Born and Raised Right Here

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All of these chickens were hatched by us except the bantams in the bottom right and bottom center.  The bottom right were hatched by China, our bantam hen, and the bottom center was hatched by the neighbor's hen.  Bottom left is Little Chicken, our soon-to-be mature rooster.  The top six are all hens from Perogi, our RI Red rooster (pea comb) and/or White Cornish Rock or Buff Orpington.

Guess What Didn't Get Done!

Laugh Out Loud!  I didn't get half of my list done this weekend.  Not by a mile!  Not that it's all that surprising.  It was such a lovely weekend.  Saturday was mid-sixties, bright and sunny.  I spent a good part of the day rearranging some of the chickens.  Our newest buff pair got moved out from under the shed, as we needed the room.  Bojangles got a bigger pen.  Little Chicken and the black star that was with him got moved into the big pen with all the ladies.  And, of course, Mike smoked the butt roast. 

Now, to explain the butt roast.  I can't believe all you pervs and sick-o's!  See, here in the Carolina's we love our barbeque.  It ain't Texas BBQ.  They have brisket and beef ribs with red, tangy suace.  Here in eastern NC we do pork.  Pulled or chopped, on or off a bun, cole slaw, french fries, and the sweetest iced tea!  The best part of the pig to use for such (though other parts can be used is a Boston Butt.  It is a large hunk of meat that comes from the upper part of the shoulder.  I don't know why it is called a butt, but it is perfect for smoking.  We put it on the grill with oak or hickory wood chips (a few weeks ago we used apple wood).  Mike soaked the wood in water to make it burn slowly, but hot.  Our butt roast smoked for nine hours on Saturday!  Then we used a blend of secret herbs and spices mixed in a gallon of apple cider vinegar to barbecue sauce.   Mmmm...mmmm...mmmm...mmmm!  Good stuff!

Sunday, Mike helped Pat clean and partially paint a trailer he bought to haul his lawn mower and other stuff around.  That took up a good part of the day.  I was working on the double-decker pen.  Little Chicken was in the lower part of the dbl decker.

Isn't it amazing how big he's gotten!  He's the first chicken we hatched in the incubator!  He's RI Red (rooster with pea comb) and White Cornish Rock (meat hen) mixed.  He's a gorgeous bird.  He and the little black sex-link were moved in the all the other hens.  We cut out part of the floor of the dbl decker to make it into a more sturdy pigeon coop.  They need something better than what they are in, really.

It was a productive weekend.  We ended it with my nephew, Joel's birthday part at Pizza Inn.  While we were there a nasty thunderstorm blew in (because it was 72 degrees according to the weatherman).  The wind blew at over 40 miles per hour.  But it was a nice party  Happy 6th Birthday JJ!

Got more pics for later this week.  I got the camera back from Mom at the party. 

Lacking the Visual Aids

Well, Mike managed to leave the camera in my mom's car....which is now an hour and a half away.  So I cannot take any new pics or down load the ones already on the camera.  But I didn't want that to keep me from posting.  So I am posting today without any pictures to show you guys.  I have a number of hens that should be laying right now, even with the cold weather.  A friend of mine that works for the same company as I do also has chickens.  He is getting eggs from his, but I have not gotten a single egg since before Thanksgiving.  That's about a month and a half without eggs.  I have been feeding them well a mix of layer pellets and scratch grains.  I know there's not a lot of day light now, but I should be getting something!  Well, someone better start laying soon, or I will have farmer come over and dress a few for the dinner plate! 

So with all that in mind, he (my friend) was asking how many hens I have that should be laying.  I didn't have an accurate count, so I grabbed a note pad and tried to count them.  If I'm not missing anyone I have counted 9 roosters and 35 hens.  But some of the hens are not of laying age quite yet.  I have 22 hens that should be of laying age, including 5 or 6 Black Sex Links (known good layers).  With 22 hens of laying age, shouldn't I be getting a couple of eggs a day? 

Here's about what I have:
Silkies: 1 white rooster; 1 white hen; 1 blue rooster; 1 blue hen (white hen lays, blue hen is one-eyed and may not lay)
Orpingtons: 1 buff rooster, 1 black rooster, 5 buff hens; 1 black hen (all laying age)
Sex Links: 6 black hens (laying age)
White Cornish Rocks: 5 white hens (laying age)
Rhode Island Red: 1 rooster (pea comb)
RI Red/ White Rocks: 5 hens; 1 rooster (Little Chicken)
RI Red/Buff: 5 hens (not laying age)
Dominique (I think): 1 rooster
Cuckoo Maran: 1 rooster (Bojangles)
Mixed Bantams: 1 rooster; 5 hens (2 laying age)

One Moving Day

I got home from work yesterday and went out to feed the birds. I have five bitties (not quite old enough to be cockrels or pullets yet) that have been in a bitty box. But they were getting a bit big for the box. So I had to move them. But I had to divide the coop for the three bantam teens first. So while I was doing all that I decided to let the ladies run around the yard to eat grass, bugs, and whatever else they thought would make a great snack. Those buffs are something else. They are quite sneaky like John Gray's little ducks. I turned my head for a moment and they were gone. Of course, they haven't found a favorite place yet. Sometimes they slip past the short pines into the garden. Occasionally they go around the side of the house to the front yard. Yesterday, they went behind Henry's shed into his back yard. And they do not like to go back into the coop for the evening, either. But I finally got the new coop set up for the bitties, and they loved it. They discovered dirt and went straight to fluffing their feathers in it. The bantams didn't like having to share a coop, but they sure were interested in checking out the new neighbors!! And, yes, China did have her babies. She's not letting them out, yet, though. She barely lets them out from under her wings! I have a pic here, but it's not a clear one. I had a half lid on it to keep the

wheat straw in, so I took it off yesterday to encourage them to come out. She will get hungry soon, and they will follow her out, I guess.

I suppose I better get some work done. I'll be back later. Y'all have a good one!!

No More Holiday : (

Well, my little holiday is all over. What a very sad thought. I have returned to the chain gang. I didn't go to the beach. Some things came up. I had some business affairs that I needed to take care of this past week. Isn't that a lovely way to spend a holiday? I did have a nice 4th of July. Mike and I drove to my parents' home on Friday. Then my mom and I went shopping. We picked up a whole pig that I cooked for the holiday. My niece and nephew were at my parents' also. Then on Saturday all my brothers and sisters and their spouses and children were there. I wish I had taken a picture of the pig, but I didn't take any pics at all that day! How dumb of me. We had a good time, though. Oh!!! Elvis came home!! He showed up Thursday evening!! He almost got shot at with a pellet gun. Prissy is in heat, and this male cat keeps hanging around. So we have to shoot "at" him with a pellet gun (not shoot him) to scare him off. He's black like Elvis. So at first we thought Elvis was this black cat. Anyway, he's been in my bedroom since Thursday. His food, water, and litter box are in there, temporarily for sure. He's eating, drinking, and pottying, but rarely comes out of the room. That's not like him. Hope he's back to his old self soon.

Here's the beginning of the new coop. We obviously have not finished yet. I haven't gotten the wire either. I think it will be nice when it is finished. It's hard to find the time to do all the things I want to do around the house, though.

These are a couple of the ladies waiting on the new coop. At least I think that's how we're gonna do it. I think the Buffs and the Sex Links will go to the new one. We will see if I ever get it finished. One of my Buffs is in with Perogi. She has four eggs that I'm hoping she's gonna hatch for me. I just wanna see what the kids will look like. LOL!

I need to get outta here. I have some fuel reports that are not matching up. I'm even coming up short 500 miles on one. I'm sure it's a simple mistake, but they're getting old. There's always at least one that is wrong every month. Wish me luck! Have a good one, y'all!!

A Bit on the Gang

Well, I'm not where I can start posting pics yet, but I suppose I can at least give you some wordage about the gang. Mike and I live on a small plot. It's a little over a half acre, I believe. We have a nice neighbor on one side, Henry. He's divorced with kids that stay with him part time. He's a good guy. He's always offering to lend us things like a hoe for the garden, scratch when we run out before I can get to TSC or things like that. On the other side used to be Ron and Susanne, but they, too, are divorcing. They put their house on the market and moved away. Now the home is empty and up for sale. Don't know much about the folks across the street. Mr. Wade lives across the field behind the house. He owns the field. This Spring he plowed a few rows for Henry and us to plant. I have squash, canteloupes, watermelons, okra, tomatoes, beans, radishes, eggplants, corn and cucumbers growing. Sometimes I let the hens out and have to watch them. They try to get in the garden to scratch.

We have two dogs, Max and Minnie. Max is a Toy Poodle. He's smart and loyal. He's a good dog and very "motherly". Minnie is a Rat Terrier mix. She's over weight. She loves to eat and eats almost anything. I try to keep her on a diet, but she sneaks in bites of cat food and everything. We have two cats, Elvis and Priscilla. Elvis is about 6 years old and all black. He spends a lot of time outside. He's fixed and has no front claws because he was supposed to be an indoor cat. But he wouldn't let that happen. Prissy is a gray tabby. She had kittens in April, but there was no way we could keep them in our little place. I tried to find homes for them, but no one would take them. They went to the pound. I hope they were adopted out, but I'm not going to ask. Prissy stays inside a lot and is still young. She's not even a year old. She was way too young to have babies, anyway. We have a Quaker parrot. Her name is Becky. We got her as payment for a debt. She used to be so mean to me. She tried to bite me every time I walked by. She's changed lately, though. I can't pick her up, but she lets me change her food and water and pet her head. We also have a couple of fish tanks. One has a bunch of Fire Belly Mickey Mouse Platys in it. The other has two African Cichlids, two Opaline Gouramis, and an African Brown Knife.

Then there's the chickens. We have four roosters. Perogi is the first rooster we got. He's a Rhode Island Red. He is so mean. He will spur you in a New York minute. He even tries to spur or bite me through the fence when I feed him. He's by himself at the moment. Bojangles is our Dominique rooster. He's very young. He's in a round with a buff hen, but he's not messing with her. Bucky is our Bantam rooster. He's pretty fiesty, too. Mr. Wade brought us a bantam hen for him. Hopefully she will start sitting soon. She had nine eggs this morning. Henry's bantam started sitting at 13 eggs. Then we have Col. Sanders. I don't know what he is. I don't even know if it's a he or a she. I thought she layed an egg once, but someone suggested it was left from the white hen that had been in the round. Mr. Wade swears it's a rooster, but he don't crow. We have four Buff hens that don't have names (yet). We have 10 black Sex Link hens (also nameless) that are still a bit young for laying. And we have 13 White Leghorns that were rescued from Perdue that lay very large brown eggs. One leghorn has a gimp foot. She doesn't lay. Her name is Dana, after a high school friend also with a gimp foot (lol). We have two bantam chicks that we got from Henry, and should be getting one or two more from him. I think one is a rooster, but I would prefer if the others were hens. I have a small Red/Leghorn mix chick that we hatched in the incubator. His name is Little Chicken. He follows us everywhere and comes when we call. Yesterday her rode around on my shoulder. His sister died in an escape attempt their first night outside. And we have five bitties that just hatched this weekend.

That is our gang. Yeah, I've put a lot up here. But it's a necessary introduction. Hopefully I can start posting pics soon. Hope you like what you have read, and will stick around for a while!!