Getting Ready

Short post here to let you know I will be on hiatus from the homestead for a few weeks as I travel to visit with 2 of my daughters and families in the south. Hens are temporarily housed at a "foster home" until I get back. (And just to let you know, all the baby chicks of Aunt Emma's survived except one.) Izzy and I are looking forward to a vacation again. We would have left before now, however a few "kinks" appeared and that has been holding us up. I will be posting back on "Changing Lanes" in the meantime. At some point I would like to combine my 2 blogs, but not sure how to do it.

I have had help lined up 2 times to get my garden beds filled and it wasn't followed through for one reason or another. Hopefully I will get rested up, and not go through another spell of arthritis like I did last winter in this "frigid Pennsylvania tundra", and be able to tackle it in the spring. I already have 4 forms built, 5 yds of garden dirt, and my organic seeds. My by-then 3yo asparagus should be producing rather well, and I will be looking forward to the first of the blueberries on my bushes.

If it just wasn't so danged cold here......

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Hatched!!

Thru wind and rain, sunny days and cooler nights, Aunt Emma stayed on the nest in the hosta plant. I am so proud of her! This morning she was off and sitting spread out near the quince bush. Aha!

Someone else is getting nosey. Emma lets her know not to get too close!

One little...

Two little...

Three little chickies!

Four little, five little, six little chickies!

Seven little, eight little, nine little chickies!!

Nine out of ten ain't bad!

Off she goes, taking them into the big old world, teaching them how to eat, and getting them some sun. What a great mother she is!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed my pictures!

 

Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (NIV)

 

Waiting at the Gate

Good Morning!

Some of my Light Brahma hens are getting impatient with me. "Okay, I'm on my way!"

 

These 4 (4?) hens remind me of my grandmother, her 2 sisters, and a SIL.

Stocky built, wearing the fashionable dress of the fifties, they are often found conversing among themselves, sharing the latest news.  So they are aptly named Grandma, Aunt Keenie, Aunt Peggy, and Aunt Emma.

"So Girls, where is Aunt Emma??"

( I better find her as she will want to eat also...)

Uh-huh......... mystery solved!

She must have started this when I was up in NY visiting my sister. I peeked and she has 10 eggs under her. They should hatch by the end of this week. We shall see...

 

Attempting to get into Blogging Again

So much has happened since I last blogged.... Had a VERY rough winter healthwise, but I am doing so much better now. This is what has been happening at my home.

New garden beds being built for planting early next spring.

My free-range hens are enjoying scratching in the weeds and underbrush.

The water hydrants I had put in last summer are very handy so close to the hen houses.

I now have eggs for sale!

Pretty Boy McCoy watches over his flock carefully, and I think the hens are happy

 

I did have to let my goats go because of the affect of the arthritis flare-up on my hands and wrists last winter. The rabbits and turkeys are gone as well to lighten the load. We all have to make tough choices at times. I choose to be content with my chicken flocks and gardens.

 

Here are some other "hens and chicks"

Have a blessed day!

Ps 103: 1-5

 

 

Winter has Arrived

It was a beautiful, 7*and sunny, winter morning yesterday as I made my way to the barn.

I am glad for the water hydrant near this end of the barn.

I am wondering if any birds will use the house for shelter this winter? It is located at the back property line near the barn

Hen houses up closer to the house....

I thought the hens might like to celebrate Christmas with me!

If I don't get back before Dec 25th,

Merry Christmas to you all !

Am I Ever going to Blog Again?

That was a question posed to me recently.

My answer to that is, "I intend to". In fact I intended to several months ago. Seems time gets away, with all that has been going on here.

As well as the different outside projects going on, there is also the increasing issue of arthritis pain I have been dealing with, and searching for ways to alleviate the pain through natural means. For the last couple months I have been cutting down on all foods with wheat flour (except my occasional loaf of home-made sourdough bread) and all known products with added sugar. I do use honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar in limited quantities. But more about this later...

 

My hens are doing well, as are the turkeys, rabbits and goats. I will hopefully start updating soon. Thanks for your interest!

Can A Gal Have too Many Chicken Coops??

This was my original plan....

This is the existing coop, I hinged the windows to open out and wired on the inside to give air ventilation

I made up some goatmilk paint for the walls to brighten it up

and then built in this partition. I also bought cheap linoleum for the floors to make t easy to clean.

The chickens were to go in the middle part, and the feed room where you enter.

BUT, plans sometimes have a way of changing themselves.....

As my turkeys have literally taken over the original chicken coop (pictures of turkeys, when I have a chance), I have been perusing chicken coops online and Craigs*List 

 

My daughter found this one and encouraged me to look into it. It was on skids, was deliverable, and was half the price of other new ones I had seen.

6 x 10 with nest boxes accessible from the outside...

Lots of roosting space, chicken door to outside pen,

Nice nest boxes... and a separate space for feed storage.

Nice enough, however it only provided 6' x 6'for the chickens.

The feed and bedding storage was 4' x 6' which I thought was over-kill. And it did not have the window space as was described to me over the phone. Oh well, it is a start.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then one day on a country road, I saw an Amish -built one with low sidewalls and stopped to inquire about it. They had built it, and used it one year to raise meat chickens; but were moving and so put it out by the road to sell.

Whew, it was clean.... and I could not believe all he was asking for it!

(my picture is crooked, not the coop)

This is 10' wide and 12' to back, a "sky-light" on the shingled roof, and 4 cut-out openings for either chickens to go out, or use plexi-glass for extra windows. Really solid built! With a little re-vamping I can do ALOT with this coop!

 

Just planning for the future.... Someday, the goats may be more than I want to (am able to) take care of. This will be a hobby I will enjoy and it will still get me outside! Hubby and I always did like diverse chicken breeds, so now I will have a chance to raise some (again) Ha!!

This is how they sit today, after the help of my kids and grands: in place, off the ground , and leveled.

 Awesome job, kids!! Your mom and grand-mom appreciate you!!

 

I will be up-dating with pictures in a new post when I get some fencing up and chooks in place!

Also, new garden lay-out coming soon!

Thanks for visiting!