Chicken update!

Here are some photos of the chicks -- they have all been named (see table below).
They were 4 weeks old on Tuesday the 16th of September.  Mama Henny Penny is beginning to distance herself from them.  I don' t know how she communicates to them to be independent, but they are venturing all over the yard, sometimes in groups of two or three, and they have been socializing and eating with all of the older girls.

From left:  Franklin, Minnie Penny, Spock, Roscoe Jr, Copper, Picard, Madea

Copper and Franklin

Aren't they the cutest???  

Name of chick	From whose egg?	Description	Who named it?	Why?
Minnie Penny	Betty's	small black/yellow	Andrew	After Henny Penny
General Tso	Betty's	missing from cage	Bill	It was someone’s dinner. L
Madea	Beulah's	black, yellow belly	Bridget	After the movie of the same name.
Franklin	Beulah's	striped with eyeliner	Kirstin	Benjamin Franklin (100 Pennies!)
Roscoe, Jr.	Thelma's	solid gray	Brandi	After Roscoe (daddy)
Picard	Thelma's	striped with black eyes	Ben	Star Trek
Copper	Opal's	yellow/tan/cream	Brandi	Color
Spock	Opal's	black, white/cream behind	Ben	Star Trek

Tour of Fifty States: New Mexico's meal

This week’s meal was from New Mexico.  It’s been a very busy 2 weeks at work and haven’t had much time to work on the writeup … finally! Back in 2012, Kirstin and I took a long car trip and I think that our favorite stops were in New Mexico.  Next summer Bill and I would like to take the kids on a cross-country adventure.  I can’t wait to share Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, the gorgeous White Sands National Monument, and the miles and miles of pistachio orchards!  Bill and the kids like spicy food – oh, I can’t wait for them to try REAL chiles! I had some that were so hot (“mild” they were called) that made my eyes and nose run like crazy! They have to try some enchiladas “Christmas” style, topped half with red and green salsas (salsa rojo and salsa verde.)

Menu:  Enchiladas, Refried Beans, Pistachio Cake and for breakfast, Huevos Rancheros

Outcome:  Yum!  I really love Mexican food – whether it’s called “Tex-Mex” or “Hispanic” or “Latino” or “Mexican” it doesn’t matter to me!   It’s all basically tortillas, beans, meat, and veggies in different combinations.  None of us had ever had huevos rancheros before, and they were really quite good.  (Especially with our own eggs!)  It’s just corn tortillas, topped with eggs and a quick warm salsa … simple but quite delicious. 

And of course, pistachio cake.  Rich and chocolatey goodness! 

Next up:  Brandi’s turn! She chose Montana!

New Mexico's meal!

Learning about chicken hugs

Last night, Bill was mowing the outer pasture that borders the coop.  When it was “bedtime”, I clapped and called the girls, “Time for bed!” and headed to the coop as usual.  They all decided that they were NOT going to bed since Dad was mowing … so I did some other chores and milked Gertie, and when he was mowing not so close to the coop, I managed to get most of them inside.  Miss Ruby, though, thought she was going to be a Big Girl and roost with the rest of the Big Girls.  (The chickens and rooster that came with the farm roost outside of the coop on an old large birdcage, and I can’t get them to stay in the coop at night … yet.  They fly to the top of the tall fence and then down to the ground.)