Suet Cakes are for the Birds

The weather is finally starting to warm up again. The first day of spring has passed, and lighter jackets are relevant once again. All kinds of spring and Easter events are popping up at community centers and local churches, and I am ready to emerge from hibernation/nesting mode and get back into the sunshine!

"Pretty Boy" and one of the girls

To the chickens’ delight, the bugs have even started to appear again, but it was only until recently they weren’t able to find protein sources without human assistance. We typically feed them their layer feed, along with a mix of oyster shell for digestion and omega blend for laying, plus scraps and treats that they enjoy, such as corn and lettuce. Something I learned to make that is beneficial for them during the colder months, and convenient to make for me, are suet cakes. They are little “cakes” made of grease from animal fats- such as bacon and burger grease –with bits of goodies mixed in. By goodies I mean small pieces of bread, oats, corn, herbs, seeds, nuts, etc.

Waiting for their cakes!

They are easy enough to make, as long as you have enough grease. That’s what takes time- the collecting of grease. Animal fat is best from what I’ve read because it’s food waste that would otherwise get thrown out that can be used to supplement livestock’s diet when they can’t forage for themselves. We live in a no-food-waste household since having chickens because they eat just about anything (no citrus or processed sugary foods though). I have made it a habit to just pour any leftover grease into mason jars once it has cooled after cooking. This is the only part that takes time, because, for those of you who know me well enough, I don’t eat a lot of fatty meats or feed them to my family, so it can be months before I have enough grease to make a worthwhile batch of cakes. If you want to make suet cakes without animal products, I have read you can use nut butters, such as peanut butter. I have not tried, and it sounds messy, but there are vegan options!

I use muffin tins to pour the ingredients into. First, I decide what I’m going to use as the main ingredients in the cakes. For this batch, I used corn kernels, herbed croutons, cilantro, sunflower seeds, and rolled oats. The cilantro is a great natural antibiotic to help the birds fend off viruses and infections, and the sunflower seeds (other than them being tasty for any bird) are beneficial to egg production. The corn, croutons, and oats just provide nutrition that the birds enjoy the taste of (apparently). They REALLY go crazy for corn!

After choosing my ingredients, I put an even amount of each into each muffin cup, then pour the liquefied grease on top of each cup to make the gross, gooey mess you see below. I keep the grease either frozen or in the back of the fridge while collecting, so keep that in mind if you make these babies you’d better make sure the grease is soft enough for pouring before making these. Last step before serving, is to freeze, then you can pop ‘em out to feed to your birds whenever it’s feeding time, or just as a treat, depending on what you think they need. I have to make so many more now that we have more birds, they all fight over them.

As you can see, the one in the back is a little crumbly.
That's okay, they'll eat it right up anyway.

Come and get it!

Feeding frenzy

Pretty Boy likes to eat on his perch

All the hens have been pretty healthy this winter; a few were sharing a respiratory virus for a few days, but they all made it through with minimal intervention. When this does happen, immediately separate the sick hen from the rest of the flock, then keep them in a warm, dry place while you make sure they are getting enough to eat and drink. Fluid intake and warmth are probably the most important factors when nursing a sick hen, we have found. We did not even administer any store-bought medicine; however, I did make a blend of cilantro and garlic in purified then boiled and cooled water, which they hated, but we forced it down their little beaks and I think that really helped them get over the virus. Poor things had crusties all around their nostrils and eyes and didn’t want to eat. If you have ever heard a bird sneeze, it is the most adorably pathetic sound!

That being said, if you ever do have a flock and get a sick bird, some might recommend you get rid of the affected hen right away, meaning kill it. We decided to take the more humane route, and see if we could nurse our sickies back to health, and we did! Catastrophe avoided! I’m sure some people who have larger flocks than we do who don’t want to risk losing their entire livelihood from a cold virus don’t even want to risk it, but we are still doing this more or less as a hobby until we gain more experience and might be able to sustain ourselves with the birds even more, or even make a profit one day.

Only three of the birds have been laying so far with the warmer weather, but most of our girls are still pretty young. We’re hoping to see more eggs within the next month or so, though. Then our neighbors will really love us!

Jumping in excitement for spring!

Foggy Morning

Last night, before I fell asleep, I had a long conversation with God...or whoever might've been listening. I got a lot out that has been on my mind, and I think it helped. I felt good this morning. I'm tired again, now, but will rest later. There's too much that needs to be done.

I did my workout (which I slacked on over holiday break) this morning and went for a jog. It was so beautifully foggy out. 

Look who was waiting for me.

I wish I had some snacks to share with them, but I'm not sure how their owners would like that. In the warmer months, I just give them grasses and flowers.

When I returned from my jog, I checked on the chickens.

Betty and Lord continue to do well, and the pullets are coming along nicely. 

With faces only a mother could love

The Guinea hens, however, we are ready to get rid of. They make so much noise and poop on everything. Paul is out there with the dog chasing them right now.

If you know anyone who wants them, let me know. Otherwise, they're officially on the menu.

Have a peaceful day.

Our Flock

Things are crazy this week in the USA. Bombs in NY and NJ, people getting shot while their hands are up in the air, protests and riots erupting less than 80 miles away from us, the tensions of the upcoming election are getting stronger and stronger.

I try to remain focused and at peace, because time and time again, in my world, in my family, I find that the best way to deal with things is to just to continue to pray and radiate peace and love as much as possible in this often cruel and crazy world. The weight of the terror and fears being emitted by others is often almost too much to bear, and some say I should be outraged, be a voice for the voiceless, but all I want to do is curl up in a ball and hide sometimes, hold my Lily tight and never let go.

Again. I find the best thing to do is to pray for peace and radiate love and light in the darkness. I pray for all the innocents being harmed and their loved ones who feel helpless and/or afraid. I hope things do get better- for everyone ­­–and that we can still find the beauty in the world amidst all this ugliness.

Lily finding her peace

It’s a dark and dismal day today, and 2 nights ago we lost a dear family friend, but I have to stay strong and remember that life goes on.

You know what makes things better? Taking care of animals. Ever since I was a child, I have enjoyed creatures of all kinds, and have always had pets of all different varieties: cats, hermit crabs, hamsters, fish, gerbils, snakes, rats, lizards, a dog. And now we have chickens. We have 2 lovely Red Star hens and a small flock of mixed Guinea hens. The Red Stars are truly like pets to us and we even named them (Betty and Lord, the latter named by Lily after "Lord Darth Vader") and can tell them apart based on personality alone. They’re also great eggs layers; we haven’t bought eggs in over a year, and often have enough of a surplus from just these two layers to share with friends and family.

Betty, who has a more lively and friendly personality, hoping for a treat while hanging in her run.

"Have you got a snack for me?... No?... Well, then BYE."

Lord is such a good girl, keeps to herself more than Betty, and doesn't really like to be handled. She's content to just sit on the eggs.

The Guineas are newer additions, being only around 1 month old. They are, at this point, mostly on their own as far taking care of them goes. They fly up into trees and are very nervous, meaning they don’t like to be handled, and are happy to just wander around the premises eating up whatever insects or other bits of plant they find to be tasty. Most people tend to have them on their homesteads and farms to help keep the pest populations down for garden-maintenance purposes.

Paul chose them because he thought they’d help keep the flea, mosquito, and tick populations down, which is yet to really be seen since it is already early fall and those pests are now on the decline naturally. Once this breed does get to laying eggs, they don’t tend to lay in the same spots like our Red Stars do, but may just lay them wherever they happen to be hanging out at the moment when they’re ready to pop.

The Guineas look like cute baby vultures, though once they get older they look a little less cute. Our dear friend Bruce from upstate NY had a flock of Guineas that originally got us familiar with the breed, and he filled me in on some tips and experiences in dealing with them. He informed me that they tend to have a “community nest” where they all lay together and one bird becomes the main hen to the sit on the eggs until they hatch. We don’t know if we’ll do any chick raising, but we shall see…it’s nice to just let things evolve sometimes.

Current Guinea hen flock

The first time they discovered they could fly up into the trees

Paul is generally fascinated by the varied breeds, especially the exotics. We had a few Silkies earlier this year, which we really enjoyed. Unfortunately, they were all killed by some kind of animal before they were even of egg-laying age. It was terrible, but we learned a lesson in chicken coop construction and where to place it (i.e.: not too far into the wooded areas!). Despite how secure Paul thought he’d built their home, something had managed to slip in at night and kill all 5 of the pullets. Luckily, our Red Stars, Betty and Lord, survived, albeit perhaps a bit traumatized by the experience, and are now with us here in NC.

 

The rare Lily Hen

Me, personally, I like any breed that is docile, hardy, and easy to manage. I’m interested in getting 1 or 2 Barred Plymouth Rocks, which are common and similar to the Red Stars in everything but coloring.

Image from cacklehatchery.com

This is our current homestead situation, our bubble away from all the worries of the bigger world out there. We like it here, and hope it stays this way. Next year we’ll be doing more gardening, and who knows what else. We’re letting things evolve, and grateful for the chance to do so.

Morning Musings aka Chasing Chickens

Usually after I get up in the morning and put Lily on the bus, I go back to bed for a little while, another half hour, at least. But, today I stayed up and greeted the morning full-throttle. I fried myself two eggs and two circles of turkey sausage, along with a cup of coffee, and poured myself a glass of orange juice. I read some of my current read, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, while I ate breakfast, wishing that the entire book was told from young Oskar’s perspective, because when told from either of his grandparent’s it is just too sad.

After I read the particularly moving scene where Oskar first meets Abe Black, and after I had wiped my tears, I figured it was time to feed the chickens and let them out into their runs. It was after 8 a.m., after all. We usually let them out earlier, but the dawn was still rather dim due to the fogginess in the air.

I put my black outdoor slippers on over my black polka-dotted gray socks and set out to open their cages. I checked on the young guinea hens, which are only weeks old, first. I let them out into their run, all were accounted for. We have lost nearly half of them since we got them back in July: 1 chick got a few strands of hair wrapped around its little days-old legs and didn’t make it after that, 2 found dead from unknown causes one morning, 2 found disemboweled by some unknown predator, 1 that just wasn’t doing well and suddenly died, and 1 that just disappeared one day- likely taken by a bird of prey. But, these surviving nine are doing just fine.

Guinea chicks then...

 Guinea chicks now...

Then I let our two “big girls”, Betty and Lord, out, our little red hens. (Side note: in case you’re wondering where the name “Lord” comes from, Lily named her. And, no, not after Lord Jesus or Lord Vishnu or any royalty or the singer, but after Lord Darth Vader). They were nipping at their cage door when I got there, their beady eyes watching me expectantly. They rushed straight to their layer feed dish as soon as they were freed, pecking away at the plastic red container, as if they hadn’t been fed in days.

Betty is our special girl, our first hen who has been with us for over a year and bustling with 
more personality than I ever thought possible from a common chicken.

Lord brooding over an egg, no doubt.

"Have you got any special treats for me?" (this girl moves so quickly, 
it's difficult to get a good portrait of her with a simple cell camera)

The guineas’ food dish was empty when I got to their coop, so I went back to the garage to refill it. They eat layer feed now, too, but crumbled up instead of in pellets like the big girls do. As I entered the garage, I heard the familiar sound of crickets in the corner, chirping away, as if practicing for a symphony they haven’t quite gotten right yet. I know they’re only practicing, because it doesn’t sound like they’re quite in sync with each other, but maybe that’s just how they’re supposed to sound in the morning, a bit muddled together like most people feel when they first get up. Typically, I pay more attention to them at night, and they sound more in sync then. When I was a little girl coming into this same garage, I’d always try to find those musical crickets, but never could, even though I knew where they were by sound alone. How did they do that? Hide like that? I decided to try and search them out again this morning, their tiny violin legs growing quieter with each step I took towards their hiding place. Once again, no luck in finding them, and I wasn’t about to start turning things over just to catch them now.

Just something cute

Not a cricket...

I collected the guineas’ food, which wasn’t much, noting that more pellets would have to be ground up today for later. But, this small handful would be enough for breakfast. I left the empty bucket on Paul’s desk for him to find.

Walking back to where their run was, I thought about Lily, who was at school in her homeroom class. I thought about what I gave her for lunch (leftover penne with meat sauce and cheese, applesauce, yogurt, carrot sticks, and chocolate biscuits), and how she was getting so big, and how the bus had come a little early today, so I didn’t have time to wash her face off after she ate breakfast. However, my little girl did make time to reach up on her tippy-toes with her rosebud mouth puckered-up and plant a quick kiss on my lips before dashing off to the bus. I told her I loved her as she did so, then stood on the front porch as she ran up the driveway, arms crossed over my chest, watching as the bus then pulled away and stopped at the next corner, while I turned to go back inside.

When I got to the guineas’ pen, five of them had escaped the fenced-in run. I hadn’t noticed that a small opening in their fence had been left untended to, and by untended to, I mean Paul did not close it back up before putting them back into their coop last night, just as he had left Betty and Lord’s food out overnight, which he told me he wasn’t going to do anymore because some nocturnal critter like a possum or raccoon might get to it. I let out a sigh, and started to follow them.

I would now have to herd them back into the run, which was no easy task. They were too quick now to catch, and they hated to be caught or touched in any way. I had to wait until they were all grouped together and not paying attention to me, then sneak up on the side of them and slowly, patiently, follow them until they were near the run again, and then- hopefully! –manage to herd them back into that opening in the fence. I started to get them together, but then turned and saw that the other four had now gotten out, too. Sigh. This is why I usually just go back to bed; it’s too early to deal with this crap.

This time, out of impatience and simple foolishness, I tried to corner them and grab at them, thinking maybe I could catch them now that they were a little larger. But, alas. That only made them scatter, and now I had to herd them again. I took a breath, and began to walk slower behind them, gradually gathering them into a single group and getting closer and closer to the pen step by step. We got to one side of the run, and I lifted up the fence so the opening was bigger for them to squeeze through. Once I did that then herded them back to that spot, they all ran in. And once they saw that I had refilled their food, they surrounded their dish happily, because that was why they really escaped their run in the first place- they were looking for breakfast.

Next time I’ll remember to keep the coop closed until I get the damn food first.

And there she is, Lovely aka Queen of Sheba, Master of Adorable,
leaving all those who cross her path unable to resist petting her soft, velvety fur.

I went back in-but, not before stopping to pet the cat on the back deck -noting that the toes of my socks were now wet from the dewy grass, and went right to my iMac, wanting just to express these things, because my mornings used to be so very different. They were always rushed and groggy and annoying and disappointing. Disappointing because I was no longer asleep in dream land, away from the harsh reality of the 9-5 lifestyle, and having to get Paul to the bus and Lily to school on time, and then take care of the animals and then lock up the house after getting myself together, and hopefully be able to stop at Dunkin’ Donuts and make it to work on time. One day, it may be like that again, but right now it’s not. And I intend to savor every second of it, and be at peace in my no longer constant worry, stressing about all the things I had to do- Did Lily do her homework? What can I give her for lunch today? Is it acceptable to just give her cold cuts? Did I call so-and-so about such-and-such? I better confirm my 1 p.m., and make sure I have all the paperwork ready. Is Paul cranky because of something I did, or is he just in one of his moods? Dammit, I need to get my nails done.

Looking back, none of those things mattered, but they were all perpetually on my whirly-gig mind as if they did not so long ago, and I still have days when I start thinking too much and get overwhelmed. But, it’s easier to calm myself down now, and just breathe, or stretch, or refocus with a task I can actually enjoy.

Missing her every moment she's not with me

It’s just so nice. And I’m just so happy, 
to be up early feeding chickens in my backyard.