Fall Corn for chicken feed

Picked fall corn this week. Filled up about half a potato sack. Have it drying in the shed.

Onions and Garlic Planted

Planted onions and Garlic this past Sunday

Time for mulch

Eggplant stir fry

2 eggplant
Garlic
Onion
2 jalapeño
Onion tops
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 pack terriaki beef chow noodles

Make noodles according to package and set aside.

Chop eggplant to bite size pieces and sauté over Medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Add chopped garlic and chopped bite size onions and diced jalapeños. Add sugar, soy and oyster sauce and simmer for another 3 or 4 minutes.

Add noodles and serve

Pepper Jelly

1 cup peppers, chopped
2 1/2 cups Apple Juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
5 1/2 cups sugar
1 pack sure jell
1/2 teaspoon butter

Add peppers, juice, vinegar, butter and sure jell. Bring to boil, then add sugar. Bring to a rapid boil and boil for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and pour into jars.

Duck food plot / chicken update

First seeds on millet

Fall garden update 9-8-11

Non of the earlier seeds sprouted from direct planting in garden. started seed pots a week ago in the house and all have sprouted except for cauliflower.

Tomato
Broccoli
Coliflour
Cabbage

Reseeded pond

Tropical storm dumping rain. Reseeded Milo and millet. Found some spots sprouting.

Stuffed jalapeño peppers

1 pack maple breakfast sausage
2 pack cream cheese
1 pack shredded mozzarella cheese
Onion
Garlic
Bell Pepper
Parmesan cheese

Brown meat, onion, garlic, bell pepper then let cool.
Add cream cheese and mozzarella.
Cut peppers in half and rub with olive oil.
Stuff peppers, sprinkle with Parmesan and bake on 350 for about 20 min

Fall garden started

Planted broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, coliflour and been seeds today. 95 degrees this week

Food plot update 8/5/11

Test seeds sprouted today and yesterday. Pictures of ones in water are below and ones on the ground were eaten by the chickens. Replanted ones on ground and started another test water bucket of about 3 inches of water with compost at the bottom.

Duck food plot 2011

Poisoned grass this past Saturday. Planted a test bed yesterday and today. One wet and one dry. Planted from left to right:
Jap millet
Corn
Sorghum (Milo)

Rabbit Fajitas

Rabbit Fajitas

3 male rabbits

let these guys out to stretch their legs. Only problem was, it was not their legs they were stretching....

Auto Draft

Auto Draft

Auto Draft

Chicks 3 week update

Chicks 3 weeks and in the tractor

Tanning Hide, Part 2: Fleshing

Before and after fleshing rabbit hide

Soaked for 48 hours in mixture of:

• Water


• Salt (n0n iodized)


• Alum

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Now the hide must soak again in another mixture of the same solution for 7 days before breaking the fibers.

2nd chicken tractor

Another chicken tractor

Lettuce shade

Used weed mat to make a lettuce shade

1st rabbit processed

Processed 1st rabbit this evening. About 1 hour from bullet to bone. Including deboning entire rabbit and washing pellet to tan.

6 lb 11 oz before
3 lb 11 oz after

Hide is being saved also to tan

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Tanning Hide, Step 1

Process rabbit, wash and put in a bucket of solution:

2 gallons water
1 cup non iodized salt
1 cup alum

Dead Rabbit

found a dead rabbit in the last pen today (White with brown buck). Rabbit was slow moving yesterday and Eva commented how calm it was. Found it dead stiff and bloated this afternoon, so must have died during the night. The other rabbit that was caged with it seems active and fine. No sign of fighting?

Garden Update 3/14/11

Garden Update:

Rabbit Hutch Update (1st hanging cage, and rabbit weights)

Added 1st hanging cage to rabbit hutch.

Gus:
6lb 3oz
4.3 months

Thumper:
6lb 11oz
11 months

Chicks, 2 week update 3/13/11

2 week update on new chicks, bantam cochin and cornish rocks

New Californian Buck

Picked up Californian buck today. Guy said he was just under a year, so I'll say he's 11 months today



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Moving Chicks to larger brooder

Moved the chicks to a larger brooder located in the shed.

Garden Update 3/8/2011

Spring garden update:

Chicken Processing 3/5/11

Processed the 10 month old Orpington the the Orpington cross. They were  both about the same weight just at 4.5 lbs. After processing they were both 3 lbs.

The butcher board I made the night before worked great:

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Transplanted more Veggies 3/5/11 garden update

I transplanted more veggies during the week and need to start more seeds. I transplanted the following:

• Tomatoes, 2 types - plants all together


• egg plant


• cucumber


• Blue Bush Beans

Chick Update 1 week. Cornish Rock chicks added!

Added 6 Cornish X Rock chicks to the 8 we had hatched a week ago. The new chicks appear to be about the same age judging by their feather development, so they will be ready to put out at the same time as our bantam cochins. Got them from the local Tractor Supply store.

Hutch Update

Update on the rabbit hutches. Added sides and 3rd cage to act as a butcher pin for now.

Picked up 2 roosters during the week that I plan to butcher tomorrow and also added another barrel.

Plan on adding a second row of cages under the top row and have metal on top of them set at an angle so the droppings from the top cages roll down and fall into the barrels underneath.

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Paper pot roller

Paper pot roller, maker

Februray Harvest Totals

Total for February: 15.3 lbs

New Chicks, 1 day old

Blue bantam cochin cross chicks. born yesterday, 2/26/2011. 8 out of 10 eggs hatched using the incubator we made out of an old ice chest.

This video shows the brooder we made out of a rubbermaid container and a dimmer switch.

Rabbits Free Ranging in Garden

Rabbits get to free range for a while.

Garden Update

Weather has been really warm last week. Today it is suppossed to be 79, but i think the wind will keep it a little cooler. Worked on trellis and raised beds a little. Will transplant peas, beans and a few others this afternoon if it does not rain.

Update:
ended up transplanting:

• cucumber


• pumpkin


• sugar baby watermelon


• cantaloupe


• peas


• string  beans


• jalapeno pepper


• sweet banana pepper

Picture shows Salad Bed with trellis

Rabbit hutch continued..

added sides and found container to store food

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Egg hatch

8 out of 10 eggs have hatched. 1 last night and the rest today. Chaz and I moved them to the brooder.

Rabbit Hutch work

More work on the rabbit hutch in the garden. Cages turned out taller than I expected. Will add sides tomorrow.

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Hatch update

Checked throughout the night and still only one chick had hatched, no movement from the other eggs but did see a little more pipping.

Came in at around 8:30 am for coffee refill and now there are 3 chicks.

Correction: 9:10 am, now there are 4!

1st chick

1st chick hatch

Started Rabbit Hutch

Started on rabbit hutches.

Incubator lockdown

Incubator lockdown for the 1st hatch out of our DIY ice chest incubator. We were working outside on the new rabbit hutch till about 6:30 pm and we had at least 5 eggs popped at that time. Our first chick officially hatch at 7:15 pm.

Rabbits

Bought rabbits from the East's in longville, they used to live in Hackberry.

New Zealand dad and mom is Checkered Giant. They were born on 11/22/2010 and are now 3 months old.

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2nd crop of seedlings

2nd crop of seeds, almost ready to go into garden

February harvest weights

Cabbage = 9.8 lbs
Lemons = 5.5 lbs

Built Brooder

Finished brooder. Chicks should start hatching next weekend.

Used a dimmer switch and with a 60 watt soft white bulb, I can turn the dimmer half way and reach 95 degrees.

Planted Corn

Planted corn

Lemons

Picked all the flowers I could find earlier this year so the ponderosa lemon tree could grow. A few flowers slipped by.

Planted herbs

Planted from left 2 right:

Dill, Oregano, Basil

Started Trellis

Started The trellis for the garden entrance this afternoon.

More Raised Garden Boxes

Added more raised beds to the garden

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Dried Parsley

Dehydrated parsley overnight. Turned out great.

Made hanging plant id's

using aluminum cans and pen and marker.

Potatoes Planted

Planted 2 types of potatoes, Irish new potatoes, and idaho baking potatoes.

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Candled Eggs

Candled eggs in the incubator for the first time and 8 out of the 10 are developing. The other 2 eggs are to dark to tell. One of the eggs that is developing is from the Polish Hen we lost today. It was the only egg she laid while she was here.

Stove in the Shed is working!

Finally got the right breaker for the stove in my shed, seems to be working fine. Plan to bake some "Flock Blocks" this weekend for the chickens.

Lost the Polish Hen today to a predator

Came home to a pile of feathers in the garden. Something had dug under a rusted spot in the fence and killed the polish hen. Rooster apparently went after the predator as there was a pile of his chest feathers a few feet over, but he seems fine.

Wild Kingdom!

Plants are getting pretty leggy, getting them used to being outside each evening and hoping to put them in a raised bed with a window top this weekend. They are about 4.5 weeks old.

Garden Window

Using the window from uncle Jimmy's remodel as a cold frame or green house. Weather will start warming this weekend, but still in the 20's next few nights. Getting seedling acclimated to the weather each afternoon and will try putting them in the window bed this weekend.

Garden Fence

Added some more fence this weekend

Flock block

Home made flock block

Started Incubating Eggs

Put 10 eggs in the incubator at 6 pm. Have been saving eggs for 6 days. All are from Cochins except for one from the Polish, her first egg with use.

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2 eggs today

2 eggs from the cochins, also saw noticed the rooster breed one of the white silkies, so that either means i have a silkie hen or a gay rooster. hahah

Ice cold

Bitter cold and ice storm. Freezing temp all day for past 2 days

DIY Egg Candler

Started collecting eggs yesterday to incubate in a few days and started thinking about a candler to check there progress. Got Chaz to help me make a quick and easy candler using a toilet paper roll tape and a small flashlight.

We cut the toilet paper roll in half and taped it back together the size of our bantam eggs

Also, got a nice surprise when I checked for eggs this evening. Our first egg from our Polish hen named B. A., a nice sized white egg

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Started Saving Eggs to Incubate

Started saving eggs to incubate. 1 from yesterday and 2 from today. If I incubate them on the 6th, they should hatch on the 27th.

1 egg

1 today

1 egg

Helper broke it on accident

Perfect Breakfast

Fresh eggs, deer and pork sausage and picked fresh spinach and parsley on the way in.

Busy Day

It is supposed to rain today so I tried to finish as much outside as I could today:

• Built raised beds along the east side of the garden and broke up the soil and pulled weeds


• cleaned the chicken coop and the brood box inside the shed


• pulled the old tires off the coop and put the ice chest tires back on and retrofitted longer shaft and pvc pipe


• painted roof of the coop


• added piece of wood that was missing to the coop, it had a few tricky angles but worked out ok


• added some corner pieces to act like little shelves in 2 corners of the garden


• turned the compost and added chicken waste


• used the new tires to move coop, worked pretty good. Need to all rope and pvc to make a handle so you don't have to bend down so far.


• ripped 2 pieces of the front doors on the coop so we can open them after it rains


• painted the insides of those 2 doors so they don't swell


• removed one of the dividers in the laying boxes and made the favorite one larger

2 eggs, wait your turn!

2 eggs today. I was working around the garden this morning and could here one of the cochin hens up in the coop laying an egg. All the other chickens were peking and scratching around the garden for bugs and weeds. After a few minutes I saw, what I thought was the laying hen coming down from the coop and out into the garden. I didn't think anything of it and continued working on what I was doing. After a few minutes i noticed there was still a hen at the top of the coop. A couple of minutes passed and here comes then 2nd hen again, into the chicken tractor and up the later into the coop, and then a minute later, down she comes again.

Then I realized what was going on. I had read how chickens will share nesting boxes and will sometimes line up to lay their eggs and that is exactly what was happening. The second hen was running up and down the ladder to check and see if the laying box was available..... lol After a 15 minutes of this, she finally got her turn.

1 egg

One today also

1 egg

Solar Heater, Part II

Built the box to put the cans in. Insulated it, vaults and painted. Need to find Plexiglas to put over front, but will try huts setting in window for now. Need to get fan working with solar cell.

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Began Solar Heater project

Plan to build a box to fit in the window in my shed an insulate inside box with thin aluminum foil like insulation. Build tubes from soda cans with holes drilled in bottom for air circulation . Use Hightower temp caulking to glue cans together. Place on window seal so window acts as a front barrier trapping the heat in. Small 12 v fan powered by solar cell to full hot air our

Drilled out 15 cans tonight, need high temp caulking and silver-insulation. Will pull fan from old PC

1 egg today

Still having to put 2 silkies and polish upstairs on the roost at night, but checked on them later and they were all roosted, 1st time. Think it's starting to sink in.

Silkie Pictures and hopefully sexes

Below are the new Silkies we got:
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Seeds 1 week started

Seeds after 1 week, really taking off.

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2 eggs

My ranch hand told me that we had 2 eggs today!

0 Eggs

No eggs today, may be all the commotion with adding the new hens? Also, rained non stopped today. Had to show silkies down the coop ladder to make sure they got food and water this evening when i got home. Went back later and the silkies and polish were huddled up at the bottom of the pin. Picked them up and set them on the roost inside the coop. they were so tired they were zonked out as soon as I set them down.

I also noticed one of the cochin hens is roosting each night and the other is just standing next to her on the floor.

8 eggs

8 eggs this week, just from 2 Cochins. Still waiting for Polish hen to start laying.