Weekly Chicken Gazette Issue 6🐓

Welcome to the 6th issue of the "Weekly Chicken Gazette." It's been a quite a week here at the "Fuss & Feathers" homestead. A tragedy was barely avoided, there was a attempted attack on my chickens!

Earlier this week I let the girls out for their daily free range excursion and I went inside the house briefly. Something caught my eye through the French doors, a furry streak moving incredibly fast raced across the yard. For a moment I thought it was a large cat. I then noticed Dot standing on the top step of the porch her beak open she was panting looking in the screen door. Running to the porch - I saw it and it saw me. It stopped and made a quick uturn as it ran through the yard towards the woods and disappeared. Was it a fox, nope it was a young coyote!

Coyote: Canis latrans

My heart was racing and I feared the worst, searching frantically and calling for the girls none were anywhere in sight. We began searching the area (our property is 10 acres) then saw MaryAnn coming out of the edge of the woods. Still hollering for them, I spotted the red comb of a Leghorn poking up from the cleared field, she didn't get up and at first thought she was hurt, it was The Professor. She shook herself and got up, although apprehensively! She seemed unharmed but very frightened.

Continuing the search still afraid the coyote had killed some of the chickens, Shelly and Blue were spotted hiding in bushes under the Sycamore tree refusing to emerge! So far 4 had now been located. That left Brownie, Sweetpea, and Blanche unaccounted for. We found Blanche over by the fence frantically trying to get through, grabbing her she calmed down and allowed herself to be carried for the first time, she is a Leghorn afterall.

Brownie and Sweetpea the 2 smallest chickens were still no where to be found. We continued to call them and they emerged from the busy area around the pond. Feeling relief the girls were fine, except they all seemed traumatized, we herded them into their coop.

Apparently the girls strategy to survive was to split up into groups of two confusing the coyote and then hide in brush or the woods. Their strategy worked, we even had a difficult time spotting them. The coyote being a inexperienced hunter probably helped as well.

I worried all night the coyote or its mother might make another attempt to get in the coop. I was fairly confident the coyote could not breach the coop, its protected very well. Still it worried me, thought I heard weird sounds most of the night.

So there is a happy ending and lessons learned. I still have all 8 chickens and that's a blessing!

Moving on...This weeks focus is on Sweetpea. She is the smallest Easter Egger of the flock but she is also the swiftest. She loves chasing grasshoppers and small flying insects through the field. It is comical to watch. I have noticed she prefers to sleep in the nest box, probably due to her small size. She is easy to handle and has learned many chicken tricks with the aid of bribery. She hops onto my arm and can catch small treats in her beak that I toss her way. She also lets me carry her around.

Sweetpea the Easter Egger

The egg count this week has been excellent in spite of the attack. They have been laying 7-8 daily which equals about 46 give or take a couple!

I purchased a 50 lb. bag of layer feed and hay for the nest boxes.

This weeks recipe is a spicy Mexican dish called Migas

Ingredients:
8 eggs
1/4 cup of milk
1/3 cup of oil
4 corn tortillas cut into strips
*1/2 an onion diced (about 1/2 a cup) optional
*4 jalapeno peppers diced optional
1 cup of shredded cheese such as Longhorn cheddar or Monterrey Jack
1 to 2 cups of salsa
1 cup of cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a bowl, whisk eggs together with milk. Add a dash of salt and pepper.
2. In a large skillet, heat up the oil on medium-high, and place tortilla strips into skillet, cooking for about three minutes, turning once. Remove the tortilla strips with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined plate. Drain the oil from the skillet leaving about 2 tablespoons in the skillet.
3. Add the optional onions and jalapenos to the pan, and cook for a couple of minutes
4. Add egg mixture and tortilla strips to the skillet and let eggs sit for about one minute or until set on the bottom and then gently stir.
5. Sprinkle cheese on top of eggs and continue to cook until melted.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste and top eggs with salsa and cilantro.
   Courtesy of Lisa Fain at the Homesick Texan

Stayed tuned for next weeks Chicken Gazette Issue 7 🐓

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