Moody, Broody Hens

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     A while back, my cousin gave us a beautiful pair of Jersey Giant hens. They were 18 months old and were laying eggs. He said that Jersey Giants were slower to mature but made great layers. Zoey and I Ooohed and Aaaahed over them for days. They are solid black with bright red combs and piercing black eyes. They would not let us get near them though. My cousin said they were very friendly with his family and I hoped they just needed a little time to get used to us. 
     In the mean time, I thought this would be a good time to have Zoey do a little research project. Zoey got on our Chromebook and looked up 'Jersey Giant Chickens.' We talked about what 'Pros and Cons' were. She wrote her information in her new spiral notebook. This is what she found. 

Pros

Docile, beautiful, very large, stunning beauty, very hardy, size tends to deter predators

Cons

Slower growth, slightly poorer egg production, they eat a lot

12 Facts About Jersey Giants

1. They were created in the late 1800s by John and Thomas Black by cross breeding 3 differrent kinds of chickens.
2. Their name came from the state they were created in, New Jersey, and their size, Giant.
3. They are slow growers.
4. Jersey Giants eat A LOT.
5. They are a good breed for the cold.
6. They like to sit on their eggs and hatch them.
7. Jersey Giants are good mommies.
8. They are a dual purpose bird. They lay eggs and they are big enough to make a good meal.
9. They are very soft. 
10. Their eggs are a light to medium brown color.
11. They lay extra large eggs.
12. Jersey Giants tend to get along well with your other pets.

    

     How are our Jersey Giant Hens? Well... They are moody. The hens HATE our kitten and attack him every time he follows us to the coop. They still do not even like us after months of trying to be their friends. We can barely get near them. It has to be dusk or night time for us to be able to pet them, but, they are oh so soft! 

     Their eggs are a darker color than what our other hens lay. Can you tell which eggs are from our Jersey Giants? Hint: they are the larger and darker ones. ;)

     A couple of months ago, one of our hens went broody. What does that mean? Well like a woman hearing her biological clock ticking, a broody hen is determined to sit on her eggs and hatch her some babies. You can learn more about broody hens HERE. Honestly, since we just brought home 3 chicks from our schools hatching experiment, I was really hoping they would get over it. We had enough chickens already. 

Let's see...

3 Chicks from daycare. Unsure of breed or sex yet.

1 Road Island Red Hen

2 Jersey Giant Hens

1 Silver Spangled Hamburg Rooster

1 Bantam Hen

9 Plymouth Rock Cross hens and roosters waiting to go to freezer camp. 

     So basically, we had 17 chickens at this time and were not wanting anymore chicks! Besides, we no longer had a mature rooster to fertilize the eggs. After three months, this hen was just not getting over her 'baby fever' and we felt so bad for her, we had to do something. 

     While at work one day, I was telling some of the girls about my broody chicken and not wanting more chicks. My friend has raised chickens in the past and said she would take any babies if I decided to get some fertile eggs. Okay then, why not? Let's do this! First thing I did, was call a local Ag Extension agent to see where I could get some fertile eggs. Their lady was not local, and wanted $8 a dozen. What? By the time I paid for gas, I would have spent $20 for 12 fertile eggs that may or may not hatch. (You remember our luck with hatching chicks right? If not, read the article HERE.) I got on Facebook and asked around some local farm animal groups, but all eggs were to expensive. Kinda wish I knew this when we had a rooster! Finally, a friend of mine messaged me and said she had A TON of fertile Bantam eggs. She met me half way between her house and mine. Instead of a dozen, she gave me 36 eggs and would not let me pay her for them. Now that is an amazing friend! 

    Now at this point, a blogger would have thought to take pictures of 36 small eggs that fit into a quart size baggy. Nope, I forgot! And you would have thought that I would have remembered to get a photo of the eggs in the nest, but no. However, there is a good reason for that. The hen decided she would not sit in the hen box that is on a top shelf like she had been sitting in for 3 months. She suddenly wanted to lay them in the bottom stall. Great.. I transferred the eggs from the top box to the bottom one, and slowly, carefully, placed them next to the scary broody hen. (Yes, scary. She tried to bite my hand off till she figured out I was giving her eggs!) 

Easy Momma! I'm trying to help you out here!

    We marked the calendar for 3 weeks. Time to wait to see what happens... Strangely enough, the other Jersey Giant hen decided she wanted to sit on the eggs as well. We checked on the girls daily. Rarely did we see them come off of their nest. When they did, it was only one at a time, and only for food and drink. When we got near them, the made warning noises to tell us not to come too close. Trust me, we didn't! These ladies are moody and broody! 

    About 4 days till the due date, we recounted the days to make sure our chicks would be hatching the coming weekend. Saturday came, I was in the garden, Alex was helping me with making more bamboo stakes for the tomatoes, Zoey had just gone inside to journal about our Potato Bucket Reveal, and Mike was checking the coop for eggs. I just happened to look over and see him emerge from the coop, cutest smirk on his face, and his hands cupped together, holding something very tiny. A chick! The three of us pet the tiny baby chick for a moment and then decided to surprise Zoey inside the house, rather than call her out. 

This silly girl is extremely excited! 

  Our broody, moody hens hatched out 17 eggs in total. We will be keeping a few. Yes, I know I said we didn't want anymore, but it's called 'Chicken Math' and you really can't deny Chicken Math. (Seriously, it is a real thing!) The rest will be going to my friend at work. 

    Today, Zoey and I went out to try to get some pictures of the chicks. It is hard to do, because, the mommies won't let us get near them. Not even one! They start freaking out and then the babies freak out. Suddenly, there are chicks running crazy like all over the place and it is just a crazy silly mess. We try to just watch them at a distance as not to upset them. Lately, hawks have decided to make our little farm their hunting site. We lost Little Red and Mike's Silver Spangled Hamburg rooter. (The one that refused to leave his side in the garage when we got out of the hospital. Insert sad face here for both.) AND, I swear there were 19 chicks at one point.... 

We did brave getting close enough to get a few pictures for you! Look! :D

So there you go! SUCCESS with a chicken hatch! Will we be doing it again? Yes, I think so. My friend said she would be happy to donate eggs at any time. We will just have to wait and see when our Jersey Giants get moody and broody again! 

Disclosure: I am Amazon Affiliate and may receive a small compensation for including links on my blog. Buying through my links is not necessary, just appreciated. Amazon does not charge extra for linked items recommended by their affiliates. I only recommend products that I use and trust OR plan on using in the future. Please buy responsibly and do your own product research before buying anything online. Please note, I am not affiliated with, nor do I receive compensation from Wikipedia, McMurray Hatchery, or The Chicken Chick. I just like their pages and refer to them often in my own daily use. I doubt they even know I link to them on my blog from time to time. :)

When I Grow Up: A Writing Assignment

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    In her writing class at the Co-op, my daughter was asked, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" This is her writing assignment paper....
                 I will wake up at 3 a.m. every morning. My husband will make me pancakes for breakfast with faces on them. I will have an off grid home in the mountains of Colorado. I will have 4 kids and I will homeschool them and teach them how to cook. My home will have 10 rooms and 2 bathrooms. My yard will be 400 acres. There will be a lake with fish in it. There will be a boat for me and my kids to fish in it. We will hunt for our meat and grow our own vegetables. My property will have 5 barns. The first barn will be for gardening and food. The second barn will be full of wood and solar panels to power my home. Me and my husband will cut down trees for the firewood.  The third barn will be for sewing and I will make my kids blankets and clothing. I will also make blankets to donate for people who do not have a home. The forth barn will be a play house for my kids with couches, a t.v. and lots of arts and crafts stuff. Animals will be in the 5th barn for when it is cold or rainy. We will have pigs, chickens, bunnies, deer, sheep, cows and horses. Our animals will have their own fenced in yards with gates. We will have a German Sheppard for our dog. My horse will be black and I will put blue stripes in my horses hair. I will have several freezers to put my food into. I will have a big diesel truck that is loaded with canned and freeze dried foods. They will be in alphabetical order so they are easy to find. I will cook all sorts of foods. My family will eat dinner together every night. My family will be prepared for all sorts of emergencies. If something bad were to happen, I would go get my Mom and Dad from Texas so they could be safe and live with us.  I will go to bed at 10 p.m. and pray to God every night. 

All I can say is..... <3

We Butcher A Chicken...

WARNING- This post contains photos of a family sending their own chicken to freezer camp! If you are not the chicken killing type, or if you are disturbed by information or images of animals being butchered, please, DO NOT READ THIS POST. We are on the path to self sufficiency, and raising our own food is part of this journey.

"We butchered a chicken today. Great life lesson and anatomy lesson. There is something... satisfying... to be able to provide a meal for your family that you know what it was fed, you know how it was treated, you know how it was butchered, and you know how it was prepared. I don't know if we will ever do another, but, we are happy with today." -Personal Facebook Post February, 2014

     We have become a society disconnected with our food. Rarely does anyone know where or how their food is processed. We buy our meat in nice, little wrapped packages, and not once do we question where it came from. How were they raised and in what conditions? What were they fed? How was it processed? The chicken from the stores is kept in giant barns crammed full of thousands of chickens, all pecking at each other, or standing there waiting to die. Don't believe me? Type in your computer, 'what are chickens fed to make them grow so fast?' and see what comes up. Quick link to Wikipedia says, well it says a lot.. Just read for yourself.
     I am in no way condemning anyone for eating supermarket chicken. I buy it all of the time still. My family loves chicken and I am not a lover of butchering my own meals. Honestly, I hope to grow out of this.  I have already come quite a ways from the girl I used to be. In the past, if it did not come from the supermarket, wrapped up nice and neat in Styrofoam and plastic wrap, I wouldn't eat it. We were given some hamburger from my uncle one time and while my family raved about how wonderful my meatloaf was, I was in the bathroom gagging and hearing Uncle Mark call out 'Calfy' to his cow. Fresh eggs? FORGET ABOUT IT! That was just disgusting! (My sister is still this way!)  In my quest for self sufficiency, however, I have grown to realize the importance of knowing where my food comes from. This is not important to everyone, but it is important to me.
      My husband's, mother's, boyfriend's. granddaughter (phew, did you catch all that?) raised chickens for FFA. When the project was finished, we were asked if we wanted them. They are Cornish Rock Cross and are breed to grow quickly. This also makes them unlikely to ever mate, lay eggs, or live past a certain age. And while I was not yet 'there' in my homesteading journey, I felt if I was going to 'Talk the talk...' I had better start down this road when I was offered the chance at no cost to me.
     My daughter helped me along on our first journey. We researched, read articles and watched youtube videos on butchering chickens. We decided to go with the 'cone method' of butchering. We took a milk jug, just like on the video we watched, and cut out the bottom of it. Then you put the chickens head through the hole and slit its throat. As it drains of blood it goes peacefully to sleep. Or rather, that's what is supposed to happen. Nothing could prepare us for our first time. Like I always seem to say, you think you know, but it never turns out how you expected. The chicken fought going into the milk jug hole, the incision clotted up instantly, then, the chicken cluck/cussed us, saying we were doing it wrong. Hubby came to the rescue with an ax. Note to self: Never, ever try that method again.
     Plucking took nearly and hour, even with dunking in the hot water several times. We have since learned that the skin is not that important to us, even when frying. It is a lot quicker to skin. We do not eat anything on the inside, so it is all boiled and fed to my dogs. We did find a lot of little orange balls we discovered were the beginning yolks of eggs. That is how we ended up keeping 'Prissy,' our first hen to lay an egg.
     It was very educational for my daughter. She learned a lot about chicken anatomy. She is like me (not crazy about killing the chicken) but she loves to identify the organs. She loves to cook our homegrown meat as well. She has very little attachment to the chickens because we have told her from the beginning these were 'food, not friends.' My hope for her is to become a veterinarian or be in another medical field. I believe she will be great healer one day.
     Just in case you continued to read, but were uncertain if you wanted to see the photos, I have saved them for last. The are not really terribly awful in my opinion, but this is your last chance to go check out one of my other articles. You can see my daughter make store bought Cornish Hens in my post HERE. Again, you are reading a blog about our homeschooling/homesteading family's quest to become more self sufficient. Thank you for your support.

Our FAIL...

 Getting the insides out.

 Don't you just love her protective gear!

An hour to pluck it and it still looked like this?

 The end result. 

     We decided to stuff and slow roast our chicken. We learned from our Cornish Hen dinner that we like seasonings, and this time we did it right. It was delicious and tender. I had forgotten to take a photo of it when we were finished cooking it. The photo above is what we had LEFT after dinner. Two adults and a 10 year old barely made a dent. I pulled off the rest of the meat and separated it into family sized portion freezer bags. We got 4 more meals out of this one bird. 5 meals for free. 

     We have sent several chickens to 'Freezer Camp' and I plan on sending more soon. If this is not your cup of tea, I understand. I used to be that girl remember? But it is now something I take pride in. My meat was raised by me. They were fed a healthy diet twice a day and also free range all day long. I know how they were treated, I know how they are processed. I know they were healthy and will provide a healthy meal for my family. Thank you for joining me on my journey.

Save The Seeds!

"All the gardening knowledge in the world will be of no use, 
if you do not have seeds to sow." Kamay Flemens

     For years we have saved seed packets from various stores. Just recently choosing to buy heirlooms to grow and save. Heirlooms are seeds that have been grown, harvested, and saved from generation to generation. However, seeds bought in packets, do not last forever. My endless thoughts of 'what if there were no stores' prompted me to get serious about saving our own seeds from the garden. Because I believe in teaching and learning as a family, we researched how to save seeds, picked the best fruits, and harvested them together. (Although, my daughter actually did most of the seed harvesting for us. I assisted and took photos. :) )
     I heard once, when saving seeds, to use the best of the best. Best plant, best producer, best tasting fruits and vegetables. We did not harvest seeds from our mini plants because we never want mini plants again! We still have plenty of the cherry tomato seed packets, so we did not save those either. We also choose plants we knew we would eat or be able to use for trade or barter. There is no point saving seeds from plant varieties your family turns their noses up to unless you have another use for them. 
     Here is a bit of what we saved. Not everything was photographed...




Okra- Carefully split the okra length wise, being careful not to cut the tiny seed balls. Use your thumb to gently pop the seeds out. When finished, make sure all green plant material is removed. Set aside for a week or two to insure full dryness. I am interested to see if this worked. They looked nothing like what I used from my store bought seed packet. 

 They dried all wrinkly and I don't remember the seeds in the packet looking quite like that. This photo is before they dried fully. 

Field Pumpkins- Carve open pumpkin top and remove all seeds. Rinse seeds in a strainer and make sure all pumpkin pulp is removed.  They sat in the strainer for a few hours so that most of the water dripped away. Then, we placed the seeds on a plastic plate and moved them around often to insure even dryness and to keep them from sticking together. 

Cucumbers- While making pickles, we had tons and tons of seeds left in the bowl from cutting the cucumbers. My daughter just collected them from the bottom of the bowl and took out all the seeds that had been cut in half. She used a strainer to wash them and make sure there were no pieces of flesh with them. Just like the pumpkins, we let them stay in the strainer for a few hours to make sure the excess water had time to drip off. 

Jalapenos- Although we do not eat these much except for in salsa and for spicy pickles, we saved the seeds from some jalapenos we used for a FAIL at cheddar poppers. While we cored them, we dropped the seeds into a bowl. They dried in the bowl for a couple of weeks.

 (When harvesting seeds from any spicy pepper, please use gloves! USE THEM! The seeds and the core are spicier than the green flesh. Even though I washed my hands thoroughly, and my hands did not burn, everywhere I touched on my body after that BURNED LIKE WILD FIRE! I just so happened to be suffering from allergies and had itchy eyes. It was brutal! If you do happen to get burned by the oils in the jalapenos, milk helps. I used a washcloth to scrub my hands and face with the milk. Raw milk from any source is better. Raw sources include cows, goats and even humans. Yes, booby juice works too, or so I hear.. no booby juice around my house anymore.)

Cantalupe- A friend of mine brought a cantaloupe to me from her father's garden. It had a lovely texture and was sweet and juicy. After digging out the seeds from the center, I placed them in the strainer and washed all the goo away from them. They drip dried and were placed on a plate to finish the drying process.  

Bell Peppers- They have been a test this year. They were not as big as a store bought bell pepper. I am not a big fan of them, but I wanted to use them in salsa. I never got the chance. We did not have the tomatoes we needed at the time to make salsa with them. When we had tomatoes, I had already cut up the bell peppers to save seeds or had given them away. We did test eat them raw. It is not something my family enjoyed. They will be good for trading and bartering if needed. 

Tomatoes- Now this one I will go into more depth on in another post. They are a huge staple in my household and I believe we could nearly live off of them. My whole family loves tomatoes. Before we got serious in seed preservation and looked up how to save tomato seeds, we tried a couple of ways to dry the seeds. First, we took the seed pulp from a tomato we cut and placed them on paper towels. The seeds stuck to the paper towel as it dried and they were not very nice looking. I tested one to see if it would germinate, and it did. Then we brainstormed ideas on how to do it so they would come out cleaner.. but that is all in THIS  post. :)

     Now at this point, can you imagine what my kitchen looked like? There were plates, cups, bowls, and paper towels all over the place. It drove me nuts! I don't have very much room in our house. There is no pantry, laundry room, spare room at all to store all of the drying seed containers we had at this point. I finally got smart and gathered every small container we have and put all of them in a casserole pan. Safe, secured, compact storage! It took a few weeks to actually feel they were all sufficiently dry enough to store away.  We used a variety of different small recycled packages to store our seeds in. A variety, because, we couldn't eat enough Tic Tacs fast enough. We are all about FREEcyle! :D 

     Have you tried seed preservation? 

Save The Seeds!

     
More great seed saving advice and FREE PRINTABLE SEED PACKETS at 104 Homestead. 

For a great definition of heirlooms, hybrids, organics and all the other seed lingo, check out Underwood Gardens post. 

Want to start your own vault of survival gardening seeds without preserving them yourself?  Survival-Seed-Vault-
     

This post contains my Amazon affiliate link to a survival seed vault. Although, I have not ordered from them, it is something I would like to purchase in the future. If you happen to buy one, let me know what you think of it!

A Day With The Boys

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     My nephews came over today. The boys are 5 and 3. They love coming over to Aunt May's House. I had forgotten to set my alarm, so I was awoken by the sound of knocking on the door. I am barely coherent until I have had at least one cup of coffee. As soon as my sister left, I was bombarded with questions of 'Have you feed the animals yet?' 'Can we go feed the animals now?' o.O 'Hold on boys, let me get a cup of coffee first.' I had not even had time to stir my spoon in the cup before they were asking me again... I downed half a cup and went looking for my shoes. We went out side to get the feed, me in my pjs and all. 
     The oldest is full of questions, 'Why do you put your feed in there?', 'Why do you feed them that?' 
     The youngest stares my over grown pig/dog down suspiciously. 'He is a nice pig. right?' He asks me this question more like he is stating a fact. Almost as if he is trying to convince himself. 
     On to the chicken coop. 'Why you have to hook that thing to the door?' 
     'We hook it open to keep it from slamming shut on the chickens just in case we get some wind.' 
     'Why you feed them like that?' 
     'So they do not fight over it and they all get some.'
     'Can I feed the bunnies?'
     'You sure can." 
     On to the bunny pen. 'Why does that bunny have red eyes?' 
     'Why does that bunny run away?'
     'Do they like it in here?' 
     'Can I pet them?' 
     My nephews ask questions faster than I can answer. 
     I finally get a word in and ask them, 'Why do YOU think?'
     'God made him that way.'
     'I think that bunny thinks we are crazy!'
     'I think they like it in here, there is lots of room to run around and hop and stuff!'
     Now on to the garden. 'Are we going to get to pick some vegetables out of the garden today?'
     'Let's see if we can find something.' 
     Just one zucchini and one cucumber is ready to pick. The oldest gets to hold them both because the younger decides to ask questions about to cherry tomatoes. I take one off of the plant and offer it to him. He looks at me like I have lost my mind. So I pop it into my mouth. Both boys say 'EWWWW!' and laugh. They both like tomatoes. They are funny boys though. 
     We went back to the house. Breakfast, movies and hide and seek until lunch time. We have a picnic lunch outside in the front yard under the tree. 
     After lunch, and a whole lot more coffee for me, we went outside again. This time my daughter is with us. 'What you doing Aunt May?' 
     'I am going to get the shovel and the rake so I can clean out the chicken and rabbit pens.' The younger one takes my hand and walks with me, 'I go with you!' I open the gate and start walking to the back shed. The older boy runs to catch up, 'I want to help too!' With three kids in tow, I get out the rake and shovel. My daughter gets the tote we use to gather and carry the poo in. One boy gets the shovel, the other the rake. 
     We clean the chicken coop first. 
     In the laying basket is an egg. 'Guess what I found?' I ask the older one. His eyes lit up. 'An EGG!' He gets the egg out of the basket. His first egg ever! His smile stretches from ear to ear! The little one insists on raking out the coop all by himself. The chickens come back in the coop, thinking they will get a treat, my little nephew runs out. My daughter is now in charge of raking out the chicken coop. The little one works hard at shoveling the old hay and poo into the tote. 
     The oldest boy is petting the feeder pig. 'Why you name him Pork Chop? Are you going to eat him?'
     'Yes...'
     'But why?'
     'Do you like bacon?'
     'Yes!' 
     'Pork chops?' 
     'Sometimes I eat them.'
     'Ham?'
     'I love ham!'
     'Well then, that's why!'
     We talk about eating chickens as well. Both boys agree chicken nuggets and chicken stew is 'Yummy!'         
     Time to clean the rabbit's pen. The older one decides its his turn to use the shovel. The little one rakes. I take the chicken poo/hay over to the garden. My daughter pets the bunnies, then starts to gather leaves that have already fallen from our trees. The rabbit pen is clean. We all fill up the pens with fresh hay. After making sure the rabbit pen is securely closed. We take the rabbit poo to the garden. As we walk I tell them, 'You can eat rabbits too.' 
The older one is full of questions, 'Is it good?' 'How you cook it?' 
'I have never tried it before, but after we get more rabbits, I am going to try some. I think fried like chicken will be good' 
'Can I try?'
'Sure buddy.' 
     This is a strange request from such a picky eating child. 
     We spread the rabbit poo around the garden. The boy's noses squench up. "Why you put it in your garden?' 'Because it is like vitamins to the plants. They grow bigger and stronger and make more veggies.' They are both satisfied with this answer. Done for the day. 
     After washing up, we are all rewarded with ice cream cones. After a little quiet time, they spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Uncle Mike and Zoey outside. Right before their mom got there, I had them come in and wash up again. When my sister got there, I told the boys, 'Tell your mommy what we did today!'
     Their answer, 'Nothing...' 
    

  Man I love these kids!