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A Meal fit for a Chicken

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Doesn’t this meal look tasty?

It has some kale, grapes, cherries, a left over cresent roll and a surprise.

Today was a special day for the chickens. It is their 4 month old birthday.

So, I made them a special meal/treat.

The special surprise was left over chicken.

Yep, I feed my chicken some…..chicken.

Oldest daughter who does not cook, did not want to watch.

Here is the special birthday treat all ready for the chicks to dive in and start eating.

The cherries went first. They were grabbed by my Rhode island reds.

Then about a second later, they all went for the chicken.

They were grabbing the chicken from each others beaks.

It was funny (strange kinda funny) to see them running after each other and hiding in the corners of the coop to eat their chicken.

Oldest daughter, said it was just plain WRONG.

In my defense, I have been told a number of times to feed my  chickens a few more table scraps and that too include more protein.

I was told again last week, by a doctor who has chickens, that she always gave her chickens the chicken bones. She went on to say, that the extra protein was good for the chickens.

So, I  was just following doctors orders.

Here is a picture of Bunny the easter egger chicken. she has blue green legs. Her eggs will either be blue or green, when she starts laying. Sunshine, the Buff Orpington, is on the back side of the water container.

Here are the two Rhode Island Reds. Oldest grandgirl names these two after Disney princesses, but I forgot who was who. ooops

Here are the two Barrad Rock chickens. Those two girls love eating grapes!

Those are the six girls.

They are four months old now.

Now, I am just waiting for them to start laying eggs.

Becky

 

Playing in the Hay, Country Garden Update

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A couple of weeks ago, Company and I finally got his big garden planted.

whew….

We still need to build an asparagus and rhubarb bed to plant our little dormant plants. I know, I know, we are late getting around to building a bed and getting them in the ground, but…..oh well….

We do this garden thing to have fun doing something we both like to do together. If we get a bumper crop of something…of course that has not happen yet… but we plan on sharing. If we don’t, we will just try again.

Anywho. back to a couple of weeks ago. After church, we went to the lawn and garden big box store, and loaded down our cart with the essential garden seeds, onion and potato sets and some tomato plants. We really do not know what the essential garden seeds are, but we bought a selection that impressed everyone at the store and we pretended to act like we know a thing or two about gardening. If we really knew anything, we would have had the garden planted way back in May. (another…oh well)

I organized all the seed packets on the table. Some of the items like, peas, lettuce, beets ect…I will wait and plant in late August for a fall garden.  All the ones, I thought would be ok to plant now, went into a “plant now pile.”

We also bought four different kinds of seed potatoes to plant. I have not planted potatoes since way back when Oldest Daughter was a baby. There is something fun about taking a potato fork and digging up potatoes that are hidden under the ground, that appeals to me.

Not that I know much, but I do know that I had to cut the potatoes in pieces with “eyes” on them to plant. (I also read the directions to make sure I was doing this right)

It took me awhile to cut up all those potatoes. : ) It was better than being outside and tilling up the garden, one more time, like Company was doing.

I made sure to take my time cutting up the potatoes in the cool, air conditioned house.

It never pays to try to get out of some garden work….cause…I forgot my garden tennis shoes, and decided I would go barefoot to plant the garden. The first thing I did was to step in goose poop.

See that big green pile of goose poop? That is the pile I stepped in. It was cold too! Good thing I have not gone in to the salon for my summer pedicure yet.

After much ado about nothing, we finally got the rows made and started planting. Here are the potato pieces on the ground ready to be covered up.

Oldest Grandgirl wanted us to plant her some pumpkins for Halloween. So, we made sure we planted her some.

As luck would have it, after we planted our little seeds, there was about three downpours of rain on the little garden. Some of the seeds got washed to who knows where, but some of the seeds were able to hang on and come to life. Here is a picture of something we planted. It is some vining plant, like squash, cucumber, or zucchini.

Today, after I got off of work, I drove to Company’s house to work in the country garden. Company tilled up the ground between the rows of plants and we sprinkled hay (it is really straw) down to help keep the ground moist if it rains. We only got about a third of the garden tilled up between the rows, because the tiller got a flat tire, making it hard to steer and it  (Company) tilled over some of my plants.

It was time to call it quits for the night and get something to eat.

After getting all the pieces of straw out of our clothes, and hair and my shoes.

Yes! I wore shoes. No more goose poop between my toes.

We headed to the big city to get some restaurant food.

On a side note, the onions we planted in the fall and “over wintered” are growing. I think we should have fertilized them and watered them better. But, I am able to start pulling some up to use.

We did get a few strawberries this year. But, with all large scale strawberries gardens that were planted in the fall, this winter was hard on them. The plants that lived through that tough winter look great, but alas are not blooming.

I am sure next year will be our year of strawberries galore.

Amateur farmers have to stay positive!

How is your garden going?

Becky

Smokestack Baked Beans

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I bet you thought I was never going to post anything ever again.

Never!

The last two weeks, (one being the last week of school and the other the first week of summer school) has kept me busier than ever. Not to mention helping put up a new privacy fence in my backyard, planting the country garden, grades for school, oldest grandgirls graduation from grade school….the list continues.

Anywho, thank you for being patient with me while I get you caught up on all the new recipes I have been trying, along with my little garden in my back yard. AND you cannot forget the chickens!

OK, lets talk beans.

I have made this Smokestack Baked Beans recipe three times now. Each time I have made them (or sent them with the Super Hero son for a BBQ he was going to,) everyone loved them. The great thing about this recipe, is that you can control the heat with deciding how much chili powder to add to the recipe. This recipe also has one of my favorite things in the whole wide world added in, molasses. I love love love molasses.

It also has crispy bacon stirred in.

Now, come on, everyone loves bacon!

July 4th will be sneaking up on us before you know it. I am sure that BBQ will be on your agenda for one meal. This would be the perfect time to make some delicious, rich and smoky sweet with a little added heat, Smokehouse Baked Beans. They are so good that I fixed them for my Dads 96th birthday BBQ.

I hope you enjoy them too!

Here is what you will need:

You need some bacon, brown sugar, chili powder, liquid smoke, catsup, pork and beans, onion, mustard, barbecue sauce and molasses.

         

I barely had enough catsup to make this recipe. Who runs out of catsup???? I cut up my bacon is small pieces with my kitchen shears.

         

I then fried the bacon until it was crisp.                                          Next, I minced up some onion.

         

Now, you can start mixing everything all together. Pour the pork n beans into a casserole dish. Add the brown sugar.

         

Add in the minced onion.                                                                 Add in the catsup and the chili powder. (if you like it with more spice, just add more chili powder)

              

Pour in some liquid smoke.                                                            Now you can add in the mustard.

              

Pour your favorite barbeque sauce on top.                                      Here is the time to add in my favorite ingredient (besides bacon) molasses.

Pour the crispy bacon on top and stir it all together. Bake in the oven for 60 to 75 minutes in a 325 degree oven.

You will want to get a large spoon out to scoop out this smoky sweet baked beans.

Here is the recipe:

Smokestack Baked Beans

Adapted from old (really old) church cookbook

Ingredients:

6 slices bacon

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon chili powder (I used 1 and 1/2 teaspoon)

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

1/4 cup catsup

1 large can pork and beans or 2 regular size cans

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 tablespoon mustard

3/4 cup of your favorite barbeque sauce

1/4 cup molasses

Directions:

Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry until crisp.

In a large casserole dish, add all the ingredients together and combine. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 60 to 75 minutes.

Enjoy!

Becky

Other posts you may enjoy.

                   

Dad’s Lime Cake                       Sour Cream Apple Crumb Pie      Sausage stuffed Acorn Squash

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creamy Cherry Salad

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Does this picture want to make you run to the kitchen and get a spoon and take a big bite?

I hope it does!

We celebrated my Dad’s 96th birthday last Saturday. (His real birthday was on Memorial Day) I was making a bunch of things to go with the Tickle Your Ribs BBQ that my Little Brother is famous for. (well…famous in our family anyway!) Saturday, he fought the rain all day to grill pork steaks and pulled pork, drenched in his home made bbq sauce. YUMMY! I was looking for extra special recipes to make to compliment all his hard work on his grill.

I had been eyeing this Creamy Cherry Salad recipe for a long time. I have been saving the recipe for months waiting for a special dinner to make it. Dad’s birthday seemed like the perfect time! I had all the ingredients to make it too, except the sour cream (the one container I found had expired, poo). Super Hero son came to my rescue and went to the store to pick up the sour cream. In no time at all I had this beautiful salad made! You just open some containers, chop up some pecans, throw it all in a bowl and stir.

Easy Peasy Nice and Easy! (and delicious)

With the beautiful pink color and the pop of red from the cherries, it would be a perfect for Memorial Day, 4th of July or a Christmas dinner. (and any other time you want to indulge yourself)

Anywho, I took this dish and Niener Wiener wanted the recipe right away. (her DAR group theme is cherries this year and she wants to make it for their next carry in dinner, woohoo success!). I also made home style fresh green beans, that the grand girls helped me snap, Smokestack Baked Beans (recipe coming soon, Deviled Eggs and Strawberry Spinach Salad.

Here is all you need to make this quick and yummy recipe:

You will need one can of sweetened condensed milk, chopped pecans, 1 regular size can crushed pineapple, drained, (I  had to use to small cans because that is what I had on hand) some sour cream, 1 container cool whip and one can of cherry pie filling.

              

First thing I did was chop my pecans and drained the pineapple. (I saved the juice for the grand girls)

              

In a large bowl, (I was taking this to my dad’s birthday party, so I was using a clear plastic bowl that had a snap on lid for travel) add the can of cherry pie filling and the cool whip.

              

Pour in the whole can of sweetened condensed milk. Add the drained crushed pineapple.

              

Add in the chopped pecans. Finally stir in the sour cream.

And then LOW and BEHOLD….you have a beautiful and deliciously creamy and yummy salad that looks like this….

Are you ready to grab a spoon now?

Here is your recipe:

Creamy Cherry Salad

Adapted from old Silver Dollar City Recipe Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 (20 ounce) can cherry pie filling 1 cup chopped pecans

1 (9 ounce) container of cool whip

1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained well

1 cup sour cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

In a large serving bowl, blend all ingredients together. Chill until firm. Serves 10 to 15.

Enjoy!

Becky

Other post you may enjoy!

                 

Vanilla Rhubarb Jam     Strawberry Pretzel Salad (coming soon)    Frozen Fluffy Strawberry Pie

 

Cinnamon French Toast Bake

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I bet you thought I would never post another recipe! I am so sorry it has taken me awhile to post a recipe. It is the end of the school year in teacher world and balancing everything can be a bit of a challenge. I have a couple of BIG functions on my to do list, but I can finally see the sun light. Whew….

I have had this post, almost done, for several weeks, just waiting until I had some uninterrupted time to put in the recipe and check my spelling. (as you have probably noticed, I write like I talk and spell like I can’t). Tonight, my clothes are in the dryer, the house is quiet and I have about 20 minutes before the washing machine buzzer goes off. So, here goes with getting this post finally published.

Four reasons you should try this recipe.

I first heard of this recipe on the radio on my way to work. The DJ on the radio was raving about this French toast bake that one of his coworkers had brought in share with the crew. He had a list of the ingredients and told about how easy it was to make and especially how addictive it was to eat. Secondly, one of my co-workers asked me for a easy breakfast casserole recipe that she could make to take to a morning staff meeting. I told her about this recipe, and that I had not tried it, but the ingredients sounded great together, it was easy to make and was suppose to taste divine. Thirdly, my co-worker took a leap of faith and  made it and some people at her meeting loved it and wanted the recipe. And, now the fourth reason. I finally made this recipe for Easter Morning, when Baby College Girl was home for the weekend. While it was baking, it made the house smell like a bake shop and when it came out to the oven, everyone lined up with their plates to eat it.

Here is what you will need. Some canned cinnamon rolls with icing (save the icing to glaze the rolls later), eggs, vanilla, butter, cinnamon, maple syrup, half and half and some pecans (which are optional.)

         

First, melt the butter in a 9 by 13 baking dish. Open the cans of cinnamon roll and cut each roll into 8 pieces. I used my pizza cutter for this and it worked great.

         

Take 6 eggs and beat them thoroughly together with the half and half.

         

Add some cinnamon (which I forgot to put in the main ingredient picture) and some vanilla.

         

Beat everything together until all the eggs are totally incorporated into the cream. Pour the egg mixture over the cinnamon rolls.

          

Chop up the pecans. Sprinkle the pecans on top of the rolls. I only sprinkled half of the rolls with pecans cause The Super Hero does not like nuts in his food.

          

Drizzle maple syrup over the top of the rolls. Bake in the oven until all the eggs and rolls are cooked through. When the casserole cools, drizzle the top with the icing from the cinnamon roll packages.

It comes out moist and delicious. It really does make a difference to let the casserole sit for 15 minutes before eating as the rolls absorb all the maple syrup that has settled on the bottom.

Are you ready for the recipe?

Here it is!

Cinnamon French Toast Bake

Adapted from the Pillsbury Website

Ingredients:

2 cans (8 rolls in each one) of refrigerated cinnamon rolls

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

6 large eggs

1/2 cup whipping cream (I am sure you can use half and half or another milk)

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup pecans

1 cup maple syrup (I used my pancake syrup)

Garnish:

You garnish with the icing from the cinnamon rolls and more maple syrup (optional) and powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

Heat oven to 375

Pour melted butter into a 9 by 13 baking dish.

Cut each cinnamon roll into 8 pieces.

Place cut roll pieces evenly into the bottom of the melted butter 9 by 13 dish.

In a medium bowl, mix together the whipping cream, eggs, cinnamon and vanilla.

Gently pour the egg mixture over the cut rolls.

Sprinkle with pecans and drizzle with maple syrup.

Bake in the oven for  20 to 25 minutes or until done.

Cool for 15 minutes.

Drizzle with icing from the cinnamon roll packages.

Drizzle with more maple syrup if desired.

Serve warm.

 

If you are looking for a breakfast casserole that is easy to prepare but does not taste like it is, give this one a try.

I was also told that the leftovers taste just as good the next day re-heat in the microwave.

I would not know, as mine was gone in one day. : )

Enjoy,

Becky

Other post you may enjoy reading:

                             

Fluffy Strawberry Pie                      Overnight Cinnamon Rolls                Tuna Noodle Casserole

I hope I like Playing in the Dirt!

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Guess who disked and tilled the garden last weekend?

Yes, Company got the dirt turned under, disked and tilled.

Woo…hoo….

The dirt is still clumpy and needs to be tilled a couple of more times to get the dirt nice and smooth.

I told Company that he needs to add some compose to the garden dirt.

I went on to tell him that all he needed to do was jump over his fence into his neighbors cow pasture and pick up some cow patties. Then, he could put the patties on top of his garden soil and till the patties in.

He just gave me a blank stare.

I think I will be buying some miracle grow and a truck load of compost from the lawn and garden store.

Cause, I don’t  think Company likes jumping over fences.

Or maybe he just needs to ask his neighbor to turn off the electricity to it first.

mmmmm….what do you think?

Becky

 

The Country Garden Update

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Spring must be here!

I drove to Company’s house after work last Friday and we had to walk around his yard (acreage) to check out all the blooms. The five apples trees that he planted years ago are all blooming. Here is a picture of them in all their glory. I am hoping for a bumper crop of apples this fall. Especially after making my first ever canned apple pie filling and then used it to make Apple Crisp.

We planted two additional apple trees last fall. I am happy to say they made it through the winter and are starting to leaf out. After the winter we had and all the below O temperatures, it was a relief to see those little leaves.

In his front yard, we planted four cherry trees too. They made it through the winter also. Can you see the little blooms on the tree. I am not sure how many cherries we will get this year. (I may have to raid Niener Wieners cherry trees to get some cherries this year). Anyhow, just wait till next year, I might get enough for a pie or two. ; )

Lastly, we planted one peach tree not too far from Company’s other peach tree. It made it through the winter too.

Check out the garlic and onions. Even though I do not know which row is what, I am still super excited they made it through the winter too. You always plant garlic in the fall, but this year we planted onions to “over winter” them. I have never done that, but you are suppose to get early onions. I guess it must work, not unless all these green things are garlic. : )

It was time to start watering the strawberries. The cold weather was hard on them and I think we lost about half of the 250 plugs we planted. But, we turned on the drip line to try to save the ones that made it through the winter. I am heading over to Company’s house after work after school today to check on the strawberries and see how they are doing.

Company was suppose to till up the rest of the garden today (he is off work). So, I REALLY am going to his house to see if he actually did it. I will let you know the update on that.

Happy Gardening!

Becky

 

Bedtime is at 8:04

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The teenage chickens have survived their first full week in their new house. Every morning, oldest grandgirl goes out and lets the chickens out of their upstairs sleeping quarters before she heads to school. Trying to make sure that the coup is as predator proof, as best, as we can right now, we have been wiring the front door shut every night. I am not going to risk the chicks to see if a raccoon or other hungry animal can figure out how to un-latch the latch. So, the front door is latched and wired every night. Oldest grandgirl’s job is to go out and un-wire the door and open the sleeping quarters door to let the chick out for the day. My job is to double check everything (door, water and food) before I go to work. I re-wire the door before I leave for the day just in case a stray dog or cat gets noisy while we are gone to school and work. So far, oldest grandgirl and I are doing a pretty good job taking care of the little lady chickens.

Except for bedtime.

For the first five days last week, oldest grandgirl had to go out and catch the chickens in the coup and put them up in their sleeping quarters and then shut the door. Normally chickens will automatically go up around bedtime to their roost and bed for the night. These girls like to stay up late, just like teenagers! Three days ago, I thought I would wait and see if they would go up by themselves. The first time I looked out through the dinning room window to check, they were running and chasing each other like crazy. But, low and behold, next time I looked, about 20 minutes later, the little ladies had put themselves to bed.

Woohoo! No more trying to catch the little ladies in the coup. The only thing that I was curious about, was what time did they decide to go to bed? So, the next night, I played like Sherlock Holmes and did a stack out in the dinning room watching the chicks through the window  trying to figure out when the little ladies decided to go up and find their favorite roosting spot to sleep.

Here they are teasing me by pretending to go to bed. Such naughty girls!

Here they are walking up the ramp to their bed. The noisy girls had to take a peek out of their bedroom to see what the noise was when I opened the front door to the coup to take their picture.

I did finally figure what time they finally decide to go to bed and settle down to sleep. Using all my Sherlock Holmes skills I waited  and watched them from the dinning room window (again) and until the last chick (Sunshine) go into the sleeping quarters to bed.

8:04 p.m. is bedtime.

I went back outside and shut the sleeping quarters door. Before I came back inside I filled the food container and changed their water.

They are all tucked in for the night and with enough food and water for tomorrow.

Chickens are FUN.

Really they are!

Becky

Pineapple Upside Cake

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We have been doing some intense cooking the last couple of weeks of school. In my quest of encouraging my students to use fresh ingredients and making items from scratch. I  bought fresh pineapples for them to make pineapple upside down cake. Most of my students  have never cut into a fresh pineapple. I was a little nervous watching them cut them up and cutting out the cores. The students were using the big chef knives to cut the pineapples apart. I think I only had to hand out one band aide.  Relief. Not to brag (but I am) my class made beautiful double layered upside down cakes. Yes, you read right. Double Layers! I let them find a recipe they all agreed upon. They chose a double layered and iced pineapple upside-down cake from Paula Deen. The cake was such a hit and so many teachers wanted to try a bite, that I went and bought another fresh pineapple and made one for them.

You will need a pineapple, flour, sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, butter milk, eggs, maraschino cherries, baking powder, vanilla and salt. (I forgot to include salt in the picture) oops.

         

The first thing you do is cream two sticks of softened butter with a mixer.

         

Add in the granulated sugar and cream together.

         

Now it is time to add the eggs one at a time to the creamed sugar and butter mixture.

         

When all the eggs are added in the mixture turns very cream. Now, you can add in the vanilla and mix.

         

In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking soda. This is also the time to measure out the butter milk.

         

Alternately add a little bit of the flour mixture and combine. Then add in a little bit of the buttermilk and combine.

         

Continue to alternate adding the flour and buttermilk, until all the flour and buttermilk is used.

          

Next, I cut up the fresh pineapple. I first cut off the top and then then started cutting the outer part of the pineapple off.

         

I sliced the pineapple into 1/2 in slices. I took a small biscuit cutter and cut out the cores of the pineapple slices.

         

When you pick out the round pans to make this cake, pick the taller pans as the cake rises up and the brown sugar cannot bubble out.  I prepared both pans with a spray of vegetable spray and lining the bottom of each pan with parchment paper.

         

I put equal amounts of brown sugar in the bottom of each pan. Spread the brown sugar evenly on the bottom of each pan.

         

Pour equal amounts of melted butter on the brown sugar in each pan.

         

Now, you can get a little creative and decorate the bottom (which will be the top) of each cake with pineapple and maraschino cherries. Equally fill both pans with cake batter.

         

Bake in the oven until the cake is done. Cool the cake on a cooling rack until the cakes are completely cool. (I refrigerated mine for a time to make the cake easier to ice)

         

You make the icing by creaming the butter with a mixer. (You use two sticks of butter, I just took my picture before I put the other stick of butter in the mixing bowl)

         

Add in the vanilla. Add in enough water to make a spreadable icing. You could also use pineapple juice or the maraschino cherry juice (it will turn pink) instead if you want.

         

Here is a picture of the finished icing. Now, gently stack the cakes on top of each other.

         

Very gently, ice the sides of the cake. This cake is really tender and moist, which is a great thing, but you have to be careful of crumbs coming off in the icing.

Isn’t this slice of cake a beautiful thang…thing?

I refrigerated the cake overnight, before I cut it into slices. It sliced beautifully this way.

If you are looking for a show stopper kind of cake or want to try making this cake with fresh pineapple…it really does make a difference….give this cake a try.

Here is the recipe:

Adapted from Paula Deen

Ingredients for the cake:

3 cups of cake flour (I used all purpose flour)

1 cup butter soften PLUS 1/2 cup butter melted

2 1/4 cups sugar

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 fresh pineapple, sliced, peeled and cored (if you do not want to use fresh pineapple use 2 – 20 ounces cans of sliced pineapple)

1 – 10 ounce jar of maraschino cherries

Ingredients for the buttercream frosting:

1 cup butter softened

2 tablespoons of water or you can use pineapple juice or maraschino cherry juice

3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions for the cake:

Preheat the oven to  350 degrees. Spray two 9 inch round cake pans with vegetable spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer. Add in the sugar and mix until fluffy.. Add in the eggs, one at a time. Beating well after each egg. Stir in the vanilla. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Alternately mix in the flour mixture and the buttermilk into the egg mixture.

Press 3/4 of a cup of brown sugar onto the bottom of each round cake pan. Pour the 1/2 cup of melted butter equally onto the brown sugar in each pan. Arrange the pineapples and cherries over the brown sugar.

Top the pineapples with equal amounts of cake batter.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.

Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack. Remove the parchment paper. Cool completely.

Icing:

In a mixing bowl, beat all the icing ingredients together until fluffy.

To assemble the cake:

Carefully stack one cake onto of the other cake. Ice the cake with the buttercream frosting.

You can press chopped pecans into the icing for a garnish if desired.

I hope you love this cake enough to jump upside down ; )

Enjoy!

Becky

Other cake post you make enjoy:

                              

Peanut Butter Mousse Cake              Best Ever Chocolate Cake           Blueberry and Blackberry Oat Cake

The Chick Condo in My Backyard

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There it is, “The Chick Condo.”

Can you believe that the little chicks are 6 weeks old already? I can’t either.

         

Look how big Sunshine has gotten. She has gone from little bitty chick to a “strutting my stuff,” teenager chick.

My how the time flew by.

Anywho, let me tell you all about getting the condo installed in the backyard.

I am not sure you remember when we bought the coop, but you can read about it here. We bought a chicken coop kit from Sam’s and it is a good thing we bought it when we did, cause Sam’s sold out of their chicken coops within a couple of weeks. Company volunteered to put the coop all together, but he had a wee bit of trouble reading the directions. You can read all about that here. A week we decided it was time to get the coop out of Company’s downstairs and into my backyard. The chicks had really gotten too big for their brooder, you can read about setting up a brooder here. So my son, the Super Hero, recruited a few of his buddies at his job to “volunteer” to go to the farm, load up the coop, come back to my house and set it up in my  backyard. It will only cost me some farm (city) fresh eggs in return. How great is that! I failed to tell them that it will take another 3 months or so before they get any eggs. OOOPS.

Here is the beginning of the big chicken coop move. The coop is really not that heavy, but it would be really awkward and difficult for two people (one being me) to try to carry the thing to the trailer. The fellas made short work of picking the coop up and carrying it over to the trailer.

Here is a picture where they almost have it on the trailer.

It took (too long) a while to get it all strapped down and secure on the trailer. But, I was glad the boys took such care, because we were going to be driving it on a interstate and the wind was blowing really hard that day. Half way to my house we had to stop and look the coop over because the wind was making it  shift on the trailer.

The boys (men) took just a little break carrying the coop to the back yard.

Once we got it in the back yard, Company decided to give the coop a another coat of stain and water sealant.

We let the little ladies check out their new digs for a few hours that night.

We waited a few days to totally move the chicks to the coop because last week it got below freezing here in Mid Missouri. The little ladies have been under the constant heat of a heat lamp since the day they were born. I did not think it was a great idea to just stick them out in freezing temps before getting them adjusted to the weather.

Now, that the days are staying warm. The fluffy feather chicks are now living in their new house full time.

I think the chicks really like their updated high rise condo.

Baby Grandgirl, loves watching the chicks in their new house.

And you know, that is what this is really all about. Getting the grandgirls outside and doing something, like taking care of the chicks, together as a family.

Now, we just have to be patient, waiting for the little hens to start laying eggs.

Time for me to fly the coop and get busy in the kitchen, cleaning…ugh!

Have a great day!

Becky

 

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