Bad Chicken Mama

  I may have gone down a dark path with one of my hens, friends.

The deal is, one of my old girls has been so broody lately and I always feel bad taking her eggs

from beneath her, even though I remind her that, ummm, "honey, there's no rooster here, so ummm,

your eggs can't possibly be fertilized.  Do we need to have the birds and bees talk again?"

Apparently so.

But instead I did what any chicken Mom would do, I put a golf ball under her.

But now she won't leave her golf ball.  She sits on it day and night, day and night.

So now I am thinking I need to take it from her, because I'm basically lying to her.

I'm such a horrible mother!!

And look, even her friends won't tell her.  They just look at her like she's crazy.

Anyway, that's the latest drama going on here.

Everything else is just normal, mundane summertime stuff:

Have a great Tuesday, folks!

This and That (life on a micro farm)

Here is a pictorial of how a little dude catches a baby chicken:

Got it!

Then the dog caught him.  

Then they made up, as Zeke prepared to eat him.

Then there was this.

Somebody send intervention, please.

And to help your eyes recover from that,

there's this:

That's life on the micro farm, folks!

Chick Days 2014

As you may have seen on Facebook, K-Man and I bought some baby chicks last night on our date!  We went to the farm store to buy grass seed but came out with 14 chicks instead because I could NOT resist them.  

Chicks are simply too irresistible, aren't they?  

  The kids had no idea we were bringing any home, and they were so tickled!

And because I know someone will ask, here's what we bought:

Rhode Island Reds
Silverlaced Whyandottes
Buff Orpingtons
Americanas

They are chirping away in my kitchen right now, which I love.  Except this morning around 4:00 AM.  That's when I was reminded how thankful I am not to have any human babies that need me to actually get up and do something.

We'll soon re-home them in the little red hen house, where they'll live happily ever after...or until they stop laying eggs, whichever comes first.  Again, happy to be human because according to those standards...well, Lori would be on her way out.  Ha!


Have a chirpy weekend, folks!

Chickens, Birthdays & What-Nots

Hello there, my amigos!  

Let's see, the temps climbed to around 60 over the weekend, now they are plummeting, with

talks of several episodes of snow in the forecast.

Yep, we're in Kansas.

I've got my bathing suit, scarf, gloves, and beach towel all on the ready.

My poor chickens and kitty cats just don't ever know what's coming next.

Although I do have a radio on in my hen house, so assuming my chickens pay attention, perhaps they

listen in on the weather updates.  But I don't know that for sure.

For now, they are all enjoying snow-free outdoor activities.

I was going to talk to you today about how a stay-at-home mom can help contribute

to the family income.

But I have a full day of contributing to my family income!

So I need to get a move-on and that subject is going to have to wait for another day, 

unless I can sneak in some time here later on.

We'll see!

But before I go, I have some cute pictures from Nick's little birthday celebration to share.

 He's so darn sweet and cute!

 Two of my best guys!

 Nicky and his Nana.

K-Man and his older brother (he's single, girls!!).

Yes, the other children and I were all there too.  But apparently the camera got put down

and never found its way to snapping any more photos.

In other news:  BRENDEN is coming home on Friday for spring break!!!!

YAYYYYYY!

And we'll celebrate his 21st (GASP!) birthday while he's here.

Well ya'll, I've got children to feed & educate, muffins and what-nots to be baked,

hair appointments to do, and errands to be run.

All before I start dinner.

(Or maybe we'll just have the muffins and what-nots for dinner!)

Stay warm and enjoy your day!!

Day-Date with K-Man! {and a great weekend}

Well, hot-diggity-dog!  K-Man has the day off and we are going on a day-long date all by ourselves, ALL DAY LONG!  By ourselves!  Alone!  I don't care if we do nothing but sit in the parking lot of a convenience store and eat nothing but roller-food the entire day, it will be completely glorious!

But first, here's a few snid-bits from our weekend:

 My kitty-cat sitting in my window-flower-box, watching chickens invade her space.

Isaiah, my most photogenic child, during his "workout."  In the barn, next to the tractor.

I started some projects!  And by that I mean, I took a picture of my supplies.  And that's it.

More on that later.

And I took a picture of this hen.  Because she seemed to want me to.  Isn't she lovely?  Actually, she's one of my more homely hens.  But it's her time in the limelight, so let's celebrate her!

It was THE most beautiful Kansas day yesterday...and I would pay millions of dollars to have every single day to be exactly like it, for the rest of my life.


And that's that, folks.  I hope you have a great day today!

Chickens and Isaiah's (Chicken) Muscles

Friends, I kid you not when I tell you that this new year and all my resolutions are killing me, positively killing me.  All the exercising, organizing, making lists of lists, and whatnot...it's turning me into a grumpier old shrew, I tell you. And so it's no mystery to me why people ditch these wild ideas by mid January.

But I press on, for now.

As most of you know all too well, it's been snappy cold these last few days.  Goodness gracious.  But surprisingly, my chickens are taking it all in stride and have been unusually productive with egg-laying.  I highly suspect, however, that they've heard the rumors of a new crew of chicks coming this spring...so they're on their best behavior.  (My plan is working out perfectly!)

And on that note, the chick catalogs are starting to arrive, which means spring is almost here, right?

And speaking of chickens, Isaiah is on a new kick of asking me if I want to feel his muscles, then whips off his shirt with bursting manly-man pride.

He's a stud.


Well, I need to get my chicken dinner on the table.  Have a great Wednesday evening, folks!

Sunday on our Homestead [chickens, kitty-cats, and a big scary dog]

What a splendidly beautiful December day it was today!

And we took full advantage niceness.

And by we, I really mean all the ones who did outdoor chores,

hence, no photos of the younger quad of children.

Our kitty cat, Dino, disappeared for a few days...

and we thought for sure he had become brunch for a coyote or two.

Wahhhh.

But, no!  He showed up today, all hungry and happy to see us.  And we were equally as happy.

And the chickens were loving getting out of their coop, where they're been cooped up!

The temps really dropped low recently, and I'm here to tell you that these

feathered females do not like the coldness one bit.

But they sure loved today!

Lunchtime!

Remember back when I told you my suspicions of Zeke giving one of my hens a heart attack,

but I had zero evidence except a dead chicken buried in my mulch?

Well, looky here:

He didn't hurt THIS one...but he sure did scare the dickens out of her.

And this concludes my investigation of the Poultry Murder Mystery.

Poor Zeke, he really needs a friend.

"Midge, are you okay under there?"

This is Betty, my teeny tiny feather-footed hen.  She's the sweetest little thing.

And can she ever FLY.  When Zeke heads towards her, she just takes off up into the nearest tree.

Awesome!  Way to go, Betty!

Oh, and we had loads of fun when one of our lateral lines got clogged and sewer

water backed up into our basement (AGAIN).  Grossssss.

So glad I have a handy-man husband who can fix such things.

And look, here he is dressed up as a tree riding a tractor. Hahaha.

That's Nick supervising the project.

Manly men doing manly chores.

I love that.

And that concludes the bulk of the excitement for this Sunday on our homestead!

 I hope you all enjoyed your day of rest as well!