this video shows my daily, afternoon experience for the last several weeks. what fun it is to finally get to touch our bantam hens, who are much too speedy and cautious for me to catch and hold under normal circumstances!
this video was filmed about a week ago, and since then we’ve had some developments in those nest boxes… but more on this later. in the meantime, watch the video below and check out our technique for collecting eggs from underneath broody hens.
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although this title is goofy, i assure you that our awesome carport is not!
since the weather is steadily warming up and we had a few 90 degree days this week, we have again begun to use our carport like an extra room of the house. last year we did the same but it wasn’t nearly as decked out with awesome places to sit and cool contraptions!
we have a long, wooden handicap ramp that was here when we bought the house. it comes off of the kitchen door and ends nearly at the edge of the carport-porch. there is also a gate that opens from the side of the ramp into the main area of the carport and right beside a door where we have our chicken food and the stairs into the basement. we have hanging baskets attached to the the railing of the ramp with a bunch of cool plants in them.
a view of the carport.
the rest of the carport is one big open space! we have a wooden chest that holds planting equipment and also acts as a seat, an older table where we sometimes do planting or potting, and an awesome patio table that my dad found for us in someone’s junk pile by the side of the road. we’ve also got a handful of comfy seats surrounding the table and a hummingbird feeder directly above. what a view!
our planting and relaxing tables!
plants abound in the carport-porch, as they do in the yard and gardens. there is always a flowering bush in bloom that we can see from our awesome carport and at night we cut on our string of christmas lights… very romantic and dim enough that the bugs don’t flock to the light source!
the snowball bush that we can see from the carport.
since the eaves of the house are wide, you can almost always catch the shade from our relaxing table. i also recently hung a little handmade bird house that my father crafted from the natural hole in a hollow tree and an antique, iron bell that is so loud you would not hear a jet engine over the ringing!
our awesome, iron bell. dinner’s ready!
this is why we love spending time outside in the carport-porch! sometimes we plug in our box fan if it is really hot or to keep the biting insects away and sometimes we plug in our computers and work on posts like this one. other times we sit and watch the sun set over our land and trees, while bolt runs around or hides under his new favorite bush.
watching the sun go down through the trees.
one thing is for sure, though: our carport + two glasses of wine = one amazing, relaxing, and beautiful time!
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beginning a few months ago, we noticed that about 5 or so of our standard hens were starting to go bald in very concentrated spots on their backs between their wings. my first thought was that the hens were picking at each other and eating those feathers, but after watching them i realized that i hadn’t seen a single hen pick at the feathers of another (except once when a hen got mad and chased another one, grabbing at her tail feathers). i also didn’t see how the chickens would be interested in eating each others’ feathers since they receive great supplements in their food that should prevent them from wanting dine on feathers.
so, i decided to look into the issue a little more and learned that the bald spots were the fault of the rooster, rex! once i read this, it made sense, of course!
one of rex’s favorite ladies–do you see the pink bald spot between her wings?
apparently, when young roosters get close to reaching full maturity, they pick out a couple hens that are their favorites and shower them with attention (you know what i mean, ya’ll). as they get older, they start to spread their attentions out over the whole flock so no hens are losing all of their feathers or getting too scratched up, but when they are young there is a risk that if their spurs are too sharp they can actually cut up the hens they really like.
after reading this, i made sure to look closely at the balding hens to see if they were cut at all… and they were not. but still, some were a little raw looking, which made up 1/2 of my mind when later…
rex actually attacked me with his spurs!
this happened about a week ago when i was feeding everyone. i noticed that rex had been a little bit more “pushy” and “prancey” lately but thought that if i didn’t get in his space too much he would leave me alone. untrue. once i turned my back and was walking to the back of the chicken pen where i dump out their food scraps from my school kids, he jumped up in the air and spurred me in both legs, right around the knees. he didn’t get through my pants to my left leg, but he did with my right. his spur didn’t go in very deep but it went through the pants, punctured my skin, and made me bleed.
of course i felt like killing him/crying after that but only managed to yell at him and throw the food scraps all over him in revenge, which he ended up liking very much.
the flock enjoying their new spot in the grass. rex is in the foreground, keeping himself between me and his hens.
since then, i’ve decided that as soon as we hatch out some more roosters i’m going to eat rex in a soup. in the meantime, we’ve clipped rex’s spurs. this is the choice that was easier to make since noticing the bald spots on some of the hens. i pinned down rex in a net (and felt awesome doing it!) and my dad nipped off the sharp ends of his spurs with handheld hedge nippers. he didn’t make any noises of pain (since the spur is a bone and the process didn’t hurt) and the end of the spur only bled a tiny bit and then quickly dried. now he can’t actually puncture me if he jumps me again and he shouldn’t scratch up the hens as much.
which leads me to the third type of chicken i want to talk about: a broody chicken! we have three hens who are trying to sit on nests/eggs right now and a few days ago we officially labeled their eggs (marking them with pencil) and let them stay on their nests! one standard is sitting on 7 standard sized eggs, one bantam is sitting on 2 bantam eggs, and another bantam is sitting on 2 standard eggs and 1 bantam egg. i’ve placed a piece of cardboard behind their nest boxes so that the sun doesn’t shine in on them and make them too hot.
two bantams sitting on eggs.
an unlikely duo: a bantam and a standard.
everyday i’ve collected the fresh eggs out from under the three hens (much to their chagrin) but left the eggs they’ve been sitting on. we hope they will remain broody and vigilant! if all goes well, we might be meeting up to 12 baby chicks as early as the 26th of may. cross your fingers for us!
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today is bolt’s first birthday.
we’ve started the celebration by:
the video below is just a simple video showing bolt enjoying his special day in the some of the ways listed above. bolt’s big birthday present coming later today is… his very own goose egg! he’s going to love it!
happy birthday best friend and son, bolt!
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i recently wrote about all of the plants we started from seeds in pans and trays. i wanted to provide an update about how some of these guys are doing and show you what some of our plants look like in their infancy:
the four lettuce varieties that we chose this year: speckled bibb, anuenue, bronze arrow, and sweet valentine.
baby sage plants!
“thyme” for growing!
three delicious treats: jupiter red bell peppers, golden california yellow peppers, and tomatillos.
our spicy pepper tray: jalapeno, cayenne, and aji.
thriving paste tomatoes: black plum and san marzano. anyone ready for homemade tomato sauce?
black cherry tomatoes (right) and watercress (left). watercress is so cool… it can be grown in running water, i.e. a stream!
and the star of this season’s seeds… erlene’s green cotton plants.
i’m not really sure yet what i’ll do with the cotton once/if the plants are fruitful but i am so excited to have green cotton! wow!
the lettuce and the cotton need to be transplanted into the ground soon, while the tomatoes and peppers will be transplanted into larger and deeper pans so they can grow a little tougher and larger before we put them in the ground.
and the other seedlings needs a little more time to grow in their current locations before they graduate up the “food chain.” just thinking about it is making me hungry!
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since we recently got geese, we’ve had our share of exciting egg sightings! at first, the large goose eggs were extreme-sized, but now they seem normal to us and our chicken eggs seem tiny. this got me thinking about all of the birds that we see everyday and their lovely eggs.
of course we see our geese, standard chickens, and bantam chickens everyday and get to check out and collect their eggs first hand, but we’ve also had other bird visitors this spring. the jenny wren has come back to take up residence in the same geranium plant that they used last year and our hummingbird feeder has become a busy place! chickadees thought about building a nest on our hammock support, but have hopefully decided against it. i couldn’t resist checking out the jenny wren nest for comparison purposes!
a goose egg (left) and a wren egg (right). look at the difference! The wren egg is even smaller than the wind egg!
birds are amazing creatures! and even more amazing are the different sizes that the different species can be (and their differently sized eggs too!).
from left to right: goose egg, standard chicken egg, bantam chicken egg, wren egg.
one of our hummingbird visitors, coming out for a meal!
check out the size of this goose egg; the other eggs are standard chicken eggs!
i’m gaining even more respect for birds than before… just look at the amazing variety of eggs they lay!
and don’t forget to check out our post on how to use eggs, from boiling and spaetzle-making to craft-making and deviled eggs.
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readers not interested in reading about specifically female body parts, stop reading now and wait until tomorrow’s post to check back in with us…
other readers who are interested in learning for the sake of learning (whether male or female) and who don’t get squeamish about female body parts and women’s health, read on…
an image of the diva cup (left) and the keeper (right). photo courtesy Greencolander.
do you know what the above is a picture of?
it is a picture of two popular menstrual cups on the market today! the first menstrual cup popped up in the 1930s and was created by a midwifery group, but they did not become very popular until the 1980s. they can currently be purchased in a variety of colors, firmness levels, and sizes (usually based on whether or not you have given birth vaginally). some are made from rubber, but most are made from silicone.
i have used a vaginal cup for my periods for the last 5 years (maybe even longer… i can’t remember…). i use the diva cup, pictured above on the left, and came across it through the recommendation of one of my good friends.
some reasons why i would absolutely, without-a-doubt, recommend using the diva cup for your periods, and FAQ about menstrual cups:
how much does it cost?
the cost of a menstrual cup is a one time thing. when i bought my diva cup it cost about $40 or $50. i have been using it for at least 5 years, which means that a menstrual cup is a much less expensive option for dealing with menstruation.
how long can you use a diva cup?
most menstrual cup manufacturers recommend buying a new one every 5-10 years, depending on your cup’s current state and based on the type of cup you have. mine is still going strong and looking much the same as when i purchased it (except the color is no longer clear–having been slowly dyed red/brown over the months). after your period every month, you boil your cup (i boil mine for a few minutes) in water and dry it and put it away until the next month. this is a very easy process and it is important that you do this… this ensures that the cup is fully cleaned and no infections occur.
how do you use one?
it’s a rather interesting science experiment, actually, and much more “hands on” than using a tampon or pad. the cup is rubbery, flexible, yet firm. you squeeze the top of the cup together so that it is flat and then fold it in half. this folded end is the end you insert part of the way. once partially inserted, you spin the cup in both directions to be sure that the folded portion has opened back up to its circular shape (otherwise you’ll have a leak!). once you’ve done this, you push it further inside until no part is outside. now, don’t panic about this part… one of my friends told me that she was actually worried that it would get lost and she would never find it again! it barely moves once inserted and is super easy to remove once you have a few months of practice. once you remove it, you empty it and reinsert (i also rinse mine between insertions).
is it as safe to use as a tampon?
yes! from everything i’ve read, seen, and experienced, it is! unlike tampons, TSS is not associated with its use and it can be worn up to 12 hours.
does it hurt to insert or remove?
once inserted the diva cup is as invisible to you as tampons (more so actually, since there is no string), but yes, the first month of use it did hurt to use it. it hurt a lot, in fact! so much that i almost gave up… thinking, “this can’t be right!!!” but after speaking with my friend, who told me that the next month it would be pain-free, i decided to stay the course. she was right! from the second month on, it has been a pain-free process. my guess about why it was so painful the first month is because of the fact that your hands have to get more involved in the process than with tampons.
important fact #1:
there is no waste or trash associated with the cup! this is the main reason, actually, that i decided to try it! i was super frustrated with how much trash tampons leave behind and determined to find a less wasteful way to be a woman today.
important fact #2:
diva cups are great for traveling! you don’t have to pack anything except the cup… no extra tampons just in case. they are awesome for car trips, too, since you simply empty them out, reinsert, and keep on truckin’.
important fact #3:
for those of you who are interested in knowing more about your body than before, i highly recommend a menstrual cup! using the diva cup and actually being able to see what’s going on down there (in liquid form) has made me much more aware and in tune with my natural self. the actual insertion and removal process adds to this understanding.
important fact #4:
if you’re curious to know your partner’s true feelings about all aspects of your female self, you’ll certainly get some insight into that when they see your cup sitting out by the bathroom sink to dry. chances are, it will give them a little bit of pause, but soon after i bet they’ll shrug their shoulders and keep on with what they were doing. :)
if you have any other questions about the diva cup, let me know! i love to discuss this topic!
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i want to take a moment to explain a great resource for gardening and homesteading that i love to use. i learned about these lovely items from my father, who has used them since i was a child, picked up at the local asian grocery store.
they are… awesome, plastic, chinese baskets! in actuality, they seem to be colanders, but they come in various sizes and dimensions and i’ve found that they can be used in versatile ways.
sweet potatoes waiting in a large colander to be cleaned
the largest colander we have is about 3 feet wide and 8 inches deep, and it is great for collecting crops in the garden or for washing crops in bulk outside with the hose or inside in the shower (especially leafy ones like lettuce or herbs).
we have other colanders that are just as wide but very shallow, and they can be used for washing vegetables as well, or as drying racks for herbs. in fact, we used them last year to dry our catnip, spearmint, and dill for storage. we also used the larger, deep, blue colander as a drying rack for our basil plants!
storing our harvest: you can see two large pink colanders being used as drying racks for herbs and the deep, blue colander for drying part of last year’s basil harvest.
i love my chinese baskets, and i have never seen anything like them except at asian grocery stores. i’ve even looked on amazon and i still can’t find anything as wonderful as they are! perhaps it’s because i don’t know their correct name… so if you do know, please comment about it!
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bolt is a wonderful dog!
but, like all dogs and humans, he has his own unique personality and quirks. we think that he may have been the dominant puppy in his litter and/or was very used to fighting his siblings for food when he was little.
growing up, i helped raise 4 puppies over the years (you know, the way that all kids help out with puppy chores), but none of those 4 dogs ever had any dog food aggression issues.
we didn’t notice that bolt had anything going on with him for the first few days that we had him, probably because we just didn’t happen to touch him while he was eating. we touched the bowl, moved it or picked it up, but never touched him. when we touched his bowl he never responded, since (as we learned later) some dogs are only bothered if they are touched when eating.
the first time we realized he had some dog food aggression issues was about a week after we got him. we fed him in his usual bowl and we were watching him eat. jason noticed that he was eating super fast (not unusual for a puppy) and got a little nervous that he might choke. so, he put his hand on him and tried to pull him back a little bit from the food. as soon as he touched him, bolt started making a gurgling sound in his throat, which jason thought was choking. so, he picked him up and tired to look to him. during this time, after hearing him make the noise without the food in his mouth, i knew he was growling.
just as i was saying “he’s not choking, he’s growling at you,” bolt started freaking out (still in jason’s arms) and growling, showing his teeth, and getting so worked up that he was spitting and struggling. he was amazingly intense and seemed like a possessed demon dog!
jason put him on the ground and had to work a little bit to get him onto his back. he held him down for a little bit until bolt relented (which took a little while).
at the time, we thought that being the alpha in the pack would mean that we would need to show him his place during times like this by asserting our position over him. maybe this would have worked for a different dog after just one time being bluffed down, but it didn’t work for bolt. he did this to us a few more times and we continued to bluff him down. still, we didn’t feel like it was working, and only making him more anxious during eating time. after a few weeks we decided to look into other methods for teaching him that it was okay for us to touch him when he was eating and to let him know that we were, in fact, the top dogs.
i had heard all about cesar millan before, but had never seen any of his videos or read any of his writings. we decided to look into his website and check out his videos online. they helped a great deal!!!!
here is the run down of what we learned about how to deal with dog food aggression in the safest and least stressful way (for both you and your dog).
depending on the severity of their dog food aggression, this is what we think could work:
we also decided that we weren’t too concerned about him wanting his own space while eating, but we wanted to be sure that any future kids wouldn’t have trouble if they bumped into him while he was eating. we thought (after watching a cesar millan video) that one of the best ways to remind him that we were in charge was to have him sit and wait before we was allowed to eat. we also decided to train him to sit part of the way through eating and wait again, while we added treats to his bowl. this has been super successful, and he knows that he must sit and wait (even if he is salivating and the bowl is right in front of him) until we say “go!” he’ll even listen to his “stay” command before eating if we are in the next room.
ever since implementing these tactics, we have had no trouble with bolt’s food aggression. we still have to make him “sit” and “let go” of any bone he might be chewing on, because he is sensitive about the bones, but we’ve found that offering him a piece of meat in exchange for the bone works nicely.
ultimately, you have to decide what sort of relationship you want to have with your dog, taking into account his own personality (and yours). bolt is a great listener in all other aspects and we are happy with the way we’ve approached his training, especially since i can now give him a “good dog” pat while he eats without fearing that he’ll growl at me!
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i am not on facebook, nor have i ever been, but my aunt sent me information about this lovely facebook page which features great outdoor design ideas, beautiful pictures of nature, and the awe inspiring moments that accompany the natural world.
check out green renaissance! how cool!
p.s. it seems that you don’t need to be a facebook user to check out the full page!
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