Well… It started on Friday and here it is Tuesday and nothing has changed. My internet went down and I have been terribly patient and will have no choice but to continue doing so! HughesNet will not be here until MONDAY of next week!!! I have never been down this long and it’s reprehensible service! So.. blog posts will have to wait until then to resume. I’ll try to write while I’m offline and post once I get back online.

Until then… I’ll check emails occasionally when I drive to twon from a WiFi hotspot, but please don’t expect anything quick or regular over the next week’s time.

Until next week….. you should get busy planting, because while I haven’t had a chance yet to blog about it, I have already planted lettuce, spinach, carrots & radishes. I’ve also already moved all the winter chicken coops and am anxiously awaiting my Colored Rangers who arrive this week!!

Oh, I can’t tell you how excited I am!  Yes yes, I DO love ski season and snow, but I’m getting HUNGRY for fresh foods!!!  My husband, an amateur meteorologist, proclaimed last week that after March 5th, we were “done” with the freezing days!!!  I’ve waited, we have watched and just moments ago, I too checked the report on accuweather:  http://www.accuweather.com/us/tn/del-rio/37727/forecast-month.asp See it for yourself!  WARM SPRING DAYS AHEAD!!!  Now, that isn’t to say there won’t be some freezing nights.. but as far as planting goes.. you can protect for that.

The chickens are going to be so much happier now, as the grass has already made it’s first attempts at regrowth for the season.  Bushes & ornamental grasses are working themselves out of hibernation, and even the trees are starting to look like Spring is about to SPRING! 🙂

Today I have to go out & put Diatomaceous Earth in the coop dusting beds and the ones in the yard, so that we are ready for “bug” season before it gets here.  I also have to figure out how to better build in the next boxes for the 4 Post Coop so that they will lay their eggs in there.  Right now, 15 or so hens are frolicking around the yard laying eggs in dog crates, under steps, and even in the Bantam Barn!!!  Which is ok…  but some days we are experiencing a LOT of loss to the dogs, who have grown to LOVE raw egg.

I tried sprouting some seeds for the chooks (chickens) and I’m still not sure what kind of seeds your supposed to sprout, but I tried some food grade peas and it did seem to work.  I did a fairly simple process and will go into details later on once I figure out how to best accomplish this and after I see how much good it really does.  Seems like it is a GREAT alternative for full time cooped chickens and in the winter months where living greens are non-existent.

Well.. 3 days this week my lovely daughter was home from school due to snow.  Monday she went, and today she went (thank goodness) and as a result I have a TON OF THINGS TO DO on the computer here to catch up.  I don’t usually get too much computer work done with her around because it does require focus, especially programming and the like.    So, on that note, I’m off to get some things checked OFF my To Do: list.  🙂

That’s all for now….

except

HAPPY SPRING 🙂

Making Harvest Vegetable Won Tons. Served with a mixed green salad & slice of roasted pork.

Most Won Ton fillings are meat based or cheese based, this is neither.. so I thought I would share this LOVELY veggie filling I use. They are sweet & wonderful and a bit addictive. They make GREAT finger foods & party snacks. The filling stores well in the fridge in a canning jar to be served in freshly baked won tons, over sliced backed potatoes, home fries, thin crust pizza dough or over rice.

Harvest Vegetable Won Ton Filling by Dawn Suiter

Everything should be diced small, no more than 1/4″ pieces and be FRESH uncooked or frozen fresh.   I like to fill up my 4 cup measuring cup as I dice & chop.

• 2 tbs Garlic (not powder, actual garlic)
• 1 cup Onion
• 1 cup Sweet Potato (peeled)
• 1/2 cup Parsnip
• 1/2 cup Carrot
• 1/2 cup Radish (mild)
• 1/2 cup Corn
• 1/2 cup Bell Pepper
• 3-4 tbs Olive Oil (Extra Virgin or Virgin)

1. Saute ALL ingredients (minus bell pepper) in 3-4 tbs of olive oil over medium high heat until sweet potatoes begin to soften.. about 10 minutes
2. Sprinkle with salt, white & red pepper to taste and add 1/2 cup of sweet bell pepper and continue to saute until hot

Shape & Fill the Won Tons

1. Spray cookie sheet with olive oil or butter flavor cooking spray
2. Lay out Won Ton wrapper squares and put 1 tbs mound of filling in the centers and fold won ton to create a triangle pocket.  ***Wet won ton edges slightly with water to seal closed
3. Spray tops of won tons with quick burst of cooking spray
4. Oven Bake @ 350* for 10-15 minutes until edges are golden brown & crispy… (note that in my photo the edges are OVER DONE.. )

This is enough filling for about 50 little pockets.

What is a Won Ton? It’s an Asian (Chinese) noodle usually filled with meat and served crunchy or as a dumpling in soups. The noodle is often called a wrapper.

What is in a Won Ton Wrapper made of? Basically, flour, eggs, salt & water, it’s like a pasta noodle but the dough is cut into approximately 4 inch squares.

How do you serve Won Tons? They are great snacks, side dishes & appetizers. You can also BOIL this won ton recipe instead of baking it, for a different experience. You can serve the boiled won tons in a bowl with a lovely sauce made from some golden squash, like ravioli with red sauce.

Where do I get Won Ton wrappers? They are generally available in the produce section, or the open coolers with tofu, organic fresh foods, egg roll wrappers or near bean sprouts in the produce area.

OR

Make your own Won Ton wrappers (from about.com):

• 1 egg
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup water, as needed
• Extra flour as needed

Preparation:

Lightly beat the egg with the salt. Add 1/4 cup water.

Sift the flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the egg and water mixture. Mix in with the flour. Add as much of the remaining water as necessary to form a dough. (Add more water than the recipe calls for if the dough is too dry).

Form the dough into a ball and knead for about 5 minutes, or until it forms a smooth, workable dough. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out until very thin, and cut into 3 1/2-inch squares. Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.

I was not prepared.. I should’ve checked the weather forecast before bed… but instead I relied on memory and gossip for a solid weather forecast.  Guess what, gossip was wrong.  The rain did NOT come later on in the day Monday (today) but instead early and first.

What does that matter?  Well..  my darling husband, bless his heart, got up with me at 4:30 a.m. to trudge outside in the rain storm to collect two cockerels who had hunkered down in the open last night for bed time.  They are young still AND new to the whole perching and living free range and so they haven’t quite gotten the hang of it yet.  Since it wasn’t going to rain and it’s relatively warm, I figured why not let them figure things out on their own!  But in a downpour is NOT the right time.  Besides the two Orpington cockerels there were also a couple of cardboard boxes I was going to use yesterday to plant the onions & radishes AND my seed packs!!!  Stupid me.. I’m terrible about cleaning up after a long day of work and if the weather is going to be good, I just leave stuff where it is and go on inside.   This has worked out to my/our disadvantage I can’t TELL you how many times, but still… still I slack & get lazy and figure, it’s no big deal.  Well.. as I get older I care more and more about ruining things that I’ll have to replace, but instead of putting things away right away.. I’ll just get up at 4 a.m. if I have to 😉

So I didn’t get to plant the radishes or onions because turning over the garden beds took MUCH longer than I anticipated.  We did get a good portion done of the back garden bed, with the new fence, so I went ahead and put in a few cucumber seeds in the back corner.  I used a broken water cooler bottle w/the bottom off and really buried that into the ground over the seeds.  I should hope it will create the perfect environment to sprout a seed within 7-10 days, and to grow a seedling for another 3 weeks post.  On good & sunny/warm days I can take it off and on cooler days I shall just leave it in place… or perhaps open it for short bursts or tilt it a bit if need be.    Wednesday & Thursday we are expecting SNOW so I shall wait before putting in the onions & radishes I think until after this snow & frost passes and we’re into the next warm spell.  I still need to work the soil a bit in that garden area so it’s better to wait.  I’ll stay busy with my indoor gardening, and seed starting.

I also have eggs to care for as the first incubator started whirring yesterday morning with I think 40 total eggs inside.  Not NEARLY enough egg from my GLO families but they are young and the season is just starting.   One of the coops that one of my pairs was in kept blowing open in our crazy wind storm allowing her out with the free ranging rooster(s) and so I have to segregate them for 3 more weeks before I can collect her eggs.  WHAT A SETBACK!!!  So instead i collected all the BlueXBlue Orpington eggs I could get.  I would really like some splash chickens so badly, and they are awful hard to come by.   Everyone wants Blue Orpingtons, but you can’t just hatch Blue Orpingtons without a Splash & Black Parent.  So that would really save me from hatching extras of the wrong color.   During the next 3 weeks.. well 2.5 weeks, I have to perfect a “hatcher”.  A hatcher is a box meant for the purpose of hatching eggs, NOT incubating.  That means that the requirements are a little more flexible, a little less strict and in my case I need 2 so that I can always reliably hatch different families in different places to keep them straight!  I have two clear tubs, some preliminary experimentation has taken place and now I’ve got to get them going and ready for the eggs in 17 days from now.

That’s all for now, I must start getting things done!

I’ve decided the best thing for me to do is to log in here and blog to you over coffee!  There is almost a guarantee that I will have coffee at the computer every morning, except those days that I don’t ;), and so I figure this would be a good time to go over what I did or plan to do.  Ready? Set? Let’s go!

Yesterday was the first warm day here in what seems like months.  It was too warm in fact, shorts & t-shirt weather if you were outside working semi-hard.   I did just that too really, I was digging, cleaning, hauling and overall doing a lot of walking around too.   It was simply beautiful and I really was feeling motivated to get some things done.

As you may or may not know, we have started working toward fencing in more & more of our land so that the dogs & chickens have more space to sprawl within the confines of the fence.  As a result last year we finally got big enough in the fall to include ALL of our gardens inside the fence line.  Now of course I realize that poses a problem for this spring’s plantings, which is, they are going to be eaten before they get a chance to grow!!!  The chickens are going to eat all of my plants before they even turn into produce!!!  So yesterday I started with the only garden that does not have chickens in it over the winter months, and fashioned a garden fence out of miscellaneous supplies.  I’ve used sticks, branches, driveway markers, a few green fence posts, pallets, chicken wire, welded wire, some lattice & netting to complete the back garden.  I would like a gate, but for now we will have to step over the chicken wire portion to get in.    It should be fairly safe from all but the avid flyers in the group, but I can put a top net on it, if need be.

I’ll be starting back here again today, Sunday, by turning over all the dirt & incorporating some of last years compost creations.   The planting rows will be formed and TODAY, I will plant a few White Onions in open cardboard boxes over the soil.   This way, when the frost & snow come again… I can simply close the top of the box or cover the box with paper, plastic or fabric to protect the plant inside.. I can also fill a 2-liter or milk jug with hot water and place it with the plant overnight for additional protection if it’s going to be bad or long term.   I have never tried this before, and so will report on my success or lack there-of but I am excited to be doing it.   This is why I am only planting a few.

There is also a place for flowers now in each garden bed, as I realized that clearing my landscape of flowers simply meant that the bees & hummingbirds wouldn’t come around anymore.  So now I’m doing a little flower with every garden in hopes to bring back some pollinators.   I’ll be starting some radishes today too I think under soda bottle greenhouse tops.  These are easily removed every day and put back at night if need be.  There will also still be a fair amount of straw available down the middle of each row (keeps us less muddy) to use to insulate & protect.  WINTER IS NOT OVER, but it sure is about 6 weeks away…

I picked up soil yesterday too for getting my starter plants underway.  Friday is the first meeting for the Newport Farmer’s Market and I’m excited.   This will be my first year participating with the market fully and I just can’t wait.   I plan to bring starter plants, eggs & whatever garden extras I can gather each week.  Since the local stores don’t carry starter plants for some of the things that I grow, I hope that others will want some too.  Black beans for instance… they grow WONDERFULLY here but you can’t find a plant growing anywhere at the stores & shops… since that bean is important to me.. I will try sharing that love with others.  I don’t have too much else that is exotic really.. but I can sell some Brandywine tomatoes maybe…  but everyone has those!

I did finish me seed order for the year!!  Hip hip.. HOORAY!  That means that I had to sort through and trash anything old, make lists of what I was going to focus on this year, take last years lessons and really get a good game plan together.  I don’t want repeats of previous years, because we’ve already made those mistakes… no need to do it again.   We had such great success with the sweet potatoes last year, we’re planting two varieties this year.   We will have only 1 big crop of corn, and the back wall of the back garden that I mentioned earlier, is ready with lattice & chain link fence to hold the 12 pickle plants we’re doing.  Lexi & I LOVE pickles.. I need about 24 quarts of them a year.  I only put up 30% of that last year and it was a bummer because we haven’t been able to have many pickles but in a few months that will be all over.   Since pickles are a short crop, I can plant those along the back of the sweet potato garden, and they will be done LONG before the sweet potatoes need the space.  Plus that garden area gets progressively shadier as the season marches on… the trees along the mountainside grow in shading it heavily come July.   Which is bad for pickles, peppers & tomatoes, but GREAT for sweet potatoes.

I also bought an inexpensive grow light to help my seedlings.  The beautiful window we have just doesn’t face the right direction and so only sees late afternoon natural bright light & sun, which is always making my seedlings leggy.  Every year they are almost a total waste.  This year I will use the light to help supplement natural light AND I will try some directly outside, protected & insulated.. again using my cardboard box cover & maybe some old tires.  In this instance though I want to shrink wrap some plastic over the top I think.  I’ll let you know.

Ok.. that’ll have to be enough of an update for now.   I’ll try & post later on the incubation start to my 2nd generation of the Gold Laced Orpington project, because if you check my farm calendar.. that also starts TODAY!  But it’s going to be another beautiful 60*F day and I really want to get outside!

Well.. if you haven’t yet seen this movie, I suggest that you do.  No, it’s not your typical industry bashing film, it’s much more hopeful and encouraging than I expected.  In fact, it’s probably the best film I’ve seen on the topic as it leaves you with a feeling of awe & respect and even some motivation.  Basically, they help to lay everything out for you to understand, and then show you how easy it is to fix it.  Well.. easy is an understatement of course because it’s going to be QUITE complicated and QUITE difficult to effect any real change, but what they point out is HOW we can get started on a road that will naturally lead to the correct outcome… Sustainable, Healthy foods for all!

The “truth” as I learned it from this very simple yet eloquent film is that the REAL problem, is us.  Yes yes.. we know… we’re awful, eat what we shouldn’t do what we shouldn’t etc, but really, it’s not so hard to be good after all!!!  I can still LOVE burger, steak, chicken & turkey, I can still eat fried foods, chocolate & ice cream type munchies and I can still eat Fast Food (albeit not at many places).  The only thing is, that now I need to care where it came from, say NO when it came from somewhere unacceptable and choose something else instead.

I have made the commitment for our family to avoid feed lot meats and to support sustainable meat & vegetable farming methods from now on to the extent that we find possible.  I think the last bit is very important, because there is only s0 much you actually CAN do depending on where you live and your financial situation.  But I gotta tell you, being broke is NO excuse… it does not cost more to eat healthy.. the bottom line is eating healthy just isn’t glamorous and so we don’t want to do it.

I have just placed our order for half of our chicken meat for the year 2010.  I chose to purchase Colored Freedom Ranger Broiler chicks from JM Hatchery because I ALSO do not want to continue supporting the “meat bird” industry as it is an abomination, in my opinion.   I feel very strongly that if you stripped away all of my culture and brought me back to pure instinct.. I would prefer a dinner that I could give a little chase to as opposed to a blob of meat to unhealthy to get up and walk around.  They are unnatural no matter how well cared for they are and I am glad there are other alternatives.   The Freedom Rangers will do well free ranging for a portion of their food, have retained the instincts & mobility of a quality heritage breed but will dress out in about half the time of a traditional heritage variety.   They will get minimal intervention on our part and we will see how it goes this year before we make any long term commitments to raising our ENTIRE poultry meat supplies for each year.   I do have access to free range poultry at the market if need be too 😉

I have also found that Bison is FANTASTIC and that I will not be eating much ground beef anymore ever!  Ground Bison really is WONDERFUL with such GREAT flavor and none of that sour smell that I associate with beef.  It’s very clean, low fat & naturally raised and it’s long overdue for Bison to make a comeback in North America.. it’s the ORIGINAL red meat 😉

I’m locating local farms with free range grass feed beef & pork.  I am perfectly accepting of feeding corn & hay/feeds as supplements IN ADDITION to the range feeding free access but do want to make sure first & foremost that they are raised well and are in good conditions during their short lives.   Their diet is just as important but I figure if these animals LIKE corn & choose it sometimes, that is ok too!  Everything within reason.. ya know?

Well…  I just wanted to update you on my own findings.  It’s probably a bit of a ramble, especially if you haven’t seen the movie.  Well.. if you haven’t… you are missing out and you should.  The truth about our food supplies is something everyone should know.  And if your like me, you’ll find that it’s NOT THAT HARD to participate in a GOOD and healthy system….  it is a little more work.. but the reward is VERY BIG for not just you and your family, but the whole planet!!  You can do it!!!  We can ALL do it!!!  And yes.. you CAN love meat too 😉  Yummy Bison Burgers!!!  😀

I just have a moment, and wanted to post to let you know that I am very sick.  I am having respiratory distress problems and have been released from hospital.  I am on medication, this should pass within a few days.  If you are trying to get hold of me, via email or phone, please understand I am spending time recovering.

I will be back online as soon as I can.

Seed orders are still being filled by my family.

It’s quite unbelievable to me that it is partway through January already!  I have been SO busy, and that is an understatement for certain!  I hope you had a WONDERFUL holiday, no matter which you celebrate, and that your families (poultry, pets & livestock too) are healthy, happy & successful!

For me, last year went out with a BANG!  I came up with a wonderful idea to start sharing the Chicken Snacks I created for my own flocks, and so far they have been very well received.  I still have some kinks to work out as far as printed recipes go, and some of the folks who have been buying these snacks are really quite creative & helpful in that they are sharing their experiences & suggestions with me so that I can pass them onto others.   I’m looking forward this year to getting all the legal paperwork done so that I can make this into a bona-fide side business for myself.  I’d like to do more than just sell the Chicken Snacks, as I am always swirling with ideas and brimming with creative talent 😉  (don’t worry, I can still fit my head through the coop doors :D)

So far this year the ENTIRE country practically is freezing.  Even our Florida Oranges need little winter jackets (can you imagine?? LOL) because the Arctic air from our friends in Alaska & Canada has decided to head south for some winter fun.  Fun perhaps for Jack Frost, he might have a chance to defrost, meanwhile us southerners are FREEZING OUR WATTLES OFF!!!!  Seriously! Enough with the cold I say.  While I continue to read stories of good people losing their chickens to this cold, I have found that mine are doing well.  Can I get two cheers for COLD HEARTY birds??  Hip Hip Hooray, Hip Hip Hooray!  There is a little drying on a couple of the roosters combs, but by and large everyone is out and about even in the single digit temperatures.  Crazy chickens!   I do have 1 hen in the house though, she is in a crate in our living room until further notice.  It’s a buff hen, and for some reason or another, she had the hardest time getting rid of her mite infestation.  But finally she was free of them and started laying eggs again.  Then the cold hit, and the mice came flocking back and the mites have re infested her again, her and 2 other birds out of my flock of 50 or so.  Totally strange.  Anyway, I thought she was going to clean up well, I did treat for them and about two weeks later when it was time to give her a second dose we found her in the nest box ‘flipping out’.  I really don’t know what to call it, her head was flying everywhere, like Stevie Wonder motion combined with a seizure.  It was scary, losing her balance, she was clearly on the verge.  We brought her in, flea shampooed her to remove the mites immediately, gave her the follow up dose and decided to keep her in.  She is still missing a good deal of feathers from the molt, and I think that the cold simply put her over the edge.   She spazzed out all day the first day, we gave her vitamin water & I scrambled an egg for her which she ate greedily while still wrapped in a bath towel.  Its a good thing because judging by her droppings, she hadn’t eaten in a day or two.  She hadn’t lost any significant body weight though.  Then we provided some Flock Raiser and let her be in her crate while she dried under a heat lamp.  Day 2 we saw a few of the “spasms” in the morning hours but she was calm & still most all the day eating more and more, even preening by the evening.  Day 3 is like a different chicken.  She’s up and around, is eating well.. the droppings are more & more solid each time.  We even let her run around the house briefly yesterday.   Actually I was making up some chicken snacks, mixing seeds, and I spilled a few and thought she might clean them up for me, like the dogs do the rest of the foods.  So I put her on the floor by the pile I made and she looked at it, then looked at me like “WHAT?  You want me to eat off your FLOOR???  What do I look like? A DOG??”  I swear, it was funny.  How silly of me to think that a chicken might eat the sunflower seeds & corn off the floor.  Nope.. grass, dirt or feed bowls only apparently for my flock 😉

Anyway, everyone else really is doing well.  All who were laying are still laying.  8 of the Australorps have started laying, even Lexi’s Bantam Cochins have started to lay.. their first egg came on a single digit day!  Go figure, these chooks don’t seem to mind the cold much at all.   The ones who are NOT laying, are all older.  They were 7 or 8 months old when the cold set in and they quit or they were a year & a half old and quit laying at the molt and haven’t started again yet.  ALL of those who should’ve came into lay in the middle of Nov/Dec & now Jan, seem to be laying right through as if to scoff at the sun and show their defiance of mother nature!

Well.. it’s been a long post, and I should scoot off now to get other things done………..

I spoke too soon.  My daughter just came in from filling feeders with a Cockerel from my GLO pens, he was bleeding ontop of his beak.  It looks as though he’s torn the connection where the comb comes in or just even peeled back a little skin right there.  I applied some Quick Stop and held pressure on it, CAREFULLY blocking his nostrils so he didn’t inhale that stuff.  So… there is our first cold weather injury…  it’s single digits again out there right now, highs in the teens today so we’re having to check often on everyone, replenishing warm water etc.  Lets hope Jack Frost heads home soon and this is worst we’ll see.

I hope to get a regular blogging schedule this year, so that it will be easier for those of you who are following along, to know when I’ll be blogging.  I’ll let you know!

Whole grains for feeding chickens

So,  I’ve had chickens for a year and a half now, and through the course of that I have relied heavily on Purina feed as our main staple.  Many of you know that I feed (well used to feed) Flock Raiser exclusively to anyone over the age of 6 weeks.  It has served me well for the most part, I have happy healthy chickens, who lay well and are often commented on.  I get emails asking what I feed my chickens, so that they can too duplicate my results.  Considering a change in diet, has been both scary,  exhausting and well worth it.

Scary because of the old adage, ” if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
Exhausting because of the endless hours over the course of months I spent learning and will continue to spend learning
Well worth it because I NOW know better, and my chickens are benefiting from this knowledge and so am I.

Now, the notion that we are capable of formulating our own feed rations, is daunting to say the least.  There are a GREAT many considerations, and it isn’t easy to figure everything out at first but once you have it, it’s a breeze from there.   The wonderful Excel spreadsheet I created automates the process of calculations for me so all I do is change the recipe ingredients around and nutritional information is automatically figured on my whim.  I’m having a great amount of fun creating different formulas for different purposes, almost like a video game, beating it level by level or price per pound.

I want to present to you a single concept to consider:

Do you formulate your OWN feed rations on a daily basis?  Or do you buy a complete bagged feed for yourself and eat that everyday, every meal to no end?

I should hope the answer is YES I do decide what I am going to eat everyday and NO I do not buy a “complete” bagged feed and eat that for every meal.    If you answered that in the opposite, I expect this post will not mean a whole lot to you, and you might just skip it all together.

You see, we feed ourselves every day, yet we are complex beings who need a balanced diet offering protein, fat, carbohydrates, the right balance of calories to energy output, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and so on.   As complex beings, we give birth, work hard, learn, raise kids, and enjoy full lives.  If we slack on our diets, we feel it, we notice it, it affects us.  Some of us take a Multi-Vitamin everyday to make SURE that we are getting enough of these vitamins & minerals.  Some of us worry less than others, but by and large we all do try to some degree to make sure we are getting enough nutrition to live a long life.

So why should chickens be any different?  The truth is they aren’t, it’s just not something we know much about!  After all many of us are first time chicken owners, and as a barnyard animal, they haven’t really gotten a lot of mainstream attention, funding & motivation is low in the area of research, and with such large commercial operations offering us an easy solution, why should there be?   The answer to that is a personal one,  but for me, it DOES  matter because I am not only interested in eating their eggs, and trying to breed beautiful examples but I also want to eat the occasional extra rooster as well.  Their health is VITAL to my success with any of those goals, and so that is why I set out on the quest to learn more.  I figured, if I learned more and ended up right where I was already, finding that the bagged Flock Raiser pellets were best for me, than so be it!  Learning did not mean I was going to be forced to change, I figure at least if that is what happened, I would KNOW in my heart that it was the best choice I could make and leave it at that.

What I DID learn is that Flock Raiser is an excellent feed, and that I will continue offering it to my chickens.  However, it is no longer the exclusive feed here ‘on the farm.  I now am offering several options to my chickens, in addition to the Flock Raiser.  I have learned that they are capable of making good choices and if given the option to do so will eat what they need and not much more.   The addition of whole grains & seeds as well as a regular source of animal proteins,  have been wonderful and my chickens are very happy with them.  They think that the grains are treats! 🙂  I can vary the whole grains & seeds based on the season, or a particular groups needs.   For instance right now I’m working on a formula for my white chickens that does not include any corn!  I developed a higher protein/molt formula for my chickens were were desperately trying to regrow feathers before winter.  I made a snack mix that I can toss out anytime, and an Omega 3 formula to enhance the quality of the eggs I get!

It’s been very exciting, I feel like such a good chicken mom now, and I think the extra work is minimal really.  The reward definitely outweighs the work involved.

I’m going to close on that note now, and come back to tell you more and more as time goes on…  this post is already over 900 words, and I know how exhausting reading can be.

I look forward to the next post…  now I must go haul warm water outside.  🙂  Remember, try to keep your water above 40 degrees F so your chickens will drink plenty of it!

First Snow 2009

We woke up today to find a lovely layer of white powder everywhere.  There was a couple of inches on the cars and various depths in the yard.  I can’t say I wasn’t expecting it, because we were.  This last 2 weeks have been spent buttoning up and preparing for it.   It was exciting, and might even stick around for a day or so!  Tonight’s low temperatures are in the low 20’s so I will have to thaw waterers in the morning.  Make sure you visit my home page, so that you can see the coops all covered in snow too!

There is no easy cheap way to keep water from freezing, but I sure wish there was.  Many a good hours have been spent and will continue to be spent on the topic.  The easy answer is to just haul out warm water when it’s too cold for the chickens.  Right now, I’ll be switching everyone over to 3 or 5 gallon buckets for the winter, so it’s easy to pour in new hot water in the morning.

I’m doing the whole grain feeding routine now, in addition to my Flock Raiser pellets and so far the chickens and I are very happy.  I’ll make a new post on that topic this week as I have so much to share!