Coming to the End of Summer Vacation

Bea got a bottle calf. She named it Spunky.

I was worried I was missing a chicken until the tarp moved above me.

Besides sleeping on the tarp, they try to eat it.

Dad entered his WWII DUKW and WC-52  in the Riverboat Days Parade this year.  Our friend Lester drove the WC-52 carrying the parade marshals and my dad drove the DUKW carrying 7 WWII veterans.

I drove the Big Red behind the DUKW which contained little USA flags that we were handing out.

Grandma has chicken troubles.  She found a hole underneath her coop ramp.  Uncle Darrell set a gopher trap but only caught a rat leg.  Grandma then set 2 big traps with carrots as bait.  She moved one trap so her chickens could come out.  

School begins for me on Thursday...only 24 more hours of summer vacation!

Fun Week Away from Home

This past week Mom, Beatrice, and I went to church camp at Camp Bob Marshall at Custer, South Dakota.  The first evening at camp we got hail.  Not much compared to what the city of Custer received.

My cabin participated in the talent show.

It was all "hands off" for me while the person behind me was doing all the work of 

placing sunscreen on my face.

My friend Anna, Beatrice, and I climbed to the top of Harney Peak. This was my 5th time climbing it.  Mom seems to make it up to the top each year as well...she is always the photographer.  Beatrice got a bloody nose on the way down.

Fred took care of my chickens while I was gone.  He did a good job, although all the eggs were flipped upside down in the egg cartons.  Everyone knows the fat end goes down!

When I came home I made Dad put up the roost for the young hens.  They were roosting everywhere and pooping all over the shelves in the chicken coop.  The videos below show the second evening of trying to "train" them to use the roost.  The first time around was too chaotic to video!  You've got to be quick to get them all on and settled down. There's two videos because the camera man, Fred, accidentally hit the stop button.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlIST5qK_3w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAH44Yv1Zzg

Butchering Day

This morning starting at 9 a.m., we butchered 5 broilers, 2 of mine and 3 of Grandma's .  Tomorrow afternoon we will package them and on Monday morning we'll start butchering again. 

Load'er up!

Fred and I grabbed a cage from the machine shed and placed it in the Big Red.  I only had 2 broilers to butcher because the others died from the heat last weekend.  The broiler with the bad leg was easy to grab, but I had to chase the other one around the coop until I got it pinned to the wall.

I'm cuddling the broiler before I put it in the cage.

Ready to go! Fred volunteered to ride with the chickens to the farm.

Wack!

When we arrived at the farm, Grandma was finishing up her broilers.  While we were waiting Fred snatched the camera and took a picture of me without me knowing. 

When Grandma was ready I went to the cage and picked up the bad-legged broiler and handed it to Grandma.

Grandma placing the legs and wings in a certain way in her hand.

Chop! There goes the first broiler! It got hung on the fence.

The 2nd broiler ready to go.

Cleaning Chickens

While cleaning chickens one of the hired men was building a higher fence for Grandma so her chickens wouldn't be hopping over.  Uncle Darrell and my Dad were helping out a little too.  

For the first time ever, Grandma actually taught me how to clean a chicken.  It was an interesting experience.

Grandma showed me where to put the first slit in the skin so I could pull it off.

I pulled,

and pulled,

and REALLY pulled.

Once the skin, feathers, wings and feet were completely off, it was time for the innards.  Grandma cut open the chicken and picked off the excess feathers that I missed.  I pulled out the intestines and the lungs.  For some reason the left lung was really hard to get.  It took me a few minutes to get it out on the first chicken, and on the 2nd chicken I couldn't even get it.

Grandma's banty rooster was crowing the whole time we were butchering.

Beatrice served as my camera lady, and also washing the chickens. Here's the one with the bad leg.  I don't know how we are going to get it into the roasting pan.

We're All Done!

 My 2 broilers are all cleaned up to be refrigerated overnight. 

Red Hens...Now a Red Roost

This week I primed and painted my chicken coop.  It looks great on the outside...but, inside the red paint absorbs the heat from the sun, so temps have risen for the old hens . 

The old hens head outside and cool off in the shade next to their newly painted home.

The broilers get a big fan to cool them off because they are pretty heavy.  

They get butchered Friday morning.  

 A couple of curious hens staring at the camera.  I have one who thinks I'm a jungle gym.  She immediately jumps on my back and soon as I bend over to pick up their water or feeder.

Work and Play Make for Long Days

Finally, after many years, I started the long process of repainting  the chicken coop.

First, scraping off the old paint.  I used Dad's power washer until it broke down, then I scraped the rest. 

We got 3 gophers this week.  We fed the first one to the cats.

 Czech Days ----. Before heading to Tabor Dad had to get his Mountain Dew at the Double "T"  truck stop.

Ready for the parade!

We handed out American flags.

Fred wearing a WWII helmet.

A Plumpish Poultry Problem ~ Needing a JIllian Michaels for Chickens

The broilers discovered their weed habitat.

One broiler is so fat that its leg sticks out and it must scoot around in circles.

Grandma ordered a food ration because my broilers were fatter than hers....

BUT, the broilers did not like their diet.

They cheated by biting a hole in the feed bag.

The Rhode Island Reds get cooped up inside, but they have plenty of space to fly around.  I often greet them in the morning, "And how are the murderers doing?" Grandma calls them the cannibals because they pecked up the broilers twice, drawing blood both times.

The old hens got locked up this week because they got caught dust bathing in the new lawn.

I chased them all inside before Dad got home.

We also set up gopher traps in the cornfield.  Nothing caught, yet.

The barn swallows' eggs hatched this week.  They love using chicken feathers for their nest!