The month that got away

I realized that I've been doing a poor job blogging this month - partly because I've been busy, and partly because I tend to post a sentence or two on FB about what we've been up to, and then I don't feel like repeating myself here.  So I will have to make an effort to blog first and then FB from now on. 

On the chicken front, the Grey Fox had aggression issues with everyone but me, so we ate him for Thanksgiving.  I was kind of bummed about not having wild turkey, but since I didn't get out during turkey hunting season, we had chicken instead.  It was a quiet Thanksgiving at home.  I missed my family in Ohio.  I miss the Grey Fox, too.  He consistently went after the Pirate, though, and occasionally the Princess, and even jumped on El Jefe a couple times.  He didn't like the metal bucket I was carrying once, but that's as bad as he got with me.  Generally, he'd puff up at the Pirate, I'd step between them, and he'd deflate and find something more interesting to do elsewhere.  With him gone, Lucky-the-Lakenvelder and Drunken Chicken are duking it out to see who will be the Supreme Ruler of the Chicken Yard.  My money is on Lucky.  Drunken Chicken puffs back at him, but keeps retreating.  We got 12 eggs from ten hens today, which is the most we've ever gotten - apparently they like life without the Grey Fox just fine.  This is all from the Rocks (brown eggs) and Blue Andalusians (white eggs).  The Top Hats aren't laying yet.

On the deer front, El Jefe got a doe, which we took to the processor because we were having guests arrive the next day and it just wasn't going to happen that I would be up half the night processing it and be functional the next day.  Without help, because I have banned El Jefe from my kitchen during deer processing, in order to avoid a right bloody mess, and a trip to the ER.

On the house front, I'm still priming the Princess' ceiling, because the tendonitis in my right arm is so bad that holding the brush/roller to the ceiling for any length of time sets the whole thing on fire and then it aches abominably the next day.  So I'm doing little bits at a time.  The doc said it won't get better unless I can totally NOT USE IT for several weeks.  Yeah, sweetheart, like THAT'S going to happen.  On the other hand, she gave me a different med for the fibromyalgia, which is working so well I feel almost too good... I'm almost afraid to say that for fear of jinxing it.  And now I need to go do my bit of painting for the evening, so I can clean it up and spend some time with El Jefe...  belated Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Freshest Eggs I Ever 'Et!

The hens started laying today.  The Princess went out this morning to let them out of the coops/pen, and came running back into the house shouting, "Zombie laid eggs!"  Well, Zombie was setting on them, anyway.  She thought there were three, but when we actually looked, there were five, one nearly buried in the wood chips under the straw in the nesting box.  We took them inside... the Pirate was upset because she wanted Zombie to set on them 'til they HATCHED.  I had to explain this wasn't the right time of year to let her do that, and we would be eating all the eggs the hens laid until Spring.  Zombie left the coop after we took the eggs, wandering off on another chicken field trip with the rest of the flock.

We went inside, cracked the eggs which were incredibly ORANGE, stirred them up and scrambled them.  Even stirred up they were the bright yellow of the walls in my kitchen.  And they were the most delicious scrambled eggs I've ever had, just all creamy goodness.  After that was homeschool.

Then we noticed that the chicken field trip had gotten into the neighbor's yard (they've been doing that for the last two weeks - ever since the weather turned bad, probably because the neighbor's barnyard is more sheltered from the wind than ours, I'm guessing).  So we took a break from school and went out to call them home - I went into the coop to grab some corn and noticed yet another egg right on top of the nest box next to the one that held all the other eggs earlier.  Feeling generous if not virtuous, I am saving it for El Jefe, rather than frying it sunny side up and snarfing it myself, which I admit was my first inclination.  

So, of the 13 hens, 6 began laying today.  They were little brown eggs, one long and skinny, the rest normal egg shapes, some darker and some kind of speckled.  I'm assuming they all belong to the various Rocks, since I think the Blue Andalusians lay white eggs.  I'll have to check that to be sure.  The TopHats are still in Chicken Ghetto, so I know they aren't laying yet.

I'm so happy I could hug a hen.  Except they bite my ear when they sit on my shoulder.  I don't know what's up with that...