Bee~ Journal of then...

TanksHill

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Farmfresh said:
I often scramble up extra eggs with a bit of salt - pour them into large ice cube trays until frozen and then store in a Ziplock for later baking. They keep a year or so and 1 large cube is equal to 1 egg in a recipe!
great idea!!
 

Beekissed

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Well, to be honest, folks....I don't do much baking that requires eggs, nor do I eat scrambled eggs much. I can't imagine cooking them just for the chickens but it may come to that. I know that some nutrition is robbed in the cooking process, so I will try to go with raw eggs in the mash....I don't think they will equate this with "its okay to eat my eggs" unless I leave them whole and yolky. I intend to mix it in pretty well.

Aly, I've tried cooking the shells once and it made the whole house stink to high heavens! Now I'm just saving them and will probably dry them out good in the sun, like you suggest, before giving them to tomatoes and to chickens.

One chick died from exposure when Big Mama wouldn't leave the eggs, so I took the rest of the eggs and I'm glad I did. They were bad eggs with nothing but black goo inside....the dogs loved them fine, though! :sick

Immediately I took the eggs, she jumped off that nest and started calling to the little ones to come and eat out of the feeder! It was hilarious to hear and watch. You could almost here her relief in not being chained to those eggs.

I'm worried as to why so many of my eggs were not fertile? I have 2 young roos and one older and they are very active, so why would freshly laid eggs not be viable in this group? I had originally put 12 eggs under her and she tossed out 4 of them, sat on 8, and only hatched out 4. Not a good record, by my thinking.

Quail? Any input on that? :hu
 

Quail_Antwerp

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Actually, considering she set on 8, that's a 50% hatch, so that's pretty good for a first timer IMO.

Regarding fertility, didn't one of your roos have some frostbite? I read somewhere that roos who are healing from frostbite can at times be temporarily infertile. Once they are all healed up, fertility should be OK, though. I'll try to find where I read that, though, so you can reference it to check on my memory :lol:

How old is the old roo? His age may factor into fertility but honestly :hu I dunno.

How many hens per roos do you have? And are you sure all the hens are being mated by 1 or more of the roos? Is it possible that you have some hens that aren't being mated? My mom has a partridge rock hen who will not let any roo have his way with her!
 

Farmfresh

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Also consider the temps around lately. If they got chilled they will not develop properly.
 

Beekissed

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I have 3 roos for 27 gals, which is supposedly the correct ratio for insuring fertility. Except......hardly anyone gets to complete the dirty deed because someone else is knocking him off before he completes it!!! I think I will cull Sue(the oldster) and Sweet Lou(thunderbuns~hurt another gal BTW and she is limping today).

This leaves my young and beautiful PR roo, Tobias, who will be vigorous enough to do the gals some good, seems normal in his treatment of them, and is of the proper size.

AND.....my little red chick, who looks to be NH/?, is a little ROO!!! :p I'll keep him in case something happens to Toby.

Aly...I don't think those lovely eggs I've been getting were NH! I watched one of the NH gals lay today and it didn't even resemble the deep, brown and glossy eggs I thought were theirs. :hu

I got my lambing jug built today and its smaller than I wanted but I have room to expand into the hay storage shed if I absolutely have to do so. I'll try to take pics when its done, with the gates and everything. I still have to design the feeding bin and head gates so it is compatible with sheep and also a pig! I will be feeding them hay out of the same bin but opposite sides from each other. Should make for some cute photo ops! :D
 

Beekissed

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Got my seeds from Shumway today!!! :weee

Also got several new customers for eggs and now I don't know if I'll be able to even supply all the orders!!! :th :weee

Oh, the answer to prayers is sooooo sweet! God is good to me, folks. :celebrate

I also submitted prayers in the prayer box at church for motivation for my sons, so they can work towards their goals more efficiently in this life......guess what?

It happened! And in the weirdest way.....I got an epiphany from God, its the only way I can describe it. Turns out, motivation came from me straightening out my spine and putting away the "nice mom" routine and the ineffectual whining.

I put my foot down and cleared out all distractions from the home.....video game players and games, TVs are now in the attic, all VHS and DVD boxed up and in the storage building.

Everyone is to be in bed by 10 pm, there will be allowed only one phone call from/to girls in the evenings and none past 10pm.

All laundry dirtied by the unemployed or non-students will only be washed on Sunday evenings when the rates are lower.

No dates except if you are seeing this girl during church services at our church or hers, it doesn't matter.

No more junk or pleasure foods, we will be returning to mostly vegetarian lifestyle and be eating primarily out of the cellar. Anyone too persnickety to eat this can starve~I don't care! :lol:

And best of all? EVERY evening is chore night!!! I got my rust spots painted on the roof last evening, as well as my hay shed/lambing pen built. Cellar is cleaned out and organized, lumber hauled and stacked, building cleaned out and organized and bathroom cleaned.

I raked my yard, cleaned up around my buildings, dug the dirt off my sidewalk edges, etc. The boys worked until after dark, ate a small, late supper and went to bed. End of story.

Think this will motivate them to get on with their gettin' on in regards to their lives/careers/ schooling? :D :cool: :gig

I heard the eldest complaining to his gal about it and I asked him what she thought about it all. She told him he needed to "Get out of there!" :lol: :celebrate :celebrate

Smart gal! ;)

Do I win the meanest mom in the world contest? :cool:
 

lorihadams

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ROTFL :lol:

That is sooooo good Bee. I bet they are shakin in their shoes now! :gig
 

Beekissed

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I thought I did....then adulthood hit! What happens to all those values you instill about independence and being a man?

I know its hard for a woman alone to teach boys how to be a man but, by golly, I'm more man than most men I know and if that isn't enough, I don't know what is! :p

Maybe they are confused when manly lessons come from a woman? I don't know, but I'm tired of hearing excuses and getting blamed for their lack of motivation. Its a new day dawning girls!!! :D :thumbsup

Ya know what? The pain in my neck subsided as soon as I made this decision! It feels at least 50% better than it did. I always knew men were a pain in the neck! :gig
 
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