Robin's Nest - Recycled Chicken Feathers

In a previous post "WhizBang Chicken Plucker" I mentioned that my husband and I butchered 33 roosters with the Whizbang chicken plucker that he built.  Anyway, when you butcher 33 roosters, there might be a few feathers laying around.  Well, the Robins (and other birds) have decided to recyle this year and use them to line their nest.  In the top picture you can see that they used a blue strip from a tarp we had on top of one of our horse trailers.  This nest is on the beams of a lean on the side of our machine shed.  They make nests there every year.  This year this nest had 3 baby Robins.   Blessings from Wisconsin!

Flowering Crab Apple Trees - Beautiful!

Our flowering crab apple trees are just beautiful this year.  They were at their peak yesterday.  As I am typing this and looking out the window, it is raining pink blossoms.  We have severe weather coming in today with wind and thunderstorms.  I'm so happy I took these pictures Sunday.  We planted these trees as bare roots about 15 years ago.  I love them!  The apples from these will add alot of color to my apple jelly this fall.  Blessings from Wisconsin!

I Can't post a comment on any blog sites.

I'm having a problem with posting a comment on blog sites, even my own.  It won't let me log in so I can't comment.  Does anyone know how to fix it? 

Nemo is doing good - one wing and all!

In my previous post, I talked about this little chick I am calling Nemo.  Scroll down and read it.  Nemo update, the little grey "wing" part fell off and now Nemo has only a stub and one wing.  That doesn't stop Nemo from keeping up with his chick siblings....Some pictures of Nemo today.

Here are few other pictures of other chicks that hatched this week

I love it when the chicks ride on the mama hen's backs.  Blessings from Wisconsin!

I've Named This One - "Nemo"

In my earlier post, I mentioned that I let some broody hens set on their eggs.  They have started to hatch.  When you gather eggs, often times there will be more than one egg in a "nest" or "pile", several hens will lay an egg in this group.  Anyway, when the chicks start hatching, it is fun to see all the different colors of chicks you have with one hen.  They all aren't her "babies", however she is their "mama hen." 

This cage of 2 black hens are quite content together and to share the 2 chicks that have hatched so far.  I noticed that the small yellow chick was hopping around sideways - or lopsided.  When I picked it up, I noticed that one of its wings were deformed or injured (not sure I didn't see it hatch or see if something happend to it)   I thought, oh well, this one won't make it...so I put it under one of the hens and prayed for the best.  Well, over the past 2 days or so,  this chick has been getting along really well, eating and drinking fine.  I decided to name it "Nemo" because of the wing - like Nemo's fin.  Here are a few pictures.

Isn't this cute!  It was cold this morning today.  When I stuck my hand under to grab "Nemo" it was super warm under this hen.

Blesssings from Wisconsin!

Broody Hens are Mamas - They Have Chicks!

A little over 3 weeks ago, my Mom was in the hospital and I was lax in collecting my eggs.  Some of the hens were broody so I let them set.  Well today they have chicks.  I did "try" to catch all the broody ones and put them in a cage with the eggs I thought were theirs...oh, they know where they are...anyway, I have 8 cages full of hens and eggs and now hens and chicks.  They are so cute.  My flock of chickens are mostly mixed banty and fancy breeds. 

I love to let my hens be mamas.  They love it too.  They are pretty good at sharing the chicks.  These two were happy together and both taking care of them.  When they get bigger and I let them out of the cages, they will run around the yard with these 2 mama hens.  Each little family know who they belong to.  It is cute to see how protective they are.  Blessings from Wisconsin.

Easy Slow Cooking in a Nesco Roaster

I love my Nesco roaster.  It's not just for feeding large crowds or the holidays.  I use my Nesco to cook in all the time.   I figure as long as I am going to use my slow cooker, I might as well use the Nesco.  This way, I can plan a few meals based on what I put in the Nesco.  Last week, on Wednesday, we had beef potroast, sweet potatoes and green beans; on Thursday we had beef barley soup and Friday, BBQ beef sandwiches.
For these menues, I filled my roaster with 2 roasts (3-4 lbs each) and a package of soup bones - these were right out of the freezer (frozen).  We raise our own beef so we do have alot of soup bones.  I added 5 cloves of chopped garlic, 2 red onions, 3 diced carrots, 4 ribs of diced celery, handfuly of fresh parsley, salt & pepper - these are really only added to flavor the stock - 1 can of tomato paste, 3 TBS of beef base and enough water to reach top of meat.  Cook on low for the whole day - just leave it.    After lunch I did add a steamer to top of the meat and put in my sweet potato chunks.  About an hour or so later, I added the green beans right on top of the sweet potatoes.  Just leave it do it's thing.    Wednesday done. I preboiled the barley I needed for the soup in  a.m. while I prepared the veggies for the stock. 
After your supper is over, take out the meat and strain the juices.  You will have a rich brown stock.  Put this in the refrigerator.  I then took the meat and bones and added those to my pressure cooker with water and cooked them at 10# for about 15-20 minutes - this cooks the meat off the bones.   When cooled, seperate meat from bones and put meat in a seperate container for rest of meals.  You can save that stock too.

For the beef barley soup, take out reserved stock, take the fat off the top and put that "jelly" mixture into a kettle.  Heat it up.  I did add some water to "thin" the stock.   Cut up 4 - 5 carrots and to boiling stock.  I added left over green beans, pre boiled barley, 4 -5 ribs of diced celery, chunks of  the reserved beef and 2 cans of beans (whatever you like) I did fava and northern, really up to you as to what you like in your soup. 

Then on Friday, I took the rest of cooked, diced beef and added some BBQ sauce.

I had a busy week and having all of this really cooked in one day saved me alot of time.  If you don't have a Nesco they are truly worth the investment!  So easy and a real time saver!  Blessings from Wisconsin!