Sep. 22, 2008 - the chicks finally hatched!
Only four were able to make it out of their shell but they all seemed healthy enough except one. It had curly feet and couldn't stand up properly. So with a little research we found out we could put little bandaid boots on it to help. We did and now he's zipping around like mad with the other ones. pretty cute. I hope he makes it. I haven't seen him poop yet. he does peck at the food and I've seen him drink water but not much today.
then yesterday one got sick and sicker and sicker and I picked him up to love on him a bit and he died. Very sad.
All in all it's been an amazing experience from the movement in the eggs to watching their amazing little fluffy bodies scratching and pecking and preening like grown-up chickens.
It's also been stressful. I get way to worried about them all....
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Sep. 7, 2008 - Not many people can say this.
I whitewashed my chicken coop today.
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Sep. 2, 2008 - chicken coop is coming
Well, we started on our chicken coop yesterday. WE are using a lean-to on the back of our garage that was full of junk, ours and the previous owners.... and probably the owner before that. It was full of squirrel mess... little bits of insulation and pieces of pinecones and a few things from our compost. What messy little things. so we cleaned that all out, pulled out the rickety shelving and it's actually quite large. We will easily be able to keep our chickens over winter... we just have to reinforce parts of the building so no other animals can get in.
Now... what do we do with all the junk that came out of there?
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Aug. 29, 2008 - completely self-sufficient meal
tonight for supper we are having a chicken that we raised and killed, turnips, carrots and potatoes from our garden all roasted in a crockpot. It's a very fulfilling feeling.
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Aug. 22, 2008 - Canning, canning and more canning
Well, I haven't been on in a while so I thought while I'm waiting for the water bath canner timer to go off I would tell a little about what I've been doing.
I made and canned Apple Filling (14 qts) and it was so good I will make some more,
I made and canned probably around 20 qts of applesauce, 12 pts of raspberry jam, 5 1/2 pts of zucchini relish, 12 pts of apple butter.
Plus of course keeping up with making and pressure canning chicken stock.
It's been busy around here with picking, cooking and canning. If I get around to it I plan to do some pickles today.... cucumber, squash, bean and carrot pickles.... all garlic dill with a homegrown chunk of hot pepper in each jar.
Hopefully next week I will get to can some meals in a jar... I've used all the ones up that I made before and they were sure handy! I'd like to try a potato soup that you add milk to before you eat it. sounds good to me.
Also the chickens started laying eggs. that is very exciting! we no longer have to buy eggs and that is sooooo cool. In the meantime I got Salmonella from a store bought egg so I am really glad to get our own eggs now.
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Apr. 14, 2008 - Chicks!!!
they were so cute and small and fluffy.
Now they are 2 weeks old and large and getting to look more like chickens already.
We got 32 Red Sussex Cross chicks. They all survived! Even though one was under the waterer for several hours.
We can hardly wait to harvest eggs and meat of our own raising. It feels really good!
