Tina Hillel

Thank you for sharing. I’ve been too chicken/lazy to try making soap, but I weirdly like reading about it. Your bottom picture reminds me of a filled brownie, so if you sell your soaps, it may be a new marketing plan😀

I just wanted to say thank you and let you know how much I’m enjoying your sharing your efforts with food waste. Over all I’m pretty careful, but noticed I’ve been slipping. I think I sometimes use my chickens as an excuse that items “aren’t really going to waste”…

Hope you enjoyed all the nectarines😀

I like to roll them around with some bacon grease, salt and pepper. Roast in oven til crisp, stirring occasionally.

Our best rodent killers started as stray kittens. We kept them in a large dog crate for a week so the dog could get to know them. Plus my husband is allergic and no way can we have indoor cats.

We got the 2 when they were about 6 weeks old. That was enough time to learn from their mom. They are almost 2 now. Best hunters ever. We do loose the occasional bird but they have drastically improved the amount of mice we were dealing with in the workshop and woodsheds. Never had a rodent make it in the house.

They fit the bill for being cute, but have no interest in coming inside. They come by to get a snack and some attention, but mostly do their own thing. They have been fixed as I don’t want a colony and they do get rabies shots at vet.  We like to get two so they have company and that seems to help keep them more bonded to each other and not stuck to us. Dog still doesn’t care for cats except “his cats”.

My husband is severely allergic to cats as well so ours have to be outdoor.  We introduced ours as kittens (got them both spayed and neutered) because that’s the best way to get our dog to bond with them.  He plays with the cats but will still block them when they get in stalk mode with our birds.  They are friendly enough to us but most people dont even know we have cats because they excel at disappearing.

We have had issues with them being a bit too interested in the chicks but the chickens defend themselves fine.  Turned hose on cats a couple times.  The girl cat at 3 lb did try to jump on and take out a 10 lb meat bird. It just tossed her off.  This is their first year as full adults so it will be interesting to see how it goes with the chicks. Hose will be ready🙀

Edited to add that we saw a major improvement of rodent removal.  Sometimes we see them being eaten and other times they are left for us as gifts.

Is there any chance you have an egg eater? I had one in the past who was very efficient and eat all trace of the shell. They can teach this to other birds.

As far as not roosting, about 8 of my hens don’t want to roost.  Doesn’t effect their laying as 15 out of 19 laid eggs today.

Hope you figure things out!

If warmth is the concern, can you just wrap it with insulation for the winter? My husband went with Langstroth since he bought two hives that someone gave up on. That’s what he did on the advice of a couple beekeepers and so far at least it has worked.  We are only in second year with bees.  We went from two to four hives and had several swarms.  Still learning…

I like using the straight venison as sausage although it can be a bit crumbly.  I sauté with some bacon grease and veg and scramble with eggs.  I can get away with using less meat and have it more dispersed throughout the dish.

For us it also works well in an Italian sauce where the crumble factor is a plus.

We usually like having two.  When older reaches 5, we get a puppy. Occasionally we have had an overlap of three dogs.  Due to family illnesses, we didn’t follow our usual pattern. We just lost our shepherd at age 14 and our 5 year old rottie is now an only dog and doesn’t like it.  In the spring, we will be looking for a new pup.

Older dogs can be great to help train the new dogs in routines and they keep each other company.

I completely understand when you paid extra to get it in patty form.  You can keep it as a patty and cook with the Greek seasoning. Just chop the salad smaller and put in a pita bread or a wrap with the tzatziki to eat as gyro sandwich.  I do it as a salad since I can’t eat bread.