My mean pet chicken

I don't know what to do...well, I do, but I don't want to. I didn't choose my Easter Egger Eastie, my son did. (as well as her name) She isn't very pretty, she gets beat up on all the time, she's neurotic (why she gets beat up on..or because of it...we need a chicken LCSW) This chicken choose me. There's no question. I've held her when she was sick and have protected her to great extremes including getting rid of half my clutch with my favorite girls because they were mean to her.

Eastie thinks that she is a dog and follows me around closely. She tries to get into the house when you open the door and when I pull up in the van she runs up to great me and hops up into the car. The fact the kids drop french fries on the floor might add to that wanting to get into the car. She's even tried to get in through windows. She just wants to be with me. The small group (she's grown up with them except for one) I have now are wonderful and even they peck at her back...she doesn't have any feathers above her tail area. I couldn't see why everyone..EVERYONE was mean to her. I thought maybe because she is my pet and gets extra treats and the others were jealous.

My husband brought her other behavior to my attention and I see her in a new light. Maybe she just loves me for the treats? No, I still think she loves me though. She HAS to be free range. I don't let them unless I can watch them since I've spotted countless foxes and coyotes in our yard. I've never lost one, but they have been saved literally from the jaws of death. She'll pace and jump and just go nuts sometimes when they are in the run and I can only imagine in the coop. (It's 4X8 with a 10x8 run) They have good space for 5 chickens and they spend most of their time in the front yard at the bird feeder or digging up my gardens.

The other chickens just hate her. Momma is nice to her and will cover her at night, but will also peck to keep her in line when she is getting spazzy. Now my daughter and I each have a new baby. They are about ready to join the big girls. The hen I've been babysitting is going home so that's 4 hens and two babies. One would think that would be fine. My other 3, 2 black Astrolorps and my other Easter Egger, are nice to the babies and will peck around the yard with them and hang out together on the bricks. Eastie will charge them and peck at their heads! They could just be sitting there in the sun and she'll attack. We've spent time really getting these chicks to be calm. Luna holds her RIR Reba like a rag doll and plays with her in the sand box. She LOVES that chicken. I hold Bunny all the time and we sit on the bench swing all 4 of us and she cuddles, closes her eyes, and falls asleep. This chicken just sleeps in my arms like a baby. So, to have my 2 year old spazzy hen attacking these babies is NOT acceptable.

Eastie and I have a relationship though. I know I'll have to get rid of all my girls when my husband finds another job, but I actually had secret plans to keep her and just build her a nice indoor coop until we got where we were going. So you see, I'm close to this chicken. Am I so disloyal that I'm choosing the babies over her? Wouldn't life be easier if I didn't have to worry so much about the social issues of my chickens? I have no soap opera any more..so they are my replacement. I'd have a peaceful hen house without her. Would she be happy with strange chickens in someone else's run? I know someone with 1 chicken that free ranges and sleeps in a small coop on her porch. I'm going to ask her if Eastie could live with them. I got her as a 1 day old chick over 2 years ago. She lays a perfect pale green egg for me almost everyday. She looks at me as a mother and here I am sending her off to a place that won't be as safe as the home she has known her whole life. Just to keep babies that I'll have to part with maybe before they even start to lay if  job comes in?

The drama of a chicken keeper......

update: Eastie is still happy and healthy at my friends more than a year later. Sadly she has forgotten me. Yes, I did think she would remember me:(

Gallbladder Update

I know I haven't blogged about this in a long time, but I thought I'd update what I said in case anyone cares:) I was really trying to shrink a 3 cm large stone in my gallbladder for the past year. I tried Apple Cider Vinegar and can't see how people do that! My sister drinks it and I just can't. I switched to Malic Acid pills as well as Dandelion supplements. I watched my diet and did what I thought I could from what I found on the internet. I didn't want to do the full flushes and I'm thankful that I didn't. Getting the stone stuck in a duct scared me out of that as well as the fact that I was still nursing my baby. That's really why I waited so long. I did find out that you can nurse the day of the surgery, but the whole concept of going under scared me to death. I've had a bad experience and didn't want to go through again!

Last Wednesday was the big day and they took that stupid thing out once and for all! The shoulder pain and migraines were making it very hard to be a good mother. You just don't have patience when you are in pain all the time.It's only been a week and I am a bit sore, but I can tell you that I feel better now even with that discomfort of 5 holes in me than I have in years!! WHAT WAS I WAITING FOR??? Thank you Dr. Sullivan.

I'm a neurotic mess when it comes to not trusting hospitals, especially up here where I consider everything old and dirty. Yes, the hospital is very old but the people make up for that ten fold. They were all wonderful and I got there at 7 A.M. and was home by 1 P.M. I was pretty out of it for that day, but I'm so surprised at how fast I felt so much better.

When they looked at the removed gallbladder they found a lot of bad cells on the inside - dysplesia? the Dr. told me that I was very lucky that I had it out when I did and that keeping it in so long was trouble. So that's my cautionary tale to those trying to shrink or pass a large stone. Once I saw on the computer that the cases of gallbladder cancer were related to large stones I figured that was it, I wanted it out. The Dr. confirmed it and said that these bad cells could lead to cancer but that my tests came up with no malignancy. They had to remove a LOT of scar tissue from my c-section 8 years ago. I may need to repeat the scar tissue removal, but it's worth it now that I know you heal quickly and that discomfort can go away.

I learned something else very interesting. When we are forming our diaphragm is up in our throat. As we form it's pushed down. When there is something wrong below the diaphragm the brain thinks it's the upper shoulder because all the nerves are still attached from when we were forming. That's why my upper right shoulder was in so much pain from the gallbladder and all the scar tissue. Interesting.

Carrot Tape

We had some fun with this project. I can't take credit for the idea at all, I read about it in another blog I really enjoy  "http://unusuallyunusualfarmchick.blogspot.com/ ". We got the seed tape that we made in the ground this weekend. It was just a beautiful weekend and I can forget that I hate central NY so much on days like that. I planted the rows in front of the chicken coop where I'm going to put in 5 Roma tomato seedlings that are looking great. I have the tomatos under the light in the basement still and will bring them out around the 20th. I don't want to rush it this year and lose what I've spent so much time nurturing.

I planted 2 rows of sweet peas in the back that will be able to climb up the run fence....protected with hard wire. In front of that are the tomatoes that have some lettuce at the base. The lettuce will be harvested before the tomatoes are very big. I stick lettuce everywhere since it grows quickly and we eat it every day. I then have the carrots in front on one side and beets on the other. I have a juicer and the beet juice can be added to red grape juice and none are the wiser:)  You have to love the juicer when you have picky eaters in the house.

Making the seed tape was a lot of fun. I made up a paste with flour and water and let the kids choose the food color to add to it. I couldn't find an empty glue container so we just used a small paint brush. Once we put the paste and seed on the toilet paper we covered it. I had a bit of trouble with the paper breaking. I tried one with a paper towel and I really liked how that worked. I think I won't use the toilet paper next time. I'm sure the paper towel will work fine in the soil. I did one with paper towel on the bottom and toilet paper on the top. Maybe it needs less cover...I don't know. I'm still learning this. I do know that it was super easy to plant the seeds on the paper. They are all in nice rows now instead of spilled in pile like how it's happened in the past.

3 out of my 4 babies... happy with gardening and chickens. If only life was always this simple.....

My pledge to clean green!

I found a blog I just love through a newsletter I get from Dr. Mercola -  www.mercola.com . I've read through a lot of the posts and enjoy them, but the one that pertains to my search right now is The Morning of a Typical ADD Child. I don't like the assigning a label part, but I think it's just the way she wrote it. I've been reading a LOT about diet and child behavior lately... a LOT. Most of the article colorings we see in US food is not allowed in other parts of the world....what does that tell you??? It's not just diet where we are taking in all these crazy toxins, but at least it is one area I can do my best to control. The other segment of our lives I have some control over is the chemicals I've brought into our home. Thankfully I've never been a clean freak:) When I say that my kids could eat off my floor...I mean that they are bound to find a spare Cheerio to eat:)

Trying to stay with whole foods is really really hard up here. We don't have any Whole Foods stores anywhere around here. The selection of organics is getting a little better and I'm thrilled to see Wal-Mart carry so many. It's just not anywhere as much as any other place I've lived. Farmer's Markets will start soon, but the season is short up here. There is a co-op and the idea is just wonderful. The food seems crazy expensive for what you get though. I've never gotten my whole order so you can't really plan things. I hope it works for them, I was so excited to see them start something up here, but maybe there just aren't enough farms or it's just the area. When we move we are going to make sure there is a Whole Foods near us. Locally owned stores are just way too expensive when you are feeding a family of 6. I just can't pay $17 for an organic chicken when we would need 2 at a time around here for one meal. I know, I should just buck up and take care of things myself. I just can't. I love my chickens and I think if I sent them away to be processed I'd never be able to eat chicken again. Weak...I know. Apologies to those who believe in only shopping locally owned stores...I just don't like feeling like I have to pay more then I should. Especially up here where we pay like 10% sales tax as it is. Sick!

I see a lot of green products that you can buy, but really, vinegar, baking soda, and every day soap (make your own) is cheap and effective. I'm glad to see the green market so big, but it's important that we don't put price tags on the importance of our health and our planet.

My goals for the week: get rid of any food left in my house with article colorings and flavors, find a recipe that really works with the whole family for granola, (I haven't had the best luck with this), and start my Spring Cleaning with only green products I can make from edible sources. That's enough for the week:)

I found Best of Mother Earth

I found a new family hobby...they just don't know it yet:)

It's hard to find something that we could all enjoy AND would get us out of the house a bit. I heard about Geocaching about a year or so ago and thought "hey, that could be fun". My husband's favorite thing to do is to go hiking and I thought this would be a way to get the kids involved. We can't do that most of the year up here, but I just learned that a lot of the 'caches' are in easy to reach places. I just pictured us hiking up hills and climbing trees to find a little secret box someplace. I was wrong. So this is something we can do year round. My husband bought me the Garmin nuvi 1300 for my birthday and we are signed up all ready to start. I can't wait. There is actually one about a mile away, so we'll go find it this week when the rain stops. This will fit in nicely with our other new hobby of making movies. Maybe we'll do a documentary on it:) 

I can't complain about the rain. My broccoli plants are doing well. It seems that I lost most of the lettuce to hunger birds...the flying kind. I lost a few broccoli plants to the non-flying variety..namely Francine whom I've been boarding for the winter. I got the fence up a bit too late. I love having the "Aunts", as we call them now, out when we are outside. I just can't leave them out alone. I'm also not leaving them out all at once. If there is still someone in the run they won't go far. Eastie will, but she's a loner. I let her out all the time since the other girls are mean to her. I know she's neurotic, but she's also my baby. So the others have to sit and watch her as she chases bugs.It pays to be the favorite:)

I'm starting my escarole seeds:)

This may not seem like a big deal, but it is to my husband. I never ate escarole until we moved up here. When I've had greens (and I've had my share), they have been the southern type. I was stationed in GA for a while and grew to love all things southern. That was a long long time ago...not to show my age. I still feel this huge need to have black-eyed-peas made up like hopin jon and greens every New Years Day. I feel that if I don't I would miss out on all the luck that is meant to come my way. So, greens to me and greens to my husband are very different. To him, it means escarole with potatoes. I like to add white beans instead though and he seemed to adapt to that OK. I add beans to anything I can. We eat only poultry (NOT my chickens!!!) and eggs for animal based protein so I am very aware of adding bean protein to substitute.

These people up here eat greens as a main dish, yet it seems that no one grows escarole. I couldn't find seeds anywhere....and I really did look. You have to love the internet. I just don't remember life without it. Oh yea, I do remember having to use the library once when I was in that soap making phase. Still, it makes life more fun to be able to learn so much about so much. It turns out that what I only knew as "escarole" is really endive. I thought of endive as the thin lettuce stuff you decorate salad with. This is "Endive, Broadleaf Batavian" aka Cichorium endivia. I found some seeds on Amazon from Buy Wholesale Cheap, LLC. I have to admit I love the company name since it implies I saved money. I'm going to give the seeds a try in my seed starter this week.

I made greens just two nights ago and really it's just my husband and I that eat them. With 4 kids around here you would think the odds would be that someone else would eat them...nope. We are leftover people and I like to have enough to send some for his lunch and for me for lunch the next day. So lets say 4 good servings...we aren't 100 pound light weights around here:) I use 2 heads and the price is going crazy on food. I know gas is getting stupid again, but still, they are VERY quick to raise prices as soon as the breeze turns. I paid over $7 just for the 2 heads. Romain lettuce (which is doing well under my light thank you) was about $3 a head. How could a person afford to eat well every day?

I'm growing and freezing broccoli for a year, but I sure wish I could do that with our greens. I saw that you could blanch greens just like spinach and freeze them. I'll try that if I get a big enough crop. I need to get my vertical lettuce hydroponic lettuce grower going. I saw a DVD I could buy with all the plans on it. I have to do that for next year if we are still up here. For now I will be happy to grow my organic Broadleaf Batavian Endive and make my greens.

Spindly Broccoli...arg

After reading all the garden sites I've found I know that my seedlings are too far away from the light. However, I didn't find much on how to save them. I have them up very close to the lights now but so far they don't seem to be getting stronger. I'm thinking I'll be losing more than I figured. I keep trying this seedling thing. Year after year I go in with a box full of seeds, and more and more that I HAVE to buy. I'm a collector of seeds. I need to admit this to myself. I'm not a great gardener, but I AM a great planner and collector of seeds. Well, it's something.

We had a few nice days up here in frigid central NY, before all the snow and freezing weather came back. I had my broccoli out to get some sun and wind. I read that a fan blowing on the seedlings would help the base get stronger. I think the wind was a bit much for a few of them.  I'll have to get more seeds I think. I want tons of broccoli....broccoli everywhere! I'm starting the Jillian Michaels Master Your Metaboloism diet and you can eat unlimited broccoli,,, so that's what I want to do:) My husband and I could eat it every day. Groceries have gotten crazy expensive. I spent 3X's what I normally do on lettuce. I have two trays going now.

One of my Sussex chicks is sick and all I know how to do is set her up in her own little hospital. They are about 5 weeks old now. Wow they grow fast!! I am going to have to put a few on Craigslist.com. They go fast on there and they are coming off heat soon, so it will be easier for someone who just wants a few. I'd like to get a few small coops built that I could sell complete with a couple of chicks. They are so expensive and I could sell them cheap and get more of us chicken lovers started. I would like to be able to pay for my own chicken and gardening habit.  Right now I use my online teaching to pay for my supplies, but my student loans are coming due....WHAT DID I DO???? My Master's degree will take me the rest of my life to pay off. I hate to think of my kids being strapped with student loans, but let's be real....4 kids...and they are going to college when we are thinking about retirement...they'll have student loans. That's life.

I'm a bit chatty today.... time for more tea:)  

Snow and tears

It is so difficult for me to try to be positive after a few really nice days followed by snow and a forecast for another cold week. My husband and I talk about getting out of here a lot, and he wants to go so he could hike when he wanted to, so it's not just me. The boys love it here, but I think once they got past the transition they would both be just fine. Where is that perfect place??? The summers are close to perfect up here. They get hot, but the nights are cooler. I really do love that time of year up here even though the area it's self is so depressed. We don't do much outside of our yard anyway...yes, that is problem. The killer is though that nice weather lasts maybe 4 months it seems.

Last frost isn't until close to the end of May and with such a short growing season it's very hard to grow enough food for a family of 6. It's not just the gardening, but I need to see sunshine. I've always gotten a bad case of self diagnosed S.A.D. in the winter. That's one reason I swore I'd never live up this way again. What was I thinking????  My husband would like to try out Seattle, and I'd go. I just wonder about the lack of sunshine out there. It won't be as cold though. If I had a magic wand we would be in Colorado or North Carolina again. I loved Colorado and in my heart I feel as though it is home, but he likes to go more with what he knows and if that means N.C. then I'm fine with that too. Hiking wise, I think Colorado offers a heavenly array of opportunities, but in N.C. he used to hike about all year and loved it. I might be able to have a better garden in N.C..

I'm done complaining. I just really need to make some changes in my life and I don't know where to start. Balance...I need balance. I'm going to a job fair today to see if I could be an Adjunct Instructor at the community college. I would love to find something where I could use my mind in the evening hours and still be home with my babies during the day. My husband would have more diaper duty, but he's good at that. Maybe I'd be happier with an outlet out side of my little island.  Wish me luck:)

Barking at a Fox

Well, a fox will just look at you funny if you bark at it. I thought I could scare it away nicely, but it just stood there and I could tell it was mocking me. I don't dislike foxes except for the fact that they would eat all my chickens given a chance. I don't like them walking around my house and facing me down in my own back yard though. I was surprised to see it at 8:00 A.M. I have seen footprints every day, so I'm actually very glad it's a fox that does the perimeter of our house as opposed to those coyotes. Those coyotes really scare me. Still, I am a chicken keeper and there isn't room for a chicken killer in my yard.

A fox has to be one of the most beautiful animals I've seen. I'll get a better picture next time. My youngest son was able to watch it with me; he laughed at the barking thing also. I really would like to keep them out of the yard now that my hens are back in their outdoor coop. I let them winter in the garage too long last year, so I got them out early this year. I feel that the coop is safe and I hadn't opened the run door yet, but I feel sad that I can't let them run any more. For a whole year they had the run of the whole yard and I never lost one. Now I can't let them out unless we are out playing with them.

(this picture was actually from the last time our visitor was here.)
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Can chickens get colds?

A few days ago I went downstairs to my basement barn/garage and my pet Easter Egger, Eastie, wouldn't come to me. She always comes running to me as soon as I open the door. I've had her 2 years and she has never come to me before. She just sat there and fluffed up her feathers.
The day before was a sunny "warm" day. It got up to about 50 degrees so I walked the girls out to the real coop and run. I hate having to keep them penned up, but these coyotes around here are crazy. I walked them out there and left them out for a few hours. It was wet out, but still, I figured that the best thing for them was to get them out as much as possible. The back garage isn't heated at all and it still gets cold enough for the water to freeze if it's really cold, so they aren't being totally pampered. I know that I'll have to get them reaccoustemed to being out, but at 50 degrees I would have never thought they'd get sick. Maybe it's the hay on the ground of the run??
After I went over and got Eastie I saw that her mouth was a bit open and she was "gurgling". She sneezed and snot came out of her nostrils. This seemed like a cold to me. I saw on the boards that chicken don't get colds. Maybe they meant that they don't catch them from us?? I wrapped her in a towel and brought her into the house to find information on the computer. My husband kind of looked at me funny when he noticed I had Easter wrapped up like a baby on my lap. He gets it though:) The man is just glad that I have my chickens to keep me happier living up here. It's the only benefit I see to living up here in the "Arctic Wasteland". I found some posts that mentioned an antibiotic. I needed something now and with 4 kids I can't take her to an expensive vet. We have a shortage of vets up here in the first place.
 I've had parakeets most of my life and when we had one get sick a few years ago with respiratory issues I got her some Ornacycline from Pet Smart for like $7. The package says "safe to use with all species of birds." Chickens are indeed birds, though they don't seem to be sometimes.  I kept her in the heated basement in a dog kennel for 2 days to keep her warm and to keep her away from the other 4 girls. Her breathing got totally better after a few good snot blow outs:P I had to give her the medicated water with a dropper to get it down her throat. 
I went down first thing this morning to bring treats to all of them and now they are all gurgling. I put treatment in the water and just gave a days worth to them so I can keep it fresh and add more in the morning tomorrow. It says to treat for 5 days. I have to look up how long to dispose of the eggs if they lay any. I should have known something was up when I didn't get any eggs at all yesterday. It breaks my heart. I have to get down there and totally clean out all the hay but I can't with 2 feet of snow on the ground. I saw so many people say that hay was good, but now I see more that says not to use it. From now on I will only use the pine shavings. I am really hoping this week will warm up so I can clear out everything and start fresh.
Please Spring....I'm waiting........