The Chicken Whisperer & A Giveaway!

I may have mentioned before that my husband is somewhat of an animal whisperer! 

He has never met an animal, that I am aware of, that hasn't liked loved him.

So why would I think the chickens would prove any differently?

Have I mentioned when it is time for them to get back into the coop at night, all he does is say 'C'mon Girls' and the follow him. Single file like a good little flock, they follow him like devout worshippers.

It kinda makes me roll my eyes....

This is 'Roo', as I have been referring to her. Allen thinks am absurd - he said she isn't a rooster. 

And here we have little Chicken Whisperer Junior in the making....

And now, for the giveaway! 

One lucky reader is going to win a One Year Complimentary Subscription to Backyard Poultry Magazine, courtesy of Backyard Poultry Magazine!

If you are new to keeping Chickens, BYP has a nice feature you can sign up for, for free. The healthy chickens bulletins; quick reads with priceless info!

All you have to do is leave a comment below telling me if you have/plan to have/or wish you could have backyard chickens! And if you do have them, what is your favorite thing about them? 

The drawing closes Sunday night at Midnight. I will post the winner Monday - Good Luck!

***UPDATE**

The contest has closed. The winner of the year subscription to BYP Magazine is Tiny Gardener!

Moving Day

It was moving day this past weekend for the chickens. 

Yep, time for them to fly the coop out.of.my.bathroom! YAHOO!

They seem to be adjusting quite well with all the extra open space they have to roam, run and peck!

And flap and squak and dirt bathe....

I couldn't resist, I picked them some fresh herbs and threw them into the coop for them. 

Later, when I was cleaning out old flower pots, I had clumps of dirt loaded with bugs.

I think the were in heaven!

And this is an 'heirloom' chicken feeder. It was Allen's grandpa's.

I think that is pretty neat!

I was having a tad difficult time taking pictures since I have a 14 month old glued to my hip.

And these metal walls - the ladies are fascinated with them. 

They peck at them, and peck and them, and....peck at them?

Link Loitering, April 20

Have you heard about the Arsenic in Chicken controversy? Here's a great article. All I know is, I am happy with the pastured chickens we buy from local farmers and we'll keep it that way. And yes, we can TOTALLY taste the difference between their chickens and the ones we'd purchase from a grocer. My chicken stock is totally different too making it from pastured birds. No thanks to chicken meat containing antibiotics and antidepressants - yes, you read that right, antidepressants! And, you can bet your bunnies I purchased the Organic Starter feed for our chickies that doesn't contain Roxarsone!

And while we're chatting about Poultry, can I just share these photos of pastured eggs I picked up this week from a local farmer? They are gorgeous -- the photos don't even do them justice! One was a beautiful olive green color, another a double yolker. I paid $1.75/dozen - what a steal. These eggs are so completely different, and better, than the ones you buy from a grocery store. Even the 'organic' and 'cage-free' ones people choose, thinking they are making a wise decision, and paying upwards of $2.50+ a dozen. Those marketing schemes are such a racket. I let the farmer keep my quarter in change when I handed her $2.00 - even still - what a steal. And you bet when we cracked these open, they were a nice, rich orange color.

When I was leaving, the husband stopped me, as this was my first time purchasing from this local farm, and he asked me if I'd looked at the eggs. I looked at him with what was probably a tad of confusion on my face and said 'Yes, they are gorgeous!'. He said 'Oh good - you know, sometimes people pick up eggs and get freaked out when they look at them and they are not all white'. REALLY? Yikes! It is a sad day when people think they eggs need to be all white and uniform in size.

And now, moving on to a completely different topic, though still food related, here is a nice blog post from The Healthy Home Economist this week on another reason Vegetable Oils are not good for you.

Upset that the government tries to control what we eat? You'll appreciate this blog post! Sorry, but I'd rather not eat GMO's and I certainly don't need to government telling me what is healthy and what is not!

Enough Already!

***Also, next week is turning into 'Unofficial' Beef Week over here at The Life of a Novice! I am working on a post on 'Decoding Beef' and the information can certainly be spread out over a few posts! So - send me your beef related questions and I will see what I can dig up for you to be reported on next week!