The Egg Eater Has Been Dealt With

A former coworker Shaun suggested I take a picture of the egg eater, the chicken destined to become chicken and noodles with a plate of noodles before her execution. Yesterday afternoon when we had a small break from the snow I took care of her.  This is not something I wanted to do to a good layer but was forced to do.
Monday night we will be having chicken and home made noodles for supper.  My daughter Renee pointed out that the chicken will be providing us with the entire meal.  I make my noodles in huge batches and freeze them so the chance that one of her eggs is in the noodles is pretty good. 
Here are a couple of picture before and after with some dried noodles that I cooked up for the pictures.  The other chickens got to enjoy the noodles after the photos. 

More Snow in the Forecast

Looks like we will be getting more snow in the next 3 days, just what we need.  I guess there are some positives:  snow melts and fills my well, the farmers need it on their fields, I can tell if any animals have been around the yard or by the coops by looking for foot prints.  My negatives are:  I have to shovel it, we've had our share this year, the chickens won't go out in the run until I shovel them a path and I am just plain tired of it. 
Last year we were spoiled and had less than 4" for the whole winter so I guess we are making up for it this year. 
I think the worst part of this winter has been the horrible cold temps.  We haven't experienced this type of temps in over 30 years.  When it does get below zero we seem to have the horrible wind with it and that just makes it worse.  I stay nice and warm in the house but I would like to spend more time outside.  Right now all I do is go out to collect eggs several times a day so they don't freeze and to feed the chickens and turkeys.  A couple of times I did walk around the yard to pick up twigs and branches from the white pine tree.  We have a huge pile of branches we've lost from that tree this years because of the ice and wind. 
Well no matter how much I complain about it there is nothing I can do to change it.  My daughter Renee said yesterday at this point you just have to laugh when you hear snow in the forecast and I guess she is correct.

Chicken and Noodles Soon Compliments of the Egg Eater

The egg eater has sealed her own fate.  She has put the noose around her own neck.  This is not something I want to do but she has left me no other choice.  I just came in from gathering eggs and there she was in a nest eating a huge brown egg,  She didn't try and hide the fact she was doing it and keep eating it as I approached her.  I picked her up and tucked her under my arm and proceeded to gather the eggs.  After I was done I put her in with the turkeys until we can get her dressed.  I sure hope she is the only one that has been eating the eggs and with her in another location I will be able to tell for sure.
Last week I clipped her beak like someone told me and that didn't help.  I have been finding one or two eggs a day that have been ate and I can't have that.  Breaking an egg eater is nearly impossible.  So it looks like we will be having a nice pot of chicken and noodles soon thanks to the old girl.

Ron's New Workshop

Ron has always wanted a separate space other than the garage for his workshop.  So when we created the storage space for all the items we sell on line we purchased a 10' X 12" already made storage building.  After we finished my storeroom Ron went to work on his shop.  He has had it about 95% complete for a while now but still has some tweaking he wants to do.  He has it set up very nice, he has a TV, DVD player and radio for entertainment and the TV is hooked up to cable.  He has a couple nice space heaters for when it is cold and a couple of fans for when it gets warm.  He likes to go out and fool around and not worry about cleaning up if he doesn't feel like it which is a lot of the time.  It is his shop and he can keep it anyway he wants to.  Below are some pictures I took of him out working and watching TV.

Ron's workshop.

Ron at his work bench.

His entertainment corner; TV, DVD player and radio.  In between the wall studs he made some nice shelves to store things. You can see some of his CDs and DVDs along with some of his tools on some of the shelves.                                                

 

Beautiful Sunny Sunday

Wow what a difference just a few days make.  It is a beautiful day, sunny and 41 degrees out.  I didn't put on a jacket when I went out to tend to the chickens.  They are all out enjoying this nice day.  When we were shopping yesterday I picked up 2 heads of cabbage at Aldi for $1.29 each and Ron hung one of them in the run for the girls to eat.  I try and do this every couple of weeks, it gives them something to do and some good greens to eat.  It took them about 2 hours and it was gone but they had fun picking at it while it lasted.  I told them to enjoy this day because tomorrow the high will be 1 degrees, no not a typo, it will be one degrees for the high tomorrow.  Mother nature has a way of building our hopes up and then knocking us down real fast.
On this nice day I have a small hen turkey that we butchered last month baking.  I also have a nice pan of dressing in with it.  At Thanksgiving I made a huge amount of dressing and then portioned it out in containers and froze it for times like this.  We've used some already and have 2 more containers in the freezer.  After I use that up I need to make some more of the dried dressing mix that I made last year, that stuff was simply delicious and so easy to make. 

The chickens out enjoying the sunny day.

My turkeys.

The 3 males, brown one which you can only see part of and the 2 black ones.  The white one is 1 of 4 females.

Several of the chickens in the coop, the brown and white one is my favorite and she lays green eggs.

More of the girls decided they wanted their picture taken too.

Front yard, can you tell where the septic tank is?  Your correct it is the big bare circle up at the front of the house.

Easy Pantry Meal

Most Friday nights we have breakfast for supper and last night was no exception.  I fried up a jar of bacon, then browned a pint of potatoes in the bacon grease.  I also added a cut up onion that was from my garden last year.  After this was all done I added 6 fresh eggs that I had beat and some cheddar cheese.  Cooked until done and a wonderful hearty meal.
I try to have eggs for supper at least once a week.  I have also made for supper omelets, fried egg sandwiches, bacon and eggs, quiche and just plain scrambled eggs.  With the abundance of eggs from my girls it is a great way to use some of them up and they are delicious and good for you.

Horrible Case of Cabin Fever and Old Age

The American Heritage Dictionary describes "Cabin Fever": Boredom, restlessness, or irritability that results from a lack of environmental stimulation, as from a prolonged stay in a remote, sparsely populated region or a confined indoor area.
Yep that is exactly how I feel.  I looked at the projected 10 day forecast and it doesn't look promising.  Just going out to tend to the chickens is an enjoyable part of my day right now.  I talk to them, scold them and encourage them to get out of the coop into the horribly cold weather.  I'm beginning to think they have "Coop Fever".  I have found out who the egg eater is but need to wait until it gets a little warmer to do something about it.  Someone suggested I trim her beak and I am going to try that when I go out later today.  If that works her death sentence will be commuted.  I sure hope it works because it is just to darn cold to have to butcher her.  

I also don't feel the best right now.  I went to the doctor the first of the week because I have a horrible pain on the right side of my neck.  He said it was probably a pulled muscle and prescribe a muscle relaxer.  The problem with it is it makes me tired so I only try to take a half of one during the day.  It hasn't gotten a whole lot better yet.
I have a wisdom tooth that I chipped and can't get into the dentist until next Tuesday.  They won't do anything that day, you have to have a consult with the dentist first. :(
I had a panic attack that woke me up last night so I got up and took my blood pressure like the doctor wants me to do.  I sat on the "throne" while I did it.  My BP was OK but my heart rate was 109 so I sat there for a while and I either fell asleep or passed out and woke up and took it again and it was 92.  My legs at this point had fallen asleep and when I got up I could not stand and twisted my left foot and fell against the wall.  I am positive I broke a small bone or two on the side of my foot but I refuse to go to the doctor.  It is swollen and hurts like heck but I know that the only thing they do is have you wear one of those wooden shoes and I know I wouldn't keep it on so there is no need wasting my money.
I am just an accident waiting to happen; I forgot that on Monday I was introduced to a patch of ice out by the chicken coop but am feeling much better from that fall.  Getting old is not fun sometimes.  Oh well it could be worse.