Author: Caryn

Egg color part two

On By CarynIn eggs

I was recording egg color along with egg weight in a notebook as we collect eggs, but they were relative colors: light brown, medium, brown, dark brown. It bothered me that without a reference, I couldn’t tell what I called “dark” the day before. And “dark” certainly isn’t a universal application because there are chicken breeds that lay much darker brown eggs. So I pulled out an old Pantone color book and am now comparing color to the Pantone standard. It means I write down things like 16-1331, but I am hoping to see a correlation between the color of egg laid and which chicken laid it. (I’m still working on how to figure out that last part.)

Using Pantone colors to match egg color

I tried hanging out in the coop for awhile. Cloud got upset and was yelling at me and decided to perch on my shoulder, then when I got her down and I left the coop, she went into the nest box! So I waited, and waited, and finally got sick of waiting and puttered around the yard (I don’t sit still well for long). I went back to check on her, and it looked like she was sleeping in the nest box. Alrighty then.

Cloud sleeping in a nest box?

I am not waiting around for chicken naps. I did collect an egg from that box an hour or so later when the other chickens alarmed at something (or maybe it was the egg song, not sure on the subtleties of that yet). I am assuming it was Cloud’s egg. It was a different color than all the previous eggs. Maybe an individual chicken can lay different shades? Oh well, it is still fun to color match.

Fun with pumpkins

On By CarynIn chickens, meme

What is better than feeding pumpkin to chickens? Feeding jack-o-lanterns to chickens so they look like headless chickens when they eat. Ha!

I bought a sugar pie pumpkin because they are nice and small, and found one with a nice thick stem to make it easier to hang. Then I cut the face of the pumpkin (going for the shocked look), and cut a large hole out of the back of the pumpkin to attract the chickens. If I do it again, I will probably just draw on a face, since the face attracts just as much pecking as the back. (If… who am I kidding. This is hilarious. Of course I will do it again.)

Back cut out of jack-o-lantern

I hung the pumpkin at chicken head height, then took pictures.

And the made the memes. Because I am easily amused.

Pack the spindle

On By CarynIn Craft

I probably went a little far wrapping the plied yarn around this spindle, but I was determined to get it all on. Me? Stubborn? Ha.

Packed drop spindle

I was determined to get it on one spindle so it would be easier to use my wool winder. It was easier, and the cake made by the wool winder is easier to draw yarn from than a ball (for me that is).

Hand spun merino wool made with two colors of roving on a top whorl drop spindle

Yes, more spindles

On By CarynIn Craft

I can’t help myself. I find bits I can use to make spindles, then suddenly I have made another spindle. Or two.

The whorls on these are made from either post oak or cedar elm (we have both on the property). I took a branch that has been sitting my log pile for about a year, cut slices, then sanded the slices into donut shapes. The shafts are store bought dowels, with one end sanded to a point and the other end has the diameter reduced slightly to hold the whorl. They aren’t perfect, but they function ok and are pretty. It does make me want to get my lathe up and running again so I can make perfectly round whorls.

Update on Tigger: After Tigger freaked out and injured herself during the coop clean out, she went into isolation for two days. We wrapped her foot, which made her limping worse, took off the wrap in the morning, and that evening she perched all night. I let her out in the morning and she seems right as rain.

Update on Navi: Although Navi is gaining weight, her crop is large and squishy again. So she went back into isolation with copper sulfate drinking water. One bird out, one bird in.