Starting with Nothing - SHTF - Survival in Nature

here i am, what a lovely letter we certainly are falling in love with each other, lol, thought i would tell you what is going on here, not to brag or complain but to have something to say - started with 26 turkey egss, 7 hatched, down to 2 - but - they are very strong and healthy, recovered from injury and best of all a male and female - they live with another chick in my livingroom, they need it very warm so now there is shit everywhere, good thing they are little bad thing is this is where i sell my stuff usually - roy is alllergic to them so i have to figure out how to keep them warm while it gets colder, there is a truck canopy in the back yard, maybe i can set up a heat lamp and keep them protected from critters,  . .. coffee is finished now roy just came in from doing firewood must go be a loving wife \best part of my job) so more later peace 

the turkeys are outside now, everyday when the sun hits the front porch i send them out - this big clean farm and my babies are in the most contaminated area, then they go huddle in the shade and hide from the other chickens - more and more they play and run around now on the ground and fast - hard to catch at the end of  the day to put in the house- today was awesome my shadow chicken herded them into the house for me

this chicken just will not leave me alone when i am outside, she came with the batch of birds from a neighbor moving away - it was great to have chickens again but on arrival they were mean and egg eaters, so i have no eggs - have new clippers and will dock the beaks of the culprits -

 anyway one day a lone chicken was pacing the fence where i was, there wasn't another bird in sight - she was upset and obviously wanted my attention - she seemed to be saying "remember me?! remember me?!?' - outloud i told her she didn't have to try and con me, i let all girls out who just can't stand being in the pen anymore \- she just would no leave me alone \(i love this) - she has since stole the butt from my fingers and my heart

 next day another lone chicken, doing the same song and dance alone, when i opened the gate, she sat and let me pick her up - in my head again i heard words \\'you know me, you know me\' - so very happy she was, when she joined the other chicken on ground at my feet the truth of matter was loud and clear  -THESE WERE MY CHICKENS, bought chicks \i had raised by hand - it took chickens to make me remember\- we had so much success with raising chickens that year that we sold some to one lady who sold them to another whom i bought them back\

once i realized this it was very easy for me to gentle the meanness out of the flock - birds are so very rewarding \(they can also be heartbreaking like anything else of value)

no time to proofread or pretty this up - more later - peace

ps just came in, have lost my sheep and it is now dark, hope they come home with their tails wagging behind them

Eggs - How to Boil an Egg - Pickled Eggs - Survival Homestead - SHTF - Raising Chickens

Egg salad is boiled eggs, onions, parsley, carrot and/or celery and pickles cut into small bits and mayo mixed with a teaspoon of dry mustard and salt and pepper to taste served with lettuce on bread as a sandwich. 

To boil eggs will a pot half full with cold water put it on the burner.  Add eggs to fill the pot, put on a tight lid and turn the burner on high.  Once the water is boiling turn it off, leaving the pot on the burner.   

After about 3  minutes, carefully drain the hot water from the pot.  Put the pot in the sink on the faucet to pour cold water on them to cool them down. 

   

If the egg isn’t cooled fast enough the yolk edge will darken, this does not however affect its edibility.  Peel an egg by tapping the bottom and top to crack the shell, peel and rinse.  

Pickled Eggs

 

Usually, this time of year, we have eaten all the dill pickles and pickled hot peppers.  Since I use excellent organic apple cider vinegar for these and hated to throw it out when the pickles were gone.  This vinegar is excellent to add to soups and salads.  But we really keep the jars of vinegar in the fridge to pickle our eggs. 

Bring the eggs to the boil and cool.  Peel the egg trying to keep the egg attractive with the yolk inside.  

My eggs are so super that the yolks are huge making this almost impossible.  I am sure I could pickle them, but they make the vinegar clouding and unappealing, so I make egg salad with the duds.

Well enough bragging back to the pickled eggs. . . 

Peel them and fill the pickle jars with as many as you can, without packing them so tightly the vinegar can't engulf all the eggs.  We love the spicy hot pepper eggs out of hand.  The dill pickle eggs are excellent in salads, especially potato salad.  Could it be any simpler?

Never reuse the vinegar after eggs!

 

  It is unbelievably easy to raise chickens and have fresh eggs everyday. 

You could say if you had ten hens you could expect five eggs per day. A red dot on the yolk is natural if you have a rooster.  A green tinge to the yolk is also natural if the hens have eaten a lot of greens.   

Washing eggs destroys the natural bacteria boundary that makes eggs safe to eat and these should be consumer right away.  You can tell how fresh a cooked egg is by the size of the air pocket space.  The larger the space the older the egg and the easier it is to peel.  (So how old your store bought eggs are!)

 

Feed chickens a mixture of following in their feed dish:  kitchen/garden scraps, wheat, oats, rolled corn, apple cider vinegar, yoghurt, molasses, kelp, nettles, egg shells, oatmeal, dried peas, lentils, flaxseed, hemp seed, brewer’s yeast, mustard seed, broccoli seed, radish seed, millet, sunflower seeds, cooked egg, dill, chia seed, amaranth seed, kale, some weeds and most weed seeds, green tea and sprouted grain.  They also like worms, bugs and fish.  Do not feed birds potato peelings, coffee, meat fat, rice and uncooked egg shells from unknown source.

About these eggs:   The smallest one is a large from the store, the medium one is an average size for my girls, and the largest one turned out to be a triple yolker!

For more details on raising chickens on this blog 

use the search engine at the right!

Peace