When you let nature take its course....

Your future layers

The Ugly Phase

Top Ten Places....

They are Growing a Tail!

Peeps

Yes, I have been a daily chicken bum, but between my Dad coming to visit and the arrival of your future egg layers I have been somewhat busy.
Chicks hatched Monday and were shipped immediately to us from New Mexico.  I picked them up Wednesday morning 6:00 am at the local post office.  They show up in boxes a foot and a half by two foot, 100 to a box, 25 chicks in four compartments. We received 350 chicks total, of which 100 are Red broilers (meat birds), 100 Rhode Island Reds, 50 Ameraucanas, 25 White Leghorns, 25 Delawares, and 50 Penedensecas.  Of the 100 meat birds, 15 arrived dead.  There must have been problems with the shipping, because all of the dead ones were from one compartment of one box.  No fun to be counting dead chicks at 6 AM, but the important part was to get the rest settled in.
When you take chicks out of the shipping box, you dip their beak in water to remind them that they can drink, since they have spent the last 2 days in transit with no food and no water.  So after dipping the 335 birds and setting them down under the heat lamps, filling up their waterers, filling up their feeders, spreading shavings down for bedding we sat back and watched the chicks warm up and settle in.  Katie calls it livestock TV, because it is mesmerizing and you could just sit there and watch them for hours.
Since Wednesday, we have had a few more deaths, mostly meat birds.  I suspect that it's the survivors from the death compartment in that one box, who made the trip but were badly weakened and are now slowly dying off.  Here is a picture of our chick brooder set up in one of the stalls in the barn.

David and Goliath

Hippest Hang-out place on the Ranch

A Coop with a View

Movement

Interactions

Ahh, what a nice place to sunbathe...

Ah, peace and quiet...

 

What a nice relaxing spot....

Hey, what are you doing, hen?

I am sunbathing you dumb cluck, leave me alone.

She wants me to leave her alone, what a fowl mood she is in!

Biddy!                                  Grouse!

Fine then, I'll fly the coop!

That birdbrain just asked me to scram. Can you believe it?

Just ignore her, we'll be over here doing out own pecking...

Can't get any peace and quiet around here: what a henhouse!

all photos by Kat Gritt

Goldwings

Feeding Time

Ok, how many now?

Babycount

The Pompadour

The Flattop

The Bald Look

The (modern) Fauxhawk

The (classic) Mohawk

Afternoon Affair

Yes, this is who has been taking up most of my afternoons.  Every day at 2:00, I go over to Katie's place and milk out the two mamas, then feed the babies with a bucket with nipples.  The adult goats get their alfalfa cubes, all does still due to birth get checked for signs of impending labor, then... some quality time with the babies.  This little doeling takes a nap in my lap every day.  She groans and squeaks a lot when she sleeps.  I find it the perfect way to waste away the afternoon...

Photos by Scott Stanley and Katharine Chapple

The Combover Hairstyle

Did you all try the Vanilla ice cream recipe?  Good.  Well, now that you are left with a little tupperware container full of egg whites, let me share with you my favorite recipe to get rid of them:

Coconut Macaroons
Recipe by David Lebovitz

4 large egg whites
1¼ cups sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
2½ cups unsweetened (!) coconut
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract


In a large skillet, mix together the egg whites, sugar, salt, honey, coconut and flour.


Heat over low-to-moderate heat on the stovetop, stirring constantly, scraping the bottom as you stir.


When the mixture just begins to scorch at the bottom, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl to cool to room temperature.

(At this point, the mixture can be chilled for up to one week, or frozen for up to two months.)


When ready to bake, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


Form the dough into 1 1/2-inch mounds with your fingers evenly spaced on the baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until deep golden brown. Cool completely.

Balding on Top with Goatee and Sideburns Hairstyle

I make ice cream.  In the summer, I make ice cream all the time, we practically live on ice cream.  Here in the valley when it gets hot, we try to cool off from the inside out.  What better way to do it than by shoveling ice cream down our throats.  It's perfect because when it's that hot, food loses its appeal, but cold, fruity, creamy goodness never does.  I usually make what I call "blender ice cream," which does not require stovetop cooking (something you want to avoid like The Plague if you don't have air conditioning.)  Blender ice cream is super fast, and I make it with all sorts of fruit, and use any combination of cream, milk, yogurt, buttermilk etc, whatever is in the fridge.  It's always a hit, and people expect to find ice cream when they come by. 

I somehow stop making ice cream in the winter with not so much fresh fruit for inspiration, but people have come to expect ice cream from me, regardless of the season.  The other day, serving an apple crisp, it seemed sacrilegious to NOT to have vanilla ice cream to go along with it.  So I made up a simple, no cook vanilla ice cream recipe that turned out great.  Here it is for you:

If you don't have an ice cream maker, go out and get one now.  You cannot live without one, no one should.  The one I have is a Donvier hand crank.  It's small and easy to store.  You turn the handle once every 5 minutes, it takes 30 minutes to make, the bowl lives in the freezer.

Simple Vanilla Ice Cream

3 Punk Rock egg yolks (don't forget to rinse your eggs before cracking)
1/2 cup sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla paste or vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream
2 cup whole milk

Place the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and use the whip attachment to beat to the ribbon stage (about five minutes on medium speed). You’ll know you’ve hit the ribbon stage when the mixture is pale yellow in color and it falls back into the bowl in a ribbon pattern. With the mixer running on slow speed add the milk, cream and vanilla extract. When everything is combined, freeze according to your gelato or ice cream maker’s directions.

You can double this recipe.  You can change the ratio of cream to milk for a creamier or icier texture.

Funny Hairstyle

Spa Day

A small band of intrepid chickens, lead by the smaller Ameraucana rooster, has taken to wandering down alongside the grass arena all the way to the end of the pastures.  It is now part of their daily morning routine, they weave in and out of the rockrose shrubs, scratching all the landscape bark out of the borders, stop in at the horses' paddocks that get oats in their feed (horses digestive tracts are not very efficient: they poop out half the oats we feed them and the chickens have a ball picking them out of the manure).
On their way back from their wanderings, after a busy morning scavenging grain, bugs, and worms, they stop in at the covered arena for a well deserved sand bath.  For those of you who haven't seen a chicken dust bathe: they contort into funny positions, mostly pancaked into the sand, scratching sprays of dirt into their feathers, twisting their neck, wiggling themselves further into the sand.  It's hilarious.  Watch the spray below:

Almost a Chicken...

 

Daredevil

Photo by Scott Stanley

Actually, Nana, the big dog, really only wants to play with the chickens.  She pounces in front of them, head down butt in the air, and wishes they would just engage a little more.  Ollie, the little one, when we are not watching tries to mount the chickens...

Hmmm, Mini Chocolate Soufflés?

I found this recipe on the internet on one of my favorite food blogs.  I want to share with you.  The recipe itself is very simple and the ingredients are straight forward, the only downside is that you will dirty 2 pans and 3 bowls.  But it involves chocolate so who cares, it's just more opportunities for bowl licking...

These look like little cupcakes but are really flowerless soufflés, so they are light and wonderful.  The girls' eggs beat up really well, of course.

From Smitten Kitchen:

Chocolate Soufflé Cupcakes
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon espresso or instant coffee powder (optional)
3 large eggs, separated
6 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

White Chocolate Mint Cream
2 ounces (56 grams) white chocolate, finely chopped
3 ounces heavy whipping cream
1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract

Get the white chocolate mint cream ready for later: Place the white chocolate in a small bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer, pour it over the chocolate and let it sit for a minute to melt the chocolate. Whisk well. Add the peppermint extract and whisk again. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the cream. Chill until very cold, about two hours.

Make cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
 Line 9 standard-size (3-ounce) muffin cups with paper liners.
Stir chocolate, butter and espresso powder together in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until mostly melted, then remove from the heat and whisk until it is fully melted and smooth. (put the butter underneath the chocolate in the pan, so that it protects the chocolate from the direct heat.) Cool to lukewarm, stirring occasionally.
Using electric mixer beat egg yolks and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl until mixture is very thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Briefly beat lukewarm chocolate mixture, then vanilla extract, into yolk mixture.
Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and all of the salt, beating until medium-firm peaks form.
Fold whites into chocolate mixture in 3 additions. Divide batter among prepared cups, filling each three-fourths of the way.
Bake cakes until tops are puffed and dry to the touch (some may crack) and a tester inserted into the centers comes out with some moist crumbs attached, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in pan on a cooling rack, where the cupcakes will almost immediately start to fall. It will be all the better to put your mint cream on them.
Finish your masterpiece: Beat mint white chocolate cream with electric beaters until soft peaks form. Remove cupcakes from pan, arrange on a platter. Fill each sunken top with a healthy dollop of white chocolate mint cream.

Tripplets

My goat Coco finally gave birth to triplets today.  Mother and babies are doing well.  She had two doelings and one buck (buckling, bucklet?).  We had been watching her like hawks because we thought she might have quadruplets (or more!) in that enormous belly, but instead, she had only 3 really big kids in there.  It would have been better to have more smaller sized kids, than fewer large ones.  In fact, the birth was very traumatic.  I have it all on video, and as soon as I figure out how to download it, you will all be able to see Coco screaming giving birth to the first doe.  After that, it all got difficult and more tense and I had to stop videoing, put on gloves and help pull out the enormous buck that almost didn't make it through the birth canal. 
Katie, my goat guru, almost gave up.  She thought of loading the goat into the truck to take her to UC Davis to get a c-scction.  But together, between her experience with 7 seasons of kiddings, and my 3 seasons of foaling, we didn't panic, gave mother a rest, and worked at it until we had the enourmous buck out.  Katie ended up having to pull him out by his lower jay.  After that, we were able to get the last doeling out easily. 
The fist doe is adorable, she looks like her pa, Galapagos, but has small ears, Katie says.  She was up and about fast and sucked down lots of colotrum from the bottle with gusto.  The buck (soon to be a wether) is huge and handsome.  He is as large as the two kids that are already 2 weeks old, poor Coco.  For all you mothers out there, imagine giving birth to a 13 lb baby.... anyway, in dairy show goats there is not much use for male goats, unless they are of amazig quality and are sold as breeding bucks, so this one will eventually be sold at auction, or we are considering taking him to have him for meat.  I don't know if I will be able to do it though, after bottle feeding him...
The third doe kid out is brown, like her momma, but unfortunately, has a pretty severe under bite.  She also had the most strenuous birth of them all and was very tired.  We had to tube her to give her colostrum as her sucking reflex has not yet developed. We'll see how she does at ther next feeding.

Just got a text from Katie (10:45 pm): "Babies ate well, everyone is happy!"

In the picture is the handsome buck, about 1/2 hour old, being bottle fed in my lap.

Pastured Chicken

Farm Chores

Calling the girls to feed them their evening treat plus all leftover/compost from our kitchen.

I do feel like the pied piper of chickens....

This is one of my favorite farm chores, I really like feeding all animals: part is that I am Italian and I just plain like to feed, animals or people; part is that I like being at the center of the attention....

Walking with 80 chickens underfoot you have to be careful where you step... and because they are afraid of nothing, they will step right in front of you, all excited about their daily treat.

After giving them our leftovers, I always throw them some scratch, it keeps them busy while I collect eggs and finish chores.

Filling the feeders with a mixture of whole grains (corn, barley, oats, wheat, flax, and soybean)

Spreading shavings inside the coop, collecting eggs from the "special" nesting boxes...

Changing out the bedding in the standard laying boxes..

Collecting eggs

the day's bootie...