Tashi

I took Tashi to the vet for her annual physical. She is in pretty good health, considering that she is coming off a bad bout of SIBO. It took her weight from 63 to 44. Yup, she was too fat, but this is not the way to lose weight! It has been a real struggle to get her weight back up to 48.4 pounds.

SIBO is short for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth. In Tashi's case, the only sign of it was weight loss. She didn't vomit, didn't have diarrhea, seemed to be eating normally. What was happening was that an overgrown colony of bacteria was literally taking the nourishment from her food, and she was starving. When I went for the third time to vet, I insisted on seeing the head vet at the clinic. He was alarmed. His first guess was right, and we started treatment for SIBO immediately. But every time she started to put on weight, another trauma reared its ugly head. I went on vacation, and my house sitter, who was well paid to stay in my house, night AND DAY, admitted he left her alone all day every day, while he went to his sister's. She needed to be coaxed to eat, and he knew that, yet he left her alone. She lost all of the weight she had gained.

Tashi finally put back on a few pounds. Then we lost Ayn Chee. She decided not to eat. I could maybe get a little down her off a spoon, but she lost three pounds in the week after Ayn Chee died.

In came Fred, aka Figgy Pudding (click on the link to hear that whole story), the only dog I could find that she would accept. She was happy again, and grudgingly started to eat better. But it was still a struggle, and it was becoming obvious that she hates dog food.

I am now making her food from scratch, ground turkey, ground beef, sweet potatoes, rice, chicken gizzards, livers and hearts. My new vet here in Mishawaka gave me some minerals to add to it, and she is on an enzyme now as well. And a B-12 shot once a month.

In addition to SIBO, she has had a lot of trauma. She HATED leaving the farm. She never liked getting in the car, but after we moved up here, she jumped in with no hesitation. I think she was hoping we were going back to the farm. Poor thing! And as I said, losing Ayn Chee affected her deeply. I credit Fred with saving her life.

Her blood tests came back just fine, so that means it will be okay to get her teeth cleaned. She is going to be like new. Last night, for the first time since all of this started, she cleaned her bowl and begged for more. It's a miracle!! Love you, Tashi. :)

Tashi at gate to chicken run on her beloved farm

Egg carton romance

People keep giving me egg cartons.  When they ask, I tell them I don't need any.  Some don't ask, and I find bags of them in the back seat of my car when I leave the market!  LOL  I truly believe that these things procreate - in the night there is egg carton sex, and a few days later there are even more.  My garage was looking pretty messy, and I finally organized the egg cartons yesterday when I got home from market. 

They are on a counter I use to put together my market baskets, so I really need to find a new home for them.  Anybody need any egg cartons?  

Egg cartons, anyone?

Egg eating rooster

I had three young roosters that were hatched out here mid-summer.  I haven't had much luck with what hatches here, because they seem to be about seventy-five percent roosters, not good when you have chickens so that you can get eggs!

I have this problem with butchering my chickens, as in "I have never butchered one of them."  They get taken by the wild animals, a couple of them have gotten sick or died from old age, but that's it.  Kim has urged me to butcher the young roosters, although by now they are too old to use as fryers.  They have to be under three months to go in the frying pan, or so he said.

I let him take three young roosters.  One of them had been eating eggs, so he definitely had to go.  Kim was not allowed to touch Buster, Tiny or Ricky Ricardo.  They are all too, too old anyway.

Kim said the meat was very dark, and I should get chickens with white feathers, because the meat is lighter and more appealing to people.  Well, these are for me, so I didn't really care.  I put two of them in the freezer and took the other one to the house.

Contrary to what Kim said (I am pretty adventurous in the kitchen), I decided to give the whole breast a go in one of my favorite recipes.  It's based on a recipe from MOMMYTO2BOYS on www.Allrecipes.com with some slight modifications.  If you want to look it up, search on Chicken Breasts in Caper Cream Sauce.  Mine is adapted for one whole large bone-in breast, from an older bird.  The cooking method has to change a bit to keep the finished product tender.  So here goes.

Mix 1 tsp. each lemon pepper, salt, dried dill weed and garlic powder until well blended.  Dredge a large whole chicken breast, bone in, in the mixture and sauté in 2 tbsp. of butter.  Do not overcook.  Just cook until the last of the pink is gone.  In fact, if there is a tiny bit of pink left, that is all the better, as you are going to set the sautéed breast in a 200º oven while you finish the sauce.  It will continue to cook a bit.  In the same sauté pan, scrape up the browned bits and add a cup of heavy cream to the pan.  Over medium heat, reduce the cream by about half, stirring often.  I like to keep simmering until it forms a nice brown sauce.  Then add 2 tbsp. of capers, drained.  Remove the chicken breast from the oven and cut away from the bone.  You will have two nice pieces of breast meat.  Now slice each half across the grain into several thin slices and lay the slices back into the pan of sauce.  If you see any pink, make sure those get into the sauce first, and give them a minute or so to cook through completely.  The trick for getting juicy and tender meat, even from an older bird, is not to overcook.

Place the cooked breast slices on each of two plates and top with sauce.  I love cabbage sautéed in coconut oil for a side dish.  It is a great and tasty low carb meal.

So what did I do with the rest of the bird?  Well, those dark farm raised birds make a magnificent and tasty broth.  No need to add any canned stock.  I used the broth for vegetable soup, with a few pieces of drumstick meat floating in the broth.  Yum!  Then I took the remaining meat off the bone, chopped it fine, added finely chopped onion, dill pickle and yellow peppers, topped it all with a generous amount of real mayonnaise and served it on flax meal bread - also very low carb, and very tasty indeed!

I have enough of the chicken salad for at least two more meals.  That rooster served me well!  Let me know if you try the recipe, and how it turns out for you.  Bon appétit.

The chicks are growing up!

Goldie and the Twins have been on their own since Goldie went back to the flock.  We have been putting them in a tote with a lid and carrying them from their nest in the water tank in the old barn to the Moop each night, trying to get them used to being with the flock.  The hens are not very nice to them.  When they hop out of the Moop in the morning, their mission is to find a place in the fence that they can squeeze through, and still being small enough, they find one.  Then they run around outside the chicken run all day, free from the pecking and abuse of the older hens.  Then the cycle starts over again, and we haul them back to the Moop the next evening.

Late yesterday afternoon, I opened up the gate into the chicken run and closed all of the doors into the old barn, hoping that the chicks would go into the Moop on their own, since access to their nest was blocked.   Then at dusk I sneaked out to the Moop to see what was happening.

Little Susie was in the Moop!  Such a smart little girl!!  The Twins were bedded down under the Moop, and it took Clay and me working at it a few minutes to get them both out and put inside the Moop, but we got it done.  We will do the same thing tonight and hope for the best. 

Another batch of chicks is on its way to being part of the larger flock.  :)

Goldie has retired from the mama job

Late yesterday afternoon, Goldie ran frantically back and forth in front of the chicken run.  I finally broke down and let her in.  Chicks were not with her.

At dusk, I went to the barn to see if by any chance the chicks went back there on their own.  Yup, they did.  They seemed quite settled in, no crying for mama.  And there were two eggs in there!!  Goldie is laying again, and she has definitely retired from her mama job.

It has been so fascinating to watch this process.  Listening to her talk to them made me even more aware of how many different sounds a hen can make when tending to her family.  I watched Goldie break up a piece of cheese I gave her into three pretty equal parts and lay them in front of the chicks.  I saw her take after both of my dogs when they got too close, and I had no worries that they would harm those chicks!  Goldie would take care of them!!!  She is such a good mom.  But she also knew when it was time to cut the ties.

I am looking forward to moving to my river house in town - meeting with the kitchen contractor this afternoon, and I'm excited about that.  However, I am not excited about leaving the chickens when the farm sells.  They have taught me so much, and it will be a sad day when I tell them good-bye.

My heart is breaking.

My heart is breaking.  Goldie is done with the chicks.  She is trying to get back with the flock, and the chicks are still just a little too small to put with them.  She has abandoned them today, and they are all peeping and looking for her.  I can't find her.  If I do, I will lock her in the barn with them, at least for today.

Kim and Clay were working on the chicken run, cleaning out trees and brush to put up new deer netting over the top.  Kim is in the hospital now, won't be out for days, and he will not be in any shape to work on the chicken run for a while.  He pushed himself too hard, and I feel guilty about it.  There is always too much do around here, and Kim is so conscientious!  But now he is paying the price.  Kim, get well soon!  Hope you are feeling better today.

I have hired a new person to fill in at least for a bit, until Kim is back on his feet, but I don't really have time to explain what needs to be done before I leave for market today.  Maybe tomorrow.  Then I can put Goldie AND her chicks into the big chicken run, and hopefully the hawks will leave them alone.

I just checked again, and I cannot find Goldie anywhere.  Of course, I always worry that the worst happened.  I hope no wild critter got her!

Looking for mama.

Looking for mama.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the other side.

 

Little Susie and the Twins are one month old today!!

Goldie and the chicks immortalized

Yesterday Kim saw Goldie trying to lure the chicks out of their water tank home in the barn.  He took pity on her and lifted the three chicks out.  They spent the day outside, and they roamed far and wide!  Goldie wanted to be back with the flock, but the chicks are far too little, and they would have just become fodder for the hawks and other wildlife.

I had one heck of a time rounding them up to put them away last night!  I got the two adoptees, but Little Susie was far too crafty.  She dodged into a thicket while I carried the other two chicks and Goldie back to the barn.  I went back for her, chasing her through the thicket (I am a mass of raspberry and nettle scratches!) following her plaintive peeps.  But then she got quiet.  That is how crafty she was.  She knew if she was quiet, I wouldn't be able to find her.  So I went back to the barn and got Goldie.  I carried Goldie, squawking loudly, to the edge of the thicket.  Susie ran out to her mama, and I finally got her when she got tangled in some weeds.

Amy was able to get a great watercolor of the three of them.  She did several pictures and let me take my pick.  I feel honored that I now have another watercolor by Amy Babinec, this time of Goldie and the chicks.

Goldie and the chicks.  Little Susie is on the right.

Hiding in the weeds

Goldie and the chicks

Here are some pictures of Goldie with her chicks.  Notice the ruffled out feathers in some of them.  She gets very protective when I am out there, and she has pecked at my hand several times!  Very good mama!!

Ruffled feathers!

Having some lunch

 

Little Susie is middle chick.  Notice the difference in her head markings.

A birthday miracle!

I was so looking forward to Goldie hatching out her chicks on my birthday.  The day before, the eggs started to hatch.  Oops, did it again!  I forgot to add 20 days, not 21, to the date, since you have to count the first day when they are setting.  I put five eggs under her on July 8, should have been July 9 to hit my birthday.

So anyway, first chick hatched and seemed all right.  I went into the house for my camera, and when I came out, the chick was on the floor of the moop, and not in very good shape.  I put it back in with Goldie, but didn't have much hope for it.  It died a short time later.  A second egg had a ferociously peeping chick in it, but wasn't coming out.  I checked back an hour later, and it was out, but wet and limp and didn't look at all good.  An hour later, it looked dead, but I shoved it back under Goldie and went in the house.  There was still a third egg, but it had no signs of hatching, so I assumed it was not fertile.

When I put the chickens away Sunday night, I couldn't find the chick, or the third egg.  Chickens will eat a dead chick, and they will eat eggs, so I thought the cleanup crew had taken care of things and went to bed, very depressed.

Can you see how depressed Goldie is?

Yesterday Kim brought down two little chicks that had hatched in his incubator that morning.  He said maybe they would cheer up Goldie.  We have a water tank set up in the barn for new chicks and their mamas, so I went to the moop to get Goldie, and Kim took the two chicks to the barn.

I crawled in the moop and heard peeping.  Well, the chicks born June 2 still make a peeping sound, but none of them were around.  And then I saw it!  Goldie had a chick!  GOLDIE HAD A CHICK!!  I laughed out loud.  It is a miracle.  Whether it was the wet chick that miraculously survived or whether that third egg was pushed into a corner so I didn't see it and it hatched in the night, GOLDIE HAD A CHICK!!  On my birthday, no less.  Her name is Little Susie.

Goldie with Little Susie

Goldie, Little Susie and the two adoptees in their water tank home. 

Okay, I give up. Goldie wins!

Two years ago in April, four little chicks were hatched here on the farm, by a Campine no less, which is unusual because Campines don't usually go broody.  These four chicks imprinted on me.  It was a delightful experience.  Goldie and I became especially close.  She is the only female of the four.  Ricky is still affectionate with me as well.  I sold one of the roosters, Pretty, at an early age, and Tiny, the Campine, is a typical Campine -- distancing himself from me as he got a little older.

Goldie and Pretty on my lap.

Last year Goldie had two chicks, and she was so happy!  One died on the first day.  The other survived, and they were together all of the time.  But a hawk got the chick when it was a couple of months old.  I think I was nearly as sad as Goldie.

Goldie with two chicks, spring 2012 

This year, she has gone broody several times but I have ignored her.  After all, there are six little month-old chicks running around here, and I kept thinking she would get over it.  Today I petted her and told her that there would be no chicks this year.  She flared out her neck feathers (again!) and told me what she thought of that.  Then I realized that if I put eggs under her today, they would hatch on my birthday, July 29th.

I chose four white eggs - only white eggs have a chance of being Campine - plus one blue egg.  I carefully dated them and marked them so that any new eggs would be easily recognizable and could be removed from the nest.  (The other hens will happily lay eggs in the nest when the broody hen leaves for a bathroom break or to get some food and water, so marking is important.)

Marked with hatch date - my birthday!

 

Goldie watching what is happening

When I took the eggs out to the Moop, Goldie was at the feed trough.  Then she hopped up on the roost and watched while I laid the five eggs in her nest.  It took her about a nano-second to figure out what was going on.  She hopped in, then took her beak and made sure the five eggs were safely under her fat feathered body.

Eggs are in the nest.

Look at those ruffled neck feathers!

She's with the eggs.

Settling in

Using her beak to push eggs under her belly

Ah!  All is well.  "I'm making babies!"

 Goldie's neck feathers, which have been ruffled for about the last six weeks, immediately smoothed down.  She knows what is going on.  She is happy.  Good luck, Goldie.  I hope all five eggs are fertile!!

Pretty in pink

One of my customers, Emily, sent me this picture.  She said she just had to take it because, to quote her, "It's the prettiest dozen eggs I ever did see!"

Thanks for letting me copy this, Emily.  I think you are right, it is the prettiest!  The carton is the perfect backdrop for that.  Thanks, Elizabeth Zapf, for the great cartons!

Pretty in Pink!!

Chickens for Thanksgiving

No, it is not what you think.  I didn't butcher any of my beloved hens for Thanksgiving.  On the contrary.  Today my chickens had their Thanksgiving dinner - or rather, I should say, the remainder of mine.

I am on a low carb diet.  I was cheating again and again - just one more little slice of pie, a bit of dressing with my turkey, how about some gravy over all?  This morning, after having a bit of pie for breakfast, I got out a stock pot and emptied the fridge of all leftovers.  If it was high carbohydrate, it went into the stock pot.  All that was left when I was done was some sauerkraut with bacon and the turkey.

As soon as the sun was up, I went out to let the chickens out of the Moop.  I sprinkled the ground with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing, pumpkin pie, Kool Whip (yes, my son insists on Kool Whip every Thanksgiving), rolls, scalloped corn and - be still, my heart - oatmeal braided bread with honey and walnuts. 

Those chickens went nuts!!  They are ALWAYS talkative.  They chatter while they eat, while they walk, even while they are in their nests laying eggs.  This morning, there was silence.  They just ate.  When I went out a couple of hours later for my first egg pickup, there was nary a drop of Thanksgiving leftovers on the ground.  All of that eating should make for some wonderful eggs, hey?

They were talking again this afternoon.  They told me they are looking forward to the next Thanksgiving meal.  As I said, it is Chickens for Thanksgiving.  ;-)

Update on Baby

Little Baby is not so little anymore!  She gets along well in the chicken run.  She and her mom Goldie have a tendency to wander off into the weeds at the back of the pen, where they forage for most of their food.

Here are the latest pics.  I was lucky enough to catch them at bedtime.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Goodnight!

Little chick

Yesterday when I got home from market I couldn't find Goldie and her chick.  Of course, I worried, but I finally came in the house.  Goldie has taken to going out of the pen with her in the late afternoon.  I open the gate at that time so that they can forage outside of the pen for a few hours before they go to roost.  Also, if there are any chickens out and about, Campines being the usual escapees, an open gate means they can get back in the pen before Clay gets there to close up the Moop for the night.

Sunday is Clay's day off.  I went out at the crack of dawn to open up the Moop, hoping that Goldie and Baby would be inside.  They were - in a nest!  These nests are at least four feet off the floor.  I guess the box is out - I'll take it to the burn pile and move the baby chick waterer and feeder back to the storage area.  This chick has let me know from Day One that she is a BIG girl!  Okay, maybe it's a boy, but I am hoping it is a girl.

I am more convinced day by day that this is a full blooded Campine.  The egg was white, so Mama was a Campine.  Just a matter of whether it was Ricky Ricardo, Tiny or Buster who did the deed.  Any chick with wings no more than an inch and a half long who can fly out of a box with 18" sides when it is only a couple of days old has to be a Campine!  And she was two weeks old on Friday, and already able to fly up into the nests - a top nest no less.  Yup, has to be a Campine!!

Chick pics

I have named the new chick Baby.  Baby and Goldie, her/his mom, are inseparable.  I know there is danger out there, letting Baby run around in the midst of the big chickens.  They can be mean.  But I trust Goldie to watch out for her baby.  I know that they are both happy, doing their chicken thing.  Goldie has gone broody repeatedly, and it is obvious that she is a Super Mom.  I'm glad I let her set, even though there is only one little chick to show for it.  :)

Here are some pics, from the birth of the two chicks (the little one didn't make it) to several of Goldie scratching in the dirt to find food for her and her babe.