Eggopotamus

We were goofing off the last time we ate this, which is how we came up with the name Eggopotamus. Actually it was me that called it this. It's a spin off tortilla de patata.

Eggopotamus

3 medium potatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
8 eggs
2 T butter
1/2 t each garlic powder & onion powder
Salt & pepper to taste

Peel your potatoes, then grate them onto a plate lined with paper towels. Spread them into an even layer & press more paper towels on top of them. This gets them as dry as possible for frying. While your potatoes are drying between paper towels, crack your eggs into a bowl & whisk with spices.

In a well-seasoned cast iron skillet, melt your butter. Add onions in a layer & spread your shredded potatoes atop the onions. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Fry on medium heat until browned on the bottom. Lay a plate on top & carefully, but quickly, flip the potatoes & onions onto the plate. Slide back into the pan. Fry until browned. Add eggs, fry until they are done on the bottom, then flip again onto a plate. Slide into pan & cook until done through. You may also put them under a low broiler rather than doing the flip if you prefer.

Cut into wedges & serve.

Rabbit in the Crock Pot

In the comments section, I was asked for a rabbit recipe. This is a favourite in our household. It was originally used on an older doe, and I went with the crockpot method, as I knew she'd be a bit tougher. We left her whole & cut her up after she'd simmered all day.

Rabbit in the Crock Pot

• 2 rabbits, whole or cut into serving pieces
• salt and pepper
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes (30-32oz)
  
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 cup dry white wine

Salt and pepper the rabbit to taste. Place the rabbit in the crock pot. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and pour over rabbit stirring to coat. Cover and cook on low for 6- 8 hours. Serve and Enjoy!

Butchering Day

Today I've butchered 2 of my 5 month old rabbits. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm far behind on so many projects. These rabbits should have been done 2 months ago. I have 2 more rabbits to butcher today, then I'm caught up (for now) on rabbits. My other batch will be ready for butcher in about 4 weeks or so.

I learned how to do rabbits a few months ago when a friend of ours came to show me. It took awhile since he was explaining everything & I was learning & asking questions. The first rabbit I did this morning took over an hour. My 2nd took just 36 minutes. I'm hoping they go quicker & quicker as I get more accustomed to doing this.

It's not all fun & games!!!

This is a tally so far. We're not done yet, but I wanted to get this logged.

This year's additions:

• 7 baby bunnies (1st litter)
• 5 baby bunnies (2nd litter)
• 10 more baby bunnies (3rd litter)
• 21 White Plymouth rocks for meat
• 2 barred rocks
• 2 easter eggers
• 2 Rhode Island reds
• 2 silkie bantams
• 3 turkey poults
• 1 rouen duckling
• 5 chicks hatched by Floppy
• 5 chicks hatched by Goldrush
• LOTS of seedlings

This year's losses:

• 1 adult doe rabbit obtained August 09 (she refused to breed)
• 7 baby bunnies (1st litter; 1st time mom, and she killed them)
• 5 baby bunnies at birth, 1 several weeks later (2nd litter)
• 1 silkie bantam (pecked to death)
• 3 turkey poults (mycotoxicosis)
• 1 rouen duckling (didn't take to eating or drinking in the first 24h)
• LOTS of seedlings

This year's miracles:

• We had TWINS hatch in Goldrush's batch. TWIN CHICKS!!! This is a Very Rare Thing!!!
• Hubba got an assistant manager
• Hubba allowed me to bring a new kitten onto the home
  

This year's obstacles:

• A death in the family
• A family member that cracked some vertebrae in his neck & spine
• A family member that cut off his thumb
• A family member that escaped murder in a home invasion
• A sewage flood in our home
• The ENTIRE five of us coming down with the stomach flu within 38 hours of each other
• Hubba lost his assistant manager

This year's WAY behind projects:

• New rabbit hutches
• Weeding the garden
• The garden
• Butchering animals
• Schooling
• Painting
• Fixing the chicken coop & run

This year's accomplishments:

• New flooring downstairs
• Front porch restained
• I have ended my daycare business
• I have a part time job that will net more take home pay in about 1/5 of the time
• I have another part time job as a greeting card rep that I do about once a month for one store & quarterly for another
• I stayed out of the mental institution just one more year

A Miracle on 1/10th!

Do the math:

We had FIVE eggs left. There's still an egg in the nest.

We have FIVE babies

WE HAD TWINS!!!! That's almost unheard of- twins hatching out alive!!

A brief snippet from a 4-H site says:

"1. Can two chicks hatch from one egg?


Yes. It is a rare occurrence. When two chicks hatch from the same egg, the egg usually has two yolks. Usually, one embryo out competes the other and only one chick survives to hatch. Many time both embryos die before hatch."

Never in.my.life did I think I'd be blessed enough to see this!!!

More pics!!!

If I don't throw treats into the run before entering the coop, this happens (yes, that is a view from the door to the coop barely open):


Remember the babies born in March?? These are the 3 girls. One looks JUST like her Daddy, only her spots are a little lighter.


And these are the 9-day old new babies. Their eyes are ALREADY OPEN!!!


Here is a MUCH better pic of that gorgeous cockerel. His tail feathers are finally coming back in. When Momma & babies were reintroduced to the flock, a couple of them would wander off. She'd bark at them, but would stay with the majority of the chicks unless she HAD to leave the larger group. So little mistah got all his bum feathers pecked of, LOL. I also love the colouring of the other one in the pic. Guess what? That's a cockerel as well.....


Here are 2 more of the broody's babies. The black is shaping up to be a girl, and I think the little tan & cream one is as well. The tan & cream has beautiful colouring & pattern, too. She seems to be getting some black (little) spots on her now as well.

8 weeks 1 day

Our baby chickies (from the broody hen) are 8 weeks, 1 day old today. They are cornish hen size, like what you see in the grocery store. I plan on keeping them a bit longer. We have 2 cockerels, for sure.

Here he is in the middle (from top to bottom)

And here he is in all of his beautiful cockerel glory.

Oh HOW I wish I could keep him. He is BEAUTIFUL!!! I'll get a better pic of him on the real camera soon. This was taken with my cell and he wouldn't stay still.

And the layer of this one is.....

Well..... We're not sure. We *think* it might be Floppy's egg, but I thought she'd been laying for more than a week already. Maybe so, maybe not, but she'd been in the nest box several times. This was found on the floor of the coop, as was another one.....

That's a nickel for size comparison ;-)

Quick update on the funny farm

After the baby bunny debacle, we lost 2 more. The 5 left are in with Momma & she has resumed her Good Momma status. Yay!

The chicks are all doing well.

Of the 3 poults, we've lost one white. After getting the buns situated & everything became calm again, I was checking the brooders & found a dead poult. No warning, just..... gone. I noticed the other 2 were acting very strangely. Lethargic, watery poops, listless & EXTREMELY thirsty! I immediately brought them into the house into a makeshift brooder, aka ICU. I was able to use google & narrow their illness down to mycotoxicosis. Saturday night I almost culled the white, but Hubba talked me out of it. The poult was convulsing & his poop was pure clear liquid. He had zero control over his body, and the poor thing couldn't stand. He had even quit eating & drinking. I decided to force feed both of them some vitamin & apple cider vinegar water and pray for the best.

The next day I started out feeding them the same water mixture, and later in the day after the convulsing had quit, I started alternating between the water mix & baby rice cereal mixed with milk. I scrambled an egg & mixed in some dairy kefir & apple cider vinegar. By early evening they were FIGHTING me on the force feeding. By Monday evening their poops had become a mix of clear liquid & white liquid. There was no more convulsing & they began chirping quietly. They were still a bit listless & lethargic, so I added some rolled oats & dry rice cereal to their PICU (poultry ICU). They weren't touching it. Before bed I added a smidge of the feed they were accustomed to & by morning, it was gone. Every.little.bit. Tuesday morning brought the sweet songs a poult sings, solid poops & hunger. They were up on their feet, they were once again interested in my rings (oo, shiny!), they were eating as soon as I added food. They were even FIGHTING over morsels!!! Last night at 3am, we were awakened by the VERY.LOUD.singing.....

For fear that it was the feed as mentioned in the above link (as well as copied below), we've decided to begin getting the animals over to homemade feed. It's been on my list, but this turkey thing has me ready to jump into it!! I've already begun on a small scale with the poults- rolled oats, dry rice baby cereal, kelp, hulled sunflower seed. I'm currently waiting on some prices from a local store to order some bulk bags of stuff. I've found several recipes & pending prices, will decide on the mix we can afford that we feel is right.

So as of today, we have 2 healthy poults of 3, 5 healthy baby bunnies of 10 & an urban homesteader in need of some calgon.

MYCOTOXICOSIS

Alflatoxin and many other mycotoxins are produced by fungi growing in raw materials or finished feed. The toxins are very stable and remain in the feed indefinitely. Major effects vary from slight ill-health to substantial mortality. Symptoms include reduced appetite which may be due to unpalatability of the feed, lethargy, diarrhoea, thirst, prostration, poor growth, reduced egg production and immunosuppression. There is frequently severe damage to liver, kidneys and other organs. Diagnosis of disease in the birds may be difficult or impossible. Products are available to prevent mould growth in the stored feed. No effective treatment but vitamin supplements may be helpful.

Baby Bunnies

This morning, 6/12/2010, Bunnicula birthed 10 babies..... outside of the nest box. She didn't even nest this time, and after she had them, she freaked & was running around the cage. We got the 6 bunnies we could reach with ease into the nest box, and then I was able to reach 2 of the 4 that somehow got stuck up under the wood & between that & the hardware cloth. Bunnicula proceeded to jump in & out of the nest box trampling the babies. 2 more were even further back & I had to cut the wire to get to them. My hand is all cut up now, but the babies were out. They were SOOOO cold & we were so worried she would kill them by stepping on them, I brought them in to warm them. After they were warmed, I took 4 back to the hutch to see how she'd react. I slathered vicks's vapo rub on her nose, and went about my business. The 4 were fine about an hour later, so I checked the buns inside. 3 of those were gone :-( I took the remaining 3 back out to the next box & will continue to check on them throughout the day.

I did make a run to the store to purchase some items. If the babies are not fed by morning, I'll need to make formula for them in an attempt to save them. From what I understand it's going to be near impossible to rear them by hand, but not totally impossible.

The white Easter Egger chick

I picked this little "girl" up & she immediately decided she wanted to snuggle.

Another quick pic

This is one of our new Easter Eggers. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL colouring.

Just a quick pic

I had to share this pic. Many things going on around here, so I'll get back as soon as I can for an update, but this week we have VBS & I've been super busy.

Here is a pic of Keenan & one of our silkie chicks. I took it with my phone near sundown last night.

A Funeral on the Funny Farm.....

Yesterday we went to pick up our chick order. 20 White Plymouth Rocks for us, 10 White Plymouth Rocks for a friend, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Easter Eggers, 2 Barred Rocks, 2 White turkeys, 1 bronze turkey. An order that was canceled had 2 silkies. The lady gave them to us. Then there was this.....




The kids begged for him. I'm a sucker for the last one left..... So he came home with us. I jumped online & dove into my books to learn how to care for this little 'guy.' I set him up just as I'd read, but by bedtime, he still wasn't eating or drinking on his own..... And sometime in the wee hours of the morning, he moved on to Duckie Heaven. Keenan is quite upset, even though I'd warned him that we may not be able to keep him alive, never having done this. I'm used to this, though. He cried when the hamster died. He cried when the lizard died. He cried when our dog ran away.... He's a very sensitive little man.

One of life's lessons..... Today we'll have a funeral for the little duckie.

On a good note, the 28 chicks & 3 poults are doing wonderfully. Hubba thinks the silkie pictures on the web look like poodles. We've taken to calling them "Choodles." Fitting if you ask me.

Chicks & Baby Bunnies

5/12/10- The baby bunnies will be 8 weeks old on Friday. For some reason I was thinking they were between 6 & 7 weeks old. Thankfully I looked at the calendar. They HAD to be separated by Friday or I run the risk of them breeding each other. Sunday evening we sexed them. Today I sexed them again, without looking at the notes I'd made, to see if I agreed with my previous judgment. They all matched Sunday's thoughts.

We have 3 girls & 3 boys if my sexing is correct. The boys will be butchered once they come to size, which could be in as many as 3 more months. Of the girls, we have plans on keeping 2 for breeding stock. As far as inbreeding goes, when breeding for meat or pets (in other words, not for show) you can breed mother to son & father to daughter. I've read not to do any further inbreeding than that until I know more. I'm not really sure I want to know more as in- I am happy with the aforementioned arrangement.

I also bred Bunnicula again to Cowboy. If all went well, which it appears it did, she will be due on or around June 12th.

On to baby chicks. I've read that sometimes (though not 100%), you can sex a chick as young as a couple weeks old based on tail formation. Apparently pullets feather out in the tail sooner than cockerels. If this is the case I have 2 definite pullets & another that I think may be a pullet. Of course, I'm not banking on this entirely, but I'll be excited to see how this pans out. 2 of the 5 chicks have very big tails (in comparison), 1 has a tail half the size & the other 2 have no tail feathers as of yet.

Update- Early May 2010

The weather here lately has been such a roller coaster. We can go from low 60's on day with sun & a breeze to 30's with snow & rain from one day to the next. It makes gardening..... interesting, to say the least. I'm very far behind on my gardening.

I attempted to sex the bunnies again on Mother's Day- 5/9. I had Sebastion help me out for a 2nd opinion. We *believe* we have 3 girls & 3 boys. They have to be separated by the weekend, as they turn 8 weeks on Friday. I'll be calling someone who goes to our church & asking if he used to sex his bunnies when he raised them & if he's any good at it. I'm hoping he'll be able to come help me out. My plan is to do it again on Wed, separate them & pray for the best. It seems to be getting a little easier to sex them, though I've never done it before. So I could be wrong, LOL.

Floppy has been a GREAT little Momma hen. The 5 chicks turned 2 weeks this past weekend. Momma is beginning to get a little antsy. She's almost ready to be reintroduced to the flock. It cracks me up to watch them. The babies like to ride on Momma's back. They are eating, drinking & scratching. All things a baby chick should be doing.

I'm counting down now to my chick order arriving. They should be here next week. 30 meat chickens (20 are ours), 6 layers & 3 poults. Speaking of orders, I'm also anxiously awaiting a call from the processor any day now or within the next month. The beef should go to the processor within the next 5-6 weeks and as early as next week.

We have babies!!!

You may click on image for a larger view.

There are a total of 5. We got 10 eggs, one broke a few days later, 3 quit forming & one died before completely hatching (the shell was broken, but the baby never got out). Not bad, I'm happy. They are so cute. I'd forgotten how tiny they are. We have 3 whites, 2 as seen above, 1 black one & 1 brown one. The black one hatched yesterday (4/24) and the rest overnight & today. Momma's being so good. She's lightly pecking at them when they get out from under her & she's lightly pecking at me now that they are hatched I can still get in there & mess with them, and she doesn't seem to mind TOO horribly. She's definitely not being mean to me, but letting me know they ARE HER babies So stinkin' sweet! I'm in love all over again!

Forgot....

Thursday April 15th, we began raising mealworms for the chickens.

Log

• Today Mary was butchered. She is currently in the fridge in a bucket of salt water.
• We begin our 1-week countdown either tonight or in the morning, re: broody hen & eggs. Hoping we have babies soon!
  
• Water pipe was fixed on Wednesday which means we officially have water outdoors again. No more hauling jugs of water to the garden plots.
• Peas were transplanted to the garden last Saturday, April 10th.
• The baby bunnies were 4 weeks on Friday. They are fat & healthy. Nest box was removed on Friday, and they began eating pellets & drinking from the waterer the Friday before that.
  

It's a beautiful time here, with the exception of us all being sick. But the world keeps turning, so we do as well.

Some of my favourite homesteading/self-sufficiency links

A-Z Poultry Disease Index
Backwoods Home Magazine
Backyard Chickens (and their forum)
Backyard Poultry
Grit Magazine
How to Sex Your Rabbits
Mother Earth News
Starting a biointensive Garden
Vegetable Planting Calendar
Weather Channel (living in the Rockies, this becomes a favourite, LOL)