So much is happening at Cluck Acres today.
We had a sleigh head board and foot board given to us, for free, from a friend today. It needed to be sanded down and readied to stain. Morgan has been working on getting it sanded down. It is a gorgeous, antique bed. Although we do not own a full size bed to use with it I have so me special plans for it. Our daughter, Melissa, is going to be turning 18 in May and I assume she will be moving so I plan to use this headboard in that room as a guest room.
I love older wood and furniture. The sturdiness and the beauty of well made furniture makes for a wonderful addition to any style home decoration. My plan is to stain the head board and foot board with a dark Mahogany stain. I love the darker woods and find that they really go well with any other decorations in the room.
I plan to start a quilt that will go well with this bed once it is able to be placed in the guest room. I haven't decided what pattern I will be making on the quilt but it is going to be one that matches the era of the bed which should be early 1930's.
On a much different note I am having a chicken pondering issue. In the pen with my Heritage Rhode Island Reds I have just one rooster and two hens. Both hens laid brown eggs when we first got them. The hens are not very old and are in good condition. However, after the fowl pox spell one of them is now laying white eggs. Her eggs are a tad bit larger than the other hens but they are definitely white compared to the other ones being a medium cream color.
Three of my Khaki Campbell Ducks laid today and for that I am truly happy. I had gotten an egg everyday so I wasn't sure if it was one or more of them laying. Today there were three wonderful eggs waiting for me to find. I see that they have made a nest in a little box thing I made for them so I am thinking I may leave the eggs and see if I can get one of the girls to go set. Duck eggs have a much greater, richer flavor than chickens. They are wonderful in baking and the taste of food is absolutely wonderful. I am not sure for the reasoning behind this but I didn't believe it until I cooked with them.
We got just two eggs so far from the barn yard mix hens but we use those just for eating. We have consistently gotten two eggs per day for the last week. I have some Arcana hens in there and none of the eggs have been green so I know those two aren't setting yet, but I am glad that the others have completely recovered from the fowl pox and are on their way to being much healthier.
So many problems can happen that cause chickens to have a slower egg production. With the triple digit heat we had for 47 days, plus the fowl pox, plus going into molting I believe their little bodies were just overwhelmed.
Lately we have given all of our hens and roosters an unlimited supply of crumbies (aka layer feed). We have not hindered how much they have eaten. In the heat they ate very little other than the frozen fruits and veggies we placed out for them. They are still continuing to eat the fruits and veggies but have been really drawn to the crumbies. I believe they have built their protein levels back up and that has allowed the egg production to begin again.
I know many people who limit the amount of food each particular chicken eats. However, I have learned that the stronger birds will sometimes eat the weaker birds food and I learned once I put out enough for everyone to get completely full that they eat until they are done and there are crumbies left over. I prefer to feed this way. Besides crumbies, I do feed a chicken scratch mix in the evenings. My chicken pens have straw in their runs and pens so they enjoy looking for the scratch. When I clean the pens out every week I am able to put all of the cleaned out stuff into the compost pile. Nothing goes to waste. If there is a vegetable peel left over then it doesn't hurt to throw it in the compost. The straw, manure, vegetable and fruit peels, seeds, and other things that go in the compost is a complete mixture and therefore my compost never has a smell nor does it have flies. I have found worms who have lived in my compost, which makes the compost even richer, but have never had an odor or varmint issue. Here is a photo of one of the feeders that Morgan made for my pens. It is a simple feeder. A piece of wood on bottom and then some small cuts of wood that we had from a different project. It didn't cost us anything to make because it was from left over wood from other projects.
Any compost that has the correct mixture of things will not cause odor. Here is a photo of my compost pile. It actually had started growing squash from seeds that were put in it. By the time of harvest I had as much squash from the plants in the compost pile as I did from the ones we planted in the garden. Of course, all the excess is now in the freezer and goes into the flock block that I make for the chickens.
My name is being hollered from the kitchen so I am sure my crew is ready to eat and wondering what is going to be for dinner.
Do you have a compost pile? How much success have you had with yours?
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