Gaia: Egg bound Chicken #2

Well last year we had to take Big Red to the vet several times because she was egg bound. We ended up having her spayed and she is doing great. She is happy and loves to run up to us faster than all the other chickens looking for treats....

Over the last few months we have noticed Gaia our New Hampsire Red from time to time looked egg bound but would always pass it herself without to much problem. Today I went out to see all the chickens and give them some treats and noticed her all fluffed out and her comb was very pail. Now if her comb wasn't pale I would have given her more of a chance to pass the egg herself before I interveined. But I had my husband catch her and for the first time this year I stuck my finger in and found a whole yolk stuck just inside the rectum at the end of her cloaca. It was at the very end and everytime she would try to pass it her cloaca would particly come out with it. I tried to coax it out a few times but then decided to call our Avian vet. He was leaving in an hour and we live more than an hour away so... He told me to use equal parts mineral oil to water and use a syrunge and put it in around her cloaca to rehydrate the area. He said alot of the time the chicken will be dehydrated and it will just get stuck right there. He said to administer it and then wait to 15 minutes and check on her again. She had not passed it but it would now turn when she would try to push it out. So you could tell it was loss now. So I decided to try a 2nd method of bringing her in the house and soaking her for 20 to 30 minutes in warm water. Remember that a chickens normal body temp is 102F to 103F so remember when you soak her that it needs to be a little warm to you to be warm to her. so about the temp you would comfortably wash dishes in. (Not hot!). we soaked her and she seemed not to mind so much and even sat there for a few extra minutes by herself. We took her out and checked her bottom which was still very protruded. I put a glove on and was able to work it out with her help. I would have left her to push it out herself. But she was visibly in pain, clapping her beak, and making noices when trying to lay. We kept in side for the rest of the night under a heat lamp drying and trying to get her stress level back down. I was worries about shock that evening but she was still eating. We gave her an egg, some apple, a couple grapes, and some lettuce to eat.. and she happily ate them although kind of slowly.

When we let the chickens out the next morning we let her go into the coop so she could walk down like she was never missing. No one seemed to care.. and the only Chicken that really picked at all was Isis and that was just a couple little pecks. She is still fluffy but she is doing ok. I am still waiting on the swelling to finish going down and I am sure she will go back to her normal self considering she is eating and drinking...

Update: She is doing well it has been 5 days now. She is still fluffy from time to time but she runs around with the rest of the chickens, eats, and drinks normally...Her comb has taken time to get a good amount of color back into it but it is looking better as well. I assume by the end of summer we will have her spayed just to make she she has not further problems. If she stops being egg bound and has no further issues then we won't spay her but she has been egg bound several times and has been able to eventually pass it. So I figure it is only a matter of time before she will need spayed. Big red did so well and she is so happy now and has had no problems since her spay so I want Gaia to have that same happy go lucky life! I will update later...

Looking alert wondering whats going on. Her comb was really really pale even though you can't really tell from the pictures.

Taking a trial dip... Seems ok....

Waiting on the tub to fill up a little more

John helping her sit low enough for 20minutes....They were both good little troopers :)

A little wet and annoyed.... egg still stuck....

This is the yolk I helped her pop out....We were all releaved when it came out...

Still wet, under the heat lamp, eating her much needed egg to give her some energy after all the stress. when ever any of my chickens have problems and have been stressed I feed them raw eggs. Its always something they love that I know they will eat and it has fat and protein to help them rebuild there health issues while giving energy.

Heirloom Vegetable plants from the Greenhouse

Finally got my veggies... The greenhouse had a good number of the plants I wanted..  So ended up buying....

6 Black Krim Tomatoes

6 Stripy Tomatoes

6 Green Zebra Tomatoes

3 Golden Globe Tomatoes

4 Black Cherry Tomatoes

6 Black Beauty Eggplant

3 Hot peppers

6 Sweet Peppers

8 Marigolds

The rest of our plants will be started from Organic Seeds.

Easter Dinner 2011

We had a good Easter. John and I had dinner with my parents the evening before Easter because John worked Easter. We didn't have our normal Tofurky... sadly no one in our area carried them last Thanksgiving/Christmas season when I normally stock up... So this year I have one left for this coming Thanksgiving unless I find somewhere to purchase them again... I hope I do... 

So we had breaded eggplant as the main course. Sides included Maple glazed sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans & salad... And I also made 2 desserts. Lemon cupcakes and Rhubarb Apple Crisp. All the food turned out really well and we all had a nice evening. The next day My Mother, Sister, and I went to my Aunts for dinner and I took left overs with me. I did get to try wild mushrooms for the first time that day and I have been wanting some ever since and I am not a huge mushroom fan.. But those were really good... O yeah... After I try them my Aunt is like.... "Well if you ever get any make sure you soak them so all the critters will come out".... and I am like "What!?" lol... that was a little freaky... but they were good...

Vegan Lemon Cupcakes. I used the white cupcake recipe from The joy of vegan baking... I added 3 tsp or lemon extract.. I would say only add 2 and try that because these came out with a little to much lemon in them. The icing was good though and it was 1/2 Earth Balance, 2 Cups powder sugar, couple tbsp almond milk, and I think I used 2 tsp lemon extract... I would love to try lemon oil because I am thinking it would have better flavor. I would also like to find a recipe with a better crumb. But I love lemon cupcakes and I have become obsessed with them since I went to Columbus, OH to Patty Cakes Bakery.. They have the best vegan baked good ever!!!!!! :)

I cut fresh rhubarb from the garden and wanted to use up last years frozen... Plus my rhubarb plants were from my Grandfathers (My mothers father)  garden. He passed a couple years ago and my husband and I dug up most of his rhubarb and brought it home and planted it. So I really wanted to share that rhubarb with the family. But this crisp was so yummy. A little sweet but had that touch of tart in the background.. So it was really good. I used this recipe on about.com and just used vegan supplies... Look for more vegan Rhubarb recipes in the future I have a ton of rhubarb this year and will be sharing alot of recipes I try.

mom made a salad always better when someone else makes it for you??? I don't  know but it has started a salad craving I have been fighting off with huge yummy salads ever since :)

One of my fave Sweet potato recipes that I make for every holiday now!!! Maple glazed sweet Potatoes... 

This is the Breaded eggplant. I just long cut the eggplant, sprinkled with salt and let drain for an hour or so,  dipped them in flour,  then almond milk, then I mixed whole wheat bread crumbs, panko bread crumbs, black pepper, & salt, dipped the eggplant in that then placed it on a baking dish and cooked it in the oven at 375F to 400F for about 20 minutes or until slightly brown and cooked through. I also like these fried.. They turn out good both ways.

Most of the food in my nice Friendship Pyrex that I love!!!!! I forgot to use my new small ones though :(

This is the 2nd apple rhubarb crisp I made to take with me to my Aunts house to share with everyone. That is my Flamingo Pink Pyrex baking dish... Such a pretty pink... Which reminds me I haven't been antiquing lately and I am feeling the pull!!!

How many people does it take to find the last 4 eggs.... Alot and there was still two missing at the end.. Atleast they were the plastic kind.... but we all had a good day and visiting with the finally was really nice!

Earth Day 2011

We did most of our Earth Day Celebration the day before Earth Day. It was nice and sunny and we could go out and get some stuff done that needed to be done. Our day consisted of Getting our composter, gardening supplies, and cleaning out the garden beds. We also put my Moms new raised garden beds together.

I have been wanting one of these for a while. Haven't had the money for one..
But I decided to splurge and pick one up while they were on sale.
So this was my contribution for Earth Day.
A 12 cuft Compost Roller.

Also for Earthday we worked  on some of the garden beds.
This is the Rhubarb Bed that we transplanted from my Grandfathers garden.
It needs to be spread out some more but I haven't the room.

First Cut Rhubarb of the year. I was surprised that we had so much so soon.
But it has been raining like crazy. So there is more to come. 

I cut 16 stalks and they weighed out to be  1lb 14.9oz.
There is a bunch more to cut. But I need to freeze this first.

We also picked up a bunch of organic soil, organic peat moss, organic peat hummus,
and some stones to widen some of the garden beds

All the garden beds have been cleaned. But the only thing I have got planted is one
set of cucumber that grow up the lattice in the back of this bed.

2011 Garden Prep

We have finally started this years garden prep. I am excited to once again to be expanding and wondering if I still have to many veggies planned even with the expansion.... We live on a small piece and land and last year it creeped into our front year where the dogs play and this year it is taking up even more of the dogs play area.... Do you think the veggies will make it??? Lets keep our fingers crossed because last year our kale and swiss chard had a hard time dealing with our playful brood....

Went to the greenhouse today expecting to get an early start on planting for a change.... and what do I get??? Nothing... They only had 3 heirloom tomatoes out..beefsteak, Orange Jubilee, and mortgage litter... Only one of which I wanted and they were still so small I decided to wait. They had no eggplant and no peppers.... so I guess I have to wait a couple more weeks for them to get ready... So I decided to go ahead and get the extra soil we will need I picked up: Picked up 10- 1.5 Cubic Feet bags of organic soil (4.98 each), and 2 bags organic peat Hummus (1.60 each). Still might need some more soil and definitely some more Peat Hummus but its a good start.

A few days ago we started cleaning out the garden beds that we are not moving and got them almost totally cleaned of weeds and vines which were taking over. Now we are expanding two of the raised beds and turning them into a regular bed so we can fit more in it. We are moving the zucchini away form the squash bugs... Hopefully it takes a while for them to find the plants this year. They are going to our front yard.. So they just have to brave the dogs... Good luck Zuccs! I am not sure were everything else is going yet... Depends how many tomatoes I end up with this year!!! I have a whole list....

So planted for this year:
Eggplant
Zucchini
Pickling Cucumbers
Kale
Lettuce
Swiss chard - Maybe
Catnip- Which came back from last year...
Rhubarb- Perennial form my Grandfathers garden
Rooster Peppers- From seed we will see how they turn out...
Peppers-
Beans- Maybe
Tomatoes...Depends on what kind the greenhouse has...
I want:
Mortgage Litter
Black Krim or Cherokee Purple
Gaint Pink Belgium or German Pink
Roma
Green Zebra
Black Cherry & Green
Mr. Stripey
Golden Jubalee
not sure if that is all but also not sure were they will all go considering I have to purchase 6 packs to get them....

Thats all for now...  Update more with pictures later.

Ratatouille Subs

Watching Rachael Ray A couples days ago and I love the Idea of Ratatouille Subs. I have kinda had the thought of doing it and really hadn't taken the time. But mine wouldn't have included Fried Red Tomatoes... But I did use the red tomatoes and even though it wasn't as good as I though it would be it was still pretty good. If I would have had another pasta sauce it would have been alot better (I didn't use her sauce recipes either). Here is a link to her not vegetarian version.... But I changed it a little bit to make it vegan...

Ingredients list

2 Medium Zucchini

2 Hard red tomatoes

1 Eggplant

2 or 3 cloves garlic

Almond milk

Flour

Panko Bread crumbs

Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs

Vegan Parm

Canola Oil

Italian Buns/Subs

Slice all the veggies, add salt to the Eggplant and Zuccs and sit aside for 20 minutes. While that is draining. Mix the two types of bread crumbs with vegan parm, salt and pepper, put into a dredging dish, put milk in one, and flour in the last. Cover the bottom of your pan with oil, let it heat but not smoke. Add a few pieces of fresh sliced garlic. Do not let the garlic burn you are just flavoring the oil. Let it fry for a couple minutes then take it out. Then you are ready to dip your veggies in flour, then milk, then bread crumbs and then fry. Pick the tomatoes up with a flat spatula. If you try to pick them up with a fork they will fall apart... Try to fry them very quickly as well. The longer they are cooking the mushier they will get and you don't want that. but you do want them to get a nice crust on them. 

                                     

After you fry your veggies you can put them on a cooling rack and on a baking sheet and put them in the oven at 200F to keep them hot. 

When your done frying Add the veggies, the sauce of your choice, and some daiya and pot into oven to toast and melt.