We Like Making Our Own Stuff

Most chicken owners know that their full grown hens and roosters should have access to a dust bath.  Usually, if they have enough space to roam outside, chickens will find their own favorite spots to bathe in the dirt (annoyingly, ours picked right in the front yard by one of our big spruce trees--they are lucky I love them). But did you know that chicks need dust baths too?  Chicks need dust bath just as much as full grown chickens.

This recipe for deviled eggs is great for anyone who doesn't like or is avoiding mayonnaise.  These deviled eggs are pretty enough to put out for Christmas dinner, but also fast and easy enough to make for a weekday snack.  The method used to hard boil the eggs also ensures nice, yellow yolks--no unattractive green.  This recipe is easily doubled, tripled, etc...

Check out my slabs of fat. Luckily, they didn't come from my thighs.  This is suet, the fat from a cow usually found around the loins and kidneys.  (As a side note, lard, which is pig fat, can be rendered and used in the same way as tallow.) Why would you want big slabs of cow fat?  Where do you get them?  How do I turn that ugly slab of fat into something usable? Woah, woah, woah.  Let's take it a question at a time. What is suet used for? Suet is normally used to make tallow.  Tallow is rendered beef fat.  Tallow will remain solid at room temperature (similar to shortening, but a bit harder) and can be stored for long periods of time.  Tallow can be used for cooking, to make candles and soap, and even as a leather conditioner. Suet is also commonly used as bird food (see my post on Homemade Bird Treats ).  Also, if you have chickens, they will thank your for sharing some of your suet with them. Where can I get suet? If ...

It has finally warmed up enough around here to let our new little chicken Kiwi stay outside--plus, she finally has all her feathers in. We are keeping her separate from the big hens for now because she is still too small to defend herself. But, once she gets bigger, we'll start integrating her into the flock. The other day, my husband said something like, "Who needs a puppy when you could have a chicken?" And he's right! When we take Kiwi outside with us, she follows us around like a little puppy. If you start to walk away from her, she'll squawk and chase you, wings flapping, until she catches up. While I hang laundry on the line, she contentedly pecks near my feet, pausing to look up at me hanging clothes occasionally, nipping at the ones that hang down low enough. If I am weeding in the garden, she is there next to me, seeing what I'm up to and trying to pull the weeds out of my hand. She really is very entertaining to have around. And it is en...

Everyone, meet Kiwi, the newest addition to our city flock!  (pardon my son's obnoxious laughter in this video) Kiwi is such a cutie, but she is rather noisy.  I suppose this is because we are raising her alone, and she misses her sisters.  You see, we used to have four hens (the maximum allowed according to city ordinance), but one day, tragedy struck.  Two dogs on the loose (and the city was worried about the havoc our chickens would wreak) attacked our beautiful hens. I will never forget the day I came outside to find those two dumb dogs in my yard, and feathers all over the place!  Three of our hens were attacked that day, and unfortunately, one of them did not make it.  So, this spring, we had the opportunity to add another chicken to our flock to replace the one that had been lost.  And we chose the noisiest one in the joint (hubby said we needed one with attitude).  And now, we have Kiwi. She is a California White, which is a hyb...

I am so happy that our lovely hens have started laying again!  We had a monster egg out of the first four eggs we found.  It was so large because this egg had two yolks inside: I was curious as to why this happens, and found an answer at poultryhelp.com : DOUBLE YOLK EGGS: Double Yolkers appear when ovulation occurs too rapidly, or when one yolk somehow gets "lost" and is joined by the next yolk. Double yolkers may be by a pullet whose productive cycle is not yet well synchronized. They're occasionally laid by a heavy-breed hen, often as an inherited trait. You can see the cracked shell from the double-yolked egg in my picture above compared to a regular egg.  The double-yolked egg was much larger--poor hen!

I'd like to introduce Chicken, Big Mama, and Girlfriend: We have had these three hens for about two years now on our little city lot.  While raising chickens is relatively simple, it has been quite an investment in time and money.  There are costs associated with feeding, housing, and caring for them properly, along with the time all of that will take from your day.  The reason we are willing to spend this time and money on our girls is simple though:  we get so much back in return! Top 5 Things Our Chickens Help Us Make or Do: 1.  Compost A backyard compost pile is an easy way to improve any garden, and helps keep some of the more than 29 million tons of food waste a year out of our landfills.  Compost is decomposed organic matter that is used to fertilize gardens and improve soil structure, and a compost pile is easy to make and maintain.  We have found that our compost improved greatly with the addition of ch...