EGGS !!!

   We finally got eggs from the chickens. We found the first eggs on Saturday. My dad was with the cows. We let them out every morning to another fenced area beside the house. Well, my dad was there and a hen came all the way to were he was, squaking his head off. My dad grabbed the chicken and walked back with the rest of the chickens. Then he saw the eggs. One was on the ground, and the other was in the nests my dad built for them. Both eggs were small. That same day, we found two more in the nest. One was small like all of them so far, but the other was bigger. 

The white ball is a bit smaller than a baseball. 

   On Sunday we found two on the nests. When we went to see the chickens that day, mostly all the chickens were outside of their area, so we grabbed them and put them in, but they kept flying out. When we couldn't keep them in after a long time, we gave up. Later, when it was dark, we went to try again. This time they were already inside. My dad wanted to look for eggs where the chickens had been, but it was dark and we couldn't see a thing, and when I just when to check some minutes ago because another chicken came squaking, there wasn't any.

   Anyway, back to the topic of eggs, even though we've had 6 eggs so far the eggs are eaten immediately for some reason. We even prepared them in a shake raw! I don't like eggs so I havn't tasted them yet. Six eggs in two days isn't bad, but they say my great-great grandfather had so many eggs he threw them in the river! Of course he had like 200 hens, and he couldn't sell many, since everyone had their own farm back then. 

Thanks!

Coyote

   My dad's sighted a coyote twice so far: once this morning, and once some days ago. The first time my mom was having coffee outside with my dad. We keep some guinea fowl

beside the house, and these are really free range, since the door to their house is always open. Anyway, my parents were outside, when the guinea fowl started shrieking like they always do, my dad started yelling like the abominable snowman, my mom almost dropped her coffee, and there was general mayhem. The reason? There, among the birds, was a big ugly coyote. He had crept up, unseen, and was now chasing a lone fowl he had singled out. The bird was so surprised, and the coyote so fast, it didn't have the time to fly up a tree like they do when we chase them. Pretty soon, the coyote was running off with prey clamped within its teeth.

   The second time wasn't so exiting. The coyote was coming for his breakfast when he saw my dad holding his rifle. The coyote was bold but not dumb. When my dad started shooting, the coyote hightailed away. My dad isn't an excelent shot, and the coyote was far away, so my dad missed. At least this time it didn't kill anything (The 'it' I'm talking about is the coyote, not my dad).

"To Kill A Mockingbird" (I mean a Chicken)

     We've started butchering the old broilers,the ones I said we would eat when they are 9-11 weeks old, almost every weekend since the end of April.

                                           Here are the steps from this:

  to this:

                                                         

Before you kill the chicken, do not give them food for twelve hours.

1. Catch the chicken (not as easy as it seems).
2. Bring it to the slaughter area, preferably beside a tree.
3. Put it inside the ''killing cone,'' a cone made out of sheet metal nailed with the narrow end down. Insert the animal headfirst. Another method is to hang the chicken by the feet from a tree.
4. Grab the head and cut right above, or rather below if you put it right side up, a red line you see on the neck, back and forth until a stream of blood pours down. Don't cut all the way through. Reapeat on the other side
5. Clasp by feet and dip in water 140º Fahrenheit (60º Celsius) five times
6. PLUCK AND PLUCK AND PLUCK. Include the annoying black feather roots.
7. When the chicken is completely, ahem, naked, chop the head off.
8. Remove entrails through a cut you make in the rear end somewhere (my dad does this part so I have no idea where). Cut off the feet.
9. Put in water with  a lot of ice. Later, store in freezer in a bag with the air sucked out.
10. Eat.

MORE Chicks

     Sorry I haven't  written in a long time, I was busy with school and chores.  Anyway, we got another batch of chickens some weeks ago. Some more broilers which put inside in the begining(like all the others) and them put them in the small chicken house† which is where they currently are. Since the old broilers used to be there, we had to move them into the coop that the first ones were in, and then we had to move those into a new one that my dad built.

    We found some more snakes when we moved my chickens (the broilers) into the fenced area.  The day after we did that my dad found three small copperheads in a spot.  They didn't eat any chickens, so my dad flung them away.  That was all in the end of march.

  

†see picture on the second post.

Snake Attack

Look in the corner, maybe a rat snake.

      We put the broiler chicks outside in the pen where the bigger ones were, so we put those in another one that my dad built with my brother. Then yesterday my mom called my dad. We (my brothers, my dad and I) were going somewhere when she called. She said a snake was in the pen. When we got home at eight, we saw the shape of a big ol' serpent curled up in the back of the small pen. We got a light and saw some chicken feet sticking out the viper's mouth. Dad got a stick and when he poked it, the snake started to throw up some naked chick.

      How it managed to remove the feathers I have no idea. My dad crushed its head and then beat it to death. We took some photos and investigated. Turns out it was a Texas rat snake, non-poisonous. We need to be careful.

Almost An Official Farm

      We got the new broiler chicks today!  The procedure to take care of them is the same as the other ones.  A wooden chicken house (inside the shed) is were they are currently living.  The food is different than the other egg-laying chicks, since it was made to make things fat.  The chicks are yellow and real small.  We're going to eat them when they are 9-11 weeks old.  I'm in charge of them.  My dad ordered a lot of organic chicken food -one ton!- a couple days ago, it came this Monday.

Chicken House

My brother, my dad and I built this chicken house two days ago. It was pretty easy, actualy. We have to move it from one spot to nother so that the chicks have clean ground every day.

 I still don't understand about the free range and pasturing method, so my mom told me to read an article about chicken farming which didn't do nothing except muddle things up. Something about chickens and rotating houses and low fencing and who knows what and some more. SOMEONE that understand this complicated hubbub please explain. : <  ?

The beginning of a flock

   The chicks got here about two weeks ago. I think it's weird that they sent them in a box like any other package. We put them in a big metal container with  four inches of pine shavings and put it in the shed with a heat lamp (it was pretty cold, 20 degrees Fahrenheit) until it started to get warm. My dad told my brother he's in charge of 'em, although my dad's been doing most of the work.

   They're staying in the shed till they're 3 weeks old. Then they're moving into a chicken house my dad's going to build with us. I hope we'll be able to sell the eggs when they lay them.