First Egg!!! Yeah!!!

This morning when I opened the chicken coop door, one hen swiftly ran passed me and into a corner.  I finished watering and feeding the chickens and went to grab the hen.  I reached down and OUCH!  She bit me!  She was making cackling noises and she had a bright red comb, so I knew an egg must be coming up!  After archery class when I came home I rushed outside to the chicken coop and there it was.

It was hiding deep down in the straw.

 

Yeah! Now I have some brown pullet eggs.

On Saturday I made Peanut Butter Popcorn.  It was pretty good.

 

Sunday afternoon Grandma and I made two apple pies.  Already half of it is gone.

 

Busy Week for Everyone

Last week I made Apple Butter Jam with Grandma.  It takes a long time to get that done.  Today we made apple sauce.

Last week she showed me an egg that one of her leghorn pullets laid.  My chickens won't lay for a couple of weeks yet because of the breed.

 This past week Dad has been busy combining.  He is finished with wet corn and is now on beans.

 

On Wednesdays Fred gets to spend time with Grandma.  For the last couple of weeks he has been helping her pick up apples and feeding them to the cattle.  So he's been driving Grandma around on the four-wheeler.

 

 

 

Saturday night we came home late.  I went to go close up the chicken coop.  When I stepped on the floor I heard some cracks beneath my feet.  I looked down and there was shattered glass all over.  I picked up some pieces but today I cleaned it up.  It was a light bulb that was on the shelf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Scratchings

This afternoon I went to my Grandparent's house.  I visited with Grandma and took pictures of the banties.  Now she has nine roosters crowing at her all day.

They have  a lot of space to roam.  They will go into the "junk yard" right beside the coop or they will go into the corn field.

 

 

 

I also had to drive on the four-wheeler back to Grandma's for cat food at Fred's insistent requests.

 

 

Homecoming Parade 2013 & A Mean Rooster

Yesterday was the homecoming parade.  I was playing in the band.  I was really happy because it was a lot cooler compared to last year.  I'm playing the snare drum with my band instructor, Ms. Jackson to the left of me.  My mom said that we sounded good ~ ready for primetime!

 

 

My rooster has become a mean little sucker.  My Grandma told me to get a water gun and squirt him.  So, I did and it actually works!  When he sees that water gun, he'll stay away from me.

 

 

The Chicken Book

My chickens get leftovers from school.  They get a whole collage of stuff like salad, hot dog buns, or hamburger buns.  While feeding the chickens some bread the other day I made up something using Matthew 4:4.

This comes from the Chicken Book.
            It is written: Chickens shall not live on bread alone,

 

 But on every word that comes from the mouth of Mary (or Grandma).

 

Ted Nugent Camp

Yesterday was the Ted Nugent Kamp for Kids.  My brother Fred was participating in it and I was working.  Fred was excited for the fishing.

 

I helped teach archery.  A machine would fling out foam discs and the goal was to hit one with an arrow.  Only 5 kids hit it.

 

My chickens are doing fine.  My rooster Custer has gotten big and mean.  Today I cleaned their coop.  Also the hens got watermelon and muskmelon peelings, and cucumbers all in the same day.

Jelly and Reese's Bottom

Friday after school I went to Grandma's house to help make grape jelly.  We cut two heaping bowl of grapes. Then we washed and plucked the grapes off the vine.

Second, I had to cook and mash them on the stove.  Then, Grandma strained them and put the juice in pitchers in her fridge. Saturday morning I started with cooking and stirring the juice while Grandma dumped a bowl of sugar.  Grandma heated the jars and lids and we sealed them.  We finished off with nine jars of grape jelly.

Saturday afternoon I made Reese's Bottom Cheesecake.  It was very simple to make.They were yummy!!!

 

It has been a really hot week.  The brown chickens have been staying inside all day.  The white hens take the shade from the building.  Here's my rooster which I have decided to name Custer.  He is trying to crow but it sounds like a sick hen instead.  He's been working on it for a couple of weeks and he hasn't improved.

 

 

"Dim Lights, Thick Smoke"

We went to a Dwight Yoakam concert at the Corn Palace.  It was really fun!  But, before the concert we had to eat.  Bea found some fried dill pickle chips.  She liked them but I thought they were gross!

 

The concert was cool.  Fred was upset because they didn't sing the song, Three Pears. 

 

 

All my chickens have been eating treats including watermelon and cucumbers.

1st Day of School

Today was the first day of school.  There's only two kids in my grade, and thirty-six kids in the whole school,

My Grandma found a new feeder for me.  It's just an old regular feeder, not anything fancy.  In the red feeder they would waste so much feed, but this ones a lot better.  There were two inspectors while I was setting up.

River Boat Days

We had a busy Saturday.  In the morning we had the parade.  We showed our WC-52. 

 

In the evening Dad and I had to pick up garbage as a fundraiser for J.O.A.D (Junior Olympic Archery Development).  It was really gross!  We picked up garbage till two in the morning. 

I have one more free day till school starts and I'm spending the day picking up more sticks.

Wild Kitten

All I did today was pick up sticks.  Dad, Fred, the hired man, and I went down to Gayville to pick up sticks in a burned out field.  Fred drove the pay loader while the three of us were working.  Mom and Bea brought lunch, then we picked more sticks until six.  Boy, was I covered in ash and dirt from head to toe!
       
This morning mom discovered a wild kitten in the motor of dad's pickup.  When we came home this evening, the hired man got the cat out with his bare hands and put it in a cage.  He's our "Turtle Man...Live Action"!

Rainy Afternoon

It's a mucky afternoon.  The leghorns look like beasts from Siberia.

 

My rooster is wet and the hens were curious about the phone.

 

 

 

Cucumber Treat

Yesterday, Grandma had a wagon full of "old" cucumbers from her garden.  I grabbed a bucket and dumped some in to feed my chickens.

 

The white hens charged and gobbled them all up.

 

The chicks kept their distance, but then they started to peck at them.

Which One Doesn't Belong?

 

Today I found a tiny egg in the nest.  I cracked it open and discovered it had a yolk.  I made an omelet out of it. 

Today I had an archery tournament.  Not as many archers as I had expected.  I'm the 4th one from the left.  I shot a 540 out of 600 possible points.  I shot targets at 30, 40, and 50 yards.

 

This afternoon I made Chewy S'mores Bars.  It has a graham cracker crust with a topping of mini marshmallows, Hershey's chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallow cream.

These past few days we have had a lot of rain.  Today it rained again.

Archery Camp Done

This week I had archery camp.  I learned a lot more than I expected and we did a whole bunch of fun tournaments. I liked working with different coaches.

 

Here I am waiting to step up to the line for the team round.  My team won!

 

 

Camp is over, and I am sore and tired.

 

The chicks get to eat big chicken feed which is corn ground up.