The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

LM I would of brought my snow blower in to move that snow. No way I would of shoveled that much snow lol. Wait do you have a snow blower?

I use the snow as insulation around the coop as well. Free insulation is awesome

Taylynnp I hung it so I can tuck it up into the cattle panels to keep it out of the way when not needed. But I can tool it to the top and use those cords with ball on end to hold it up there. I am hoping with keep frost crystals of hens as well.

Apparently girls prefer a bath in DL instead of the wood ash. I have giant craters in the DL.

How many hens do you see? Lol

Oh I am also going to put big bowl or maybe bucket of dry grains in the coop after dark tonight as well. The OTS on the heritage thread have been discussing cold weather as well and said that apparently the while grains are best when temps below frigid. Apparently the grinding up of them in their crops helps keep them warm? It def won't hurt anything and at least I know they will eat it.,

 

[Leahs Mom]

Not a working snow blower at the moment. Although we may see if we can get one from the neighbor that passed this last fall. We have to contact his mom to see if she will sell it to us. I was thinking of him this morning while I was out shoveling and thinking how we'd probably be "neighboring" during all this snow.

Oh...and I think I see 5 in the pile and one standing behind them. Am I correct?

 

[armorfirelady]

I honestly didn't know if you guys had them where you lived or not since I didn't know if you normally got snow or not lol

And yes there are 5. I tried to snap picture while Stella was kicking DL up in the air over Lucy & Sophie. You couldn't tell if there were 2 black hens or one lol. Edie of course is more gray & black than white lol. Only thing bridge white on her is her ears

 

[lazy gardener]

I have a 5 gallon bucket for our FF and it got down to 3/4 full so I added a small bag of feather fixer feed, a couple of scoops of BOSS and some 3 grain hot cereal mix we haven't eaten. It is made of cracked wheat, rye and flax. Added water and stirred it with an old ax handle. Looks yummy!
From there I take about 3 quarts out. That's what I scoop from daily when I feed. To that I added some dry roasted peanuts and a scoop of peanut butter. Felt like a mad scientist. Served that up along side some fresh chopped spinach. The girls were ravenous today!

My girls wanna eat breakfast at your house!

What's this top crust you speak of? I literally never gotten the dough to firm a crust. It is either so dry it won't stick together or so sticky I can't form it at all. I have used my pastry block ... Always cold ... And even have a granite/marble rolling pin.

After mixing the shortening and the flour, add only enough water to help the dough cling together. The amount of liquid can vary quite a bit. Less is best.

Well that ones cute! I'm one of those moms that never buys anything for myself. The needs of the family always came first. And even tho my kids are all grown and on their own...that still happens lol
Anyways, I put a headlamp on my Christmas list. But apparently my DH and kids thought I was joking

I put a head lamp on my list, and was pleased to get one. It even has a red light! Put the lamp on your birthday list, perhaps on your anniversary list! Leave pics of one on hubby's pillow!

Oh...and I think I see 5 in the pile and one standing behind them. Am I correct?

Is there one buried in the background?

 

[Scott H]

Out of spinach today (what the heck am I going to put in my salad for lunch tomorrow) so they got kale and tomatoes. ...

 

[Leahs Mom]

Out of spinach today (what the heck am I going to put in my salad for lunch tomorrow) so they got kale and tomatoes. ...

Poor poor Scott.

 

[Scott H]

Out of spinach today (what the heck am I going to
put in my salad for lunch tomorrow) so they got kale and tomatoes. ...

Poor poor Scott. 

 

[Scott H]

If you think posting from a phone is hard, try editing a post...So frustrating!

 

[RedRidge]

Here's what I've shoveled out of the kennel run so far (and it's already filling up again.) Looking out the back gate. That all came out of the run! I also like to pile some up around the base of the hen shed as it's raised up about 18" off the ground. Adds insulation and keeps things warmer inside so that the wind isn't blowing so much under the shed.

Your very own igloo... very smart. ;-)

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: Dang, Scott. You edited it and I didn't get to see what you said.