What did you do with your flock today?

[ChicksnMore]

So much to catch up on. Goats, how much fun they sound like! As for goat cheese, it is too barnyard-y for me. This is the term for that distinct flavor in the cheese world. Great use for the milk, though. My son would love that.

Sourdough, yum! I've seen recipes for the discard. I haven't made a starter, since we don't eat a lot of bread. Best bread with a hot bowl of soup or clam chowder.

So sorry for all the losses in the families. It is especially hard to see them declining and suffering. 109 is quite a long life. Asha is in chicken heaven, and had the best life you could give her.

Lizzie, Fergus, and the beautiful eggs being laid, and nesting boxes being used. Yay, girls! I think one of my 19 wk. old pullets has started laying. Got 6 yesterday, and 5 today, when it was only 3-4. The new eggs look like the ones that the mom laid. Mine have switched back to using 2 boxes in the main coop instead of the cat litter pan one in the temp coop.

Ertugrul, the cockerel, is doing his dancing for the ladies, and has been sowing his wild oats. The brahmas want nothing to do with his sneak attacks, and when he tries, there is always a BIG ruckus. Haven't seen Rumi, the other cockerel, trying for ladies, yet. I think it's because he's the second to Ertugrul. (Does anyone else watch this series on Netflix?)

Finally raked all the leaves, which finally fell off the trees. Of course, chickens are the fastest leaf spreaders around, so they were destroying my piles as I went. They had a good time, though, after not having grass and dirt for over a week. Snow is melted away. I hurt all over last night. Better today after meds and ointments for pain. Needing those more often nowadays.

Bags, and more bags! Sounds like a lot to do, Christmas activities notwithstanding. Hang in there! You have such a generous spirit. A beautiful mission to support the shelter.

We always made pancakes with the sourdough . Wish the starter increased slower!

Elliot is absolutely fine now and currently curled up on my lap. Thank God.
He got in my sewing room and basically chowed down on a bobbin of thread. He started being sick 3 hours later and couldn't keep anything down except small amounts of water.
We had no idea he'd even eaten it until 2 weeks and many vet trips later when my vet decided he needed exploratory surgery. He'd had countless x-ray, ultrasounds and contrast x-rays which revealed nothing. By this point he only weighed a few pounds and was so sick he might not even get through the surgery. He's a big boy, half Maine coon, half Bengal so you can imagine how much weight he lost.
Anyway, 7 hours later Laura (vet) rang with the news she'd removed 35 yards of thread. It had knotted round the base of his tongue, formed a knot in his duodenum and was slicing through his bowel as he tried to pass it. He was out of the anaesthetic but still touch and go whether he'd make it.
Fortunately he did but it was a long road to recovery.
Stupid little bugger hasn't learnt his lesson. He will still target anything 'stringy' so any and all such things have to be hidden. He will even pull loops on towels to make his own 'thread'!
I honestly think he has pica, he once flooded the dining room overnight by gnawing on the air lines on the fishtank. I got up to to gallons of water on the floor and the poor fish trying to 'swim' in 2 inches of water!

Poor Elliott! He must've used up half his 9 lives on that one. He's lucky he has such a good momma

My little 'helpers' are obsessed with raking out anything I put in garden sacks. As soon as i turn my back (and sometimes before!) they're emptying it - usually by tearing a new hole in it! Weirdly, they're terrified by the empty bags and go to the ends of the earth to avoid them. Gotta love chicken brains!

My horse is like that...turn your back on a bag of chicken pellets and she'll plunge her nose in with no fear of the sounds it makes, but let an empty bag make the slightest crinkle sound and she acts like she heard a devil whisper in her ear. Gun fire...no reaction, car zooms by so close you think you can reach out and touch it...no reaction, bag crinkle with no food involved...aaaaaaaa!

Thanks Shetland, I hope she did. She got to eat eggs and veggies that made her happy, and sit with me every day while I worked, and got to go on a road trip…I just wish she could have stuck around longer. :-( I think I might be done with lavender birds. I’m just having terrible luck with them and I fall hard for them too. My big rooster that died last Christmas Day was a lavender Orpington, Asha was a lavender Orpington and Fluff was a lavender Ameraucana My last large fowl lavender bird is Nohope and he was acting weird yesterday so I got panicky and brought him inside for awhile. Gave him eggs and vitamins and watched him to see how he did and he seemed okay and enjoyed sitting with me, so I may have been overreacting…but who can blame me? He’s my big sweetheart boy and I’m just so tired of losing my favorite boys in tragic ways. Might bring him inside tomorrow too, supposed to be wet and rainy all day and if he’s feeling weird I don’t want it to get worse cuz I’m not out there to watch him better.

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I also moved the Balls outside with my young bantams and set up the new bigger run and they’re settling in well. Brie, Ariana Sushi, Parmesan and Pistachio are very easy going birds so I think they’ll do alright with the Balls. It’s not the best set up and I will be adding shavings to the run this weekend after the rain, but I think it will be workable for now!

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I’m so hoping I don’t have a December like I did last year. I feel like winter is becoming synonymous with chicken death and I am not a fan. :-(

I'm rooting for a better winter! Mother nature throws a fast ball every now and then and you handled it well even if it doesn't feel like it.

Forgot to post Sammy's pic. He's not a year old yet, and has a big head and paws. Catches rodents often. Wish he would catch the rat digging into the coop.
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What a pretty boy! I love his stout face

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Collected winter eggs...First batch, I get about 12+ but collect many times so they don't freeze.

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Such a beautiful bunch of eggs and just look at all that snow!

 

[ChicksnMore]

We have more rain coming Monday and our first freeze on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. So I spent the morning flipping dirt in 3 of the runs. One of the runs is new so the dirt's like a rock still and any rain that gets in will pool. I could only get down a few inches and that's not enough, so I added some straw to that run and will turn it under after Mondays rain to loosen it up. The chickens love it when I flip the dirt so it was a fun morning for everyone.

The rest of today will be about getting my freeze sensitive plants inside. That's always a ton of heavy lifting. I'm not looking forward to moving my papayas!

My foots handling everything well and I'm very excited by that!

 

[ChicksnMore]

Having fun outside and had to share. Sargent Schultz came to visit me in the garden today! Hoping he'll do like Nutters did and make garden hangout time part of his routine. Well, unless he starts bringing a ton of ladies with him...one chicken in the gardens a pleasure....a whole flock is destructive.

Thought I'd share pics of my wild type poinsettias too before the freeze damages them. Friend gave me a start years ago and now they've naturalized.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Inbetween bags bags and more bags I took some more glam shots of C&B so I can get them printed on canvas for the grandkids. Been doing this for about a week or so. This is what I came up with.

Had some fun second choices and a few funny of my little weirdos. I miss playing with them.

Then I got distracted by my dragon fruit and soursop, then had to get back to bags bags and more bags.

It was a nice reprieve. I have like 20 fruits on it now

 

[TropicalBabies]

Having fun outside and had to share. Sargent Schultz came to visit me in the garden today! Hoping he'll do like Nutters did and make garden hangout time part of his routine. Well, unless he starts bringing a ton of ladies with him...one chicken in the gardens a pleasure....a whole flock is destructive. View attachment 3346254Thought I'd share pics of my wild type poinsettias too before the freeze damages them. Friend gave me a start years ago and now they've naturalized. View attachment 3346257View attachment 3346259View attachment 3346260

LOOOOOOOVELY ♡♡♡♡

 

[FBMcrazy8]

I swear they lose their minds when they go broody! At least only two of mine do. That's quite enough for me. Penelope literally screams like a banshee if you so much as look at her

She doesn’t seem to be staying this way. But some days she doesn’t mind me looking in on her while others she does. But today maybe because of the size of her egg. It’s HUGE compared to her regular eggs. I know I would be crabby too!!! The smaller egg is her normal sized egg, obviously the crazy big one is the one she laid today. Blows my mind how big it is. Poor girl!

 

[FBMcrazy8]

Inbetween bags bags and more bags I took some more glam shots of C&B so I can get them printed on canvas for the grandkids. Been doing this for about a week or so. This is what I came up with.View attachment 3346576View attachment 3346577
Had some fun second choices and a few funny of my little weirdos. I miss playing with them.View attachment 3346581
Then I got distracted by my dragon fruit and soursop, then had to get back to bags bags and more bags.
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It was a nice reprieve. I have like 20 fruits on it now

That is awesome!!! just love the pictures! Absolutely beautiful! And that is so cool you have fruit!

 

[Mr Spot]

Fed, watered, gathered 2 whole eggs and let them out to play in the fresh mowed grass for about an hour.

 

[TropicalBabies]

She doesn’t seem to be staying this way. But some days she doesn’t mind me looking in on her while others she does. But today maybe because of the size of her egg. It’s HUGE compared to her regular eggs. I know I would be crabby too!!! The smaller egg is her normal sized egg, obviously the crazy big one is the one she laid today. Blows my mind how big it is. Poor girl!

that's big

 

[FBMcrazy8]

that's big

That it is!! The only one laying large eggs is my Sexlink, Speckles, and this one is still WAY bigger than her’s! I hope she doesn’t have anymore of those. As I’m sure that has to be uncomfortable from what she is used to laying.