Winter at the Hill

Brr!! Last night we got the first flurry of the season. Nothing stuck, but it was pretty for the little bit it came down. Now, I was born in Florida, but raised in Ohio...so I hate snow.. but unfortunately, living in Ohio and now Missouri, I'm used to it. I guess it's just in my blood to hate the cold!!

The animals are all dealing with the winter in there own special ways :

Roxie likes to stay inside and lounge on her blanket  ( She is so very very spoiled lol)

The Ladies like the cold, as long as they have scratch grains!! ( they are also so very very spoiled!)

and my little fluffy butt, Elvis, also doesn't mind the cold. He is a bantam cochin and he has a special job in the flock... he is the protector of the eggs... it is so cute!! Sometimes he will even lay beside the hens as they lay the eggs.. then he sits with the eggs until we collect them! What a gentleman!!

Fancy Egg Cartons

My girls were busy this weekend!!! They blinged out some old walmart egg cartons so we can have something snazzy to give away eggs in!!! It's hard to see in this pic but they are COVERED in glitter!!! LOL... anyway.. I think they have something here... blinged out egg cartons! We are ordering egg cartons and labels at http://www.customeggcartonlabels.com/  this spring.. so we can use them at the Farmers Market... I'm thinking the girls will have to add some glitter!!! LOL!!!!

The egg carton artists :

Marlee and Sydney

( this is an old pic but you can see how fun they are!!! Buckets of fun I tell ya!!!)

Chicken Hats

So.... do you think if I crocheted some warm chicken hats and scarves... the ladies would wear them???

Cute huh! :)

Winter is coming.....

Winter is coming.... that means it is time to break out the garden catalogs and hatchery catalogs and start planning for next spring!!! What are some of your favorite companies for gardening? Right now I'm really liking the Gurney's catalog, because they are running a deal I am going to take advantage of! You spend 25 bucks.. you get 25 bucks free!
www.gurneys.com

Also, this weekend has alot of plans... we need to finish getting the yard ready for winter.. time to put everything to bed. Being in Missouri, you just never know what the weather is going to be like. Last winter we had tornadoes and also ice storms. So we will mow the yard one last time, get straw on the beds, and put away all the outdoor toys. Keith will be finishing getting the coops and cages winterized and then we will just have to take care of daily needs for the animals. Keith built a new huge run in the back of the big coop for the chickens. They LOVE it. They have been chowing down on pumpkin ( the obligatory front porch pumpkin that everyone has on their porch for fall) they love the pumpin and it is super good for the chickens. I have read it also works as a natural de-wormer which even tho my chicks don't have worms, I am hoping it is a good preventative too! I have been reading alot on what makes healthy chickens, because we have happy healthy chickens, and we are getting beautiful eggs. We are blessed.

Don't tell Dylan ( the rooster whisperer) but he is getting an incubator for Christmas. He can't wait until spring so we can incubate our eggs and grow our flock , so we can sell eggs at Farmer's Market. I have huge ideas for Farmer's Market next year. I can't wait!!

So I will leave you with a pic of the kids enjoying the park this fall... just because I can. HA!!!

 

New Ladies at the Hill

 

Recently we aquired two new ladies... a beautiful black australorp named Skylar and a rhode island red..... possibly mixed with something else? Her name is Ginger. They are happy so far :)

 

 

 

I'm also not sure if I introduced the two ladies we received a few weeks ago.... two beautiful dominiques who have been blessing us with their eggs!!! So when all the ladies start laying ( we are at about 6-7 eggs a day now.... we will be getting a dozen eggs a day!!! Next spring we will be adding more so we can sell our eggs at the Farmers Market!!! Right now we are blessed to be eating all these awesome eggs and providing our extended family with fresh healthy eggs!

 

Monster Egg!!

This morning we found a big surprise in the hen boxes!! This monster egg! Here is a pic of it... it's the one in the middle... on the left is one of the rhode island red eggs, then in the middle is the monster egg, and on the right is a store bought egg :) super cool huh!!!

The story of the mole....

So we were sitting outside enjoying the evening and all of the sudden I saw a mound of dirt move! Keith grabbed the shovel... we weren't sure if it was a mole or a snake! Turned out it was the chubbiest little mole ever! He was darling... but he made a run right for the chicken play yard! Hershey, our big rooster kind of squeaked and jumped out of the way which made us laugh! Then Rose, our brave hen, took after him and chased him to the wall.. he started to dig under but she grabbed his little tail! Finally Keith just flung him over the fence so he could find a new home... far away from our house and garden! But I thought it was just so cute because Hershey is supposed to be the protector... but I guess he's afraid of moles!! Here's a pic of the mole trying to get under the wall and Rose being our protector!!!!