Sarah Palin, my only white chicken.

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!

Pancakes for Chicken

My chickens like pancakes! Well, they like anything!

Probaby NOT a waste of my time...

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!

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

Read and retain! :)

HELLO DOWN THERE!

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! :)

$#!+ Shoveler.

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!

A visit from some fine 'gents!

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.

Happy Almost 4th of July!

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. :)

Tundra Chicks, ptarmigan?

"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...