More Chickens!!!

I am getting more chickens for my 12th anniversary! I know not a very interesting gift for most wives but I am EXCITED! I moved my chickens into the extra shed we have and installed a light for them so that they can stay warm. I will include a video here shortly. So, we have had a fresh egg every day for the last 4 days! That is awesome. We think that Babs is the one laying them because when we went out this morning she was still sitting on the nest and hadn't laid an egg yet, but we went out later and there was an in one of the nest boxes. I ordered 25 more chicks, although I will not be keeping them all. And the nice thing is they are ALL females! I got 5 Silverlaced Wyandotte's, 5 goldlaced Wyandotte's, 5 Barred Rocks, 5 Buff Orpingtons, and 5 Black Australorps. I will probably keep 2 of each for laying eggs and then eat the rest because they can be eaten as well as be consistent egg layers. The boys really want to see how they taste when they are fresh, I am curious as well. We can have 1 fresh chicken a week for 15 weeks! Or, I can kill them all at once and give a couple away and freeze the rest I am not sure. I called Welp Hatchery today and double checked when the chicks will get here and it looks like the 21st of November! I have my woodchips, chick starter, feeder and waterers all ready to go. I even bought a large drop cloth to use with some chicken wire to make their enclosure when they arrive. I plan on moving them out to the shed when they are about 25 days old. I can put a heat lamp out there for them in case they would need the extra warmth. I am going to bring the chickens inside and see how they do with the chicks and if they take to them maybe they can help me brood them??? I think my chickens are too young for that though. But hey, we can try it anyway. I am very excited and I can't wait until the 21st!!! TTFN

Chickens First Eggs

My chickens have finally started laying!!!

Chinchilla plus two!

While chinchillas are not a productive animal in the sense they don't provide me with anything I can use, they sure provide entertainment. This morning my boys called me while I was at my bowling league and informed me that Trey's chinchilla had 2 babies in her dust bath! They are so cute!!!! Here is some video of the little critters.

Update on Veggies

We have watermelons and cantaloupe starting to grow!! We have had over a dozen cucumbers off the plants and tons of lettuce for our salads. The beans and peas are taking off and the tomato plants are getting so big the cages or bending over, I will have to find something to support them. The garden is doing great and I even saw some ladybug larvae on my pepper plants last night. We also have worms in the dirt so all in all it is slowly becoming a healthy garden. I am about ready to pick the beets and pickle them I just need to call the treatment plant and find out what grade the biosolids I got are.

Sexed the chickens WRONG

So, one of the chickens that I though was a female started crowing yesterday! And I think that one of the silkies is also a ROO! LOL!!! So I have been getting awakened every morning by not one but two roosters and soon to be a third! This is not good as you should only have 1 rooster to every 4 hens. So, we will be having roast chicken and then taking the bones and making chicken stock! Just so you know, I will not be killing Buster cause he is just too cute. One of the Japanese bantams has started crowing so he will be the first to go and then when the Silkie starts crowing he will be gone as well. Tyler is more hesitant about me killing them he wants me to post them on freecycle but I don't want to do that because I bought them with the intention of eating them. So, I am currently researching the most humane way to kill them and also how to clean them out and such. I will probably do it this weekend while my MIL is here if not it will have to wait till the end of the month cause my BF will be out here with her kids the weekend after that. Anyway, just thought it was humorous and wanted to share. I have included some video of the Japanese Bantam crowing and the other chickens hanging out.

Making Apricot Jam

I got a post the other day that a guy around the corner from me had apricots he didn't want so he was allowing people to come and pick what they wanted. So, Brant, Tyler and I went over and picked a large box of them. They were not quite ripe so I decided to make apricot jam with them. The following video shows the process of how I made the jam. It was time consuming but really fun and it tastes really good. I have been having peanut butter and apricot jam sandwiches for lunch. I was able to make 12 pint jars of it. I also was able to pick some from my neighbors tree today. They were just sitting there falling of the tree one by one so I asked and she said we could pick the whole tree if we wanted! Yeah an endless supply of apricots. I am going to be purchasing a food dehydrator so that we can dry some of them. I would also like to make some fruit rolll ups. The boys have just been eating them raw as well. I may not have to plant an apricot tree after all! Anyway, just thought I would share.

Making Cheese!

Okay, I have been putting this off for quite awhile now but I finally got my cheese made! I just started out with a basic mozarella kit from Lerners.com. I made the mozarella and then made some ricotta with the leftover whey so that I can use it in homemade lasagna tommorrow! I will post how we make the noodles for that tommorrow hopefully. Everything is going really well and the chickens are getting so BIG! One of the silkies is so big I am thinking she may be a he?? Buster trying crowing Sunday morning around 7 I couldn't help but giggle cause he sounded like a drowning chicken! So funny! I haven't heard him since though at first I thought it was Ty snoring but it wasn't. The vegetables are growing like crazy and I transplanted a bunch of broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, swiss chard, sunflowers and nasturtiums, from the seeds that I had started awhile ago, today. Hopefully, they will take root and grow into full blown plants. I am also putting together a plan for my mini orchard and bramble area (this will have cherry, pear, nectarine, apple, plum, raspberry, blackberry and blueberries). Very excited for this to come into play. Fresh fruit for pies, jams, smoothies, pancakes and just eating plain! I know it takes a couple of years for the fruit to come in but I know it will be worth the wait! Anyway, back to the cheese it was fun and easy to make and I will be making lots more for us to eat and for our pizza!!

Garden Update 7 26 08

Hey, my garden has just started taking off and fruiting like crazy! I planted some more peas and beans hoping that I could get some this season so hopefully it will work. We have already started enjoying the cucumbers, lettuce, swiss chard and beet greens. I also have a small watermelon starting! It is so cute. I hope it tastes as good as everything else has. Tyler is anxious for the cantaloupe to get going so I am excited for those to come in. We have plenty of cantaloupe blooms. Getting more green tomatoes just waiting for them to ripen and even the peppers are starting to do better. I think it has to do with the fact that I put in drip hoses to water the plants so the water goes right to the roots. I am planning next years garden and will be adding at least 3 more boxes and some fruit trees and more berry bushes. I can't wait.

No more ducks:(

Well, after talking with DH about his beloved lawn I have taken it upon myself to find a new home for the ducks. They are just tearing up our grass and it is starting to look pretty crappy so we found a home for them here in Vernal. The lady that is going to take them already has 3 ducks and 5 acres for them to roam. I think they will be very happy. I am pretty bummed but when we get more land I WILL be getting ducks again. They are just to cute and so much fun. Anyway, just thought I would post an update on them.

My duck fence

I am posting this video on how I made my duck fence so that you can see how it was constructed. I used 3/8" by 18" rebar and pounded them into the ground about 4' apart. I then cut the 10' sections of 3/4" PVC pipe in half and put one on each of the pieces of rebar. I then attached the tops of the PVC together with PVC T-joints on the straight pieces and elbows on the corners. After constructing the frame I attached plastic fencing with zip ties to the horizontal and vertical pieces of PVC pipe. I don't know if that is clear enough but hopefully between the description and the video it will make sense.

Update on Animals

Okay, I know I talked about the animals but here is an updated video on how they are doing and looking. I know the duck pen looks like a mess but they are just messy animals and they had fresh food and water about 3 hours before I shot the video and Ivy is molting so there are a lot of feathers that wouldn't normally be there. Anyway, they are all doing really great and the chickens are actually in the garden right now eating all the baby grasshoppers I saw in there today while I was picking some lettuce for my lunch. I will post more tommorrow, I will be making fresh pizza and hopefully some mozarella and ricotta cheese.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Allrighty, here is a recipe I found for a sugar free whole wheat banana bread on Allrecipes.com, this recipe makes two loaves of bread.

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 c. vegetable oil

1 c. honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs

2 c. mashed bananas

3 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 c. hot water

1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F



2. In a large bowl, beat oil and honey together. Add eggs, and mix well. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter. Blend in chopped nuts. Divide batter into two greased bread pans, evenly.



3. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 1/2 hour before slicing.

And that is it. I made some fresh butter this morning and put it into my butter bell so that it stays soft. It is DELICIOUS!!!

Hope you try this recipe it is well worth the work.

Giving Rex a Haircut

Okay here is a short video of how I give Rex a hair cut. I have had to do a little each day just so he can learn to trust me where he came from such a harsh background and it seems to be paying off because he will stay put a little bit longer each time I work with him. I only have his stomach and hind legs left to cut. He is a very lovey bunny. He gets right up in my face when I lay down on my stomach to cut his hair. I love having him and I can't wait to spin his fur!!

So much to do So Little Time

I sat down yesterday and made out a schedule for myself so that I can make sure I get all the things done that I want to do. Boy is there a lot but I have a routine with all the animals now and that really helps. I can get them taken care of in about 15 minutes and then I water the plants. I have included a clip of my garden to date and it is looking really great. We have already had quite a bit of the swiss chard and lettuce. The beans and peas kind of flopped so I ordered more seeds and will be starting those when I get them and will plant more per box and maybe that will help protect them from the sun more. The chickens are doing a great job of eating all the bugs in the garden, I hardly have any lettuce with bug bites on them anymore. The ducks are great and I figured out why the females weren't laying- they are molting- how do I know that? I have TONS of white and brown feathers all over my yard! But no fear, I have been collecting them and will be sending them to my BIL so that he can use them in his primitive crafts that he makes. I have also been joking that I will save all the down to make myself a down pillow!! Not really going to happen. That would take forever. Rex is doing great I have been cutting his hair a little bit each day and he is really starting to relax while I am doing it although he still won't hold still for longer than 10 min. All I have left is his stomach and hind legs. The fiber is SOOOOO Soft!! I can't wait to spin it. I got my pasta maker and will be attaching a video the next time I make pasta with it. It is really good and very good for us. All it has in it are eggs, flour and salt. Brant really likes to help me make the pasta. I also ground some wheat and made whole wheat banana bread which I will also be attaching a video of a little later. I purchased a butter bell which is supposed to keep my butter soft and fresh, out of the fridge, for 30 days. I don't think it will last that long though. So I made a bunch of butter today so we could have it on the banana bread. All in all, things are going great and I am more excited to learn new things like making CHEESE!

Duck House

So, I built a duck house for my ducks out of some pallets I got from DH's work for FREE! I also had some plywood just laying around that I used for the sides and roof. I will post a picture of it a little later I am just in the middle of organizing my house and wanted to take a break. I put them in last night and set up a temporary to door to cage them in or so I thought. I went out this morning and discovered that they were not in their cage, they squeezed through the one side pallet I didnt have covered! They did make their way to the shed were they had originally been put though but now I have a huge mess of duck poo and pine shavings I will need to go clean out tonight. The ducks are doing great and the dogs have gotten used to them and even the chickens! We can let them out all at once and the dogs do really well leaving them alone, they still need supervision though. The garden, with the exception of the peas and beans, is growing really well! I will post more on that later. Anyway, I just need to finish the 2 sides and door for the duck pen and all will be well! TTFN!

I Concede

Okay, I haven't even gotten through one 25 lb bag of wheat and I am already bowing out of grinding by hand! We just use to much flour I can't keep up! So my solution is I bought a Kitchenaid Mixer and I am just waiting for the grain mill attachment. I got this instead of just a wheat grinder because of the versatility and it will take up less space. I can not only grind wheat but I can make bread, pasta, sausage, fruit puree, cakes, cookies, ice cream and so much more. It seemed the obvious choice. I have been informed that the grain mill is noisy but I figure it couldn't be much worse than my hand grinder. I didn't buy the pasta attachment though because it was $130!!!! So I just bought a hand operated one with a pasta drying rack and a cookbook for only $80. I will post some videos later on the different things I am trying to make. The animals are doing great although the ducks have not laid one egg since that first one. The chickens are getting much bigger and are almost completely feathered out. Rex is good his hair is finally long enough so I am starting to trim a little every day, he looks kind of funny cause in the middle of all his fluff he has a big "bald" spot! The vegetables are doing good as well. I wish they were doing better but there is only so much I can do! The chickens got a little to excited with the lettuce so I planted some more in the bare spots of the garden. All in all things are going great on the Deveraux Homestead.

Duck, Duck, No Goose

Well, I have added to my menagerie in my backyard. I got myself 3 ducks. 1 Pekin duck and 2 Rouen ducks. The Pekin is a female named Ivy. One of the Rouens is a male and his name is Drake and the female is Ivy. We took a long drive yesterday to pick them up and had a great time talking about different things. The ducks were originally part of 2 different households. I called on the Pekin and found out that her neighbor was getting rid of her 2 Rouen ducks and thought it would be good to have more than one duck so that the other didn't get lonely and the two Rouen just couldn't be separated :). We brought them home last night and put them in the dog's old crate we used when they were inside, threw some pine shavings down on the floor and plopped them all in there together. I went out this morning to let them out and what did I find? A nice warm duck egg! I guess it would be good to mention Ivy is 2 and the Rouens are 1. Ivy laid an egg. Brant scrambled it up for me (a bit undercooked) but I ate what was cooked and kept waiting for it to taste bad or gamey or something but it actually tasted really good! Almost buttery. I am going to save them until we have a dozen and then I am going to make a puff pancake with them and some rolls (with my handground wheat of course!) We put up a temporary fence around the garden because otherwise the ducks would eat all the lettuce and leafy greens. We got a little kiddie pool for them and they seemed to enjoy that. I went outside several times and turned the garden hose on with my sprinkler attachment and sprinkled them which they seemed to love! They liked playing in the pool but really loved it when we turned the sprinklers on to water the lawn. I included video of them in the sprinklers. Lily doesn't seem to like Ivy very much though, I guess because she views her as competition for Drake. She chased her around all day today and bit her and even though Ivy is twice as big as Lily she let her do it. But later on this evening I think Ivy had enough because she started biting back. I tried putting the three of them in the crate again tonight but the two girls just fought so I put Ivy in a wide laundry basket, I had been using to put my weeds in, sprinkled a good layer of pine shavings and then put another basket on top of it so that she couldn't get out but she still had standing room. Brant has requested we let him get the egg in the morning so I told him he could. He went out twice before he went to bed to check and see if she had laid one yet. I put them in the shed with Rex so hopefully they don't keep him up all night with their prattling. Rex seemed to enjoy the water as well. I went into the shed at one point and thought the dogs had licked him to death but I found out he had run through the sprinkler trying to get away from Jasmine (she was being annoying as usual). Anyway, they are a lot of fun to watch so far and Tyler seems to really enjoy them. I know the boys are loving it. Brant has been outside pretty much all day helping me get the fence ready and playing with the ducks. He also made his own snorkeling device with the leftover PVC pipe from the fence. I also got an awesome tan/burn. Anyway, today was a great day!

Yeah I am Home

I just got back into town today, yeah! I was very happy to see my boys. I haven't seen Ty yet but he should be home for lunch any minute. The chickens are doing great and they are getting bigger! Rex is fluffier and almost fluffy enough to shave! Hopefully, in the next two weeks I can shave him. My garden is doing pretty well for not being watered everyday for the last 5 days but it is still looking good. I forgot my camera back at my mom and dad's so I had to use the old camera so that is why they are just stills and some video with music. I was able to pick a handful of blueberries so I will be trying to come up with something to make with those. I will also be making some whole wheat rolls today from the wheat I ground up before I left. I will post a video on those as well.

My Chickens at 5 weeks

They are getting bigger every day! I was reading over the weekend that roosters start crowing at 6-8 weeks so Buster should be cock a doodle dooin in the next few weeks. Which will be hilarious if it is around 8 weeks because my entire family will be out here camping in my backyard for the reunion and they are going to have an early wake up call. Anyway, just thought I would show how big they were before I left for my girl's weekend thing. I will take some video when I get home tommorrow if they have substantially grown. I am hoping everything has gotten bigger since I left. I am really excited to check on the tomatoes and blueberries. I also can't wait to check on Rex and see how long his hair is! I am hoping within the next couple of weeks I will be able to shear him for the first time. I am also going to be setting a schedule for myself with the wool or I will NEVER get it all done. I also received my Merino raw wool I ordered a while back in the mail so I have to clean that as well. I also tried my hand at carding and I think I have that figured out and have made my first few rolags. (I will explain what those are later). Anyway, I think things are coming along really great and I am very satisfied. I do need to finish weeding the side garden along the fence because that is where I am going to be planting the cabbage and broccoli seeds. Hopefully my sunflowers and Nasturtiums have grown since I have been gone and I can get those planted here in a little while as well? I have my loving husband, two adorable children, animals I love and a garden waiting for me and I can't wait to get back!

Germination of Seeds Day 5

Okay, so I know I wouldn't show you anymore about the seeds in the paper towel until I was ready to plant them but I just can't help it! I took these images around the 5th day. I have been out of town since Thursday so this is what they looked like before I left. I can't wait to see what they look like now! I will have to post some video tommorrow of how everything is looking because I have been gone for 5 days! I can't wait.