Broody chicken, fertile eggs!, baby chicks, garden growin', puppies!

So here is our broody hen. We hadn't collected eggs in a few days (and boy do they add up quick) and somehow chickens can count, and when this buff orpington decided she had a full clutch underneath her it was time to hatch 'em and she's not gettin' up! So she comes out to eat and drink but really sits on them all day! Well we knew they wern't fertile eggs--she's just layin' blanks! But she doesn't know that. And for a hen to be broody is not such a great thing because it breaks up her cycle and now she won't lay for another 2-4--even 12 weeks I've heard! So we took her eggs and put her outside. But she won't quit. I know if we stuck her in our rooster coop with the rooster that would get her out of her broodiness. I've also heard pouring cold water on them--but that just seems mean and we don't need eggs that bad.

So anyway, I went to use the eggs to make waffles the other morning (double batch--needed 6 eggs) and 6 out of 6 eggs were FERTILE! Can you believe it!!?? We've been letting the rooster out--he seems a little sick from being in that small cage and despite his ill health he's apparently doing what roosters do!! So I guess the buff orpington was actually setting on fertile eggs! SO weird! (and yes I did go ahead and use them for waffles--they are just fine to eat...but DH says he can taste the difference--go figure!)

Here's a picture of fertile eggs--this may gross you out but isn't that so weird how things like this can gross us out? We eat chickens all the time--but we are so removed from the idea that it is disgusting when we are confronted with it. I'm not saying it's wrong to be grossed out---I understand the grossness! But I try and fight it because it doesn't make logical sense to me :)

See the little white bulls eye? That means fertile!

To further add to the weirdness, I was at Trader Joe's last night and they actually sell cartons of fertile eggs!! Why would anyone specifically want fertile eggs?

On to a less weird topic... :)

baby chicks are growing like crazy--here they are in the old rooster's pen. They were glad for the increased amount of space! Once they get to bantam size I'll let them out to run free and start living with the other hens. Just want to make sure they are big enough before I do that so Sarah doesn't mistake them for a sparrow (which she likes to eat when she can catch them--but she's a good dog and knows to leave my chickens alone!)

baby americana hen:

We decided to try our hand at gardening again. Last attempt was a failure--between the ground squirrels, the birds, and the rabbits/hares every little sprout was eaten. So this time we spent the money and bought the most expensive fence--chicken wire won't do because the baby rabbits and the ground squirrels can still get through. It's gotta be this stuff. Little tiny rectangles and the width of the wire is super thick so the hares (or jackrabbits as they are affectionately called) can't chew through (yep! they do that too!) To take care of the bird problem we put chicken wire all over the top, but that is really not going to work and we need to construct chicken wire boxes that we can put over the tender little shoots until they get big enough. Neighbor made those and that was the only way he was able to grow anything out here. His boxes are about 2 feet high and 10 feet long and 4 feet wide. He welded really light metal tubing and put chicken wire all over it. I imagine pvc pipe would work too.

So I've got corn, lettuce, squash, beets, turnips, and radishes planted. A little of everything is growing but not too much. We'll see what dies when the frost hits. It's finally getting cold in AZ--hurray!

And last--puppies!!! They are SO CUTE! I can't even begin to pick just two to keep. I know we really shouldn't even think about keeping them all but they are each so different and wonderful! If we do, we will have to neuter them of course. The main reason I'm aprehensive is the cost of food--and only because I insist on feeding our dogs what I believe to be the very best food available on the market. We eat so healthy ourselves that I couldn't imagine feeding them junk dog food. I've known so many dogs and animals with cancer or tumors and I really think diet plays such a huge part. I feed my dog and cat the Wellness brand. Petco carries it and other select retailers. My two tack and feed shops I go to both happen to carry the wellness brand. You can go on their website http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/ and click on the link "where to buy" to find local retailers.

The reasons I think it is so great are: 1) They only use meat that is fit for human consumption (you won't believe what the cheap dog food brands use) 2) they use fruits and vegetables--which have all sorts of healing and preventive properties to them 3) Omega 3's and 6's in their proper balance 4) Probiotics 5) botanical and herb blends with all of their nutritional benefits and 6) whole grains (no white filler rice!)--whole grains are great for fiber and also nutrition. I've heard of dogs being healed from cancer from eating this stuff. So...with that said--the big big bag (is it 50 lb? I'm not sure) costs me $50 and that's a lot of money when they're eating 2 big 64 oz scoops a day...

I could keep all the puppies if I compromised and fed them Science Diet or something...I'd just hate to do that knowing there was something better. I'm going to look into making my own dog food--how hard can it be?? This is the reason I started cooking all the time! It was cheaper to make healthy food than to buy pre-made healthy food. I'll let you know how it goes...in the mean time--this is what the puppy food bag looks like:

The adult food looks similar just in purple or red bags

These are the ingredients (I copied and pasted off the website)--as if you are really that interested! but I just love it--how many dog foods have tomatoes, or carrots, spinach, blueberries, green tea extract and garlic??? SO cool! You probably think I work for them at this point--no I really don't--I'm just a big fan :)

Ingredients:

Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Oatmeal, Ground Barley, Salmon Meal (a natural source of DHA - Docosahexaenoic Acid), Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a natural source of Vitamin E), Ground Brown Rice, Tomato Pomace, Rice Bran, Tomatoes, Natural Chicken Flavor, Rye Flour, Carrots, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Blueberries, Ground Millet, Ground Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Minerals [lots of vitamins go here--I deleted them to save space], Chicory Root Extract, Garlic, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Green Tea Extract, Dried Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation products.

And actually, dogs in the wild are more vegetarian than you think. It might seem odd to find all sorts of vegetables in this, but really dogs are actually omnivores. A coyotes diet very much consists of cacti fruit, mesquite beans, cantelope (when they can snitch them from a garden--I've seen coyote poop that looks like all it ate that day was cantelope!) and of course small animals.

Another good brand of food (don't know the name--just as expensive as wellness) is sold at Sprouts and it actually has whole vegetable and fruit dried up in it and my cat would eat the dried bananas and carrots out of there before anything else! I think it has a lot to do on what they are raised with too because we've always fed our animals a varied diet that included fruits and veggies. And they always ate it eagerly! Just yesterday the puppies were sharing a watermelon with the chickens!

But speaking of puppies-- on to them--here they are! Whether or not they stay--I had to name them--so this is what I came up with:

Benny and Brownie are the brown ones

Below is Benny--he looks just like his dad (mastiff)

Jet, Jake, and Jude are the black ones--they look just like mama (so it's pretty dusty out here--they are all real dirty!) Brownie is in the upper left corner

Jake sitting by his lonesome self looking all forlorn--too cute! He won't be looking lonesome for long with 5 other brothers around!

and of course Pongo :) My niece named that one!

Gotta love that little black and white face!

Tomorrow they are going into the goat pen. They are getting underneath the house and I can only imagine the damage they will do as little puppies with a desire to chew!

And the plan was always to put them in with the goats so that they will become acquainted and familiar with the goats and know to protect them. And they are growing up with the chickens so I hope that helps them to know not to eat the chickens too! They arn't bird dogs or anything so hopefully it won't be in their nature.

And just for cuteness sake I thought I'd throw these two pictures in--here is my 10 1/2 month old. She is eating a TON now! Here she is chowing down on some watermelon--I love the hair--it was just in one of those on top of her head ponytails so she is working the crazy hair look! It's hard to believe she is almost a year! She is SO tiny! But thankfully she is now filling out and not so skinny due to her increased appetite. She's got a nice round belly and I can't see her ribs anymore so mommy is happy :)She likes to feed mommy!

Until next time--God bless and good night!