That's a LOOOOOOONG Egg!

Today's Eggs...

"One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn't belong,

Can you tell which thing is not like the others

By the time I finish my song?"

Go ahead and watch the video...

I loved it as a child and after watching it again,

I realize I still like it!

Such a catchy song...

Bet you're smiling... :)

(Did you catch Bob's plunder?)

You Call That an Egg??

Here is the winner of the ugly egg of the day contest.





Some hen should be ashamed of this creation.

This egg is not even symmetrical.





What happened ladies?

And what is with all the lines and creases?




How do such deformities happen?


Don't ask me...
I have no idea.

A Little of This and a Little of That

The weather is finally resembling spring here in Western Nebraska. Yesterday was a perfect example of what I consider spring weather. The temperature was perfect, a little too cool for short sleeves, but long sleeves were sufficient and no jacket was required. The wind was more of a breeze and actually quite pleasant. Did I just say that??? I can't believe I combined "wind" and "pleasant" together in the same sentence!

Since I hadn't taken any pictures of a while I grabbed my camera and wandered around looking for photo ops.

This is what I can up with.

I know some of you have already seen most of these pictures since I posted them on Facebook last night, but not everyone is on Facebook so I'm posting them again. Remember, you can click on the picture for a full screen view, and I highly recommend that you do.

Actually, what prompted me to grab my camera was the sky.
I just love it when it is incredibly blue and the clouds have so much definition.
One of my friends asked it this was real last night on Facebook.
Made me think of Colossians 3:1-4, look it up!

I finally took the Christmas wreath down from the front window.
It was so pretty and I wasn't quite ready to part with it, so I
took off the red bow and hung it from this gate.

The egg layers were out and about also enjoying the weather
so I snapped a few pictures of them.

We have four different breeds of egg layers.
Looks like I got a picture of each one except for the Buff Orpingtons.
Sorry girls, I didn't purposely leave you out, I promise.

The is an Ameraucana.
They are the ones that lay the beautiful blueish/greenish eggs.
I love the details of their feathers.

Shhhh... this Barred Rock is catching a cat nap after lunch.

Red Star, not to be confused with a Rhode Island Red.
They are a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a White Rock.

BFF's resting and chatting under the sumac trees.


The daffodils are blooming.

Macro of the daffodil stamen in black and white.
I'm thinking this photo would look pretty in my bathroom.

Ahhh, the Nebraska sky...
so peaceful out here, the cattle were relaxing, the hens were relaxing,
the birds were chirping, the daffodils were blooming,
oh, did I mention that I burned some weeds in the back yard?
So the air smelt like burning weeds,
now that really smells like spring...
burning weeds.
Also smells like fall.
I actually kind of like that smell.

Is "smelt" a word?
I probably should use the word "smelled"
but I like to say smelt.

Smelt, smelt, smelt!

All that work sure made me tired.
So the Country Chicken Girl decided she needed a little relaxation...
shhh... don't tell Dan the Man,
he thought I was busy working outside!

It's easy to hide from sight in a tractor rim.

THE END

Who's the Slacker?

Okay ladies...


Who is the slacker?


Who is laying eggs the size of malted milk balls?






Seriously...


I know it's been cold, but come on, you have the Taj Mahal when it comes to chicken coops. Dan the Man built your exquisite coop with love and so many amenities (beautiful sliding glass windows, completely insulated, an electric wall heater, a light set on a timer so you get the proper amount of light each day, nesting boxes filled with fresh litter on a regular basis, the most expensive waterer and feeder, custom roosts that I personally constructed with my own two hands from real branches...)


So don't go telling me that it is too cold to lay a normal sized egg.


I'm not buying that lame excuse.


What more do you need?


Really...

Noteworthy Eggs

I know I have blogged about eggs before, but they just continue to fascinate me.
The other day I got these two noteworthy eggs out of the coop.
One TINY egg and one egg that looks like the hen was decorating it for Easter.

First here is a picture of the itty bitty sweetie-pie egg along side a normal sized egg.

Isn't that cute?

Now here is the Easter egg, notice the striations of color and the subtle speckles?

And here are a few pictures I was just having fun with.

eGGNoRMouS!

Big Happenings in the Coop Today!




Every once in a while someone will lay a
gynormous egg like this one!

And you thought you had a hard day a work today!

The Chicks are 2 Weeks Old!

Cornish Cross 2 weeks old

Well, our first batch of chicks are now two weeks old. All 200 of the Cornish Cross and the 19 egg layers. We had 25 egg layers to begin with, but 10 of them I had ordered for a friend who has since came and got his. Then I bought 4 new egg layers at The Mercantile earlier in the week. At two weeks old they graduate from the nursery brooder to the next brooder which is larger and has less heat lamps. The nursery brooder needs to be around 90 degrees warm the first few days and then you gradually decrease the heat as the chicks begin to get their feathers. It's amazing how fast they grow in just two short weeks. By the time they are ready to leave the nursery, they have just about outgrown it.

Cornish Cross 2 weeks old

The new brooder they are in now is about four times bigger than the nursery brooder. I will gradually "wean" the chicks from the lights completely so that by the time they are four weeks old and have all their feathers, they will be ready to go outside. This applies to the Cornish Cross (meat birds) and not the egg layers. The egg layers don't grow near as fast as the meat birds so they will stay in the brooder until they have all their feathers.

Gold Star (egg layer) 2 weeks old

Once the egg layers have all their feathers, then it will be time to gradually introduce them to my one year old egg layers. Chickens have a definite pecking order and if I introduced the new chickens to the old chickens before they could defend themselves I think I would end up with disastrous results. I will partition a part of the egg layers coop so that the new birds will have their own space in the coop but won't be in physical contact with the old chickens, but they will be able to see each other and get to know each other this way first.

Barred Rock (egg layer) 2 weeks old

We moved the 2 week old chicks on Thursday. On Friday we received our second batch of chicks. 200 more of them, so now we have 400 chicks!! So the new babies are in the nursery and the 2 week old chicks are in the 2nd brooder. There is never a dull moment around here this time of year!

Americana (egg layer) 2 weeks old

If you need an escape from the city, or even if you live in the country and want to come see the chicks you are always welcome. You know every proud parent loves showing off their children! Just give me a call! Seriously, you'd have fun and your kids would love you if you brought them here to see the chicks. I only ask one small favor that if you are bringing children that you realize that this is not a petting zoo and I ask that I be present to help with any holding of the chicks.

Come see why a day in the country is worth a month in town!

The Chicks are Here!

Bet' cha can't watch this clip without a smile on your face! Go ahead try!

Oh and by the way, I don't want to hear any wise-cracks about my fashion statement! I gave up worrying about how I look years ago. When you live on a farm/ranch fashion goes out the door like yesterday's trash. Function rules, not fashion.

Enjoy the video!







For those of you who missed my first column in the Gering Citizen Newpaper I have reprinted it for you below!

Day old Chick!

Spring is also one of the busiest times here on the farm. My first batch of chicks will arrive from the hatchery at the end of this week, all 200 of them. It is really quite the sight, 200 newborn chicks. I'll never forget my oldest son's expression the first time we received chicks in the mail. We had the box sitting on the kitchen table and careful removed the top and he said “WOW! Looks like a huge box full of Easter peeps!” If you've never had the pleasure of witnessing a box full of day old chicks, you really are missing out on one of life's greatest miracles.

The chicks are shipped directly from the hatchery the day they are hatched. When they arrive at the post office, our postmaster calls to let us know that the mail truck has come and the chicks are waiting for us. I think they are relieved at the post office when I come to get them. You would not believe how much noise 200 chicks can make. They sing a steady chorus of cheeps and peeps that can really get on a person's nerves. It's amazing how long the 6 minute drive from the post office seems when you have a truck full of peeping chicks! If you make a loud noise, like telling them to be quiet by yelling above them, they all instantly cease to peep for about 30 seconds, but then one of them will peep once and then they all start again.

When we arrive home, next begins the task of introducing them to water and their new home, the brooder. It truly is amazing that the chicks receive all the nourishment from their eggs that they need for their long journey. Can you imagine any other newborn that does not eat or drink for two days after they are born? Introducing each chick to water can seem like a never ending task. I usually set a bucket up on end in the brooder so I have somewhere to sit during this process and place the box just out side the brooder where I can comfortably reach it. You want to get nice and comfy because this is going to take a while. You carefully take each chick out of the box and gently dip their becks in the water. One, two, three, four, five...20... 30... 40... 50... clear until you get the very last one... 200! Not long into the process, you have several chicks running all over the brooder as fast as they can and running in and out of your legs and feet just as happy as can be.

We've been raising pastured poultry for five years now. If you would have told me I'd be doing this for a living six years ago I would have laughed in your face. I use to be deathly afraid of chickens. You can read about my sister's possessed chicken that could run as fast as a freight train in my blog. I look forward to this column and sharing a part of my life with you. I hope to humor you and interest you. Please feel free to join me at my blog www.CountryChickenGirl.blogspot.com or at our website www.OpenABar2Ranch.com. Come on out to the country! Visitors are always welcome. I always say that “a day in the country is worth a month in town!”

A Little Chicken Time

Yesterday Dan the Man helped me haul chicken feed to the layers' coop so that I could refill their feed barrel. Guess he didn't have anything better to do. That or he just loves me so much he wants to spend every available moment with me.

The egg layers are a great bunch of chickens, except for Whitey, the rooster. Well, Whitey isn't even an egg layer, but he is part of that bunch. The hens never complain and happily lay their eggs day after day. They never talk back and don't ask for much.

Whitey on the other hand is a real pain in the neck. Not all the times, just when you are not expecting it. He is so bossy with the hens. It really irritates me to no end when he has to run clear from one end of the yard to the other at full speed when he sees a hen who didn't ask permission to wander off from the flock for a little "me" time. When he gets to the poor little hen he belittles her and chases her back into the flock. What a jerk. He is so full of himself.

Actually he scares me! Believe it or not, I use to HATE and I mean HATE chickens.

It all started many years ago, I think I was around 10 years old, long before I ever dreamed of being a Country Chicken Girl. My sister's grade school class had hatched chicks. One day she came home with one of the chicks. With her puppy hazel eyes she asked our mother if we could keep it and of course my mother, the push over, said yes. The chicken, whose name was Funky, was okay when it was a chick, but as it got older, it became a crazy possessed wild thing that could run as fast as a freight train. Funky Chicken use to chase me all over the back yard, threatening to gouge out my eyeballs if I let her get close enough to me. I can remember screaming with terror to the point that I was crying and my evil sister just laughing her head off.

My sister found it so hysterical that she couldn't or wouldn't help me because she was laughing so hard. Makes me shutter to this day to relive those chicken attacks!

A couple of years ago, after we had started our chicken business, my sister and I were having this conversation.

Sis: I can't believe you are raising chickens! I thought you were scared to death of chickens. Remember Funky Chicken?

Me: How could I forget? I had nightmares for 3 months straight after we got our first batch of chickens because of her.

Sis: She use to chase you all around the yard and make you cry! That was so, so funny!!

Me: I remember. It took me several weeks before I could trust these chickens and to be able to walk among them because of your stupid chicken.

Sis: Ya, but you have to admit it was hilarious! Haa, haaa, haaa, heee, hee!!

Me: It wasn't that funny. She scared the poop out of me!

Sis: It was funny, it was so funny, I can still see you... running around the yard with the can full of feed. You'd shake the feed in the can while you ran and Funky would just keep chasing you because she wanted the feed! ROFLOL!

Me: You mean she was chasing me because I had the can of feed???



All those years, I thought she was just a freakazoid chicken who had a vengeance out for me. All of the sudden the fright and terror had been lifted. If she had told me that years ago I could have just fed Funky the feed and none of that would have happened!

Anyway, I'm not completely healed of the ordeal. Every once in a while, Whitey feels like he needs to attack the feet of the one who feeds him. He usually does it when I am least expecting it and when I have my back turned. The attack usually starts with me feeling a big bump against the back of my legs. I think he takes three steps backward and then lowers his head, spreads his wings and comes running at me full blast. Then when he gets to me he jumps a little and tries to cold-cock my calves with his feet. I can't tell exactly what he does because my back is turned. That's when my heart starts racing and I am afraid I am going to have a heart attack right then and there in the coop where no one will find me for days and days. All the while, Whitey will be pecking my eyes out and eating my nose and mouth and pooping on my dead face.

Well, I'm not about to let that happen so I muster up the courage and fight back, usually by trying to kick him, but he is so nimble on his feet that he can jump backwards, just like a boxer quick on his feet, just far enough to avoid my fierce karate kick! He even does that head bob thing that boxers do. When I can't land a kick in his head, I start to yell at him in an evil chicken killer voice. I tell him what I am capable of doing to chickens. How I can gut a chicken in a little under 120 seconds and how he'd better run away scared because I really don't need him in this chicken operation. He is only here because the hatchery screwed up. Sometimes I take a rake after him. When we have one of these go-a-rounds in the ring, he usually lays off for a couple of weeks, but then he inevitably tries it again.

Stupid rooster, he's lucky he's still around. He may not be so lucky next time we process chickens.

Anyway, I was feeling sorry for the egg layers this morning because they hardly get any cyberspace time on this blog. I have ample pictures of cattle and cats, but none of the chickens. Poor, poor chickens.

Fret no more my sweets! I will go through my pictures and post what I have of you.

Okay ladies, listen up!

Two of the Buff Orpingtons laying their eggs!

My little ladies so do nice work, beautiful eggs ladies!

Looks a little cold out here this morning.

Looks like it snowed last night Ethel, still want to go out?

Looks a little chilly to me Gertrude, are you going to go out?

Lets think this over girls.

Whitey and one of the Buffs .

Look how cocky he is!
Watch out Whitey, you may be a beautiful photo subject,
but your days may be numbered!

Whitey Rooster and His Girls (the Egg Layers)

Not a whole lot going on around the farm today. It's snowing and it is very wet outside. Danny doesn't feel all that well, so we are just taking it easy and hanging out in the house. I thought I would throw together a little video of Whitey my Leg Horn rooster and his girls, the egg layers. I shot this video in October but never had the time to do anything with it. Several of you have told me that your kids really like the videos, so I'm posting this one for the kids. Maybe I can start a little series starring Whitey and the Egg Layers! We'll see how that develops. Hope your kid-o's like this video!



Remember that you can leave comments now. You may have to chose the anonymous option, but you can always include your name in your comment.

ENJOY!

First Snow of the Season

October 10, 2009

The first snow of the season. Seems so early in the season to have to be dragging myself out of my nice toasty bed to do chores in the snow! I know already that it is cold outside due to the number of cats who have apprently bedded down with me and Danny during the night. Good thing we have a king size bed or there might not have been enough room for Danny! LOL! I have noticed that the majority of people who don't have to work out in the snow and get to enjoy it (as in skiing, snow shoeing, snow mobiling, hunting...) love the first snow. But in my opinion, snow means more work! Oh don't get me wrong, I do enjoy it's beauty, but jumping out of bed to go outside in 11 degree weather is not my idea of fun.

I really am wishing that we had our last batch of chickens already processed and in the freezer or better yet, already sold and out of here!! But with that NOT being the case, I found myself putting on all my snow gear to take care of them this morning. (Mental note for next year: have chicken done by October 1st.) So after donning my snow pants, sweatshirt, winter coat, hat, gloves and muck boots, I made my way to the chicken coop through three inches of snow although it felt like 3 feet of snow walking a mile up hill... you know the rest!! I knew it was going to snow more last night so I shut all the chickens up in the coop. When I opened the door, not a single soul wanted to come out. This makes feeding the chickens even more of a challenge since they are all hungry and refuse to get out of your way!

I forgot to mention that prior to this jaunt to the coop, I had to make my way to the chicken feed which is a mile in the opposite direction of the coop, up hill... and fill my feed buckets, two five gallon buckets. Of course since we don't have our grain storage building completed, the feed sits outside, covered with tarps and is full of snow which has to be removed before I can get to the feed. So once I have that accomplished, I can resume my mission. If you want to strengthen your shoulders and back ladies, I can recommend that you carry five gallon buckets full of chicken feed, one in each hand a mile up hill in the snow!! (Actually, it's not a mile, it just feels like one and besides I'm just trying to make a better story!)

So with that accomplished, back to the hungry chickens that WILL NOT get out of your way for you to make it to their feeders. I gingerly make my way to each feeder, trying not to step on toes or hit anyone in the head with the feed bucket while 200 chickens are letting me know that they are hungry and breakfast is late! What a ruckus! Wish you were there to see for yourself.

With that done, next is the water, four 4 gallon waters which have to be carried to the water bib on the side of the shop because all the water bibs at the coops are frozen. You guessed it, water is over by the feed, so back up that hill... (and since I can only carry two at a time I must make this trip two times) then carry the full waters back to the coop (more strength building) and get them in the coop without spilling while trying to navigate through 200 chickens who will not move out of your way. Wow, I'm exhausted again just telling you about it! Finally to complete the mission I must make my way back to the feed and fill the buckets again so they are ready for the night feeding which will take place around 5:00 pm. I can hardly wait...

With my mission completed I paused to take in the beauty of the morning. Did you ever notice how incredibly blue the sky is on snow days like these? WOW!! Thank you God for such beauty. A flock of geese fly over my head. I go to check on the egg layers and they are all toasty warm in their coop. The cats are all outside playing in the snow like kittens. I am all the sudden refreshed and decide to tackle the snowy walks and deck. I thought to myself, decks are so wonderful in the summer, but a real pain in the neck in the winter!! With the snow all scooped I go inside to grab my camera. As I am wandering around looking for pictures to share with you I am in awe of God's beauty. I am also thankful for warm clothes He has provided, muck boots (who could do chores without them and I feel blessed to have them), hats, gloves, warm coffee, the moisture...

Corn full of snow, perfect pheasant hunting!


One of the egg layers wondering if she wants to come out!


Three girls wondering if it was too cold to venture out of their nice warm coop!


Beautiful Millie posing in the snow!


Danny feeding the steers.


Chester would rather lay on the hay than eat it!


More feeding, this time by hand.


Charlie and 820 enjoying their breakfast!


A couple of the calves enjoying breakfast.


Closing shot.