All Done!

These are pictures from a few weeks ago. I didn't take any this morning. I was on a tight schedule. I wanted to see how fast I could get 6 chickens butchered, cleaned and in the fridge. I started at 7:15 and was all done and cleaned up by 8:45. Then a little longer to get them all in the fridge and iced down. So around 2 hours from start to finish. Not too bad for one farm gal. And that grill really made all the difference. I got them all done without having to stop at all. And the coolest thing happened. Right when I was finished with the very last chicken, the fire in the grill went out. It ran out of propane right at the last minute! Now that is a God thing to me.

 That live chicken on the table telling her friends goodbye is one of the chickens in the fridge right now.

 This one was pretty big. About 5 pounds.

 This is my killing cone hanging from a cedar tree. The white bucket we used to do the turkeys.

And now there are no more of these running around the yard anymore. For a few weeks anyway. I'll order some Freedom Rangers in a few weeks for an early September butchering.

If you can see that one lone chicken in the background in the cage, that's the devil hen. She's a game hen that got out of the coop about a month ago and I could never catch her. Til about a week or so ago. My grands were here and they helped get her. You can just see a green thing on top of the cage. Well, that's the straw that broke my back. It's a green tomato. That's all she wrote for that chick. Put an ad on Craig's List and a few days later, she's outta here! There will not be another chicken getting my tomatoes again. Or they'll end up like the one in the 2nd picture.

D Day Thursday

I will be butchering my last 6 chickens first thing in the morning. I got them all tonight and they are in the cage. That's one of them in the picture. She will be in that killing cone soon. I will be using the grill this time to keep the water hot so I don't have to stop after every 2nd bird to take it back to the kitchen to heat up again. This way I can get them all done in about an hour!! 5 of them are sold and the 6th one is mine. Then I will be ordering 50 Freedom Rangers in a few weeks and do it all over again.

It's only going to be about 100 degrees tomorrow. And the next day and the next day. So I'll start early. Then on to watering the tomatoes, peppers and squash and zucchini. I don't look forward to this heat at all. And am a little worried about my sheep more than the goats. I have a kiddie pool out there for them full of cool water. And a fan. I would bring Lucinda inside if I could. I hope she'll be ok. It's hot all over right now I guess.

Chickens Are Just Mean

I don't know why I did it, but a few hours ago I let the new chickens out of the cage. Well, the 2 little Barred Rocks blended right in with the rest of them. I could not tell them from the rest. And so did the little Red Star, although she is a bit smaller. But the 2 Americana chicks, they were bullied and pecked and just plain terrorized the whole time they were out. The one bigger chick got out of the coop but the smaller one couldn't figure out how.  There were some others that were chasing her and she was running into one of the nest boxes trying to get away. I caught her and put her out in the yard. And they still chased her. So a little later those 2 and the Red Star were all in the corner of the coop. So I caught them all and put them back in the cage for a few more days. I'll let them out at night next time. Poor girls. But the BR are doing just fine so far. It's good to blend in.

One of the Americana's is darker than the other chickens. I told my friend last night why I didn't want to get the white Americana. I do believe they see colors and they can tell a chicken that is not like them. So there was no way I could get a white chicken. But I have some darker hens so didn't think this one would be much different. But it could also be because she's just a bit smaller too. So I'll wait to let them out for awhile. It's just going to be near 100 for the next several days here.

Does anyone else have this happen with new chickens? They can be such bullies. And there are so many.

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.