Smells Cozy... {{WORDless Wednesday, January 27 2016}}

Nothing makes the house smell or feel as cozy as bread baking in the oven...

I finally found a recipe here that works for me and a warm - critter proof place in the house for the bread to sit and rise...

Even my girls that tell me they don't like crust enjoy this bread.  :)

Jeanette

Chicken Care... vent prolapse

Hello to you!

I'd like to share my first experience with chicken home care... WARNING - my post contains one graphic photo and some icky-butt talk.  But for my vet-tech and nursing friends, fellow chicken keepers or solid stomached friends.. read on!

Saturday before last as I went about my morning barn routine, I noticed one of our hens with what looked like a 'messy bum'.

Much like parents that do a 'diaper wiff test' on their little ones (come on, admit it, we have all picked up our child and did a sniff of the bottom to gauge the severity of the diaper contents) I do peek under my girls' tails from time to time to ensure that everything looks good.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed a soft shell egg attached and her very red vent turning outwards.  Though I had never worked with chickens in my 'veterinary technology' days, I had a pretty good assumption that I was seeing a case of vent prolapse.

Scooping up my little hen and placing her in our 'isolation crate' I came indoors to google vent prolapse.  There are so many great chicken sites out there and each one that I read confirmed what I was seeing was vent prolapse.  Thankfully the soft shell egg came out in one piece and it was just the vent that needed attention.

Taking a quick drive into town for a few supplies gave me the immature pleasure at Derek and I leaving the clerk blushing  as she rang in our Saturday night purchases...

Back at home, I bathed our little hen in warm water to loosen off stool and  any egg remnants before gently easing her vent back inside with a gloved finger.  Patting the area dry, I then soaked a napkin in witch hazel and held it in place to help bring down the inflammation.

A warm straw nest was made in the crate and after a generous dollop of hemorrhoid cream on her bottom she was settled in for the night.

To give her body a rest from egg making and laying, it was suggested to withhold food and to limit the amount of time in light for a day.  We settled her crate in my craft room where the other animals would not be able to bother her and where it could be kept dim.

The next morning she laid another soft shelled egg with a skim of calcium on it and thankfully with no trauma to her vent.  Over the next day we steadily increased her feed again but kept her secluded and quiet with applications of the hemorrhoid cream twice daily.

By day four, with the name "Ultra Violet" given to her by the girls and some much needed rest, she was perky and bright eyed and ready to rejoin her coopmates!

Thankfully it was a mild and sunny morning, so I was able to reintroduce her as the others were venturing outdoors.  This was to hopefully minimize any hen pecking that might occur.

Everyone welcomed Ultra Violet back with no issues and she seems back to normal.

It is disconcerting to read that hens with prolapse can often have it recur.  Fingers crossed that we won't see this again, however, I will continue to look at chicken butts regularly.. just in case.

Thanks for reading,
Jeanette

DUCK eggs.. the secret ingredient!

Howdy all,

I have an admission.
I am no Martha in the kitchen.
I can't even say I try hard.  Recipes are read like a guideline and ingredients are rarely measured; more often than not, just eyeballed.

But over Christmas I had beautiful pastry, tasty pie filling and decadent cakes... all from scratch.. and all with one secret ingredient.


DUCK EGGS.

Say WHAT???

True story.  Prior to Derek adopting ducks, I had no idea that you could eat duck eggs or how tasty they are!  They are bigger, thicker and creamier than chicken eggs and have made all the difference in my home baking.

We are gradually spreading the word on our EGGcellent duck eggs but last week I found myself with an abundance of duck eggs... and one pineapple left over from the holidays.  I decided my family needed a pineapple upside down cake.  I went to my 'go-to' baking guide, a dated, well loved "Five Roses Cookbook" circa 1967.  An easy recipe that even a person as backward as I am in the kitchen can succeed at.

 And so I got to beating my butter and duck eggs and I noticed right away the creamy perfection!!

I burnt my hand twice melting butter and brown sugar in the bottom of the pan because for some reason I just forgot to grab the oven mitt.  ??  (wearing oven mitts was NOT in the recipe I need to add.  ;)  )

However I did not sustain ANY injuries while working with the pineapple.  As we do not have a coring knife, my cake will not have pretty rings of pineapple... just boring slices.

Brown sugar and butter with pineapple slices ready for the cake batter and then into the oven.

Thirty five minutes later... no smoke alarm and a beautiful golden cake.

A dollop of whipped cream and we had dessert.  Of course the girls picked off the pineapple pieces before devouring the rest, but at least the 'duck egg cake' portion was pleasing to their palates.

And with a full pineapple being just a bit too much for one cake, you know who I shared the leftover pineapple with, don't you?  :)

So the proof is in the puddin'... or cake if you prefer.  Duck eggs are wonderful in baking.

Jeanette

A la carte.. CHICKEN style! Or.. what I feed my free range birds.

Happy Monday!!

Sooo... I have learned a ton of what chickens (and ducks) DO and DO NOT eat and what may change when the winter snows cover the scrumptious green grasses or the tasty bugs.  I was surprised at what my birds enjoy eating and thought I would share my discoveries.

We do have a balanced "Layer" stage poultry feed in crumb form accessible to the birds at all times along with fresh water.  We also have dishes of crushed oyster shells for extra calcium - essential in strong egg shell formation.

Another source of calcium for our birds is egg shells themselves.  This surprised me but its true and the birds love to eat them!

I had originally tried just breaking up the shells of eggs I had used in the kitchen but the inner membrane made the shells hard to break into small pieces and the birds didn't seem to enjoy eating the membrane either.  After some reading, I decided to try drying the egg shells in the oven, cooling and then crushing. 

My go to method now is to collect the used egg shells in a dish on my counter and when I have finished using the oven for baking or cooking, I turn off the oven, place the egg shells on a cookie sheet and let them sit in the cooling oven.  By the time everything is cool, I have dry brittle egg shells that I crush in various sizes in a ziplock bag and take out to the coop.

The birds are very happy with the end result!

I originally believed chickens were herbivores... watching them devour mealworms and bugs changed my thinking completely and now, when I am cooking meat - even beef, I take a little bit aside, chop it into fine pieces and share it with my feathered friends.

And even my furry friends.

 Look at Chachi here waiting patiently, giving the hens first dibs on the meat.  What a gentleman.

And bowl cleaned right up.

Lastly, our family always seems to have yogurt in the fridge that is nearing expiration.  Before it gets that far and has to be wasted, I mix it up with a little bit of oats and we have a tasty treat that is high in fibre AND calcium!

Darling, you have a yogurt moustache.

Good sharing, and another bowl cleaned up!

Obviously, all the above are occasional treats and don't make up the majority of the diet.  Just like us, too much of a good thing isn't always the best thing.

Other items from my kitchen that our birds enjoy as a treat are leafy greens (spinach, lettuce) and cooked pasta.  They loooove cooked spaghetti - do they think they are worms? 

And there you go!  Maybe a little more about a chicken's menu than you wanted to know. :)

Jeanette

The Dream... Visualize and Realize.

Hey there!

We are nearing the end of the first week of 2016 and though I am not one for resolutions, I am a goal oriented person and like to revisit my list of long term goals and sometimes cross off successful short term goals.  :)

This time last year our family was contentedly going about daily life in Burlington.  My days were filled with car pools to preschool, Girl Guide meetings and crochet sales.  Fast forward to today.  We have been in our forever home for just over six months now and though we are still content, I feel a lot more daily joy and pride.  

With my laptop back up and running, Derek and I took a peek through our initial photos of our home here on Nassagaweya and reflected on the potential that WE saw when first walked about the property.  Needless to say, there weren't many with us that saw what we saw or fully understood the connection to our dreams that we were feeling.

Here is our first view of the barn (complete with green chainlink fencing and overgrown pastures).

Okay, there IS a part of me that will admit a slight mood of disappointment when I first saw it but it didn't take long to see that although it wasn't aesthetically pleasing, it is a well built barn with a great layout for what were we hoping to have live in it...

Here is our barn today.  Still in need of paint on the roof, but new doors have been built (all by Derek), barn board replaced and windows secured.  Looking at the photo below I just realized I had left the door open... but it IS there.

Green chainlink fencing removed, wooden fence for the horse ring installed and horses in the paddocks behind.  But this next photo shows my favourite accomplishment:

Chicken/Duck coop with free ranging hen... oh and green chainlink fencing.  It came in very handy in fencing off a small yard for times when we need to keep everyone close to home.

Funny... I became a crazy chicken lady so quickly, I didn't even notice it happening.  Love these little birds and enjoy spending time with them.  :)

Alrighty, now for the real deal.  On that cold March morning, we opened the barn doors expecting to see a barn that had been ignored and in need of a little work.  What we were met with was... 

A teenage version of a man cave... complete with BAYWATCH posters and a Lionel Richie album cover (I don't know what that was all about, but okay.. not judging..) moving on...

The white walls in the above picture is drywall that was nailed to posts and beams to create a type of games room with the other sections being storage.  Below was one part of the extra storage areas.. complete with four wheeler and boom box stereo.  :)  For the times you wanna bomb around the yard to the sweet sounds of Lionel's "All night long"...  Again I regress..

Alright, so consider the above photos our BEFORE pictures.  Now, walking into the barn you find yourself in the main hallway with three complete stalls.  Two on one side (the closest stall in the photo below was where the four wheeler was parked) and one stall and a completed tack room along the other side.  

Most of the two inch stall boards were still in the barn and were fitted back into place to divide the stalls.  Derek built and hung the sliding stall doors himself.  Have I mentioned in this post how amazing I think he is??  :)

Here is the tack room, complete with tack!  New floor boards where needed and a solid ladder to the hayloft.

Over the Christmas break, Derek was able to rewire the entire barn.  Some of the wiring looked to be original and was a little scary.  All lights were changed from the fluorescent boxes to shatter proof LED lights.

There is still one end of the barn to be tackled.  Right now it houses the riding lawn mower, wheel barrow and miscellaneous items.  Thoughts have been to make it a run in for animals, hay storage or another stall.  We will see where inspiration and materials take us.  Because that is something that I am thankful for and can't forget to mention.

Though we did need to purchase new wood.. (quite a bit of wood) we were blessed with a lot of usable building materials that were left behind by the selling family.  From larger items such as the tracks for the hanging stall doors to small items such as door latches and green chainlink fencing!  We were able see potential uses in items we had on hand.

So there we are.  An amazing six months looking back.

Thanks for sharing our journey,
Jeanette

Where have we been? Its 2016!!

Happy New Year!  I am so thrilled that the above picture shows off our beautiful duck eggs!  The coop has been a very productive place the last couple of weeks.  All eight ducks have begun laying eggs and we are up to an average of eight to ten chicken eggs per day.  Yay!

Okay, so where have we been?

We have been really no place other than home, TOGETHER and it was lovely!  The first half of our two week Christmas break was very mild and very green.  This was great as we got out and horseback rode plenty.  I really enjoyed my time in the saddle with Nicole.

And when she posted the above picture on her instagram account with the caption "had a great ride today with my amazing mom" it made the day even sweeter!!

Its a great view from here.

After our ride we took the horses out to graze on some of the longer grasses.  Here Tye and Cricket are rocking the new halters and lead ropes that Santa Claus brought for them.  :)

Annie our Percheron is a gentle giant and she and Derek have bonded so much in the last couple of months.  She really IS his horse.  It was great for Derek to have some quiet time riding too.  Though we are still working on a saddle and girth to fit our dear Annie comfortably, we have found a bit and bridle that she tolerates and Derek enjoyed riding around the ring on her... bareback.  So proud of this 'cowboy'.  lol

A man and his horse...

For the first time since 1977 (it was such a great year :)  ) Christmas night saw a full moon.  This was my view Boxing Day morning as we began our morning barn chores.

 You can see there is a light dusting of snow there.  By the end of the year we were enjoying almost a foot of snow (the kids were so happy to be out sledding!) and the lovely -15C temperatures that came with it.

With the new year has come the list making of projects that need attention and things we would like to try our hand at in 2016... but more on that another day.

Thanks for popping in!  All the best to you now and throughout the year,
Jeanette