Praise Him ALWAYS!

We are really please to have hit the 50% mark of our surplus sold, we hope to finally put a sign out as others around town have inquired. We will be getting a few more layers to balance out our hen to rooster ratio. The meat birds will be ordered soon (if you will want some please let me know asap) as we have a standing pre-order. All in all we are very pleased with the current pace and look forward to see what the Summer and Fall will bring. :)

Mag is still a bit of challenge with her kicking, she has gotten a lot better since we started using the milking machine but occasionally she gets so antsy that she even kicks at the milker :( Dh thinks we may need to get a hobble after all, at least until she learns not to kick. I really miss that about Buttercup and Treva.

Miss Broody's eggs did not hatch, we were really bummed but it was great learning experience. Now with warmer weather we may opt to try the experiment again.

The garden is coming along, the potatoes seem to be growing nicely, as are the strawberries, tomatoes, squash and cantaloupe (saved seed from last years volunteer garden). We put the corn in (we are doing a very small patch), with pigeon peas, I really hope they both do well as I LOVE pigeon peas and it is not easy to get it around here. The blackberries, raspberries, grapes and blueberries seem to be doing well. The peach and cherry trees aren't dead so that's progress ;) All in all we are very optimistic for the small (tiny really) garden we have attempted this year. :)

The broody hen

About a week ago we had a huge pile of eggs in the barn freezer so I asked Dh to put so hay on them and allow one of the hens to sit on them. Sure enough we got a volunteer :) The beautiful buff orpington has been setting on "her" eggs since then and Dh takes her food and water. We went to check for other eggs and sure enough the other chickens are laying next to her, lol. There are a few hens laying on the ground behind the freezer so Dh went to check, to his surprise there was another hen laying on some eggs. He reached around her to get the other eggs only to find that she was stiff, we have no idea how long she had been there :( We are keeping an eye on our other broody girl, we have no intention of loosing her, and are very interested to see how many eggs will hatch :)

Production is on the rise :)

Last week Kansas continued to have a very severe heat wave, things looked bleak for the layers. As I mentioned, I started the hens on a new regimen to try to get their production back on track. They had been laying 3 eggs a day and are now up to 12 as of yesterday. We are on well water and while ice is nice, we discovered that our brood prefers their water in a puddle. They get really excited when we come out with the hose and wait for it to form a nice puddle and drink to their hearts content. My theory for this is that they are receiving a double benefit, 1. they are getting the cold water from the well and 2. they are able to cool their feet, which makes them feel cooler. We switched them to the higher protein feed for the energy boost and boy o boy did it help. Even the rooster is friskier, lol. A while ago a friend mentioned that you have to feed a cat if you want it to catch mice, well the same seems to hold true for chickens. You have to feed them to get them to free range, screwy ain't it, lol. They have been venturing out far and wide and enjoying the fruits of the land, they have dug nice spots to sit in the shade of the trees by the coop. There is an energy that they had been missing and now they are up to 1/2 production and we're working to get them back to full. I'll keep you posted. :)


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What a day!!

Actually this started last night. Dh came to pick me up from work and we noticed that the tire was going flat, so we headed to the QT for air. Thinking on his feet he also got a can of fix a flat. We continued on our way home and suddenly the tire blew out. We made it safely to the shoulder and got to working on changing the tire. We talked and laughed as we worked and as dh went to check on . . . I don't know what now . . . the expedition rolled back and slipped off the jack. :( Turns out dh forgot to put on the parking brake as we were on a hill.

The expedition was now too low for us to get the jack repositioned and the time was getting late. This is his last week of work and we didn't want him to run late. In a bind we got the number to the highway patrol and they sent someone out. We got the new tire on and as soon as we got the jacks out, discovered that the tire was very flat :( I asked the patrolman if he could take dh to the gas station across the highway but was told that he didn't have that kind of time. He wished us good luck and left.

Dh rolled the tire down the hill, jumped the fence and proceeded to walk to the gas station that we could see from the highway. 20 minutes later he returned with the aired up tire and we were once again in business. Things sounded a bit wobbly so I asked that we go to the gas station and get more air. We did and the children made quite a production of the matter. Can't blame them really we had been in the care for a few hours at that point.

AR was at his game 2 hours from our home and we were getting stressed as the coach was to be bringing him home and it was already 9:30pm and we were an hour from home. I got a hold of the coaches wife and discovered that the game was still going and they were a run behind. The game turned into a double as they won the first game. We were relieved.

We get home and could not fine Quinn and Lot, we were less than pleased. We locked Treva and Judd down and took care of the pigs and chickens. We drove around the pasture and down their usual road of choice, nothing. We drove around the rest of the property, lights on bright and finally found the boys. They went in quietly and we began working on the garden fence. Not one of our better communication moments. Dh went to work and AR came home (they lost the game, placing them 3rd).

I awoke to the sound of the phone ringing, it was dh. The spare blew out on his way home. :( I woke AR and had him go check to see if the ground was dry around the car and to try to get it out. He returned and told me that the car wouldn't start. Great, once again dh was stranded. Fortunately a nice neighbor brought him into town and he was able to get another ride to the house.

I called the local dealership and he felt certain that he didn't have the tires in stock. I called the towing company and they have a full service deal, he asked what size tires we have and I had no clue. i called the Ford place back and they didn't either. I was not impressed! The towing company came and got dh and the keys and for 3 hours he waited at their place.

While he was there i asked AR to get some scrambled eggs started as we bought eggs from a farm in Derby yesterday. We are sold out of our eggs so we have to buy eggs for the house, lol. Imagine his surprise/disgust when he cracked the egg and discovered a partially developing baby chick. :( Hoping it was a fluke he began cracking them a bit more carefully, he found 2 more. At that point we got out the brightest light we had and every egg in the house was checked. We found another 17. To say the least we will not be buying eggs from those people again!! I also had no interest in having eggs for breakfast anymore, can't imagine why!

The day is mostly over and I am now getting ready to go to work. We have an egg and chicken delivery that needs to be done and i have work that should get finished today. It's going to be a long day. :(



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