up a bag of potting soil. They have potting soil at the best price in town. I love this little greenhouse – they called it Harper’s Corner because they live down the road from Harper’s Corner – the farm where Bill Harper’s lived for years. Now his grandson lives there. Bill was my first 4-H leader and such a great guy. He always had a smile on his face. I think everybody in town knew Bill. It’s the perfect name! I did bring home a 40 pound bad of potting soil but I also came home with this planter. I just couldn’t pass it up – it’s recycled and it’s chicken related and it’s filled with Hens and Chicks.  It just had to come home with me!

Where Did The Weekend Go?

Wow -it’s Monday. I have no idea what happened to the weekend. We had the first nice weekend weather wise in so long and it just flew by. Friday night we ran to Ottumwa to get supplies to build the chicken enclosure and Saturday morning saw us up and outside building the darn thing. Unfortunately we ended up having to make another Ottumwa run and a run to town to our local farm and home store before we could finish and it took us literally the whole day and we’re still not done. But – we were able to get enough done that the chickens are no longer running free all over the yard destroying everything in their paths! I do feel bad – they are some very unhappy chickens right now. And I do miss looking out and seeing them wandering around. And yet – we can’t have them destroying the yard like they were doing. We’ll let them out to free range now and then but not on a daily morning to night basis anymore. And I’m sure they’ll be a little happier when we get everything done and they have more room to run. We didn’t get back in the house Saturday night until after 7:00 so a quick meal of leftovers and we were beat!

Sunday saw us up early working in the yard. Mom had given me a bunch of hostas and I had to get those in the ground. Then I worked on picking up junk in the yard. Where does it all come from? People must just throw their garbage out their windows. I know they do when they turn onto our gravel road because I find beer cans and fast food containers along that side of the house a lot. Grrrr. So, I picked up, organized, got cushions out and on chairs, hung my new wind chime Abby gave me for Christmas (love it!) up on the pergola, pulled out an old rose bush that was just not pretty anymore, checked in on the chickens numerous times to make sure they were okay, then in for a quick lunch and a quick shower and we loaded up the truck with furniture for Aaron. He has been in his apartment for a couple of years now and never had a bed. He just slept on his couch. He finally decided he wanted his old bed and dresser. And Dad and Mom had a recliner to give him. So we loaded it all up and headed to Washington. Got it all unloaded and now this mom feels better knowing her baby has a bed to sleep in – although whether he actually sleeps in it or not remains to be seen!

After all of that we took Aaron out for supper. We had such a nice time. Dad and Mom were with us and Eric and Drew. It was nice to spend time with the boys and watch them interact. They are 26, 19 and 7 – such an age difference – and yet they get along so well and you can just see the love they have for each other! When we pulled back into our driveway around 7:30 Joe asked if I wanted to start putting mulch down. No – I did not. But – yes I took advantage of his offer and we got a start on the flower beds until it got too dark to see. We got just enough done to see we were going to need more mulch. And so spring finally begins – long days spent outside working to get things done that need to be done after a long winter. Lots of late nights and early mornings. But we enjoy it. Today after picking Drew up from school we’ll run to the new greenhouse in town, pick up a handful of flowers and potting soil, run over to Mom’s for some more hosta and back home to get everything planted. We’re supposed to get rain the next few days. I hope we do – we are really needing the rain.

 

 

 

 

Birthday Fun

 

This little man turned 7 on the 13th. We celebrated with Grandpa and Grandma on his birthday with homemade pizza and angel food cake. Then yesterday we celebrated again with the whole family.  He requested pigs in a blanket, creamed peas and lemon cupcakes with strawberry frosting and that is what he got – along with fruit salad and homemade ice cream. The perfect menu for a 7 year old! The Nerf guns came out along with the giggles and laughter as the big kids love the Nerf guns just as much if not more than the little ones!  The weather was perfect and the chickens kept everyone entertained. It was a fun family filled day!

And We Have a Rooster

I don’t often bring things like this home anymore but we were walking through Tractor Supply over the weekend and Drew thought we just had to have this guy. So, now we have our rooster! I would love to have a real rooster but I don’t want one that gets means with Drew so in the meantime I’ll settle for a metal one. He’s inside for now but his new home will be outside the chicken coop when the weather decides to get nice.

Our two babies chicks are growing like weeds. Drew’s little Lizzie is such a sweetie. She likes to cuddle and is so laid back. My Matilda on the other hand has quite the personality. She does not like to be held and she jumps our of her home at every possible chance. We have to keep an old grate that Joe had lying around on top of their house to keep her in.  She is way more aggressive than our four mature birds too but doesn’t seem to take her aggression out on Lizzie. It will be interesting to see how she is as she gets older.

Our mature girls lost their roommates. Outdoor Pierre, the mama who had her babies in the coop – moved her babies the same day. Joe said he counted seven babies and when she moved them she left three behind that hadn’t made it. We think she might have moved them down to the crib as she has been hanging out down there a lot but we haven’t looked for them. She’s a new mama and this is her first littler so we want her to be comfortable and not move them again. We’re leaving her be for now.  We named her Outdoor Pierre because our indoor cat is named Pierre too. Drew doesn’t care about gender when he names his pets!

New Additions to the Chicken Family

These two love their chickens!We added to our flock over the weekend. We don’t have much room left in our coop but we also want to be able to keep a steady stream of eggs comings so we brought two babies home Saturday morning. I wanted more but that wouldn’t be fair to them. Even though the coop supposedly will hold 10 chickens I think the six we now have will be a stretch for them in the winter. We might have to rethink our coop situation next spring. These chickens are addictive! And I went out to check for eggs today I got quite a surprise – I opened up the door and saw a blur of orange run past only to see a nest of baby kittens in the box the chicken usually their eggs in. And one of the Reds was laying in another box. I quickly shut the door as the mama cat was really really anxious. I don’t even know if she was done having them as she wasn’t in there when Joe let the chickens out this morning. Not a good place to have babies I’m afraid. Hopefully she will decide to find a new home for her babies.

We now have a Barred Rock named Lizzie and an Americana named Matilda! Drew picked out the Barred Rock and named her. He picked out the smallest one (I remember always wanting the runt when I was young too!) they had and so far she seems to be thriving. I wanted an Americana because they lay blue eggs. No other reason than that – I just want to have blue eggs! They only had two Americanas left so I was glad we decided to check on Saturday. We were going to wait a couple more weeks but they weren’t sure what breeds they would be getting in later so home with us they came! Now we really have a mix of breeds but I think it’s fun that way.  We can easily tell them apart and they each have their own distinct personality except for the two Rhode Island Reds. We have never figured out how to tell them apart!

The weather is finally warming up here. We had an evening and night of rain, lightening, thunder, sleet, snow – you name it we had it – but it’s warm enough now that nothing sticks. I think Joe’s getting the camping itch because he’s been grilling us some yummy meals. He grilled jalapeno stuffed chicken breasts one night and they were so good he grilled more a couple of nights later to take over to Mom and Dad. Dad had bunion surgery and a hammer toe worked on so we thought Mom would like to not have to fix supper after taking care of Dad all day. Then yesterday he grilled what he called a Bacon Cheeseburger Fattie. Another really yummy meal and it looked to pretty – he weaved bacon to roll the hamburger/cheese mixture up in. Definitely camping season meals for sure!

And I’ve been busy stitching away. I had a large order that kept me busy. I’m thinking I might not be so open to orders anymore. I get so nervous about getting them down and shipped and that’s all I can concentrate on. Not such a good thing for me or my family I’m afraid. But I have found a new show on Netflix to watch while stitching- Calling The Midwife. A really enjoyable show!

 

Monday

Today is a cold windy Monday at 1 degree and the wind makes it feel even colder! I just came in from cleaning out the chickens. They are happy campers now. Clean coop, fresh water, feed bowl filled and banana peels for a treat. As happy as they can be I guess being cooped up in the coop. They sure don’t like the snow and cold. The kitties have fresh water too and a bowl full of food and a nice warm insulated doghouse full of straw.

Today has been busy. A two hour delay at school due to the cold and wind. That means keeping Drew entertained and yet ready to go to school when it’s time. He doesn’t sleep in and he gets all settled in at home when there’s a delay and then it can be a fight to get him out the door. Today we played with legos and talked about school. I think that helped.I made chocolate chip cookies when I got home from delivering Drew. Eric goes back to Iowa today and I wanted to send him off with something yummy from home! Then I spent some time on the phone with my mom who is trying to help my aunt learn how to use her new iPhone. Mom doesn’t have an iPhone so it’s quite comical trying to get her to understand over the phone so she can explain to Aunt Konnie over the phone what to do. I think we might be running to Konnie’s house tomorrow afternoon. It’ much easier to explain in person than doing it this way.

 

I did manage to squeeze in a frugal pantry craft though. Am I the only person who will buy a product at the grocery store just for the pretty label? I loved this label on the store brand flour at our local grocery store. Now, in this instance I would have bought this brand anyway due to it being the cheapest. When you shop at the local grocery store in a small town, you tend to buy the store brand. It still many times is more expensive than anything you can buy at the bigger name brand store. But sometimes it’s just cheaper and much less time consuming to run to town which is seven miles away than it is to run to the closest Fareway or Hy-Vee which are 30 miles away.

I was in need of flour and when I saw this label on the flour bag I fell in love. It’s blue for one thing and I love the old time feel!  I thought it would be perfect glued to my flour jar. Now to find similar labels for my other jars – sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, powdered milk, rice, macaroni noodles, etc. I’m not sure that will happen at the store so maybe I can find something on Pinterest I like that will coordinate. I like the how cheery this looks sitting on my cupboard and would like to have all my jars look pretty. And I used wheat paste so if I need or want to I can take this off and replace it with something else down the road.

Glad To Be Home

Wow – the last four days went fast and boy am I glad for a day to chill at home. Subbing at the school on Thursday and Friday took a lot out of me. I enjoyed the first day but the second was exhausting. Nothing much different between the two days – just takes a lot out of me subbing as an Associate. I never know what classroom I’ll be in or what I’ll be doing and it’s different every time. This time I was with a child new to the school with a behavior disorder so it was a learning experience for me, for the child and for the teacher. And I get to go back this Thursday and Friday for the same child. The school is looking for a full time Associate but in the meantime they are taking turns with different Associates subbing. I had volunteered with the Color Run this Friday but agreed to work instead. I’m hoping I can still spend some time with Drew during the Color Run. Last Friday was Homecoming and I got to see Drew during the parade and the pep rally which was nice. Eric came home too for the weekend and for Homecoming. He requested meatloaf, potatoes and corn for supper for Friday night so that’s what we had. He’s a tad spoiled!

Saturday was spent with Abby and Braxton at the Kalona Fall Festival. It was lots of fun. We walked through the festival and the boys spent quite a bit of time playing in the corn area. That area is a favorite – kids love playing in shelled corn with buckets and shovels! After eating a lunch of homemade tacos and pie made by a Mennonite group we took the boys to the park and let them play. And then back to Abby’s house and more play time for the boys! It was a great day.

I had thought Sunday we would be staying home but Dad called and Joe went over there to help Dad start one of his tractors. Then Mom called and asked if Drew and I would want to come over for lunch so off we went. After that we headed home and spent the afternoon outside building a run for the chickens. I love having them free range but between them destroying my flower beds and the last few days deciding to cross the gravel road and wander in the neighbor’s pasture we decided we needed to pen them in. The neighbors don’t care if they wander over there but we don’t want them getting hit on the road. By the time we quit working on that it was getting late so we ran to town for supper at the Pizza Ranch. It had been months since we’d eaten there and it was a nice change of pace.

Today Drew and I aren’t feeling the best. I think I probably caught something from being at the school. That usually happens. And Drew has been fighting a cold. Today was a teacher in service day so no school so Drew got to sleep in and now he’s crashed on the couch watching cartoons. And I’m glad to have a day at home. No running anywhere, no plans. I’ll spend the day getting the house in order, working on laundry which hasn’t been touched for the past four days and chilling with Drew.  A great way to start the week!

Busy Week

This week has turned out to be a busy one. Yesterday saw me walking, then home to do laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. Cleaning out the chicken coop and taking care of the cats we brought home Sunday evening. They are in the shop but they won’t come out when we are in there. Hopefully they will be a little braver today. Then Dad and Mom came over with some apples to share and to see the cats. They stayed and chatted until dark.

Today I’m up early – no earlier than usual but I’m heading to Kalona to meet Abby. I’m going with her to a doctor’s appointment in Iowa City. Jeremy couldn’t take time off work so I volunteered to tag along. Nothing is wrong, just checking for gestational diabetes. I had it with my second two pregnancies and am hoping she doesn’t but since she didn’t pass the first test I won’t be surprised if this one comes out positive. So, I get to spend some quality time with her today which will be nice.

Tomorrow should be pretty normal. Nothing specific planned anyway. Just normal routine. Although I do need to do something with the apples Mom brought over. And I finished stitching my Fancey Blackett I working on so I need to decide on a finish for her. I love those days! Then Thursday and Friday I’m subbing at the elementary school. Friday is homecoming so that should be fun – the kids will be all excited to go see the parade. Not sure I know what I’m getting myself into! It’s nice to visit the school now and again to see how things are run and to get to know the teachers. Especially with Drew there. And he likes having me there. There will come a time when having his mom working at the school once in awhile won’t be so fun but for now he thinks it’s awesome!

And best of all – it’s supposed to be ten degrees cooler today than yesterday and then it’s supposed to drop down into the 60s. Yeah – hopefully fall is here!

Gathering Eggs

I’m not sure why but I love wandering out to the coop everyday to gather eggs. Of course with only four chickens – the gathering consists of four little eggs so it’s not exactly work or anything. But it’s always such a nice “surprise”. Usually about midmorning I get three and then after lunch sometime there will be one more. But once in awhile someone will surprise me and all four will be there together midmorning. I haven’t figure out which one is the late layer yet but I will! It’s kind of like picking tomatoes. There’s a satisfaction with knowing you’ve planted these little plants, you’ve nurtured them and cared for them. And yes, even talked to them once in awhile! And there’s a sense of satisfaction when you can then step out your backdoor, pick a tomato and eat it. All ripe and juicy and warm from the sun. It’s heaven!

It’s the same with chickens. You tend to them, feed and water them everyday. Clean out their coop. Pet them and love on them and your husband calls you the crazy chicken lady and in return they provide for you. For me, it’s just the way things are supposed to be. There’s just so much satisfaction in raising chickens and gathering fresh eggs. It’s what my grandmothers did and theirs mothers and grandmothers before them.

When we brought the chickens home this spring I had no idea what to do with them. I’ve never raised chickens. Growing up we raised rabbits, sheep, hogs, horses, dog and cats. So, I knew the basics of tending for animals. Joe’s mom raised chickens so he knew a little about what to expect. And we’ve figured things out as we’ve gone. I’ll go online once in awhile to see if what I’m doing is okay and for the most part it’s pretty much common sense. It certainly hasn’t been too hard. But fall is here and winter is on its way and I have some questions. I was doing some internet searching and came across this book, Fresh Eggs Daily by Lisa Steele and it called to me. I know I can find all the information I need online but sometimes you just need to have a book in your hand. Something you can sit down with, peruse, flip back and forth through. It came in the mail today. Happy mail day for me! Now to find the time to sit down and read. I’m hoping to find some natural ways to tend to the girls to keep them healthy and happy. And I can see already that four chickens just isn’t quite enough. I think I have room in the coop for at least two more come spring!