Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[babylady4]

Yes I did!!!! I won the lottery.

 

[FrenchToast]

Yes I did!!!! I won the lottery.

mel why do you always do that? Try to keep us in suspense !
Spill the beans already ! Facts we need facts ! Congrats on the new job if that's what you're trying to tell us. I'm your new BMW if in fact you win the lottery!

 

[FrenchToast]

God you must feel old Jim ! My question for you is where in the h3ll do you get all of your energy for an old koot ?

Glarner..Cluck is a wonderful resource, but some things are pricey like the coops. if you can swing it great, but we built our own coop fairly reasonably. It is not insulated, but built sturdy. One of the coop builders for cluck is a high school student in our community... might be worth asking him directly if you or your hubs are not handy. We built ours and then decided out run was too small and added onto that after about a year. We let the chickens out when we are home, but there are too many predators to let ours free range on a regular basis. luckily our rooster does a good job keeping an eye out. with the nice weather last week we had the chickens out for a few hours and my daughter was trying to figure out why they were all moving quickly into the coop... I told her to look up to the two red tail hawks swooping around our yard...yup that would do it! On a good note we have 12 hens and are getting 8-9 eggs a day. Hooray! better than the 4 we were getting most of winter. And the kids finally stumped dad... he was asking if we needed to dye eggs this year and both kids looked at him and said "why would we need to do that, we have beautiful eggs already!" Love those kids

One year I used blueberries, strawberries, spinach and onion peels to dye my Easter eggs. It was cool to see the colors that I could get and it was all natural so the fact that they were store bought eggs and some hairline cracking that showed up after dying them was not a problem. I LOVE COLORING EASTER EGGS! and yes, I am pushing 50 years old, lol.

my DD Barby is pushing 50 too,,, April 13..

 

[FrenchToast]

WyoDreamer care to share your recipe for making the natural food dyes?

Going to town to pick up more eggs from PO. Silkie and showgirl eggs.

Tomorrow will pick up Barred Rocks, Lavender Ameracauna's, BBS Ameracauna's along with 2 Lavender splits and 5 silkied Ameraucana's (new Ameraucana project out there!), and Friday Dominique's.
Yes I've got the hatching bug....again.
Good news is some of my eggs that I set for the Easter hatch a long are viable and developing....must not have fried them.
ET found a dead runner duck with everything eaten up to the spine......in middle of run. He also came in with two frozen goose eggs from the Sebastopols. There is a pair of non sets in the coop so not sure who laid the egg or if it's from same goose?
To bad it didn't appear last week when it was warm out.
Two days ago found our chocolate lab enjoying a freshly killed Black Australorp. That Frick in dog. ET let's her run free when he does chores for several hours a day. She is fine around the chickens. He had her tied while he was cooking sap with her in plain site. I drove down to get the mail...gone for maybe 20 minutes. Came back and ET had gone in the house....Reba grabbed chicken in that time. Why in the heck are the chickens so dumb to go within her reach ! Her and our female Great Pyrenees can never be trusted I'm afraid. My question is why always the purebred and not the mutt breeds or roosters.
So good thing I am hatching more
Good advice CC and Jimbo. Yep always build bigger. Even if you can only have 5 chickens now that might change. Plus if you decide it's not for you there are other things you can use the building for.
Oh and the heated water bowls should start going on clearance anytime soon. I got one for $12.99. Can't remember where. Never used it yet....but I like your idea CC.
Cuties.....I'm just as happy as you are to learn Thunder $hitting!
Make sure he drinks enough. A lot of times they don't drink enough because the water is so cold. Spring and fall are big colic season for many reasons.
Any of you horsey people going to a Midwest Horse Fair a April 17-19th ?
My man Pat Parel li is going to be there....love him ! Plus there is a few driving clinics I want to see.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I happened to find some old, freezer burned blueberries just after I found this article, so I gave it a try. I had to do more than just blue eggs, that would be boring, so I used chamomile & turmeric for yellow, spinach for green and strawberries for red. And the vinegar is what sets the color onto the egg so don't skip it.

Natural Dye Recipes for Easter Eggs

RED
2 cups beets, grated
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 cups water
Substitute: strong Red Zinger tea, or chopped fresh or frozen cranberries
YELLOW TO GOLD
3 large handfuls of yellow/brown onion skins
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 cups water
Substitute: strong chamomile tea, or 2 to 3 tbsp ground turmeric
BLUE
1 pound frozen blueberries, crushed
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 cups water
Substitute: red cabbage leaves, coarsely chopped, create lavender
OTHER COLORS
Mix combinations of the primary dyes (in separate cups) to make secondary colors: red and yellow for orange, yellow and blue for green, and blue and red for violet. The proportion of one color to the other determines the shade.

Mix the ingredients in a pan and boil for 15 minutes. Let it cool.
For a solid color on the egg, strain out the solids; for a more marbled look, leave the solids in.
I put a hard boiled egg in a coffee cup and then poured in the dye to completely cover - that way I don't get too much dye in the cup and have it run over onto the table when I put in the egg.
Let the egg sit in the dye until it is as dark as you want it. Remove and set on a rack to dry.
Dye the next one.

 

[babylady4]

Yes, I finally got a job. A pretty good one too.

Almost as good as winning the lotto.

 

[irishrovr]

Yes, I finally got a job. A pretty good one too.

Almost as good as winning the lotto.

Yipee! Congratulations!

 

[bigzio]

Snow On the Robin's back to all.....that was a great post CC. Sharing all the good information that takes years to learn is something special. Kudos for taking the time to post all that good stuff!

Welcome to more new folks.....we are here to help...don't be scared to ask anything...never a dumb question here.

Hope the next warming spell shows it face soon.

Congrats on the new job bl4..now behave and learn and listen from others....LOL!

The snow is hanging on here...not enough melting today.

Went and bought another Wild Turkey Tag...this is going to be fun....I have the first and 3rd season so far...prolly get a few more seasons too. Plus I get to call for a couple other folks..I'm lovin it!

bigz

 

[cuties]

Thunder is great today! Angry that he is hu gry! Yes Frenchie he is drinking well. I will be sure to offer it when the seasons are changing. Seems if I act like there is something coolnin he bucket and offer it like a treat he really wants some lolol

I am soooo eggcited. Got my first ever shipped eggs today. And despite my fear of horror stories, they are in perfect condition

Super Blue Egg layers!! From DMRippy.

 

[bigzio]

I forgot to mention Kris....Mine is the advance (digital) with the turner...the turner does a complete cycle every hour with each side going to 90 degrees....with the square bottom that the bator has, one could prop one side and alternate the prop to and fro.....I'm not sure how many times a day you would need to....others can offer some input, but I would think 4 times at a minimum.

bigz