Tag: homesteading

What observing broody hens taught me about incubating eggs: A how to

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

Last week, for the first time in five years, I cleaned up the nice incubator and prepared it for hatching eggs. Last fall, the meat chickens we ordered came with some kind of respiratory illness. I do knot know if they had it from the hatchery or picked up something along the way, but some very sick chickens arrived last fall. We lost 11 of 26, and I think the only reason the rest survived was because of my experience with respiratory illnesses in chickens and Ron’s ability to remove and cull quickly. It was a nightmare for sure.

And, to add to the stress of all of it, we had to worry about our main flock getting the sickness. We had to wash constantly and never let anything that touched the sick chickens touch anything that would go to our main flock. And keeping Ruby away from the baby chicks was an extra challenge because you know how she is.

Thankfully, we succeeded in keeping our flock from getting sick, but the whole experience led to some deep thinking about ordering chicks from the hatchery moving forward. I am sure getting sick chicks in the mail is overall quite rare, but with the state of things and our deep connection to our flock, we decided to not risk ordering live chicks this year and just order hatching eggs.

This means my incubator skills from years ago will come in quite handy–only I’m nervous I don’t have the skills I used to. Still, I am going into this experience with a lot of wisdom learned from my broody hen mamas, so I wanted to share instructions for hatching chicks from hatching eggs with notes from my observations of what a broody hen does to ensure a successful hatch. After all, Mother Nature knows best, so if I can copy her, I surely will.

And I have to add that, so far, so good because I candled the eggs on Saturday, and out of 36 hatching eggs, we had just one that wasn’t developing. It’s early, but I am hopeful for good numbers.

Instructions for Hatching Chicken Eggs (with broody hen notes)

Choose a Good Incubator

The first step is to choose a good incubator. You want to choose an incubator that measure temperature and humidity, and I highly recommend one with an automatic turner. Good visibility and easy cleaning are perks, and one thing I learned from experience is that, if you live in a colder climate and want to start incubating in the spring when it might still be chilly outside, a styrofoam incubator holds the temperature better. I haven’t researched incubators in a long time, but read for real reviews and consider your price range. We have a Hova Bator, and I have had good success with it. I had a plastic shell incubator first, and it did pretty well as well; however, I had to add heat on the outside to help ensure the temperature stayed proper on the inside.

Choose a Good Space

I learned from my broody hens that a good space can make a big difference in success rates for hatching. You want to choose a space for your incubator that is out of the way and dark. I cleaned out a closet for ours because I want to make sure the eggs stay in the dark. After all, under a broody hen, it’s warm and dark.

Prepare Your Incubator

Even if your incubator is new, you will want to clean it. It’s best to not use harsh chemicals because fragile little babies are going to be born in that incubator. I use vinegar and water to wipe down any parts I cannot submerge in water, and I then I submerge and scrub any parts that can be submerged, like the flooring. Again, no harsh chemicals, just some vinegar and water.

After you have your incubator cleaned and dried, it’s time to set it up and test it out for a day or so to make sure it can maintain the temperature and humidity you want. You will add water to the water reservoirs, turn on the incubator, and then start monitoring things. You want to ensure consistent temperature and see how much water you need to add to ensure consistent humidity. You also want to make sure the turner works.

A broody hen is magically consistent. She sits for 21 days, only leaving for some periodic bathroom breaks. I keep food and water near our broody hens, so she can have easy access to nourishment. And I always hear the turning of eggs at night. I am sure she probably turns eggs during the day too, but in the quiet of night, it’s so cool to hear a broody hen in there turning her eggs with such care. You definitely want to make sure your incubator is consistent like a broody hen.

Temperature and Humidity Level

Temperature: 99.5 degrees if your incubator has an air circulator, 101-102 degrees if your incubator has still air

Humidity: 45-55% until lockdown on Day 18 (I have seen varying thoughts on humidity, but this is a good range for our incubator that circulates the air.)

Humidity: 60-70% for lockdown from Day 18 to Day 21 (You have to work pretty hard in the last few days to keep that humidity up, but it’s important to prevent the membrane from sticking to the chick during hatching.)

Schedule

When your incubator is ready, and your temperature and humidity are at proper levels, it’s time to start. You should not wash the fertilized eggs, but you can dust off any messy bits. I tend to avoid really dirty eggs just because. The whole journey will take a total of 21 days, but I have had eggs hatch as late as day 24. I also had a broody hen who ended up with a very cold egg in the middle of a process stay on that egg and hatch that baby at day 29! We still have that baby chick. She’s all grown up and will be four years old this summer.

After Day 7, you can candle the eggs. If the chick is developing, you will see blood vessels or a dark spot forming in the egg. To candle the egg, simply hold up a flashlight to the egg. If the egg has a dark shell, you will have to get into a really dark room and hold the flashlight up to the egg and then study hard. If you see just a clear egg and a yolk that just moves around freely, you know that one isn’t going to develop and should be removed to prevent it from rotting and exploding. If you are unsure and think you might see some development, leave the egg in the incubator for now and candle again after waiting several more days.

I used to stress out about candling and try to hurry so fast, worried that somehow being out of the incubator a few minutes would be harmful. I even accidentally broke an egg in my rush before. After seeing that a broody mama can leave her eggs for up to an hour and everything will be just fine, I no longer rush. Take your time and be careful with the eggs when you candle.

On Day 18, it’s time for lockdown. First, you will remove the eggs from the incubator and candle them again. Be careful that you have a good, safe places for holding and candling the eggs. Of course, remove any eggs that stopped developing. At this point, the egg should be full. You can sometimes see little feathers, which is just so cool.

While the eggs are out of the incubator, remove the turner. The eggs will stay still for the last three days. When a broody hen gets to Day 18, she stops leaving the nest. She will not even eat or drink, so I take them water. They won’t eat much though because they know they can’t leave. For the last days, the heat and humidity needs to be steady.

After you remove the turner, you may want to put down some shelf paper to help the chicks have traction when they hatch. I have not done this before, but I read about it and plan to do it this time. I read it can help prevent splay leg.

Be sure to keep the humidity up during lockdown! This is so important!

At this time, you should also get your brooder ready for the babies with food, water, and a heat source. (That will be a different post.)

By Day 20, you will likely start to see some pips in the eggs, but don’t panic if you do not. If all is well, most the eggs will hatch on Day 21, but you should definitely give them a few extra days. Hopefully, you will have a successful hatch.

After the Hatch

First of all, just like a mama hen, you are going to be so excited when those babies start hatching. When they first hatch, they look rough. They are wet and tired from all of that work unzipping an egg. They are also really wobbly. But the wobbly won’t last long. Soon, they will fluff out and get their legs under them.

Once they are completely fluffed, you can move them to the brooder. Definitely let them get good and fluffy before you remove them, and wait until you have at least two or three ready before they go to the brooder. If you put one in the brooder alone, that baby will cry itself to death. That may be an exaggeration, but I can see the possibility. Chickens are social right from the get go.

I have to admit that, after seeing the way a mama hen and a baby chick look at each other, I always feel sorry for the chicks that I hatch. I am a terrible mama replacement. Just terrible. But I do my best, and the chicks have each other, which helps. Plus, when you are the mama hen, you definitely get to know the chicks better.

If you are thinking about trying incubating eggs for the first time and have questions, please do not hesitate to leave a question. I hope these notes helpful, and I hope you get to see this very soon!

photo credit: Christian Bowen, Unsplash

Daily Adventures with Kate-Kate

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

I am taking a break from work to tell this story about Kate, affectionately known as Kate-Kate. Kate is our little Easter Egger mix, part Schubert and part Rooster, and full of personality. She is the one, when she was little, who kept going over to the other mama hen’s crate, which stressed her mama out and stressed me out. Even after I put up a barrier, that sassy little girl would take her tiny little chicken nugget self all the way around the barrier. She was like four days old doing this! I had never and have never since seen anything like it.

Kate is so curious and very independent. .

I was worried about her a bit this winter. It was a long winter with a lot of snow. She was in the coop for weeks and weeks, and I could tell it didn’t sit well with her. She had a look in her eyes that really worried me, but thankfully, despite second winter rearing its head this week, it’s spring. Kate is out of the coop and running around, even though I am trying to get her to stop. I have thought about clipping her wings to keep her out of the driveway and in the chicken area, but since we have had not a single report of bird flu in our area yet and Kate is really good at dodging the mail trucks, I’m just letting her run around the driveway for now.

But she’s difficult because she’s Kate.

So this is what happens: I won’t let her out of the front door of the coop in the morning when I am doing food and water, so she goes around the coop to the side gate and flies over herself. But then, for whatever reason, maybe she has to lay an egg or may she just changed her mind, she stands at the front door of the coop wanting to be let back in. I do not know why she doesn’t just fly back over, but she doesn’t. So, all day long, I am taking breaks from my work and looking out the window to see what Kate is up to. Most of the time, she’s there wanting back in the coop. I ask her why she can’t make up her mind, but my sense from her is that this is exactly what her mind wants.

This process has happened five times of this just today. In fact, I had to go let her in the coop in the middle of writing this post. She walks in without even a “thank you,” just like, “of course you’re going to wait on me.”

On time today, Faure took the opportunity to sneak out when I had the door open for Kate. She was so sassy out there. She meandered over to where the other chickens could see her, and she scratched in the grass like she was so special. The other hens watched in envy. Dvorak watched with worry. He hates when his girls are on the other side of the fence and can’t be protected, and Faure is definitely his girl. They were raised together and are very close.

The cutest thing happened later though. I looked out the window to see Faure freaking out and pacing at the coop door. She is a big girl and cannot fly, so her only chance to get back in the coop is if I let her in. I ran out there because she absolutely looked like she was about to lay an egg. It’s like a pacing when you really have to go the bathroom.

She ran in that coop and went straight for a nest box! It was all fantastic!

It made me think about how much I love getting to spend my days back and forth with these amazing animals. I have been looking for jobs recently, and I realized today that, for some of the jobs, I wouldn’t be able to work from home. I would miss all this. I would miss Kate and Faure and Ruby and all of her antics. It made me decide I had better keep looking for online work. I mean, I’ll do what I have to do, but I sure would like to keep watching my chickens. I am spoiled, I know, but who else is going to tell these chicken stories?

With that in mind, if you are a long-time reader and would consider supporting this blog and the journal on Patreon, I would be grateful. I am planning to hold events for members, so I hope you will consider it if you can. If you have supported in the past but took a break, I hope you will check out the Patreon page again because we now have a $3 a month membership. If you cannot afford it right now, that’s totally understandable. Just leaving a comment of support is really good too.

Sending love to you all!

It’s been awhile since a Ruby update…

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

We are flirting with mud season around here, and I am thankful for the melt but also not a fan of mud season. The chickens are not fans of mud season either. I put straw in the run, but it’s still messy. The girls stand at the front door of the coop and look at the driveway like they really want driveway time. I have been avoiding it, just trying to train them to lock down a little bit with bird flu in mind, but tomorrow, I think they are going to get a little driveway time. I think I am going to have to do a deep clean on the coop. I have a little dread about it. It’s going to be hard, but it’s time.

When I went to collect eggs this evening, I saw that Ruby has a poopy bum, so I had to pick her up to check things out. She does have a few mites, so I had to treat her, which led to me bleeding because she is fierce. That chicken is so wild and stubborn and histrionic. I was so kind and patient the whole time, but she made such a scene that the other chickens started to get upset. I promised them all that it was okay and that Ruby was just being Ruby, and I think that worked.

Anyway, she has now been treated. She pecked me one more time for good measure when I put her down.

In contrast, I thought I had better do a health check on Hector while I was checking on people tonight, and while she is not doing the greatest, she is certainly hanging in much better than I thought she would be. I am sure we will lose her this spring, but she’s holding up well and seems content. She was so chill while I checked her. Her crop is a little bit squishy, so I will have to treat that tomorrow. When I was done, I held her right in my face, so I could check out her eyes, trying to see what’s going on in there. Does she look like she has pain? Is she mostly okay? I am happy to report that her eyes looked good. She is such a great hen. I am so, so, so sad she didn’t win the genetics lottery.

I am thinking about ordering a few hatching eggs for heritage chickens this year. I think that should help in the genetics lottery. I also realize that a lot of our flock won the genetics lottery because of Rooster. We have so many old hens, and they are all Rooster’s babies. And, of course, Rooster will be 9 this summer.

We are all just trying to stay sane and focused on preparing for tougher times. The straw we get comes from Canada, so we bought a lot today because we assume the price will go up if the tariffs are put into place on Monday. Of course, you never know if he’s really going to enact the tariffs or just threaten forever. Either way, we have a good amount of straw, and I had a Blue Seal coupon. That coupon covered two free bales of straw–and straw is not cheap.

There is a part of me that feels like I am panicking too much, but then I read a little bit about what is going on and feel like I am not panicking nearly enough. All I know is that I wake up each morning so differently than I ever have. I wake up scared. Then, I get my brain to adjust to this new reality and tell myself, “put the anxiety into action.”

And then I get up and start getting the food and water ready for my sweet chickens. And Ruby too.

How to feed your chickens like it’s the Great Depression

~ Crystal Sands ~ 2 Comments

I wish I had talked to my grandparents more before they passed away, but I was actually pretty young. I was in high school when my great grandmother, who was like my grandmother, as she had raised my dad, passed away. I have wonderful memories of her. She was part Cherokee and taught me a kind of Christianity that I don’t see much of today. She taught me to be kind to everyone–no exceptions, to turn the other cheek, to help those who might have less, and to never judge others. She also taught me about chickens.

I wish I had a photo somewhere of her chicken coop that was in the back of an old garage. I can’t remember the outside very well, but there were strawberries and blackberries around the outside of the chicken run (I definitely remember those), and I remember the inside of the coop. It was kind of dark, without windows, and being in Texas, I guess there wasn’t a huge need for protection from the cold. It was a much “looser” structure than the coop we have now. I remember the nest boxes. I remember helping her collect eggs and being a little bit afraid of those hens pecking my arm. I remember her telling me not to look outside when she had to go get a chicken for dinner. And I remember helping her feed her chickens.

My great grandmother, Bertha (One of Poe’s grand babies is named Bertha in her honor), had lived through the Great Depression. She told me stories about growing and canning food and how she used to make clothes out of flour sacks (I later learned that the flour companies started using pretty fabrics for the flour sacks when they learned people were making dresses from them). She told me about surviving, and all of my memories of her are related to the habits she must have learned surviving the Depression. She kept a garden. She canned food. She made everything from scratch–from potato chips to syrup (no lovely Maple trees to tap in Texas). She made her clothes, and she worked non-stop even in her older age. Even when she was watching her “stories” on the little black and white television in her living room, she crocheted blankets and tablecloths.

One of my best memories of her was feeding the scraps after meals to the chickens. It was way more fun than collecting eggs, and I was so thankful to those chickens. I was a VERY picky eater when I was a kid (autism and all), and though my granny begged me to eat all of my meals, all I really wanted to eat was her homemade jam on her homemade bread. I was so thankful to the chickens for eating my carrots. Maybe that’s when I fell in love with chickens. I just didn’t know it at the time. My great grandmother’s chickens were fed with table scraps and grains. She didn’t use chicken feed, though it had been developed by the time I was a kid in the 80s.

I have been thinking more and more about my great grandmother as I try to figure out a million worst-case scenarios in my mind for what the future holds. My jobs are no longer stable, so Ron and I have been doing our best be as frugal as we can be, stock up where we can, and figure out how to live even more self sufficiently. It has occurred to me: What if we couldn’t afford organic chicken feed?

Using my great grandmother as inspiration, I researched to find out how people fed their chickens during hard times like the Great Depression and in the times before chicken feed was a thing. Below is a list of the things I have learned. I hope they are helpful to you, and I hope none of us need them.

Table Scraps

Right now, we use table scraps to supplement our chickens’ diet. It is a great way to save money on feed and avoid food waste. Plus, the variety is great for the chickens. They love getting new things to eat. You can tell it boosts their spirits. But in hard times, the table scraps become more of a staple for chickens. This means you have to get serious. We have always been pretty serious about it, and this is how we do it: We have a large glass bowl that stays in the refrigerator, and we put every single teeny tiny scrap into that bowl. When the bowl is full, it goes to the chickens. This is everything from the single edge of toast crust that my son didn’t eat at breakfast to leftover pan of rice when I accidentally cooked a little too much. It’s the three noodles left on the plate. It’s the piece of broccoli I just couldn’t fit in my tummy. Save it all. It adds up and can make such a difference and can help add variety to your chickens’ diet if you don’t have access to commercial feed.

For more information on what chickens can and cannot eat from your table (it’s pretty much everything you can eat), please check out this helpful list from Heritage Acres Market.

Foraging

Allowing your chickens room to forage for bugs, worms, and greens is a great way to feed them. Of course, given the fact that bird flu is on the rise, you may not always be able to give your chickens the space to feed themselves. It may be necessary to keep your chickens covered, but when bird flu is not a threat, allowing your chickens to fend for themselves can supplement other methods of feeding chickens. Ours love the dandelions and clover, which is a reminder to plant clover instead of grass if you can and definitely let your yard be wild.

Grow a Garden

I remember my great grandmother feeding her chickens from the garden, and we do the same thing. We can’t do it in the winter here in Maine, so winter would be tough on us in many ways if we couldn’t access chicken feed; however, from the first of May when the greens come to the middle of October when the tomatoes are winding down and the squash is ready, our chickens eat a lot from our garden. Ron grows greens the full growing season, so the chickens always have that. Then it’s beet tops, raspberries, blueberries, so many tomatoes, fresh corn, melons, and so on. There is always something about to get by us in the garden, and the chickens can take advantage of it.

And, at the end of the growing season, we let the chickens into the garden to glean, and they surely do. They love the leaves from the broccoli plants all of the tomato drops.

Grains

According to everything I have read, no grain is ideal for chickens because they need such variety in their diets, but corn, wheat, and oats can be good in combination with something like soy or another protein. While there is certainly nothing that can fully replace a really good layer pellet, the reality that layer pellets can generally only last about six months stored means that it might be a good option to store grains, which can be stored for years and may be easier to purchase during tough times. They can also be grown if you have the space.

After reading this helpful article on chicken nutrition and grains from Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners, I hope we can always access our chicken feed, but it’s good to know that chickens can get by without it. The key is definitely just to use variety and use all of these methods listed here. You also have to provide supplements if you aren’t using chicken feed.

Supplements

Without feed, there are supplements that your chickens will need. First, the laying hens will need calcium supplements. Oyster shell works great. We also save our egg shells and crush them to feed back to the hens as a calcium supplement. They will also need grit. Grit is really just small stones that chickens can eat that stay in their gizzards to grind up larger food items like bugs and pieces of meat from scraps.

Final Thoughts

I have read in some forums that people say chickens are not worth keeping if things get so bad that you can’t access commercial feed, but I disagree. My great grandparents survived the Great Depression by growing their own food, and that included chickens. I have also read stories from people who lived through the Great Depression and felt that the chickens were part of the reason they survived. Chickens provide eggs, meat, and fertilizer. They also provide resources for trade.

Humans domesticated chickens 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, and we have been living side by side ever since. There’s a good reason we have had such a long relationship with this amazing animal.

P.S. If you have additional ideas, please share. I have been wondering about a meal worm farm but don’t know if it’s hard to do.

Silver Saved Hector

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

It has been many days of bad news. I know overwhelming us with bad news is the point, but I feel so down nonetheless. But there are good things too, and I have the best story to tell about Hector.

Last year, we lost Silver, and I was heartbroken because it was partially my fault. She had water belly in a bad way. It had come on quickly, and I kept researching and researching on how to drain her. I was so scared to poke her with that needle and drain her belly. I finally did it, but I was too little too late. Perhaps because I had go buy the equipment and perhaps because I kept watching the same videos and reading the same instructions over and over, we lost Silver.

I as devastated, but a reader and a friend said, “Now you know how to do it, and it will save the next one.”

The next one came pretty quickly. Last May, Hector, who has never had the greatest health, developed water belly. I was still terrified, but I had the equipment, got my son to hold her, and I drained her. I did everything right, I had thought, but the liquid that came out was not a normal, clear color as it should. I looked it up, and it was infection. Everything I read said that the draining would help but that something was seriously wrong with her and that she didn’t have much time.

I kept watching Hector and spoiling her, thinking any moment could be her last, but so far, that moment has never come. I don’t know why. I definitely pulled infected fluid out of her. The ONLY thing I can figure out is that maybe, by some bit of luck, I got enough of the infection out of her that her immune system was able to help her fight off the rest.

Hector continues to be one who is a little slower than the others. I figured out pretty quickly that she did not have the best genetics because she started to develop struggles at a VERY young age. In fact, she will be just three years old this spring. Still, she is still with us and doing well overall. I am thankful because she is the sweetest little thing, and as she has gotten older, she has developed a little bit of sass, which you just have to adore.

The most interesting thing to me is that last week, Hector started laying again! I have no idea how she could be that sick last year and recover enough to be laying again, but I know her eggs. She is a Black Copper Maran and lays a beautiful chocolate egg. Faure lays an egg that is pretty close, but hers are speckled. Hector’s eggs are the only ones that are solid chocolate eggs, so these are definitely her eggs.

The chocolate egg on the left is definitely Hector’s, and the dark egg on the right is Faure’s. I put in two cream-colored eggs for contrast. Aren’t they all beautiful?

It feels a little bit like a miracle. My sweet Silver saved my sweet Hector, and I am learning all the time. I don’t know how much longer Hector has, but she got more time in a place where she is loved and respected. That seems pretty good to me.

Our Beautiful Hens–a Photoshoot

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

This winter has been coldest we have had in some time. Some of our girls have barely left the coop since mid-December. I know everyone wants out of the coop for some driveway time because, for some reason unknown to me, the shoveled driveway is better than the shoveled run, but since we are trying to teach the flock to stay in their area, I have not let the flock out for driveway time all winter.

To make up for it, I have been trying to visit regularly with treats, and this evening, I decided to take photos. Some of them just couldn’t be still enough (I tried for 10 minutes to get a picture of Bianca), but I got some great pictures of some of the girls. I hope these make your heart happy after a really tough week in the world. These girls are so beautiful my heart almost can’t take it.

This is Juliet, and this is my favorite picture of her ever! She will be 5 years old this spring, and she still lays a beautiful olive egg–at least I think so. She hasn’t started laying this year yet. Juliet is the original quirky chicken of our flock and actually raised Ruby, which explains a lot.
This is Betty Jr. Betty Jr. is the daughter of one of our original Rhode Island Reds. Her mama, Betty, was the most perfect Rhode Island Red I had ever seen, so I named her “beautiful Betty.” Betty Jr. is a carbon copy of her. In fact, when Betty was alive, I couldn’t tell them apart unless they were side by side. Betty Jr. will be 8 years old this spring, and I don’t think she’s still laying eggs. She’s also looking pretty old, which breaks my heart, as she is a direct line to my original girls.
This is Clara. She is named after Clara Schumann, the composer. She was raised by Petty last fall, and she’s so friendly. She is one of my few hens who will let me pick her up and snuggle her, so she’s a favorite. I adore her and am so thankful for this beautiful picture of her.
This is Kate, and I have written about her many times. She is from my Shakespeare batch of chicks from 2020, and she was raised alongside Juliet. When Kate was a baby, she was the sassiest little thing I have ever seen. She has remained fairly sassy, but I am worried about her of late. I think the long winter has taken a toll on her mentally. She hasn’t even been taking treats from my hand. Thankfully, this evening, she finally did. I don’t see anything physically wrong with her, but she likes her freedom. She is definitely a wild and free kind of girl. I hope she’s going to be okay, and I can’t wait for the snow and ice to melt.
This Eleanor, named after the Beatle’s song, “Eleanor Rigby.” I wish I could tell you more about Eleanor, but I know very little about her. She is mysterious. She, and here three sisters, are Salmon Faverolles, somehow live in the flock but outside of it at the same time. I can’t explain it exactly. Sometimes, they will take treats from me but not at other times. They watch things a lot. Sometimes, they are all four together, and other times, they are separated into two’s. I keep thinking that, as they get older, I will begin go understand them more, but I am not sure. They’re chill and mysterious and beautiful. They will be three years old this spring, and that’s the most information I have on Eleanor and her sisters. Oh, and they were raised by Ruby, so maybe that’s what’s going on.

A Bird Flu Update

~ Crystal Sands ~ 4 Comments

On Friday, I was hanging out with my daughter, and we ran into Target to see if I could find a package of organic bagels. I have found that, more and more, I have a hard time hunting down organic foods at the grocery store. I guess it’s okay because it forces me to make more of my own, but sometimes, I just wish to buy a package of organic bagels. Alas, there were no bagels, but I also noticed something else–there were no eggs. Not a single egg at my local Target.

Our hens have been laying well enough that I have not had to buy eggs since right before Christmas, and the last time I was at Target getting eggs, the cooler was full of all the eggs. It looked a little surreal seeing the empty shelves in the cooler. It triggered some anxiety for sure, but I was very thankful for our chickens. My mind went to how important it is to take care of those birds.

There was a sign in the egg section that said something about the shortage due to bird flu and that they didn’t know when more eggs would be in.

I wish I could update you more than I am able to on the state of things related to the bird flu, but last week, the Trump administration ordered the CDC to stop all public communications. The CDC was set to release a big report on bird flu this coming week. I worry about not having a national organization to connect the dots for us, but I can see that we will have to do our best based on local and state news stories. I think NPR does a pretty good job of providing national coverage.

The trouble with bird flu is layered. First, there is the worry about it jumping to different species. We know it has jumped to a variety of mammals, including cows and is everywhere in our milk supply. While I read that no humans have gotten sick from cow’s milk, the fact that this is jumping to mammals just doesn’t make you feel good about it, to say the least. There have been 67 reported cases of bird flu in humans in the United States and just one death. I read the biggest concern about bird flu getting us sick is that the virus was noted to be mutating within the human hosts, but overall, the risk to most people is low right now. Still, the person who died got it from his backyard flock, so there’s that.

Another worry is what happens to commercial flocks and our food supply chains in the U.S. Bird flu cases are popping up more and more, with some large scale outbreaks in Georgia, Ohio, New York, and more. The New York duck farm that had to euthanize 100,000 ducks this week was such a worry to me because it’s so far north. As far as I know, there have not been any cases in Maine this year, but there was one in Vermont about two weeks ago. It worries me for there not to be a break from the virus in the winter.

I am also worried because our homestead is not as prepared as I would like it to be. We have been downsizing our flock in anticipation of bird flue, but it’s a slow process. We still have 33 birds. Right now, our flock is mostly on a self-imposed lock down in the coop, but our run is not covered. On top of this, our flock has lived their lives in the chicken pasture just living it up as chickens. And this is my third concern about the bird flu: What happens to backyard flocks?

I use Maine poultry Facebook groups to monitor the state of things in our area. Again, no cases yet, but I am saddened to report that there are a significant number of chicken keepers who are laughing about the bird flu and acting like it is made up. These people will certainly not take any precautions. And maybe they are right. Maybe they will get lucky. Maybe we will get lucky.

But, of course, it is a mistake to mistake luck for evidence, and while some people do not know this, I know this. As soon as the snow melts, if there are cases in Maine, we have to build a new run and cover it. This is going to be so expensive because we want a big run for those birds. They are used to so much space. We cannot lock them down without respect to that and their happiness, but we may have to lock them down. Can you imagine how this is going to sit with Ruby? She wanted out in the driveway today, but I didn’t let her. I’m trying to train her for the worst, and she was just heartbroken. My little girl. My heart aches for her. Yeah, our run is going to cost us all the money.

The headlines in the national news say to expect eggs prices to go higher and for shortages to continue. I am sure it won’t take long for any food item that uses eggs, such as mayonnaise, to also jump in price. I can see that the spring is very likely to bring a lot more cases. I am reading and reading right now about things small flock owners can do without panicking, and I will write more about that later this week. In addition to working on a cover for our run, we are having to tell neighbors they cannot visit our chickens for now, and we are being very careful with our shoes. But I can see that we will need to take much more stringent precautions if bird flu heads our direction, and I will share what I learn, of course.

In the meantime, if you do not keep chickens, find a local farmer or homesteader and make a connection right now to buy eggs. If you do keep chickens, keep a close eye on your local news and try to join poultry forums in your area if you are on Facebook. I will also work to keep updates going here.

If you have questions or just have updates to share, please post them in the comments. Numbers on my blog are growing, so I am hoping this can be a good space to communicate about such things. I also have this idea to start a chicken podcast in the coming week or two, but we will see. We’ll see if I can be organized enough to make it happen.

The light and the eggs return

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

I just collected the eggs and spent a little time this evening spiffying up the chicken coop. We got just 5 eggs today, which is a treat to me after several weeks of sometimes getting no eggs, but yesterday it was 9 eggs! And on Wednesday, we got a whopping 11 eggs! That’s really good for January, no light in the coop, and no new hens last year.

I am grateful to those hens, and I try to work hard to show them. Today, I delivered a week’s worth of scraps from the kitchen, did some spot cleaning in terms of poop in the coop, opened up the windows for a bit because it was warm, cleaned all the windows, and then made a small dent in the spiderwebs on the ceiling and in the corners. How are there that many spiders in winter? I also cleaned the nest boxes and added fresh straw.

Most everyone seemed pleased, and most everyone is doing well. Rooster is rattling a little bit but hanging in there quite well for a rooster who is going to be 9 years old this summer. Mary Jane is doing remarkably well. She is the queen of that coop and asserts herself when it comes to eating, as well as her personal space.

Ruby is hanging in there. I am actually happy to report that she is adjusting a little bit to life in the winter in the coop. This is the most consistent winter we have had since she has been alive. It’s been an adjustment for her. She’s not hiding in the corner anymore. Of course, I keep the run and some paths in the yard shoveled for all of them, and she seems to be happy using them. It’s too snowy for her to run around everywhere like she likes, but she’s making do with what she has. It’s great to see. I worried she was just going to stress herself of death.

Of course, when I give treats, she is one of a handful of lower-level hens I always make sure get a treat. When I feed scraps, there is usually enough for everyone. I save up all week–everything from crusts that don’t get eaten to the little bits of leftovers sometimes left on the plate–so there is a feast at least one day per week. But even with a good amount of scraps, the hens at the bottom of the pecking order will not get much. So I always keep a secret bowl and then go around to each of them and hand feed them. Kate is the only one who will not take something from me. I have to throw it on the ground in front of her. I don’t know why she doesn’t trust me, but I respect her ways, of course.

Right now, the hens I save up for are Ruby, Kate, Bianca, Juliet, and I always have a special bowl for Mary Jane. She just moves too slow these days and quit trying. She just waits at the door of the coop once she sees me coming with treats and knows she gets her own bowl. It is not often than anyone dares to sneak in a bite from her bowl. She won’t stand for it, though I have to say that I saw her allow Joan and Betty Jr. (two very old hens) to grab a bite or two from time to time.

I am so grateful for the time I get to spend getting to know these birds. I get so busy sometimes with work of all kinds that I don’t get to hang out with them as much as I would like. At the very least though, I get to hang out with them for morning chores, but when I have more time to just hang out with those chickens, I am better for it. I was thankful for today in so many ways.

I read that, in our part of Maine, we have 6 hours and 48 minutes more daylight on the Summer Solstice than we do on the Winter Solstice. The light comes fast. I feel it’s energy. I hope I’m ready for what is ahead.

photo credit: Nicole Wilcox, Unsplash

Five Things to Make from Scratch to Save Money and Eat Better

~ Crystal Sands ~ 2 Comments

I recently read an article about things we can make from scratch to help us save money at the grocery store in light of the high prices. I realize not everyone has the time or space to grow food, but I thought whoever wrote the list could surely do better. It made me think about the things we make from scratch that save us money that you don’t need a garden to make. I thought I might share my list because, not only does making these things save us money, it also gives us food that tastes so much better than what you get from the grocery store. It also helps us cut down on our plastic consumption. And, truly, the more we learn about the plastics, the more we can see that they are bad for both the planet and our bodies.

I hope you find my list helpful and delicious. If you do, please share it with others.

1. Vanilla

Vanilla was one of the first ingredients I use a lot to get really expensive due to climate change. The areas where vanilla beans are grown began to be impacted by climate change years ago, and I remember watching the price of vanilla just rise and rise. I bake a lot and love vanilla, so I was so thankful to learn how to make my own vanilla. The price of vanilla right now is $7-$10 for 2 ounces, and I am able to make it for $2-$3 for 2 ounces.

And that’s just on the original bottle. You can re-use vanilla beans several times. I keep two bottles going because the one down side of making vanilla is that it does take some time. But once you get some vanilla going, you will have vanilla for a long time. Plus, you can get really pretty bottles, which are a treasure.

To make homemade vanilla, purchase 5 good quality vanilla beans per bottle of vanilla. Slice the beans and scrape out the insides. The insides can be used to make vanilla sugar or other treats, but that’s another post. Anyway, just put in the scraped beans and fill your bottle with alcohol (I used vodka). From there, it will have to sit about six months at least before it is ready to use. Just keep it in a cool, dark space and give it a shake a couple of times a week while it is “making.” Don’t forget to give it those shakes!

2. Chocolate Syrup

Both my children were always big chocolate milk drinkers, and my teen son now makes peanut butter and banana smoothies quite often. He likes to add some chocolate to the mix, but bottles of low-ingredient chocolate syrup was costing us $5 for a small bottle–and it wasn’t even organic. Plus, the plastic bottles going into the trash were heartbreaking to me. When I learned that the plastic used for most chocolate syrup bottles was one of the worst for releasing chemicals, I knew I had to figure out how to make my own. I can’t believe it took me so long to make it because it’s so easy and so inexpensive–and I use organic cocoa powder, which does cost a bit more.

To make homemade chocolate syrup, just add 1 to 1 and 1/4 cups organic sugar to a saucepan, along with 3/4 cup of organic cocoa. Sift it together and add 1 cup of water. Mix it together well and bring to a low boil. Let it boil for three minutes and remove from heat. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and let it sit to cool. Then, just add it to a lovely bottle, and you are all set–delicious chocolate syrup, which is great for milk, ice cream, or, apparently, a peanut butter and banana smoothie.

3. Tortillas

When I learned about the amount of glyphosate in American breads, I set out to make all of our bread goods from scratch. Organic wheat can still contain some glyphosate from contaminated water, but I’ll take less of that stuff for sure. I knew it would take me a bit to start making all of it from scratch, but I started with tortillas because we eat a lot of tortillas with snacks and meals. Plus, making our own tortillas meant we could use some whole wheat flour that Ron grinds. It’s so fresh and so good–and so much cheaper.

Making tortillas ourselves has been such a good deal, especially since we only want to eat organic breads. And, I have to tell you that there is almost nothing better than a fresh tortilla hot out of the pan.

Because we use olive oil, there is not as much of a cost savings, but there is still some. And you don’t have to use olive oil, though I highly recommend it for overall health.

To make homemade tortillas, combine 4 cups of organic flour (could be a little more or less depending upon the type of wheat flour you use or if you just use all-purpose flour), 6 to 8 Tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 and 1/2 cups of warm water in a large bowl. Combine with a spoon and then your hands until you have a solid dough that is not sticky. If it’s sticky, add a little more flour.

Roll into a bowl, and let the dough rest for about 15 minutes. Then, cut your dough into 8 to 10 equal pieces, depending upon how big you want your tortillas to be. We make burrito size, so we get 8 tortillas from this recipe.

Now comes the tricky part that will get easier with time and practice. Roll the dough out into thin, tortilla sized pieces. This means a lot of rolling, but it’s great exercise. You will need a good rolling pin! I am never able to make my tortillas perfectly round, but my husband, the Virgo, makes them just about perfect. Still, they taste great, even if they are sometimes shaped like the state of Texas.

My favorite little treat with our homemade tortillas is to fill one with about 1/3 cup of homemade applesauce and then top with some freshly-grated cheddar cheese. Melt in the microwave, wrap the tortilla, and enjoy a delicious and healthy snack!

4. All the Breads

I started with tortillas, but I kept going. We now make every single bread or bun we eat in our home, and it saves us so much money–even without the sourdough starter. We still use yeast. One of our staples is a French bread recipe I modified years ago that we can use for everything from a soup side to sub sandwiches (I just shape the dough into tiny loaves).

Easy French Bread Recipe

2 and 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons olive oil (or other oil)
2 Tablespoons honey
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
about 3 cups of organic flour (again, depends on type of flour you use)
egg white for brushing

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and form into a dough. Knead for five minutes. Clean, dry, and oil your bowl and cover with a damp towel. Place it by a wood stove if you can, but let it rise for between an hour and an hour and a half.

Roll the dough out thin to about 1/3 of an inch and then roll it up, tuck in the ends, and shape it into a French bread shape. I a not the greatest at this, as the dough sometimes bosses me around, but I am getting better with practice. I am learning how to be a little more forceful with the dough.

Cover with your damp towel and let rise another half an hour. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 375 and prepare your egg white. When your dough is ready, slice little cuts into the top to make it look like a French loaf, brush with the egg white, and bake 18 to 22 minutes, depending upon your oven. Basically, you want to be able to thump the loaf and have it sound hollow when it is done.

Here are some links to some recipes from the web that we use as well:

Martha Stewart’s Classic White Bread (only Ron makes this with wheat flour)

40 Minute Hamburger Buns

Cranberry Raisin Bread

5. Pizza Crust for Homemade Pizza

I just checked and a single, thin organic pizza crust is $10 at the grocery store. You can make two thick organic pizza crusts yourself for about half the cost of one at the store. We use our homemade sauce and top with whatever is in season in the garden, but you can top how you please, of course.

This recipe is so easy, but it does take a while to rise. You will want to plan ahead, but it’s so worth it. It’s the best pizza crust I have ever tasted, and my family can’t eat even the best pizza from local restaurants now. This recipe was modified from The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila. If you want to save money on your grocery bill, buy this book! This recipe makes one pizza crust, but I always double it to make two because my son is 6’4″ and eats a whole pizza by himself.

Ingredients

1 and 1/4 cup warm water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 to 3 and 1/2 cups organic flour (some combination of white and wheat to your taste)

Directions

In a very large bowl, add the water, yeast, and sugar, and let it sit about five minutes. It should bubble a little. Add the rest of the ingredients until a ball forms and then knead the dough about five minutes. I have a very large bowl and just knead right in the bowl. Remove the dough, wash and dry the bowl, and then lightly oil it. Put the dough back in, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise about 10 hours. Don’t worry. The plastic will not touch your dough as long as you bowl is big enough.

After that 10 hours is up, pull out the dough and place it on a floured surface for rolling and shaping. It’s ready to go after you add your sauce and toppings. Cook at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until your pizza looks done and bubbly to your liking. One trick I learned from Alana Chernila is that you don’t want to put your sauce on the dough until you have all the ingredients ready and can just throw everything on. If the sauce sits on the dough too long, it will make your dough soggy.

OK, I realize that’s a lot to take in. I hope this is a helpful post. We save so much money and eat so well thanks to making things from scratch. It does take a bit more time, but I work full time and have a farm and a son who is a cellist, so I try to keep things fairly quick. The key to the pizza is to just start it in the morning, so it can do the work on its own all day.

Good luck, and let me know if you try anything. Oh, and if you have a tip on a delicious money saver, please share it!