chickens

January 7, 2022

Outside for the Christmas Tree

Once we had taken all the decorations off of the Christmas tree, we decided to give it a little more life and put it outside in the backyard. We made garlands out of popcorn, fresh cranberries and dried oranges (I dried them in the dehydrator). We also made little “cupcakes” out of bird seed and other ingredients. You can find the directions from Garden Answer

We made these for the birds, but so far the only critters accessing the food on this tree are the squirrels! Oh, well, they are cute too.

I had a couple of helpers!
We put a garland and a few of the birdseed cupcakes in with the chickens – they LOVED them!
Chickens devouring a birdseed cupcake.

This was such a fun activity that I think we will do it every year! The chickens love those cupcakes so much, I think I’ll make them once in awhile as a treat.

March 12, 2021

Chickens

I haven’t written about our chickens lately. They bring me so much joy! I love the sounds they make, I love the way they follow me around and I love they way they look!!

5 of our 7 chickens.

Right now, we are enjoying cantaloup, honeydew and watermelon that we can get at Costco pretty inexpensively. The chickens love to eat the little bit that gets left on the rind.

Fairy egg!!

We also enjoy the eggs. They really do taste much better than store bought. Take a look at that cute little “fairy” egg!! These usually don’t have a yolk in them.

February 9, 2019

Mash

Whenever it gets cold outside, I make a mash for my chickens.

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Chicken Mash

It’s made with oatmeal, dried cranberries, garlic powder and flax seed.  I serve it to them warm and they really enjoy it.  It’s nice to do something for them.

November 8, 2017

A little bit of sunshine

We brought our chickens home almost 4 years ago.  I love going out each morning to check on them and take care of them.  They are only laying periodically now, but they come when called and make the best “cooing” noises while waiting for me to feed them their morning treats.

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These ladies bring me so much happiness.

Today (and yesterday) they got corn on the cob that was a little past it’s prime.  It wound up stuck in the back of the fridge and I forgot about it – oh, well, our waste is their prize.  The ladies love corn like this!

April 23, 2017

Chickens and Mash

I was reading up a little on chickens and saw something about making a mash for your chickens.  I decided to give it a try.

Oatmeal, dried cranberries, and garlic mixed with warm water.

I made this about two weeks ago and brought it out.

Shortwing, Bonecrusher, and Diva enjoying their mash.

They LOVE it!!! So I whip up a batch every morning and they meet me at the door with their cute little “coos”.

April 4, 2017

Coop Excitement!

My husband finished the new chicken coop and run!!!

The new run attached to the new coop.

They are ready for their morning treats!

Entrance to the new coop.

Diva, Shortwing and Bone Crusher enjoying their new digs!

March 28, 2015

Chickens!

Our chickens are doing so well!  The have grown by leaps and bounds since last June when we brought them home as teeny tiny little chicks.

Short Wing.

Short Wing.

I know I’m not supposed to have favorites, but this one, Short Wing, is my favorite.  She’s really smart – she can get out of any enclosure and figured out how to follow the cat into the house through the cat door.  Imagine our surprise when we heard a fuss in the living room and there was our chicken chasing our cat around the room!!

Diva

Diva

This hen lays the biggest eggs with the brightest colored egg yolks.

Bonecrusher is the spotted one.

Bonecrusher is the spotted one.

The spotted one lays the brown eggs – and she is the biggest hen.

Whew! Look at all these eggs!

Whew! Look at all these eggs!

We get three eggs a day and sometimes we don’t eat them quick enough.  Looks like it’s time for some baking!

March 4, 2015

Normal Breakfast

We brought chickens home in June 2014.  They started laying eggs a couple of months ago and the kids love to collect the eggs.  We usually get one to two everyday.  I think one of our chickens is not laying eggs yet.

Scrambled eggs.

Scrambled eggs.

Every morning after they collect eggs, I cook them up.  The kids love scrambled eggs.  I do have to add store bought eggs because with 5 kids eating scrambled eggs we use 6-8 eggs each morning.  I am required to cook them separately – our eggs must be kept separate from the store eggs because they taste different.  The child that collects the eggs, get to eat them that day.  As you can imagine, the egg collecting chore is high on the list of chores to do!