Appleyard ducklings have hatched!!

Our 4 mama ducks gave us 35 eggs over 10 days and we saved 28 to incubate. By day 28 of incubation, we had 20 little ducklings hatch and ready to join our backyard farm (or be sold...most will be sold). 

They are adorable and full of life!! They are only 2 days old and already enjoying the fresh air. We put up a little spot for them with a tray of water...which they are loving!!

Incubating duck eggs 28 days, then little ducklings hatch

I absolutely adore this time of year! Our little homestead is full of life!! Baby goats, baby chicks and now baby ducks! We started incubating 28 duck eggs a month ago and we get to enjoy these little feathery friends in our backyard!

Here is a video of our incubation process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spo2km7LuuM&list=HL1368483081&feature=mh_lolz

"The Girls" our Backyard Chickens

Backyard chickens are by far the easiest step to backyard farming. They are relatively maintenance free and quite inexpensive too! Our girls get all of our food scraps and dig around for almost anything else they need. We do supplement with an organic layer feed we get from our local feed store. We have never had a shortage of eggs and everyone is quite healthy and happy! We raised all these ladies from little baby chicks and it has been very exciting watching them grow up to become productive members of the backyard!

And this here is "Funny Goosie". Addie LOVES her so much and will carry her around the yard showing her everything! She is an Americana and lays quite large greenish blue eggs. 

Now of course a delightful poached egg on top of toast is the perfect way to start the morning!!

Homegrown Eggs Delicious and Nutritious

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From backyard...

To kitchen...

To table...

...within minutes! Delicious and Nutritious!!

Nest Box Adventures!

Its a race to the nest box to see which girls laid us some presents! The excitement of these 2 kids would make you think that they were golden eggs in there! Ummm, let me clear that up right now that there are in fact no golden eggs here. Bummer!

If you are considering raising backyard hens I highly recommend adding nest boxes to your coop. The hens love to curl up in the boxes where it is warm and dark and lay their eggs. The kids also love knowing exactly where to find treasures! We had to put a log stump at the foot of the nest box so the kids can reach up and collect the eggs without us...besides, its really cold outside and its alot easier to watch from the backdoor with a nice hot cup of tea while the kids run out in the cold to bring in the eggs! 

Our egg layin beauties!

These girls have proved to be quite the productive group of hens!

The chickens, who were baby chicks just a few months ago, are now full grown and proving to be excellent egg layers!! Addie has taken such good care of them from the time they first joined our little farm back in March. At the end of the summer I realized how hard Addie was working to take care of them and that she basically did all the feeding and egg collecting...so, we told her that if she wanted she could have all the chicken responsibilities...she gladly accepted! Along with the irresponsibility, we told her that if she sold any extra eggs she collected that she could keep the money in her jar. She quickly decided she wanted to sell them for $10 per dozen (decided upon due to only have 10 finger...otherwise Im sure she would have thought of a higher number!). I told her that she would never get $10 for 1 dozen eggs...quickly she exclaimed "Oh, Grandpa will buy them!". "Oh, yes Im sure you are right...but we are not charging grandpa $10 for eggs!"

We are down to 9 hens (several were roosters and a few were lost to the harsh summer we had) but they are layin very consistently! Addie was bringing in 7-8 eggs a day until just about a month ago as the daylight began to dwindle (chickens egg production is based dramatically off of hours of sunlight...as well as a healthy diet). With the slight temperature rise we have seen as well as a new organic chicken layer feed we have them enjoying, their production has taken off again and Addie is bringing in at least 5 eggs a day...some days we have 8. I'm sure the production will lower slightly as we enter the cold winter months, but these girls are definitely strong heritage breeds and I really look forward to seeing them in the years to come!

I think hens are a fabulous and easy way to start having your back yard produce something for you!

Double Egg

 Every once in a while one of our hens tries to be an overachiever and we find a "double egg". This egg actually had 2 yolks in it!! We have at least 4 of our new hens laying eggs now...here in a few weeks all of them should be in full production! Bring on the omelets!! 

Homemade Honey Spearmint Custard!

Ive been experimenting with a lot of recipes to get some ideas for what to use all this goat milk on once the goats start producing next spring. We love dessert! I bumped across various custard recipes and ended up making a "Honey Custard", using local honey instead of sugar, Eggs from our dear backyard chickens, and of course I had to incorporate something from the garden...so I used some fresh spearmint!!

1: Wisk 4 eggs and 1/3 cup honey together in a large saucepan

2: Add 3 Cups milk and heat over Medium heat for about 15 minutes (or until the mixture thickens enough to cover the back of a spoon - Stirring CONSTANTLY!)

3: Throw in the fresh Spearmint (or whatever you want for

flavoring) about halfway through. I used a good handful.

4: Once your mixture coats the spoon transfer the pot into an ice water bath for about 30 minutes or until it cools. If at any point your mixture starts to curdle a bit, just give it a good stir :)

5: Refrigerate for at least an hour

6: Enjoy!!

Scrambled Eggs and Arugula ... yum :)

This morning Bryan went out and picked some fresh arugula that I put in with our scrambled eggs. Very fresh and Very yummy! I highly recommend giving it a try :)