Do I make diapers?

So the boys call it Chickenpocalypse.  The older chicks have decided it is much more fun to run around the house then stay in the brooders.  So do I get started on 60 diapers to keep the poo off my floor?  Even the ones who don't actually jump down to the floor if they roost with their tush facing outside the box they poo on the floor. 

Shane promised a new coop soon but has been so busy dealing with the bathroom remodel hasn't been enough time to do both.

In other news the older girls outside made a hole in the chicken run and I have spent the last couple days rounding up chickens every so often and putting them back inside.  I finally found the small hole today and put a big log in front of it and am hoping it keeps the girls in and any predators out until we can get a permanent fix.

We have to figure out a better plan for the next batch of chicks!  Like maybe outside on the back deck?  Or in the basement?  Just not my living room!  We currently have 59 chickens in the living room.  I get my new Americana rooster on Friday and he will just be a day old.  Next week we add 2 new varieties to our layers and after that the silkies come in.  Brady really wants to get a couple and so do I.  We will need the diapers for those so they can run around the house!

Just look at how cute these guys are:

 

Just have to convince Shane to let us get some!

Are you kidding me?

Cub Scouts are trying to kill me!  Brady's Den is making a coffee theme gift basket for the Banquet auction and Sky's Den is making a family movie night basket for the auction.  So I went and got things for both and if that was all there was to this I would be fine but NOOOOOOOO...each boy is suppose to bake and decorate a cake in a Native American or Cub scout theme for the action.  I have no cake decorating ability!  In fact I have less than none I am dealing with a negative here!

One leader told me I could buy the cake un-decorated from Safeway...hello, the baking is the easy part!  Another leader said the cake didn't have to taste good...what?  And of course all of this is happening this coming weekend and I only have 2 weeks tell Sky's birthday!  Which I have NOTHING planned yet and I must figure something out this week so I can send invitations out next Monday!!!!

Shane's cake idea is to make a totem...um, no.  Sky thinks we should make a cake the shape of a tomahawk having different flavors for the handle and the head...um, no.  Here is my idea...make a chocolate bunt cake in the center put flames made of construction paper and around the outside have pretzel sticks with marshmallows on them and TA DA, it's a fire pit!  I am also thinking about just making one cake for both boys together.  does that make me a bad parent?

Sky wants a guitar cake for his birthday, I just don't see how I can get that done either.  I am a bad mom for sure.

Tom, gone but not forgotten...

OK, I should have thought to take a pic before I carved Tom but I didn't so here is the carcass as it looked after we had dinner.  Tom was a very different turkey.  His skin was so thick, like a layer of leather I swear.  Once I cut past the skin I found very juicy meat.  The flavor was still turkey only magnified.  Tom produced some juice for gravy but not much, I had used some chicken broth to baste Tom and most of the gravy was actually from the broth I added.

As you can see on the lower left of the photo is Tom's thigh and the dark meat was so dark it almost looked like beef!  But the flavor was out of this world!  I started by soaking Tom in a salt water brine for 24 hours, some recommended 48 but I think 24 worked just fine.  I can't imagine Tom turning out to be any better no mater what I had done.

Tom was accompanied by cornbread stuffing from cornbread I had made yesterday morning.  Due to poor planning the stuffing was not "stuffed" but cooked separate and I must say it just is not the same when it isn't cooked inside the turkey.  I must be sure to get the corn bread made BEFORE it is time to put the turkey into the oven!

Now every time I make a turkey Shane wants the gibblets used to make the stuffing but, I just CAN NOT allow that.  I think of the giblets as the tip given to the cook for working so hard all day to get everything made and on the table.  And let me tell you Tom's giblets were the best I have ever had.  The liver was flavorful with out having the bitterness that liver can have and the gizzard was chewy yet soft at the same time.  And the heart was so tender!  

I am a little sad to see Tom go though.  I loved hearing his gobble.  We have talked about getting some baby turkeys and trying to raise a Tom as nice as Christmas, but when you think about it Tom did his job, he protected his girls, just wish he hadn't protected them so well from us!

Vic butchered Tom the best way I can imagine, one swipe of his machete and off with his head.  Even the plucking wasn't quite as bad as I had thought it was going to be, course Shane and Brady helped a lot! 

So off to make turkey sandwiches for lunch!

If the rain would just stop...

Once the rain stops we are taking Tom out!  Our hopes are the rain will stop long enough this afternoon so we can finally end our suffering.  Tom made a HUGE mistake and decided to go after Shane as hard has he has been going after me and the boys.  We have to have 1 person who can go inside and feed the girls and our chicken and turkey girls are feeling neglected I think by not getting the hugs and attention they are use to.  Unfortunately though if you don't keep your eye on Tom and continually face him with your guard up he will get you.  My hand still hasn't completely healed from his last attack when I dared to pet a chicken.

Everyone wants to be the one to take him out though.  Going to have to draw straws to see who gets the privilege.

On a happier note, we have 36 new babies!  all as cute as can be!  The 28th I get our (hopefully) Americana rooster and 2 brown leghorns.  Week after that we get 2 New Hampshire Reds and 2 California whites.  Week after that we are getting 2 new Narragansett turkeys and a couple silkie chickens...silkies look fuzzy and are smaller, they are just going to be pets for Brady and I.  At least that is my hopes, we'll see how things go!

new bathroom

So we have been working upstairs to get the bathroom ready since it has been way to cold to work outside.  As we were prepping the walls for the new paint we realized they painted over wallpaper!  So we spent a bunch of time scoring the area and then wetting the area

Then started pealing it away

What a mess!  But once we got it all cleaned up Shane did some work on the holes and poorly mudded seams and we are ready to paint!  Unfortunately when we went out today we found our outside faucets frozen solid so we can't get the paint sprayer going and we are crossing our fingers that we don't have any broken pipes.

Once the painting is done though things will really start moving.  Oh and we got the call our new window is in also!  This room has one of the 2 windows in the house that were never replaced.  The new one looks just like the original though just not single paned glass!

Tom's latest victim

That Turkey must DIE!

Ok, I have no hard forensics to back this up but I have seen Tom grab my chicken girls by the neck and yesterday Queenie was found bloody in the chicken coop with her comb not only damaged but partially torn off.  We brought her inside and have her in a cage giving her lots of treats so she can heal.  I was going to give her a day or so before trying to wash the blood out of her feathers.  Don't want to tramatize her any more then necessary at this point.

Here are my attempts to get some photos:

Queenie, turn around please

Queenie, look up please, stop moving

Please baby hold still

Good girl.

As you can (kinda) see the back portion of the comb is torn loose and there is lots of dried blood all over her pretty white head and down her neck.  She is usually totally white except for her bright red comb and waddles. 

Just going to spoil her to get the chance to heal because if chickens see red they will peck at the area and keep re-injuring her even to the point of killing her.  She still gave me an egg this morning though.  She has been one heck of an egg layer and I hope this hasn't caused her too much stress.  We definitely need to get more white egg layers in the flock.