Hey look! It's Hef!

So, back to reminissing about our Rhodes Island Reds for a minute.  One of those last season chicks sprouted a comb that was a little larger than the rest, and started hoo-hooing (as Hannah calls it). 
Now I had mentioned a couple times already that we like name the animals around here, so hoo-hoo-er earned is named. 
One afternoon when we were outside checking the chickens out, they had scratched a little nest in the ground, and all the Rhoadie youngsters were laying there in a pile together.  Right smack-dab in the middle was the little rooster and all the pullets were surrounding him...I thought to myself what a playboy! HA!  So then of course, I named him Hef...I really couldn't come up with anything more appropriate, or entertaining.  :)
Hef still reamains the big man on campus, and the only man on campus, which is more than enough.  Roosters are handsome, with all the fancier feathers and such, but he can get a little, shall I say, cocky?.  Really, he doesn't bother anyone to often, but be careful if you're wearing brighter colors, he gets a little puffed up then.  Ah, what an interesting journey....

Spring Cleaning

Sunday was an awesome day, we got sooo much done outside!  We got some rearranging done, and things cleaned up a bit.  Our latest group of chicks are out of the brooder box now, and are roaming about the coop with plenty of room!  Hopefully we can get them outside soon.  We are getting a new group of 60 by the end of the week.  Even though we might have snow this week, by Friday it should be a little warmer than it was a month ago.  We are going to be working at getting our fencing up for the egg layers, hopefully that will keep them out of the road, and our neighbors yard! (oopsie!)  We will also have to get some up for turkeys too. Once that's done, we can order some poults to add to the mix!  Gobble, gobble!! 

I have also found a handy little idea, recycling my newspapers into seedling cups...I receive weekly emails from MaryJane's Farm (check the link out if you'd like).  http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/recipe-project/project-20110321.asp .  I thought it was a great idea, and a lot cheaper than buying one of those plastic greenhouse trays, totally overpriced!!!!   Maybe someday I will have a mini-greenhouse, but that's a project for some other time, some other day! :)

Spring is in the air!

Thank goodness for the warming trend!  It might not be here in full-bore, but Spring is rolling in slowly, YAY!  Yesterday was a great day, sunny and on the warmer side.  Jason and I went around the yard collecting all the yuckies that ended up under the snow.  Some of them ended up there due to our lovely pooch, Amos.  Anyway, it was super to be out, and the chickens are definitely loving there days touring the yard!  Another benefit of spring, it cuts down on the consumption of their feed, as they forage most of the day.  I think I need to make a Chicken Crossing sign for our yard.  They like picking at the gravel on the roadsides. 

I also attended a meeting for the Auburn Farmers Market the other night.  I will be selling chicken and eggs, later on turkey too and hopefully throwing in a few veggies! I will be there Thursdays from 7 to 2!  That will be starting July 7th, and going thru the end of October. 

I have so many things that I would like to start doing in addition to my poultry projects...I have started making my own laundry soap, and it works great!  It's so cheap and lasts quite a while, and is eco-friendly!!  I would like to get into making soap.  I have been doing a lot of research on that, but haven't took the plunge yet...and sewing, been doing a lot of that lately!  Not just quilting, but sewing other things too, and getting consumed by it!  I have been reading a lot of blogs, looking at tutorials and all sorts of things.  They are really inspiring!  There is really a lot of talented people out there. 

Back to the animals, I really hope that we can start raising some pigs too!  Our family has had the good fortune of fresh meat this past year, and it has been wonderful.  It really makes me not want to have to rely on the grocery stores for meat.  Besides that fact that it has saved us a ton of money, it tastes soooo much better!!  We will see how things go...life is always a journey!

The Choppin' Block-Literally

 Earlier I had mentioned about our surprise meat chicken, Sumo.  We all were so entertained by him. Watching how he grew so much faster than the rest of the chicks was pretty neat...watching him eat was pretty neat too.  He liked to lay down and eat, and never moving far from the food even when he wasn't eating!  But unfortunately, Sumo was well overdue for the chopping block.  At this point, he was the size of a small turkey! 

Jeremy and I decided it would be best to attempt this first-time chicken butchering task after the kids were asleep for the night.  GOOD IDEA!  While I was getting everyone tucked in, Jeremy was prepping the area.  This consisted of a folding table, a pot of scalding water, a stump and a little ax...yup, that was it.

So, poor Sumo got the ax... a couple of times.  There was a little more to the story, but I don't really want to scare anyone, or offend them, so I will leave it at that.  After we scalded and plucked and cleaned and chopped some more, we had to put him in two different one-gallon bags, he was sooo BIG!!!  We got the job done. Although, I have to admit it probably wasn't the best way to do this.  I guess it's one of those live and learn experiences for the amature poutlry farmer.  And just for future reference, the rest of meat chickens had a much more humane processing than Sumo!

What to Do with Extra Milk

Not that this has anything to do with chickens, but I like to find interesting reading material.  I have always wanted to try making cheese, but I don't have a family milk cow, but I read this article anyway!  Check it out!
What to Do with Extra Milk