Build a coop blog: May 2015

Wednesday 20 May 2015

Wedding Post Dinner Reception

We are continuing to recap my wedding from earlier this year, mostly in photos taken by Misty Dameron Photography.

With hundreds of people at our wedding there was no way Eric and I were going to be able to see or talk to those who travelled to see us get married. At our smaller reception we were able to take a deep breath and say thank you to all of our family. The details my mother and mother-in-law slaved over shone out. The best part was all of the hints at our honeymoon that I never picked up until now. There were post cards to national parks that we used as our guest book and books open to Yellowstone and Zion, where we spent the next week and a half. It was a surprise.

After such a long day some of our younger family members were a little antsy, so we gave them plenty to do.

My father-in-law cut, aged, and branded all of the centerpieces. Eric and I kept some for chargers or centerpieces.

Mom and I designed the menu card. Friends form church helped make the food. My bridesmaids and I spent the days before the wedding candying walnuts and making gallons of chimichurrie. Eric ate many pieces of cheesecake while I perfected the presentation.

Eric and I had our own table and to enjoy the dinner, so our wedding party could sit with their families. My dad built the backdrop we used at both the wedding and reception. While we were on our honeymoon, he and my father-in-law took off the sides and made it into a headboard.

My mother-in-law arranged fire pits and smores to draw everyone outside to dance and chat.

Instead of champagne or sparkling cider we used Henry Weinhards Root Beer, another nod to Eric and I. We toasted...

We danced...

And our guests lit sparklers as we made our grand exit.

Prayers For Families Hit By Tornado

Ive lived in tornado alley and in earthquake country, and Im here to say, a tornado is much scarier than an earthquake as long as your not in a downtown high rise when it happens. You see, an earthquake happens and by the time you realize its an earthquake, its almost over. But a tornado... you know its coming, they last longer, and they just seem so unpredictable (not that an earthquake is!).

Anyway, I have some idea what yesterday was like for many families living in the southeast. (And while we lost a home to a fire as a child, I never lost one to a tornado.) The last tornado I was in, for over a month, I would wake at the slightest sound thinking it was another tornado. I was jumpy and fearful. And a grown adult! Can you imagine what these precious children are going through?

The Crawford Family

With so many hit by the tornados, its hard to fathom how to help. But let me make it a bit more personal. If you read Raising Homemakers, you may know Kelly Crawford who is a contributor there. Her family is safe and well, but today they have no home. You can read about their experience and needs at Raising Homemakers or at A Wise Woman Builds Her Home where youll find additional links and a video, including the story of the Lee family who lost their husband and father.

Lord, we are truly thankful for Your mercies despite what appears to be a great tragedy from our human perspective. Grant these families and others your grace and courage to face the days ahead while glorifying You! Help us to be Your hands and feet during this time of trial for our brothers and sisters in Christ and for those who do not yet call You Lord. Use this to bring them into the fold.

Tuesday 19 May 2015

Free GNOWFGLINS™ Webinar Debunking 5 Myths of Fermenting Foods!

If you have hesitated in any way signing up for an eCourse at GNOWFGLINS™, now is the time to find out what Wardeh is like, how she teaches, and what kind of things you might learn should you subscribe. Wardeh is offering a free webinar to talk about debunking myths surrounding the fermentation of foods. The only requirement is that you sign up in advance.

Free Webinar

Debunking 5 Myths of Fermenting Foods

Monday, July 25th 11:00 a.m. PDT

(Pacific Daylight Time)

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Details to follow via email after you register.

What You’ll Learn In Free Webinar

The versatile flavors of fermented foods
What equipment is really required to successfully ferment foods
How to distinguish healthy fermented foods from not-so-healthy ones
How not all pickles are made equal
What skills you need to ferment foods yourself (not nearly as many as you might think!)
And probably more!

Be sure to register right away as space is limited. If the time is not good for you, anyone who registers for the webinar in advance can watch the replay later.

*Full disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation for readers who access the webinar registration through the links on this blog and purchase an eCourse.

Flock Hurricane Preparedness

The calm before the storm

It seems that the weather is getting more extreme year to year, and hurricanes and tornadoes are popping up all over the place. We hear storm warnings all the time and they usually turn out to be nothing, but last summer we got hit with Hurricane Irene and I realized just how unprepared I was to handle severe weather when it came to protecting our backyard flock.

Here in Southeast Virginia, our biggest threat is hurricanes, but they often spawn tornadoes in their wake. The advice here goes for not only hurricanes and tornadoes, but also blizzards if you live in the northern climates.

We have our hurricane preparedness kit in the house with flashlights, batteries, canned food, bottled water, a battery-operated radio and such, but we really didnt have anything prepared when it came to the animals.

Flying debris, flooding and high winds that could blow your coop over are all concerns when a hurricane or tornado is predicted. Also not being able to get to the feed store for several days for feed because of blocked roads or power outages, injuries that may need to be taken care of and a lack of electricity to power your well are also of major concern. Plan now so if a storm is headed your way you will be ready.

We first heard the warnings that Hurricane Irene was changing course and heading right for us in the early evening last August. With visions of the opening scene from The Wizard of Oz running through my head, I ran down to the barn.

~stock photo~

First, I let the chickens out of the coop and left all the windows open. Barn and coop windows and doors should be open during storms involving high winds to let the air flow through and hopefully not lift up the structure. Our coop is not very large or heavy and just stands on cement blocks so it could blow over or be lifted by heavy winds very easily.

(One note: conventional wisdom dictates that larger animals, horses, cows, etc. should be let free during storms because they have a better chance running loose than in stalls where they could be crushed if the barn collapses, but chickens are so small and light that they would blow away too easily, so barring a direct tornado hit to your bunker they will be far safer cooped up in a sturdy structure.)

I decided that the chickens would be safer for the time being out in the run/paddock area while I prepared a hurricane shelter for them. Since it was already getting dark, they immediately sought the high ground and roosted on top of the run fence.

I decided the safest place for them to weather the storm would be in the tack room of our barn. There is only one small window and the room is raised about a foot above ground level, so no worries of flooding. I put down a plastic tarp to try and keep the floor as clean as possible and then set up some temporary roosts for the chickens using wooden ladders.

I set out feed (enough for several days) and water and then filled as many buckets as I could find with fresh clean water in case we lost power to our well or I wasnt able to get back down for a day or so.

I filled some tubs and baskets with straw and fake eggs so they would know where to lay their eggs.

I gathered all my first aid supplies and made sure they were handy in case of any injuries due to the unfamiliar surroundings. You want to be prepared for lacerations in case of a broken window or trampling due to panic.

One product I always keep on hand is Bach Rescue Remedy for Pets. It is a homeopathic liquid that eases stress and calms not only chickens, but also cats and dogs, in times of anxiety, illness or injury.

As I was getting everything ready, I caught a few curious girls watching my preparations through the window! (I cut a piece of plywood and anchored it over the window to prevent the window breaking.)

When everything was set up, I ushered our little flock to their new temporary quarters. By now it was dark and they were noticeably nervous with the wind starting to pick up considerably and it had already started raining.

They were understandably confused at first,

but a fresh bale of straw kept them busy and their minds occupied.

I turned off the lights and shut the door securely, confident that they were as safe as they could be. The hurricane hit overnight and raged all the next day. The following evening I was able to safely get down to the barn during a lull in the wind and driving rain to check on things. I opened to tack room door to find quite a mess (we had the ducks to thank mainly for that!) but everyone was fine.

And a few had even laid eggs in one of the baskets.

I refreshed feeders and waterers and tossed some sunflower seeds in the straw. I was worried about pecking issues with them all being in such a small space for a prolonged period of time so the sunflower seeds would keep them busy.

It ended up being two full days before I could safely let everyone out and back into their run. We suffered only minor damage and lost only two trees, so I was grateful for that.

The tack room needed a thorough cleaning, but I was able to drag most of the mess outside on the tarp, which I hosed down and let dry in the sun.

After this experience, I know that I will be far more prepared in the future for impending weather. Here is my flock hurricane preparedness list:

1) Fully stocked first aid kit

2) Plastic tarps

3) Buckets and barrels filled with water

4) Feed to last at least three weeks (through the duration of the storm and to allow for the possibility that feed stores wont be open or accessible to delivery trucks during the cleanup)

5) Several bales of straw

6) Treats including sunflower seeds and other things that can be scattered for them to find to keep them busy and prevent pecking issues

7) A safe, dry (preferably windowless) area - could be a garage, mud room, basement, barn stall, etc.

A lack of proper planning could result in losses or injury to your flock, so take some time to figure out what your storm preparedness plan might entail.

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Leaf Rake Christmas Tree Edible Coop Decor

You all know by now that I am always looking for fun, easy crafty ideas, especially those that our chickens can enjoy. Well, Yvette recently saw a similar rake decorated with buttons and thought we could turn that into some sort of Fresh Eggs Daily craft. Well, sure we could! Here is our version of the Rake Christmas Tree.

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ny times goes to barrow

The New York Times has a pretty exciting story about oil drilling bumping up against the whaling lifestyle in Barrow. Theres even an audio slide show with some nice pics.

Monday 18 May 2015

Treating Bumblefoot in Chickens and Ducks Naturally with an Herbal Salve

Bumblefoot is an infection of the foot that chickens and ducks can get as the result of a hard landing off a roost, a cut that gets infected or even a Vitamin A deficiency. In my six years of chicken and duck keeping, I've only encountered bumblefoot twice - once in a duck and once in a chicken - and wrote about my experience treating it pretty conventionally HERE.

In the years since, I have learned lots more about the healing power of herbs, so when I discovered one of the ducks we recently adopted with the telltale black scab, I decided to make up an all natural treatment plan using some herbs thought to have the power to 'cure' a staph infection - which is basically what bumblefoot is.

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Barn Hop 37

Well, its been quite an exciting week at my own homestead as many of you already know! Ill resist the urge to talk more about my new little goats, except to say, theyre even cuter and more wonderful than I thought! Im just hoping a do better with them than I did the bees!

Speaking of which, in about a month it will be time to order bees again, but this time, Im thinking Ill go with some nucs, which would include several hive frames from a colony that is already established along with the bees and a queen. Our local hometeading group has formed a sub group for beekeeping and I got some great leads on natural beekeepers in Southern California who actually sell nucs. My husband is a bit concerned about my allergies to bee stings, so if Im going to do this, Ive decided it would be best to also spend time this winter getting a prescription for an epipen and take another round of stuff the homeopathic doctor has recommended to help build up my immunity.

The bulk of this coming week is going to be set aside for shopping for the big dinner this week and a few Christmas gifts, Thanksgiving, a trip to work at the Operation Christmas Child packing facility, getting the family Christmas photo taken, getting some goat supplies, and encouraging a daughter to write a 500 page essay before Thursday! Writing it all out like this looks CRAZY, but other than the one paper were taking the week off from homeschool. And the more I get done BEFORE December 1st, the more I can relax and prepare my heart for Christmas while spending time with my family doing the important things. So I hope to squeeze in a blog post or two, but if not, Ill be back on-line soon, Lord willing!

Dont forget... this Saturday is our monthly PREPAREDNESS CHALLENGE! See you here!

Join The Barn Hop!

Jill @ The Prairie Homestead

Kendra @ New Life on a Homestead

Megan @ A Blossoming Homestead

and Amy @ Homestead Revival...

...invite you to link up and share your homesteading adventures!

1. Write a blog post about whats going on at your homestead or a post on something youre learning or an item of interest that will benefit the homesteading community. Be sure to add the red barn button and link back here so others can join in the fun.

2. Come back here and enter your information in the Linky. Please be sure to link to your actual post (click your title and then copy the URL above) and not your home page so those participating later in the week can find your post easily.

3. If you dont have a blog, leave a comment and tell us whats going on at your homestead!

Please Note: As hostesses of the Homestead Barn Hop, please understand that we reserve the right to remove any links that are not family friendly. While this may be subjective, we will err on the side of caution in order to keep our blogs appropriate for all readers. Thank you for your understanding!

Update New Life On A Homestead

Well, praise the LORD! Kendra at New Life On A Homestead is back up and running after the very trying experience of having her blog hacked by an automated crawler of some kind. She still doesnt have all the graphics working, a few pages wont load, and she lost a few posts that hadnt been backed up prior to the crawler, but thankfully, she does not have to start from scratch. In time, shell get the rest sorted out, but it would be awesome if we could send some traffic her way today and let her know were still around. And for all those who "liked" her on Facebook during this bump in the road, THANK YOU! That is part of what it means to cultivate the homestead community!

By the way... her message to all of you who use a platform that requires backing up... do it daily!

UPDATE at 10:45 on 2/22/12:
Unfortunately, whatever is attacking her site has done it again (after being problem free for 24 hours!). Please pray for Kendra so that this can be resolved. Its very frustrating and time consuming for her. I can only imagine! Ill try to let you know when she gets it resolved.