Chickens

The top picture is of the new girls. 2 Barred Rock, 2 Americana and 1 Red Star. I'll leave them in the cage a few days to get to know all the other chickens. They're about the same size as the newer BR chicks. 

The other 2 pics are of the shade cloth I just put up for them. There is no shade except for inside the coop and right outside the coop is a little bit during the day. Then in the back is a big maple tree. So this is already helping. Now maybe they won't all have to go inside the coop during the day to get out of the sun. 

Now I have 14 Barred Rock, 5 Americana, 6 game, 12 Buff, 4 Red Star,  and Mr. Andy Rooney. I have a little BR roo who will be going to his new home in a few days. So I think that's 41 hens. 19 of those are under 6 months old. So hopefully they will start laying soon.

I would love to hear about your chickens.

New Chickies

I just got home from picking blueberries (only got about a quart and ate half of those while picking) and getting 5 new chickens. It was night and there were a lot of them so I really don't know what I have for sure. I just put the cage in the coop and will see what I have in the morning. I think the man said they were about 5-6 months old. Only $6.00 a piece. My friend went with me and she got 15. In a really small cage. And we were at least 35 miles from home. I do know she got some really big pretty Barred Rocks and some big black ones with feathered feet. Really pretty chickens. I am going to take some pictures tomorrow. I need to take a head count of all my chickens. All the new ones are not laying yet. And I got 10 4 month old Barred Rocks about a month ago. Anyway, lots of birds out there now. I just hope I start getting lots of eggs soon!

Zinnias and Cosmos

These are my very favorite flowers. And some vases I have made. They are on my dining room table. They're so pretty. Just a little sunshine for you all to enjoy. The white round ones are onion tops. I thought they looked really nice in that tall vase.

I Think I Did It!

                                                                                       
                                                                                          I finally think I figured this picture loading thing out.I just kept on til I got them in here somehow. So anyway, here are a few more farmer's market pictures of my tables.
                                                                                       It's kind of funny when men and boys come to my table they think my soap is fudge. Almost every time. It does look like fudge and you could probably eat it, but it's soap. I have made some really smelly good soaps lately. Like lavender, peppermint, patchouli-orange, lemongrass, rose coconut and summer citrus. I have been using a peppermint bar and I love it. It's so refreshing to use that after a hot dirty sweaty day outside.

Sheep Problems

This is Lucinda. She had bottle jaw a few weeks ago. I got all the sheep wormed when I saw her.(This was before she was sheared back in March.) I had to make a catch pen and it took most of the day to get things ready just to give them worm meds. I did it though! All except for Adele, one of the ewe lambs.

This is Adele when she was younger. She looks nothing like this now. I suppose when she is sheared, she'll still have spots? We shall see. That's her momma, Leelah. She looks like a Viking now with her wool hanging off her back. I grab some when she walks by and pull it off. She's Dorper and Katahdin. They look horrible til their wool falls off.

Then this morning I noticed Adalaide had a big puffy place under her chin. So had to get the door on the stall fixed and get all their feed bowls in there and get a fence panel up and get all my worm supplies ready. Got the ram lambs moved out then got the ewes over there in the stall. It's a 10x10 stall with a door. I caught all 9 of those ewes and wormed them all! By myself!! I am so proud of me. And I am loving my shepherd's crook. That's about the handiest tool ever for sheep catching. Although I thought I was going to break poor Adele's neck.

I love this picture. They are so cute. I love fluffy butts. I don't have a picture of the 2 newest ewe lambs, Adalaide and Amarillo. I'll have to take some of them. They are still a little unsure about me. But if Lucinda can like me after all this, they will too some day.

But all this worm mess is a little disheartening. I wish I had fence to be able to rotate them. That's why I don't want too many sheep. This happened a few years back when I had too many goats.  Anyway, I hope this works and they will be ok. I don't want to lose any of them.

Farmer's Market

Today was the farmer's market in Rock Spring. I started getting ready yesterday. Picking and cutting and pulling all kinds of veggies and fruits and flowers. I had apples, beets, cabbage, carrots, hot and sweet and bell peppers, Blue Lake beans and purple beans, red and Yukon Gold and Adirondack blue potatoes, lettuce, and zucchini bread, regular and chocolate.  Plus my soaps over to the left. And my pretty flower vases full of zinnias and cosmos. I did really good today. It was SO hot but we had a nice breeze that blew my signs over. Several little girls kept coming to my table to look around. One girl said she loved my tables because they are so colorful and pretty. She is a soap customer, about 12 years old. Another young girl who is a granddaughter of one of the other vendors, came over and bought some blue and yellow potatoes. So today was actually one of my best days so far. I might have to go back Sat.

I do hope that there are some good farmer's markets where you all live and that you go support your local farmers. This is really hard work. (I am not complaining. I really love doing this. But it is discouraging sometimes.) People don't realize how much work goes in to just getting ready for market days. And so many do this alone or with just another person. All this took  a day to get together and loaded up. So please go out and buy from some roadside stand or market. You will really be helping so many people by doing this one little thing. And you get to know some great people too.

(I had a lot more pictures but somehow lost them while loading in the computer. They are still in here somewhere I hope.)

Well, that was scary, green eggs, meat birds and hay

Just went out to gather eggs. There is that same broody hen, sitting on an empty nest this time. So in the "timeout" cage she goes. I think she's been in several times so far. I might end up having to dunk her rear end in a bucket of ice water before it's over. So I got 11 eggs today!!!! And the prettiest green egg I have ever seen. I mean, this egg is green. Like the green Folgers coffee container green. I might have to keep this egg.

So I saw one of the water bowls upside down, kicked it over and about had a heart attack. I screamed loud enough for the neighbors to hear. There was one of the little Barred Rock chicks underneath the bowl. Scared me to death! I sure didn't expect that. She seems fine. She wasn't there this morning so must have just happened. She got up and went to eating. Silly bird.

But I got 11 eggs today! I have been getting between 7-9 eggs lately. Not enough for all my egg customers.

Also butchered 5 more meat chickens. They weren't as big as the 6 I did a few weeks ago. These were around 4 pounds. So I'll wait a few more weeks to do the other 5. Then I'll be done till I order more.

I have a truckload of hay outside waiting to be unloaded. This is the first time ever that I got a truckload of hay and I never touched it. My friend had some guys loading hay today and I got them to do it for me. Of course I have to pay them. Not too much. And darn well worth it. I just drove the truck. Which, actually is hard work, believe it or not. I have to listen to the guy in the truck bed and go slow and steady. Really hard for me to do. I heard him hit the roof a few times! I drive fast. So it was hard. I think I'd rather be throwing hay into the truck than driving. But it was HOT. So now I wish the guys could've come home with me to unload all this hay. It's 7:15 and seems like noon out there. 50 bales of hay. Gotta go do it soon. That makes me having 86 bales so far. Need about 70 for the winter.

And what is with people who get so close to the rear of my truckload of hay that if a bale were to fall off, it would go through their windshield? And with plenty of opportunities to pass me. They still stay right behind me. I am going like 35 all the way home, about 20 miles on 2 lane roads. People are stupid like that. I even slow down and get over so far without actually going OFF the road for them to pass and they act like they don't know what's going on. Ugh! People! I would have passed me several times and on a double yellow line in a curve. I just don't know.