Enjoying Our Hens

The weather is unseasonably warm for January.  Our Easter Egger hens had taken a break from laying, but they are laying again.  Their pretty blue-green eggs are lovely.

The new chicks are now about six months old.  Our daughter has five and I kept three: a buff orpington, an astrolorp and a speckled sussex.  Yesterday I found our first brown egg, but am not sure who has layed it.  They were in a seperate house which was right on the side of our Easter eggers.  They gradually worked out their pecking order, and now they are happily living together in our large hen house.

I would let all of the chickens out to roam the area whenever I would sit with them.  I found this to be a very healing time for me and the hens seemed to love it, also. We got very comfortable doing this until one day last month.  I walked a few yards away to get some items to clean the hen house when I heard lots of noise and saw what looked to be a huge chicken trying to catch one of our hens.  We have alot of trees and a hawk had been sitting on a limb, waiting to find dinner.  All chickens went into hiding and it took about an hour to locate them all, but they were all safe.

I know that this is a natural thing in nature, but I knew that I had to do something to keep the girls safe.  I made a chicken run, about 6 by 8 by 5 feet with PVC pipe and chicken wire.  It is just high enough that I can get in with them and sit and enjoy their company and take photos.  That is exactly what we did yesterday afternoon.

It was difficult to take photos because the three new hens wanted to stay and eat the grass right at my feet! I laughed alot!

This is Blacky, our new Astrolorp hen.  She has such beautiful feathers!

This is Goldie, our new Buff Orpington.

And Speckles, our Speckled Sussex.

She is one of our Easter Eggers.  They are difficult to tell apart, so they are all called "Girls"

Our hens seem content and I am able to continue to enjoy their company.  They are enjoying my harvested chickweed and turnip greens and slightly imperfect pecan halves during this time of the year.  This is indeed fun!!

New Chicks

We currently have five easter egger hens in our backyard. This has inspired one of our daughters and her three young sons to start raising chickens. She built a very nice wooden coop and fenced yard for her three hens, but wanted a few more for her birthday. We decided to split an order of eight female chicks from My Pet Chicken online: two Buff Orpington, two Speckled Sussex, two Welsummer, and two Silver Laced Wyandotte. On shipping day, I was called and told that they were not able to send me the Silver Laced Wyandotte, so I had to change my order for those two. We were very disappointed, but I ordered two Australorp chicks instead.

Our daughter and grandsons decided on which one of each type they wanted and they each named one of their chicks. I am caring for all eight at my home until they are ready to move outside. We will try to gradually introduce them to our hens and hope that they will be accepted into the flock.

Echinacea Seeds

Our echinacea plants are blooming, but are also busy setting seeds.

Fresh Fig Preserves

Fig preserves are so common here, that I had not thought of sharing my recipe. I like to remove the small stem part of the fig, but some people prefer leaving it on the fig.

Fig Preserves

For every quart of fresh figs, I add two cups of sugar. I do this until all figs are measured. So my recipe is one part figs to one-half part sugar. I showly cook the figs and add a little fresh lemon juice to taste. I think this adds a nice touch to the flavor. Slowly bring this to a boil and let the figs cook on a low fire for about an hour or more. Ladel hot figs and syrup into sterilized jars. Enjoy!!

July is Fig Time in South Louisiana

It is often said that the figs begin to ripen around July fourth in South Louisiana. I was very concerned about our crop since we had been experiencing a drought. Many of our figs were not as full as usual, but we are getting a decent harvest.

In order to harvest our crop, we get up early in the morning and pick some before the birds eat all of the ripe figs. We pick again in late afternoon. We have some for ourselves and some to bring to the Farmers' Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

I love fig preserves and cook some with the whole figs and some with the figs chopped. We do have a tree that produces very large figs and I usually chop these. I personally prefer the chopped fig preserves. Often when filling the jars, I have a little left over syrup. I like to take this syrup and use it to make a pecan pie.

Gabrielle's Pecan and Fig Juice Pie

3 fresh farm eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup fig syrup
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup pecans
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell

Beat eggs thorougly with sugar. Add fig syrup and melted butter and mix. Fold in pecans. Pour into pie shell and bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) for 30 minutes. Lower oven to 300 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes. Cool before cutting. Enjoy!!

Honey Bees

It has really been very hot and dry for South Louisiana in early June.
Wildlife, such as the honey bee are enjoying our small backyard pond. We have a small biological filter, and they are able to sit and drink from it.

My husband plants sunflowers and wildflowers every year. This photo was taken in an open field at our farm. When I viewed my photo on my computer, I was so surprised to see the honey bee. It is a pleasure to watch nature at work.

Cranes Nesting in South Louisiana

The weather is really getting hot and we are in the mist of a drought here in South Louisiana. I took my camera with me to our farm near Jefferson Island. My husband and I took a ride about a mile down the road to view the cranes nesting in the ponds at Rip Van Winkle Gardens at Jefferson Island.

We were fascinated by the colorful Roseate Spoonbill. They were nesting in pairs in the cypress trees. I wasn't able to get a very good photo, but this one, at the water's edge, shows its fascinating face.

There are many different kinds of water birds nesting together. The varieties and colors were beautiful. Just what I needed to help lift my spirits!!