Backyard Chicken Shirts

I love my Backyard Chickens Shirt by PugWiggles
Design your shirt at zazzle

Backyard Chickens, a GateWay Livestock Shirt by PugWiggles
Browse more Chicken T-Shirts

Flamingo Chicken Tshirt by PugWiggles
Make cheap custom t-shirts at zazzle.ca

Ten Things Most City Dwellers Do Not Know About Chickens

1.Chickens are omnivores. They eat a variety of things from grains, corn, fruits and vegetable to yogurt, fish, bugs and even chicken! Meat is one of their favorite foods.

2.Chickens lay eggs naturally when they get 14 hours of light. They do NOT need a rooster or any type of hormones to lay. There is NO hormones in laying feed – it is unnecessary and illegal.

3.Chickens kept by commercial farmers usually have their beaks cut off so they can not hurt each other badly when they are crammed in to tight quarters together . Cutting their beaks causes them pain and can make it difficult for them to eat.

4.To get eggs during the winter, artificial lighting is used so the hens get 14 hours of light daily.

5.The colour of egg a chicken lays is based on the colour of their ear lobe. Generally red chicken lay brown eggs and white chickens lay white eggs, and there are chickens that lay pink eggs, blue eggs etc.

6.Due to their healthier life style and proper diet, chickens that have access to the outside, lay eggs that have more health benefits than hens stuck in a barn all day eating nothing, but laying feed do. Chickens that are allowed outside lay eggs with a orange yolk instead of a yellow yolk. Eggs from hens that are allowed to range outside during the day contain more vitamin A and E, more beta carotene, and more omega-3 fatty acids than eggs from caged hens do. They also contain less cholesterol and saturated fat

7.There is no difference between white eggs and brown eggs

8.When allowed to free range around a farm all day, chickens will return to the coop each night.

9.Chickens like to sleep on a perch

10.Chickens can easily be taught to come when called

Chatabout

For those who would just like to make a little extra money each month, check out Chatabout. It's a very simple site. Nobody is going to get rich working on it, but it can help put a little extra spending money in your pocket.

Just use the link below:

http://chatabout.com/home/54790

Chatabout pays via PayPal or \you can get gift cards

Banana Bread Cookies

I saw this on Facebook. It doesn't get much easier ...

Homemade Snickers Bars

A friend posted this recipe on Facebook. Sounds great!


You'll Need:
24 oz of Milk Chocolate Chips for coating the bars
1/2 stick butter or margarine
1 c. sugar
1/4 cup condensed evaporated milk (this is canned milk, but NOT sweetened)
7 oz Marshmallow Creme ( marshmallow fluff)
14 oz caramel squares
1/3 cup peanut butter
14 oz of whole peanuts
4 tablespoons Water (for caramel)

Line a 9 x 13 dish with foil, "grease" with butter.

Melt about 1/2 a cup of Chocolate over a double boiler, once melted pour onto the buttered foil, spreading evenly with the back of a spoon. Place in fridge to set.

In the meantime...

In a med. saucepan combine sugar, butter, and evaporated milk, stirring constantly over med heat until mixture thickens and comes to a rolling boil, cook 4 minutes., stirring constantly Remove from heat and add peanut butter and marshmallow creme.

Pour the mixture over the chocolate & stick it in the fridge to solidify quickly.
Heat the caramel in the microwave or a double boiler with a few tablespoons of water ( about 4) until smooth and creamy.

Then add peanuts and mix.

Pour the caramel mixture over marshmallow layer and spread well until evenly coated over the nougat.

Cool a few minutes to let them set, then cut into bars.

Melt the 24 oz of Chocolate in a double boiler & Dip the bars into the chocolate, let them set on parchment or wax paper until hardened. You can speed the process up by placing them in the fridge for a few minutes.

Weather Warm Up

I'm super happy that the weather is warming up this week! I am soooooo sick of winter! The poor hens have been stuck in the garage 3/4 of this winter. Poor sweethearts

Hopefully tomorrow the ladies will be able to get out and get some exercise and fresh air. They must be bored silly spending their days stuck in the garage.

With the weather warm up I should be able to start tapping the maple trees this week. I'm excited to make some real maple syrup again! Tree tapping begins when the day time temps rise above zero, but still drop below zero. Trees make more sap when it's super cold, so it should be an awesome sap run this year. Once I get the taps up, I'll take some pics for you all.

A Sad Night

Unfortunately, Laverne, my sick Orpington hen, passed away last night.

She continued to weaken as the evening went on and around 10pm, she went into death spasms and died with blood coming up her eyes, nose and mouth. It was horrible and heart breaking.

I went on the Backyard Chicken forum to ask if anyone knew what happened, as my online research could not find a chicken disease that matched her symptoms, and everyone there feels that she had gotten poisoned somehow.

I'm not sure what she ate that poisoned her. I'll be searching the garage, basement and outside today for some clues. I will also be researching what to do encase it ever happens again. (When a dog eats something poison, there are things you can give them )

I'm so sorry for Laverne. I wish I could of done better at helping her.

It's a tough day for me, my heart hurts. I feel like I've failed and it's cost a life. It's tough.

I've seen more animal death in my three years in the country than I have my entire life before moving here. I'm a bit of a crappy farmer, it hurts my heart a lot when i lose an animal. they are not livestock to me, they are beloved pets.

The wheel turns.

Sick Hen

Today when I went out to check the hens and give them fresh water and food, I noticed Laverne, one of the Orpingtons wasn't acting normal. She seemed very lethargic and not her normal ornery self.

I picked her up and brought her inside, but she wouldn't eat any of the special treats I tried to give her. She did drink a little water.

She seems very blah and her one eye seems to be having a hard time opening. There are no wounds anywhere on her.

I checked to make sure she wasn't egg bound and I can't see anything outwardly wrong with her.

I hope she is going to be ok. I'm very worried about her.

Hopefully, she is just felling a little blue due to the long winter.

I gave her some colloidal silver encase it is an inside problem.

Laverne is the sable coloured hen in the photos.

Let's Talk About Chickens

 I've been doing a series of short posts about chickens on the Bubblews site. Please check it out :)

What They Eat

Laying

Egg Colour

Calcium

There will be more short articles on chickens to come

Mother Earth News Garden Planner

I am in the midst of planning my 2014 vegetable garden. Today I found an awesome program on Mother Earth News - a garden planner!

You can check out my garden plans Here ; for the next month

I loved the the garden planner helped with spacing! I have a problem with that

The pic below came from the garden planner. It's off my garden to be!