Author Archives: frankie

About frankie

Maiden name is Farmer so I guess I am getting back to my roots. I love raising chickens and especially when the baby chicks are hatched out. I am a senior citizen and live with my husband in Florida. We live a quiet, peaceful life on our two acres with our one dog ( two dogs died past year and we miss them) and various amounts of chickens. I have had up to 120 chickens but now at about 45. That seems to be a good number for us. Feed and medicines can be expensive and you certainly don't get enough money for the eggs to pay for the feed. Selling the chickens and chicks helps, too. It is not a business for me though....they are my pets. I have three terrific grown children that I am very proud of and two wonderful granddaughters. With my children living in DC, Texas and North Carolina, we will be doing a lot of traveling now that my husband has retired from 40 years with civil service. If you are new to raising chickens, I hope I can tell you amusing stories as well as give you information that will make your experience with chickens fun. I sometimes feel like raising chickens is like raising kids. Some days it is so rewarding and other days, it is a darn lot of work. I am very much interested in making life simple and trying to be self-sufficient as much as I can. I enjoy grocery shopping and getting the best prices as well as stocking up on food and household items. I also love to go to the thrift stores. I have bought numerous pairs of name brand jeans for $3. It just makes sense to be thrifty and since we have the time to look around and find bargains, that is what we chose to do. It also gives us something to do. We planted our first garden this year. Though it is small (squash, watermelons, sweet potatoes and tomatoes), it is a start. My daughter bought me a dehydrator for Mother's Day and we are looking into buying an upright freezer. Those things were needed before we plant a bigger garden. Hope you enjoy my blog....God bless.

Figuring out which hen is eating the eggs

I was collecting the eggs and I saw evidence of a broken egg…some yoke but, no egg shell.   I was feeding the chickens and one chicken started clucking and I knew I had another egg but before I could get to the nest, a chicken  ran out with part of a shell and all the other chickens were following behind her trying to steal the egg shell.

I immediately grabbed by net and took that hen out of the yard but suspected another hen, too since she kept looking into the empty nests like she was looking for eggs to eat.  I took her out of the yard, too.

I suspected one other hen so I took a hard boiled egg out of the refrigerator and laid it in plain sight (on the ground near the nests) so I could keep an eye on the egg, too.  One chicken immediately started pecking at the egg so I scooped her up and took her out of the yard.  My culprit was found.

I then took the hen who was carrying the egg shell and put her back in to test her ability to ignore the egg.  She came near it and then looked into the nest (uh, oh) but settled in to lay an egg.  She gets to keep her freedom.

Then I tried the other hen I had taken out.  Unfortunately, Sadie saw the egg from across the chicken yard and ran to peck on it.  Freedom is lost to her, darn it.  I really like her.

I guess I should put them in a pot and cook them but I haven’t done it yet so why start now.  I will just keep them caged for awhile and see if they change their ways.  If not, I will build a special yard for them.

I may have made a mistake by feeding the chickens their egg shells but I crumbled them up really good and let them dry out so I wouldn’t think they could tell they were egg shells.  I guess I will go fill up their feeder and add some oyster shells just to make sure they aren’t missing something in their diet.

Leg Mites and Vegetable Oil

I had a terrible time last year with my chickens getting those mites that get on their legs and feet and burrow in and they actually lose toes.  So I noticed I had two Silkie chickens that seemed to be walking funny.  Like they had a sore foot.  That’s how it started last year.  Darn it.

Well, I got the Seven dust in a round container that I bought at the Feed Store…though they do sell it at Walmart cheaper.  I was already there getting feed so driving extra miles didn’t make sense to save a dollar.

I raked the chicken houses real good and put the dust down and put fresh hay on the floor.  Then I took the Seven dust (not granules because the chickens can eat those) and sprinkled in the laying nests, too.

I had read that you put vaseline on the chickens feet and legs and it will smother the mites and I tried that last year.  Vaseline (petroleum jelly) is such a pain in the butt to get off your hands and then you pick the next chicken up and you the jelly on the chicken feathers.  It is definitely a two person job that way.

Well, I also read that you can use vegetable oil and dip the chickens feet in it.  I had some leftover oil from making homemade french fries and I poured it into a big margarine tub.   I caught one chicken and dunked it’s feet and legs into the oil and held it there for about two minutes and swished it around some, too.  I wanted to make sure it was getting up in between the toes.  I did this to three chickens since they were the ones that looked like they were walking with sore feet.

It has been a couple days now and I am astonished how much better the chickens are walking.  I am assuming the oil smothered the mites.  Then putting down the Seven dust didn’t hurt either.

Hope this helps if you have that problem.  If you notice a barnacle look on your chicken’s feet or they are walking funny, try the dipping in oil.  My husband teased me that the chickens will think you want to fry them in oil next.  I don’t eat my chickens EVER.   We killed some roosters on our farm in Missouri (different husband) and that was a horrible experience and I will never do that again.  Odor was awful, too.

UPDATE:  Chickens appear to be walking funny again.  It has been about a week so maybe you have to dip the chicken feet/legs more than once.  Will try again tomorrow.

February baby chicks are here

The weather has been so confusing for the plants and animals here in Florida.  This weekend it will be freezing but it in a day or two later, back in the 70s and 80s.  That is one thing I really like about Florida but I do miss snow.

So I have some Silkie hens that are broody and I let one hen sit on five eggs and she hatched out three Barred Rocks female chicks for me.  Now I have another Silkie hen sitting on some more Barred Rock eggs.  I put seven eggs under her and they are due to start hatching March 7th.  It is hard not to want baby chicks around.

I feather-sexed the three chicks and I did that test where you hold the chicks by the scruff of the neck and see if their legs dangle down.  Both tests showed the chicks are all females.  I am thinking my daughter, Bonnie, will take them since she just bought a house and is wanting to start gardening and raising some small animals.

It is such a nice bonding time when your children are interested in things you have knowledge about and they seek out your advice.   We will be heading to NC to help fence their yard and discuss garden ideas and canning.   It is going to be so much fun.  I am also looking forward to cooking for my daughter and my daughter-in-law, Brooke.  They think I am a great cook which encourages me to cook a lot.

 

Protecting chickens with kite string

I bought some netting to cover my Silkie yard since I have previously lost the little chickens from chicken hawks.  Then my neighbor told me about stringing kite string from pole to pole to form a web over the yard.  It does not have to be a tight web either.  I have gaps that are four or five feet wide.  But it works.  But be smarter than I am and use tall enough poles that you can walk under the webbing.

Extending Shelf Life of Eggs

I watched a Doomsday Prepper show and realized that even though most of the people seem rather paranoid, they do show some good tips for storing food.

One thing was about eggs.  This lady said if you cover your eggs with vegetable oil, it seals your eggs from bacteria and you can keep them for 9 months.   Now, I don’t know if that is true or not since I just learned about it and haven’t had the opportunity to try it.

I have also read that if you have farm fresh eggs, you should not wash them before you refrigerate them to ensure the “boom” continues to protect the egg.  I would wash them before I cracked them open though.

Again, if you aren’t sure an egg is good, you just put it in a bowl of water and if it floats, the egg is NOT good.  I had a few stand up on it’s end and I would not eat them either.

I always boil the eggs that are the oldest so ensure the shell comes off easier.  Fresh eggs seem to stick to the shell a lot worse.