Archive for the ‘chickens’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Of Dogs and Chickens

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

I had planned to take the pups out to romp in the woods this afternoon and take a few pictures of them. But it’s snowing and cold right now, so I settled for snapping a few shots of them in the house. I have to tell you, that was not easy. Getting on the floor around here results in being bombarded in puppies. I did manage to get a few shots of them when they didn’t have their faces right in the camera.

Photobucket

Everything is a chew toy to them – especially to Dolly.

Photobucket

Diesel likes to chew on Dolly best of all.

Photobucket

And I included this last picture so you can see Diesel’s eyes – they are really pretty, and depending on the lighting they can be blue, green, or hazel. Mostly their just adorable though and this picture doesn’t do them justice.

Photobucket

Last night the pups slept all night long. Unfortunately, we didn’t sleep much at all because we woke up every hour on the hour thinking “They’re going to want to go out any moment now.” When we got up at 5:30AM we had to wake them up to go outside and potty. They are really doing great with the potty training. And I’m keeping my fingers crossed that sleeping through the night wasn’t just a fluke.

Just a quick update on Duke’s frostbitten comb – the smaller back points have fallen off and that portion looks extremely healthy right now. He still has three larger points that are black, and they look to me as if they will fall off very shortly. But don’t feel bad for Duke. He has a heaping pile of self confidence and isn’t even slightly fazed that his comb is messed up, or that he has black backhoe grease all down his neck, or that his tail feathers look funky. Duke is nothing, if not self confident.

You may remember that I’ve mentioned I thought six of my hens were in molt. Well, I talked to my cousin Julie (who has had chickens forever) and then emailed her some pictures of them, and she informed me that my hens are not molting. They have “rooster tracks”. In other words, my roosters are pulling/ripping their feathers out during mating. It really breaks my heart. My little Phoenix hens are bald as apples right now. They all look just awful. After talking with Julie and reading her email, it doesn’t sound like there’s much I can do about. I can trim the roosters’ spurs so they are not so rough on the girls’ backs, and I probably will, but it won’t help with the bald heads. If chickens are in your future and you plan to get roosters, you may be interested in learning with me. I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

It’s snowing like crazy right now. The chickens are in their coop, the puppies are sleeping like babies, the cats are still pouting, the woodstove is pumping out heat like crazy, and Bernie and I are happy to be living here on our homestead.

Bee Free,
Penny

Tags: ,
Posted in basic living, chickens, puppies, rooster | 7 Comments »

I Could Learn to Like Snow With These Puppies

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

Diesel and Dolly haven’t been allowed outside without being on a leash until today. Today was a big day for them. They have finally learned to come back to us when we call them, so they were finally allowed to run around without being on a leash. And it was the perfect day for it. It snowed! And Diesel and Dolly LOVE snow. But before they were allowed to take off on their own, Bernie had a little chat with them and they promised to mind us. Diesel shook on it.

Photobucket

Diesel is so tiny, he has a hard time keeping up with Dolly. At first, she spent time with him and kept him close by.

Photobucket

He followed her around for a while, but kept looking over his shoulder to make sure we were following.

Photobucket

Before too long Dolly ran off without Diesel.

Photobucket

I don’t think I have one picture of Dolly without snow on her nose.

Photobucket

They played for quite a while, but it was quite evident when they got cold and decided it was time to go inside. Diesel sat in the snow, shivering, and looking up at us. Bernie had to pick him up and cuddle him to make sure he got warm.

Photobucket

And when Dolly had enough she simply hauled tail straight to the house. She even climbed the stairs for the first time ever!

Photobucket

Diesel and Dolly really love the snow, but I’m not sure they’ll care for the ice we’re supposed to get tonight. I am absolutely positive that Bernie and I won’t care for it – especially at midnight when we do the puppy poop run with them. And the poor chickens don’t care for any of this weather. They haven’t left the coop all day. I took them a few special treats during the day, but even that didn’t seem to help their mood. Puppies aren’t as moody about the weather as chickens.

Diesel and Dolly ended up getting sick over the weekend. By Sunday night they had pretty bad diarreha and we were a little worried about them. We took them to the vet Monday morning and learned they have a bacterial infection in their intestines. The good news is, the antibiotics the vet gave us for them started working right away. They slept so well last night that we actually had to wake them up to go potty at midnight and again when we got up at 5AM.

These little pups are doing great. I’m sure everyone thinks they have the smartest, sweetest, cutest pups in the world, but we really do. Seriously. You’d think so too, if you met them. They wouldn’t let you leave until you agreed. Diesel and Dolly are like that.

Bee Free,
Penny

Posted in basic living, chickens, homestead, homesteading, puppies, snow | 7 Comments »

Frugalness, Puppies, and Frost Bite

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

My sister and I have always been close and while we have a great deal in common, we differ greatly in others. Take organization, pack-rattiness (I may have made that word up), and clutter management for example. My sister’s home is very organized and clear of clutter. She doesn’t have a pack rat gene in her body. If she hasn’t used it, worn it, or eaten it recently, it gets thrown out. She has begged – and I seriously mean BEGGED – to come into our home to organize and de-clutter it. It just slays her that we will not permit it. Her eye begins twitching when she visits us and gazes upon the mass of clutter in our home. We are very attached to our clutter and we’ve accumulated boxes and boxes of it that we store in every nook and cranny of our home. You just never know when you’ll need that t-shirt from high school or when that broken toaster will come in handy.

I tell you the above to explain how very happy I was to find a box full of dog food bowls, waterers, leashes and collars. When the last of our dogs passed away a few years ago we didn’t plan to get puppies anytime soon, but we knew we eventually would, so I packed everything dog related into a box and stored it. Finding the box was a-whole-nother story, but find it I did! And after washing it all up, setting up the feeding area, and strategically placing the waterer, I believe we are prepared. The only thing missing is the puppies. And tomorrow that will be remedied. Yay!

So, in a nutshell, the clutter of that box of dog items and the pack-rattiness of saving it all these years actually aided in the organization we accomplished in setting up for the arrival of the puppies. So take that, sistah! Besides, it’s called “frugal”. We are just very frugal people around here.

With all the below freezing weather we’ve encountered this year, Duke’s comb has suffered significantly from frost bite. I’ve mentioned this before, but thought I would post a picture for those of you who may have never seen frost bite on a chicken’s comb.

The front of his comb is unaffected. He’s still a good looking boy, don’t you think?

Photobucket

The rear of his comb has the frost bite. It’s mostly on the tips of his comb.

Photobucket

The dark stuff on his feathers is grease from the back hoe. When it rains, snows, sleets, etc. he prefers to go under the back hoe for shelter, rather than in his coop. I’ve tried explaining how the coop would be better, but he doesn’t listen. Boys will be boys.

I’ve been slathering a triple-antibiotic cream on his comb each evening and it was starting to look much better – but then we had another Arctic blast and the high temperatures didn’t get out of the 20′s for a while. His comb is looking rather bad again. I hate to think of it, but I may end up having to dub it.

Chickens with large combs and wattles are more susceptible to frost bite. Some people believe that applying Vaseline to the combs and wattles will prevent frost bite. I’m certain it won’t hurt, but I question it’s effectiveness. Believe it or not, this is actually a very controversial subject among many chicken owners. All I know is that the antibiotic cream I am using is petroleum based, and it did not prevent him from further frost bite. None the less, frost bite can be a very serious issue. The necrotic tissue can cause an infection, making the chicken very ill, and possibly even resulting in death. Dubbing is sometimes the only alternative. It involves cutting off the comb and/or wattle. Some people routinely dub their chickens as a preventative measure, and some with Show Chickens are required to dub them.

Personally, Duke and I are both very fond of his comb and wattle, so we are both hoping that dubbing is something neither of us has to experience. His wattles are fine, so that won’t be an issue. I’m keeping a very close eye on his comb for any sign of infection. At the most, I am hoping I only need to remove the affected portion, which is close to the back of his comb. I guess we’ll cross that bridge if we get to it. If the frost bite doesn’t get too severe and there is no infection, he will likely lose the black tips. They will just fall off when completely dead. That is what Duke and I are hoping happens.

Tomorrow is the big day! We will leave early in the morning to pick up the puppies. I’ve tried my best to prepare Elvis and Priscilla, but they are in a state of complete denial. They refuse to even discuss it. But they are fairly adaptive cats, so I guess they’ll learn to deal with it when the puppies finally get here.

And if you thought I bored you with peep pictures when we got the chickens, well……..

Bee Free,
Penny

Tags: ,
Posted in basic living, chickens, homestead, homesteading, puppies, rooster | 7 Comments »

Cold, Chickens, Puppies, and Cats

Friday, January 16th, 2009

We awoke this morning to a thermometer that pegged out at a whopping 2 degrees. I know that many of you are suffering far colder temperatures than that (I read it was -40 somewhere in Minnesota yesterday!), but I have to believe that 2 degrees is cold by most standards. At 10:30AM, it was 9 degrees. The chickens have two outside waterers, and I’ve been rotating them every hour or so to make sure they have some water to drink today, should they venture out.

Yesterday our chickens awoke to the first significant amount of snow they have ever seen. It was really only a dusting. But they were not impressed. While they have seen snow before, they had never experienced ground completely covered by it. Normally when I open their chicken door, they come barreling down their chicken plank at full speed, running in all directions. When I opened their chicken door yesterday, however, not one of them came out. I peeked inside and found an opening covered in chicken faces with eyes as big as saucer. After two minutes or so, a brave Phoenix started down the plank, but she high tailed it back inside before reaching the ground. It took a while, but a handful eventually made it out into the yard. Around 9AM I noticed six chickens in the yard, and all the others stayed in the coop. Even though it never got above freezing yesterday, the sun eventually melted off the snow in their run. But the chickens remained in a fowl mood (pardon the pun) for the entire day.

We have no snow today, but the majority of the chickens are staying in the coop. It’s just too darn cold out there. Chickens may not be the sharpest knives in the drawer, but they are smarter than most people give them credit for!

Last night I was attempting to squeeze some hair ball medicine out of a tube to give to Priscilla when, quite suddenly, the tube bottom sprung a leak and squirted a 5 inch long blob of sticky, nasty hair ball medicine on the top of Priscilla’s head, over her ear, and down her neck. I would say she was unhappy, but the truth is she was furious. Priscilla does not like anything to drip, plop, or ooze on her. I learned that when she was sitting on my lap one morning while I was eating breakfast and a minuscule drop of egg yolk landed on her head. From her reaction you would have thought it was acid. And she wouldn’t even look at me for the remainder of the day. That cat can carry a grudge like you would not believe.

At any rate, I immediately grabbed Priscilla and wiped off as much hair ball medicine as I could. Then I wet a paper towel and tried to wash it as well as I could. You can not imagine how incredibly angry she was with me. I could barely get her to look at me the rest of the night, and when she did, she would give me the stink eye. Elvis got tired of her complaining about it and eventually decided to try and help out:

Photobucket

“Oh, wait a minute. I missed a spot.”

Photobucket

Ignore the cold weather gear draped over the dining room chairs. They are “on ready” for any ventures outside. Oh, and also ignore the fact that there are cats on the dining room table. If it makes you feel any better, they also get on the counters, beds, cabinets, and all furniture and they open cabinet doors and crawl inside if they are in the mood.

Oh, and wonderful news! My parents adopted a rescue puppy they found on Pet Finder! They are so excited, and I’m really happy for them. It’s a little Dapple Dachshund and it sounds like quite a character. They named him Oliver. I tried to find his picture on the website, but couldn’t. I hope they figure out how to email one to me. I just can’t wait to see this little guy.

And speaking of puppies, you may have noticed that I put a puppy count down on the right side of the blog. Frugalmom suggested it and I love it! Only seven more days until we pick them up! Yay! I’m taking a vacation day next Friday and we’re heading down bright and early to get them. Yay again! They are currently about 235 miles from us, so it will be a long trip for those little babies. We plan to make several stops during the trip so they can get out and potty and stretch their little puppy legs. I’ll be sure to post lots of pictures when they get here.

It has been many years since we had a puppy, let alone two at the same time, in this house. In fact, other than the peeps, it’s been a great long while since there was any baby in this house. It will be an adjustment, no doubt. We’re looking forward to it though. I can not say the same for Elvis and Priscilla.

I just realized this entire post is about nothing but animals. I wish I had some news about the homestead, but the truth is that it’s been so darn cold, we haven’t done much recently. Bernie stays on top of the firewood supply and I stay on top of taking care of the chickens. Other than that, we rarely wander outside during this frigid weather.

We’re gearing up for the Virginia Legislative session and keeping track of the unbelievable amount  of bills that are dropping daily. As they say, our rights are only safe when the legislature is not is session. We’ll be headed to Richmond on Lobby Day next Monday. Lobby Day is a great day to meet up with your representatives and let them know what matters to you. That’s something Bernie and I try to do year round, but it’s nice to show up in Richmond as the session starts and let them know we’re still around. If you plan to be there, look us up!

Bee Free,

Penny

Posted in basic living, chickens, homestead, homesteading, puppies, Virginia | 4 Comments »

We’re Expecting!

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

Bernie and I are adopting siblings – a little boy and a little girl. They are seven weeks old. In two weeks, we will pick them up. It’s a big step, but one we feel we are ready for.

Introducing, our little bundles of joy:

Photobucket

Photobucket

Are they not just hopelessly adorable? The white one is the male and the brown one is the female. They are German Shepherd/Alaskan Malamute mix. We’ve been searching for the perfect dogs for our situation, and I know we have found them. We found them using Pet Finder. If you are looking for the perfect pet, check them out! Betty Sue from Our Critters in Ararat, Virginia is caring for these babies right now, and that’s from whom we are adopting them. Yay Betty Sue! What a great service.

The babies won’t be eight weeks old and ready to leave mama until next weekend. Unfortunately, we are out of town next weekend. Betty Sue has agreed to hold them for us until the following weekend – January 24. I just hope I can sleep between now and then. I simply can not wait! Bernie’s pretty darn excited, too. In fact, it was Bernie that looked at their pictures and immediately said I should check to see if they are still available. He’s such a sucker for a pretty face.

We’re going to start working with the puppies right away to make sure they get along with Elvis, Priscilla, and the chickens. I imagine Bernie will keep these puppies at his side most of the day as he works around the property. I’m OK with that, but I can’t help but hope that maybe, just maybe, one will be a mama’s girl and want to hang out inside with me in my office while I’m working during the week. Elvis and Priscilla may have different thoughts on that, though. Especially Elvis. He “goes to work” with me each morning and situates himself right next to my keyboard as I log in for the day.

OK. OK. Enough baby talk. I just thought you’d like to hear me talk about something other than turning ffff, ffff, ffff, um, another year older. Hey – maybe turning half a century isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

Bee Free,
Penny

Tags:
Posted in basic living, cats, chickens, homestead, homesteading | 6 Comments »

Something Else to Do With All Those Eggs

Monday, January 5th, 2009

The company I work for gave us a holiday on Thursday, January the 1st. I decided to make it a long weekend and took vacation on Friday, the 2nd. That gave me four full days off work. And I made the best of them.

 

I’ve already told you I finished up Bernie’s quilt, thereby knocking out one of my New Year Resolutions. Well, I also decided to start making some polymer clay eggs.

 

Little Chicken Racing Team posted a nice tutorial about it making polymer clay eggs on the BackYardChickens website. I’ve been wanting to do something special with blown out eggs, but I have very little talent or creativity. When I read about polymer clay eggs I thought “Well, this looks like something even I can do.” Bernie and I each eat an egg for breakfast every morning, so I blew them out and kept the shells to work with.

 

The really cool thing about polymer eggs is that you can work with the clay and come up with all sorts of designs – and it’s really hard to mess it up! The first one I made was yellow and purple. Then Bernie asked for a black and orange egg. He’s a Harley guy – what can I say? When I finished with Bernie’s egg, I had some of the clay cane left over, so I made another out of it, and substituted just plain orange on the bottom when I ran out. Here’s a picture:

 

Photobucket

 

How cool are those? I left the hole in the top of them so I can make ornaments out of them.

 

The most difficult part of the whole process is blowing out the eggs – and that really is not all that difficult. Just use a darning needle and poke out holes in the top and the bottom of the egg. You want the holes to be bigger than the needle, but not much bigger. Be sure to use the needle to break up the yolk inside of the shell – you’ll thank me for that tip when you get to the next step. Put your lips around one of the holes and blow the egg out of the other. It may take a little bit of work and a lot of air, but you will soon have an empty egg shell! Now be sure to eat that egg – or feed it back to your chickens. They’ll thank you for it.

 

Once the shell is empty, I use a syringe to squirt some oxine and water into the shell and rinse it out well. You can use a little bleach with water if you don’t have oxine. If you have a syringe with the needle, I have read that some people use this to remove the egg from the shell. I don’t have a needle, so I blow it out the old fashioned way.

 

Let the egg dry out for a day or two, and then you are ready to begin applying your clay. Little Chicken Racing Team (LCRT) gives a great tutorial, so I won’t repeat it here. After you’ve finished applying your clay bake the egg(s), sand and polish as LRCT describes. And voila! You’ve got some really pretty polymer clay eggs!

 

I plan to make several of these for my Christmas Victims next year. It’s a fair amount of work, but my Christmas Victims are worth it. And they know what happens if they complain…..

 

Bee Free,
Penny

Tags: ,
Posted in basic living, chickens, fresh eggs, homestead, homesteading | 2 Comments »

I am the Queen of Keeping New Year Resolutions

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

I am totally on top of my New Year Resolutions. And I mean totally. Look what I finished today:

Photobucket

Those are Bernie’s hands and feet poking out. He’s a little camera shy today. I meant to take a picture of the back of the quilt, but by the time I remembered Bernie was wrapped in it and had Priscilla on his lap. I mentioned it, but he said “Too late. Silly is sleeping now.” We call Priscilla “Silly”. If you knew her, that would make a lot more sense.

 

I tend to be a little obsessive-compulsive. Once I set my mind to something, it completely consumes me. I worked all day yesterday and all day today on that quilt, and finished it this afternoon. Bernie is thrilled. I’m not sure if that’s because he’s happy to have the quilt, or happy to have his wife back. He really doesn’t like when I get obsessed with something. I used to read two books a week. And when I read a book, I would become completely engrossed in it and do nothing else. Bernie finally told me it was him or the books. A man can only take so much. Then I took to raising chickens. I really hope he doesn’t give me an ultimatum on that one……

 

And in keeping with my New Year Resolutions, I had a nice glass of wine and two hard boiled eggs.

 

I am so totally on top of my New Year Resolutions. So are my hens. They layed me 14 eggs today. Now if only Bernie will keep me supplied with wine…

 

Bee Free,

Penny

Tags:
Posted in basic living, chickens, fresh eggs, homestead, homesteading | 4 Comments »

Farewell to 2008

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

As 2008 draws to an end, I look around here and am quite pleased with what Bernie and I have accomplished on the Homestead this year. The list of things to do is never ending, and I would say it’s gotten shorter but with each task we mark off of it, it seems we add two more. That’s OK. What would I have to blog about if we didn’t have things to do?

 

I trust each of you had a happy holiday season. I enjoyed spending time with my family over Christmas. It was warm down south, but very cold here on the homestead while I was gone. After a couple of nights of 11 degree weather with the daytime temperatures in the low 20s with raging wind, poor Duke got a little frostbite on his comb. I’ve been smearing antibiotic cream on his comb each night and, so far, it doesn’t look as though he will suffer with an infection. Time will tell how much of his comb he ends up losing. I am hoping it is only a couple of tips, but the back section may need to be removed.

 

Our little soft shell layer has begun laying completely shell-less eggs. She’s only laying every four or five days now and the last three have had no shell at all. It makes quite a mess in the nest boxes, but there really is nothing she or I can do about it. I suspect she has some internal issues, and as long as she doesn’t suffer with it, she’ll just be a pet that I occassionally have to clean up after.

 

I started a T-Shirt quilt for Bernie over a year ago. I’m making it from Harley T-Shirts he’s collected over the years. It was supposed to be his Christmas gift in 2007, but that didn’t happen. Then it was supposed to be his Christmas gift for 2008, but that didn’t happen either. I’m hoping to finish it up this weekend and give it to him. I’ve applied the fusible interfacing and cut out the designs for the blocks – and that’s as far as I’ve gotten. Here’s a picture of the blocks:

 

Photobucket

 

I plan to put a 1 inch border between each one, and then frame the whole thing with another 1 inch border. I’ll snap some pictures as I go and share them. Maybe that will motivate me to finish up this thing. I’m sure Bernie hopes so.

 

I believe it’s very important to set achievable goals as New Year’s resolutions. Last year my only New Year’s resolution was to eat more ice cream and it was probably the first New Year’s resolution I’ve ever kept. This year my New Year’s resolution is to finish Bernie’s quilt, eat more eggs, and drink more wine. In fact, I will reward myself with two pickled eggs and a glass of wine when I finish Bernie’s quilt this weekend.

 

I hope the hens’ New Year’s resolution is to lay me more eggs, and that Bernie’s is to buy me more wine. And I hope that YOUR New Year’s resolution is to keep reading my blogs and putting up with me.

 

I wish each and every one of you the very best for 2009.

 

Bee Free,

Penny

Tags:
Posted in basic living, chickens, fresh eggs, homestead, homesteading, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Pictures of Happiness

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Today, this is what makes Bernie happy:

Photobucket

He and Tex fabricated the mounting on the Trail Wagon for the ATV snow plow Bernie had.

Photobucket

Just look at that wench

Photobucket

Let’s just hope we don’t have to use it anytime soon.

And here’s something that makes me happy:

Photobucket

Just look at that handsome boy.

And how about this cutie? She just melts my heart.

Photobucket

And do they come any better looking than that wirey, little Bobby Lee? Does he not make you want to kiss his feathers right off of him?

Photobucket

Bobby Lee doesn’t get too far from his Black Spanish hens. He’s got it pretty bad for those girls.

Photobucket

It doesn’t take much to make us happy. Good friends, cute chickens, a nice little snow plow…… and maybe a week of weather in the 70s. But I’m not complaining…… this week.

Bee Free,
Penny

Tags: ,
Posted in basic living, chickens, homestead, homesteading | 8 Comments »

Soft Shells, Sleepy Worms, and I’m Not Complaining

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

After hearing about the horrible ice storms north of us that have caused so much damage and left so many without electricity, I am not going to complain about our cold weather on the homestead this week. Many homesteaders I have met through internet forums and email have really suffered from all this nasty weather – some have lost chickens due to the extreme cold, and a few have had signigicant damage to their homesteads. And all of them are in my thoughts and prayers. I’ll start complaining again next week.

I’ve been busy packaging and mailing out soap orders – a big thank you to all who have ordered from my shop! I still have a limited amount of soap, lotion, and other items. I’m heading down south to visit with my family for Christmas, so this week will be the last week I will be able to ship orders in time to arrive for Christmas.

A few weeks ago, we began finding a soft shelled egg in the coop every other day or so. I wasn’t too terribly concerned as it is not all that unusual that a new layer will lay a few soft shelled eggs before her body figures it all out and begins making harder shells. I’ll spare you all the gory details, but one morning I found a Golden Pencilled Hamburg looking very puny. I picked her up and discovered she had a soft shelled egg protruding from her vent. It had burst, and the egg white had hardened – effectively gluing the soft shell in place, and blocking her vent completely. I brought her in the house and soaked her bottom in warm water while I gently worked on tugging the shell out – only to find there was yet another soft shelled egg right behind it. It too, had burst. I was able to pull that out as well.

I kept the little Hamburg in a dog cage for 24 hours, and she perked up. I had planned to keep her inside for a few days and feed her extra calcium until she layed a hard shelled egg, but she had different plans. She would not eat a bite while inside. The minute I put her out with the others, she immediately began gobbling up any food in sight. *Sigh*. I’ve been watching her carefully, and though she continues to lay soft shells, she is actually laying them and none have gotten “stuck” again.

This Hamburg is one of the lowest on the chicken totem pole, and often does not get at food until everyone else is finished. I leave oyster shell out for the hens 24 X 7, but she doesn’t seem interested in it. I feed back all of the egg shells from the eggs we use, but she doesn’t get at them until everyone is finished, and then there is usually not much, if anything, left. I’ve given them cheese and other calcium rich snacks, but again, she doesn’t get much of them. She won’t eat when she is separated, and doesn’t get much to eat when I put food out for everyone. She does appear to be a fairly good forager, but that apparently does not provide the calcium she needs to lay harder egg shells.

What’s a Chicken Mom to do? I suppose that as long as she continues to lay soft shelled eggs without a lot of ill effects, I will just continue to watch her and hope things kick in and her body gets the whole-egg-making-thing squared away. I know many of you would tell me that I should cull her. I’m not going to argue. You are probably correct. I just can’t. Not yet. We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks.

Bernie and Tex completed the fabrication neccessary to mount the snow blade to the Trail Blazer. I am quite impressed with it.  To be frank, I envisioned it would be a Mad Maxx looking machine when they completed it, but I was wrong. It looks pretty darn good! And the snow blade can be removed, returning the Trail Blazer to it’s original, cute, dirty self. As impressed as I am with it, I really hope we don’t need to use it! But that opens up the conversation for me to complain about winter, and I’ve promised not to do that…… this week. I had hoped to post a picture of it today, but it has been raining/drizzling/icing all day and as you may know, I’m not all about going out in that kind of weather. Other than the egg checks and throwing out some chicken snacks here and there, I haven’t ventured outside much at all today. But, I’m not complaining about the weather this week……

Although I am not going to complain about the cold weather, my meal worms made no such promise, and they are indeed complaining.  Well, “complaining” may be a rather strong word. They are, in fact, being rather silent. For those of you that only recently began raising meal worms, don’t be alarmed if you are not seeing any of them right now. They actually hibernate during cooler temperatures.  You may see the beetles, but you will likely not see any meal worms if their environment has dipped below 75 degrees or so. Not to worry. As soon as it warms up to a consistently toasty 75 – 80 degrees, they should become quite spunky and  visible. That is most probably a few months away though, so don’t forget to warm them up every few weeks so they will wake up, eat, and not starve on you during the winter. Also remember to check the water source (raw, halved potatoes work great) and insure it hasn’t dried out. I keep my meal worms in a large, plastic container. I bring the container out and leave it in the room with our wood burning stove for a few days each month. I hope they appreciate the gentle, loving care I am providing them and that they will grow into plump, happy meal worms. Because my chickens want to eat them ;-)

I am sending my best wishes to each of you. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, stress-free, filled with cheer, and surrounded with people you love. Be safe. Stay warm. Hug a meal worm. Kiss a chicken.

Bee Free,

Penny

Tags:
Posted in basic living, bath products, chickens, homestead, homesteading, mealy worms, raising meal worms | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »