That's a really nice coop. I love the roosting bars there in the corner. It reminds of a classic style sitting bench just inside the front door. Don't know why, exactly, but it does.
I'll second that remark on DesertMarcy having fantastic heritage lines and I plan on getting some of her Barred Rocks sometime down the road to replace my hatchery ones. Those spangled Russian Orloffs are ugly, though! I have three of her Black Copper Marans and they are absolutely gorgeous! Large and beautiful in every way possible. I only had a few eggs from them right before the flock went in to moulting for the winter weather, so I've been down and out of eggs for about three weeks though. It looks like a predator attack every day in my backyard, and my heart skips a beat every day I come home and see it that way. This whole moulting stuff is for birds... Oh yeah, they are birds. Duh!
On a side note, I took up and made mozzarella cheese and ricotta cheese today for our lasagna. I used zucchini instead of lasagna noodles, and that was a success. The mozzarella come out amazing, but there wasn't much of anything left in the whey to make the ricotta. I'll have to try doing it with a gallon of milk for each type next time. Slightly different processes. It was a very fun experience, though. Next time, I need to get my girls involved and do it the traditional way using a warm salt water bath to stretch it, rather than using the microwave for the 30-minute recipe. Anyone else do cheese around here? With skyrocketing prices, I'm thinking this may be the way to go. It was less than half the price of the commercial brands and better tasting.
Night all.
