Tundra Chicks

Tundra Chicks is CONNECTED and has moved.....

2011-10-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry to report that I moved my blog to a wordpress format, here is the new address:

http://tundrachicks.com

with WordPress I am allowed more memory and a domain name, instead of having blogspot behind my name. Also, we got internet at home now in Kotzebue so I will be posting more often on my wordpress account. :)

Enjoy reading my new posts on my wordpress blog!

Birds!

2010-12-18T10:49:00.001-08:00

Man I haven't posted in a long time! I'm qiviting (pouting) because I had this awesome post written up and while it was uploading from my cell phone John called me and it deleted te whole thing.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Here is one of my 6 month old silver laced wyndotte. They are so pretty and they are turning into some good egg layers.

Here are one of the very first eggs one of the golden and silver laced wyndottes laid. A small quarter sized baby egg!

Here's a picture of my ugly turkey. This turkey has to be the slowest growing and the ugliest turkey I've raised so far. He better taste good! Hehe

On non-chicken news we got a new pet in our house. A Guinea pig named Bacon. He's a good boy!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tundra born, tundra fed.

2010-09-27T23:59:00.001-07:00

I had a very interesting conversation with a scientist today while at work. He offered to show me some pictures that he took on his last trip to Africa to work with the locals to have better sustainable soil.

That started a conversation about how as a double Arctic genetic pool that I come from, I am more able to live with limited certain food groups, mainly vegetables.

Since my mothers family is Eskimo and lived mainly a high protein, high omega 3 fat, low leafy green diet and my fathers family is Finnish and pretty much ate the same things, I am in turn more healthier if I chose a high protein high omega 3 and low veggie diet. I learned that people like myself that become vegetarians could actually cause their health to decline rather than get healthier because of thousands of years genetics.

It was good to know that I am feeding my family the appropriate diet.

This kind of stuff just amazes me! To think that someone went as so far to say that you can break it down to the certain molecular level in my DNA that breaks down my special Eskimo Tundra diet needs is awesome! Happy fall!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Virgin Blogger

2010-09-25T23:14:00.001-07:00

So I just got an iPhone and I'm totally thrilled that I could blog from here!! This means more blogging, yay! I'm in Seward right now with my little family enjoying a night here and a day at the Sea Life Center. I plan on uploading all my bird pictures from my old phone next week so I'll post pictures and stories then!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

my chick bad, my chick good...

2010-07-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

my chick do stuff that you chick wish you could..

Okay my chicks arent bad, but they're plenty!

I got more babies in at the end of June, I know its been awhile since I posted, our internet at home is really slow. I'm in Vegas right now, the internet in America is fast! haha.

I got six more laying hens, six meat chickens, and two turkeys.

They all came in okay, one turkey was a little lame, I had to nurse him in a measuring cup. I named him Filbert. He died, poor thing. When I left for work he was fine, chirping away and eating. When I got home from work he was laying in the middle of the box and cold. He wasnt quite dead yet, I tried to bring him back to life, warm him up, he was just too sick or too unhealthy to revive. Oh well, so is life.

Then when I moved the chicks to the mini-coop that John put together one of the meat chickens died. I think he over ate. If I dont take food away from them for 12 hours they keep eating. Its kind of weird. They've grown faster than even the Turkeys. This is my first time getting meat chickens and I'm learning. Now I have five, thats okay.

The older turkeys I got in April are almost ready to butcher. One of them is for sure. I'm going to do it when I get back this week from Vegas. I asked my neighbor to make a killing cone and he said he'd look for one of those large construction cones and that should work. Elsa and Zach are getting married at the courthouse and having a ceremony in November so we'll eat it next week while everyone is here in town for their courthouse nuptials. :)

All other chickens in the chicken house are doing fine.

I have one girl I call her Prunehilda and she keeps scratching her head, she scratched it so much that she caused some bald spots behind her ears. The other chickens noticed this and pick the poor feathers that try to grow back in the bald spots. So now she doesnt scratch because she has 11 other chickens to pick off those feathers that were itching her. What a life!

Here's a picture of Prunehilda's bald spots.

I forgot I was going to post a picture of the crane egg that John and Ross got this spring. They took their snowmachines thru the slush and willows and went hunting for, everything! They came home with a crane egg. Its very pretty.

call me crazy!

2010-06-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

but, I got more birds in today!

yeah, I got 6 cornish cross meat chicks. They're cute, and yeah they eat lots...

I also got two more large white turkeys, or small white turkeys... I'm not too sure what Triple D sent me because their reciepts are old style.

and, I got 6 more laying hens. 2 silver laced wyndottes, 3 golden laced wyndottes and I think one Jersey Giant. I'm not too sure yet. :D I'll post pictures this weekend. Peace, Love and Chicken poop!

I spy with my little eye...

2010-06-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

do you see what I see?

yeah that's right, a little bantam chicken squeezed in between my two not so small turkey's.

These chickens and turkeys grew up together, I ordered them the same day and the chickens played as babysitters for the turkeys.

It was a nice evening outside and the chickens and turkeys were spending the night in the run and not in the coop. I saw a little orange head poking out of the middle of the birds and discovered my banty sleeping in between the two big turkeys.

Soon it will be time to butcher the turkeys and the bantam chickens will be sad... :( I on the other hand will be happy to have thanksgiving dinner in July!

I spy with my little eye...

2010-06-17T16:35:00.001-07:00

ultimate Momma.

2010-06-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

Okay so this post has nothing to do with my chickens, it has everything to do with my aquatic animals I own.

Two years ago my boyfriend John got tired of the same old fish in my little fish tank and decided that it would be fun to get something more predatory. He's a blood thirsty hunter what do you expect? So we went to one of my most favorite pet stores Animal House (they sold their business... :( ) and picked up a craw fish... or craw daddy or cray fish.. whatever you want to call them.

We had our first craw fish for almost a year, he grew to a large size and was very good at catching fish and eating the prized parts off of them like tails and fins and cheeks and eyes... then he died. Apparently they dont live very long.

Well we got a second one and this one was a runt of the shipment, it was missing a claw, and was the smallest one and the last one left over. I got it from The Reef in Anchorage since Animal House was closed down.

I plopped it in the tank and just let it be. I made sure it was alive once in awhile by picking up the shell it was hiding under to see if it would swim away, and it would.

Then the other day I realized that our tank was FILTHY and needed a cleaning. So I did my regular thing, fished out all the fish with a net and got the craw fish with two spoons because they try to swim away and get caught up in the net.

As I was emptying the tank I looked down into it and saw something small moving around. My heart started pounding in my throat because I thought my fish had worms.... (haha) It was BABY CRAW FISH!!!!!!

I'm NOT even joking, my craw fish had babies!!!!!!!

How WEIRD is that?

I'm still weirded out by it.

Apparently it had two sets of babies because there is a pint-sized one and two teeeeeny tiny ones.

little girls like little birds.

2010-05-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

Today my un-brother-in-law Zach and I put up a make-shift fence for the chickens. Well we almost finished it, we put up the sides and now just need to make a gate and top, a top because the ravens around here will eat my chickens if they could.

While doing that Clara and her two little girlfriends kept an eye on Minni and the birds. The two little girls are our neighbors and they just LOVE the little Banty chickens. I took some pictures today for you all to enjoy.

Kaitlyn, Clara and Shelby

(Clara isn't too fond of holding the little birds, that's why I only got pictures of the two other girls holding them, as you can see she has her sleeves pulled up because she said "they sometimes have poopy feet so I dont like to touch them" The other girls dont care!)

"she's so cute, and black!"

"I'm naming this one Snow Flake"

"shhhh, she's sleeping on my arm"

I had to sneak a picture of the Turkey in here, they are the size of the chickens!! I'm not even joking... They eat TONS of food too. I noticed that since they've been out in the "general population" of the chicken coop I've had to fill the chicken feeder more than usual. Sorry about the shot of the back-end but this was the best I could do, they're so busy running around and eating... What a life!!

I'll post more pictures of the fence that we constructed when we're finished. Until next time, baaaagaaaaq! Have a good one!

Mother's Day and The Feathered Children Get a Treat!

2010-05-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

So today is Mother's Day. the ONE day that is only for all of us Mother's. I had to work at 630am, came home for 'lunch' at 11am and my dishes were done, I was happy. Any day that I can minimize something in my house to adjust a little more time to a few other things I do on a daily basis is nice. So Thanks John for doing the dishes this morning!

After work our family headed to my mom's house to eat Qauq and Niqapaq. My mom's table was filled with frozen trout, shiifish, boiled beluga (thanks Lily!!), seal oil, black muktuk and dried oogruk. YUM! talk about soul food! I haven't eaten so good in months. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the good food.

Even the chickens!

John has fed the chickens fish scraps since they were little in our back kunnitchuk. They usually only get the skin, and bones. This time they got the actual meat and skin and bones and they were in heaven! Fighting over the frozen treat!

On another note: the not so baby turkey's are growing like WEEDS and I think instead of Thanksgiving Turkey's they are going to end up 4th of JULY Turkey's!!

I'm also very excited to tell you that I KNOW for sure that my little tan Banty is a boy. Today he was trying in his most pre-pubescent voice to cock-a-doodle-doooo! It was SO stinkin' cute. I was a proud Chicken Momma!

Happy Mother's Day to all.

<3 this Chicken Momma!

When I grow up....

2010-05-06T23:28:00.001-07:00

" I WANNA BE A CHICKEN!"

Tonight was the Kindergarten graduation here in Kotzebue. I didn't go, well I didn't go to the 8th grade, or the high school one either. I wish I woulda went to the Kindergarten one because one boy said:

"when I grow up, I wanna be a chicken"

Now how AWESOME is that?

I probably had nothing to do with it and I have no idea who the kid was but I just think that's the coolest thing ever!

Happy Earth Day!

2010-04-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

Well its Earth Day 2010, I'm happy to say that last year on earth day I wasnt really doing anything for the Earth, this year I am. :)

Raising birds for eggs and to eat is a little challenging but very rewarding. The everyday tasks around taking care of birds can be a bit overwhelming at times but I do see the end result, fresh eggs and fresh Turkey for Thanksgiving. I encourage everyone to do something not just today on Earth Day but everyday, to help keep this earth happy!

Happy Earth Day! Baaaaagaaaaaq!!!

RIP, RIR

2010-04-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah, one of my Rhode Island's died. Well she was so thoughtfully "put down" by means of John's 12 ga. shotgun!

If you see the picture she's just laying in the corner with her tail feathers down... I'm thinking she had a prolapsed egg because she was walking with her legs spread very wide and her tail feathers were almost dragging on the ground. She also had a distended stomach and it was very sore to the tough as she screetched when I picked her up to put her in her "box" before John got off work so she could be isolated from the other chickens.

That poor girl wasn't feeling good all morning and I went to check on the chickens at about 1 and she was sitting on the floor, wanting to eat and drink but when she started to eat or drink she just stopped to lay down on the ground and get stomped on by my other not so nice chickens. :) Well I was sad to see an established egg layer get put down but was happy she was out of her misery. John said while walking to her resting spot she was gasping for air, maybe she was on her very last leg of life. :(

This is life, and it includes death. So now I'm down to 13 laying chickens. Not too bad from what I started out with, 16 in June of 09.

added to my brood today!

2010-04-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

Today Susan my aunt/cousin and I got an order from Triple D Farms. I was so excited when the Post Office called me to tell me my chicks were her to pick up at 9. So I was suppose to get at least 4 turkey's and three Bantam chickens from them but we ended up with 2 large white turkey chicks and three about a month old (I'm guessing) mixed straight run bantam chickens. My little dog Minni was in such a happy mood to hear happy little chicks peeping away. She's gonna be a good momma some day! Anyway, here's some pictures of the new members of Tundra Chicks. The two not so little but little turkey's names are Mashed Butato's (my nephew used to pronounce it that way so that's how I pronounce it) and Gravy. I'm very excited to see them in November, on Thanksgiving Day, ON my table, dressed and cooked. YUM! That's why they're names are Mashed Butato's and Gravy, they are FOOD! And the banty's are Larry, Curley, and Mo, here's hoping one of them is a little boy!

Minni Momma

2010-03-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

Minni's going to be a good momma one day. This week while we were watching Animal Planet, Animal Cops Houston she was very interested in the TV when the Animal Cops found a momma Cat with all her baby Kitties. Minni was whining and pacing back and forth, getting as close to the TV as possible. After they did their little stint on the Cat and Kitties they went onto another subject and Minni went behind the TV to see if the Cat and Kitties were still there. Yep, She's gonna be a good momma!

Big Momma!

2010-03-13T10:09:00.000-08:00

One of my Black Sex Link chickens is much bigger than the other ones. She's my BIG MOMMA chicken! She's also the nicest Chicken I have and will let you do just about anything to her as long as it doesn't hurt. I was thinking about painting her toe nails this summer, just for fun. My flight attendant co-worker Jody says she has toenail painting parties with her girls and chickens. It sounds like fun

Here is Big Momma chicken looking at me with her one eye. Do you guys find that Chickens like to look at people with just one eye? Is it because their eyes are too far apart to see the persons whole face? I don't know!

Anyway, I'm very proud of my Big Momma, she could totally be a therapy chicken if there was such thing. She lets me hold her anyway I want, well with out hurting her of course. She also lets me stretch her wings out to see under them and check on her feathers. She's my only chicken that doesn't freak out when I'm doing this. I like to check on the wing feathers just for abnormalities and to check under them also. She's such a good Chicken Momma! I think if I were to get some eggs to hatch it would be a tough decision between her and one of the RIR, a cherry chocolate momma that likes to get semi-broody once and awhile.

So to the future chicken keepers out there: Get a black sex link! They make for really good egg layers, nice big brown consistent eggs. That is my Big Momma Chicken!

Sarah Palin, my only white chicken.

2010-03-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

So here's Sarah Palin, she's white, she's proud of being white, and she lets everyone know that she's the only white momma in the chicken house!

Here you see Miss Palin snacking on her favorite treat, popcorn. If another chicken comes into eyesight of her treat she will scream and peck until they leave her pile alone. Yeah, she's my most bossiest chicken momma yet.

When I got the box of chicks in from Triple D Farms my mom was with me and she was just as excited as I was to open the box when we got home to see what the chicks would look like. I knew I was getting three different breeds of chicken and I figured they were all going to be similar in color. But NO! I was surprised to see my Sarah Palin chick in the box sticking out like a sore thumb. My mom quickly said "oh no, that ones white, I hope it doesn't get picked on too much" Yeah, she said that. :D Sarah Palin as turned out to be an okay chicken momma, she proudly sings her "I laid an egg, see? Song" and sometimes she lays me some double yolkers.

One day my younger sister Elsa and I were going to check on the chickens and Sarah Palin was in a nest box but she had her head resting against the side. My heart started pounding because I thought she was DEAD! She was alive and very much alive at that. As soon as I threw some scratch out she came jumping out of the box. I quickly went to the box to see if there was anything different about the egg she laid and boy was I in for a treat! It was HUGE! I mean like DOUBLE JUMBO XL! It was at LEAST twice the size of the other eggs in there. She musta been so tired from laboring thru the pain of laying such a huge egg! Zach quickly ate the egg in an egg sandwich, he asked and begged for the egg until I just gave in and gave it to him. :D

So I'm happy to say I'm proud of my Sarah Palin chicken, she's the only republican among a bunch of democrats! Hey its just like real life!

SO SORRY!

2010-03-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

So its been forever since I posted, I'm sorry!

We have a crappy internet connection. I know that's not an excuse but really, it literally took me five minutes just to LOG IN! I keep having to turn my airport on and off again so the signal will go back up to half bars and not just one.

So here's the happenings in Chicken Land AK. I came home from Vegas and my younger sister who was watching the chickens saved me 12 dozen eggs! YEAH 12! So I quickly gave most of them away and ate the rest! haha. The chickens WERE enjoying the nicer warmer weather BUT mother nature has decided it's not spring here yet and has hit us with 20 below zero again. I dont mind because its easier to clean the chicken house when its that cold, they all huddle to one side while I'm cleaning to stay a little warmer because some of the heat is coming off the floor from their crap. I literally have a steaming pile of SH*T when I'm done. :D

Speaking of sh*t, I am working on my shigaloo but I've had a setback with that warm weather we had a few weeks ago, some of my blocks have fallen apart and I think some kids kicked one of them to the side. I'm not really excited about moving another 50 lb frozen brick of sh*t again, I already did it once, why should I do it again? Oh yeah, because everyone wants to see the shigaloo... I was thinking of moving the whole thing to the middle of the lagoon, or maybe off to the side because its going to turn into one big soupy mess in the spring, and not to mention the SMELL? oh my goodness... yeah, I think I'll move it! Maybe I can con my little brother in law to help me, he's always helping me with the heavy lifting and stuff.

What else? Chisana from NAPA has been saving their old popcorn for me and its an absolute treat to the chickens, they LOVE LOVE LOVE popcorn. Thanks!

My "cousin" Susan just told me the other day she's thinking about getting chickens again, I told her to tell me when she's going to order them so I can get some Turkey's at the same time, I want to get just a couple and not the minimum for traveling. So we're going to get together and make a Triple D Farms order soon, I'm excited! More baby birds.

My dad was talking about getting quail in Chickaloon. I would love for him to get something to keep him more busy. As if building a house isnt going to keep him busy enough! hehe.

Anyway that's all the happenings here in Frozen Chicken Land, AK! I hope I found you all in good health, spirits, and so sorry about not blogging sooner!

... in Vegas ...

2010-02-15T22:02:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

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

Shout out, Bagaaaaaq!!

2010-02-09T13:05:00.000-08:00

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....

2010-02-09T12:48:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-09T12:39:00.000-08:00

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.

The Art of Blowing Out an Egg!

2010-01-28T12:58:00.000-08:00

My dad taught me how to blow out seagull eggs so we can hang them in our house. In his house he's got Murr eggs that are blue with black specks on them. They are really pointy at the top to keep from rolling off the rocks. These seagull eggs were blown out and I made soup with the egg insides. It was good egg drop soup! Seagull egg drop soup!

The way I do it is I have a really sharp knife, and I dont use the point part of the knife, I use the blade, to go round and around the end of the egg. Seagull's have really thick membranes in their eggs so I use one of those snazzy wine bottle openers to break thru the membrane. Then I do it on the other side, then blow it out. They make nice little things to hang in your house. Someone told me that hanging seagull eggs and ptarmigan storage stomach's is good luck.

Turkey Jerky

2010-01-28T12:49:00.000-08:00

This April I hope to get maybe seven turkey's. I want to raise them April thru November, just to butcher them for Thanksgiving. It would be so nice to have a fresh turkey for once. I am planning on getting some old igloo's (the loading containers airlines use) from Alaska Airlines and turn one into a turkey pen. I've read a lot about turkey's and everyone says "turkey's are dumb, they can kill them self by drinking water"... wow. They must be really dumb. But, they taste good, right?

In this picture my daughter Clara was so scared of the turkey's, maybe because they were on a table and higher than she was. Coltrane wasn't scared of the Turkey's, just Clara! This was at the state fair in Palmer, AK. I thought it was funny that we had chickens and she's fine with them and when we came around the turkey part of the livestock showing she just got really scared! I think she even started to cry after this, because I was trying to get her to see that they weren't going to get her or anything, they are in cages!

Bethel Chickens

2010-01-28T12:37:00.000-08:00

These chickens live in Bethel at John's sister Sharon and brother in law Tad's house. They have a tall coop with a roll out nest box. I'd like a roll out nest box someday but think that the eggs stay a little cleaner in my nest boxes with a bunch of hay in them. Tad also had a goose then, I don't know if he still has her, but she was loud and aggressive! Geese are like watch dogs, so I hear... I got my own little watch dog, Minni! :)

Monkey Around!

2010-01-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

I thought this was an awesome picture opp, we went to Bethel this summer to fish camp with John's family and the camp next to theirs had this up in their drying racks... cute eh?

Pancakes for Chicken

2010-01-26T10:22:00.000-08:00

My chickens like pancakes! Well, they like anything!

Google Analytics

2010-01-26T10:13:00.001-08:00

Probaby NOT a waste of my time...

2010-01-23T03:23:00.000-08:00

I've been spending HOURS reading posts on www.backyardchickens.com its a Chicken Forum and a place where if you have a question, someone has an answer. I found so much cool information on here and some really cool pictures. I also found some stuff about cold weather coops, and for it being WAY below zero this past two weeks my chickens are doing a lot better than what was expected. I think if I could just post questions and answers on that forum ALL day I probably would. Today I was looking under the tab of chicken egg production, or something like that and I clicked on the topic of HUGE EGG and MAAAAN it was a big egg... they said it was "an egg inside of an egg" I wish they would have posted a picture of the egg inside of an egg. I also saw a picture of a funky looking egg with like starbursts type of patterns on it, some kind of genetic mutation or something. Anyway, if you're bored and want to learn about chickens (and dont take anything to heart because I read on there that chickens cannot and will not produce eggs if the weather is below zero and you dont have an actual heater in your coop, hello? I'm living proof!) check it out!

Chicken Momma!

2010-01-23T03:16:00.000-08:00

http://community.adn.com/adn/node/147056

Read and retain! :)

crack for me

2010-01-19T22:20:00.000-08:00

Puppy breath is like crack for me... call me a weirdo but I think it smells good!

HELLO DOWN THERE!

2010-01-19T22:13:00.000-08:00

chicken butts. They have fluffy butts to keep their eggs nice and warm. I always tell all my visitors to my chicken coop "touch the feathers by their butt, they are so soft!" Its because I can't believe it myself, soft butt feathers! :)

Egg Cartons

2010-01-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

stamping fool!

2010-01-19T12:01:00.000-08:00

YAY my egg cartons came in today, well like I said earlier they came in on Friday but the Post Office wasnt open yesterday so I got them today. You know what the sad thing was? I didnt even have a yellow slip in my box today, I just knew they were there... The postman said "wow, you must be psychic!" I said yep, special skills! haha

So I'm stamping all my cartons so I dont have to bring out those stamps again. I'm getting pretty tired of it too... I would ALMOST pay someone to do this, like 5 bucks? :) I'll post pictures later...

Naqu! (cross-eyed)

2010-01-17T22:32:00.000-08:00

That's how my eye's were after making the stamps for my egg cartons! I did a little research on stamps and realized that I didn't want to throw down 50.00 PLUS shipping (and you know that since we're international I'm sure it would have been like 30.00!) ;) on a custom made stamp, so I went to Office Max this last weekend while we were in town and bought a "make your own stamp" kit. It comes with LOTS of little letters that you have to use tweezers to put on the stamp. I have to have the FDA food warning label on my egg cartons and it's quite long, so I had a lot of tweezing and squashing of letters to do. Plus, I ran out of "e"s and "o"s so I had to improvise. :) I'll post a picture when I get my egg cartons on Tuesday since tomorrow is a holiday and the post office will not be open. It was ALMOST worth the extra money to just get a stamp made but I think if I stamp ALL my cartons on Tuesday I wont have to use them until I need more cartons. Just a word of advice if you're going to make your own stamps, take frequent breaks to look across the room or far away so you don't become NAQU like I did.

Minni!

2010-01-14T11:11:00.001-08:00

This has NOTHING to do with chickens but its just as cute!

This is Minni after a bath! :)

Egg Carton Express!

2010-01-14T10:58:00.000-08:00

I went shopping online a couple weeks ago to get some egg cartons since the chickens are laying about 10 eggs a day and I came across some really good deals, 32.70 for 120 cartons!! With FREE SHIPPING! YEeeah! So I went to check out and they asked for the shipping address and all that fun stuff, then a new page comes up, 40.00 for International shipping! WHAT!? We arent international? Or are we? So I called the number on the bottom and some girl answered, she sounded like she was like 10, I asked her why Alaskan's have to pay international shipping. "Because you are international." What? Aren't we part of the United States? "I dont know, all I know is if you want it shipped its going to be international and you have to fill out paperwork" WHAT? for some egg cartons!? "yeah, international shipping since you are in Alaska" What high school did you go do? because last time I checked we were part of the United States. "Ma'am, if you want these cartons to be shipped to Alaska you need to pay for international shipping" Do you have a supervisor? "no". Okay end of conversation. :)

So I trashed that idea of getting the egg cartons shipped to me, and called Dean's sister Lorraine. Lorraine is super cool, she's got chickens, goats, horses, mini-horses... all that fun stuff! She lives in Roy, WA. THAT is in the United States! haha. So I had the cartons shipped to her and she so kindly went to the post office and shipped them to me!! :)

So my egg cartons are ON THE WAY! YAY! Its a good thing because right now the chickens are laying about 10 eggs a day and we've been eating lotsa eggs. I would much rather sell them to make some money back for the feed and all that stuff. AND, for the people of Kotzebue to enjoy my awesome eggs. (well they are my chickens awesome eggs) Anyway, be patient I will soon have some cartons of my own to sell my eggs in.

PS, for those of you wondering why I couldnt just sell them in the cartons that I saved up from buying eggs at the store? I could get in looooootsa trouble. I would LOVE to think that everyone out there is my friend and wont do that kind of stuff, BUUUUT you know there are a few people out there that would LOVE to see you get eff-ed over so I'm covering my own...

$#!+ Shoveler.

2010-01-14T10:51:00.000-08:00

Some days I'd rather shovel sh*t.

Some days I don't want to deal with real life problems, so I go shovel sh*t.

Some days my head pounds from all the trouble in this world, so I go shovel sh*t.

Some days I just cant come up with that money to pay that bill, so I go shovel sh*t.

Some days people seem too much and too needy, so I go shovel sh*t.

I'm not saying shoveling sh*t will save the world, but it sure saves my sanity, some days!

Babies!

2009-12-14T11:34:00.000-08:00

Minni the chicken momma, she's a good momma! She sat by the box the whole time they were outside watching them like a hawk!
This was the biggest chick at the time. She is an "Easter Egger". She's got steel blue legs, almost silver-y colored, she will lay green eggs.
Minni again watching her babies.
The chicks enjoyed this time outside VERY MUCH, they ate dirt, grass, bugs that they could catch and were warmed by the midnight sun. They did this funny run when I would bring them outside, with their head down and wings out to the side they ran around like crazy little crack chickens. Oh they were SO CUTE at this age.

You can barley see the one in the corner, she was the smallest one of them all, about the size of a golf ball with legs! We named her Pee Wee she was so cute and everyone wanted to hold her. Eventually she became the same size as the other Rhode Island Reds and we couldn't tell witch one she was anymore.

I miss having baby chicks.

Chicken Eggs!

2009-12-13T22:46:00.001-08:00

Here you see two eggs, one light brown one and a green one. The light brown one is JUMBO!

Fresh EGGS! See how big the light brown one is?

Seagull Eggs.

2009-12-13T22:32:00.000-08:00

This is how I like my seagull eggs, boiled on some toast. If you haven't eaten them before you probably wont really like them the first time you try them. They are a bit fishy, I LOVE EM!
We got these from Victor and Cathy, THANKS!!! Seagull eggs are collected in the spring, we got these last spring. They made really good omelets and were a good mix in our lunch time top ramen! I will always remember collecting seagull eggs with my cousins Charlotte and Docky, we drove down the coast from camp and filled about four buckets. That was such a fun day. I wish I could just be as carefree as I was when I was that age and subsist with out worrying about work, but we gotta pay the bills somehow.... Maybe my chickens will pay my bills and I can collect seagull eggs and do all that fun stuff, haha.

This is SO BACKWARDS!

2009-12-13T22:26:00.000-08:00

I'm so sorry about posting pictures in a backwards order. Maybe some day when I get a nice fast Internet connection I can be a little more in order but until that day comes you all will have to be patient with my postings. :)

Finally some PICTURES!

2009-12-13T22:12:00.000-08:00

Calvin cutting wood, John hammering wood. :)

See the big crate in the background? That provided a lot of wood.

My Chickens are Happy Chickens!

2009-12-13T02:03:00.000-08:00

I am very proud to say my chickens are happy chickens!

A whole new look on life.

2009-12-13T01:50:00.001-08:00

These are the nest boxes that John, Dave and I put together. The bottom box was John's idea, he thought it would give them more of an opportunity to lay in a different place.

The chicken coop is all done and ready for the chickens to be moved in. This day was very exciting. I was so happy to have them out of the back of our house.

Moving the Chicks to the Big House!

2009-12-13T01:43:00.001-08:00

Here is Elsa and I moving the chickens to the new coop in a bin, with two covers so I don't commit the same crime of accidentally killing another by way of suffocation. I made Elsa sit in the back of the truck while I moved them over so they didn't try to jump out of the bin. She was a good sport. Thanks Els!

Hurry up and WAIT!

2009-12-12T22:09:00.000-08:00

I'm waiting for my sister to get home from bible study so she can take pictures of....

EGGS!

Yeah, my chickens decided to lay some eggs yesterday, 10 to be exact. You have NO idea how excited I was to discover eggs in the nest boxes. It was like a feeling of accomplishment I've never felt before! ha ha. Yeah I'm a dork.

As soon as she gets back from bible study we'll post some pictures of eggs.

I know its a skip from the last post but I've been having problems with my profile on my home computer so I missed all the in between pictures of the chickens. Sorry!

A visit from some fine 'gents!

2009-12-03T12:22:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post this picture that Cristian from England took of our family. We got a visit from Huw and Cristian in the fall of this year, they came to take pictures of life above the Arctic Circle. I love this picture.

Coop.

2009-12-03T12:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of the coop almost done. It took almost all summer to finish this coop. Calvin and John did all the framing in one day and Calvin left the rest of the work to John. I pretty much had to light a fire under his butt before he finished it. Thank you babe!! You make a good chicken coop builder!

Thanks to my Uncle David for putting up the insulation, that was one of the hardest things to do, since you get so itchy and everything....

Again, THANK YOU JOHN! I greatly appreciate the work you've done to make my dream chicken coop. :)

ps, the wood by the coop wasn't mine, our new neighbors built a house. :)

Chicks!

2009-12-03T12:07:00.001-08:00

This was the only white chick, I thought maybe it would get picked on but she ended up okay.

When I first got the chicks I put them in a plastic tote, until I went to the grocery store to get a box. The boxes worked out very well, the potty pads I used for the bottom worked well but I wished I would have tried pine shavings when they were that little because pine shavings work SO MUCH BETTER! Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. The chicks were so dang cute!

Minni-Girl the Greatest Chicken Momma!

2009-12-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

Minni the CHICKEN MOMMA!

These are my babies, in a box!?

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, wait... didn't I just count you? Sit still so I can count!

Here she is checking out a baby chick. She was so interested in them when I got them in from the post office. She never once did nip at them or paw at them (until they got bigger than her). When they were babies she acted like their mom, sleeping by the box, whining when they were chirping away, and checking on them frequently.

They are SO FUZZY AND CUTE!!!

2009-12-03T11:54:00.001-08:00

Wow, I seriously didnt know that chickens were SO CUTE when they were little.

2009-12-03T11:49:00.000-08:00

Here's the little box the chicks came in.

I ordered 7 Americana/Arcana Chicks that lay "Easter Egg" eggs, they're any shade of green and blue, very pretty eggs. These chickens are very good for cold weather as their comb's are "rose combs".

I also got 7 Rhode Island Red's. These lay brown eggs, and are very good layers, not broody (hopefully) and pretty forgiving of cold weather.

I wanted to try something different so I got two Black Sex Link chick's they are bred just to tell if they are male or female when they hatch. They also lay pretty brown eggs. They are also pretty heavy and have good feed to waste ratio. :)

Baby Chicks!

2009-12-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

So my baby chicks came in July, I ordered them from Triple D Farms in Palmer/Wasilla AK. I ordered them a little early because I wanted to have them before I went to WEIO with my cousins.

The post office waited until 11am to call me about the baby chicks and I was so mad. When I got to the post office the guy at the counter said "there was no phone number on the box" I looked at the box and my phone number was literally written FOUR TIMES on the box. Well they all got here okay, but were starving and thirsty little birds. Minni took to them like babies it was quite entertaining.

Playing Catch Up Today

2009-12-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

I'm so sorry I havent posted in a long time but we finally got a good internet connection so I'm going to play catch up today. Thank you for being patient with me!

Happy Almost 4th of July!

2009-07-03T23:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, this past week I took a few days off and went to Anchorage, Chickaloon, Bethel, then Fishcamp! It was great. I have some pictures but yes I have yet again neglected to put them on my computer. I swear I need a laptop just for this use only! Anyway, we got some kings, and I was on my merry way back to Kotzebue. I landed in Anchorage and Sonnie picked Clara and I up and we headed to Alaska Mill and Feed to see if they in deed have feeders that I needed to complete my entire stock of stuff I need for the chicks. Yes, they did! We were there on my way to Bethel but the girl I asked was a little confused, maybe stoned, I don't know, and she told me that the baby chick stuff would be with the regular bird feeders that they have in this fancy room... uh, no! Anyway, we didn't have much time to look around and Sonnie and Troy and Tahlia in the car so I didn't want to keep her waiting for fear of her sanity going out the window so I just said F(&^ it. :) Then I went back and found them myself. So I am fully stocked up, I have 100 lbs of feed, 60+ pounds of hay, feeders, waterers, a heat lamp, a red 100 watt bulb, and a thermometer. :) The only thing I do need is the rest of my coop to be built, I think I'll bug Calvin this week about it. I just need some vent holes and misc. stuff like that done to it, otherwise I'm cocked and ready to pull the trigger on this chicken deal. haha. I might ask Cal if he would build me a little barrier box for when the chicks are little, so they don't go wandering around the coop, they will just be stuck in one spot until they can keep their own temp. Well, I'm off to do some more prep for my 4th of July booth. Come on over and let your kid win a fish. :) I'm SO excited for tomorrow, yeeeah...... right. :)

Give him wood, he will build!

2009-06-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

Is that how that saying goes? I cant remember. Anyway, on Saturday June 20th Calvin and Sonia called at about 10am to tell us they were going to get ready to head over to my parents house to start the building of my coop! How exciting! John and I went over there and the guys started to take apart crates, put together 2x4's and next thing you knew, we had a floor, walls and a roof! Some issues have arise since that day, like when it rains or is windy the satellite dish doesn't get a good reception (as soon as I can post pictures you will understand what I'm talking about) so we're going to have to move it a little over. HOPEFULLY Eviky, and some of her guys can move it over a bit. Anyway nothing else new going on here. I ha vent heard back from NWAB, so I think I will call them this week... Also, I ordered my chickens from Triple D Farms in Palmer, to arrive the week of the 13th thru the 17th of July. I'll be done by then... :) Happy Hump Day!

multi-tasker extrodinaire

2009-06-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

I'm at work (SHHHH) but I am working. I'm also blogging. I shouldn't be but whatever. I wish my camera was with me earlier when I went to my Ahnna's because the ice in front of town is amazing. Not that I've seen it every single year I've lived here but when you are growing up its not as interesting as when you're old enough to stop and listen... Anyway I just wanted to drop in a little note, no wood yet... still waiting. Also, I found some cool things on AlaskaList.com... I think that's what the website is, anyway its like craigslist, but maybe better! :) Look under the farming section, I found some neat stuff. :)

Be Patient Grasshopper!

2009-06-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

Half the problem of living in the arctic is having to wait a long time for things... Things like more wood, insulation, an answer from a grant opp, some feed, some pine shavings, mason jar feeders.... stuff like that! I'm waiting very patiently and I think I should be awarded for it! Snail mail sucks.

On the other hand, I went to check out some prices in Anchorage for a few things I needed and boy do the prices get slashed in Anchorage. WOW I mean to the point of wanting to move... well not really, but really.

By the way I should also receive an award for "Best Duck Auntie" since my little sister wasn't competent in in duck babysitting. I saved them from their own crap, literally. I should also say that a petition has been started (not really but it should be) for my sister Maija to GET RID of her yellow lab, Shockie. I know she's cute but she's become good-for-nothing and a liability, so in the words of my most wisdom father: "if it is good-for-nothing, get rid of it goddamnit!!!"

Here is where I stand, hammer in hand!

2009-05-31T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well; maybe not, yet! Calvin and I had a session brainstorming the other night of chicken coop designs and how big it will be and all that fun stuff.... I got my zoning paperwork to turn in tomorrow along with the measly 10 dollar fee for the building permit from the City of Kotzebue. What a rip! haha. I collected more wood also, mostly drift wood for perches for the brooders. (and I will come get that crate from by the teachers housing, from by!) I have counted enough ply-wood to construct it.

I also have registered with the FDA for the refrigerator. Ask me how funny it is that we have to do that... anyway I've been looking for a "dorm room" refrigerator on craigslist, my most favoritest place to pass time at work (ssshhhh!). I'm getting excited, even though the chickens wont start laying until at least October at this rate... we'll see, maybe I'll encourage them to lay earlier than 22 weeks. :)

Sorry I don't have ANY pictures on this blog yet, I finally found my camera's battery charger cord, so my battery is happily charging away right now. I will be in Seattle all week next week for work so I don't think I will blog then, I might. We shall see. :)

Are you going to throw that ply-wood away?

2009-05-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

So it seems like everyone is working on something outside this spring. I keep driving to and from work and keeping my eyes peeled for some good ply-wood or anything I can use for my chicken coop. I've done a lot of research for this and seem to have full confidence in myself that this is going to work. We'll be eating a lot of chicken if it doesn't work out. :)

My friend Charity told me that chickens are like pigs, they'll eat anything and they are messy. She also told me that as long as they have water, so they don't get dehydrated they'll live thru the winter. I think that's two of the best pieces of advice I've gotten so far. She herself has a few chickens that she regularly gets eggs from and they live in her back yard coop. I haven't seen it but if they live in it all winter I imagine its a good one.

I've been procrastinating on asking a few community members about their wood piles for the past couple of weeks. So on Tuesday among doing other things on my only day off I plan to call around town to various house holds to ask what they are going to do with their wood. I think its silly to be asking around but if it is going to go to waste or in a fire and its worth taking to my parents house (where the coop is going to be located) then it is worth the embarrassment to ask around. I've seen some nice wood piles and if I had a crew of about 10 people and a nice big truck I could have gotten a bunch of wood, of course in the darkness of the night... only a couple hours a night now and disappearing fast.

I also applied for a grant at our local borough for small business'. I hope I get it. I should hear back from them this week. Cross your fingers for me as I could use that money for a feed I plan to stock up on and the chickens themselves. Back to reality. :)

Tundra Chicks, ptarmigan?

2009-05-23T20:13:00.001-07:00

"Aren't tundra chicks; ptarmigan?" No, I answered. Tundra chickens are, not tundra chicks! :) So is the name of my Chicken Coop, Tundra Chicks. I came up with the name one morning laying around my house with my dog, it was sunny and she was eating nuvivaks (flys) off the window. I wanted to have a good name for my Chickens to be known as, and I think Tundra Chicks does the job.

It all started with one fresh egg. My dad had talked to me about a person who he doesn't really know but has chickens that lay these cool different colored eggs and Red the post man gives him a dozen here and there... I asked about the chickens and my dad didn't give me an answer that I was happy with so I googled it. :) I came up with a plethora of answers, chickens laying all colors of eggs at all seasons of the year.

I never had a chicken in my life but as my parents know me to be I probably could have kept it well and for years longer than the guesstimated life span. I am an animal person, someone who animals just are a magnet to and I am to them. I've been up to my arm pits in dog shit my whole life, literally. I remember walking around my grandparents dog yard in Sisaulik with puppies in my atiqluk pockets and bottles made for the puppies out of old Tylenol bottles, the ones with the droppers. A huge influence on my love of animals was my Ahna, who was always yelling at the dogs but loved them dearly. She would sit in the evening with her dog Pinky in the sunset and smell of the ocean and talk her about her day and what she did, what Doc (her husband and my grandfather) came home with to cut up or to cook that day. I think when I saw that growing up I wanted to be that person, and older native lady, no white hair, sitting on the porch of her old falling apart house 12 miles from any kind of civilization, talking to a dog and being totally content with that.

Of course the love of Dogs wont equal the love that Chickens give or receive. You can pet a dog and hold it in your lap while it contently sits there with eyes closing and nodding off. Chickens on the other had aren't as lovable but I think I can handle that. :)

So I came up with I think is a great idea, why not have a chicken coop that produces eggs all year round for the residents of Kotzebue? I could maybe make a few bucks, of course after paying off all the feed and little pooper scoopers I plan on hiring. I can also and more importantly give the chance to the residents of Kotzebue to eat a fresh egg. I can tell you the first time I ate a fresh egg and what I thought of it but its boring and nobody really cares... haha. All I can say is that it is much better than what AC has to offer.

I started just asking around town about left over building supplies and I picked up some great crates from Sandy Huss, whom I am indebted to some fresh eggs when the chickens do start laying. I also picked up some random pieces off the road and here and there. I think I have acquired enough to build a 8x8x8 coop. I might change it to 8x8x6 just for some insulation reasons but I think I can pull off what I originally want. So this is where I stand, crates in front of my parents house, no chickens yet, and waiting on Calvin and Sonia to come home to tell me how much more wood I need...