How Do Eggs Get Contaminated?

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say:

The bacterium salmonella enteritidis silently infects the ovaries of healthy appearing hens and contaminates the eggs before the shells are formed.

The hen encounters the the bacteria in its environment. The bacteria invades the hen's reproductive and digestive systems.

Most types of salmonella live in the intestinal tracts of animals and birds and are transmitted to humans by contaminated foods of animal origin.

Stringent procedures for cleaning and inspecting eggs were implemented in the 1970s and have made salmonellosis caused by external fecal contamination of egg shells extremely rare.

The current epidemic is due to intact and disinfected grade A eggs.

Although most infected hens have been found in the northeastern United States, the infection also occurs in hens in other areas of the country. In the Northeast, approximately one in 10,000 eggs may be internally contaminated.

In other parts of the United States, contaminated eggs appear less common. A small number of hens seem to be infected at any given time, and an infected hen can lay many normal eggs while only occasionally laying an egg contaminated with the salmonella bacterium.

My questions are: If a small number of infected hens (at any given time) only lay a contaminated egg occasionally, then why are so many people getting sick? Could it be that they have $$ in their eyes?

A Family Evening

We were so blessed to have all of our family with us on a sunny and warm evening recently. My oldest Grandson and I went for a walk before everyone else came. We went right down into the creek onto a new sandbar that has formed this winter on our stretch of Indian Creek. We have a rather large island with big trees on it, where the creek splits, but now a new island is forming beside the first one. This is good for us because Indian Creek was eating away at our pasture, now it is going the other direction.

I took a few pictures of the creek and the islands. My Grandson did what most boys do he skipped rocks and got his feet wet.

Later our youngest Grandson got to chase a few chickens and meet Angus.

Chickens Love Octopus or Squid?

My neighbors decided that they didn't like Octopus or Squid, not sure which it was. They gave it to me and I didn't have the desire to try it, it just didn't look appetizing to me and I will eat just about anything.

I thawed it and put it out for the chickens, they were delighted. Garfield, our finicky cat liked it too and he doesn't even like tuna.

Looks wonderful doesn't it?



This hen wanted hers breaded, so she rolled it in some sand.

Most of them just grabbed some and ran.





The good news is that after their feast they laid 6 eggs. We haven't gotten that many eggs in a long time.

And The Results Are In

3.4 inches of snow for us. Much less than the predicted 6 to 12 inches we were suppose to have by this morning. We had just a dusting when we went to bed last night but sometime early this morning it got slightly serious.

Here is our next forecast:
.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY AS A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE MOVES FROM THE SOUTHERN PLAINS INTO THE OHIO VALLEY. IN ADDITION BITTER WIND CHILLS FROM ZERO TO 5 BELOW ARE POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY.

I got 4 eggs on Thursday after feeding the hens Cayenne Pepper on Wednesday. I got 1 egg yesterday. Today should be the test but with the snow and high winds, I am afraid that they won't be able to make it out to the Chicken/Goat shed where their nests are. If they lay here in the barn, I probably won't be able to find them. Especially if they go to the loft.

Winter Storm Watch

Thanks to those who were concerned about me. December and January were not great months. December was lean in the pocketbook for us, plus I had the flu during the first part of the month then my DH got pretty sick towards the last part. I spent a couple of weeks on the couch with a pinched nerve in my back around the first of January. I think that I have had a little of the winter blues. Nothing much to write about and I just haven't been inspired.

However, I feel a little inspired today. As I sit here waiting on the big winter storm that is about to engulf Indiana tonight and tomorrow, I was thinking of Spring. Our groundhogs did not see their shadows and Spring is only a few snowstorms away. I know this because my hens have gotten back on their nests and gone to work this week. After months of one egg per day. We got two eggs, then six eggs, then zero eggs, then four eggs, then one egg. I can't wait to see how many eggs we get this evening.

The actual truth is that I had read somewhere that giving your hens Cayenne Pepper would make them start laying. I tried it and about three days later got six eggs. So, yesterday I fixed them up with some leftovers drowning in Cayenne Pepper. I will let you know how it goes.

Collette is huge but I don't think that she will have triplet doelings again this year. I think that she will probably have twin spotted doelings. I still have no idea when she will kid, but I do know now that the father is my black spotted young buck, Rancid. I didn't think he was tall enough or even knew what he was doing but where there is a will there is a way. He doesn't even stink yet!

I check Collette everyday when I milk Calico. She is getting ready to kid, losing her ligaments and has that dropped look, hollowing out in the flanks, carrying low. Still no udder to speak of though. She is waiting for just the right snow or ice storm or just the right sub-zero temperature.

My plans for the rest of today are to get prepared for a winter storm. I need to find a way to store some water. If our electricity goes out we have no water because we have a well with a pump. We do have a nice spring in case of emergencies but it is easier to store some from the well than hauling it to the house from the spring.

We do have heat from a ventless gas heater that provides our heat during the cold months. We do not have lights or a way to cook unless we run our generator. I miss having a woodstove because you always have heat and a way to cook. I suppose we could always build a campfire outside to cook on, I am a pretty good campfire cook.

Tough Kids

Country kids are so much fun. Our two Granddaughters, ages 5 and 6, were on fall break Thursday and Friday, they spent both nights with us. So they were here all day Friday and Saturday.

They entertained themselves by herding the chickens. They kept them in a tight little group, running and chasing them while screaming and giggling. Finally the sounds of shear joy brought Mamaw out of the house to see what they were up to. They got a stern warning about why they should never chase or otherwise annoy chickens. They took the lecture like they take most other lectures, with sly little smiles on their faces. Sometimes I have doubts that I am getting through, other times I know I'm not.

They enjoy simple pleasures when they are here. I was called upon to take them for walks on both Friday and Saturday. All of my Grandkids love for me to take them for walks for some reason. I think they like the sounds my lungs make after climbing steep slopes and crawling up mountainsides or maybe the different shades of color that my face turns.

It had rained most of the day on Friday, so the mud was just the right consistency to be super slick. They both had on black rubber boots with cleats but I had on my worn out Crocks which have no sign of the tread that used to grace their bottoms.

I managed somehow to stay upright, though it was difficult at times. Both of the girls nearly fell a couple of times with one of them finally getting the job done.

What they love to do on these walks is hunt mushrooms and arrowheads. We have done some study on fall mushrooms and while we haven't eaten any yet, we have found some. As for the arrowheads, we haven't found any complete or good ones for awhile but they still collect the chips and broken pieces. They also collect any rock that they think is beautiful.

On Saturday night after grilled chicken, baked potatoes and smores prepared on an open campfire, the two girls and I settled in around the fire for singing and scary stories. I had their baby brother bundled up in a warm blanket on my lap. He didn't last long, it was too dark and comfy, he was snoring within minutes.

The girls sang a few songs then took turns telling scary stories. I pointed out a ghost light in the woods but that didn't interest or scare them. Then I pointed out the fact that their Daddy would probably sneak around in the darkness and try to scare them but that didn't interest them either. He does that so much that it has lost it's affect.

While they were busy trying to outdo each other with their stories, the coyotes started singing nearby. Now this would have added to the general atmosphere of the evening for most young children but not my Granddaughters. I shushed them to listen and they listened for maybe 3 seconds and resumed their stories. Then another pack of coyotes started their howling on the other side of us, very close. I shushed the girls again, to which they deep sighed and immediately started back with the stories.

I gave up, I realized that these country girls just don't scare easily. They have heard coyotes before, so what's the big deal? They have been outside after dark before, so what's the big deal? Their little sister who will be 3 in December, is much more fun. She is terrified of Pirates and Chicken Poop.

The only thing that I have been able to scare these two older girls with is Gobblezilla, he is a giant Turkey who only comes around at Thanksgiving time. He rides on top of their car and is always waiting out there in the darkness ready to gobble them up.

Secret Stash

We have been bad mouthing our hens for a few weeks. Some of them have been busy molting, that has been obvious. But the others had no excuse for not laying any eggs at all. We have gotten a couple of eggs every two or three days which was pretty bad for around 18 hens.

I was looking around the barn the other night, this was not the first time that I had looked for a hidden nest but this was the first time I found one. Underneath the big piece of cardboard that my DH uses to lay on under the truck when he changes the oil, I found their secret stash. This was on the same night that my DH was talking about getting rid of all of them and starting out fresh in the Spring.

It was a small but deep nest. The eggs at the very bottom were all broken. There were 18 unbroken eggs. The funny thing is that since I removed all of the eggs and cleaned the nest, they have not used that nest again. So we are back to getting one or two eggs every other day. I know that it is getting colder but we got eggs all during last winter.

I have slipped back into my non-blogging habit again, the truth is that I have been reading books. I bought several Tony Hillerman books last Christmas for my Step-Dad and for myself but hadn't read but a few of them. My Step-Dad gave me all of his when he was done with them.

I picked up one of them a few weeks ago and I have been obsessed ever since. I am on a reading marathon. It was really nice while I was sick to lay in bed and read but now that I am better, I can't get out of the habit.

2009 Hatchlings

I have ended up this hatching season with three hens who successfully incubated their eggs. The first standard sized hen hatched out nine bantam chicks only smashing one of them. Her eight remaining D'Uccle chicks are now nearly adult size and five of those eight are roosters, four of the five roosters are turning Mille Fleur. I am currently trying to find them new homes.

The other two hens were both D'Uccles, one hatched six chicks and the other hatched three. These chicks are all D'Uccles as well, but are still little balls of fluff, so I don't know if they are pullets or cockerels.

Egg production has dropped drastically in the last few weeks. When we were getting plenty of eggs, no one wanted to buy them, now we have a waiting list. I guess fresh farm eggs are getting harder to find because of the season. This is hard on our dogs who are use to getting a few eggs everyday.

I am glad to report no chicken losses other than one smashed chick. Having Great Pyrenees can cut your chicken losses as long as it isn't your Great Pyrenees who are killing your chickens. My older dog does chase them a little bit when she is feeling frisky and my cat does too, but neither has ever hurt one of them.

I am really impressed with my cat, Garfield, he kills birds, mice, chipmunks and rabbits but the little tiny chicks can walk right over his front paws and he only twitches. I have been afraid that he will snap one day, but so far so good.

I'm Back

I have finally caught up on most all of my rope halter orders. I currently only have two small orders to fill. This spring has been horribly busy for us and I hope things will slow down enough for us to catch our breath.

My fingers are really sore from working on the halters and the pinky on my left hand and the middle, ring and pinky on my right hand are all starting to curl under with arthritis. Keyboarding is getting difficult for me. I can't imagine not being able to blog anymore. Getting old just stinks and I would advise you younger folks out there not to try it.

Out of 18 eggs my hen managed to hatch nine chicks. All of the hatchlings were banties, most of them have feathered feet. When we broke open the unhatched eggs, the three other banty eggs had dead chicks in them but the six standard eggs were still yolks. None of the standards had been fertilized as I had suspected. I am going to have to get a different rooster if I ever hope to raise some standard chickens.

One of the chicks got smashed by its oversized Mother. The other eight are doing well. Mom steps on their little feet sometimes and they cry and pull but can't get away until she takes another step then the poor things go tumbling. They are great fun to watch, my DH says that in her exuberance to scratch up a meal that she inadvertently buries a few of them but they always manage to dig their way out.

I was tempted to take them away from their Mother, put them in a safe place and raise them myself. But after all of the work that she did and with her knowing how to take better care of chicks than I could ever know, I decided to let her do it herself. Even with these chicks being half the size of what her biological children would be, I still think she knows best.

I am going to do my best to get back to work and blog every day. This is the best way that I have found to keep a daily journal that I can refer back to when I fail to write important dates on my calendar.

Kia

Kia is our new Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dog. She is a full sister to Angel my first Great Pyr but from another litter. Abby, my second Great Pyr is her mother. Kia needed a new home and I took her on a whim. She is a great LGD, she never tries to get out of the goat lot and she is great with the goats, chickens, Angus and the Grandkids. What more could you want in a livestock guardian dog?

The problem is that I don't need three big dogs to feed. Dog food is way too expensive and I really don't need an LGD for each goat that I own. If I were smart and thinking logically, I would keep Kia and sell Angel because Angel won't stay where she is suppose to be. But the old emotions kick in and I realize that I can't think logically because I love Angel.

Abby is a perfect LGD, she is vicious with anything that gets close to her goats but she is very people friendly. Angel is not people friendly but does love the Grandkids. Kia falls somewhere in between, she isn't as friendly as her mother but is not as untrusting of humans as Angel is.

I really need to sell Kia before I get too much more attached to her. At this point I am going to have to know that she is getting a really good forever home. She is 2 and a half years old, is not a real large Great Pyr, she is happy and smiles all of the time. She is spayed and up to date on all Vaccines and Wormings.

**Kia has found a great new home with lots of animals, human kids and room to roam, she is loving all of the attention.

Wrinkled Egg

I found this egg Saturday, I would call it a wrinkled egg. I have found similar eggs before but not as bad as this one. This can be caused by Infectious Bronchitis in hens which is caused by the Coronavirus. There are other things that can cause wrinkled eggs too but I am thinking that this hen has had IB in her past and she has permanent damage to her oviduct.

Since I don't have any chickens with respiratory problems right now or runny eyes, I think that this was in her past. The good news is that once they have it, they have permanent immunity to it. This is probably just one hen because there is always one very long brown egg that is occasionally misshaped.

Our Chickens are currently giving us 12 to 17 eggs per day. All of my bantams are finally laying. So far no one has gone broody, if I weren't wanting baby chicks they would all be hiding nests and setting.

The Second Day

After my successful ride on Tuesday and feeling so well Tuesday evening, I was afraid that getting out of bed on Wednesday would be hard, it wasn't. However, this morning was a different story. I was sore in all of the places that you get sore after riding a horse for the first time in a long time.

My last long ride was in the summer of 2004, we took an 8 hour ride and I was quite sore after that, today wasn't that bad but I sure am feeling it. I hope that the weather permits us to ride for at least another 3 hours next week and hopefully even a little bit longer.

We have some neighbors with horses now who ride nearly every Sunday. They have been making some trails that are very convenient for us. We don't have to ride on the road for very long and we don't have to trailer our horses anywhere.

And now back to the farm news...I lost another Silver Lace Wyandotte hen. She just died on the roost like the last one. I hate losing them without knowing why but I don't know how old they are. The rest of the hens are giving us at least a dozen eggs a day and sometimes fourteen. I haven't had any hens go broody yet, so I guess they aren't convinced that Spring has sprung.

Calico continues to grow wider, as does Paris. Everyone who sees them say that they both must be bred but I am still not convinced about Paris, we will see in a few weeks. She has still not shown any signs of heat, so hopefully she is.

Angus is growing and getting a little too smart for his own good. We may have to confine him to his own area soon. He still has the run of the farm and we couldn't find him the other night at feeding time. He had made his way through the electric fence and was in the goat/chicken shed settled in with the goats.

When he gets to feeling his wild oats, he takes a run out into the big horse pasture. He loves being chased by our curious young horses, I guess it gets his adrenalin pumping like it does mine. He can outrun them now but I told him that as he gets bigger he won't be able to run that fast and then what is he going to do when they catch him?

Night Glitter

To update my previous post, all of my hens came home wagging their tails behind them. I don't know where they have been the last few days but they seem to be fine. I would imagine that they were just under a shelter of some sort. Then the snow piled up around them and they couldn't escape until the sun came out today and warmed things up.

I had a most amazing walk that I was going to blog about and forgot. It got really cold last night and after I got all of my feeding and milking done and had gone into my toasty house for the night. I remembered that I had forgotten to feed Angel and Abby. Well, there was no hurry, I warmed up and did a few things inside. Later I wrapped back up, fixed their food and went back out into the frigid night.

I had my headlight on which gives you a new prospective on things in the night, all of the animals eyes glow because you have this bright light so close to your own eyes. But what was so amazing about last night was that there was a freezing fog.

Oh my, it was the most beautiful thing. The air temperature was so cold that the fog was freezing into tiny, sparkling ice particles floating in the air. Wow! It was like walking through suspended glitter and it was everywhere. I could have stayed out all night if it hadn't been so cold, but if it hadn't been so cold it wouldn't have been such a glittery world. And to think that I would never had experienced it if I had just had a flashlight in my hand.

Thawing Chicken

Awhile back my Hubby thought that I had some missing hens but it turned out that they were all here. This time I hate to say that it is true. On the night of the big snow and ice storm the chickens had been in the barn all day. That evening my DH herded them out of the barn and sent them on their way to the goat/chicken shed. We were on our way to the neighbor's for supper.

They always go to the goat/chicken shed without any problems, so we didn't think to check on them to make sure that they all had made it. I really don't know why they didn't make it to the shed but we didn't know there was a problem until the next day.

My Son came to get one of our blazers and when they dug it out of the snow, started it and moved it into the driveway, a Barred Rock Hen ran out from under it. Her feathers were ruffled and she was covered in ice. My Husband caught her and took her to the shed and placed her on the roost.

A short time later my Grandson was out playing in the snow when he came running into the house saying that Elvis, my Polish Rooster was in trouble, he thought he was dying or dead. My DH went out and found him lying in the snow barely alive. He brought him to the house and he had so much ice on his head that his neck could not support it. He would not have survived much longer.

My Husband discovered that he might have missed his calling, maybe he should have been a chicken stylist.

After Elvis was thoroughly thawed out, he was immediately back to his old self and jumped on a hen.

After the Barred Rock Hen was thawed out with the hair dryer as well, I went to count heads. We were missing a Silver Laced Wyandotte Hen, we searched under everything that we thought a hen might hide under from the freezing rain and sleet. As you can see, it was hard to look everywhere.

I guess that when they had tried to make it back to the goat/chicken shed that night they just chickened out and didn't want to walk through the freezing rain and sleet, so they just hid under something, then the snow that night trapped them.

I counted heads again last night and one of my Golden Comets is missing too. I must have overlooked her the other night when I counted. I guess we won't find them until the snow and ice melts, there might yet be hope if they are under the goat/chicken shed because grain falls through the cracks in the floor.

This morning my Mille Fleur Bantam Hen was bleeding profusely from her toe. I brought her in the house and her toenail as well as the tip of her toe was hanging loose. I tore it the rest of the way off and tried to stop the bleeding but it was hard to get stopped.

The temperature was -10 here this morning. I am thinking that her foot must have gotten frozen to the roost last night. After about 30 minutes of bleeding I finally got some cobwebs, wadded them up and applied them to the toe and that did the job.

-10 this morning and 45 degrees this afternoon, this must be Indiana. Angus is doing very well, he has a wonderful appetite now and I am trying my best to keep him from scouring. He keeps wanting me to play with him and I am just not up to it.

Mouse Follow-Up

I knew that my last post would provoke feelings of sympathy in folks of a more gentle nature. The comment was made that mice have a purpose, this is true and I can even tell you what those purposes are.

Mice provide protein for other living creatures, they are on my cat Garfield's preferred delicacy menu. Followed closely by beautiful song birds. Mice also provide nutrition for snakes, foxes and hawks to name only a few.

They are also used in research for diseases, product, pharmaceutical and food safety, they are sacrificed for our well being and the well being of our pets.

You could say that the mouse is a very useful creation, he is also noble to give up his life for the benefit of others.

That said, I do not condone the use of mice or the killing of mice strictly for human entertainment, even though I do admit to laughing when the chickens are fighting over one.

I have not been able to photograph the feeding frenzy that a group of chickens will lower themselves to when one catches a mouse. It is just too comical to see the owner of the mouse run for it's life with 25 other chickens in hot pursuit.

The mouse is usually stripped away several times and the pursuit changes direction with each steal, the pursuers sometimes lose track of who they are suppose to be chasing. It reminds me of a football game.

I have been able to snap a picture of the capture of a frog but when a hen is running for it's life, it is very difficult to get the shot while running with the rest of the chickens, they don't play fair, they try to trip you.

Missing Hens?

My Husband came in last night after feeding my Buck and gathering eggs to say that he thought that perhaps we had a chicken thief. He proceeded to give me a head count. I believe he suspected Barney Google, at least that is what he said.

That set me to wondering, is Barney Google where "Google" got it's name? I have tried to think of any similarities and wasn't able to come up with much. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I wasn't even sure that Barney Google was a chicken thief. I believe that it was his cousin Snuffy Smith that is the chicken thief and moonshiner. But wait, I don't even think that they are cousins, maybe just friends? If I really cared at all, I would just Google them, but I don't really care.

I do care about my chicken population, so, how to figure out if any chickens are missing? I do not keep a written record of how many chickens I have and since many of them look alike, they don't have names. Some do have unique features that I recognize and a few lay odd eggs that I miss in my egg basket at the end of the day but it would be hard for me to say that this certain hen is missing.

Ahhh.... I know how to figure out if any hens are missing! I don't have to Google for the answer, I just have to go back through my old blogs. Sure enough there is a blog with the number of each breed of chicken that I have. Though one has died of natural causes and I have given some away.

I will update my numbers here, so that if this question ever comes up again, I will have a record. 2 Rhode Island Red Hens, 3 Golden Comet Hens, 6 Barred Rock Hens, 7 Silver Laced Wyandotte Hens, 2 Mutt Bantam Hens, 2 D'Uccle Hens, 1 Barred Rock Rooster, 1 Polish Rooster, 1 D'Uccle Rooster and 1 Mutt Bantam Rooster.

I am happy to say that all hens and roosters are present and accounted for. I really didn't think that anything could steal my chickens with Angel and Abby on guard 24/7. My DH even commented the other day on what keen eyesight they have, they can spot a squirrel a mile away. They even watch the sky and bark at birds. They do tend to be a little intimidated by the military jets that fly low over the farm though.

I know what you are thinking, why does she have so many roosters?? You were thinking that, weren't you? This is a question that my DH asks me quite often. I keep Rocky, the barred rock, to father future generations. I keep Rudy, the D'Uccle, for the same purpose. I keep Elvis, the polish, just for fun and I don't have a clue why I keep the bantam mutt but he does have a great banty rooster attitude, I suppose I should name him or give him away. Anyone want a tiny red banty rooster? I might have to do one of those blog giveaways or a contest of some sort.

Wind Chills

Not looking forward to the weather for the next few days. It is currently snowing and sleeting here. We are under a wind chill advisory for -10 to -30 from tonight through Friday. I know that is not as cold as it is some places and I don't mind the cold but I don't care much for wind chills.

It is hard to keep water to everyone, we have a big heated tank for the main pasture but with so many horses they can drink it dry in a day's time. Which means that it has to be filled everyday, even in subzero temperatures. The problem, of course, is the hose. Yesterday it was warm in the morning but the temps dropped all day and I didn't think to top off the big tank before the hose became frozen, so I had to wind the hose up and bring the whole thing into the house. We have a hard time remembering to unhook and drain the hoses.

We have to provide water in nine different places, two tanks are heated but require hoses to fill them, two tanks are not heated and required hoses, the others are small and we can carry the water.

I carry warm water in my little red wagon to Cooter, Angel and Abby, I also carry warm water to three different places for the chickens. The does in the barn are not hard to keep watered because it is normally warm enough in the barn to prevent frozen water but last night I brought their bucket into the house after they were bedded down. I will have to remember to do that again for the next three nights and probably most of the day tomorrow, I will just have to take the water out for them to drink and bring it back in.

Our biggest headache is the two tanks that are not heated, I usually take a splitting maul and drop it down on the ice to break it for Badger's water and for the young horses that are separated from the main herd. It will not be an easy task to keep them watered for the next couple of days. I will also have to keep breaking and refilling for Cooter, the dogs and the chickens. I break their ice with a hatchet and scoop out the ice with a very handy kitty litter scoop that I bought for that purpose, then refill with warm or hot water.

So, while some of you are sitting inside your warm, cozy houses listening to the wind howl, think of me trudging across the hard frozen ground with a bucket or splitting maul in my hand fighting against the icy wind. We will also have to feed and milk in this cold, it is all part of the joy of farm living and I love it, my eldest son and his family got me a new face mask for Christmas, so I am prepared.

We have been getting around 8 eggs per day but the temperature took a nose dive yesterday and we got 10! I don't think that I will ever understand chickens. They might all lay tomorrow since it will be so cold and there will be nothing else to do.

Good News and Bad

The bad news is that I found Bootstrap dead yesterday morning. I had commented that he really had a good day on Friday and acted nearly normal. Then yesterday when I went out to do my morning chores and was in the goat/chicken shed, I remembered that he hadn't said anything to me before I went out. So I came back to the house to check on him and was shocked that he had died.

The good news is that the red paint on the styrofoam forms worked. I even found one place where the chickens had scratched at the dirt around the base of the forms to uncover the unpainted surface and had pecked at that. I covered it back up and took that as a good sign that they will not be eating any red styrofoam. Hopefully the forms are now safe until we can get them covered properly.

Recent Events

Where to begin? Yesterday my DH had the day off because it was New Year's Day. He made good use of the day by working outside. I made good use of the day by staying inside. I kept hearing this annoying sound and so I finally gave some thought to what I was hearing, it was Paris outside my door, in the stall, screaming her head off. I asked myself this question, "Why is Paris screaming her head off?" Then I answered myself, "It could be that she is in heat, dummy."

I ran to the calendar and looked at the date that I last suspected that she was in heat, low and behold it was twenty days ago. So, I opened the gate and let her out, she did not pass Go or collect $200. She ran straight as an arrow to Cooter's pen and didn't wait for me to catch up to open the gate, she just squeezed through it.

He was pleased to see her again and they spent the rest of the afternoon together, when she got tired of him, she squeezed back through the gate and came back to the barn and that was that. So now I have a firm date on when Paris was bred, it was on New Year's Day, easy to remember.

Bootstrap seems to be improving everyday and he wants out of his cage but I tried letting him loose again today and I later found him hiding in a corner with a tiny banty rooster, half his size, plucking all of his feathers out. There were feathers everywhere, he just doesn't have any fight in him.

We have had another chicken problem that I hope to have fixed today. The house part of our barn was made with Foam Forms, they are styrofoam forms filled with concrete and in a few places around the outside and the entire interior wall still has some foam forms exposed.

The problem is, chickens love styrofoam. It is like one of their favorite foods in the winter time. During the summer they never touch it but right now, I cannot keep them away from it. They are literally eating us out of house and home. It isn't that they are hungry because they leave their corn, sunflower seeds and chicken feed to feast upon our walls.

We had some cans of red spray paint, so since I can't keep continually chasing them with a broom. I started spraying this evening, they stood back and watched, so far, so good, they looked at the new color and cocked their heads from side to side, but no one tired it. I am anxious for tomorrow to get here, to see if this has solved the problem.

Now on to my New Year's Resolution. I only made one resolution last year and almost kept it, however, I did falter from time to time. That resolution was to blog everyday, well, I never said that I was perfect.

In keeping with the tradition that I set forth last New Year's, I have again resolved only one resolution this year and that is to quit griping at my DH and be kinder and gentler to him. He does not deserve my criticism most of the time. He has looked at me several times today and said something about it not even lasting 24 hours, but these things do take time and patience. Old habits die hard, I can't just flip a switch and be sweet.

A New Year

We made it through December! My DH loves to sing that song all through December, then on January 1st announce that we have made it. I tell him that December isn't the hardest month for us. He gets really down in February, because by then he is tired of feeding hay and our hay supply is getting low. It is either really cold or really muddy in February and he gets very anxious for Spring.

The old year went out on a bad note for me. I was sick all day yesterday. I ran a fever and was so weak that I couldn't even set up to read a book. My dear, dear, wonderful Husband had to hold a glass of sprite with a straw for me because my arms were so weak that I couldn't even hold the glass. I don't have any idea what the problem was but I couldn't eat anything until late afternoon and then I could only eat chicken soup.

I chilled and kept covered up all day until about 11:30 last night when all of the sudden my fever broke and I started sweating. As soon as my fever broke, I felt so much better but even after sleeping all day yesterday, I still slept well last night.

Things are looking better for 2009, we got 8 eggs each of the last two days. It got down to 17 degrees last night, so I don't know how egg production will be today.