Recently, we’ve had hens going broody left and right. Fred built a box that he attached to the wall of the big coop – it’s got a screen floor, and when a hen goes broody he puts her in the box with food and water for a day or two. Since she can’t get heat beneath her, the broody instinct goes away (or something – I’m not completely clear just exactly how it works, only that it usually does). There were a couple of hens who refused to be broken, though, so Fred brought them to the blue coop – where the 34 chickens we hatched at the beginning of March, and the 7 we hatched three weeks before that are currently living. Now the blue coop appears to be the maternity ward/ little chicken coop/ sick ward (since that’s where Charlie lives ever since she hurt her wing). Last night we realized another hen had gone broody – this time a Rhode Island Red – so Fred added her to the maternity coop and stuck three eggs under her.
I have to say, without any obnoxious roosters around, it’s kind of peaceful over there. The broody hens – the white Silkie and a Buff Orpington, one of the hens from our original batch of 12, and now the Rhode Island Red – spend the majority of their time on their nests, taking the occasional break to run outside, scratch around, and then back they go into the coop to sit on their eggs.
No, we don’t need more chickens, but when a hen is insisting upon being broody, what can you do? I think Fred’s got each of them on three or four eggs, and when he candled the eggs the Silkie was sitting on, they all appear to be viable and growing little baby chicks. We’ll see what we end up with in a few more weeks.
And speaking of baby chicks, out of the 41 Copper Black Marans eggs we received in the mail, we ended up with 11 chicks. One of them died last night. Since we’d decided that if we got 10 or more Marans we’d go ahead with building a flock of them, it appears that we’ll be doing so. Marans lay dark eggs, so this way we can keep Charlie in the Marans yard and not worry about mixing her eggs in with the Marans eggs.
I know, fascinating, right?
Here – this is what it was like in the chicken yard when we had too goddamn many roosters – if you watch carefully, you should see at least two instances of chicken sex.
Untitled from Robyn Anderson on Vimeo.
One thing I discovered about making hamburger rolls from the Amish White Bread dough is that it’s really heavier than you’d like a hamburger roll to be – BUT if you cut the roll in half and toast it, then put some Brummel and Brown on it, it is FABULOUS. I’ve been eating half a toasted roll with my scrambled eggs this week for breakfast, and it’s really damn good.
Which reminds me of a question I had, o bread bakers out there – just out of curiosity, what (if anything) would happen if I let my dough rise an additional time? That is, following the recipe, you make the dough, you let it rise, you punch it down, divide it, and let it rise again before baking it. What would happen if you punched it down a second time and let it rise yet again before baking it? Anything?
Just curious. Inquiring minds and all, y’know.
So, the great freedom-letting has begun! Yesterday I put up the baby gates (one stacked atop the other to provide a daunting barrier that the kittens could climb if they realized it, but no one’s realized it just yet) in the hallway so that they can go into the upstairs bathroom in addition to their room. At first they were AMAZED at the bathroom. They crowded in there, they sniffed around, they examined every inch of the bathroom, they said “Did you SEE the toilet scrubber? You gotta check that out, it’s CRAYZEE, man!” Now they investigate the bathroom from time to time, but spend most of their time in their room, still.
The upside to having the baby gates up, so they can see out into the rest of the hallway is that they can see me coming and it’s not such a surprising event for them. Earlier today I went upstairs to hang out with them, and they were napping. They lifted their heads when they heard me coming, then went back to sleep.
In a few more days I’ll move the gates further down the hallway so they’ll have access to my room, and then I suspect the fun and games will begin (and I suspect my comforter will have little claw marks in it in no time flat). After about a week of having that much access, I’ll move the baby gates to the bottom of the stairs, so they’ll have the staircase to run up and down, too.
(I am skeptical whether Beulah will be able to get up and down those stairs, though!)
Please note that Beulah fits entirely in my hand.
More kitten pics over at L&H.
Stinkerbelle and Tommy, trying to get some quality snuggling time in. In the background, Boogie is the usual class act.
Previously
2008: Now if I can just convince him to get going on that closet for the corner of the computer room….
2007: “What the fuck did you DO?” I accused Sugarbutt, who looked up at me with the most innocent face in existence.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: Stupid Steven Cojocaru.
2003: I think I speak for most Alabamans in this area when I say “Uh, what the FUCK?!”
2002: sights from my walk
2001: I am SO PISSED OFF.
2000: It’s not stealing if I give them credit, right? Uh… right?
I just commented on yesterday’s entry. Yeah, you definitely need to keep Beulah.
Beulah looks like a little space alien, but in a cute, cute, cute way! How do you keep from smooshing her to death?
Yeah, I agree with Sue!
It is decided then, Beulah stays at Crooked Acres.
Aren’t you glad it’s decided? 🙂 She is too cute – is she a little crosseyed?
My first thought today was that you simply cannot send Beulah off. Ever. And obviously others totally agree. You know you love her!
I had a Beulah comment too – is it okay for her to be that tiny? It sounds like she’s still gaining weight, but she just seems so itty bitty.
Beulah pictures make me want to hop into my car and drive to Alabama!! Too cute!
Wow chicken sex is over awfully quick isn’t it? Girl chicken barely has time to brace herself and “think of England” and it’s all over. Also I agree with the general concensus-pretty tiny Beulah needs to stay. How much trouble could such a cute little peanut be?
I’m with Annette, chicken sex is darn quick! I think the hens should protest and strike. No foreplay, no love!
Old recipes used to always tell you to let the dough rise, punch it down, rise again and then shape it and let it rise and bake. I do this even with new recipes that don’t specify it because I think it makes for better flavor. (I also think that modern recipes use twice as much yeast as necessary so that newbies won’t have failures. Less yeast+more rising time=better tasting bread)
So, the only thing that will happen is you’ll (maybe) get better tasting bread.
I’m with Annette and Amy – chicken sex is over in a flash – reminds me of my ex:)And Beulah has the cutest wiggly eyes, doesn’t she?
Robyn, that little Beulah is so adorable. She looks so fragile so my heart says you must keep her and love her and protect her forever. Also, when I hear her name is reminds me of the times I stayed with my maternal grandparents on their farm and my grandmother would sing a hymn that went, “I’ve got home in Beulah-land that outshines the sun”. Has anyone ever heard of this song? Such good memories from those days on the farm where my grandmother raised chickens and my grandfather milked cows and had a milk route. I was a city girl and loved staying on their farm. You are living my childhood dreams, Robyn.
I’m not sure what would happen to the bread with three risings. You should give it a try and report back 🙂 I use that Amish recipe, although I can’t remember the last time I made it as-is. I put way less sugar and I use at least half wheat flour, and I don’t make loaves at all, I make rolls every time. A couple of months ago I bought a bag of graham flour at Safeway, and used half white flour and half graham and those rolls were SO good, they were fluffy and flavorful and the outside had a very thin very light crispiness. Beulah is the cutest little bug, but I’m still in love with Jasper, grey/black/brown tabbies are my favorite.
Yesterday I forgot to add a note about your dry hands: Cornhusker’s Lotion. Ask at your local pharmacy if they carry it.
Jillybean: I’m familiar with the song, but have always heard it as “Glory Land” (aka heaven). (Google turns up references for both, to my surprise – I thought it’d be an individual adaptation.) Here’s a wiki article that explains how Beulah Land comes to equal heaven:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beulah_Land
Interesting!
if you punch your dough too much, i’s going to spring up and kick your ass. then it will be eating you with some brummel and brown.
i can’t bake, i even burn those crappy brown and serve rolls!
i second the cornhuskers lotion. when my son worked at a tire shop, they bought the stuff by he case and even the most manly of men had baby soft hands.
Everyday Beulah moves one paw closer to getting kept. Inch by inch. Every time I see a picture of her I giggle because she’s so strange looking but yet, totally adorable.
French bread typically calls for three risings because it has no sugar and takes longer to rise properly. (This site seems to go into more detail.) So with regular bread it might over-rise and then deflate in the last rising–but maybe instead it would just be fluffier and nicer, you never know!
Being a stubborn chick at heart, I held off trying the Amish bread you were praising until this week, when I broke down and made 2 loaves. It’s different in a couple of ways than my usual bread recipe, but still – it’s the best slicing bread I’ve ever made.
Don’t know about a double rise – I’ll have to experiment.
And has anyone tried making cinnamon rolls with it?
If you get a chance, go to breadworld.com and check out the regional winners from State Fairs – there’s a recipe for Dragon’s Breath bread – it’s delicious. Garlic and cheese, yum!
PS – remind me again why hens being broody is a bad thing? I know someone asked but I don’t remember the answer and don’t feel like googling (and getting sucked into six more hours of fascinating but time-sucking clickage).
I’m going to guess – and be kind to me if I’m wrong, because I’m totally ignorant, chicken-wise – that a broody hen doesn’t lay any more eggs because her body/hormones/whatever chickens have is focused on hatching the eggs that are already underneath her, so it’s undesirable for them to be broody because then they stop laying?
http://www.snorgtees.com/catnip-p-580.html?utm_source=MS_SS&utm_medium=B&utm_content=300by250_CatnipArtLandingPage_1&utm_campaign=MS_SS
I saw this shirt and I don’t know why I thought of you.
Every time I see a photo of Beulah, I’m VERY relieve that you don’t live within driving distance of Montana. Because I’d be at your house in a heartbeat to take her home with me!