Maine

[hoppy]

I'm right there with you longgrove. had my experiece with weasel too, lost most of my flock the first time, only 2 (but my roosters) the 2nd yr..they will keep coming back for blood. we used a rat snap trap baited with blood to catch ours. it would not be caught in a live trap or a leg hold trap. seem to be alot of weasel attacks lately.
sorry about your silkie and EE

Friday was a bad bad day. I let the pulets/hens out at 8 from thier armored coop, as usual. When my helper came at 10, she found most of the girls up on tsir roost in the coop. Rue, the EE who has been laying the aqua eggs, was in the pen eith a white weasel trying to chew her head off. Robin shut the coop door and freed Rue. Rue is hurt pretty severly, I think her big muff thwarted the weasels attempts to rip her throat out but it ate her ear lobes and made a big rip on the head and a little one on the left side of her head. i cleaned her wounds, after a short rest, and treated them. She now is in the other rabbit cage, on top of the first that holds Reggie Roo. She made it through the night and is drinking water but seems dazed and not eating yet. I don't know if she will make it. Before trying to eat Rue, the miserable thing broke the neck of my sweet little Polly (the buff silkie) who couldn't fly up to the roost and was across the pen, with no wounds but a broken neck. I hate weasels.

 

[Widget]

I'm still waiting for my cookies

On a non chicken note I came home yesterday and only saw two of the horses in the paddock. The third, the thin one, was nowhere to be seen. First thought was that he has been horse-napped. Second thought was that he had escaped and was roaming the neighborhood. Neither was a pleasant thought since it was getting dark and I had no idea where to start looking. During the day he gets free run of the paddock so he can eat in peace. The other two horses stay in the round pen.

So I drove down the driveway and finally caught a glimpse of green (horse blanket) behind the shelter.

. Stefnir had somehow squeezed between the round pen panel and the outer fence and made his way down the outside of the shelter to the back. Hard to explain to anyone who hasn't seen the set-up. Essentially I have a paddock area about 50 ft wide and 100 ft long. At one end I have a portable garage that extends outside the paddock. When I built the fence I extended the fence around the shelter. In front of the shelter there is a round pen that is also in the paddock. (Comes in handy to keep my escape artist Gosi contained.)
__________________-
|
|______________
Round Shelter | x| Where Stefnir was.
Paddock Pen ___________|__|
|
__________________|

The space between the round pen and the fence is maybe two feet. The space between the shelter and the fence is one to two feet. Plus there are cinder blocks every few feet to keep the shelter from moving in things like nor'easters and hurricanes. Yet Stefnir still got to the back of the shelter. Problem was the back of the shelter is tied down with several ropes to give it more support in strong winds so Stef couldn't get completely behind it. Poor boy. No idea how long he was stuck but being the Icelandic that he is he didn't panic. He just calmly waited until I got home and rescued him. Had to take down part of the fence to do it but it only took a few minutes. Needless to say I have blocked off that route so hopefully Stefnir will stay out of trouble.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I'm still waiting for my cookies

Sorry, this weekend I made sweet bread, rolls, pumpkin-raisin-nut bread and some more apple cranberry jam. I'll get on the cookies soon.

 

[Widget]

Sorry, this weekend I made sweet bread, rolls, pumpkin-raisin-nut bread and some more apple cranberry jam. I'll get on the cookies soon.

In order to build your showgirl army you need to keep the troops happy

 

[MKandtheforce]

Hi I'm hoppy, I am a chicken outfitter... what size and how many do you need?


sounds like you might be a chicken outfitter too- man looking for a rooster, hopefully not a roaster.

Ooooh my goodness, hoppy, that has got to be the cutest chicken I've ever seen.

SCG, what's your recipe for sweet bread? Your pumpkin-raisin-nut bread sounds really good, too. I really need to diversify my bakingstuffs. My stepdad's been pretty much the only baker lately, and I should probably change that.

I'm pretty pooped. I'm finally working regularly, and I'm slowly but surely getting the hang of Target. If anyone frequents Target and sees me, wave me down! It's so nice to have a steady job again. I might actually be able to afford Christmas presents for people this year, lol. The job I worked at this summer gave me like, 15 hours a week at most. Not good at all.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Ooooh my goodness, hoppy, that has got to be the cutest chicken I've ever seen.

SCG, what's your recipe for sweet bread? Your pumpkin-raisin-nut bread sounds really good, too. I really need to diversify my bakingstuffs. My stepdad's been pretty much the only baker lately, and I should probably change that.

I'm pretty pooped. I'm finally working regularly, and I'm slowly but surely getting the hang of Target. If anyone frequents Target and sees me, wave me down! It's so nice to have a steady job again. I might actually be able to afford Christmas presents for people this year, lol. The job I worked at this summer gave me like, 15 hours a week at most. Not good at all.

The easiest and best "sweet bread" I know: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/amish-white-bread/Detail.aspx Hint: use the second half of the dough to make buns.

Pumpkin bread: http://chickensintheroad.com/farm-bell-recipes/pumpkin-bread-2/

And one of my favorites, apple bread (which makes a mean french toast, too): http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/recipes/r-penzeysAppleBread.html

Which Target are you? I'm assuming the one in Topsham? Remember all Christmas presents don't need to be bought, be unique and hand make something. Have you seen the blown out decorated Christmas egg thread?

 

[ashandvine]

There needs to be an easy way to blow out eggs....

 

[superchemicalgirl]

If you come visit this weekend I've got around 40 eggs that I blew out when the chickens were wormed last fall when they were laying spectacularly. Most of them are brown, but you're welcome to them.

I most likely won't get to decorating them this year and would rather they be used.

 

[hoppy]

blowing out eggs is easy when you know the one hole secret.
this is what I do, make a hole on one end,take a skewer - like a darning needle or long tooth pick, swirl the contents to break up the yolk. then take a syringe (with or without the needle attached) and suck out the contents, or you can fill the syringe with air, force the air into the egg through the hole which should be 2x as large as the needle or syringe hub (this allows the air to go in and the yolk to be forced out at the same time through the same hole) once it's empty, fill syringe with water/ cleaner and disinfect the inside of the egg. forcing air into the disinfected liquid in the eggshell, will force that out as well.
easier and you only have one hole to hide. I also have made the hole on the side of the egg, not in the middle, close to the end but about 1/2" off center (it's easier to hide on the side)

There needs to be an easy way to blow out eggs....

 

[MKandtheforce]

The easiest and best "sweet bread" I know: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/amish-white-bread/Detail.aspx Hint: use the second half of the dough to make buns.

Pumpkin bread: http://chickensintheroad.com/farm-bell-recipes/pumpkin-bread-2/

And one of my favorites, apple bread (which makes a mean french toast, too): http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/recipes/r-penzeysAppleBread.html

Which Target are you? I'm assuming the one in Topsham? Remember all Christmas presents don't need to be bought, be unique and hand make something. Have you seen the blown out decorated Christmas egg thread?

Yeah, I'm in Topsham. And for sure! I just don't have very many artistic talents, hah. I can't knit or crochet, my drawing and painting is atrocious, and I don't have access to a sewing machine anymore. I wove a portrait tapestry for my mother on Mother's Day back when I had access to a loom, and I think that's the best present I'd ever given anyone. It took weeks to make, hah. For the curious, here's a picture of it: http://musettavendetta.deviantart.com/art/Mother-and-Daughter-Portrait-128637863

I'll definitely take a look at the Christmas egg thread, though! Who knows, maybe it'll give me ideas!

I can't wait to try out those recipes. Once I get my first paycheck, I'll grab some yeast and bread flour, as well as ingredients for the pumpkin and apple bread! Those look really good!

All right, I have a question: What are your favorite recipes for cooking chicken? I'm planning to get some chicken from the local co-op once I get paid, but I haven't eaten chicken for about 8 years now. What would be a really good introduction back to the world of chicken meat?