Illinois...

[Molpet]

There's a hawk that's been hanging around. It would love some chicken but must settle for the chipmunks & wild birds at our neighbors' house. (The woman there feeds all the wildlife, so the hawks are constantly hanging around.) Once the leaves return to provide some cover, I can think about letting out the chickens.

I have been staying home during the day since the hawk attack in feb? so I can keep the hawks away. That is part of why I need to get these cockerels done. To get the numbers down so I can leave them locked in later so I can at least go get feed without worrying

 

[cavemanrich]

I cooked home made chicken soup in the slow cooker with egg noodles

Chicken soup is a staple at our house.

None of it comes from the 5 pets that I have,,,
The weather turned to spring like , and it was time to take them out from their winter housing and into the outdoor coop for the Spring, Summer, and Fall.
Super cleaned everything and placed fresh Alfalfa Hay throughout.

Also took out my hanging geranium pots from the utility room and set them outside to get some rain and fresh air. (I don't have a greenhouse and limited to where I can keep them during winter) I know that they look kind of SORRY now, but they will regrow just fine. I have some that are from quite a few years ago. I just winter them over, and in Spring clip off the dead twigs and new ones regrow.
Thursday, I will take them back inside since temps are supposed to drop again.

Cant wait until it gets nice and warm and they start to look like this again.

And finally for anyone curious where that rock formation is at.
Here is a Youtube video,

 

[chickendreams24]

LOL
@Faraday40
Now everyone is wondering why that made you think of me hahahaha

Everyone I swear I'm not constantly exploding flour.

Everyone seems to be doing pretty well in spite of 3 inch deep mud everywhere that is taking it's toll. I've been keeping an eye out for signs of our old nemesis cocci just in case it rears it's head in this wet muck. Nothing is really draining and it's taking a toll on the yard.

The flock is so ready for spring. They want grass. ... Meanwhile I'm fearing for our grass.

We've been discussing separating some breeding groups of chickens to get a jump on spring but I worry it is still too muddy. Instead we may separate some of the ladies we want to breed in the first two groups into the back side of the coop to get their systems cleaned out.

I have one turkey jenny that has a swollen side of her face. The smallest blue slate. I think it may be from an injury. She's not coughing or showing any other signs of illness. No sneezing or runny nose. She's in great body condition I'm wondering if it's the cold and wet or if she scratched her face on some chicken wire or hardware cloth. Hard to know anything. They're all trying to forage what they can but they just end up with muddy faces heads feet beaks. Etc. Still I worry about what it could be. I'm treating it as a respiratory illness but we've never had any here before except some quarantined birds we brought in and had to cull some 2-3 years ago. Nothing since. Everyone else is well and shess acting totally fine other than a swollen face but her eye is still open. Also when we had the necropsy done for Mareks they found no signs of MS or MG. So thats good. It is something I worry about.

Anyone have any suggestions?

DH2B asked me about a bird yesterday that he didn't recognize. It was Ella our oldest black orp hen standing on the porch with mud all over her hackles making her look almost spangled. I just laughed you really could hardly tell it was mud. Especially since it was just on her hackles.

Everyone is plugging along the turkeys and older birds are taking this weather in stride. Some of the younger birds look like they're playing the floor is lava game.

 

[chickendreams24]

Chicken soup is a staple at our house.
View attachment 1700529
None of it comes from the 5 pets that I have,,,
The weather turned to spring like , and it was time to take them out from their winter housing and into the outdoor coop for the Spring, Summer, and Fall.
Super cleaned everything and placed fresh Alfalfa Hay throughout.
View attachment 1700537
Also took out my hanging geranium pots from the utility room and set them outside to get some rain and fresh air. (I don't have a greenhouse and limited to where I can keep them during winter) I know that they look kind of SORRY now, but they will regrow just fine. I have some that are from quite a few years ago. I just winter them over, and in Spring clip off the dead twigs and new ones regrow.
Thursday, I will take them back inside since temps are supposed to drop again.
View attachment 1700574
Cant wait until it gets nice and warm and they start to look like this again.
View attachment 1700577
And finally for anyone curious where that rock formation is at.
Here is a Youtube video,

We've had a huge stock pot going for several days with bone broth. I'm not sure we did it correctly. I was going to follow online directions. DH2B beat me too it. LoL.

It smells so good in our house.

I love those formations and I would love to go see them and they look stunning for a wedding. That said DH2B'S kryptonite is heights. He can do it when he has to but I doubt he could enjoy the vows then. LoL not to mention I don't want to climb that in a wedding gown. LoL.

It's beautiful though. Reminds me of the WI Dells.

 

[cavemanrich]

It's beautiful though. Reminds me of the WI Dells.

Then pretty sure you are familiar with Devil's Lake State Park.
We climb there also. Luv swimming there as well. In the deep water off the rocks, (not beach area) the water is SUPER CLEAR. Beach area gets stirred up by the bathers.

 

[cavemanrich]

I'm not sure we did it correctly.

You probably did it just fine,
Here are a few tips that suggest how we do it.
Place meat into water and start to cook it. After it stars to boil, you will notice this foam type stuff start to float on surface. Spoon it off and discard. (I call it mung) There is nothing really bad with it, except it makes the soup cloudy, and precipitates to bottom.
Once there is no more mung, then add vegetables, salt, and pepper.
Turn down heat and cook an extended amount of time. 2 to 3 hours is what we usually do. Low flame, so it is not a rolling boil.
I'm sure there are 101 more ways to cook chicken soup.
Long ago, tried it in a pressure cooker. It was cloudy

 

[Faraday40]

You probably did it just fine,
Here are a few tips that suggest how we do it.
Place meat into water and start to cook it. After it stars to boil, you will notice this foam type stuff start to float on surface. Spoon it off and discard. (I call it mung) There is nothing really bad with it, except it makes the soup cloudy, and precipitates to bottom.
Once there is no more mung, then add vegetables, salt, and pepper.
Turn down heat and cook an extended amount of time. 2 to 3 hours is what we usually do. Low flame, so it is not a rolling boil.
I'm sure there are 101 more ways to cook chicken soup.
Long ago, tried it in a pressure cooker. It was cloudy

I'm sure there are 100s of chicken soup variations & everyone finds recipes to suit their own tastes. I like to 1st cook my whole chicken in the crock pot. I usually add an onion, garlic, carrots (sometimes a potato & celery) and a healthy dose of herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage. Don't forget the salt & pepper. Sometimes I even add some soy sauce & a splash of cooking sherry. After about 6-8 hrs, I remove the chicken meat from the bones & put the bones back into the slow cooker I add more water & let it continue simmering overnight. Sometimes I add a tablespoon of ACV & sugar to the bone broth. I use about 1/2 the meat for whatever we're eating the 1st night & refrigerate the other half for a meal like soup or pot pie the next day.

In the morning, the house smells great. At some point, I strain the broth to remove all the solids & the broth's done. I use this broth as a starter for most of my soups.

 

[Faraday40]

Speaking of food, we ate the turkey tonight. I should say DH & I ate the turkey. DD's my budding vegetarian. She refuses to eat any of our backyard birds, so I had some hard-boiled eggs ready. However, she went on & on about how terrible it was for me to kill the turkey. This made DS change his mind about eating the turkey, so he also chose to eat eggs.

Anyway, the turkey was delicious. Very moist, tender breast. Normally, DH doesn't like the taste of turkey, but he admitted that this was the very best turkey he ever tasted. It only weighed about 8lbs. I wish the breast was bigger. (That's our fav part.) If I had to do it over, I would have switched back to meatbird feed to see if she could grow a bit more. Since the turkeys were put in with the chickens, I just fed everyone layer feed. BTW- I put some herb butter between the skin & meat, so that's the herbs on the breast

The blueberry pie filling didn't work out as well as I had hoped. DS liked it, so he'll use it as a yogurt topping. Instead I used cherry pie filling from our tree & the puff pastry to make tarts.

 

[Faraday40]

Time for some updated chick pics! (about 10 days old.... give or take since this hatch was scattered over several days)

blue laced orp blue orp


Buff Colombian orp bred to lav orp (2 diff chicks)


2 black orps


black orp bred with laced orp (2 diff chicks)


Leghorn x Orp mix


2 seramas

 

[Molpet]

Speaking of food, we ate the turkey tonight. I should say DH & I ate the turkey. DD's my budding vegetarian. She refuses to eat any of our backyard birds, so I had some hard-boiled eggs ready. However, she went on & on about how terrible it was for me to kill the turkey. This made DS change his mind about eating the turkey, so he also chose to eat eggs.

Anyway, the turkey was delicious. Very moist, tender breast. Normally, DH doesn't like the taste of turkey, but he admitted that this was the very best turkey he ever tasted. It only weighed about 8lbs. I wish the breast was bigger. (That's our fav part.) If I had to do it over, I would have switched back to meatbird feed to see if she could grow a bit more. Since the turkeys were put in with the chickens, I just fed everyone layer feed. BTW- I put some herb butter between the skin & meat, so that's the herbs on the breast

Ha and I raise poultry because I don't like the way they are massed raised. I want them to have a good life.
Thanks for the weight, that's about what a girl should weigh. The heritage don't have the double breast. They have more flavor though.
The BB at the farm store would be ready to harvest in 16-20 wks... much longer and you would have a 30-50lb bird.
I processed a couple of cockerels and one had 3 testicles
gory pics... if you not into that, don't look
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ritage-mix-cause.1277956/page-6#post-21095840