Leg problems

Scroungey is having some leg problems. She has always had bent, twisted toes, but, she has always gotten along fine. She was okay this morning, but when I got home she was limping but, would run like with her toes bunched up on the left leg. I've got her inside for the night. I massaged her leg with ointment to reduce swelling. She doesn't have bumblefoot. She's eating. I wonder if she's got arthritis? I've also been bringing Cluckster in at night as her bumblefoot has come back again. No matter what I do, she heals then she gets it again. I put her on the roost and I take her off. I just wonder if when they were chicks if they had an A, D OR E deficiency? The girls are all 3 years old now.

This is the hen Girl I blogged about earlier, who I nursed back to health after her egg broke inside her and she prolapsed. Doesn't she look 150% better? The only lasting thing from her health problem seems to be an egg with a little lump on it.

On another note, I'm sorry I haven't been blogging regularly. So many things are going on around here. The USPS management has saw fit to make me work a full time shift on Friday's (I get home at 5-5:30PM) and then work from 2AM-Noon on Saturday. Needless to say by the time I get home on Saturday all I want to do is sleep. Sunday's are not much better. I just cannot sleep on Friday nights. Anyway, I am grateful to God that I have a job, as many have lost their jobs.

Signing out for tonight.

Chicken Super Models

As I am watching America's Next Top Model reruns today, I started to think about which supermodels looked like my chickens! Yes, the brain does wonder at the strangest things while at rest! It gave me a chuckle. My Olde Bitty (seen above) reminds me a bit of Cheryl Tiegs. She's serious, eye catching and gets the job done!

Old Meanie (above) reminds me of Janice Dickinson. Bold, fearless, adventurous, independent and a little crazy. Can't you just see Janice Dickinson in that facial expression? LOL

Scroungey is the Lauren Hutton of chicken super modeling. A bit different, awkward, and she had a bend toe, yet her poses are somehow endearing and charming.

Last but, truly not least is Cluckster. She's the Tyra Banks in Chicken modeldom. She never takes a bad photo, she has a full array of different looks and facial expressions!

Perhaps Tyra Banks will read this and arrange for my chickens to have makeovers and a new coop built hahaha!

Finally a quiet minute

This is my old cat Tony. He's around 17-19 years old, we're not exactly sure, but, he's at least 17 now. I had a Senior Feline test battery done a few weeks ago and it did show that he's in the beginning stages of Renal failure. Tony is my best friend, my shadow and he's been with me for 12 years now. I will be crushed when he passes. It's one of the reasons, I've not felt like blogging. Tony is actually doing well considering. I've switched his diet to a Renal prescription diet and he's also on a medicine called co-calcitriol to help him absorb calcium. Here he's shown in Girl's hospital pen that she was using while in the house. I had let her outside one day when it was nice and Tony didn't waste any time taking up residence here. I love my old Tony cat.

Finally, I've got a quiet minute to type a bit on my blog. The hens are all healthy and doing well. Girl my one Golden laced Wyandotte who had an egg break inside of her and had a prolapse is finally back in the flock after over 2 months of being inside being nursed back to health. She's back to laying too. Her eggs are a bit lumpy still, but, as long as I give her a calcium pill once a week she seems to be doing well. I just really have to keep an eye on her. The Dominique pictured above is Sylvia. She really is a great show Dominique. Her comb is nearly perfect according to the standard. I haven't shown her, as I don't have time to take off work and stay at the fairgrounds with her. I read that many people lately have had their show chickens stolen right out of the fair cages. This of course happens when the owners are out for the day or night.

The weather here just will not warm up. The wind is blowing very hard today and it is actually very cool. The girls spent most of the day under a shrub, picking around in the tall lilies on the bank in our backyard.

This chicken above is Bevin. She's probably my best layer. She's a grouchy ole' gal, just like her mommie! It's funny I have nearly 15 nest boxes available for them and they all want in the exact same boxes. Bevin loves to wait until one of the other girls gets inside and then push them out.

On another non-chicken note, I want to thank my friends for supporting me through this last month which was rather hard for me. I love all you girls and guys! I will try to keep up with my posting this coming month with more photos.

Chicken days

What a nice, quiet little day today was. I call days like these Chicken days. I have 2 days off of work so the chickens got to spend most of the day outside. It started out a little below freezing with a very cool wind. It warmed up about 1:00 PM. Above is a photo of Cluckster and Big Momma. They are new partners in crime.

Above is a photo of (l to r) Weezy, Phoebe, Scroungey and Tina Weena on the East side of our house under my Honeysuckle & Trumpet vine. It's their new favorite dust batheing spot. There's a large window right above them (that you can't see in the photo) so I can chicken watch if I like.

Now this photo above is of my Ole'Bitty. She's a genuine laying machine. Her eggs are always so smooth and pretty. She's a Buff Orpington. Ole'Bitty is very opinionated, loud, a great broody hen and very friendly. She's always on the move, so I was lucky to get this photo of her stationary for a few seconds.

Not much of anything else going on today, just another Chicken day.

My chickens photo in a new book!!!

The other day I received an email from Elane Belanger from Backyard Poultry magazine. She asked permission on behalf of her father-in-law JD Belanger the editor of Countryside magazine if he could use a photo I had sent into Backyard Poultry in his upcoming new book. Of course, I said yes!!! It's a photo that I'm not able to post on my blog, but it was of Sweet Pea (deceased) one of my Dominiques, Old Meanie and Phoebe was in the background! I'll get a free book and my name credited for the photo. The book, I'm not sure when it will actually be out but, it's going to be titled, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Self-Sufficiency". Anyway, I thought that was the coolest thing. My Sweet Pea will live on in the book!

Speaking of books I just bought "The Joy of Chickens: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Poultry for Fun or Profit" by Jennifer Megyasi (photo above, sorry every time I post a photo it goes to the top). It's a wonderful and beautiful book. The photo's are by Geoff Hansen. He did the exquisite photography for "Living with Sheep". I've been cleaning out the books that I'll never read and swapping them on paperbackswap.com

Paperbackswap.com is so great! You list 10 books and you get a credit and you can request other members books. The only thing you have to pay for is the postage when mailing out your books to other members who request them. When the other members receive the book they mark it received and you get a credit you can use to request a book. If you think that sounds fun it is! If you sign up let them know that I sent you as a referral and I'll get one free credit! My user name there is LynniePennie and my email is ereiley@twcny.rr.com let them know I sent ya!

Chicken drawings

Above is one of my pencil drawings of Big Momma. The very top pencil drawing is one I did of Old Meanie (if she were a Lakenvelder). The face is really like Ole' Meanie. I love to draw the profiles of my chickens. Big Momma is really quite a loner. They really do have such character. The photo below is Big Momma outside last Sunday. She's looking awful pretty isn't she? Now that she's been back out in the coop, she has gone back to being a snob. Except when she wants food!

Busy, busy, bee

I'm sorry that I won't be uploading any photos to my blog right now, I've had some problems finding my USB cord...UGHhhh! Anyway, I've been busy & more busy without accomplishing much of anything.?! Has that happened to you? Today I have to do a lot of baking as we've been invited to a big ole' Fellowship dinner at the church my mother is attending. I've decided to make my grandma's famous cheesy broccoli casserole (one of my favorites). It's really an easy one skillet recipe which I always whip up in my favorite cast iron skillet. Then I'm making a huge pan of brownies without nuts, as I'm allergic. I'd like to make some nice yeast rolls, but, I cannot find my recipe. Does anyone have a nice roll recipe for potato bread rolls or a recipe for the Brown and Serve type rolls?

Okay, now on to the chicken coop... well since I've last wrote in my blog I've added yet another chicken to our indoor chicken haus! Tina Weena started to molt in our -44F to -15F weather. It wasn't a little molt either, she lost all her tail feathers and the feathers around her tummy. I cannot understand why her and Weezy started a huge molt then. They didn't molt in October/November like the other girls. Weezy and Tina Weena are two of my best layers and they were so busy laying during that time last year, I guess they just forgot to molt. Perhaps they just wanted to eat scrambled eggs and cheese with an occaisional treat of dry cat food all winter.?! Chickens stupid? I say NOT! The rest of the gals out in the outside coops are going to get a treat today. It's warm enough that they can get out in the backyard. There's still a ton of ice and snow, but there's a few places dry enough for them to scratch around.

Big Momma who was once indoors (if you remember her from my earlier blogs) has started laying again. Her old rosecomb is so plump and blood red and her feathers are gorgeous. Big Momma is nearly show worthy. She has the golden lacing on her thighs and there's barely a break. Truly if I had a Golden Laced Wyandotte rooster who had the show worthy lacing, I'd let Ole' Bitty raise some of Big Momma's babies. Ole' Bitty was clucking the other day while on the nest softly. I bet she's about to go broody again. She wants to be a momma so badly.

Well, I'm off to cook and to try to find my USB cord so I can show everyone my chicken drawings hehehe.

Household is going to the birds...

I tried to integrate Cluckster back into the flock, but of course, Ole’ Meanie wasn’t having it. None of the other girls except Ole’ Meanie and Sylvia bothered her. So, I kept her in a cage inside the run with them and let her out at roosting time. I did this for 3 days and Sylvia was okay with Cluckster after that. Ole’ Meanie however, was a different story. Ole’ Meanie would chase Cluckster and jump on her back and basically just torture her, until all Cluckster did was stay on the roost all day. Cluckster was pretty contended inside the house, so I just brought her back inside. My chicken diaper order goes out today and I will pay for rush delivery! She likes to preen on top of the cat burrow that my Tony cat never used. It’s right in front of one of our large windows overlooking the backyard. The sun shines right into it around noon and she just loves it. She’s such a pretty chicken.


I try to keep a keen eye on her, so she doesn’t leave any poopies around. What Eric doesn’t know won’t hurt him hehehe! When I cook anything when she’s out of the cage, her and Tony will be right under my feet begging for a piece of food. She has thought about pecking Tony, but, she wisely decided not too! He gets a little jealous if I pay too much attention to her, but all in all, they get along splendidly. Doesn’t she look rather contemplative here?

The other news from the coop is that one of my Dominique’s named Weezy (after Weezy Jefferson!) is now inside in the hospital cage. Every morning, I always watch them just to make sure that everyone is feeling 100%. Well, a few days ago I noticed that Weezy was looking a bit stressed out. I started bringing her scrambled eggs with cheese each morning with a little Baytril added in. After feeling around on her abdomen, I noticed she was molting! Molting in late January! Now her belly and under her wings are about naked with the start of new feathers barely showing. So, today, I have to make her a sweater some how. Every time I touch her a wad of feathers go flying everywhere. I don’t know why her molt is coming so very late. It seems all the hens had a bad molt this year.

Yesterday morning it wasn’t too bad outside, so I put Weezy and Cluckster in the chicken ark that you saw in the photo’s. I have it stored inside a shed and I put a heat lamp hanging up for them. Once I get her sweater made I can put her and Cluckster out inside the ark during the day and bring them inside the house to roost. I was surprised that Weezy and Cluckster didn’t seem to fight at all. The only chicken that I’ve saw Cluckster be mean to is Phoebe! This summer while they were outside Cluckster would wait until Phoebe was trying to take a dust bath and she would run after her and spitefully pull out one of Phoebe’s feathers! What a stinker Cluckster is toward Phoebe! So, I cannot put her into Phoebe, Scroungey and Big Momma’s pen. Aye…chicken politics! There’s a photo of my “darling” chicken sweater hehhehe….

Other than that there’s not too much going on in the coops. The girl’s are getting really bored with winter. I think once it warms up, I can again try to integrate Cluckster and Weezy back into their original flock.

Prayers please

I won't go into details, but, I want to ask for prayers for some peace in my life right now. I'm really trying to make my marriage work. It's very challenging to make a marriage work and to have any stability when you're married to a man who refuses to grow up and has no desire to grow spiritually in many ways. I was never raised in a household where people were given to strong drink. Anyway, please just pray for my sanity. I at times feel like I'm going crazy living with this man. Thank you.

Cabin Fever, Chickens & Gardening...

Well, our temperatures have been so very crazy. Lately, they have been anywhere from 32F to -44F! Last night it was -17F. I've had my kerosene heater burning out in the chicken coop. I start it at 4PM, then go out at 9PM to fill it back up. This keeps it running until I go out in the morning. BRR! It actually keeps the coops pretty warm, along with the 3 heat lamps (2 in the upper coop and one above the roost in my lower coop. With all the very cold temperatures I've been looking at all the chicken and gardening catalogs. I'd love to get some Dark Brahma hens this spring (photo above borrowed from BYC forum). At our local fair I saw one hen and I was so impressed with her beauty, carriage and size. I couldn't find a photo of a hen that really could express the beauty of these gentle giants. If we don't move this year I'm going to work on Eric to give me his other storage shed, so I can have more chickens. Here is my 2009 CHICKEN WISH LIST (all hens plz):

1. Dark Brahmas

2. Blue Laced Wyandottes

3. Columbian Wyandottes

4. Speckled Sussex

5. Salmon Faverolles

6. Barnevelders

7. Cuckoo Marans

8. Welsummers

9. Silver Gray Dorkings

10. Golden Lakenvelders

11. Delawares

12. Black Austalorps

13. More Buff Orpingtons

14. Buff Silkies

15. Anconas

16. Buff laced Brahmas

17. Red Caps

Among other's I'd like to get were Partridge Wyandottes, Red Chantecler, Buff & White Rocks, Black & White Jersey Giants and Red Leghorns. I wouldn't mind having some more Dominiques too. Oh, well... a girl can dream can't she? I went from 360 acres to less than an acre...so it's okay to have big dreams! Also I'd love a few Bourbon Red & White Palm turkeys, a few Pearl Guineas and some ducks!

My gardening wish list is too large to list all of it here. Though, I have ordered early from Sand Hill Preservation Center. The seed I ordered from Sand Hill is as follows: Lemon Basil, Roma tomatoes, Opalka tomatoes, Provenzano tomatoes, Spring Brooder Yard Greens seed mix (for my chickens enjoyment), Beurre de Rocquencourt bush beans. I'd love a huge veggie garden, but, my backyard is so very shady. I'd love to have a ton of tomato plants and I would love the "100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden" book by Carolyn Male. Personally, I usually prefer the flavor of paste type tomatoes. Though, I do like the flavor of Anna Russian (a pink fleshed tomato), Brandywine's (also pink fleshed & red skinned varieties).

Also, I'd like to get some more miniature fruit trees from Stark Brother's Nursery. The last peach and nectarine trees I got from them had fruit the first year, 2 peaches and 2 nectarines! Yummy! Their mini fruit trees you can plant in a 10" pot and sit in a nice, sunny area and you can take them inside a garage or lighted basement during the winter. I really want a lemon tree, as I go thru lemons so quickly. I love to eat lemons, as well as put them in my tea, water and especially use for making desserts. Has anyone in this brutal Northeast tried having a mini lemon tree? Any successes?

Well, off to watch the Top Chef that I slept through! I'm so addicted to that show!

Awards for my blog..from Sharon at PrimThyme

Sharon at PrimThyme has given my blog the Lemonade Award & 2 other awards

Thank you so much, Sharon!
This award is passed to bloggers for showing great Attitude and/or Gratitude.The rules of this award:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.
And now I get to pass the award on to 10 blogs that I enjoy reading. I don't know each of the bloggers so if I don't know the names, I'm just going to mention their blogs here. I think these are great for finding new and interesting blogs to read.
1. Sara at Harvest Moon Homestead
http://harvestmoonhomestead.blogspot.com/
2. Nancy at http://chickenherderfromwestville.blogspot.com/
3. Susan at http://bearswampreflections.blogspot.com/
4. JoAnn at http://boonedockswilcox.blogspot.com/
5. Amy at http://twelveacres.blogspot.com/

6. a blog I have just came across http://kyfarmlife.blogspot.com/

7. Darlene at http://maidinmontana.blogspot.com/

8. http://wrensongfarm.blogspot.com/

9. http://achornfarm.blogspot.com/

10. Sharon at http://theoldoakswing.blogspot.com/

Chicken Whisperer?

Well, well, well.. where has the time gone? I hope all are doing well. This year has so far been full of surprises. Last Saturday, I go out to the chicken coop to get the girls taken care of, before I left for work. Lo and behold, I find Cluckster (pictured above) laying in the far darkest corner of the coop. She was trying to cluck to me as usual and it wasn't coming out, just her frail body was moving up and down in rhythm with her usual clucks. It was obvious she wasn't doing well. I rushed her into the house to warm her up, I gave her Baytril and Metacam. She was so very weak she didn't fight me at all when I had to open up her mouth to medicate her. I thought for sure that I was going to loose my sweet old Cluckster. By the way her leg felt, I thought perhaps she fell off the roost and broke her leg or twisted it, or perhaps the bumblefoot she has battled had moved up to the leg joint. I sweet talked her, while I held her next to me, finally, into eating some boiled egg spiked with ProBios and I mixed some Nutri-drench in her drinking water along with a bit of Terramycin. Though, I discontinued the Terramycin after one day. I've also been rubbing her leg and joint with Neo-sporin plus. Her comb is waxy and red now and she's back to her old cluckie self. Thank the good Lord that she is doing better. She is now fighting me every time I medicate and rub her leg with medication. I'm beginning to feel like a natural Chicken Whisperer. Cluckster loves it when I sing to her! Hahaha!

One of my wonderful pen pals sent me a "Chickens Rule" notebook for Christmas, to inspire my writing! I'm happy to say that I've finished my first rough draft of an article to submit to a poultry magazine. I've been talking to the editor via email and I'm fairly excited. There's no guarantee that I will get the article published, but, I'm going to try and try again.

Well, I'm off to bed... it is very cold, -22. I have a kerosene out in the coop to keep the girls warm. I do thank the Lord for his many blessings and provisions this year and in the last year. He truly has gave me more than I deserve. Why he loves me, I have no idea, but, I'm so very thankful.

Ps- I've been getting 5-8 eggs a day through this horrid cold weather. Not too bad for hens past the 2 year old mark!

Writer's block

I must say that I haven't felt like writing much. So, I must wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful one. We had a a lovely small Christmas. I baked until 11 PM on Christmas Eve. Pictured above is a photo of the Paula Deen Ginger Orange Cranberry filled cake I baked. I garnished it with dried cranberries, as I forgot to buy the gingerbread cookies to place around the cake! It tastes great! The 2 photo's in the middle are the first photo's I took with my new 10MB 18x zoom. The difference is amazing. The second photo is of my husband Eric and my cat Tony. Tony doesn't look too happy there! The 3rd is of my Golden laced Wyandotte Big Momma. You can really tell the difference in the quality of the photo's! The last one was taken with my old camera. It's of my Silver laced Wyandotte Cluckster. I bring her in once a week to soak her foot in peroxide. She had bumble foot badly at one time, so I like to keep a watch on it. She's gorgeous, the photo doesn't do her justice. I can't wait until it warms up to try out more nature and animal shots.

What did everyone else get for Christmas? Ours was a skinny Christmas, but a good one. For dinner I made 2 rib roasts, mashed potatoes, roast gravy, sweet corn and homemade bread and a fresh salad. I added several new chicken collectibles to the flock. I will post some photos when I next post on this blog.

By the way- Big Momma is successfully back out in the coop. She has new roomies, she's now in our smaller coop with Scroungy and my precious Phoebe. She is doing well. Phoebe and her did have a little fight at first. Now Phoebe lets her be the boss. Luckily, Big Momma is a nice boss.

Cabin fever is setting in early this year. We did have 20" of snow on the ground. On Christmas morning it started raining and it hasn't stopped yet! I'm sure there will be numerous floods in nearby areas. Eric and I will have to fix several leaks on the chicken coop roof. Well there's not too much going on around here. The girls are all nestled safe in their beds, with visions of sweet corn dancing in their heads. We're kicked back warm and watching that spoof Frankenstein. Can't get much better than that! I hope to have more exciting news to post soon.

Too little time

Too little time lately to do much of anything. It's been working at the post office 24-7. I've been going from one PO to the next. Not much time to spend with my animals, write my pen pals or to do any baking. Any free time I've been wrapping up the things I've sold on Ebay. So, if any of my pen pals are reading this, I do apologise for not being able to write. I'm planning on hopefully getting some down time this weekend. I want to follow my Tony cat's example for a day or too--...sleep...arise....eat...sleep...arise...eat. As for the girls, they are doing pretty well. Eric paid my stepson William to clean out their roosting coop today. This morning one of my black heat lamps, literally, exploded. The glass went everywhere. I tried to pick it up ASAP. I was running late for work, so I got everything I could see. After Eric dropped me off at work, he and William took care of getting the old wood chips out of there. Tootie was tring to get ahold of the glass, she's such a stinker. Instead of wood chips I used straw this time. After the couple of crop problems I've had, I started to think that they were filling up on wood chips as they were scratching for their corn. They seem to like the straw and I think it keeps the house warmer. They also love to eat it.
Well, we finally got our Christmas trees up. We put up a small one with all of our sentimental ornaments. I have lots of bird and chicken ornaments too, on it. Then I put up a formal tree with all matching ornaments and Victorian tassels. They look really pretty. For my anniversary my hubbie bought me a new digital camera with 10MP and an 18X zoom. After having a 2MP, this is like wow! I will post some photo's if I get a chance to install my new camera software. Anyway, I'll close for tonight, have to get up early to get to work tomorrow. Then we'll go into town to get my Christmas groceries. God bless.

Are you a crazy chicken lady? & Various ramblings

Yesterday morning as I was leaving for work, I was in quite a contemplative mood. I began to wonder what makes for a crazy chicken lady/man.?! Is it when you start to sing Tom Jones' songs to your favorite chicken? Like my personal favorite "What's new Phoebekins- whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa..." LOL

Another classic sign of a crazy chicken lady is having not one but, two baby monitors hooked up at all times in the chicken coop, to make sure no predators are present. Yet another sign of the ever growing craziness is having your chickens names on your address labels and Christmas cards. And instead of sending out photo's of your children to friends, you send them photo's of your chickens. Judging by, my own standards, I'm as chicken crazy as a loon!

More craziness of my own is knowing when to put my sweet Big Momma (photo above) back in with the other girls. After nursing her back to health the last couple of weeks, I've grown very attached to her. Usually, she was a very independent and quiet hen. Since she's been in the house in her hospital cage, she has taken on quite the lovie dovie personality. I've began to call her LovieKins as well as Big Momma. If she wants a scrambled egg she will make the sweetest little whines. She wants one at 5:30 am, 1:00 pm and 5:30 pm. After she eats at 5:30 pm, I clean her cage. Then she takes her usual after eating nap. Her feathers are nearly all grown back in & looking pretty good. Tho, she looks to be molting off one primary wing feather. Her comb is slowly getting red again. I've had her off the antibiotics and nutri-drench for about a week. I hate to put her back in the coop, as I know she'll have to take the hazing of Weezy, Tootie and Sylvia. The other girls pretty much will leave her alone. I think I will leave her in the cage for another week inside the coop to help the girls get used to her. I just don't want her to go back down hill again with the stress of getting put back in the coop. Not only that I will miss the little sweetheart!

Tony cat is 16 years old and he has tender lungs. When it gets snowy and dry here he starts sneezing jags. I've been running the vaporizer and humidifier for him. It worked almost immediately. Since he's a Senior Citizen Feline, he's more prone to little colds and allergies. Luckily, I have an excellent Vet. They see my cat and my chickens. I take my animals to Dr. Plante & Dr. McMahon at North Country Animal Clinic.

I've been trying to figure out what kind of dessert to make for Christmas dinner. I'd like to have 3 desserts. One cheesecake, perhaps a cranberry/apple pie and some kind of cake. We're having our Christmas get-together after Christmas. Working for the USPS, I will have Christmas day off, then have to be back at work on Friday and Saturday. So, if I can get the day off Monday I'll have our big dinner on the Sunday after Christmas. My Postmaster hasn't gave me an approved leave slip yet, so I probably won't know for sure that I can have it off until the last minute. Ugh!! How I do hate having to work outside the home sometimes!!! Only 23 years until I can retire! Or I can quit and move to Arkansas and become a full time homesteading housewife and beef farmer. I've been praying about it. In this economy it's a scary choice to make, especially since my job pays a living wage.

Does anyone have any stories or experience going from a good job to not working outside the home? How's it working? What did you have to change economy wise? How does raising your own garden cost wise compare to grocery store prices? I'd be very interested in seeing other women's stories in this area. One thing I worry about is that my husband is 25 years older than me. If he passed on, do I have to wait until I am 62 to collect on his Social Security? If I lost Eric's income and I was a housewife, I couldn't make it on minimum wage that's for sure. I'd need his Social Security. Anyone know the rules on this? I guess I worry too much :O)

Anyway, I'm getting droopy eyes... good night everyone.

Closing verse Bible verse:

Song of Solomon 8:6

Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. (NIV)

Pack rat anonymous

Well, I guess I'm not the only one who collects and collects...and collects! I was reading on one of the blogs I follow about collecting glassware. It inspired me to blog about my ever growing chicken collection. Pictured are two of my latest Ebay purchases. The top one is a very unusual rooster pin cushsion with a measuring tape that pulls out on the front. It did have a couple of cracks, but thought it was neat.

The figurines are Japanese Napcoware. What I thought was unique about them is that they look like the Delaware chickens. Since I got these two, I purchased two more chicken figurines & some very cute chicken/Holstein cow green gingham quilting fabric. Also, I'm currently bidding on a bolt of lace curtain fabric with gorgeous roosters and hens. There's also some retro looking crazy chicken applique quilt blocks I've been eyeing to bid on!!!

It would be one thing if chickens were the only thing I collect. My house is one big collection... cats, cows, chicken devonshire china, pastorial pattern dishes, records, stationary, stamps, chicken themed rubber stamps, vhs, dvds, cds, pc games, antiques, victoriana, stickers, greeting cards, antique books, animal playing cards, over 150 bottles of perfume in my fragrance wardrobe.... oh my....and over 50 designer handbags...not to mention shoes.... Did I mention I need to clean out my closets????

Does anyone have any Brown Swiss cow figurines?

Hello, my name's Shana and I'm a Pack rat!

The Warmth of Chickens...

The Warmth Of Chickens......

When your day seems out of balance and so many things go wrong ...
When people fight around you

and the clock drags on so long ...
When some folks act like children

and fill you with remorse ...
Go out into your chicken yard

and wrap your arms around one...

Their gentle breath enfolds you as they

watch you with those eyes ...
They may not have a PhD but oh they are so wise!
One rests her head on your shoulder
you hug her good and tight ...
She puts your world in balance and makes it seem all right.

Your tears will soon stop flowing,
the tension will be eased ...
The nonsense has been lifted.
You are quiet and at peace.

So when you need some balance
from the stresses in your day ...
The only therapy you really need
Is out there laying eggs!

Author unknown


Someone from one of the Yahoo! chicken groups I belong to shared this poem with the group! I thought it was really cute!

Still things to be thankful for!

What a beautiful day for this time of year! Usually, we have close to a foot of snow after Thanksgiving! Today it's around 35-40 degrees F., and sunny. A regular heat wave for Northern New York :o) The girls were very happy to be able to get out and be able to take dust baths and eat what's left of the green grass. See my Miss Phoebe here enjoying herself! There's not too many days like this left in this area.

More good news to be thankful for here today... for the last 5 days I've had one of my Golden Laced Wyandottes "Big Momma" in my house in the hospital cage. For some reason she had a horribly tough molt. She lost nearly every feather. Then she lost weight when we had an early really cold snap, even though, I had heat lamps up for the girls. Then I noticed she had really watery poops & a spongy crop. She was drinking a ton of water too. In chickens, drinking a ton of water isn't a very good sign. I gave her some eggs mixed with molasses, nystatin and some Baytril. I think my Baytril is outdated. I need to get more. She ate it, then she went for 2 days not eating and I was getting real worried. I then switched her antibiotic to Terramycin, administered in her drinking water. I had some Poultry Nutri-drench left so, I mixed about 4 large drops of that in with the medicated water. Also Eric suggested giving her some sweet corn. She promptly ate that up. Within 2 days she had cleaned up her layer crumbles. Today, I notice she has more normal poops. I'm going to keep her in for another 2-3 days until I'm sure she's back to normal. The bad thing is she'll have to establish her place again in the pecking order!! Wish her luck!

Things that I'm thankful for & other ponderings

Wasn't my trumpet vine pretty this year? It was the first time in 6 years that it bloomed!

As my husband gets ready to leave for Pennsylvania this morning & I am getting ready to wake-up the girls so I can leave for work. I have time to contemplate the everyday things I am so thankful to God for. I'd like to share a quick couple with you this morning. Also I want to wish anyone reading this a Happy Thanksgiving.

1. Even though my hubbie really makes me mad at times, overall he's a good husband who does laundry, the dishes and fixes my lunch for work. He'll even pull the car out of the garage every morning before I go to work.

2. Tony cat is my little shadow. He was an abandoned cat that my mother took in and she picked him out for me. He went from hiding under the bed, to sharing my food & running the house! As I type this he's watching me... after 16 years he's still so full of life.

3. My chickens- the girls- I'd never want to be without my girls. They give me love, enjoyment and hours of funny antics. Not to mention the big brown eggs that all our friends love to eat!

4. Most of all, I'm thankful that we live in a country where we can pray to Jesus, own a Bible and gather together in Jesus' name without being tortured or arrested.

5. My family- I love them all! They're characters and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm off to work and will be staying with mom while Eric is at his mother's house. We plan on making marzipan, turkey, stuffing & the other usual Thanksgiving day fare. I'll make my molasses pumpkin pie and perhaps a custard pie.

God bless!

Bible verse of the day: The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;to one who orders his way rightlyI will show the salvation of God!”
—Psalm 50:23

I've been tagged by Sharon, fun...

I've never been tagged before, so let's see if I can do this without offending the Internet Police...

Here are the rules:

Rule #1 ~ Link to the person that tagged you.

Rule #2 ~ Post the rules on your Blog.

Rule #3 ~ Write 6 random things about yourself.

Rule #4 ~ Tag 6 people at the end of your post.

Rule #5 ~ Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their Blog.

Rule #6 ~ Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Okay here it goes...

1. The person who tagged me was Sharon http://theoldoakswing.blogspot.com/ she has a great blog- check it out.

2. 6 Random things about myself...

Well, I love to bake cheesecakes- I'm always looking for a new and unusual recipe.

Was once awarded top 10 Individual in the Arkansas State Cattle Judging Contest (forgot what year this was), was awarded a belt buckle. Then someone stole it LOL

I'm a pack rat and avid collector of stickers, victorian paper, chicken items, art, stationary, books, etc, etc!

I love to play games like cards, Scrabble, Spades, Hearts, Pitch- etc. When my Grandpa See was alive, after every family dinner we'd all gather at the table and play cards or dominoes. Now that he's gone, no one ever follows through on that tradition. It makes me really sad.

By the time I was out of high school I had built up a herd of over 30 head of registered Limousin beef cattle, I sold them to pay the down payment for my first house. Wish I had them back now!

I used to show beef cattle and have won numerous showmanship awards and had many champions :) I miss those fun days. I made lots of good friends.

#3- Umm, now to tag some blogs I enjoy- I hope you haven't been tagged before! I will attempt to correctly do this.. I will tag many blogs I enjoy daily.

Tag you're it...

Tagging...

Amy at Twelve Acres http://twelveacres.blogspot.com/

my friend, Darlene at Maid in Montana http://maidinmontana.blogspot.com/

Natalie at Chicken Blog http://www.chickenblog.com/

Anita at http://prairiedreams.blogspot.com/

Susan at http://bearswampreflections.blogspot.com/

Laura at http://www.urbanchickens.net/

Whew...hard work... time for bed!