... in Vegas ...

Just a little update, I'm in Vegas, with my cousins. So no posts on the Chicken happenings of Kotzebue Alaska for a few days. :D

Elsa is chicken sitting my chickens and she's the best chicken auntie ever!

Winter Time Shi-galoo!

So having a chicken coop in Kotzebue Alaska in the winter can sometimes be a little much. I try to clean out the coop at least once a week, mainly on Monday's when I have no work. My little sister usually helps me out with the cleaning and herding of the chickens, she's getting a little big pregnant though, 7 months to be exact. So if you can imagine being 7 months pregnant and asked to stand outside in the minus who-knows-what temp to help me move about 50 pounds worth of crap, tell me if you'd be excited about it...?

So I haven't been asking her to help me clean the chicken coop because I wouldn't want to do it while I had a watermelon size thing in me adding the extra weight.

I usually put all the chicken poop and shavings and whatever is on the floor into a large bin, one of those like 30 gallon bins and then I dump it in the back of my parents house where all the willows are so they can get some nutrients in the spring. I told my mom she's going to have a forest next year, she doesn't mind.

My original plan was to just dump it on the ice lagoon by my parents house but I'm afraid someone is going to run into it with a snow machine and then I'd make the front page again but because I had such a big pile of crap that someone got hurt going over it.

So I dump the bins behind my parents house. Well, since Elsa cannot really help me carry them back there anymore I've been letting them freeze in the bin. I thought it was going to be this big fight between me and the bin to get the frozen poop out of the bin and into the back yard but really its easier when they are frozen.

And, it comes out in a nice big block.

Here's where the shi-galoo comes in...

I'm making a igloo made out of chicken sh**!

Right now I have about two or three bricks, I hope it doesn't warm up too much and the melt because I really want to get a nice igloo built so I can take a picture. :D

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Shout out, Bagaaaaaq!!

Here's to some of the top places that like to visit my blog:

Minneapolis, MN - Heeeay! Saginaw, Michigan - Hi! :D  Los Angeles, California - I will be visiting you at the end of this week, you stink but I still love you! (hehe) Palo Alto, California - sounds like a horse's name, Hello! Anchorage, Alaska - enjoy the snow and when you're done with it send it our way, but not until after Friday! United Kingdom, HI from AK! Canada, our neighbors, our closest people, Hi and enjoy the Winter Olympics!

Lots of love on my blogspot, I enjoy seeing who visits me via Google Analytics.

Here's a chicken shout out, BaaaaaaagaaaaaaQ!

Have Eggs, Will Sell....

I have eggs right now if anyone wants to buy them.  Call me at 412-1661. I can also ship them to the village if need be. I am trying to only sell my eggs on  one day of the week and I  chose Sunday but since I travel on my days off I think I should go with Monday that way I still have that day off but I am usually home by then.


I am leaving to Vegas on Friday with my best girl cousins, so I'll be gone for  a week. If you need eggs my younger sister Elsa who is the best Chicken Auntie EVER will be at my mom and dad's house and she can sell them to you, you can call 442-3984.

The Art of Blowing a Ptarmigan Stomach

Well you asked for it and I finally have a good internet connection to do this post.

John goes Ptarmigan hunting pretty much whenever he gets a chance and we eat a lot of ptarmigan. Ptarmigan are weird birds, they have feed like rabbits all furry and warm looking, and they change colors with the season. Ptarmigan mostly eat pussy willow buds, so you can almost always find them in the willows eating away. 

These birds have a "storage stomach" so when they eat it goes into this storage stomach to be stored for when they actually NEED the food. Elders say that when you get Ptarmigan with really full storage stomach's it is going to get stormy because they prepare by eating a lot of buds and storing them for when they cannot go out into the storm to eat. All birds have these stomach's but Ptarmigan's can get really BIG.  As you can see from the above photo there is two ways into the stomach, an enterance from the mouth and an exit to the actual stomach of the bird. This is how you blow them up:

FIRST, you need a good man to go hunting for you and to NOT shoot thru these stomachs, they are right below the head between the breast meat.  You need a good man to pluck the ptarmigan in the feild when it is a lot easier to do while the blood is still warm. (this helps by me not having to do it so I have more motivation to blow the stomach's out. :D) 

When you start to skin the Ptarmigan you should do it from this spot first, so you have less of a chance to cut or rip the VERY thin membrane.You should be very careful to slowly pull this stomach out from in between the breast meat, gently  tug while it separates from the rest of the body. Cut it off the bird and make sure you leave enough so that you can tie it off. Get yourself one of those cheap bendy straws from the store, and slit the bottom of it so it can fit into a narrower space. Then you tie off one end and put the straw in the other end. I usually have John hold it for me because its hard to do on your own. 

You blow the straw until it cannot hold any more air, then you tie it off with dental floss and tie the two ends together and hang until it dries. Elders say that having these hang in your house is good luck. They are very cool when they dry out, you can shake it and the buds in the inside are like a rattle. Since there are no stomach acids or any digestive juices in this they smell VERY GOOD, like willow buds in the spring time.

 

This one was a big one, full of buds.

Here is a close up shot of all the buds in the inside of the storage stomach.