Buckeyes are here

Not the nuts, the chickens! We picked up 28 little Buvkeye peeps and 32 hatching eggs from Matt Johns on Thursday evening. The peeps are happily making themselves at home in the brooder behind the garage. And the eggs are incubating on the second shelf of the incubator in the basement.

Now I have to get in gear and remodel the shed behind the garage into a chicken palace. I have 300 ft of chicken wire riding around in my Honda, and I've got a bunch of kitty litter buckets saved for nest boxes. Now I need to collect up posts, find a nice long pole or 2 for a roost, a few boards and a couple of cast off windows. Then an afternoon of banging and pounding, measuring and pulling and it will be ready to go!

Our hens are going mobile!

Well we finally got it done! The Egg Mobile rolled out of the garage last night - just barely. Brian had to do some manual moving of the rear end to get it aligned just right with the rollup door. Brian added the roofing in the dark while I cut holes in all those kitty litter buckets so that they would work for nest boxes.
This morning, with the help of my son, we rangled all of the hens out of the high tunnel greenhouse, up the ramp and into their new home. Once they were all safely inside, Brian towed the Egg Mobile with the tractor out to the pasture.
As soon as we opened the door, hens came pouring down the ramp. It didn't take long for them to be happily foraging in the grass and leaves.
Tonite when it gets to be around dusk, Brian will go out and close the hens up in their house so they'll be safe for the night.

The secret

We have been looking for years for the secret to peeling hard boiled eggs made from farm fresh eggs.
We finally found it!!

Put cold water in the pot. Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Add your eggs and cook like you normally do. Run cold water over the cooked eggs and peel.

We tried it and it works. :)