R.I.P. Blue Weiner Thingey

Blue Weiner Thingey... RIP

You can tell when a pet discovers a favorite toy. They spend far more time interacting with it than any others. Blue Weiner Thingey was Zoe’s favorite toy. She could grab one end and get Lucky to grab the other and they would walk around growling attached to each end of the toy.

I have to confess that the funniest thing to watch was Zoe jumping on Lucky’s back while he would lay down. She would have the toy in her mouth and she would try to “get busy” with his neck. He hated it! He would growl and bark at her but when she was feeling in the mood it was hard to stop her… the key component was having Blue Weiner Thingey in her mouth squeeking it while making love to Lucky’s back.

We have had a break in the snow and the chickens are totally loving it! They are back to free ranging and eating grasses and buggies. This is what makes the eggs so healthy! I supplement with a bit of layer pellet, scratch grains and for treats they get things like black oil sun flower seeds. When it was very cold out I gave them a couple of hot morning treats of warm oatmeal and scrambled egg with scratch grains mixed in. Happy chickens make healthy eggs and healthy roasted chicken!

I won 100 vintage egg cartons from www.eggcartons.com thanks to the Chicken Whisperer radio show! Now I can sell my free range eggs in style. I’m very excited to start that new chapter.

For 2011 we are planning on getting a calf to raise for beef for us and we are also considering a goat or two if I can get them at a very good price. I have been shocked at some of the prices I’ve seen for goats! I’ve seen them running as high as $400.00. That is wayyyy more than I am looking to spend.

Rocky

My biggest goal for 2011 on the farm is to get a proper coop made for my chickens. For this I am going to need help. I need some simple coop plans and I need to continue my research for that. I also want to learn how to "process" chickens. However I have discovered that if I leave my ax on my wood chopping block they seem to be keen to try it themselves! If they could then pluck themselves and clean the insides out I will be in heaven!

My biggest goal for my business is to grow it through advertising locally and to develop a good web page. I would like to have one more large corporate account in addition to developing my leisure travel business. In spite of my blogging about my farm life which I do love… travel is my true passion in life! I have already started working with my graphic designer to come up with my own logos for my advertising and branding. He is brilliant!

My biggest goal for my personal life is to continue having a wonderful marriage to my wonderful husband, Paul! I plan on going out on the road with him in his truck this year. What is wonderful is that I can help my clients while I am on the road with him! Have laptop… will work! I just need to find someone that will come and check on the beasties every now and again.

Wanted: someone to baby my chickens as I do. Must be willing to talk gibberish and cuddle them in addition to collecting eggs. J

Hen Jacuzzi

January 3, 2011

The puppies & momma dog all went to homes three days before Christmas. Yeah! I had some help from a school friend. Ronda stood out in the cold with me and worked magic in helping them find homes.

Christmas was quiet compared to last year and bitter sweet. We were supposed to spend two weeks in England with Paul's family but his company wouldn't let him have off without forcing him to quit and rehire. He hasn't spent a Christmas with his family in 7 years. The good news was that he actually made it home for Christmas Eve. They were going to try to just have him home for about 12 hours Christmas Day but he put his foot down.

The winter routine is settling in and I'm having my typical winter bla's. When it is dark out my body says it is time for sleep. So it isn't too weird to find me having a cat nap at 7pm. Only problem with that is that I wake up at 2am and don't always get back to sleep on time. What I really need is exercise!

Life with the chickens is funny as usual. Every time I think I've "done it all" I am proven wrong. Last week I had a poorly hen. At first I thought she might be egg bound because she stopped laying and was generally acting sick. She even stopped eating & drinking. I thought for sure she was a goner! I brought her inside and started reading what to do if she was egg bound.

This was quite nice for the hen... she got a couple of Jacuzzis and saunas out of the deal. I did draw the line at blowing bubbles in the water for her!

Then it was suggested that I don a glove, lube up and "examine" her to see if I could feel an egg trapped. Well what type of lube should I use? Plain or warming?

She didn't complain when I preformed the examination bless her heart! It turns out that I couldn't feel anything so I guess she wasn't egg bound. I decided to force feed her some olive oil and then managed to get some water down her. 

The next day she seemed to perk up a bit so I thought I would reintroduce her back to the flock. That did NOT go over well. The instant she was outside Jonesey jumped her and the other hens attacked her. Chickens are the bullies of the barnyard. They are just plain mean when they sense something is off. Or... maybe they were jealous over her days at the Keeley Hen Spa??

Fergus shared a kennel with her for a couple of evenings and he had no problem with her at all. Lastnight I had her stay out all night in the big pen with her siblings. It seemed to go ok though she clearly doesn't want to hang out with them anymore.