More Chicken First Aid

I guess that it is a good thing that I am going back to school for Nursing next fall or this spring, because I seem to be doing a lot of first aid lately.  On Saturday our chicken complex acquired 5 more laying hens.  These lovely ladies are spending the winters with us and the summers at the near by Bible Camp that I work at in the office and used to be the Program Director of.  The ladies have a summer residence by the campground and Tree House Village, but no where for warmth in the winter, so we invited them to stay with us.

When they came to camp they had recently been picked on by a rather nasty roo as I was told, so they were all missing big areas of feathers on their backs.  Over the course of the summer, two of them (Lady Cluck and Phoebe - we named them that) regrew their feathers.  The other 3 have not and I am suspicious of Lady Cluck and Phoebe being bullies.  Once a chicken has a weakness, others tend to exploit that, we here on our corner homestead have never experienced chicken bullies before.  So I went to the store and bought some vapor rub (this is a sure fire remedy according to my sister) and lathered up Red, Camilla and Baaky's backs.  Chickens don't like the taste of vapor rub, why would they?  Ish!  So far, the redness on their backs have gone and we will keep up the treatments and hope that before the snow flies we will have some feathers on these lady's backs. 

These 5 new ladies do need to learn that it is best to sleep in the coop at night when it is so chilly.  Saturday night, they didn't do this and were dancing around on chilly feet Sunday morning.  Last night the kids and I corralled them all into the coop and locked them in for the night.  Hopefully we won't have to wrangle them again tonight. 

Acorn Flour - Part 2

OK - Making acorn flour is not that easy!  Well, it isn't that hard either, just time consuming.  On Saturday, Adin and I sat for a couple of hours while watching a movie and cracked acorns.  I am no where near the end of my cracking shells.  Maybe I should hire the gray squirrel that is eating our back door to help crack the shells.  That would give him something else to do other than eat the door.  That door must be tasty - this squirrel isn't the only one who has nibbled on it in the past.  Check out this other goofy critter.

Anyways, I need to invest in a padded handled pliers or something.  I have blisters on my right hand.  During the 2 hours or so, I only found 3 worms (this is good) but a lot of black insides.  I still have an ice cream bucket and a gallon Ziploc bag to crack.  I will keep you all posted if this ever gets done.  It better be darn tasty flour for all of this work.  Yikes.

Chickies Go to Preschool

It was an exciting day today in the coop as some special chicks got selected to go to school.  I wish I has pictures that I was able to share, but because of privacy for the children who go to my preschool (not the chickies) I am unable to post any.  So I'll just share some of the highlights.

* 6 chickes arrived and made their debut at 10:00 am

* They were immediately engulfed by little faces peeking into the crate.

* At times the noise from the kids was a bit more than the baby chicks were used to.

* Turns were taken at petting and holding chicks on their laps.

* One chick was taken into the baby room to show the younger kids.

* One chick had to potty so bad that a teacher got pooped on. (not this teacher) Sorry Cara!

* Many chicks were lulled to sleep in the soft hands and laps of the kids.

* Seeing it is color week, we talked about what color the chicks are and what color they will be when they grow up and some colors of other chicks/chickens also.

* 6 tired little chicks packed up to make the trek home about 10:50 am with lots of little children looking out the window and shouting their good-byes to the chickies.

Thanks to my wonderful Hubby, Elle and Lizzy for making a special trip down with the chickies. 

Now I just hope that these chickies don't make the others feel bad that they were not chosen to go to school. 

Acorn Flour - The Begining

Today the girls and I decided to pick acorns and try and make acorn flour.  I knew we wouldn't actually get to the flour making part today, but I at least wanted to get some picked.  Adin didn't want anything to do with it, he was going "red squirrel hunting" with his bow. 

After about a half and hour/twenty minutes, the girls gave up and joined their brother (he had given up on the "hunting").  It was pretty tough sledding under some of trees as there must have been an acorn party with the deer and the squirrels last night because all of the acorns had bites out of them.

This is really what the kids ended up doing.... sledding.... under the trees, on the grass.  Have I ever mentioned that I have strange children sometimes?  Gotta love 'em.

After searching half of the yard I collected 5 lbs (an ice cream bucket full) of acorns.  Now I just have to toss out the squishy ones and the ones with worm holes in, shell them and look for more worms and start the grinding and the boiling. 

Updates later to follow.

New Kids On The Block

No, I am not talking about the boy band from the 80's,

I am talking about our 28 new fluffy little chicks who call our coop home. 

 They arrived bright and early on Thursday morning to our local post office, just a peeping away. 

There are 1 Buff Orpington named Gold Finch, 

1 Australop named Fancy (from the Fancy Nancy books that my girls love so much) 

and 26 Cornish Crosses all named "Nugget."  I am not going to individually name them all, only to eat them in a couple of months.

Even at just 5 or 6 days old they are already acting like "Big Kids" and getting the hang of roosting. 

The kids love to spend time just hanging out and chatting with these little fluffy guys and gals. 

This next week, a couple of luck little chicks may even get to make a trip to my preschool to visit my class.

It is colors week and would be a fun thing to add to the rest of out stuff.

The big girls and roo next door keep trying to catch a peek at the new neighbors. 

I keep telling them, all in good time.  

I am always amazed at how fast they grow, especially the meat chicks.  They are already showing signs of being bigger then the 2 layers.  Fancy has taken to napping in the feed dish to insure she never gets left out when it comes to food.  I think that is pretty smart when you are the smallest. 

First Day of School

Today is a big day at out house.  (Yesterday was also.) 

Our girls, Elle and Lizzy, start 4K today and Adin started 1st grade yesterday. 

I can't believe that all 3 of them are in school.  I am sure that all parents say this at some point,

and I did on Adin's first day of 4K, but where did the time go? 

It seems like just yesterday they were all babies. 

This picture is from the girl's baptism.  Palm Sunday 2008.

Adin had just turned 2 and the girls are almost 3 months old.  Oh how little they were.

I can't wait to hear all their stories tonight when they get off the bus.