Miller Farm Friday Archives - Page 31 of 47

9 09, 2016

I Do Like Them Sam I Am

By judythemorgan|2016-09-06T09:07:14-05:00September 9th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

When we lived in Mexico, we enjoyed the mangos very much. They were manilla mangos, which are unavailable here in the US.

The closest we can get is an Ataulfo mango.

At the food pantry this Friday they had mangos that are more common in the US. They do not taste the same and Beekeeper Brian does not like them. So I decided I do not like them.

However, we tried a blackened chicken and mango recipe that was quite good. I decided since I had an abundance of mangos, I would cut up and freeze some for use in this particular recipe.

As I was peeling and cutting mangos, I tasted one and discovered they are quite good. Not the same as manilla mangos but good just the same.

I thought of the book Green Eggs and Ham. After saying repeatedly, “I do not like green eggs and ham” the main character tries them and realizes he does like them.

I suppose I would eat mangos in a box, with a fox, in the rain, on a train…

26 08, 2016

Chick Incentives

By judythemorgan|2016-08-19T15:31:04-05:00August 26th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday, one word Wednesday|0 Comments

A Blog By Chicken Wrangler Sara

When I am not taking care of the animals on Miller Farm, I spend several hours a week teaching private piano lessons. When I was 13 I wanted to be just like my piano teacher, Mrs. Black. It is not always easy, but I enjoy the challenge.

For instance, I started a new student this summer who is enormously creative. I had him in my music class at the private school where I teach and he once told me his mother has a bow and arrow. She hunts for food because they don’t have any at their house. She was quite surprised to hear this and for weeks after that I asked what they were having for dinner.

So this new student, like many others, enjoys coming to piano lessons. I mean who wouldn’t enjoy seeing a pack of dachshunds and a flock of chickens every week.

However, practicing at home was not nearly as exciting. His mom, the huntress, expressed some concern. She didn’t want to make it miserable for him but knew without practice, he would make little progress. So I told her I would pull out my bag of tricks.

In this “bag of tricks” I have little individual incentive charts where students can mark each day they practice. For some, the promise of a piece of candy for five stickers is sufficient.

I was afraid this student would not be motivated by candy. So I came up with a new incentive.

We happened to have baby chicks in the brooder in our garage. (I wonder how many other people on our street can say that.) When the chart had five stickers, I promised that my student could hold a baby chick. He was quite excited.

Then he realized that his assigned piece on this week was two pages long. He asked what would happen if he only practiced one page. I told him he could only hold half a chick. Fortunately he didn’t ask for details but agreed to practice the whole song.

So the following week, and the two weeks since then, he has practiced five times a week.

I’m pretty sure I am the only piano teacher in the world who uses chick incentives.

19 08, 2016

Kaboodle Update

By judythemorgan|2016-08-08T20:10:42-05:00August 19th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Kaboodle, our Polish rooster, seems to finally be settling in to his new home. There is always a certain amount of adjustment when new birds are added to the flock. They start at the bottom of the pecking order and have to work their way up.

For Kaboodle, this seems to have taken an unusually long time. He spent most days hiding between the bantam coop and the fence.

Perhaps his unique appearance caused the other birds to pick on him a little more. He is, as my mom stated, a most distinct rooster:

Then Rachel read that Polish chickens have a hard time seeing through the feathers on their heads. To help with this some owners trim their “bangs.”

So I held Kaboodle while Rachel gave him his first feather cut. It didn’t seem to bother him much at all.

Now he runs around the chicken yard with all the other birds. I’ve even seen him chase some other chickens away from the food. Instead of hiding behind the coop, he proudly roosts on top.

This is a much better place for such a handsome rooster.

12 08, 2016

Welcoming Committee

By judythemorgan|2016-08-01T14:56:31-05:00August 12th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

In the summer, I go to the pool a little later to swim. This means it is light when I come home. I don’t mind so much in the summer. Walking from the car to the house in my swimsuit and cover up makes sense. In the winter, however, when I am wearing my pink fuzzy robe over my suit, I am glad it is still dark when I get home.

Because it is light, the puppies are up. They don’t know how to sleep late.

Brian and Rachel put them outside and they are watching for me to get home. They are usually sitting at the gate while I hang up my towel. This morning, Penny was overcome with the temptation to jump on her brother.

They are quite the pair. They chase each other all around the kitchen until we put them outside where they have much more room to run. And they do run. And run and run and run.

Until they collapse.

While I was unsure about having six dachshunds, I am glad we ended up with both puppies. They would be lonely without each other.

Penny has discovered Aunt Bella is fine if all you want to do is take a nap.

But for playing, there is no one like a sibling.

5 08, 2016

Cool Chicks

By judythemorgan|2016-08-01T14:55:52-05:00August 5th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

After two glorious weeks in the mountains of Colorado, we have returned to the furnace of Texas. Every time I felt cold while in Colorado, I would soak it in hoping to recapture the feeling when I was back at home. It isn’t working.

We actually haven’t reached 100 degrees yet but the heat index has been well over 100. That means it feels really, really hot.

For us humans, we stay inside where the air is cool. The poor chickens are stuck outside. I refuse to put an AC unit in the coop. There are plenty of trees and the temperature is much cooler in the shade. But it is still hot.

Rachel read in a chicken forum that running a sprinkler in the chicken yard will cool the ground which in turn cools the air. Makes sense to me. So we water the chicken yard – which has no grass. We basically water the dirt.

The chickens love it.

They scratch around in the mud looking for bugs. It is very entertaining for them and very entertaining for me.

Next to working jigsaw puzzles in Colorado, chicken watching is one of my favorite pastimes.

29 07, 2016

Free Range Chickens

By judythemorgan|2016-07-19T11:20:39-05:00July 29th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Olivia’s chicks have grown up quite nicely. I went to close them up one night and Olivia was not with them. She had gone back to the big coop. I guess in the chicken world, it is the mom who flies the coop.

Anyway, they are spending more time out with the big chickens. That is when they are not next door. They are still small enough to fit through the fence and are often tempted by the grass in the neighbor’s yard. I see them all wandering around next door.

It reminds me of a commercial:

So far the chicks return to their home coop each night. I suppose they will eventually get too big to fit through the gate.

I just hope they are on our side when that happens. Our neighbors love watching the chickens, but I’m not sure they want to have any of their own.

22 07, 2016

There’s a Chicken in my Bathroom

By judythemorgan|2016-07-19T10:35:21-05:00July 22nd, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

While checking the chickens this week, I noticed one silkie hen squished between the coop and the fence. I gently unsquished her and set her down.

She was very unsteady on her feet and it looked like a wing was broken. I consulted chicken doctor Rachel who put her in a laundry basket in the bathroom while she did some research.

When my piano student arrived the next day and needed to use the restroom, I found myself saying “There is a chicken in my bathroom,” which reminded me of a song (which is a pretty standard occurrence around here).

The song is entitled “There’s a Hole in the Bucket.” I have a couple of different books illustrating this song which is basically a conversation between Henry and Liza revolving about how to fix the hole in the bucket.

As I went about my day, I thought of many verses to “There’s a chicken in my bathroom.” I would write it all out but I’m quite sure no one would understand.

It turns out that this particular breed of chicken has a soft spot in its skull much like a newborn baby. This soft spot does not close so if the hen gets pecked on the head, it can cause minor damage – like a concussion. This would cause her to be unsteady and want to hide from the others.

Our injured hen seems to be doing better now that she is separated from the danger of pecking hens. She is eating and drinking and can move around more securely. She even talks to us when we are in the room. We’ll try to incorporate her back into the flock later this week.

The bathroom will be lonely.

15 07, 2016

Meanwhile Back on the Farm

By judythemorgan|2016-07-13T21:19:31-05:00July 15th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Beekeeper Brian and Chicken Wrangler Sara have been on their annual vacation in Colorado leaving Rachel in charge of Miller Farm which is no easy task.

In an effort to entertain the puppies, Rachel purchased new dog toys. Much to Max’s dismay, Tucker thought they were all for him.In the poultry department, Rachel has had to separate some of the roosters sending one to a new home. Apparently Kaboodle is at the bottom of the pecking order and an intervention was required. For the moment all is calm in the chicken yard.

In the house, however, the eggs in the incubator are starting to hatch causing all kinds of excitement. So far there are nine. She is sending pictures – like having newborn babies.

Here are two of my favorites.

As much as I enjoy being in Colorado, I kind of miss the excitement of Miller Farm.

If only we could carry the cool air with us to Texas.

8 07, 2016

Richard the Frizzle

By judythemorgan|2016-07-02T21:15:49-05:00July 8th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|3 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

One of my favorite breeds of chickens is the frizzle. We started with one black bantam frizzle hen named Frizz.

She has always had quite an attitude. In fact when Rachel tried to include her in the color project by putting her into a separate coop, she refused to stay put. She would rather run with the big hens.

We now have a white bantam frizzle rooster named Richard.

He has his own personality. He is in a separate run with silky hen. Rachel is trying to produce a silky frizzle, otherwise known as a sizzle. It hasn’t happened yet.

Anyway, each evening when I go to close the chickens up in their coops, Richard is less than cooperative. In fact, he often protests so loudly, Rachel comes to make sure the chickens are not under attack. He may fly into the next coop or out into the yard.

Eventually I catch him, hold him tightly, stroke his frizzle feathers and explain that I am not going to hurt him. He just needs to spend the night safely in his coop.

Last week he actually let me put him up without the traditional squawking and loop around the chicken yard. Maybe he is calming down. But then is there really such a thing as a calm frizzle?

24 06, 2016

Digging Frogs

By judythemorgan|2016-06-12T21:57:03-05:00June 24th, 2016|Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Over the years, we have had issues with unwelcome animals on Miller Farm – mainly stray cats, rats and possums. We are animal friendly but draw the line at cats and rats and possums. All three have a tendency to harm chickens.

When we discovered holes in the back yard, we figured there was another unwelcome guest.

Rachel did some research and concluded that there were Norway rats digging holes in the back yard. This conclusion was based in part on the attack of one or the chicks in the brooder in the garage and in part on the rat sightings in the garage.

She put rat poison in all the holes and we carefully scanned the yard for dead rats each morning before letting the dogs out. We saw no more rats and the chicks in the brooder seemed safe so we figured the problem was solved.

The exterminator came out last week and I asked him about Norway rats. He said they are not usually found in this area but more in coastal regions. He said the more likely culprit is…….wait for it……frogs.

I had no idea that frogs were burrowers. It was somewhat of a relief to think of frogs in the back yard rather than rats.

In fact, I was much less disturbed by the frog in the garage last night than I had been by the rats last month.

The dogs are most interested in the holes. It is a well-known fact that dachshunds are indeed burrowers.