Giving the Chickens a hair cut

Our chickens have learned to fly. At first we thought it was cool. They would fly out of the pen and scratch around the woods. The dogs seemed ok with it and it was not unusual to see the dogs asleep with a rooster sitting next to them.

There must have been some type of falling out between the dogs and chickens because one of the dogs decided to start killing the chickens. We lost one a day for a few days. The only solution we could come up with was clipping the chickens wings so they would not fly out. Like any good techno family we searched you tube for videos that showed how to clip the wings. After a few reviews I went out with the kids and some scissors. It turned out that the hardest part was catching the chickens. All you do is clip one side up to the shorter feathers and you now have chickens that can jump but not fly.

You would be amazed at the looks you get when people ask you what you did this weekend and you reply we gave the chickens a hair cut.

Ordered Hens Nest

I ordered two 6 hole nest boxes from Hen Pals. These are handmade in east Georgia by a couple that started their own farm

I plan to put them about 18 inches off the ground to keep a passing chicken from pecking eggs.

Snow!!!!!

We have about 5 inches of snow. I think this is the first good snow we have had in 5 or 6 years. We have been playing and sledding this afternoon. Wendy pushed me down a hill on the sled. I went down the hill jumped the ditch, crossed the road, jumped the other ditch and proceeded through 30 feet of briars. The whole time she was laughing. I am glad I didn't hit a tree.

We are planning to sled all day tomorrow on the big hill in the pasture.

From Snow_2010

Snow on the way

We are expecting snow tomorrow. This is not a common occurrence for our area. If we do get some it should be fun! The kids have the sleds ready to go.

Johnnie is missing!

We finally starting getting eggs and today Johnnie has left us. We think she flew over the fence? The kids spent the day looking for her and found scratch signs but those could be the turkeys.

Rest In Peace Johnnie!

We got our first eggs!

Johnnie, Our Golden Polish hen laid her first two eggs. We ate them for supper and they were great. We compared them with the store bought eggs and the yolks were much brighter colored yolks.

From Our Farm