The Hunnie Pot

It's Official!

I'm a chicken mommy!
We are proud to say that we now are the proud parents of 19 baby chicks.

We had about half of the eggs hatch, and unfortunately, we have lost three along the way.

One of those was one of our four "special chicks", dubbed Leonard. Of course, Ben came up with this name. He couldn't walk straight and turned in circles when he tried to walk. Ben thought it was quite humorous. Me, not so much! We still have one Leonard that is not walking well, but the other two chicks, with the help of a bandaid, are doing great.

This little lady had a non responsive leg when she was born, but now she is walking like a champ.

Of course, we aren't going to keep all of these chicks. My coop is pretty large, but I think it will max out at 15 or 16 chickens. I would like to have several different breeds, so I will only keep 5 or 6 of these babies.

I have found that you can tell by some of their markings if they are males or females. I don't know how accurate this is, but they are supposed to be girlies if they have dark legs.

I think this little chica, is in fact, a chica! I think!

Also during my research, I discovered that I think my Dominique chickens may be Barred Rocks. They are confused often, and I think my chicken man may have been confused!!

This is the Dominique (or Dominecker)

http://www.purelypoultry.com/images/chickens/dominique.jpg

This is the Barred Rock

Not much difference, huh?

So my little ones are six days old, very messy, loud, and have already moved out of the house! They now reside in the garage. Those little independent chickies!

Hard to tell, but they are getting feathers too!

Labor Pains

It's official. I now know what daddy's feel like when their wives are in labor and they are waiting on the birth of their infants.

We are at day 22 and still no chickens.

However, after a million visits to my incubator, I do have some activity. I had a little movin' and shakin' yesterday afternoon. I was really excited about that, however what was more exciting happened this morning at 5:15. I thought I was hallucinating, but no, I wasn't.... I have PEEPING!! They are peeping from within their shells!!! Can I call work and tell them I can't come in because my eggs are about to hatch?!?

The Big Day

After 21 days of gestation, today is the day that I become a chicken mom. Hopefully. Two a day turnings and careful temperature monitoring will hopefully pay off on this very day. However, as my dad told me a few days ago, I am trying not to "count my chickens before they hatch". At this point, I am hoping to just have one hatch!

We "candled" the eggs a few days after incubation to check the fertility. My instructions said to cut a hole in a shoebox and shine a light through with the egg sitting on the hole, but we decided to do it our own way. We simply turned off all the lights in the house and held up a mini mag light to see if we had embryos within. Much to my dismay, we had several that Ben said were no go's, but being the girl that I am, I couldn't just throw them away because there just might be a chance. Ben says I am a typical woman. But hey, there just may be a chance!

I didn't take any pictures of the first candling, but we did it a few days ago, and what a difference a few days makes. I still say that some of the no go's that Ben wanted to throw away were miraculously alive.

Ok. Here is what you don't want it to look like.

See? There is nothing in there. Nada. Just a big empty egg. No baby chicks here.

Now this one looks a little promising!

We have a chick! We actually saw him/her move too! I was so excited!

Hopefully they will make their appearance today and do away with my fears of being a bad incubator mom. Stay tuned!

Me and Kate Gosselin

After much begging, pleading, and reminding Ben that Ashlee's husband got her chickens, he finally caved. I "received" chickens for my birthday and I thought it would be much like the rest of my IOU birthday presents - nonexistent. However, Ben pulled through on the birthday present and got me some chickens!

I was flipping channels last night and spotted Kate Plus 8 and couldn't resist checking it out. Ironically, Kate was boasting about her new chicken coop and her chickens. I used to like Kate on the old show and sympathized with her a wee bit. However last night, she was on a rampage! And most importantly, what is up with that hair?!? Back to the chickens. Kate's chickens are already laying eggs.

Mine look like this.

Yes, I am incubating eggs.

No, I didn't magically photoshop this picture and make you think there are more than there are.

Yes, there are 42 eggs.

No, you didn't read that wrong. Forty two. F-o-r-t-y t-w-o. Count them.
Forty two. FORTY TWO.

Never one to do anything half way, my husband thought forty two sounded like a safe number for me to mother for the next 21 days. Apparently, the likelihood that all of them will hatch is slim to none, and this mother hen is going to feel like a failure. There will also be some roosters in there too. My luck, I will have forty two roosters waking me up at the first sight of daybreak. My neighbors are going to love me!!!

I just hope I can be a successful incubator mother. I already forgot to turn them last night. They have to be turned twice a day, at the same time every day. They are quite the demanding little eggs. For now they are set at a cozy 99.5 degrees and waiting to hatch.

Hopefully by the end of this I will have some chickens that look like this:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxXqb3CR1Iidi9PHqb1pcWAemhCFQtEKSUn31dHd-7nh-F6Kg3fk8pbEJe_7UXPt7Wu6A4iijh1fAz2nY6fRDqt0AVBqJbfnF_5PLkzYZ1Nh3iVyaVIVce8TPHKAH9hSodgycF9hw43s1e/s200/dominique+chicken.jpg

Stay tuned. Hopefully this will not end in tragedy!

Discovery Museum

We recently visited the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga and it is quite the experience! I tagged along with my nieces and nephews, their moms, and my mother in law. It was a fun trip and if you have a children's museum close to you, you should definitely check it out. The kids had a blast running around and checking out everything. While I had fun watching them play, I think it is definitely one of those places that you appreciate much more when you have kids. It was pretty wild in there!

There was a giant bath tub filled with floating toys. They had cute little aprons you could wear, but this one was too busy for one of those. His mom was smart and brought extra clothes instead!

They had giant Tic Tac Toe...

and a boat - the hit of the trip.
We were full steam ahead, reversing, and taking razor sharp turns on a dime.

There was a craft section where you could make a spider with cut out circles and pipe cleaners,

creative art stations,

and my personal favorite, a kitchen with a play refrigerator that lights up when you open it. I'll take one!

I know this is pitiful, but I had to do it. We had some major issues about who was going to drive and this picture makes me smile. I know, I'm a terrible aunt for taking a picture of the crying baby, but this is a classic. I think he won!

For the record, this little guy was the happiest, most content baby there. He is a cutie!

If you are close to Chattanooga, check out the Museum. It makes for a great day trip and the aquarium is right around the corner. Along with a cupcake shop and a Mellow Mushroom that we may or may not have indulged in. Can you tell I like food?!?

Yumminess in a Jar

While at my parent's house in Georgia, I was able to pick blueberries to bring home with me. One of my dad's friends has about fifteen blueberry bushes and they were LOADED.

I literally ran my hand down the branch and just put my bucket underneath. It might as well have been Christmas that day (minus the sweltering 100 degree heat index) I was so excited. One of my favorite things about summer produce is making jams and preserves.

Blair got in on the action too and I think she was equally excited about the fact that we were picking blueberries in the blazing sun. She was a good sport about it, but was so excited to get back in the air conditioned car.

She was even generous and gave away some of her loot.

My blueberries now look like this:

and are housed in my precious jars.

I have used this recipe for several years now and have had great success with it!

Wild Blueberry Preserves

4 cups fresh or frozen wild blueberries
4 cups sugar
1 pouch liquid fruit pectin
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Pour half of the blueberries into large Dutch oven; gently mash to just break up. Stir in sugar and remaining blueberries. Heat over low heat, stirring often, until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to full rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Stir in fruit pectin, lemon rind and juice; return to boil.

Pour into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Cover with prepared lids; screw on bands. Boil in boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. Let cool on rack. Check seals. Refrigerate any jars with lids that have not sealed. Store in a cool, dark, dry place for up to 1 year. Makes 4 cups.

I have peach too!!

The Right Moves

I recently was able to spend a few days in Dreamland, aka my sister's hometown. I affectionately dubbed her town Dreamland years ago because of the many things happy there. It really is a surreal little town and I love when I visit there.

1. They have the taco truck. This truck drives around the farms during the summer and these coolers contain the best Mexican rice and beans that will ever enter your mouth.

2. This is what you see driving down the road. And I'm not talking about one or two. This is the traffic in Dreamland.

3. The taco truck.

4. These two live there.

5. The taco truck.

6. They have convertible buses for watermelon picking.

7. Did I mention the taco truck??

In all seriousness, I love spending time with my sister. She always has something fun for us to do and it makes me realize how much I miss them when I return to Alabama. I wish I got to see them more often!

For the grand finale, and for your viewing pleasure, I proudly unveil the new Beyonce video featuring Blair. Enjoy!
**I have no hair because I have been trying for days and can't get this video to rotate. Until I find a solution to my video skills, please turn your head or computer screen. Sorry :) ***

The theme is Baby Shower!

I have been super busy baking and traveling lately! I am LOVING having the summer off and of course, it has flown by. I made more cookies - this time the theme is baby shower!! So far, I have been able to design them how I want them to look and I have fun creating my little artwork.

Carriages,