Our Mixed Flock Journey!

[drstratton]

Good afternoon everyone! Some of my girls are laying an egg a day right now! I have 16 hens, I brought in 11 yesterday and 9 today! I have another Jumbo egg at 71g, yesterdays was 74g, I'm not sure if I have one or two hens laying those...I'm suspecting one hen, what an over achiever! I think that my Olive Egger and my Faverolles laid an egg yesterday and today along with more than one of my Marans, BO and RIR! My 3 Welsummer ladies and 2 EE's are laying every other day. Just guessing at this point!

 

[N F C]

Rene, have you reached the point of having too many eggs yet?

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

They changed the name of my thread... said too political

I thought the name of the thread was funny. What did they change it to?

 

[drstratton]

Rene, have you reached the point of having too many eggs yet?

Thank goodness I have plenty of friends who want them...there is no way we can eat them all. I'm going to pickle some for Dale, I just need to find a good recipe for them, I also might try to dehydrate some. I'll have to figure something out quickly, they're too pretty to feed to the pigs...

 

[drstratton]

I went out yesterday evening to check on my darlin's only to find one of my larger BO hens outside of the pen and to make things stranger, some of the feathers on her back were wet, I still haven't solved that mystery! I picked her up, put her back in the pen and then did a head count and wasn't seeing my other big girl, then I discovered her up on one of the rabbit hutches, there are grapes growing on the pen and I believe they discovered how to get to them, but I'm pretty sure the hen that was outside of the pen did not like being there! I moved the totes that I have filled with hay for the rabbits away from the hutches...I think that's how they were able to get up there. At least I hope that's what it was! I need to figure out something to keep them from being able to hop on the feed container to the totes and then the roof, it will be very inconvenient to not have the hay where it was! I might add some of the metal roofing we have over the feed containers to block access. It will actually be a nice addition as it will keep snow and rain off of the containers....now to let my husband know my plans, because they always involve him...

 

[N F C]

I went out yesterday evening to check on my darlin's only to find one of my larger BO hens outside of the pen and to make things stranger, some of the feathers on her back were wet, I still haven't solved that mystery! I picked her up, put her back in the pen and then did a head count and wasn't seeing my other big girl, then I discovered her up on one of the rabbit hutches, there are grapes growing on the pen and I believe they discovered how to get to them, but I'm pretty sure the hen that was outside of the pen did not like being there! I moved the totes that I have filled with hay for the rabbits away from the hutches...I think that's how they were able to get up there. At least I hope that's what it was! I need to figure out something to keep them from being able to hop on the feed container to the totes and then the roof, it will be very inconvenient to not have the hay where it was! I might add some of the metal roofing we have over the feed containers to block access. It will actually be a nice addition as it will keep snow and rain off of the containers....now to let my husband know my plans, because they always involve him...

Maybe there's some way of adding that metal roofing at a slant? That would keep them from jumping up there and help with snow & rain runoff.

 

[drstratton]

Maybe there's some way of adding that metal roofing at a slant? That would keep them from jumping up there and help with snow & rain runoff.

Yeah, that's what I'm planning on...great minds think alike Debby!!!

 

[drstratton]

Well, removing the totes didn't work...my big girl was out again today! I will also have to remove the rabbits feed container (at least until I can cover it) and see if that keeps them off the hutches and in the the pen...I'm 99 percent certain that's how she's getting out, she's to big to get through the fence...I do need to get that job finished too, there is always something that needs to be done!

Yesterdays eggs!

 

[drstratton]

I peeked into the coop to see if any of my girls were in the nesting box, just in time to see Madeline take an egg and tuck it underneath of her...I thought oh no, she's going broody! Then I went and got some grapes and fed it to everyone that wasn't laying eggs at the time, I then decided to give everyone a Comfrey leaf as a treat! I hold the leaf and they all bite pieces off of it, I also feed this to my rabbits. Anyway, as I was feeding the Comfrey, I noticed that Madeline was out and about, I then went to check the nesting box she was sitting in and found just one egg, it was hers, I just think it was funny that it wasn't under her after she laid it, unless she went out and came back in! I collected all of the eggs that had been laid and I will go back out in a bit to make sure she isn't broody and back in the box...I removed the golf balls a couple of weeks ago, I think they all have the right idea now!

 

[drstratton]

We harvested less than 1/2 of the first set of corn this afternoon! We blanched it, cut it off the cob & stuck it in the freezer. We will finish it up tomorrow. We picked 52 ears, 60 cups cut off the cob for a total of 16 meals for our family. Hopefully we will get close to the same amount tomorrow! Then, maybe by next weekend we will be able to pick & freeze the secondary ears!

I told my husband that I wanted to put the cobs into the freezer so that I can pull them out as a treat for the chickens. His comment to me " I thought you were going to say that you wanted to keep them for toilet paper"...he cracks me up...

This is the tallest our corn has ever grown!

Blanched

I portion them into ziplocs, then place them into food saver bags. Each has two meals worth, I can reseal the bags after I take the first portion out.