Back With Pictures

So I thought the weather was bad here at home.  Up the road about 20 miles, where we had the animal swap, it was even nastier.

The parking lot which should be full of people admiring animals.  Not so much. :)

A few of my roosters wondering why I don't close the door.

There were some out in the lot, huddled together admiring goats.

This little doeling found herself in the town hall. She's so relaxed and warm, she's falling asleep.
We ended up with rabbits, duckings, dogs and goats inside.  The chickens, sheep and horses stayed out.  No pigs or laying hens this year, and of course, that's what everyone was looking for.

There are animals swaps scheduled for the next two weekends at other locations.  I think I may try and get rid of my roosters again.

I did spend most of my time inside, drinking coffee and eating caramel rolls.  It's a good day for it.

A New Record

Our chickens are very prolific.  Every year they hatch out oodles of new chicks. We have a few to sell, a few to butcher and a few replacement hens. This year we have 38 new members in our flock...so far.  We still have two hens setting and a duck.  (Our ducks hatch out the chicken eggs, too.  They want to be moms.)

Two days ago, we had a hen hatch out a total of 16 new chicks.  That's a record for us.  She's just a little bantam cross, so how did she set on all of those eggs???

We've taken 9 of them and put them in the brooder.  She keeps misplacing them.  :)  She still has 7 with her.

I only count six here, but one must be on the other side.

The little chicks are hers.  The bigger ones were abandoned by someone else.  We have a lot of people wanting chickens this year.  Things are working out well.  What a blessing.

Home grown eggs-uck??

I am rejoicing.  My hens have started laying again after almost a month's sabbatical.  We're only getting four eggs a day, but I know that will increase as the daylight increases. And then I started thinking....
I've been reading about GMO corn and GMO soybeans and so on.  Realizing these are in the scratch and the laying mash that I give my chickens, I realized these are getting into my diet as well.  What to do?Time to go on line for some research.  I couldn't find anyone up here that raises organic corn and soy.  If it's organic, can it still be GMO?  I can order organic feed on line, but it's cost prohibitive, not a good idea.  So...I can grow my own organic corn, but that's a bit labor intensive considering all of the other projects we have going right now.  My chickens free range all summer, I supplement their feed with kitchen scraps all winter.  I grow extra vegies for them, but it's not enough to keep them all winter.  So I guess I'll just eat these eggs, knowing they're still better than the store bought.  I'll just be thankful for the eggs.  There's only so much I can do, the Lord will take care of the rest.
Home grown eggs are so much tastier than the ones I get at the store. I shouldn't read so much.