chickens and a birthday

First the birthday, yesterday our girl Liberty Bell aka "Libby" turned 3. She is the alpha female and full of piss and vinegar. Ruger and Jack the Cat bow to her when she passes... But, she is protective and a faithful companion (as long as her bowl is full). Needless to say, life without her would be boring.  

do you know how it is when you start out to get one thing, but bring home other stuff? Well, here is our other stuff. See, I got this guy that sells barrels, and he had some nice, clean metal ones. Senior and I jumped on them. The mans son raises chickens for his 4-H Poultry Club, which I think we might join. Anyways, he was selling a pair of Barred Rock Hens. I jumped on the chance and brought the girls home. ND quickly named them "Chessie, and Checkers" because of their coloring. They are only about 6 mos. old and should start laying soon.Since they were from 4-H they had been vaccinated and accustomed to other chickens, so we went ahead and  added them in to the big coop. But, things there are a bit stressful and I am not sure if Senior should build a separate place away from all the alpha female chickens, as I am not seeing them drink much water. Every time they try, they get ran off.  My plan is to mate them with the Jersey Giant Rooster ( Black Jack) I think they would turn out a nice bird, that is not only a good egg layer, but good for meat too.The chicks should also net me a little profit at auction.

I know Senior just talked about this over at his blog last night but, remember back over the summer when I did the post about buying pullets from the feed store, only to have two of them be roosters? Well, we gave one away to our buddy Mr. Farmer, and the other one - was  a horrible nuisance crower. All the time, non stop, it could be 3 am and you would hear him. Black Jack who is housed in the large coop behind where this one was, is not at all that way. You can spend all day outside and not hear a peep. So, we had enough and butchered him.

 I got to say, Jersey Giants do make a nice meat bird. We roasted him last weekend, I do need to work on the marinating issues and seasoning, because he was a tad bit dry. I think next one we will do over the spit outside.

The leaves have been taking up our weekends, and I am happy to say that the majority is now off the trees. Christmas is literally around the corner, and  I have started my shopping and think Amazon and the free Prime trial is a wonderful thing. I just have to remember to cancel it before months end.
Take care all and have a wonderful day

-JUGM

things around here....

We got our fall garden in full swing, the other night I cut my first batch of "tendergreens" and the fall green beans are growing nicely.
ND wanted his own pumpkin patch, so when it came to getting the seeds, he went with the "Gigantic" variety. We planted them in early August, and now he has his first one growing.
I know they went in the ground a bit late to get anything really big, but honestly these plants grew like a weed on miracle grow, so it would not surprise me if he ends up with a big one..

 

If you recall this past spring, I picked up one Jersey Giant Rooster...he was so darn cute and fluffy, and the last one left, I could not resist buying him.  I had read about the breed, and learned they were very docile, and friendly...Well here is that Rooster now.  A couple of weeks ago, we put him in the main coop with all the mutt chicken ladies, and he has done real well adjusting. They were a bit nervous at first, but now everyone is happy.

The boys named him "Black Jack"

 

  

Since we liked Black Jack so much, the feed store got in another batch of Giant babies, I went back a month later to get 5 pullets. ( because I am thinking about breeding and selling them). A month ago I started getting suspicous that 2 were cockrels and darn I was right, they have just learned they can crow... so yes I have three Jersey Giant Roosters, and am trying to sell these two smaller ones..

 

You know when things get quiet that means something is wrong?.. I walked into the bedroom yesterday where we keep the dogs kennel, and there was Libby snoodling with Jack the Cat...this is the same cat she usually hates and chases around the house... 

 

 

The boys came across some creepy crawlies this week :

 

And Monday I was at the sink doing dishes, and this butterfly was fluttering around the bush outside.I grabbed my camera, stood on a chair over the sink to snap this pic through the window..

 

 

It has been really hot and dry here this week, but that is soon to change over the weekend, I guess a classic Nor'Easter is suppose to be setting up and it should bring us much cooler temps and rain. The Good Lord knows we need the rain here. I will  probably get out and do my happy dance if it does!  

 

Hope you all have a good weekend!

 

JUGM