Update on the Ceramic Egg Experiment To Stop Egg-Eating Chickens

To review briefly, we've had serious issues with hens that are eating eggs in the hen house.  As soon as the eggs are laid, they eat them.  We find more broken, empty eggs in the nesting boxes than whole eggs.  We've lost dozens and dozens of eggs.  Frustrating!  We've read numerous tips on how to end this tragedy.  None of them worked.  Then we learned that if you put "fake" eggs that are ceramic in the nesting boxes it would stop the egg-eating.  The rationale behind this is that chickens will try to eat the fake eggs in the boxes and it would either hurt their beaks or it wouldn't yield food, so they would give up and stop breaking and eating eggs.

Here are the ceramic eggs = $8.99 for nine eggs delivered right to our door.

I went out the evening that the ceramic eggs came in, even though it was dark and deposited one in each nesting box.  I couldn't wait to put this remedy into immediate effect! 

Review:  Well, I'll get right to the point.  I think the people endorsing the efficacy of ceramic eggs in stopping hens from eating eggs were purveyors of ceramic eggs looking to boost sales and profit margins of their ceramic eggs in inventory.  Here's what I found the next day:

I think I even caught one hen using the ceramic egg to sharpen her beak to a finer point to enable her to peck through the eggs quicker to eat them.  I'm joking about that, but who knows!  It just may be true.

In summary, the ceramic egg experiment was a dismal failure.  Don't waste money on ceramic eggs to break hens' habit of eating their eggs.  At least I was only snookered out of $9.  The ceramic eggs will continue to sit in the nests.  Someday they might deter a chicken snake from eating more eggs.  For now, we'll continue with our current course of action, which is to make numerous trips out to the hen house to gather eggs as soon as they are laid to try to save as many as we can.  Tricia did catch one hen eating an egg today and she quarantined her in a cage.  I think that hen may be turned into a nice chicken soup this winter.  We will try to do the same for each egg-eater, but what if they've ALL picked up that bad habit?  Well, at least it will be good "soup weather" for the next couple of months.

Cows Back on the Farm

We've had cows on the farm in Oberlin far as long as I can remember.  My grandfather always had them and Dad kept the tradition going.  After a calf crop we'd bring them to the Sale Barn in Kinder.  It is a good way to create a very modest income stream coming off of the farm.  This past year the fence around the pasture fell into disrepair.  The cows were always getting out on the road and Dad would get calls from the Sheriff's Department regarding cows on the road.  It is a dangerous situation as cars hitting a 1000 pound plus animal is never a good thing. 

We sold our existing herd and for months the pasture grew grass almost neck-deep with no cows to eat it.  There was no bovines loose on Cottongin Road.  No moo's to be heard.  That changed two weeks ago.  Dad and I decided to go in halves on a much smaller herd - 16 momma cows, to be exact.  They are all black cows - two year old heifers that are five months pregnant.  After Christmas lunch, we drove out to the farm in Oberlin to look at 'em.

They were all bunched up, eating grass, when we came upon them...

They stared at us, curiously, with grass hanging out of their mouths.

All sixteen cows were in the pecan orchard.  It was planted by my great grandfather many years ago.  The old family homestead was located directly behind where the cows are standing.

The cows are all fat and conditioned well.  The grass in the pasture has been burned by the freeze, but underneath the top layer, it is still green and full of nutrition for the cows as they prepare for delivery in four months.  I mentioned they are all black cows - two of them are baldies.  I like the way this one holds her head high with pride.

And this one has a white face with black circles around her eyes.

It is nice to have livestock back on the farm.  In the Spring, hopefully we'll have 16 baby calves on the ground.  Spring calves are a joy to behold as they run around the pasture with tails in the air.  Currently, electric fencing powered by a solar charger keeps the cows where they should be.  We will have a work day or two to fix the fences so that we don't have to worry about cows out on the road.  Where's the Beef?  Well, it's back on the farm!

Something Smells Fishy!

Do you ever have things on your To Do List that linger?  I sure do.  I have had "Put Fish Emulsion on Garden Plants" on my list for the longest time.  Short days and busy weekends resulted in fertilizing my winter garden naturally on the back burner.  Until Christmas Eve!  I got off half a day and hurried home as fast as my car would take me.  It was a gorgeous afternoon and I had a few open hours to get this item scratched off my list at last!

I picked up this natural fertilizer up years ago at a hardware store.  It was priced at $7.99 per box.  It's what everyone needs - a big box of powdered fish.  I don't know how they make this stuff, but it must not be a pleasant job.  It is a grayish powder that has a very fishy smell to it.  As bad as it smells, your plants will love it.  It will make them grow lush and green.  Remember the old Thanksgiving story about the Indians planting corn and digging a hole right next to the seed and burying a fish?  That fish fed the corn.  Fish is full of protein and nitrogen.  Fish also absorb the minerals in the sea.  Those minerals will now feed your garden.  Plants really dig that!

The directions on the box says to mix 1 tablespoon of fish emulsion powder to 1 gallon of water.  I put the fish emulsion into my garden sprayer and then fill it with water up to the 1 gallon line.  I give it a good shaking and then give the sprayer 15 pumps and I'm ready to go.

I sprayed everything growing in the garden with the fish emulsion concoction.  I sprayed at the base of the plant, so that it saturated the ground where the roots can take in the nutrients.  I also sprayed the leaves of all the plants, giving them a foliar feeding.  Some of my plants were a little yellow.  I could tell they were missing something.  I'll bet that this weekend or a few days after that, the plants will have a nice, healthy color to them.

Feeding Our Sugar Snap Peas

I kept making batch after batch of this stuff until I had really given the garden a good dose of the smelly fertilizer.  Then the sun was casting long shadows and it was time to go milk the cows.

But my work wasn't done.  If you use fish emulsion, let me give you a word of advice: Clean your garden sprayer!  One time I didn't do this.  I left about a half gallon of fish emulsion in the garden sprayer and forgot about it for a week on the back patio.  Over the week, it had "cooked" in the sprayer as the sun baked and fermented the contents.  When I removed the top, it had a smell that... well, I can't describe.  It smelled like the worst sewerage I had ever smelled.  Furthermore, it clogged up the screen on the bottom of the sprayer and rendered the sprayer clogged and useless.  Learning from my mistake, I ran two gallons of water through the sprayer to wash it out and stored it back in the box.  I intend on dosing the plants up again with the funky fish as soon as they appear to need it!  I even watched a few YouTube videos on how to make homemade fish emulsion with fish guts, molasses and water.  You pour all that in a trash can with water and put the lid on it and let it ferment for several months. (Not a good idea if your neighbors live close to you!)

Merry Christmas to All, And to All a Good Night

Well another Christmas has come and in less than three hours, will be gone.  The year 2020 will be upon us.  Time marches on indeed. 

On Christmas Eve we gathered at my Mom & Dad's house to eat, to visit with family members, and to eventually open gifts.  It is very easy to get distracted this time of year with the presents, the fellowship, and the food.  There's nothing inherently wrong with food, presents, and visiting.  One must constantly strain, however, to focus on things that are eternal and not temporal.  The world and the system of this world dangles carrots on the end of sticks and we follow.  But we're not supposed to be following carrots...

All the kids and grandkids gather around in the den on Christmas Eve and my Dad reads from the Gospel of Luke.

The "Christmas Story" is a nice story.  It is a simple story - a joyous story.  One can almost imagine the scents of animals and hay and sounds of farm animals and a baby crying and sights in that stable 2000 years ago.  A proud mother and father.  Bewildered animals.  Worshipful shepherds.

The birth of the Christ Child was foretold 700 years prior.  His birth was a big deal.  The bigger deal was that thirty three years later, He was pierced for our transgressions.  He suffered and died a cruel death on a sinner's cross, despite never sinning.  Three days later, He rose from the death, victorious over the grave.  If we believe in Him (Messiah), we can spend eternity with Him in Paradise!

2 Corinthians 9:15 King James Version (KJV)

15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.  

Hope This Does the Trick

I've reported about a problem we're having with our hens.  They've picked up a really bad habit and it has spread to many in the flock - they are eating their eggs!  We've tried several things to try to stop this.  Some said that this is a result of them not getting enough calcium.  To remedy that, we put even more oyster shells out for them.  This didn't do anything to solve it.

Currently, we go outside several times a day and gather eggs as they are laid before the egg-eaters arrive, peck the eggs and eat the contents and then the shell.  By doing this, we've at least been able to get a few eggs each day.  We have seriously thought of putting all of our hens in the freezer and starting with fresh pullets.  We'll try another solution before we go that route.  It arrived in the mail today!

These are ceramic eggs.  We've used ceramic eggs, wooden eggs, and chalk eggs in nesting boxes before, but they were to combat another enemy - chicken snakes.  Chicken snakes would eat the fake eggs and it would kill them.  Over the years, I've lost many fake eggs as the snakes eat them, crawl off somewhere and die.  I've recovered a few from snake skeletons, but most are gone.

Some people have had success with these to break their hens of the egg-eating habit.  You simply place a ceramic egg or two in the nesting boxes.  When the egg eater(s) come and peck on the ceramic egg, they get a surprise.  The hard egg hurts their beak.  When it doesn't break, they move on and eventually tire of pecking on an egg that yields no nourishment, thus breaking the habit.

This egg-eating habit of the hens not only reduces the eggs we actually get to eat, but it makes collecting the remaining eggs a real chore.  The eggs that don't get eaten, are very difficult to clean as they have dried yolk on them and hay and feathers and dirt stick to the egg.  Washing the eggs with water to clean them washes off the protective "bloom" and reduces the shelf life of the egg.  I didn't want to wait another day.  I walked out to the hen house tonight with the ceramic eggs.

The hens were nestled all snug in their beds, with thoughts of egg-eating rushing through their heads

I opened the nesting boxes and deposited a ceramic egg in each box.

The eggs look mighty real. 

We'll see if this works and will report back to you!

Family Trip to View the Christmas Lights In Natchitoches

Saturday morning Tricia and I and Russ and Benjamin made a two hour and twenty minute drive to north central Louisiana to a town called Natchitoches.  The town is named after an Indian tribe and is where the movie, "Steel Magnolias" was filmed.  Most people think that New Orleans is the oldest city in Louisiana, but it is actually Natchitoches.  It was founded in 1714 and is actually the oldest settlement in all the states that were part of the old Louisiana Purchase.  Each year since 1927, the town of Natchitoches puts on a Christmas Festival with many, many lights, music, fireworks, and fun.  It is a good family atmosphere, and we wanted to attend.

Natchitoches (pronounced Nack-a-tish) is also known for their famous meat pies.  They are little fried pies that you eat with your hands that are filled with spicy meat.

Our first stop was to pick up ten meat pies.  We promptly destroyed those things, leaving nothing but crumbs in the box.  You've just got to be very careful that you don't burn your mouth as they can be very hot!

Most of the activity is centered on Front Street.  It is an old brick street that runs parallel to the Cane River featuring buildings with balconies with wrought iron railings.

My wife on Front Street

Looking down from Front Street, you can see the Cane River.  They had an ice skating rink set up and there was also a music stage where musicians were playing Swamp Pop and festival-goers were dancing.

We walked down to the edge of the River...  Russ and Benjamin had suspicious looks on their faces and I didn't feel comfortable standing that close to the water with those two hooligans.

Russ, Kyle, and Benjamin

So I quickly offered to take a photo of Tricia with her boys...

Up and down Front Street there are numerous shops to walk into and browse.  We saw antique stores, art displays, kitchen stores with samples, cypress-wood furniture makers, restaurants, and clothing stores.  I am not a big shopper - at all.  I must admit that going into the Kaffie-Frederick, Inc. General Mercantile was one of the highlights of the day.  It is Louisiana's oldest general store.

The old store has wooden stairs that creak when you walk on them.  It has an oval cut-out in the second story where you would open a trap door on the roof to allow sunshine in before electric lights were commonplace.  There is also an old elevator with counterbalances in the store that still works.

There were numerous old wooden bins filled with nuts and bolts and washers and most other things that you'd expect to find in a hardware store.  Anything you were looking for could be found in this store!  There was a neat old wooden bin with beautiful marbles for sale.  I like old timey marbles.  Almost bought some.  Much more character in here than in the "big box" hardware stores of modern times.

When you make your purchase, you get checked out on an old cash register that is the size of an SUV.

It was starting to get a little dark outside and you could see some of the lights starting to come on.  The other thing that was on was the "snow machine."  It was blowing soap bubbles all over Front Street.  We went into Papa's Bar and Grill and got a shrimp po-boy and a crawfish dish to eat.

People began packing the streets to get a good spot for the fireworks display at 7 PM.  We lined up against a barricade against the river to watch the spectacle.

The fireworks lasted for a full fifteen minutes accompanied by Christmas music and loud applause and whoops and hollers at the end.

We got in the car and began our trip home after a wonderful family outing.  Benjamin put on his play-list of old country music and we sang out loud for most of the trip home.  What a great day!

Waging War on Parasites from Another Front

Despite using rotational grazing to move our cows and goats to a new paddock in the pasture before they eat the grass down to the ground, our animals have suffered from time to time with parasites.  This is often caused by animals grazing too close to the ground.  If your pastures are overgrazed, the animals will pick up parasites.

Rather than automatically giving de-wormer, we've opted to take stool samples from our cows and goats to our veterinarian.  He runs the test, identifies if parasites are present and in which animal(s) and we treat.  We've seen success with this, but the parasites continue to return.  Tricia stopped by a Shaklee dealer that lives down the road and brought home a gallon of Basic H.  We had read in Joel Salatin's book Salad Bar Beef that he uses Basic H as a cattle de-wormer.

Basic H is not labeled as a de-wormer.  The ingredients are proprietary, so we really don't know what's in it.  Stranger still, here are some of its uses: a rust inhibitor, a heavy duty soap/cleaner, mosquito/flea repellent, removes fish or skunk scent, fertilizer for garden, toothpaste, etc.  At $49.99 per gallon, it is pricey stuff, but we figured we'd try it as a de-wormer.  Hopefully, we won't have to try it to remove skunk scent!

The rate for de-worming is said to be 1 cup to 100 gallons and 1/2 cup to 50 gallons of water.  It just so happens we have a 100 gallon trough in the pasture where the cows and goats are and a 50 gallon trough in the pasture where the two bulls are.  Tricia put a cup in the big trough and a half a cup of Basic-H in the smaller one and turned off the water valves.  This allows them to drink the water/Basic H without the valve opening and diluting the Basic-H.  Here is the big trough after the animals drank for two days:

100 Gallon trough

And her is the smaller trough after the bulls drank on it for a day:

50 gallon trough

We also put some in the chicken water trough.  Notice how it made suds.

Turning off the valves and allowing the animals to drink the water level down showed me just how dirty the troughs were.  I used this as an opportunity to scrub down the sides and completely clean the troughs out.  Then we turned the valves back on.

According to Joel Salatin, you can't overdose your animals on Basic-H.  Tricia and I have discussed treating either once a month or every other month.  We'll give it a try and report our results.  We aren't afraid of trying new techniques on our little homestead farm.  Hopefully it will work to "clean the parasites" out of the animals.  I'm already seeing a positive effect - it cleaned up the water troughs!

An Update on The Back to Eden Garden Experiment

In earlier posts we chronicled a new gardening method we are embarking on called Back to Eden.  It attempts to recreate what happens in the forest.  No one tills the ground in the forest.  No one waters the plants in the forest.  No one weeds the forest.  Sounds easy, doesn't it?  That's what we're looking for.  We try to grow most of the food we eat, but we are looking for an easier way to do things.

At 53 years old, I still feel energetic and have a great desire to be outdoors gardening.  However, I find that I don't quite have the energy level that I used too!  Then, with my job I get in late which means my gardening is primarily done on Saturdays and a brief window on Sunday afternoon.  The shortened winter days means I don't have time for turning over dirt in the garden with a shovel or hoeing.  I certainly don't have time for intensive weeding.

Just a few months into the Back to Eden Gardening Method, I want to tell you what is going on.  First, a layer of wood chips about four inches deep has been spread across the entire garden.  I ran strings to produce a straight line and then raked back the mulch until the soil was exposed.  I planted the fall crop.  As the plants grow, I gently move wood chips around the plants.  Below you can see a row of spinach in the middle:

Although November was a pretty dry month, I haven't watered the garden other than immediately after planted to encourage germination.  Keeping the soil covered has preserved soil moisture and discouraged weed growth.  In speaking about weeds, we've found that weeds still grow through the four inch layer of mulch.  However, not as much AND, the weeds are much easier to pull out!  The mulch keeps the soil underneath from being compacted.  When you pull the few weeds that come up, many times you are able to pull them out from the roots.  Tricia and I go down rows and quickly pull weeds.  I cannot tell you how much easier weeding is now!

In the photo below, you can see our garlic has all sprouted and is pushing its way upward through the soil.

Before weeds begin to compete with the plant for nutrients and space, I've pulled 3-4 inches of mulch around the plant.  I'll keep this mulch here for most of the winter and then will scrape it back a bit in the spring.  In a couple weeks, I'll feed the garlic with some fish emulsion.

I've never had a tiller and would turn the soil over with a shovel and then hoe up rows.  That is a thing of the past!  Putting in the fall garden was easier than it ever was.  By this time in previous years, Saturday mornings were spent weeding the garden, tossing the weeds over the fence to the chickens, goats, and cows.  There's really not many weeds to toss to them now.  (The animals are not sold on the Back to Eden Gardening Method!)  Watering is virtually non-existent now.  So far, so good.

Now, gardening is always a learning experience, and I would be negligent to announce that this is a success before harvesting anything, but so far, I like the reduction in hard work.  Instead of keeping my head down working in the garden, I can now look up while in the garden in the cool of the evening and enjoy the absolute breath-taking beauty of God's creation!

We will report back with additional updates.

Rub A Dub Dub

This spring we planted luffa gourds again.  Luffas are prolific producers and make a gazillion seeds.  We grow them every few years and use them as well as giving them to people as gifts.  As a kid I was taught to use a wash rag in the bath tub and get plenty of soap suds on the rag and scrub real good to get dirt and grime off.  I'll tell ya something that works better than a wash rag - a luffa gourd.

I planted three seeds next to a trellis I made in the garden using two t-posts and a length of hog wire.  The luffas germinated and grew like a bad weed, vining and filling with pretty yellow blooms. The following two photos were taken in the spring.  (The rest were taken last week):

In no time luffa gourds filled the trellis, weighing down the vines.  I read that when the gourds are very young, you can eat them like cucumbers, but I've never tried.  I'm growing them for the sponge - not to eat.  We grow cucumbers to eat.

Check out the lizard hanging out on the luffa!

In time the luffas turn dark green or brown and that's when it is time to harvest them.

The skin of the luffa takes a little work to remove.  I start peeling it away, pulling on the outer skin to expose the inner sponge-like portion.

This is what it looks like when the outer skin is completely removed.  If you look closely, you can see something black inside.  Those are seeds.  Hundreds and hundreds of seeds in each one.  The seeds will all come out of the bottom if you bang the gourd on your hand or a brick or the sidewalk.

I always save a few for next year, but always have many, many extras.  If you'd like some luffa seeds, let me know.  I'll be glad to give you some.

Freshly peeled gourds can be a little damp.  I always lay the gourds in the sunshine and let them dry out for a few days, turning them from side to side so they dry out evenly.

Once dry, I make up a solution of bleach-water in a 5 gallon bucket and soak the luffa gourds in the bucket of bleach.

After a day, I pull the bleached luffas out of the bucket and let them dry out on the patio.

Once they are dry, I will cut each one of them in half.  I'll put one in the shower.  If you take soap and rub it on the luffa, it is similar to a washrag.  The luffa softens somewhat when it gets wet, but maintains a rough texture that scrubs and exfoliates skin.  When done simply wash the soap off, stand the luffa up on one end so it dries between uses.  If you want, you can freshen it from time to time with bleach.  It will last for quite a while - months and months of CLEAN.  Rub a dub dub!