Our introduction to keeping chickens, the high's, the lows and pics of our journey.

[Fancychooklady]

@Fancychooklady
 That's a nice set of images, I like the blurred motion effect in one of the pictures. I have to ask about the last one, is that some sort of maple he's leaning against? In Italy they had similar looking maples, the bark looks like it has a camouflage pattern, really weird since ours have completely different bark, they have horizontal wrinkles and the bark is mainly brown.

We came home last night, and boy was it nice to sleep in a room that was 20 degrees. All week we've had temperatures ranging from 33 to 37 in the day, and the night temps have been around 25, so with no air-conditioning, sleeping has been a bit troublesome. Our chickens seem to have been well taken care of, and they've grown quite a lot in just a week. Still no eggs, except for in the compost, which had dried up and had been inhabited by ants, loads of ant eggs in there. I watered it a bit, so hopefully that will get it going again. It's weird how much can happen in a week, our Jerusalem artichokes have grown from barely punching through the surface to almost half a meter, and the potato towers are starting to look like bushes. The tomatoes have also grown a lot stronger, and have started to bloom. And the lawn looks like a hay field.

Well then you have a busy week ahead of you , harvesting the tomatoes and baling the hay.
They are London plane trees. Yes the camouflage is similar to the cami uniform .

They were planted with the intention of being their driveway . Kind of sad that the widow has had them as a constant reminder of what could have been.

 

[vehve]

The tomato plants have in fact not produced any fruit as of yet, just flowers. And the lawn will take about an hour to mow. Our farming is a bit small scale. I have five or six tomato pots in the backyard.

The trees look beautiful in fall, so maybe it's a nice way to remember the better days as well. Like one Brit once said, better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.

 

[Bens-Hens]

Hi team, end of Day 18 update. Sadly, we are down to 2. One BLRW and one silkie. The other BLRW was way behind in development.

We just candled and added some more water, removed the one we had concerns about and opened it to find what must have stopped over a week ago. Barely recognisable and certainly a bit on the nose.

Next couple of days and we should have some visitors, let hope they are ladies and can stay long term If not, then I might have to get another day old to add to the mix. We don't want one in a grow out pen alone if one is a male.

On with the show, guess I had better set the brooder up!

 

[vehve]

Ben, shame about the third egg, but surely it was a cockerel. Only girls left now...

 

[Bens-Hens]

I like the way you are thinking Felix!

 

[scottcaddy]

I like the way you are thinking Felix!

 

[vehve]

I forgot to post a picture of yesterday's coop improvements. At this point I feel that we have really lost our minds. Viiru is modeling the latest in chicken coop curtain fashions.


Also, on our trip I found heaven. I don't normally like sharing millions of holiday pictures, but this place was truly magical. If anyone is interested in cured meats, and you find yourselves in Tuscany, I suggest a visit to Greve. This is what you will find in the best meat shop I have ever visited, located right at the center square. Every day they have at least 60 different meat products available, and they pride themselves with being the most respected salumeria in Italy. The hanging hams have been buried in ashes for at least 14 months, and sell for 14€ per kilo. They're most known for their fennel flavored salami, and the ones made from wild boar or flavored with Chianti we're most excellent as well. Karin and I bought about 2 kilos of various salami-sausages, and a kilo of prosciutto.




*Edit* Oh, and Ben, if you're still struggling with gaining weight, I managed to go up 4 kilos last week. The wonders of cheese, meat and wine.

 

[Bens-Hens]

Hahahaha, you had me hook line and sinker up until the wine part!

Looks great, I love cured meats, hams and salamis. Just today I had a three slice whole grain sandwich with triple meats and double cheese with sweet pickles for lunch. There is no doubt I like my food, some runners say they run so they can eat what ever they want, and I would be close! I try stay away from trash foods, but as a comparison in the past year I have burnt over 189,000 calories, thats equal to about 171 large 'Big Mac' meals with full strength coke! I have not gained or lost more than a kilo in the same year, so it reflects how much I eat.

Now I feel like some pan fried Chorizo sausage!!!

Day 19 of our hatch comes to a close and conditions have held steady. I have not seen any wiggling yet, I have a suspicion that they might be a day behind expected schedule, will have to see.

 

[vehve]

Ben, it's a sign of them being girls. They just have to get their hair and makeup done before they can be bothered with any wiggling or wobbling.

And no wine, Ben? How can you survive without the sweet nectar? And living in a country which even produces some fine specimens? That's one of the worst parts of being a Finn. We just mainly produce hard liquor and lager. There are some wine-producers (at least that's what they call themselves) but since grapevines aren't that well suited for our climate, most "wine" produced is made from currants, apples and berries. I'm not that snobby when it comes to wine, but my god most of them taste horrible. Until they develop a Syrah that grows in snow, I'll just have to keep paying 10 euros for a bottle of some decent imported stuff.

Also, studies have shown that a glass (or three) a day is beneficial to the health. So I try to stay healthy.

 

[Farmer Viola]

Also, studies have shown that a glass (or three) a day is beneficial to the health. So I try to stay healthy.

hah that's what I always tell 'em, too!