Chicken Clipping

We spent a few minutes clipping wings this morning.  It is an insurance measure since we have been letting the girls out to forage in the yard after our big rain storm hit and they had been spending so much time standing around in the mud.  Since they love foraging out in the yard, I worry that they might try to get back in there even when they are closed in the run.  The vast majority of the roof of the run is covered in chicken wire but there are a few small spaces where the young ones might be able to get out.  Just in case, we clipped all of their wings except the girls who are still in molt.

I have posted a link on how to clip wings previously but this time we had the 10 year old take pictures.  This is something that can be done by one person but since Dave was available, I had him do the holding while I did the clipping.  It is easiest to do while sitting as your legs can support the chicken underneath while your hands can restrain the rest of the body.




Dave holding Hedwig.


Gabrielle.


Gabrielle's wing extended.  You can see the primary flight feathers are easy to distinguish.  They are those first six or so long feathers.


Simply trim the primary flight feathers back using a sharp pair of scissors.  This doesn't hurt the chicken at all.  Some people only clip one wing but I clip both as I have had birds figure out how to deal with only having one side clipped but none of them have been able to fly well with both sides clipped.


The finished wing.




When the bird is sitting or standing as they normally do with their wings folded, you can't tell that they have been clipped.  You only see the clipped feathers when they have their wings extended.

I feel that clipping wings makes our girls safer since they won't be able to fly out into the yard where the dogs would be waiting to eat them.  If your birds free-range, clipping wings may not be a great idea as you want them to be able to get away from any predators that they may encounter and having clipped wings will impeded their ability to get away.

Where is winter?

I know some of world is currently under siege by a massive storm but here in southern California we are having a heat wave.  It was already 74 at 9:30 this morning.  Truly depressing.  After living in Alaska, Wisconsin, and even northern Arizona, I really don't care for these California "winters".  We don't ever really get winter, just some brief periods of cooler weather.  Last year, my kids never even changed from wearing shorts to wearing pants unless we were on vacation somewhere it actually got cold.  The only thing I really like about all this warm weather is that I can garden year-round without ever having to do anything special to baby my plants.  Of course, sometimes my cool-weather plants don't get enough cool weather to fully mature.  Last year, my brussels sprouts started flowering before the sprouts even got to be eating size.  I'm hoping not to have a repeat of that this year though with the current weather, I'm not holding my breath!

I've still only planted half the garden.  I am hoping to find the inspiration to get the rest of the back garden planted this week.




My tall raised bed is currently hosting spinach and red onion.




One of the brussels sprouts plants that I am currently pinning all my hopes on (they are my very favorite veggie!)




I planted twice as much broccoli this year as we went through it very quickly last year.




The garlic came up much more quickly than last year and I planted it earlier in the season as well.




A flower from the trumpet vine that covers the top of the chicken run.




Just for fun, some gratuitous chicken pictures!

This Delaware is the only adult hen I have who has finished molting for the year.  She still isn't laying again though.  I am getting exactly zero eggs a day right now.  I hope they are resting up and will start again soon!




My other Delaware that is finishing with her molt and looks mostly normal:




One of the young pullets I got a month or so ago (this one is an Ancona).




The young girls hanging out on the roosting bar in the run with my Rhode Island Red who currently has a lot of bare patches from her molt.




Next post will be on trying to figure out how to winnow chaff from sunflower seeds.

Pomegranates Galore!

I love pomegranates.  Their sweet, tart taste is fabulous.  I like them on salads, plain, and especially as jelly.  This year, I was able to pick up just over a dozen at a decent price from a local source.  Making them into jelly was a long, involved process, but it was worth it!

The first thing I did was quarter them and soak them in water.  I have been told that this helps to pop out the seeds easily.




The next step was setting up my work area.  I clipped some cheesecloth (doubled over once), to a large bowl and put my food mill on top.






As I got the seeds out of the bitter pith, I just dropped them into the food mill.  When I had a decent amount in the mill, I just cranked it for a while until all of the juice had drained down through the cheesecloth and into the bowl (the boys liked helping with this part).




The resulting juice, while not completely clear, was perfectly good for making jelly.




I set up my jelly making area just like normal.  Water bath canner on one burner, jelly pot on another; and the lids steaming in the back.  I had a cloth spread over the counter to make cleanup a breeze and put all my utensils on that.




The jelly didn't set as hard as most of my other jams and jellies this year, but it is still firm enough and it tastes great!

Giving Thanks

We had a belated Thanksgiving this year as Dave was sick over Thanksgiving weekend. The boys and I did go to Arizona and had a lovely time with my parents but Dave ended up staying at home and missing out on all the food (and good company!) We decided to do Thanksgiving at our house this last Sunday, Dec. 5th. We have been patiently waiting for our turkey at the farm to be ready for processing. Finally, the Monday before Thanksgiving, we were ready to process. There were 13 turkeys to be done and the majority of people waiting for the turkeys were on hand to help with processing. There was an area all set up at the farm that made it nice and easy to get it all done, and having so many people there was a great help. Many hands make light work! Dave and the boys were still camping so I went to the farm armed with a cooler, some trash bags, and a sharp knife. I really wish I had gotten some pictures of it before and after we cooked it, but I totally forgot. The best I have is some of the meat on a platter on our table. It was good though! I will definitely be buying another one next year. The dark meat really stood out, much darker than the meat from a commercial bird, and very flavorful.

The rest of our meal consisted of roasted brussels sprouts and broccoli, crescent rolls (I think the best I have made in many years), stuffing, mashed potatoes, the ubiquitous jellied cranberry sauce (I couldn't bring myself to give it up this year), and a pecan pie. Pretty much a normal Thanksgiving meal but I was mighty proud of that local, farm-raised bird from Amy's Farm .

The only picture I remembered to take of the turkey (a Bourbon Red):





Various other pictures.  It was the fifth night of Chanukah when we had our Thanksgiving so the boys are wearing their kippot and our chanukiot are all set up and ready to light.

Random Animal Pictures

We will be having a belated Thanksgiving here at our house this coming Sunday. The boys and I did spend a very nice Thanksgiving with my parents in Arizona, but Dave had to stay home due (mostly), to illness. In the mean time, I would like to share some pictures that were taken this summer when Dave and the boys took a road trip up to Oregon and Washington.

At one point, they stopped at a wild animal park and got to interact with many different animals. When they were feeding and playing with the lion cubs, one of the cubs lunged up at our youngest son and very gently bit him on the jaw. When I posted it on Facebook, I got a lesson on how things don't always translate over the internet. I thought I had posted a funny, tongue-in-cheek post about it, but it ended up making many people concerned and we did get a few phone calls from family members. I know better than to post something like that on Facebook again!

Here they are petting the cub as it is being given a bottle.




It had a favorite stuffed toy, but it liked our kid a little better!



We think it's kind of cool. How many other kids can say that they've been bitten by a lion? He didn't hold any grudges anyway and spent some more time playing with the cubs.







All in all, everyone had a fun time.




Some other random pictures of animals at the park. I really love some of the peacock pictures.

The Farm on the News

The farm where our steer and turkey was/is being raised and where our milk cow lives was on the news this morning. They talk a little bit about the meat/cow shares that are available and you can see our cow Guinevere (we are one of the 14 families mentioned, though I think there are really only 13 of us). Anyone who lives in the Southern California (Inland Empire) area, I highly suggest going to Amy's Farm and taking a tour or checking out their herd share programs if you have an interest in getting locally, humanely raised meat. We will be picking up our 1/3 of a steer any day now and I am helping to process turkeys on Monday.

The news spots are all similar but fairly short if you want to watch all of them. You have to be willing to put up with inane chatter from the news people though. It reminded me why I don't watch the news anymore...


The 5am spot

The 6am spot

The 7am spot



Hurray for local farms!

Apples Galore!

I did manage to put up most of the apples we picked a couple weeks ago. Some went as apple butter, some as applesauce, some in butternut squash soup, and the rest were just great eating apples.

Some apples washed and ready to be made into apple butter.




My wonderful apple peeler, corer, slicer. Without this, I don't know if I would have been willing to make all this apple stuff.




In action!




All the resulting slices in the crockpot with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and a bit of salt.




I loved making this in the crockpot since I could let it cook overnight and then get up in the morning to a great smell. All I needed to do at this point was mash it a bit with my potato masher, put it in jars, and waterbath the jars. I was done with plenty of time to get to Disneyland just after opening.




Finished jars.




I do like how the apple butter turned out, but I think I will cut down on the sugar next time. It is a little too sweet for my taste. I also made some applesauce, but that is basically the same thing, only with almost no sugar (I used a quarter cup with about 4lbs of apples), and some cinnamon. I love applesauce, so I didn't bother to jar it. I just put individual amounts in freezer containers and froze them. That way, I can pull one out and pop it in the fridge in the morning and have applesauce with lunch. I do still have some apples left and should use them within the next couple days. I think tonight will feature apple crumble for dessert!

New Chickens

After the disaster that happened with the chickens while we were out of town, my chicken run was feeling lonely. My solution... more chickens! I found someone locally who had a couple of the breeds I was interested in and went to check them out. They were kept nicely and were a good size. They are big enough to take care of themselves and get out of the way of the big girls, but small enough that the big hens don't bother them too much.






Two of them are Anconas which are black with white spots when they are grown and will lay white eggs. It's been some time since we had any white egg layers so that will be a change.







The other two are Silver Laced Wyandottes which will lay brown eggs and have white feathers edged in black once their adult plumage comes in.





They aren't entirely sure about hanging out with the big hens yet, but everyone is getting along as well as can be expected.