Never Rains But It Pours

So... we're not getting any new chickens this spring. Other than the 3 bitties we have that hatched, that is. But odds are at least 2 of those will be roosters, so my point is: we're not getting any significant number of new egg layers this year.

What this really means is that EVERY hen we have now will go into a molt and stop laying for the late fall and winter months this year. Which means no eggs. (or very, very few). Last year we didn't get any eggs for about 2 months. I even *gasp!* bought eggs. (From the co-op. Pastured.) As close to MY eggs as I could get. And worth the price to not be too greatly disappointed by the difference in quality.

And now that it is springtime every hen we have is in laying overdrive. For a while a few of them were laying off in the woods (as you may know) where we couldn't find them and all was OK in the world. This week everyone has gone back to laying in one of our 10 nesting boxes (although I keep getting hens coming out of our new shed with no door squawking their egg-laying achievement... I just can't find any...) and we have more eggs than we know what to do with. As in 8 - 12 eggs a day. Oh boy.

But the chest freezer (best birthday present ever! Thanks Lone reader!) comes in here to the rescue. You can freeze eggs. Woohoo!!

My favorite method is not below. Because my favorite method involves cracking one egg each into the well of an ice cube tray, freezing them, and then popping them into a big old ziploc bag. Wash, rinse, repeat. That way you can pull whatever number of eggs you may require at a time and use as needed.

Alas, I currently don't have any ice cube trays.

And I can not find one with big enough wells for a whole egg (and I don't live in the bay area anymore so those awesome Asian dollar stores that always carry this sort of thing is beyond my reach...).

So my second favorite method:

Figure out how many eggs you want to put in each bag. Label said bag. Use a big sharpie. You know you want to.

Put the bag in a cup, bowl, tupperware - anything that will hold the back with its contents. Flip the fastener portion over the sides to hold it in place, and to help keep from getting egg on said fastener. You're welcome.

Break all yolks. You don't want to add air - just bust them. Why do you do this? No idea. But anyone I've ever spoken to who freezes eggs does this. If you know, let me know.*

Lay flat, and put in freezer flat. That way they will both freeze and defrost faster than if you leave them in a clump. In fact, whenever you freeze anything in a bag, you should do it this way. Again. You're welcome.

This pile of eggs (plus another 8 I pulled from the fridge)...

...turns into this pile of shells.

I freeze them in 6 egg chunks because that's the amount I use most frequently. I don't bake a lot of cakes, etc, anymore - but I make a lot of fritatas. And when I do it's usually in 6 egg increments. So really whatever works.

What to do with the shells? You can do any number of things. I dry them out, grind them up, and feed them back to my chickens. It's the best way for them to absorb calcium back into their systems, and that way we don't have to buy any other supplements for them.

They're also great in gardens. Many many plants do well with a calcium supplement (brassicas and tomatoes are probably the most famous...) and you can grind them up finely and sprinkle on top of the soil, or in the bottom of your transplant hole when putting in seedlings. Or you can grind them up more coarsely and sprinkle around the base of your plants to help deter slugs, cutworms, and a number of other garden pests that might not enjoy crawling over such a sharp surface.

Some people with more time and energy than I blow the eggs out and use the shells for crafts. (I wish I had the energy!).

Or toss 'em in the compost pile.

*If you freeze the whites and yolks separately, you do need to add a scant amount of salt or sugar to the yolks to keep them from coagulating. These two things may be related. My chemistry's not so good. And my copy of Harold McGee is in storage and I can't get to it. So. Again. If you know, let me know.

Baby Chicken Update

I realize that I have neglected to post an update about our little bitty chickens. The bitties are coming along quite nicely and are not only getting to the awkward teenage chicken stage, but are starting to annoying their mama.

Awkward! They look even funnier today - this was taken a week ago...

 I can not seem to get a video of it, but when they're on top of their mama, she tries to walk away...resulting in her not *quite* being able to get her butt all the way off the ground and doing a really funny forward-facing crab-walk type movement across the brooder run. But at the rate that they're growing, it won't be much longer for you mama hen!

Egg Thief

We had an egg thief. As in...someone or something was eating our eggs and leaving broken eggshells everywhere.

Here's the thing - the chickens hadn't been sounding any alarms, the dogs hadn't sounded any alarms, and I hadn't seen evidence of any animal-related damage.

Our chickens free-range at all times. Many chicken keepers will disagree with this approach for many reasons (mainly predators), but this works for us. We live in a heavily wooded area and our chickens spend 90% of their time in the woods. We have dogs that sound the alarm at animals, and one who particularly LOVES to bark at flying birds of ANY kind (sometimes we believe them to be imaginary). 40+ acres of lakefront land means a LOT of bugs and greens and whatnot that they can have access to, and this helps to not only keep our feed cost down, but is so much better for them than anything we could feed them. And to be utterly honest - I am not perfect. I have forgotten to let some of our chickens out one morning (they were sequestered due to ... lack of chicken skills. No joke.) and we lost one due to lack of water access. 100% my fault and I will not forgive myself for that one.

But I digress.

Our egg thief kept stealing eggs daily for a few weeks. From all 3 'official' nesting spots (we have a total of 10 nesting boxes for 16 hens. That's just how many boxes we ended up with). Granted, some of our hens tend to lay clutches elsewhere from time to time and I don't mind if a thief gets those. But the problem is the thief didn't discriminate between the two types.

We used to use this hutch as an infirmary. But the hens like the tub so much (we get 5 or 6 eggs in it a day) that we had to relinquish it for daily use. Thankfully we haven't had any sick/wounded birds that might need to use the hutch.

Finally one day I caught the thief red-handed:

Guilty. Just look at her.

Zora. ZORA IS THE EGG THIEF. We have to keep her tied up during the day if we're all out, and the other day when I let her off when I got home, she made a bee-line for the hutch, grabbed an egg out of the tub, and chomped away at it. Shell and all. She is a very good dog, and when I reprimanded her and waddled my way down there she knew she had done wrong. But 10 minutes later when I was hanging up laundry, she went into our small coop, grabbed an egg out of the nesting box, and went to town on that one. Sigh. She will not be deterred and she is such a good guard dog the rest of the time (she doesn't eat chickens. Unlike our OTHER dog...) that it's not the biggest deal in the world to make sure all 10 nesting boxes are empty before we let her off the line.

Never in a million years would I have pictured myself having an issue with a dog stealing eggs and eating them whenever she could. Life is odd sometimes!

Feathering out

It is continuing to astonish me that the little baby chickens are so much more chickeny than our past broods. They're starting to get more and more feathers, and they're not gonna be cute for much longer... but they are now!

Still cute!

Cheep Cheep!

A few weeks ago, while bumbling around in the dark,  I had the pants scared off of me by the strangest of noises. Not a growl, not a squawk, not a screech, not a cluck (of any kind) .... but definitely a loud noise that made me want to retrace my steps. Except I don't really do that. Instead, I fumbled around in my pocket to find my phone and in the light of the screen (don't tell me you don't do the same), I saw one of our lorpies huddled in a corner. Hissing.

Recently we've been finding a lot of this:

They like to hide them sometimes

So finding a chicken in a random spot nestled in didn't seem to weird. Except they always go back to their coop at night. Which is when it sunk in. We had a broody hen on our hands.

Broodiness in hens is not something most chicken keepers like - it takes them out of egg production, they still need to be fed, they get super mean (see above. They will also bite you if you get too close), you might end up with more chicks/mouths to feed, and often require separate housing.

We were thrilled.

First of all, we currently have more eggs than we know what to do with. We had wanted to sell eggs this year, but what with everything going on in our lives and being super swamped with work, it has not happened. So. One hen NOT laying was actually helpful.

Secondly, we will be wanting to add new layers next spring. Yes, even though we have too many eggs. Mainly because we lose some hens in the summer to heat, hawks, etc, and also because once they're two years old they molt (during which they don't lay), and then they go off their lay in the winter. A few spring chickens (ha!) helps guarantee that we get SOME eggs over the winter.

Stoic

After said lorpie turned into p-chicken (which is short for 'pancake chicken'. She literally turned into a pancake she went so wide and flat), we were curious to see if she'd stay broody or not (our last one gave up after sitting on a golf ball for a few days). The weather went super cold...and boy if she didn't sit there on those eggs with that glassy-eyed stoney glare in weather that went from 16 degrees to 60 degrees and back again.

Yesterday after getting home from work/school/etc, Redneck and the Acorn rushed in to tell me we had babies. 3!! Two yellows ones and a black one. It's been a little while since I'd seen brand new chicks, and boy are they teensy!! (duh. They're literally egg sized...)

He kept trying to jump out of our hands!

Teensy!

Teaching the babes to forage

I could literally spend all day watching them. Mama hen is totally unperturbed by the other chickens and dogs roaming about peering in, and goes about her day teaching them how to be chickens. They already (at 2 days old) act way more 'chickeny' than chicks raised without a mama. Can't wait to see how they progress!

Very Long Time

It has been... a very long time.

And I apologize to you, oh Lone Reader, for the prolonged absence.

I could give you excuses and reasons as to why this pause in my ramblings, but that's what they would be. Although my computer dying in August and taking me this long to get a new one up and running (amongst other exciting things) has got to be a good one!

Since August, things have been moving along fairly swiftly, yet oddly unchangingly, here at Stoneyhaw. And you shall hear more from me.

Spring. In January.

Exciting plans are in the works!

Our holiday decorations this year. Walleye lights. Thanks Dad!

There has been some cooking. Creme Caramel, baby.

Burlington has done this a few times recently.

Single most favorite food combo recently.

No words necessary.

Still springing!

The Cammack daffodils have started to come up.

After all that spring weather... we got snow.

And sleet!

Happy Birthday Ms Julia!

Today would be Julia Child's 100th Birthday and hot damn! I love that woman. Her piercing voice, her cozy TV kitchen in fuzzy black and white (oh yeah. I watched reruns as a kid as an alternative to WWF after Saturday morning cartoons. Shhhh. Don't tell the Redneck!),  her novel notions of food, and best of all her underlying message (to me, at least): what happens in the kitchen, stays in the kitchen!

So today I will make omelets in her memory, and if one of them should slip and fall onto the floor as it did in that oh so memorable episode, than shhhhh! no one will know!

(almost) wordless.

DE + leafblower = treating under the barn for bugs...

Blueberry Wine - pt 1

Back when I lived in California, which seems like oh so many years ago, I used to make blackberry wine. I had a gazillion blackberry bushes at my disposal and I am such a hoarder when it comes to that sort of harvesty stuff that I couldn't resist.

Enter my current patch of blueberries... while we have picked maybe 5 of the available 30 or so gallons this year (no joke, but many are too high up to reach...), we have put up maybe 3. And I have decided to make a (small) batch of blueberry wine as well.

Unfortunately I lost the first several pictures due to my phone momentarily becoming an idiot, getting stuck in 'recovery' mode (like that's going to trick you out of thinking your phone is just half dead...) and losing everything on it. Mere hours after taking said photos. But that's a whole different story...

Crushed pureed blueberries, sugar, yeast & water in the primary fermenter.

I pushed this cap down and stirred every day for three days. (if you look closely you can tell it was bubbling)

Straining through a flour sack towel, my cloth of choice for these sorts of things.

It's important to let it drain with a proper weight on top. In this case, expired yogurt I brought home from the store.

Mmmmm... fruity.

Added to the secondary and topped off with our particle free, PH neutral well water.

Family Time

We're an odd unit in the traditional sense of the word 'family'. I recent had a discussion with one of our younger members all about what a 'real' family is. With missing pieces, substitute pieces, step pieces, grand pieces, grand step pieces, half pieces, and nary a 'real' title among us (except maybe Zora and Luke as 'the family dogs'), this can be a tough one for a kid to wrap their head around. And while I wish that these sorts of discussions weren't so necessary at times, I am so incredibly happy and extremely grateful that we are at a point where they can happen. Because I take my job as the family 'hippie' tremendously seriously, and it warms my heart to know that these kids can talk to me.

And it warms my heart when we get to spend 'real' family time together to do fun stuff. Recently we went to the Natural Science Center of Greensboro (again for me and the Acorn. But what can I say. He loves the Pendulum). It was the first time for Sissy, and the Acorn got to show her his favorite bits. Needless to say, she was more impressed with the animals than the pendulum, but that was part of the fun. When we all went to the one in Raleigh a few weeks ago, she had been and we had not, so it was his turn to take the lead.

We had fun!

The Health Education room seemed to be immensely interesting to kids of all ages...

We tried to feed the Acorn to the resident T-Rex, but he spit him out (too bony).

It was a fairly warm day and this tiger climbed down the 'cliffs' the have set up, backed into the pool up to his neck, and proceeded to make these faces.

Practicing for when we get goats.

Teaching the redneck how to operate the 2 man submarine. (this is important stuff, guys)

Update in Pictures

Again - I apologize my dear friends and Lone Reader (hi mom!) for my absence. I seem to be apologizing for that particular thing a LOT these days, but life has picked up its already ridiculously fast pace, and I have no idea where the time is going. I feel perpetually behind on all things, but am hell bent on enjoying today with the kiddleywinks. Yes.

So without further ado, please admire my beauteous captions and pretend to be updated in no particular order (because the blog is not cooperating):

Re-post this may be, but happy to be seeing these guys in our garden. They keep nibbling critters away and if they're around, big copper colored ones are not.

The Lone Reader bought us these Vincas while she was visiting so I would have something pretty to look at amongst the bare dirt, chicken poop, and the flotsam and jetsam. They are thriving.

New 'pants chickens'! We got four Silkie chicks, 2 black and 2 buff. The boys call them 'pants chickens' for obvious reasons.

Cindy is molting. And she looks like a porcupine.

This guy was stunningly beautiful despite his only having 7 legs.

Some of the 'baby' chickens checking out the new Silkie arrivals.

Cotton flowering

When I ran out of gas mowing the meadow, the Redneck came to my rescue on (in?) his trusty Yota steed.

The Vincas are re-seeding themselves already

Silly Silkies - can you find all 4?

WTF North Carolina people. These didn't move the whole 10 minutes it took me to get this picture.

While the mass o' freaky caterpillars wasn't moving, I picked 3 gallons of these.

A couple of hours later they had changed color, grown spikes and gotten both more hairy and more scary.

Itty Bitty - in action!

Jumper #1 and #3 is Itty Bitty. Oh yeah. This is totally how she's managed to climb her way back up the pecking order.

They REALLY like banana.

Itty Bitty!

A long overdue update... Itty Bitty has slowly but surely pretty much recovered from her injuries. She worried me, but she sat in the back of the coop for about two weeks, and didn't move apparantly. In the enclosed section between the wire 'run' and the nesting boxes... the chickens NEVER roost back here no matter HOW cold it gets. Go figure. Anyway, she then started foraying to just out the front of the coop every other day - about 15ft - for water. And then she forayed out everyday... and now she's back with the flock. All in all it took her over 2 months to integrate back in with everybody.

We utilized lessons learned and did not segregate her from the flock. I was not concerned about the other chickens messing with her too badly as she a) was covered in blu-kote, and b) kept hanging out where the other chickens really didn't go except on their way to the nesting boxes. I can only assume that when going past Itty Bitty to and from the boxes they always had other pressing matters to attend to rather than mess with her - they were most likely either in a hurry to get that egg out, or in a hurry to tell everyone about their accomplishment.

However, it was a full two weeks or so after her ordeal before I could handle her well enough to see what was going on with her. She had a hole in her side (since closed up) and her leg seemed to be giving her problems, but nothing too big. Now it turns out that her leg was either dislocated and too swollen to seem too out of place, or it got dislocated in her rushing her healing process. Just try to control a wanderlust-stricken hen! I dare you!

So now she hobbles around with the flock, and goodness we should have named her Scrappy! She manages to get the first morsels of treats and retreats with them before everyone else notices she snatched it. She refuses to leave my toe ring alone and pecks the crap out of my toe whenever possible. She flew up into Acorn's face and stole the hotdog out of his bun... she also started laying again, and has permanently earned her place in the flock due to her overall pluck.

(I am hilarious, btw)

And she's almost fully feathered again!

All the chickens like to hang out under the barn quite a bit. And steal Zora's water (the grey bucket).

Venturing forth into the unknown.

Just a hint of blu-kote and quite a bit of new feathers, still partially sheathed.

You can tell her bum leg is turned in a bit (her left leg). Doesn't seem to be stopping her.