Blowing Out Eggs for Crafts, Christmas Ornaments & Holiday Tableaus

Blowing out your eggs is a great way to save your prettiest or use them for craft projects.  It's easy, especially with the help of the Blas-fix kit (see the link to buy one on amazon.com below).  You can also use a thumbtack, paperclip and plastic coffee stirrer if you wish or a Dremel tool.  If you have a Dremel, it's the way to go, it makes a nice round hole without the spider webbing you sometimes get using anything else.

Randall Burkey Company

Many of you who have been following my blog and facebook page know that my grandparents had a chicken farm. They sold the meat and eggs to support their family all through World War II and right through the early 1970s.

I grew up across the street from their farm, in a house that my grandparents built for my parents as a wedding present. They also built them a chicken house that was at least three times the size of the house...

and as you can see in this photo, came fully furnished with chickens !

But I digress.....

 I have been around chickens almost my whole life.  My brother and I raised chicks when we were young in our homemade cardboard box brooder and then collected their eggs wearing oven mitts so we wouldn't get pecked by the broody hens !  We had a rooster named Bojangles who used to chase us.  We never kept a lot of chickens, and in fact the ones we had as kids lived in a smaller 'brooder' house that was behind our house.

 Living right across the street from my grandparents, I naturally spent a lot of time with my grandmother especially.  I remember spending rainy afternoons lying on her bed flipping through the Randall Burkey Company catalog, marveling at the cute chicks and all the other chicken-related items they have sold since the company started in 1947.   My grandparents always seemed to have a copy of the catalog lying around.

Of course the products have changed over the years and the company has grown. I doubt my grandmother was ordering her hens treats or fancy feeders or waterers.  She certainly wasn't buying any cute little coops or signs for the run, but I bet she placed orders for chicks over the years and maybe even medications for them. 

So imagine my delight when Randall Burkey Company said they would be interested in sponsoring my blog!   Randall Burkey is a company that I have grown up with. Their catalog is the very first one I ordered after we got our first chicks here in Virginia in 2009.  My grandmother died last year, but I just know she is smiling down on me having Randall Burkey as a sponsor. She never understood the way I spoil my chickens, taking photos of them and naming them all, but she always understood quality and practicality - and Randall Burkey Company offers both.

Randall Burkey also sent a box of 'gifts' for my girls.  Although my chickens are very familiar with Mealworm Frenzy, they had never tried the Sunflower Sensation. So I loaded up their hanging treat feeder and let them at it.

It was a HUGE hit as you can see.

A few of the girls seemed interested to learn the ingredients (psst, girls - it's a blend of assorted sunflower seeds, sunflower kernels, oats, oat groats, peanuts, and raisins).

There was also a treat ball in the box. 

  

Since my girls already have one, they decided they wanted to give it, 

along with the Mealworm Frenzy, to two lucky winners !

GOOD LUCK ! And be sure to check RANDALL BURKEY COMPANY for all your chicken needs from chicks to supplies, feed to instructional videos and book

CONGRATULATIONS TO RADISH GIRL THYMES AND LINDA MOFFITT WHO WERE CHOSEN AS THE WINNERS!

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Sunflower Egg Shell Cups

This coming Sunday, April 1st, we will be hosting the first annual Sunflower Sunday, and hope you'll join us!  It's easy....just plant some sunflower seeds - the only catch is that you have to plant them in eggshells.   The calcium carbonate in the shells will help nourish the growing plants and they make free, 'green' seed cups.

So save your eggshells after you make breakfast this weekend and get planting !

Here's what you'll need:

- an egg carton, egg tray or sectioned tray
- enough eggs to fill the tray

- a package of sunflower seeds

- potting soil

- a safety or sewing pin

- water

Here's what to do:

Poke a hole in the blunt end of the egg with a pin and wiggle it around to enlarge it a bit. 

Carefully crack the top third of the egg and remove it, then rinse the inside and remove the membrane if you wish.

Arrange the shell 'cups' in an egg carton, deviled egg plate or sectioned tray.  My Pet Chicken sells a neat Ceramic 6 Egg Holder that is similar to the one I am using.

Fill each shell 3/4 of the way with potting soil. 

Put two or three sunflower seeds in each 'cup' and press them into the soil. 

Then cover with more potting soil. 

Give a light watering.... 

And put the tray on a sunny windowsill. 

Keep the soil moist, and in two to three weeks you should see the seeds start to sprout.  

After the danger of frost has passed in your area, you can plant the cups outside.  Just crush the shell a bit before planting in the ground. 

Space the cups 16"  apart.  Keep them watered and when the seedlings are 3-4 inches tall, thin out any that you need to for 16" spacing.

With any luck, by July 1st we all should have big, beautiful sunflowers !  Here we are the beginning of June already.

Once the sunflowers bloom, enjoy the cheery yellow flowers, and then cut the flower heads when the backs turn yellow and hang them in a warm dry place to dry the seeds.  Save the seeds for your chickens or the wild birds, and remember to save some seeds to participate in next year's Sunflower Sunday.

The eggshell cups work on any other kind of seeds also and especially those that can suffer blossom end rot will benefit from the added calcium the shells provide.

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Vintage Spoon Garden Markers

Toss out those white plastic garden markers ! There's a much nicer way to mark your vegetables and herbs. Vintage spoons make gorgeous, durable markers to use year after year.

New Farm Chicks

Welcome to the world peeps !  

The nine newest additions to our flock all hatched over a 24-hour period this past Thursday and Friday.  We had a 100% hatch rate in the Brinsea Mini Advance Incubator in our very first ever time hatching eggs!  Maybe it was beginner's luck but I think it was more a testament to the quality products that both Brinsea and Chicken Scratch Poultry provided to us.  

We started nine eggs in the incubator and hand turned them (the incubator only holds seven eggs with the turning tray installed)) and all seemed viable, so I left them all in for the duration, and I am SO glad I did.  

The incubator was amazingly easy to use and obviously does a great job. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone wanting to hatch just a few chicks (AND the coupon code FRESH gets you 10% off your purchase!).

These cutie pies came from fertile hatching eggs donated by Chicken Scratch Poultry and I can't say enough good about them also !  To get all nine shipped eggs to hatch is pretty darn good !  Can't ask for a better hatch rate than that.

We now have two Welsummers, two Olive Eggers, a Black Copper Marans, a Blue Copper Marans, two Light Sussex and a Blue Ameraucana.

This Blue Ameraucana was the first to hatch.   I can already tell she is a spunky thing !

I am trying the Brinsea  EcoGlow 20 for the first time and it appears she likes it !  She explored the brooder box a bit and then crawled right underneath the EcoGlow and went to sleep. 

 The EcoGlow replaces the red heat lamp and is supposed to more closely mimic being under a chicken. The chicks go underneath to warm up and then scoot out to eat, drink and play and then back underneath when they get cold.  

The first to hatch was soon joined not only by her hatch sisters but also by some more chicks that I had ordered from Chicken Scratch Poultry.  In the mix is now also Lavender Orpingtons and Araucanas, plus more Light Sussex, Marans and Olive Eggers.

Lots of play followed by naps is the routine for them.

I use a Rubbermaid plastic tote as a brooder. A hole cut in the top covered in 1/2" hardware mesh ensures that nothing will get inside, but provides plenty of ventilation.  On the bottom I layer newspaper and then cover that with rubber shelf liner. It provides a nice surface for little feet to grip and I like it better than paper towels because it is washable and reusable.

The chicks have water with Manna Pro Life-Lytes mixed in which I will continue to give them for a few days to boost their energy levels and they are eating Manna Pro Chick Starter. I went with the medicated feed because the shipped chicks have such a hard start to life, the last thing they need to be doing is fighting coccidia too. And since we have other chickens out in the run, the chances of me bringing something inside with me is pretty high, so the medicated feed will be their main sustenance for the first 8 weeks.

At first the chicks weren't too sure about the feed, but now they are pecking away at it.

From this....

to this... in 21 short days. It just doesn't seem possible.

Well that concludes The Great Eggscape ! Thanks all for following along and a huge thank you to both Brinsea and Chicken Scratch Poultry. I would say this hatch was a 100% success !

Click here for information on Baby Chick Care. 

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Beating the Heat

Did you know that the effects of heat on chickens is cumulative?  And that a sudden increase in temperature is more dangerous than a gradual climb.  Temperatures between 65-75 are optimal, anything higher starts to cause stress to their bodies. The added blood flow to their combs, wattles and skin reduces the flow to their vital organs.  

Doing all you can to help your chickens stay cool in the summer isn't a matter of 'spoiling' them, it can be a matter of life or death. Chickens have a hard time cooling off, so everything you can do to help them is beneficial.

Fortunately here in Virginia, we get pretty mild winters so we don't worry much about how to keep our chickens warm in the winter.  A far greater problem for us is how to keep them cool in the summer  when we routinely get long stretches of days into the low 100's with high humidity and nights only cooling to the mid-80s or 90s.

Chickens have a far easier time keeping warm in the cold weather by fluffing up their feathers and trapping the air warmed by their bodies, than they do cooling their bodies.

Chickens don't sweat. Instead they will pant and hold their wings away from their bodies to allow air to flow under their wings.   They will also pant.  Their panting to keep cool increases their respiratory and heart rate and can lead to Acidosis, a potentially fatal condition.

Their combs and wattles act as radiators and allow heat to escape their bodies. The larger-combed breeds, such as Andalusians, are more heat-tolerant than other breeds.

Lighter-colored chickens also tolerate heat better than the dark breeds whose feathers absorb the sunlight.

But all breeds will be pretty uncomfortable in extreme heat and chickens can actually die of heat stroke, so it is important to keep them as cool as possible.

SHADE

Plenty of shade is mandatory in the run area.  There are several large pine trees in our run as well as shrubs and small bushes that I have planted to provide nice shady areas.

If you don't have natural vegetation, a small dog house or covered structure will work just as well.

Our coop is raised off the ground and the chickens love to seek respite from the sun underneath in the summer.

WATER TO STAND IN

Chickens love to stand in shallow dishes or pools of water and get their feet wet when its hot. It provides instant cooling for them.

As do the ducks.

On really hot days, I will sometimes dunk each chicken's feet and legs  in a pail of water or in the ducks' pool. Just their feet and legs. You end up with a lot of angry, but cooler, hens !

Eggs are mostly water, so the process of laying an egg absorbs much of the water a chicken drinks. Fresh, clean water accessible to all your hens is first and foremost in importance.

I have switched to using large rubber tubs and also shallow dishes as waterers in the summer instead of the traditional waterers. Not only are they easy to clean and refill, a block of ice frozen in a mini bread pan will help keep the water cool.

Also more hens can drink at once from them and it is so important that each member of the flock gets their share of cool water so they don't dehydrate.

I have a minimum of four large tubs and two shallow dishes full in the run at all times for my flock of 21 hens and 8 ducks.

If you use the nipple-style waterers, I highly recommend putting out tubs of water in addition, at least on really hot days.

While the nipple waterers do keep the water clean, which is imporant, they also don't allow the birds to dunk their heads. Dunking their heads in the water and cooling their wattless and combs immediately lowers their body temperature.  I had no idea they did this, but in the summer our hens stand around in the tubs, periodically dunking their heads.  They do know what's best and as long as you provide them the means, they will know how to cool themselves off.

Also: Nipple waterers should never be used (winter or summer) when you raise ducks according to this study on the Metzer Farms blog:  http://metzerfarms.blogspot.com/2011/03/do-ducks-prefer-showers-or-baths.html)

ELECTROLYTES

Vitamins & Electrolytes or plain Pedialyte added to their water in extreme heat can also help them cope better.  Baking soda in a 2% ratio can also be added.

Or you can make up your own Homemade Electrolytes.

Apple cider vinegar added to the water can help with calcium absorption. Soft-shelled eggs can be common in times of high heat due to reduced feed intake and the ACV can help alleviate that. But limit the ACV to just a few times a week since it increases ph levels, which can lead to acidosis.

OPEN AIR NESTING BOXES

Since the coop gets really hot in the middle of the day, the girls avoided laying in the nesting boxes last summer. I was finding eggs under bushes, behind things, anywhere they could find that was cooler.  Propping the nesting box top open helped to circulate air a bit, as did frozen water bottles in the nests, but they still didn't want to sit in the coop to lay their eggs...

so I set up some open-air baskets and boxes outside in the lean-to I used for stoarge -  and that was a big hit.  The chickens laid almost exclusively outdoors in the baskets and boxes for the rest of the summer.  

NO SCRATCH - TRY FROZEN TREATS INSTEAD

Chickens eat a lot less in the summer than they do in the winter, so be sure that they are being fed a good quality layer feed.  Scratch grains should never be given during the hot months, as digesting the scratch actually warms up a chicken's body.

In extreme heat, lighting the coop and feeding the chickens overnight is also an option to allow them to eat during the period of coolest temperatures.  Just rig up a regular light fixture, or even a construction light on an extension cord and provide feed and plenty of fresh water in the coop.

Frozen watermelon is a great treat that hydrates as well as cools the chickens, as are frozen strawberries, bleuberries, cucumber slices, bananas (try rolling the banana in honey and chopped nuts and then freezing), peas and corn kernels.

I also freeze blueberries, strawberry tops, watermelon, peas and other fruits and vegetables plus fresh mint in ice cube trays, or these small freezer containers, with a string frozen in the middle.  Then I hang the frozen cubes in the run for the chickens.  Mint has cooling properties and will help reduce the chickens' body temperature.  Click HERE for more on making your own Frozen Ice Pops.

COOLING YOUR COOP

A big problem in the summer when the temperatures hover around 100 degrees for several days is cooling down the coop at night.  Last summer, the coop was often still in the 90s inside at dark, and the girls hated to go inside, so I decided to rig up some 'redneck' air conditioning for them. 

I froze water in gallon water and milk jugs, hung them from the roosts and then set up an oscillating fan outside the coop.  It was amazing how much that cooled the air inside the coop to make for more comfortable sleeping.   I also laid some jugs on the floor of the coop so the chickens could perch on or next to them.

Redneck A/C

WARNING ABOUT MISTERS !!!  Some people hook up misters in the run that provide a continuous mist of water.

Please take care using misters. The misters can often do more harm than good, making the air moist and potentially causing respiratory problems in your flock.

Be sure that you are using them correctly. If your chicken are getting wet that hampers them from regulating their own body temperature and they can literally overheat. I can't recommend using them at all in humid climates where added moisture in the air can be detrimental.

Misters when used correctly can lower the air temperature, but use caution if you decide to install a misting sytem.

Pools of standing water caused by the misters will also attract flies and mosquitoes which bring a whole new set of problems, although

It's really important to keep your chickens cool this summer. Anything you can think of to help them stay cool may not only save their lives, but will result in consistent egg production through the summer and will definitely be appreciated by your chickens.

Shade, clean cool water, and frozen treats are a great start towards beating the heat.

If you do have a hen that seems to be suffering heat exhaustion or dehydration, get her somewhere cool and soak her in a tub of cool water to bring her body temperature down.  Give her cool water to drink and some plain Pedialyte or even Gatorade in a pinch for added nutrients to replace what she has lost. 

Classic signs of heat exhaustion are panting, holding the wings out, a very pale comb and wattles and eyes closed, maybe even lying down.

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