From the Hen House: What came first? The chicken or the egg?

Well, here on the Funny Farm, it was most definately the chicken.  And we recently added a new member to the Funny Farm Flock.  She's the first of three little bantams that I've acquired from one of my co workers.  We're still waiting on the other two (They're having trouble catching them), but for now, we have Eleanor, and she is a new favorite on the farm.  She is a leghorn bantam variety, and because she's smaller, she lays these darling little pale peach colored eggs. But don't let her size fool you.  This little lady is an egg laying dynamo.  She has gifted us with an egg a day so far.  Of course it takes two of her eggs to equal a normal sized egg, but we don't mind.

My eldest son, Xander, was really excited.  That's him, in the picture, holding our first egg.  You would have thought she layed THE golden egg.  He was however, a bit disappointed to not be able to hear the "peeping" inside the egg when he held it to his ear.  But after he received a brief explanation of the "birds and the bees" of chickens, he soon replaced his disappointment with an eagerness to have his new egg for breakfast.  And me? I find it hilarious that I get so giddy with each new egg I find in the nest.  It's like I'm a kid again.  I can't wait to check the nest every morning, and I feel like I'm lining up little treasures on the refrigerator door. 

So now, we're anxious for the rest of our ladies to start laying.  I encourage them to hurry up every morning when I let them out of the coop, and I bribe them with treats, but they just ignore me and go about their day picking and scratching in the garden.  Now, if these little ladies lay like they're supposed to, we should be collecting at least 2 to 3 dozen eggs a week.  Whoo hoo!  I can't wait.  How fun will that be to gather all those eggs in the morning?  But then again, I guess I shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch....get it? ha ha ha!!!!!

So until next time... Happy Farming !

The Latest Cackle from the Hen House: The Benefits of Free Range

Hooray!
Today was a big day for our little ladies.  Today was their first day going "free range".  I've been trying to coax them out of the coop for about a week now, but they always seemed to "chicken out" (no pun intended...lol)  However today, they took a leap of faith and "flew the coop" (Ok, Ok,  I know, enough with the chicken jokes.)  Wow, what a bunch of happy ladies.  They were absolutely loving it out there today.  Strutting around their new territory, peck, peck, peck.  It was so fun to watch.

There are so many benefits to letting your ladies "free range", but here's just a few:

Nutritious eggs:

Instead of those boring, grocery store eggs with the pale yellow yolks, you get instead: fresh, nutrient rich little gems that contain:

• 1/3 less cholesterol• 1/4 less saturated fat• 2/3 more vitamin A• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids• 3 times more vitamin E• 7 times more beta carotene

How great is that?  Not to mention, it's so much more fun to gather your own eggs rather than make a trip to the store.  It's like your very own daily Easter egg hunt.

Chickens: Your very own free extermination service:
Chickens love to eat protein-packed insects, which works out well because they can serve as an organic pest-cleanup crew in your garden and devour all kinds of bugs on your property. They also love to eat weeds, and serve as post-harvest garden bed cleaners, potentially making your work as a funny farmer, much much easier.

Chickens are great little gardeners:The health of our food is tied directly to the health of our soil. Chickens perform multiple functions that can turn parts of our boring old yards into fertile garden patches. All that scratching and digging that comes to them so naturally, can help to create productive garden beds. They are experts in the mixing of manure with mulch to create fertile soil. They act as gas free, noise-free mini roto-tillers, that mix the top layers of soil with compost or other mulch to create a fertile soil which allows you to grow more produce in a smaller space and use less water, which is particularly useful to us suburbian funny farmers .

Chickens can work as a natural antidepressant.Yup, you heard right.  Ever hear of oxytocin, the love hormone? It's a stress-lowering chemical in your body that's unleashed when you hug someone you love, or even pet your dog or cat. And anyone who has raised backyard chickens would probably agree, the same effect holds true for our hens.  I love to just sit and watch them strut around and peck the ground.  And yes, they are my pets. Particularly one of my little ladies, A black Australorp named Verdelle, who likes to follow me around and peck at my jewelry and sparkly toenail polish.  There's just something therapeutic and charming about chickens roaming around my back yard.  So, hug a chicken.  I highly recommend it.
 
Now....If I could just get them to clean the inside of my house....lol 

Until Next time.......

Happy Farming!

Funny Farm Update: They're Here!!!

I've always dreamed of living on a farm.  My dreams were filled with acres of rolling hills, abundant fruit trees, flourishing gardens, and a barn full of livestock.  Now this here little farm isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it works.  Although living in the city has some disadvantages, there is actually quite a bit of farming to be done in a very small space.  There is always room for fruit trees and a garden.   But what is a farm without chickens?  Exactly!  That’s why we at the Funny Farm are proud to announce the arrival of chickens to our little bit of suburbian acreage.  The first of our little ladies arrived on Wednesday.  I surprised my son, Xander by taking him to the feed store to pick them up.   What a fun and special moment to share with my son.  The look on his face was priceless.  It was so fun to see him jumping up and down with excitement, and he was so gentle when he actually got to handle the little bundles of fuzz.  I’ll never forget it.  I took a trip down memory lane that day and remembered all the furry friends of my childhood.  I learned a lot about life from growing up around animals.  We had dogs, cats, rabbits, ducks, and chickens.  I learned about responsibility, life, love, and loss.   These lessons, helped to shape the person I am today, and I want my boys to have the same experience.

And So far, these little ladies have been a huge hit.  Right now they are residing in our basement under a heat lamp, but I’m looking forward to finishing their coop and getting them outside in the fresh air as soon as they’re old enough.  Now Xander has been a little disappointed that they aren’t laying eggs yet (lol) but I’ve encouraged him to be patient.   Even my husband, the skeptic, had to admit they were pretty cute and even went so far as to hold them and anxiously ask when the others were coming.  Yep, you heard right.  We have three more coming next week.  Is he converted?  I’m not so sure.  But we’ll see how he feels when they get bigger and start giving us fresh eggs every week.  Now how to I break the news to him that we’re getting a cow next month?  Just kidding….lol

Happy Farming!

An ode to puppies.

Awwww…..a puppy!!!!

Could they be any cuter?  They pee on everything and chew on everything in sight.   How cute is that?  Not to mention how enjoyable it is to take them out to pee in the middle of the night, in the freezing temperatures, in a foot of snow, in your pajamas.  How great is that?  Don’t get me wrong.  I know that most puppies grow up to be amazing, obedient, wonderful dogs.  I lived through proof of that with 3 other dogs.  It’s just that I don’t find the puppy stage enjoyable at all.  In fact our newly acquired, 10 pound little dynamo leaves a path of destruction wherever she goes, and I find it far from adorable.  How great would it be if we could pack up our new little canine friends and send them off to Puppy camp?  They would come home a month later, completely potty trained, obedient, and capable of doing some amazing tricks.  Instead, here I am, trapped in reality, running behind her with a roll of paper towels and a bottle of “Natures Miracle,” cleaning up little puppy messes here and there.  My days off consist of washing throw rugs, mopping floors, and using my CSI skills to determine what the newly chewed up item is, and whether or not it belongs to anything important. Has there been ANY improvement?  Absolutely!  I only have to use the cleaning products twice a day instead of ten.  So there is hope!  Is she adorable?  Absolutely!   Especially when I catch her gnawing on the legs of my dining room furniture, a pair of $100 shoes, or shredding an entire roll of toilet paper all over the house.  It’s especially adorable when she pulls random items out of the laundry hamper and chews holes in them.  And Yes!  She does have plenty of toys.  In fact she has an entire basket of them, loaded to the brim.  However, she is completely content to chew up the basket instead. 

Another adorable thing about her is that she’s a bully.   Although affectionate with her human counterparts, when it comes to canine playtime, she’s a 100 pound pit pull in the body of a 10 pound Boston terrier.  She has the face of an angel, but the teeth of a piranha. She loves to rough house with our 60 pound Boxer.  However, it usually turns violent.  The only one crying in pain is the Boxer.  She can come out of a 15 minute brawl completely unscathed.  The Boxer on the other hand is another story.   Scattered scratches and bite marks all over his abdomen, and a bloody ear later, he’s throwing up the white flag and headed for the safety of our bed.  Fortunately, she hasn’t figured out how to get up there just yet.   And the most amazing part about her is that she is capable of knowing  the ”exact” moment that the baby is asleep.  That’s when she starts in on her whining, barking, and other loud behaviors, especially when she doesn’t get her way.  It’s like having another toddler in the house.

But I must say despite her many annoyances, like a wart, she is growing on me.  At night when she’s sleeping, and laying still, and not biting, or chewing, or peeing, she is pretty cute.  The fact that this little gal snores like a 300 pound man with sleep apnea, is actually kind of adorable.  And despite the fact that for 16 hours a day, I want to kill her (or drop her off at PAWS), I do love this adorable little puppy for a brief, 8 hour stretch.  And as she curls up next to me at bedtime, lays her head on my chest, and starts in with her obnoxious snoring, I know she loves me too.

Best Wishes for a happy day!

Calling all chicken farmers!

Hey there fellow farmers!

Plans are underway to add chickens to the Funny Farm this spring, and I need help from all you current chicken farmers out there.  I'd like to know what kind you have.  What do you like about them, what don't you like about them?  What kind of coop do you have?  Plus any other helpful tips or advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated.  I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Happy farming ~

Funny Farm Update: Guinea pig babies

I am happy to report that Wanda’s babies, Moe and Curley are doing very well.  The little sprouts are growin' like weeds, and will be headed to their new homes next week, just in time to spend Christmas with their new pet parents.  Although I have enjoyed having the little buggers, I am ready to send them on their merry way.  It’s getting mighty crowded at the Piggy Palisades apartment complex, and these little stinkers consume a lot of produce, and produce a lot of poop.  It’s been alot of fun having baby guinea pigs at the Funny Farm, however,  I think for now I’ll just be content to enjoy the three I’ve already got.  For although farm livin’ is the life for me, guinea pig farming is not...lol

Happy Farming,

Funny Farm Update:

Hi Everyone~

Many of my friends have been asking how our new puppy, Lily May is doing.  Well, I'm happy to report that our little "Money Pit-bull" is doing very well.  Miss Lily had to have eye surgery done on Monday.  She developed a condition very common to Boston Terriers (and other bug-eyed breeds) where the nictitians gland prolapses.  In other words, the tear gland located on the bottom third eye lid "pops" out and becomes inflamed. It's also known as cherry eye. In a ca$e like this, a $urgical procedure is performed to put the prolap$ed gland back into it'$ original po$ition. (did ya'll catch that...lol) We were referred by our vet Dr John Stevenson, to take her to Dr. Penny Cooley, who is located at The Eye Clinic For Animals in Olympia.  She is amazing, as is her office staff.  They are super friendly, courteous, clean, and organized.  I was so impressed, that I wanted to be one of their patients.  Our Lily was able to come home several hours after her surgery and she looks beautiful.  No more "cherry eye".  Of course she's on antibiotics twice a day, and she still has to wear the "cone of shame" for 3 more weeks.  She doesn't seem to mind it though, and I have to say that our TV reception has improved greatly since she arrived back home.  One thing is for sure, this little setback hasn't slowed this little dyamo down in the slightest.  And once the cone is off, I'm sure she'll be back to chewing on the furniture and tearing up the throw pillows again in no time. So thanks everyone for all the thoughts, and prayers. 

Have a Great day!