Homestead Happenings

When you work full-time, there is always a lot to catch up on, around the house, on your days off. Sundays are usually spent with the husband, which leaves Monday as the day when I attempt to make a dent in the house and yard work. Today's tasks were: bake bread, deep clean the coops, do a couple of loads of laundry, and make some apple butter/apple sauce.

I started by doing the laundry, hoping it would get dry before the rains came. It got about halfway dry before I noticed it sprinkling. Fearing a deluge was immanent, I brought the laundry inside and hung it on the drying racks. It never did pour, but one can't be too careful in these parts.

Next I disinfected the coops and when they were dry I sprinkled them liberally with some food grade diatomaceous earth (DE) and replaced the litter and nesting materials. I feel bad for the poor girls in the tractor. It must be awfully boring for them and they don't have a place to do what chickens love most, take a dust bath. I decided to make them a little sandbox. I placed some sand in a Rubbermaid shoebox, and added some DE to it.


The sandbox was a big hit! The chickens loved it, and took turns rolling around and throwing sand all over themselves. Here it is Shirley's turn, as Joanie looks on.


The Bantam run also got some attention. Their coop got the same treatment as the big girl's. I also placed some DE under the hay in their yard. My husband installed a lockable hasp on their coop door and fixed their ladder so it doesn't fall down. I have added a blue tarp roof in anticipation of the coming rains. Blue tarps are very popular here, in the Pacific NW. I am hoping the tarp and hay keep their yard from becoming a mud puddle. We'll soon see.


Here is a picture of Lenny & Squiggy. They are doing great in their little pond.


The garden is also coming right along. Here are my basil, no longer little stumps that get munched by the slugs. I may get pesto this year, after all. Better buy some pine nuts.


I've got my first 2 zucchini of the season. I need to hurry and eat them, before they turn into baseball bats.


And look at all these green tomatoes. I have my fingers crossed that they'll turn red here, real soon.



And yes, I did get the bread baked and the apple butter is cooking away in the crock pot. I still need to make a huge batch of applesauce, but that will have to wait until later in the week.

Just What I Need? Another Hobby.

There's a new fella in my life. His name? Mr. Beer. He's not sophisticated and I'm sure most accomplished brewers look down their nose at him, but I look at him as a gateway. Besides, he was only $5. I big thank you (?) to Erin for alerting me to her yard sale. When I saw that magic word, BEER, I knew I had to have him.


Even though he doesn't drink beer (he's allergic to yeast) my husband is as excited as I am to begin making our own suds. He even found a brewer's supply place right here in Tacoma, on 112th, called The Beer Essentials. I'm sure we'll be paying them a visit very soon.

I had to hit Erin's sale early (I was on her porch at 8am) because the husband and Reggie wanted to make a road trip to the ocean. We are kinda, sorta scouting out areas to live in, once we retire. I have a deep love of the ocean and rain forests, so we are thinking of settling near those. This trip took us to the Pacific Beach area. That place is getting very built up with quite a few fancy housing developments. No, that's not my thing. I want a little homestead where I can enjoy my twilight years with chickens, some goats, and a garden. While at Pacific Beach we had to take an obligatory walk in the sand.


Reggie pulled me up one side of the beach and down the other. He's always loved the ocean. And those crazy "sea chickens". After our run in the sand we stopped to have lunch at the Falcon's Nest.


This place used to be called the Zany Zebra which is memorable only because we never ate there. It was always closed when we visited. Which was often.

It was still early when we returned to Tacoma. I decided to go ahead and sprinkle the banty girls with their mite dust. I crawled into their run and started grabbing them. Pinky was first, since she is always the most dramatic. Once I caught her she again settled right down. I made sure I doused her good, as she spent the most time with the infected hen. Then I treated the frizzle twins. They are super easy to catch I just reached out my arm and picked them up. You gotta love Cochins. They are so damn easy going. So now the girls have been sprayed and dusted. I plan on disinfecting both coops today. I'll also put down some food grade diatomaceous earth under the hay in the banty run. That should put a hurtin' on the little crawly beasties.

My Frizzles Are Frazzled

Well, folks, I've decided against having a rooster, after all. I was hoping the bantam boys would be quiet enough to keep, without attracting attention. They had other ideas. The Red Cochin bantam was adorable....but freakin loud. He was such a good, protective fella and really loved his little gal friend. I was very sad to part with him. Then the Araucana boy became available along with his girlfriend. Except the seller pulled a bait & switch. The hen he actually sent me home with was not the one in the picture. The one I brought home was much older than a year and I'm afraid she was not in very good health. It was not my intention to feed and house an older hen, well beyond her productive years. There are people who are into that, and I found her such a home. The rooster was in good condition but I decided to pass him along to my friend, Kristine, who lives further out and would not have annoyed neighbors. That little guy's crow was not nearly as loud as the Cochin's, but what he lacked in volume he made up for in frequency. He crowed all...day...long.
This morning I had no sooner made the decision to send him packing, when I got an email that there were two little Black Frizzle girls available in Milton. For $5 each. Errol and I drove out there tonight, after work, and we were thrilled to find that they were young & healthy (yes, I'm inspecting them a lot more closely, from now on). Here they are, after arriving in their new home.


They are so damn adorable. These are Black Cochin's but with a "frizzle" mutation that gives them a very fluffy look. I have read that they aren't particularly good layers (only 3 eggs per week) but they do get broody (darn it, now I can't have a rooster). Maybe I'll be able to find some fertile eggs for them to hatch, next spring. These little baby girls were hatched in March and are not yet old enough to lay. I felt bad having to put them into the pen with the older "psycho" chicken, Pinky. She was already in a foul mood (or fowl mood) because she'd lost two boyfriends in as many days, and she was bent on taking out her frustrations on the new younguns. But Cochin's are easy going and lovable, so I hope she'll come around and play nice. The Frizzles didn't quite know what to make of Reggie, who was very curious, as he is whenever new chickens arrive. He startled one, by sneaking up behind her. She turned around and screamed bloody murder. When I went to close the coop, Pinky was inside, but the 2 frazzled Frizzles were cuddled up in a corner of the run. I went in and gently showed them where they needed to sleep. They are all tucked in and I hope tomorrow they will feel more at home and Pinky won't be such a snarly bitch.

Wow, That Was Fast!

When I decided to get some bantam chickens, the plan was to breed Ameraucana/Easter Eggers. The kind with the green eggs. For some reason, my husband is very fond of those eggs. And if he wants green eggs, green eggs he shall have. But I am also a tightwad, and can't see spending very much for chickens, when folks practically give them away. I especially refuse to buy a rooster. Because I want a free rooster, and don't want to pay more than $5 for a hen, I thought it would take me quite a while to build my little flock. So when I saw an Ameraucana hen offered, I jumped at the chance. But you can't have a single, lonely chicken. And there is no more room in the tractor. Pinky needed to have a Fonz. And that adorable Red Cochin boy was available. I knew he would be temporary. I just didn't know HOW temporary. I've only had him two days. And I've already located a free bantam Araucana rooster and another $5 Ameraucana hen. You've gotta make hay while the sun shines, so the little red fella must move on. Luckily my friend Kristine just happened to be looking for some new rooster blood for her flock. So tomorrow he'll go live with her large group of lady chickens, and this pair will come to roost with the Willoughbys.




We'll be sad to have to see the red Fonz leave but I am satisfied he's going to a good home. And I will have a matched set of green egg laying chickens. Now to find one or two more banty hens, with at least one being a broody girl, and we'll be all set.

Kayaking Mowich Lake

Today we threw the kayaks on the Subaru and headed for Mt. Rainier. There was no one at home to watch Reggie, so we forced him to come along and have some fun. Here we are upon our arrival at Mowich Lake.


Doesn't this look inviting? The water is so clear and blue.


Here is Reggie in mom's lap. You ever tried to paddle a kayak with a crying Yorkie in your lap? Not a lot of fun. So I pawned him off on his dad.


Dad paddled off with the dog, and I was free to take some pictures.


This is one of the waterfalls that comes down the far side of the lake. You can only see them by boat.


Look how crystal clear the water is. I was hoping to spy one of the crustaceans who inhabit the lake....


but all I found was this. I've never happened upon a live one, but see bits and pieces, so I know they exist.


And one last photo of the mountain as we bid good-bye to the lake. A good time was had by all, even Reggie. Who was quiet all the way home.

Pinky's Green Egg

Here is Pinky's first egg laid at her new home. Never mind that she laid it in the dirt, out in the run. She didn't know there was a better place to put it. She hadn't explored the coop, yet. I placed one of Joanie's eggs, beside it, so you can see that bantam eggs are a little smaller than regular sized eggs.


We had to make some minor adjustments to their ramp. The rungs were just glued on, and they were falling off and missing in spots. Hubby nailed them down. But I still had to go into the run and pick both chickens up and stick them in the coop. They should figure out how to use the ramp soon. They also aren't sleeping on the roost, but are snuggled up in the nesting box, together. Too many new things. It's overwhelming for a little chicken brain.

Introducing Pinky & The Fonz

The newest additions to the Willoughby menagerie, Pinky & The Fonz.


The older Willoughby couple are all tuckered out. We spent the morning getting a few last minute things fixed on the coop/run. Then we were off to Spanaway to pick up the rooster. Then down the hill, to Puyallup, to fetch his new lady love. A quick stop at Del's Feed, in downtown Puyallup, for a feeder and water er, and then back to the house to get the new chickens settled in. They seem to have hit it off well. He looks to be a bantam Red Cochin and he is very laid back. He didn't seem stressed a bit. She, on the other hand, is just as high strung and flighty as her previous owner warned. She looks to be an Ameraucana, although might be a mix. More of an Easter Egger, maybe? We'll see what color eggs she gives me. She is much smaller than he is, and about 10 times as wild. After I got them into the pen, I filled the food and water dishes, and went to put them into the run. She immediately freaked out and flew right into the side of my head. Good thing she's small. She then tried a few attempts at stuffing herself through the chain link, but she's too fat. Reggie was a little bit excited to meet them, but nothing like he was when the first chickens arrived. So I think everything is going to work out well. Now to try and locate a couple more banty hens. I'd like to get a broody one, so we can hatch some chicks.