The Hatch in Review

As was recently pointed out to me that i left you alone -since my last post- to wonder in silence, what had become of my 44 little lives.  Well, here are 30 of them.

Here is what i call "chicken carpet."  It's naptime, and they're all huddled up together in a tight mass.  They look like a great big chicken fuzz rug....that wiggles a little.

We sold them today.  And i'm afraid i was not finished enjoying them yet.  So i'm having a little bit of a downer.  I'm disappointed that i don't have any reason to keep the incubator plugged in right now, and that there's no reason to get up early to turn eggs, and that there's nothing new to see  --- or cheeps to be heard in the living room...

And i'm disappointed about the 14 that didn't make it - and equally eager to start again and do better next time.

On Saturday, after i wash out the incubator liner, i plan to choose 24 eggs, this time, and start again.  If i don't have enough suitable eggs on Saturday, then it will wait a day or two longer.  But now i have a skill to conquer, and i don't want to wait.

My very dear friend, Pam (i have so many friends named Pam that you might won't know of whom i speak, even if you know her), an artistic type, used to tell me about the downer she felt after the completion of some great creative project.  I think that's what i'm feeling now -- the desire to start again, the need to rest, and the loss from having invested so much in something that doesn't need you anymore.  It's not really a loss, but it feels like one.

So, i think i'll do yard work tomorrow.  And disinfect the incubator.  Or something.

Now for more cute chick pics.

I wish i had taken better pictures of these.  I had six or seven nearly identical chicks, who were solid black with yellow throats, bellies, and wing tips.  When they were standing up in front of you, they looked like little penguins.  Very cute!

The box - for going to their new home.

30 chicks in a box (and lots of cute little baby chick poop)

just a cute picture of the very first to hatch

and this little guy with the giant shock of punk rock yellow on his head

the first ten hatches

the first little boy

the original 44 little lives

I miss them.

Peep Peep!

Earlier this evening, we both heard a noise.  Both of us looked up and looked around.  James said, "did you hear a MOUSE?"

I hadn't thought of a mouse.  I thought that it was our youngest chicken outside, Little Guy, who still cheeps like a little one.

Then it dawned on me.

Maybe i should look in the incubator.

Sure enough!

Our first hatch is a little male black sexlink, and the end of day 19.

I know he looks like he's dead right there.  But he's not.  He's just a newborn/newhatch, and he's still working to get out of that dadburned shell.  

I keep going over to the 'bator and cheering him on.  When i do, he perks up and peeps a whole bunch and works some more to get out of his egg.  It's great.

Oh, that inspired me to look around a bit, and i have about ten more eggs pipped.  I may not sleep for a couple days.

DAY EIGHTEEN

I feel nervous.  Today is day 17 of my first incubator incubation.   Each of these 17 days, i have faithfully turned each egg several times per day.  I have candled my eggs on days 10, 14, and 17.  I have drawn on my eggs, made notes on my eggs about my eggs.  I have fussed with the temperature and humidity but not stressed out too much about my eggs.  Every day for 17 days.  I actually schedule my sleep around these eggs.

Tomorrow is day 18.  

Lock down.

On day eighteen, i will carefully position all my eggs for hatching, i will add water to raise the humidity, and i will put the lid on my incubator.  And then i won't open it for possibly five days.  I won't get to touch them or turn them or write on them because they will be busy.  Forty-four little lives inside those eggs will be busily trying to get out.

I really hope they all do it fast so i can hold them.

See, because even if ten of them are hatched, i have to leave them inside to wait for the other 34 to give it a shot.  Opening the lid to rescue the ten could cause the humidity to drop and sabotage the efforts of the 34!

Oh dear!

There they are.  Forty-four tiny beaks and 88 tiny wings.  Eighty-eight little bird feet.  I think the leaving alone is going to be rough.

Thankfully, and possibly to her dismay, Mathilde has come to my rescue.  Mathilde is broody.  So, this evening, i carefully chose 14 eggs for Mathilde to set and hatch.  Oddly, when i gave her these eggs earlier, she just sat there.  Upon the sight of an egg, a broody hen will normally be very quick about tucking it underneath herself in just the right spot.  But for some reason, she froze.  Just like this.

So i left her alone for a few minutes to get comfortable with her new family, but when i came back, she was still sitting there.  In this trance.  I decided to help her out and started tucking the eggs underneath her body.  About 4 eggs into that is when i figured out that this must be Mathilde.  That girl can bite very hard.  In a minute i'll go back outside and check on her (hopefully i'll beat the threatening rain storm).  And hopefully i don't have to help her anymore - i'm not really in the mood for the pain right now.  Ha!

The Best Thing We Could Possibly Do For Our Country

I don't have to rant on this blog about the state of our country, and i'm not going to.

I will say this.  I know that the solution is not in political campaigns.  Political campaigns, without God, will fail to bring new hope (the real kind of hope) to our nation.

Today, i read something from our old pal, Glenn Beck.

He has asked his viewers/listeners/fans to make a 40 days/40nights covenant to do a short list of items.  The first item on the list is prayer and reconciliation with God.  Please read this link.  It's not very long.  And add to your prayers, Glenn Beck.  Thousands of people are listening to him.  Let his words be from God.

Glenn Beck's Pledge


I can't not support a public figure who is asking the nation to pray.

Thoughts, Plans, and Cogitations

I don't know if you're aware of this, but my blog silence sometimes indicates deep cogitations.  Well, sometimes, or about half the time, or at other times, maybe more like most of the time it does.  In any case, it recently does.

Are you lost?  I'm just saying that my recent blog silence is to be attributed to recent cogitations.  That's my vocabulary word for today.

Cogitations about what?

I'm going to tell you.

I think i go through stages.  Well, of course i do.  Everyone does.  The stages i'm talking about are in reference to this farming business dealio.  We'll expand and add and hatch things, and let things be born, and then get rabbits, and then......everything just has to hold still for a while to let us get a handle on things.  And then, after a while, things will be pretty much handled, the kitchen will get clean, the chicken coop will be pleasant (as chicken coops go), and then suddenly, we'll just really need to make some additions.  I've hit the add-something stage.

Friday, i was standing in the kitchen, washing dishes, ruminating on the satisfaction of meals made mainly from food we've grown or raised (which is quite a feeling), when my readiness welled up inside of me, and i decided, "it's time to get a milk goat and some bees!"  This was an important moment in my brain.  These have been goals of our for a very long time, but i haven't been ready to really tackle them until now.  Milk and honey would add so much more!

Bee Hives

Image Credit:  TassotApiaries

Nubian Milk Goat

Image Credit:  Dairy Goat Journal

When my hubby got home, i told him about my ruminations, and he agreed.  It's time for milk and honey.  But we need to build a fence first - at least before goats - and that's a couple of prioritized steps away from right now. 

O.k.

Then, on Saturday, i was reading a thread on BYC and saw a picture of some newly hatched ducklings, posted by a fowl-lover in Michigan, whom i know only as Kedreeva.

This is Ping, Kedreeva's micro duckling.

Image Credits:  Kedreeva

Is that not the cutest thing you have seen, ever?

I have not ever, in all of our musings and plannings of farming and food sovereignty and experimentation and general fun, EVER had any interest in raising a duck.  Ever.  Until now.

But suddenly, i really wanted to hatch some ducks and see them at my house.

So, i started reading about ducks.  In fact, i spent a large portion of Saturday, in my pajamas, reading about ducks.   First thing i learned is that most ducks don't like our weather.  Oh dear.  But then i found out that there's one breed of ducks, Muscovy, that's indigenous to Central and South America and handles our weather just fine. And then i found out all sorts of things about Muscovy ducks that made me think that they fit perfectly into our arrangement, plans, and outlook.  And then i got really excited!

My husband agreed that we could get some (like two) ducks if they didn't take away resources or preparations from our plans for the other animals.  And then i found someone who would give me Muscovy duck eggs for FREE, as soon as she has some.  I'm so excited.  I guess that should have an exclamation point.  I'm SO Excited!!!!!  There. That's better.

Muscovy ducks come in many different colors and varieties, but ours will likely look something like this.

Image from Craigslist Ad

Image from Craigslist Ad

I know.  Now you want some ducks too, don't you?

Enough about ducks (for now).  Because there are more cogitations to share.

This one is about rabbits.  I know.  We already have rabbits.  But this is about the improvement of their habitation.  We really know nothing about what we're doing except what we read and personally experience, right?  Well, we would like to raise our rabbits largely on the grass and vegetation that grows abundantly  around our property, but it is generally unsafe to "free range" your rabbits.  They might not come home, and they will probably have their babies someplace where you can't find them.  This makes the notion of raising rabbits for food kind of silly.  We had also read that if you let them live some place where the actual ground is their floor, they will probably dig out of it.  Harumph.

THEN, this weekend, i read something very exciting.  I read about real live people who have had great success keeping their rabbits in "rabbit tractors."  Like this.

Or possibly, like this.

These cute little shelters allow the rabbit owner (me) to pull the bunny to a new location every day, or when the vegetation runs out, so that the bunny always has fresh food to eat, and she doesn't have to live in a wire cage her whole life.  

I think i will be much happier about raising rabbits when i feel that they are living a more rabbit-like existence.  I will also spend less time dreading the chore of cleaning out nasty rabbit cages.

And hubby says this idea is great.  We'll add it to the plans asap.  Woohoo!

One more cogitation to tell you about (if you're still reading this).

Soap.

Image Credit:  Triangle.com

I'm going to learn how to make my own lye, and then i'm going to have to find someone who will give/sell me their animal fat, and then i'm going to make real homemade old-fashioned, soap.  I may start tomorrow, if i get a good night's sleep tonight.  That's very very exciting!  Don't get too excited though.  If i start tomorrow, and i make really good time, i might have actual usable soap in like 6 months or something.    I'll letcha know.

Very exciting stuff!  Now i'm going to go stare at my rabbits for a spell; maybe i'll tell them about rabbit tractors!

Blessed Beyond Measure by Work/Fun Confusion

Caution:  deep thoughts ahead.

I think it was on Friday.

Yes, it was.

It was Friday.

My incubating eggs had reached the ten day mark in their incubation, and i wanted to candle* the eggs.  (*Candling is a means of viewing the inside of the egg, from the outside of the egg, by use of a focused bright light.  This method allows the "candler" to make judgments as to the development of the fetus inside the egg.)  But i kept putting it off because even though candling is a lot of fun, i had other things around the house i needed to do.

And then it hit me.

I was having work/fun confusion.

I've never had work/fun confusion.  Ever.

What's work/fun confusion?

Let me see if i can explain.

You know how your brain knows when the thing you're doing is something for fun or for work?  Like if there's a sink full of dirty dishes - or poopy nasty rabbit cages to clean - and you choose to watch a sappy movie and eat popcorn instead of doing dishes or cleaning rabbit cages - then your brain puts off this silent, but very distracting alarm that keeps you from enjoying your "fun" activity.  This is an example of the opposite of work/fun confusion.

Work/fun confusion happens when the brain can't decide - or forgets - whether the current or desired activity is for work or for fun.

That's what hit me.

I realized that the "fun" activity i was putting off was actually part of my "work" responsibility!

And then i thought, this is a little bit of what bliss must be.  Or the definition of the perfect job:  doing what you love to do - and getting paid for it.

O.k., i'm not getting paid a whole lot as far as CASH goes, but this is still what i do for a living and what my responsibilities include.

How many people ever get to say that during the course of their whole lives even?  Not very many.

I am blessed beyond measure.

A Story About Two Little Chicks

A long time ago, a hen named Kuku, hatched out two beautiful little chicks.

There was Edgar.  Edgar had a hard time getting out of the shell and i helped him out.  They tell you not to do this sort of thing, but it seemed the only option at the time.  Edgar did very well after a little bit of assistance.  At the time, we thought Edgar was a little lady, and we named him Lily.  When we figured out that he was not a Lily, we transferred his name to his female hatchmate.

This is the true Lily.  She is a female black sexlink, the only one i've had to live to maturity.

Edgar and Lily were the only chicks hatched to Kuku, and they stuck together like glue from day one.

They have come to be SO close and SO independent that i have a very hard time taking pictures of them.  Most of the time, when i try, i just get someone's tush.

Then, a few days ago, when i opened up the coop in the morning, Edgar was sitting in the floor of the coop, and didn't look like he was going anywhere.  When i tried to check on him, he hurriedly scampered away, but with a very very bad limp.  Oh no!  There is a deadly and contagious disease that sometimes presents this way in chickens, and at first my mind started to panic on me.  But, be still my soul, it turned out not to be so bad.  I isolated Edgar, gave him his own food and water so he wouldn't have to walk so much, and decided to watch and wait.  I was very pleased to see that Edgar was eager to eat and very vigorous.  And after a day or so, he was carefully using his bum foot.  Hallelujah!  Maybe it was just a sprained ankle.

After a few days in isolation, i decided to open the door to his area and let him decide when he wanted to join the flock.

When i came back to check on him mid-morning, i found him still in his isolation spot, but with company.  Lily had joined him.  She had missed him so much!  Since then, they have hardly left each others' side, stuck more to each other than they were before.  Edgar is still resting a lot, so Lily rests with him.  And today, i was finally able to get pictures of the lovely couple.

Haha! After i passed by the first time, they traded places.  I guess Lily needs Edgar to protect her from me!  

Two of the most beautiful birds i've raised so far.

This has been the story of Edgar and his limp.

Thanks for reading!

Jan's Lazy Man Flan, even though Jan is neither lazy, nor a man

This is Jan and Eva (a.k.a. Viking Granny a.k.a. Joy!) times 4.  They are the contributors of tonights recipe.  That's Jan, the brains of the operation, on the right.  Eva, the photographer and multi-send emailer, on the left.

And this is Jan's Lazy Man Flan.  Let's get started.

You're going to need a cup of sugar, a teaspoon of salt, 6 large eggs, a can of evaporated milk, a can of sweetened condensed milk, some whole milk, and vanilla, preferrably Mexican vanilla.  Oh yeah.  If you have cinnamon sticks, awesome!  If you just have ground cinnamon, that's o.k. too.

Directions:

Pour one cup of white sugar into pan and heat slowly over medium heat, like so.  (Commentary from Beth:  If you have never done this, as i had not before today, you should.  It's grand fun.  I had no idea you could melt sugar like that.  Also, and this is more important, be careful.  It burns easily.)

When the sugar is melted (but not burned), drizzle it into the bottoms of two ready pie plates.  The sugar will solidify almost immediately, so don't expect to get to slosh it around later.  Where it is is where it is.

O.k., now, you need to ready something in your oven to act as a double boiler.  Double boilers allow your pan to cook more slowly and evenly in a water bath, instead of just regular oven heat.  Put your double-boilers in the oven.  In this case, we're using large rectangle cake pans.

Then get some water in a kettle or other pouring vessel.

And pour water in the double boiler pans.  About an inch depth should do it.

Set the oven to 350 degrees.

Now, while the oven is preheating, is your chance to mix up the ingredients for your grand dessert.

Into a large mixing bowl, pour one 12 ounce can of evaporated milk.

A 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk.

A can of whole milk - Jan used the evaporated milk can to measure.

Six large eggs.

One half teaspoon of Mexican vanilla - or one whole teaspoon of regular vanilla extract.

A dash of salt.

Then, mix it all up.  But WAIT!  This additional instruction is very important.  Do NOT use an electric mixer. It doesn't have the necessary finesse.  Use a fork or a whisk, but whatever you use, use your hand!  Don't wimp out and go to the electricity.  This recipe requires your personal attention.

Mix for 5 to 10 minutes.  WithOUT the electric mixer.

When it's mixed, ladle the mixture evenly into the two pie plates.

Then, when the oven is heated up, place the pie pans (carefully) in the double boilers.

Before you close the oven door, carefully float your cinnamon sticks on top of the batter.  Then bake for 30 minutes.

Look at that!  Aren't they beautiful!  But wait again!  You're not quite done.  Now that you've baked them, you need to chill them.  At least two hours in the fridge please.

After it's chilled, you can enjoy a slice on your plate.  Just spoon out a little of that yummy caramelness from underneath to decorate the top of your slice.

Isn't that nice!

Enjoy!

Then thank Jan and Eva for sharing such a wonderful dessert with you.  Yum!

Thank you Jan and Eva!