Eggy Updates & 2014 Canning

Eek! I just realized it has been FOREVER since I last updated. So here we go....

My chickens are doing great. I'm covered up with an overabundance of fresh eggs & every few weeks I have to give all my local friends and family a shout out to see if anyone needs some. Last week, I have over 15 dozen eggs sitting in my fridge. And that was after I'd already used 2 dozen eggs for a recipe. Luckily, after my shout out I managed to sell or trade 11 dozen in two days.

I didn't do a garden this year, but I did plant a lot of veggies in pots on my front deck. I've harvested a few handfuls of green beans and my banana pepper plants are covered up. I did a bell pepper plant for the first time and it had two baby peppers on it. I noticed the other day that one of them is missing. :(  I don't know if it was a bird, squirrel, or it just shriveled up and fell off. I figure I'll be lucky if the other one survives. My tomato plants grew big and tall, but produced nothing. *Sniff, Sniff*  However, my mint grew like crazy & smells so good. :)

On the upside, I'm getting pretty darn good at canning this year. I started doing a little last summer, just some hot water bath items, but over the winter I broke down and bought myself an All American Pressure Canner. I finally used it for the first time a few weeks ago for green beans and they turned out beautiful! I love it! I'm addicted now.

Last year I did pickled beets and sauerkraut in the summer, then made applesauce and apple butter in the fall. However, this summer I've canned green beans, strawberry jam, blueberry jam, whole blackberries, dill and bread & butter pickles, and whole kernel corn. Here are a few pictures of my yummy bounty. :)

Whole Blackberries in Simple Syrup

Strawberry Jam

Green Beans

Bread & Butter and Dill Pickles

I promise I'll try to update more regularly.  :)

Winter is finally over! Time for a new coop!

Sooooo, I know it has been a while since I posted a blog entry, but I didn't have too much to talk about during the dreariness of winter. Winter depresses me. I hate the cold and wet and all around yuckiness. Blech!

Now that spring has sprung in north Georgia I'm breaking out of my winter rut and jumping into new projects around the house.  My main one being the construction of a new and bigger coop for my 7 hens, and the 6 new pullets I picked up from the feed store a few weeks ago... bringing my chickie total to 13. Yeah... we definitely needed a bigger coop.

When we went from 6 to 7 hens I knew our old coop was plenty big enough.  But then I saw those little fuzz babies at Tractor Supply and I knew we HAD to add them to our chicken family. Thus, the requirement for bigger accommodations. ;)

In actuality, I'd already decided to build another coop because I wanted to do some upgrades to make their enjoyment and my time spent caring for them easier. So back in late February the hubby and I walked around the property and picked out the perfect spot, and it was no where near the original coop's location.

 



Since we'd had issues with night attacks in the past, the new coop--though much more secure--was placed near the fenced in area for out big outside dogs. This way the dogs will bark and (hopefully) scare away any night prowlers.  That is, after they stop barking at the chickens. *Face Palm*

On March 9, 2013, we hit Lowe's and came home with $400 worth of building supplies.  Eek!  It took a few days before we could get started though. Rain, rain, rain.  Ugh! I thought we'd never get started, and when we finally did I wondered if we'd ever finish.  Stupid winter.  :(

Thankfully, the hubby was ready to go once the skies cleared, even though I was down with a foot injury (I was sitting in a chair taking this picture). I would hop on over when he needed more hands, and then he'd send me back to my time-out chair.  LOL.

 

I had previously drawn out crude and unprofessional designs on what I wanted, but it was really something for me to see the thoughts in my head appear in front of me in real life.

By the time we finally got the coop "in the dry" the chicks were big enough to move out of my laundry room. Woohoo! They lived in one corner of the coop while we finished it off.

And then it was time to get everything else done.

 

 

The chicken run was enclosed on the left side of the coop and wraps around the back. We covered the entire area with plastic, black netting to keep out any flying predators and keep the hens inside. The coop is about 4 times bigger than the old one, and the run is more than double the size of the old one. The girls are loving all of their space.

It only took about a week for them to clean out the run of all things green, so I'm hauling leaves from around my 9 acres to the run every 2 weeks. This helps me clean up my property, while giving the hens something to scratch around in. They eat bugs and seeds and weeds while breaking down the leaves. It also helps keep the run from getting muddy and poopy.  ;)

The coop isn't 100% finished though. We'll be adding a few things here and there over the next few months. I'm adding some decorative metal signs and flowers, and we're also going to add a small deck on the front and a storage bin to keep the feed in.

Anyway, this is what we've been doing lately. I'm glad to have the girls in their new place, and even happier that they found their new nests on the first day. So far everything is working smoothly, and there's still room for more chickies in the future.  I'll be sure to share more pictures when we finish deck and clean up the construction mess. I'm waiting on a lovely spring day and then I'll be out there snapping all sorts of pics for you guys and gals out there.

Happy Monday!








DIY Chicken Feeder

Up to now I've been using a DIY chicken feeder made from a Tractor Supply bucket and a large flower pot plate/bottom.  It worked out well, but eventually got on my nerves with the amount of space it takes up, the heaviness of it when it's full, and the constant need to shake the food down.  So I've been looking for a while at other options in DIY feeders and came across this one on Pinterest.....

http://pinterest.com/pin/95631192058204649/

I thought it was neat, and didn't look like it would take up a lot of space in my small coop.  Sunday we went to Lowe's with the idea of making one for ourselves. While looking at the suggested 4 inch plumbing pieces I decided that was far too large a size for where we wanted to put it, so we went down to the 3 inch versions.  However, they didn't have the Y-adapter in the 3 inch size.

Then I saw it...  A three way adapter! I call it a W-adapter.  LOL. How perfect could that be?  Chickens could eat out of two sides at once.  I could still place it against a wall--saving coop space--and more than one hen could eat at a time.  Yay!

We snagged a 2 foot long pipe, the W-adapter, and caps for the top and bottom.  Brought it all home, put it together, attached to the inside of the coop, and filled with feed.  It took the hens a few minutes to discover there was food inside, but after that they all had to check it out.

The next morning when I went to let them out of the coop I heard happy munching from the new feeder.  The sound of another successful DIY chicken project.  :)

I wish I'd thought to take pics of all the parts before we put it together, but I didn't. Bad blogger, Me! However, here's a pic of the finished project inside the coop.  It took a dozen pictures to get one without the hens standing in the way... surely wondering what the heck I was doing.

So there it is, my new DIY PVC chicken feeder.  It cost less than $30 to make, which is more expensive than the bucket method, but it takes up less space and *should* be less hassle to deal with.  Fingers crossed anyway!  :D

New layers in the coop.

As you may recall, back in April I purchased six new chicks to add to my coop of three Rhode Island Reds.  The fluffy chicks quickly grew big enough to go into the coop with my older hens.  Up to now we've just been waiting until the egg laying began.

And now it has!

Out of the six Barred Plymouth Rocks, three are now laying daily.  I did a happy dance the first day when there was a new egg in the nest.  Each day a new one arrives I celebrate.  All the work and waiting is starting to pay off and I couldn't be happier.  Each egg is like a new gift.  :)

Before:

After:

EGGS!

The top two eggs are from my Rhode Island Reds, and the rest are from the Barred Plymouth Rocks.  You can't tell too well in the picture, but there is a little color difference (the BPRs are lighter) and size (the BPRs are smaller).  However, they all taste the same!  ;)

Soon the other three will start laying and I'll be collecting approximately nine eggs daily.  Since my RIRs are a year older than my BPRs I'm hoping when one breed starts molting the other will still be laying.  That way we'll always have eggs.  At least that's what I'm hoping.  Who knows what the chickens will think of that.  LOL!

A week in the coop.

A little over a week ago I finally broke down and put my six young Barred Plymouth Rock chicks in the coop with my three Rhode Island Reds.  I read all the information about integrating new chicks into a preexisting flock and the dangers and precautions to be taken.

I expected the worse, but hoped for the best.

A week later, I'm happy to say that all the chicks are still alive, not having been flogged or pecked to death by the hens.  And all the hens are still laying every day, not having been flustered into non-production status by the wild youngsters running around.

This is my first time being able to see the establishment of a pecking order when adding young ones.  It's quite odd to see the big one just go off an peck at a passing little one.  For no good reason other than to just say, "Hey, you little squirt, get the heck away from me!"  LOL.

The little ones haven't ventured too far from the coop.  On some days they don't even come out of the coop.  And when a hen comes inside, oh boy, you better watch out.  The little ones squawk and clamour all over each other to see who can get furthest into the corner, as far away from the hens as chickenly possible.

I'm hoping they'll all settle down soon and get to liking each others' company.  :)

Brown Easter Eggs

My first batch of chicks started laying eggs toward the end of last summer, so this was our first Easter without a single white, store-bought egg in the house.  I really wondered if I would have to rush out & buy a dozen white eggs just for the kids to color.

However, to my surprise, the brown eggs from our Rhode Island Reds colored up just as beautiful and a bit more unique than any white egg I've ever used.

Since I have a stash of egg coloring kits (all purchased at major discounts after the holiday over the years), I didn't want to buy anything new to color eggs.  We pulled out a kit and started boiling our eggs.  One dozen into the pot, four for each child.  One dozen came out of the boiling water and straight into an ice bath.  Instant cooling!

Okay, let me just say that yellow doesn't work well with brown eggs.  The one we tried turned out a weirdly, sick-looking BLAH.  Orange was a bit iffy, but the kids seemed satisfied with it.  Me, well I loved the reds, purples, blues, and greens.  My youngest took a crayon to hers before we dyed them, thus the wild and crazy designs on the three right eggs.

Something that really struck a cord with me is how the same color can look completely different on each egg.  Take green for example. In the picture there are three green eggs (top, left, right), but each one is a different shade of green. There's not more than a minute of dying time difference between them, but the colors are sooooo different.

The girls and I declared brown Easter eggs a success, and I didn't even have to go to the store!  Oh, and all twelve eggs disappeared with extra-speedy swiftness by the end of the day.  I'm surprised none of the kids had tummy aches.  LOL!  I'm happy with the egg colors--so rich and vibrant--and we will definitely be using our brown eggs in the future.

Building a Chicken Playpen

Since the weather is getting nicer and the temperatures are warming up, it's time to start getting my newest chicks outside for a few daylight hours each day.  They need to start getting the hang of sunlight and the fluctuating temperatures in order to be ready for when the big day comes that they'll be outside permanently.

So in honor of spring arriving tomorrow, Tim and I spent a few hours this weekend making a chicken playpen.  It's a portable fencing unit that's lightweight enough for two people to move from one spot to another.  Not only will it be useful in getting the chicks out in the fresh air, but I'll also use it to direct my older chickens in their natural garden tilling duties without me having to be right there watching them the entire time.

Since other people might like to know more about this project, I took a few pictures for you.

First off, here is the list of supplies:

10 -- 2X2s, 8' long
1 -- roll of plastic poultry netting, 36" wide, 25' long
8 -- 2" inches
2 -- 2" hook & eye closures

All of this was under $60, and we only used a staple gun, hammer, and nails to put it all together.  This is also one of those project that can be expanded to as big as you want just by adding another panel.

First, we used five of the 2X2s to make ten 4' boards.  Then the other five boards were cut to make ten 3' boards.  Once nailed together, this gave us five panels at 3' wide and 4' tall.

Next up, we added the plastic poultry netting to one side of each frame using the staple gun.

After that, we put all the panels together on the long sides with two hinges each.  And then the last panel will receive the two hook and eye closures.

Lastly, we stood it up and had a pentagon-shaped portable chicken play pen.  Yay!  It's tall enough that the outside cats can't get in, and big enough to give the chickens an area to run, play, and scratch in the sunshine. 

Later today, I'll be putting the same netting over the top that I used last year on the chicken coop's run to keep any hawks from swooping down and swiping my babies when I'm not looking.

Natural Garden Tillers

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in North Georgia. We had sunshine, a light breeze, and temperatures up in the 60's. It was exquisite!  I took this opportunity to spend some time out in all the natural glory.

Since we still have some work to do in order to clear off our new garden location I had the girls outside with me to move wood from the trees Tim cut for me.  We had moved about 6 wheelbarrow loads of firewood when I decided to take a break. We brought out chairs and loosed the natural garden tillers...

Chickens!

Our girls have their coop with a permanent run, but they have pretty much cleared out their run over the last year, so we extricated them and relocated the ladies to the garden area.  Since we have cats running about and didn't want the hens to roam away from home, as well as no fencing around the garden, we sat out in the sunshine and supervised the small workforce.

They scratched and dug for an hour, coming up with bugs, worms, weeds, and even one nasty large grub. (YUCK!)  All gobbled down with gusto.  In the meantime, the dirt was being loosened, leaves and twigs kicked to the side, and some very happy chickens had a new area to explore.  Oh, and let's not forget the deposits of garden-friendly fertilizer, a.k.a. chicken poop!

I'll bring them out a few more times before it's time to plant the garden, but really don't think my three girls can completely clear the large garden before planting season.  I'm thinking of installing a temporary plastic fencing so I won't have to watch them so closely, possibly allowing them to "till" longer during the day.

Now next year will be an entirely different story.  We'll have a workforce of nine hens (fingers crossed) and no trees to clear ahead of time.  Woohoo!

My Rhode Island Reds

This time last year Tim & I dove head first into raising chickens.  We had been talking about it for years, but never did it.  One day we were in Tractor Supply picking up a 50lb bag of dogfood when the girls noticed all the adorable, fluffy chickens peeping away in the middle of the store.  Tim looked at me, I back at him.  I gave a shrug; he asked, "Well?"

We left the store with 6 yellow, chirping Rhode Island Reds, chick feed, a starter kit, and three uber excited girls.

We were chick owners for approximately 1 hour before we made a terrible mistake and left the chicks alone for 5 minutes.  That's when one of our outside cats decided they would make a tasty treat.  Oops!  *blush*  I went the very next day and picked up 6 more chicks.

A few days after bringing home the second 6 chicks, I found one croaked over in their water.  I removed it from the brooder and placed it in a box to be disposed of after the children came home.  Tim happened to be home from work that day and texted me later while I was at school pick-up.  The chick was alive!  He heard it cheeping in the box, all alone.  I had him give it feed and water, but to keep it away from the others.

It lived for another 12 hours before it really was croaked over the next morning.  Weird!

At this point we were down to 5 chicks.  Several weeks passed, we built a coop and run, and finally they were big enough (and the weather warm enough) to move into their new home.  Hooray!  And then it happened. . .

One morning I came out and we were missing a chicken.  We found some feathers and possibly blood, so we figured a creature of the night had taken it.  Three nights later it happened again.  :(  That's when we decided to lock them in the coop at night instead of allowing them to roam free.  After that it was all good.

The three hens left started laying, and we've all been happy ever since!

It took a lot of trial and error, but I believe we have finally figured out this chicken stuff.  So much so that we picked up 6 Barred Plymouth Rock chicks just over a week ago.  So far no water croakers.  *Fingers Crossed*

Welcome to Crazy Homesteading

Welcome to my new blog, My Crazy Journey to Homesteading.  If you read the "About Me" page you already know why I created this blog.  If you haven't read it, now's a good time to do so.  :)

I will be using this blog to document and discuss things like raising chickens, what to do with all those fresh eggs, gardening, hopefully canning fresh vegetables from my garden in the fall, and many other topics revolving around my humble homesteading attempts.

Feel free to comment, converse, tell me about your homesteading actions, or just read and wonder where my sanity went.  I won't mind.  Considering I'm a writer of vampire stories in Small Town, Georgia, it wouldn't be the first time I've been looked at fun.  ;)

At some point, when this blog gets off the ground more, I'll open up for small advertising banner spots.  However, that won't be for a while yet.