sorry for the silence... cows?

I am very sorry that I have not been posting lately, the winter season is a very busy time, the chickens eat more but dont produce nearly as much.


Are these cows? Yes thats right cows. The Gibb farm has been entertaining the idea of getting cattle, the scottish highland breed to be exact. This particular breed can live on almost nothing, the only need hay,just hay, to survive, and that is only when it gets below 19 degrees Fahrenheit!!!
These are the uses that make them such a good choice;
You can use their hair to make wool and their horns to make bugles and the Queen of England herself eats their beef, you can also milk them. A very multi-purpose cow.
They kind of look like some prehistoric species of cattle, something that you would see in 'Jurassic Park' or something, right?

Hm...well its good to have some element of surprise in getting a new animal dont you think?

Thanksgiving into winter...

Well I hope that all of you readers have enjoyed your Thanksgiving gatherings, and gave lots of thanks for all of the food - I know I ate way too much!

The pumpkin pie was delicious, the turkey was juicy and the mashed potatoes.....well it was all just so good.

Now we are on to another season - Winter.
Winter is a great time for me!
We get lots of snow, we cut our Christmas tree from the woods, spend warm evenings by the fire, and so many other things that make it so much fun.
Yet, along with the all the good things, there is a downside to this winter season, namely, the cold mornings gathering the eggs! I can almost feel the cold wind wicking its way through my clothes - chilling me to the bone.
I am probably going to make the chickens some elaborate chicken snow fort so that they don't freeze half to death, given there is enough snow to make it.
Did you know that snow is a very good insulator?
Well, this winter scene I'm posting is giving me the chills and a craving for hot coco!
Bye all, see you next post!!

Sorry, prices are being raised.

Unfortunately I have to raise my prices from $2.25 to $3.00 per dozen.
If you want to know why, I'll tell you:
I have been keeping a notebook to track all my expenses and my sales, and after a month of record keeping, it turned out that instead of making a profit, I was actually LOSING 75 cents each week.
I am trying to save up for horse-back riding lessons and, well I can't pay someone for that with minus 75 cents. :-(
I know that $3.00 for a dozen eggs might seem like a lot.
In the grocery store you can buy eggs that are cheaper. But, the chickens at Little Rhody Egg Farm (for example) are kept inside a building with lots & lots of chickens crowded together and no space to roam. My hens have everywhere to roam on the property - including visiting me on my porch. And they get lots of love from me.
So think about it, & if you don't agree, just tell me about it in the comments.
Goodnight all.
-HG

A Memorial to Max and Marley

The ducks have come and gone on the farm.
Their names were Max and Marley; Max was the girl and Marley was the boy. Their life came to an end sadly and violently, for they were killed by some cruel beast. The ducks were friendly and I wish that they hadn't been killed. But nature took its course.

This is how it happened:
When I got home from the store with mom one day, I saw only Marley down with the chickens. I walked over to the other side of the house and saw, to my dismay, a headless duck lying on the lawn. I was so sad I could barely shout, "Mom something got the duck!".
The next day, Marley was looking all over for Max, quacking his whispery quack. Sadly, he too was attacked. I found him in the lower field terribly wounded. Mom, Zach and I tried to nurse him back to health. We cleaned and treated his wounds, laid him in a sled padded with hay and a nice warm towel, covered him with more warm towels, and gave him water to drink through a turkey baster, but it just wasn't good enough. Marley's wounds were too severe.
He passed away two and a half hours later.
This post is a memorial to the birds that I was honored to own.

the chicken hawk

For the past 2 days a Chicken Hawk has been pestering and eyeballing my chickens - to eat them and the guinea fowl.
We have seen him/her multiple times. At first, we thought that it was a juvenile bald eagle. Thank google it wasn't! (oops, Freudian slip ) I mean thank goodness.
The Chicken Hawk, otherwise known as the Cooper's Hawk, has been flying around the property and perching on trees in our yard. Earlier this morning, I heard loud squabbling from the chickens and ran to the front windows to see what was causing all the fuss.
I saw a Cooper's Hawk flying around.
When I ran outside, the hawk got frightened and went flying down to the water area.
I lost sight of it after that .

I'm not sure how many of you know that 2 of the guinea fowl have, sadly, passed away (a.k.a. been either eaten or killed). I am not sure whether or not the Cooper is the culprit. Hmmmn.
What do you think?

Everyday Down at the Farm

Many of you want to know what is going on "down on the farm," like how I get the eggs and such.

Most of my days start with me waking up and running downstairs to stand in front of the fire (it's getting cold these mornings in November).

After that, I go in the mudroom to put my boots and jacket on and then, outside to let the chickens and guinea fowl out of the coop; they also roost in the chicken coop with the chickens.
When they are all out (including Henrietta), I scoop about 2 lbs. of grain and scatter half of it on the ground and half in their feeder. Then I go into the chicken coop to collect eggs and fill the water dispenser (if it's empty). Usually, at 8 o'clock in the morning, there are only about 8 or 9 eggs. Most days a hen is in the first nesting box with an egg under her - when that happens, I slide my hand under her wing and take the warm egg and put it in my pocket (I often forget the egg basket).
After I am done in the coop, I run over to the horses and let them out of their stalls.
But before I go back inside, I spend some quality time with my hens.

The start of a business. (and a blog)

Hello everyone. As most of you know, I have a business.
It is an egg business.
I have 16 laying hens, and one of them is, of course, Henrietta. As a chick, she was (unfortunately) crushed by a rock. She has healed well, except for the fact that she limps. And when I say limp, I mean LIMP!

So, back to the start of a business.
I didn't start off getting 14 eggs a day, it started with one, then two, then three, and so on. Now, I end up (usually) with 5 and 1/2 dozen by the end of each week. I like to sell all of them, too.

I hope this blog will help sell eggs and keep people informed at whats going on at Hannah's Henhouse.