Chicken Facts

Did you know that each chicken lays a specific color egg – yes, mine are all brown egg layers – but, each egg is a little different in color, shape and size.  For instance, one of our layers produces eggs that are long and thin, they are kind-of pointy.  Another lays brown eggs with dark brown speckles.  Some of the eggs are a pinkish brown, others a tan or beige brown. 

 

No, I haven’t figured out which hen lays each particular egg, yet.  But, I hope I will one of these days.  They usually lay eggs between 10am and 4pm.  I just haven’t had enough time to sit in the hen coop for 6 hours to watch eggs being layed!

Chickens!!

We have 12 Rhode Island Red hens!!  And, they’ve been laying well.  On Friday, we found a dozen eggs.  Every day since, we collected 8 eggs.  That’s wonderful.  I expected them to be thrown off because of the trip, new home, change in food, etc.  But, they’ve been great.  And, they are friendly little clucks, too.  The kids have been so excited to go visit in the morning, at noon, and at night.  My SIL, Laura, and I even saw an egg layed by the hen.

 

The hens were so excited about their new nest box.  They all wanted to get into the same box, though!  It was cute and funny.

Graham holds the very first egg.

 

Our second collection of the day on Friday.

And by the days end, we had a full dozen eggs from our new layers.

 

Monday DayLook – April 5, 2010

For Today: April 5, 2010

Looking out from my back porch... the snow is almost gone – just a few fingers of white within the tree rows.  The yard is a mass of mud and puddles and filled with my kids’ footprints.  Mud = sacrifice = more patience!

 

I am thinking about… the Mayer family.  Today, we attended the funeral mass for our friend, Ryan.  His family was in my thoughts and prayers all through the Triduum and Mass on Sunday.

 

I am thankful for... the gift of Spring-time!  And, of course, the gift of Christ’s life given for all of us.

 

I am reading… Introduction to the Devout Life.  How much teaching can be packed into one page, let alone one paragraph??  I’ve also been reading Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens.

I am hoping... for beautiful weather and continued good health.

 

I am hearing... the tv.  We are watching NCAA basketball.  Gotta root for the underdog.  No, I don’t usually watch the NCAA tourney, but I needed to veg after so much activity the past few days.

 

From the sewing/craft room (aka. laundry room!)…  Angelina, under my sometimes wavering patience, has been working on her doll quilt.  Let’s just say there has been a bit of stitch-ripping.  It’s a quarter inch seam, dear, a half inch is a bit large for quilt’s seam.

 

From the kitchen... I baked sugar cookies for Easter last week.  I even found a church cookie cutter!  Grandma Green Acres has agreed to come over and help frost & decorate cookies with the kids.  They had a great time with sugar and sprinkles.

 

State of the house… considering we’ve cleaned the floors more in the last two weeks than we have in the last two months and we had lots of company over the past few days, it looks pretty good!

 

A successful moment… the kids are in bed!!

 

Easter Musing and Observation… I enjoy how in our part of the land, the earth is just opening up to new life as Lent comes to an end and Easter is in sight.  It’s been noted in blog posts how hard Lent has been this year; it surely has been a struggle here, too.  But, the struggle makes me so thankful for those little snippets of time when everything is going well and the embrace of PEACE is felt.

 

A few plans for the rest of the week…
Tuesday-Thursday:  We’ll work on slowly getting back into our ‘normal’ routine. 

Friday/Saturday/Sunday:   Dedication of the new FarmHouse Fraternity building in Fargo.  We look forward to Divine Mercy Sunday (and the fact that we’ll be at St. Mary’s Cathedral for Mass!).

 

A picture memory...

Happy Easter! – Easter Sunday

Alleluia!  He is risen…

This beautiful Easter tree was given to us a house-warming gift by my husband’s Aunt & Uncle a week or two ago.  It’s beautiful and was the centerpiece for our Easter table.  A few close-ups follow.  


 
I know some choose not to eat before Sunday Mass, but I need to eat or risk being faint.  So, breakfast was served at 7am on Sunday morning.  The menu included fresh fruit, COFFEE & Chai Tea, Spicy Sausage Quiche, and Hash Brown & Ham Quiche (a favorite from last year).

All 16 adults and children had eaten by 8am and were dressed and headed out to the vehicles by 8:30am.  I was impressed!  Mass was at 9am and a 20 min. drive from the farm.  In small rural towns, it’s possible to arrive only 15 min. early and still ensure the ability to park VERY close, have time to get the kids to the bathroom, and find space for everyone to sit within the space of two rows, too.

Our second Easter Mass at the small country church was easier – and more joy-filled … the presence of family and a deeper sense of thankfulness.  Baby Louis was hungry/fussy, so he and I spent most of the Mass in the cry room.  But, I joined my SIL, Laura, and her son, so we weren’t alone!  It felt so good to sing the Alleluia.

This year, for the first time, I remembered and had time to  put a little plate of goodies together for our priest.  Angelina was in charge of the delivery.

Upon returning to the farm, we enjoyed watching the kids search for their Easter goodies.  Too muddy to have an Easter egg hunt this year – and the eggs would be hard to hide in the mud! – so, clues were given to each child which lead them to three or four small gifts (books, coloring books, rosaries, and kites or bubbles).

  Uncle Pat & Aunt Anna with Louis (above) and Uncle Eric (below).

  This is my 3yo God-daughter.  She’s a ball of energy and a little bounce of joy wherever she goes. 


 

My SIL, Laura, with her children.

 
Uncle Eric and Graham (above) using the clues to find Graham’s Easter gifts and my brother, Doug, (below) helping his daughter in her search

 
Graham, above, with his kite – an Easter gift tradition in my family and Grandma Golden Acres with Leo, below.


 I forgot to take an Easter pic of ‘just’ my kids.  OOOPS!  Maybe after Divine Mercy Sunday Mass??  Anyway, above are all kids present at the farm for Easter. 

We have three April birthdays among members on my side of the family; we usually try to celebrate them on Easter weekend.  So, Grandpa Dave, Uncle Pat & Dash opened a few birthday presents, too.  Here are the three birthday guys – pictured below!
  SOMEONE was a little tired after all the action!  She’s so darn adorable.

 
Graham became attached to this sword after playing with it at a friends.  I ordered it for him, he will be paying for a portion, and I asked if he could wait until Easter to ‘get’ it.  He agreed.  So, after everyone left, I let him open this special toy.  It was a big deal to this 3yo.

My MIL cut a few forsythia branches for me on Friday.  I wasn’t sure they’d bloom, but Sunday morning, two flowers had popped.  That evening, this is what the the branches looked like.  Beautiful and sunny.
  
My mom offered to stay and help us on Monday (today).  Everyone else left for home between 3 and 4pm.  Eric left at 4pm for a wake/prayer service in Fargo.  My mom and I put our feet up and visited for the rest of the afternoon/evening.

Holy Week

We took a break from school for the whole week.  It was wonderful!  It gave us time to relax and just enjoy each other.  We worked around the house to prepare for company, and we readied the chicken coop. 

Holy Thursday:  Feast of the Last Supper – Mass at 7pm.  Dash served and did such a nice job. 

Upon returning home, we learned that our good friend, Ryan Mayer, had died at about 4pm that day.  He’d been battling a second round of brain cancer since November.  While we knew his health had been failing, we had hoped and prayed for a miracle.

Eric and I stayed up to wait for my mom’s arrival … she was bringing the laying hens.  Dash and Angelina wanted to stay up, too, but we convinced them to go to sleep until my mom arrived.  We’d wake them up.  Grandma Golden Acres didn’t get to the farm until 11:15pm; Dash got up and while Angelina got up, too, she quickly realized she’d be better off staying in bed!  Smart girl.  Eric, Dash and my mom transferred the chickens to their new home.  They came back to the house and we all went to bed!

Good Friday:  Church service at 3pm.  Dash was able to serve again today.  I was in the cry room for quite some time with Louis.  Dash got a bloody nose right after Veneration of the Cross… I was just about to leave for the cry room when I saw him turn around and head to the back of the church.  Fr. motioned toward Eric or I to follow him out.  Thankfully the flow stopped quickly and he could return to his duties after distribution of the Eucharist. 

My SIL, Laura, and her two children arrived just before supper.  The kids were ready to play and burn off some energy.

Tonight we learned that Ryan’s funeral would be on Monday.  My mom offered to stay and watch the oldest four kids on Monday.  Ryan’s widow, Lori, asked Eric to read at the prayer service/wake on Sunday evening.

Holy Saturday: 
After breakfast, Eric took all the kids out to see the rabbits and chickens.  All were dressed in rubber boots … sorry no pics, but it was cute!

My brother Pat and his wife Anna arrived at 2pm.  The weather was wonderfully warm and mild, so the kids went outside and convinced Pat & Anna to join them in seeing the animals once again.

Egg-dying was lead by Pat & Anna … 19 eggs were colored and I believe the kids would have done at 5 times that many if the eggs had been available!

My dad and brothers Doug and Eric planned to arrive LATE – around 11pm.  Does this seem like a pattern with my family??  Always trying to make the days longer, it seems!

To pass the time, the rest of us who stayed up played Catan.  Pat, Anna and my mom hadn’t played before, but the game was enjoyed by all.  Anna, first time player, claimed bragging rights by winning.

The guys arrived and we all visited during the last minutes of game playing.  Then, it was off to bed by midnight for all.

Some year, Eric and I would like to attend the Easter Vigil again.  It’s been a number of years since we’ve gone to the Vigil.  Maybe next year.

Coop, Roost and Nest Construction

**Last week was full of twists and turns.  I didn’t post at all, so am trying to play catch-up with our daily happenings and our Easter celebration.**

The view of the ‘coop’ door and windows – it’s a nice sunny south facing building.

  
Last Monday, Eric, Dash & Zeke, with a bit of chatter ‘help’ from Graham, constructed a division in the barn to house our flock of laying hens.  The original area was too large, so we constructed a temporary wall.  It’s crude, but it will definitely serve us well. 
 
Dash, Zeke and I built the roost (wood structure pictured above) last Tuesday.  I used a circular saw for the first time in my life … yep, I’m not afraid of power tools.  It turned out pretty good.  We used lumber we had at the farm, so didn’t have to pay anything extra.  I wouldn’t have chosen to use 2x6 lumber and create such a heavy roost, otherwise.  Again, it will suffice and meet the needs of our small flock. 

Then, the following day, the 4-Hole hen nest (above) arrived and Dash put it together by himself.  He helped his dad hang it in the coop that evening.  They also hung the feeder and spread out the bedding to prepare for the hens’ arrival.
 

Nest Construction

 
My mom brought a dozen laying hens when she came on Holy Thursday.  We put the hens in their new home after dark; they’re calmer at night.  We were all excited – to get the hens and to see Grandma/Mom!  This coop will serve as the hens’ temporary home until a permanent coop is built in the barn.