Show Chickens

So Hunter and I entered our first show in Morganton NC October 29th..we got 2 first and a 3rd...not too shabby for first timers....

Alot of time and effort goes into making a chicken "showable"  they eat special food, extra black oil sunflower seeds to help their feathers be shiny, and they have to be kept separate from the other chickens so as to not get into fights and ruin all your efforts.  Then of course you also have to BATHE them...which is the easy part..they just think its a day spa to relax and float around in lol...its the drying off that takes forever...3 chickens took the better part of the afternoon last time...Imagine how long the 9 I am entering this go round will take...At least none of them are white :)

Here is a sneak peek of our show line up:

A lot of Ramblings...

Wow, we ave been super busy around here lately.  and things don't seem to be slowing down either.  With working 50+ hours at work, for me, and trying to get the farm ready for winter...Hunter and I hardly have time to sleep.  but that is part of living on a farm I guess.

So here are some exciting things going on around here:

We got our first Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats, 2 does and a buck.  their names are Caramel, Mariah, and Ed. (they are older goats who were already registered, so we didn't get to name them this time)  Caramel is bred and we will hopefully be having not only cute litte kids (baby goats for those of you not up on your goat lingo) as well as some of her yummy goats milk (to make cheese from!!)

We are getting around 10 eggs a day on a consistent basis now, so I am ready to start selling them to the public.  our neighbor is currently buying a dozen from us every week  We are getting blue, green, brown, and white eggs and they are all different shapes and sizes. Can't wait for the marans to start laying to get my dark brown eggs too.

We have had 3 broody hens so far this fall,  Tillie Millie (who ended up not being able to hatch her eggs due to becoming egg bound) (but she is also back to her normal laying schedule which is awesome, as we were worried she might not be able to lay again)  Esmerelda (Esme for Short) our smooth feathered Silkie.  She is currently sitting on 3 eggs and seems to be doing well with it.  She comes out every day to get some sun, and scratch some of the grains I throw out  for them every day.  Mr. Frizzle likes to pay attention to Esme, so I am hoping for some Sizzles (which is a Silkie and a Frizzle cross) Mrs. Frizzle is also broody at the moment, having 5 eggs, 3 her own and 2 Easter Eggers.

We entered our first Poultry Show on 10/29/11 in morganton, nc.  We took 3 birds, and we got 2 best of breeds, and 1 3rd place.  It was definitely an experience and we are anxiously awaiting our next show. which will be the saturday after Thanksgiving, in Winston Salem NC.

We also have a litter of puppies due December 7th from Hannah and Snoots, we are hoping for yellow and black puppies.

Hunter killed his first deer of the season (bow season that is), and we decided to process the meat ourselves.  This was a very interesting experience for me, as I don't have much experience in butchering anything.  We had our first meal of it tonight, with this recipe:
http://www.huntfishcook.com/index.php?option=com_ricettario&func=detail&Itemid=48&id=1
It was YUMMY!!!!