Weeks #4 & 5 Raising Meat Chickens

These past two weeks have flown by for our family.  The chickens continue to grow at an astonishing rate. These are from somewhere in week 4...

And these are from week 5...

As we continue our regular routine of feeding, watering, and moving the coop around; we are looking towards the first weekend of November for harvest day... This will make them about 9 weeks old.  We are continuing to prepare and gather needed equipment.  Expenses for the past two weeks include...

Two bags of feed $30

Food vacuum sealer $40

And a deboning knife $10

They use about a bag of feed a week... Maybe even a little more.  We only fill their feeder once a day and it lasts them about 12 hrs, which is perfect. As I've said in previous posts it can cause health problems if they have access to food constantly, since they have no off switch when it comes to intake.  

Josh will be working on the plucker in the next few weeks!  We had to get another barrel since we weren't sure if the one we had was food grade, but thankfully we found one for free!

Week #3 Raising Meat Chickens

Early this past week we came to the conclusion that these birds could no longer stay in the garage... The entire house smelled like poop.  It was real bad.  So Josh threw together their coop and they moved outside.  Thank goodness it's warm during the day and we are keeping the lamp on them at night.  They seem to be doing well and my house smells a lot better!

As you can see, Josh had some help with building the coop!  So proud of my husband's patience with my boys, they made some good memories putting this thing together!

They continue to grow and get larger... That's the whole point!  Still amazing how much they can change and grow in just a day or two! I won't go into details but we did lose two of them this week.  One was by dog and the other was one of the two smaller ones we've been watching... We still have a small one that continues to amaze us!  

The work is not to overwhelming thus far.  Mostly just checking on their feed and water.  We've moved the coop once and that was stressful since I was scared we were going to smoosh one.  They are not big on moving around.  I honestly think moving the coop is going to be the biggest job, but hopefully it will be better once they get larger.  Plus we have a better game plan for next time to do it in the morning when we set their food out so they will move with the feeder.

This week we have spent some money...

1. Coop-we had most of what we needed for the coop, but still had to purchase some hardware and chicken wire... Everything totalled $87 including the$12 wheels from last week... I'm very pleased with that!

2. Plucker- Josh is going to construct a Whizbang plucker to take much of the time out of processing.  I highly recommend watching a YouTube video of one of these in action, seriously amazing!  We purchased the plucker fingers and a switch for the motor which totalled $45.  We have most of what we need to build one already, but still probably going to need a few more things for this, but it's going to be well worth it... Go to YouTube and you'll see what I mean!

3. Bag of food, grit, and pine shavings all totalled about $30. 

4. Our gallon waterer is fast becoming too small so we ordered some cup waterers to make a 5 gallon one...$10

This week's total (subtracting the $12 wheels I accounted for last week) is $160.

It was our most expensive week so far, but the coop and plucker are going to be the biggest expenses and will be able to be used from year to year or sold for a profit.  

Our other expenses (besides feed) that we are anticipating... Vacuum sealer, bags, butchering knife, larger feeder, plus probably some parts for the plucker!

Week #2 Raising Meat Chickens

Week two has been a bit of a blur for me, since I had to have an emergency appendectomy.  During my recovery over the next several weeks I am told no lifting anything over 10lbs... So that means I'll have to just give orders and blog! 

Anyway, their care has remain fairly simple, especially since obtaining the larger feeder and waterer.  Mostly they just need attention once or twice a day.  We are still on the same initial bag of chick food.  Josh had to make a larger box for them today in the garage since they are growing at a rapid pace, but still not ready to be placed outside.  He just did this from scraps we already had laying around, so no money spent!  With the weather getting into the 80s this coming week, we might be able to get them into the coop during the day, once it's made.  But 60s at night is probably still too cold since they aren't yet fully feathered.

This top picture is the beginning of the week. They have grown an amazing amount in just 5-6 days, it's incredible!  With this breed of chicken(Cornish Cross) basically all they do is eat, sleep, and poop.  They are bred to put on the pounds fast!  Growing to butchering size in just 6-10 weeks!  

We started restricting food at night after the first week, as I have read from multiple sources that this can help moderate growth and avoid leg and heart problems.  They have no off button and will keep eating and gaining weight so fast that their internal organs cannot keep up, leading to health problems.  

These two pictures are just a few days later than the top one and they are in a much larger pen.  They have grown so much that Waylon got me this morning to tell me the chickens have "grewed up overnight!". We have two chicks of the 25 that are not growing nearly as fast nor looking as healthy as the others.  We've been thinking they may not live, but so far they've survived.

This is the larger box that Josh built today.  It's probably close to three times as big as their previous Amazon box, so much more room to grow!

As far as expenses this week we have purchased just a couple of things...

1. A set of wheels for the coop for $12. (Hoping to build the rest of the coop with things that we have mostly laying around)

2. A turkey fryer pan set off Amazon for $12.  I mostly got this bc it was so cheap that I felt it was worth it to go ahead and purchase it.  It also came with a thermometer that we would be needing and is by itself $5-6.  So we'll see how it works, planning on trying it out before butchering day bc a couple reviews said they had burners actually burn a hole in the pan.  Mostly it was really good reviews, but for $12 it does make you wonder.  Since we don't need the water boiling, but just a scalding temperature, I really think it will do just fine.

So there's week two!  I'm guessing over the next week or two they will be losing all signs of being chicks and turn into ugly chickens.  From what I've seen they are not the most beautifully feathered bird and many times don't even get all their feathers in before being large enough to butcher.  Which is fine because we definitely aren't raising them for their feathers or beauty.

Week #1 Raising Meat Chickens

We decided this summer that we were going to do a flock of meat chickens in the spring.  We've been switching to a more organic diet and in order to afford this on a single income that means getting creative.  A back yard flock seemed like a good way to start saving in the meat department, since an organic chicken is about $12-15 in the store! Yikes!  In addition to harvesting chickens, we also hope to harvest a deer or two this fall (instead of eating beef) and are purchasing half a hog from a local farmer.  We split half a hog last year with friends who have some connections and it was some of the most delicious meat we've ever put in our mouth!  So we're definitely going back for more again this year!

Since Tractor Supply had some Fall chicks, we discussed it and decided to do a small flock this Fall to get our feet wet with all the different aspects of meat chickens.  Most of you know we have 8 egg layers, but meat chickens are similar but different.  We were planning on a flock of 30 this spring so we decided to do about 15... Which grew to 17ish when we did some research and found out how dumb they tend to be and we would likely lose a few to stupidity (theirs and ours).  We didn't figure less than 15 in the freezer would even be worth our time. 

So off we trekked to TSC to purchase our Cornish chicks!  Upon entering the store, the boys announced we were there for chickens, this made the manager VERY happy.  When we asked if they still had some, he replied "Yes! And I'm going to sell you all of them!". Once we get to the back, they had 25 Cornish chicks and he said if we took all of them we could have them for $1/each...50% off and cheaper than 15.  How could we say no?  We grabbed the other things we would need as well- lamp, heat bulb, feeder, waterer, feed, pine shavings, etc and headed home!  Grand total of $75 (some of which can be reused next time)... We went back a few days later for a bigger waterer since the small one was being refilled 3 time's a day... Making our start up cost$80 total. 

We're using our large Amazon subscribe and save box as a brooder for now. I'm guessing they will be outgrowing that soon and we may need to figure something else out, but it's working well.  We're cleaning it out once a day and feeding twice and watering... Hopefully once or twice a day with the new waterer.  So I would say about 15 mins a day of work the first week... And a mild odor in the basement.

So that's week one... Hoping to do weekly updates until slaughter on how we're all doing and to help me keep up with costs.  Besides feed cost we are building a coop and possibly making a plucker... I've been watching a lot of you tube videos and with 25 chickens a plucker seems necessary, but we'll see.  Hoping to borrow or buy a turkey fryer to scald with and either a vacuum food sealer or shrink bags to protect the meat. 

Anyway, I'll keep you updated on weekly expenses to see how cost effective this project turns out to be.  We are thinking that we might build and sell a coop with each flock to help offset that expense and actually pay for the whole enterprise.  If we make a nice plucker we could probably rent it out to other people to help offset that cost as well.  Trying to make this thing as economical as we possibly can!

Praying for the Problem

I'm not someone to spout political or controversial opinions all over the internet.  I prefer keeping those topics to personal conversations.  Not sure if this is breaking my rule, but I've been listening to lots of people's opinions about ISIS, Paris, terrorist bombings, and refugees.  I've been joining many in prayer for these things as well.

Suddenly, it hit me this afternoon that while I should 100% spend time in prayer for the victims , these people were victims of an overwhelming problem- a problem that was sorely neglected in my prayers.

While I do not profess to be a hugely knowledgeable person when it comes to the in-depth complexities of politics or middle eastern conflicts, I have some idea that this group of religious extremists are not people you sit down and negotiate with.  They have no defined country to invade and if you cut one down, more will come to uphold their cause.  Seems pretty hopeless.  Many say, "Let's bomb the bastards!" I'm not even going to get involved in that argument, as I personally have no bombs to drop. 

What I do have at my disposal is the ear of a great and mighty God who can change hearts, lives, and allegiances!  This is a weapon I will gladly wield against ISIS. I challenge believers everywhere, let's not only pray for the victims, families, and wounded;  join me in prayer for those planning future violent attacks, those who are beheading the innocent, and those who strategize against all we hold dear.   I choose to believe in a God that is bigger than the overwhelming issues we have in the world today and that God can overcome hatred and violence in a mighty way.  I also believe that our prayers are powerful and God hears every word!

I'll let you in on a secret, this is not something that is easy, and at first it didn't even feel "right."  At least not for me. However, Jesus said in Luke 6:32 that "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them."  Believers are called to love the unlovable, even when they threaten our lives, security, and freedoms.  Just look at Jesus' life and death and remember his sacrifice that extends to all who will come.

Easy Chicken Mac and Cheese Casserole

This recipe is super easy!  I hadn't made it in a while, but recently brought it back and it's just as easy and delicious as it use to be. 

Ingredients:
-Two large chicken breast cut into strips
-Box of pasta (12oz)
-One jar of ragu double cheddar
-One can of cream of chicken soup
-Chicken broth 32oz (you can just use water, but I think the broth makes it better)
-Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Pour the uncooked pasta in a 9x13 glass pan and cover with chicken broth.  Place raw chicken cut into strips on top of uncooked pasta and broth.  Pour ragu and cream of chicken soup on top of chicken.  Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 45 mins. 

Remove from oven and sprinkle cheddar cheese on top and place back in oven for 10-15mins.  Turn oven to broil for 2-3mins before removing to get that browning on top of the cheese.  Let stand for 10-15 mins, otherwise it will be runny.

If you prefer thicker chicken you will want to double check to be sure it's cooked all the way through

You could always make it more healthy by adding broccoli or another veggie!

Plus, the pasta, ragu, and cream of chicken soup are all included in the Kroger mega sale!

Sunroom

We are making headway on getting the sunroom up.  Hoping to be mostly finished with it by winter.  Josh had multiple helping hands get the walls and trusses up while the boys and I went to visit my grandparents for a few days.  He's out there doing something everyday! Blessed with a hardworking hubs!  Excuse the mess... It's definitely a work zone.

There is going to be a covered porch on the front, where I intend to hang a swing!  Can't wait to sit in the sunroom next to the fire on a winters evening!

Also, here's a picture of our newest addition!

Saving money with DIY cleaners

I have to admit that I was a little skeptical of homemade cleaners at first, but decided to give them a chance for many reasons. 
1. They are really cheap... Like crazy cheap.
2. I actually enjoy experimenting and making things like this.
3. I know what's in my cleaner
4. I can't let the boys help clean with some of them since I know there's no harsh chemicals. 
5. You can make your own smells!
6. Did I mention they are cheap?

I decided that the time/effort to cost saving ratio should be taken into account.  If I'm spending too much time and effort and it's something I can buy fairly cheaply then it might not be worth my time.  Obviously, they should function as good or better than the product they are replacing.

I first started with laundry detergent.  This is a link to the recipe I used for laundry detergent and fabric softener.  While this did take a little bit of time it was not hard to do and made two gallons of detergent and 1/2 cup = 1 load.  That's a lot of detergent and this is crazy cheap.  The three cleaners cost about $9 and there's enough for a lot more.  Plus, these cleaners can be used in other things as well.  My batch does separate after a while. so I do have to shake it up before pouring and I would suggest investing in designated 1 gallon jugs with a decent seal...or just use a milk jug.  The other thing is that while your clothes feel and look awesome, there is very little scent on your clothes...this could be a benefit or drawback depending on your preferences.  If you want your clothes to have a strong detergent scent, this may not be for you.  I love the smell of snuggle brand fabric softener, but I love saving money more.   The fabric softener is working great and it doesn't smell like vinegar.

All in all, I'm really happy with how it's working and the time/effort to cost saving ratio!  Oh, and I will say if I have something stinky or really dirty I'll add 1/2 cup of bleach in the washer cup and dilute it with 1cup of water.  I do this even on colors on a regular basis and don't have any trouble with bleach stains.  Great for stinky towels, scrubs, or boy funk!

The second thing I tried was the bathroom cleaner.  I've heard a ton of great things on the blue dawn and vinegar mixture and I have to say that I really love it!  If you do it regularly it really keeps the shower looking great without much scrubbing effort!  I normally just add about 3-4 tablespoons of dawn and 5-6 table spoons of vinegar to a 16oz spray bottle of water.  I will add few drops of tea tree oil for it's disinfecting qualities and a few drops of lemon grass oil because I LOVE the smell!  I use this as a multi-purpose cleaner and it does a wonderful job!  My favorite thing is that I can use my dish rag on the kitchen counters to wipe it up because it's just soap and vinegar, no need to get a separate rag for the kitchen counters.

This is a favorite of mine definitely worth the tiny amount of time it takes to mix it up and the cost is very low compared to a $2-$3 multipurpose cleaner.  Plus, when I run out I don't have to go to the store, I just make some more!  Love it!  I did invest in a semi-nice spray bottle.  They are like $2...what can I say, I like the finer things in life.

The third cleaner is my hardwood floor cleaner!  LOVE this one because it makes my house smell amazing!!  First, I have bamboo hardwood that is very dark and shows dust and dirt like crazy.  I use this cleaner pretty much everyday.  I have a mop that you can take off the mop rag thing and wash it and it has a spray bottle for the cleaner.  Love that thing!  I basically came up with this through testing several recipes on pinterest.  I fill a two liter up with water and use 3-4tablespoons of blue dawn dish soap, 4-5 tablespoons of vinegar, 6-8 tablespoons of olive oil, and several drops of lemongrass oil and tea tree oil.  First, this does an amazing job with my floors!  They look great afterwards!  Second, my house smells so clean and fresh!  If you prefer a different scented oil I would  recommend you use it, otherwise it's going to smell like vinegar for about an hour after you mop.  I'm normally not a fan of lemon scented cleaners, but the lemongrass essential oil is awesome!  The last thing I'll mention is that I feel so much better about my boys running over the floors if they are wet, knowing that there are no harmful chemicals that are getting on their skin.  Sometimes I give Whitman the mop and let him go to town!

The most recent thing I've made is the dishwasher detergent tablets.  Let me just say this, I'm really picky about this and I normally only buy the Finish Tablets.  I hate picking up a glass out of the dishwasher and it not having that slick, clean glass feel to it.  I tried these because we didn't have money in our grocery budget this week for detergent...without cutting out things that I didn't want to cut out.  So since I've been saving money by making cleaners I went to pinterest to see what it had to offer me in the cheap DIY dish detergent.  Here is the link to the recipe that I used.  I had most of the ingredients from my laundry making.  I just bought salt and lemon juice (about $3).  I did a double recipe from what she listed and it made 70 tablets...not too shabby.  I still have a lot of ingredients left.  She did a break down and said they cost only 4cents/tab.  That's a huge savings and this only took about 15 mins and then overnight to sit out and dry.

I did not like this recipe. It left my dishes clean but had a chalky texture... Ugh.  I was bummed but determined to find something that works.  I found the solution.  I started adding a stop if dawn dish soap and a tablespoon of citric acid with the tablets and it does a great job!  You can add more or less citric acid depending on how hard your water is.  My silverware is super shiny compared to even the finish tablets!  FYI, citric acid is with the canning stuff and is about $3.

I have tried a few things that I don't like as well as my regular store bought cleaners.  The first is a stainless steel cleaner.  I've tried several things but I have to admit that the expensive wipes that I have are what make it shine like a penny.  Plain vinegar and water might work, but I'm not a big fan of the vinegar smell.    

I've tried making liquid hand soap.  It has not panned out as well.  We go through this stuff like crazy so I'm going to keep on trying to get a recipe that works.  Most of the ones I've found just say to buy bar soap and melt it in water, add essential oils, and glycerin etc.  Well I did that and got a weird snot like soap.  Once again I love the smell of the lemongrass (I know i'm obsessed), and the soap works, but it does have a very off consistency.  I did buy a foaming soap dispenser and I watered the soap down and it does help, but I really don't prefer it over the store bought stuff.  

The liquid hand soap takes some time to make because it have to be grated, melted and cooled.  Taking a total of 12-24 hours before you have a usable product.  However, the cost savings has the potential to be huge.  You can get a bar of soap for cheap and it can make a lot of liquid or foaming hand soap.  

I have a few more to share but no time right now.  Look for another posr in the future to include: toilet cleaner, rust remover, foaming hand soap, baby wipes, and body wash.

Sunroom...

If you've been following along our journey you've probably heard tell of a sunroom that will be built... at some point.  This post is dedicated to the sunroom or what I forsee as being my oasis/lounge room (when I'm not keeping children from killing themselves or each other).

For all this to make complete sense I'm going to go way back to the early days of our reno when we were replacing foundation walls and such.  This is what the back of the house looked like.

As you can see there are two patios that are on different levels... I've never seen a set up quite like it before.  Under the top patio that is off the kitchen door was an old cistern that was falling in, therefore we had to do something about it. Turns out the cheapest and most efficient thing was to cut a door from the basement into the cistern and replace the walls that were falling in, making it another room in the basement. Sounds like a lot of work, but we were already doing this kind of work on a few other places so it was all done at the same time.   

The thing about having this room in the basement is that unless it's under a roof it's going to have water coming down through the concrete ceiling. So we've known that we would have to add on a room and since it has a lovely view of the woods and wildlife we decided on a sunroom with as many windows as we can get!

 In December we were looking at the pictures and dreaming about the sunroom and patio.  I've always wanted an outdoor fireplace, so we were kicking that idea around.

That's when we came up with the idea of a single chimney with a fireplace on either side, one in the sunroom and another for the outside patio.  We loved this idea and decided that if we were ever going to do it, it has to be now.  So we decided to talk to my uncle, who is a incredibly talented brick mason, and discussed the idea with him!  He drew up the plans for the fire place and then set to work!

The results were stunning!  Love, love, love these fireplaces! 

With the mad dash for move in we've had to put this on the back burner, but now with things settling down we are about to get started with finishing out the sunroom.  The first thing is to pour a new concrete floor and footers to support the walls.  This is going down in the morning!  Looking forward to finishing what we started!

We broke in the patio fireplace tonight for the first time!  Love roasting marshmallows over a fire!

Let's be honest...

So I'll be honest.  I've wanted to post pictures of the house.  I know many of you have been on the look out for pictures of the place, however this place is still a wreck.  Yes, we are living in it.  Yes, I am loving my old/new home.  However, the dark hardwood shows every speck of dust that gets tracked in from the downstairs, the closets have no shelves to unpack my boxes into, and all the projects that we do on a daily basis involve cluttering up the kitchen counter.  Not to mention there is a three and one year old tearing the place a part and we've had a stomach bug filtering through the family all week (which I've narrowly escaped thus far). This place is a beautiful disaster! 

Despite all that I've decided to adopt my families saying that "If we can live in it, you can visit in it".  So here are a few pictures!

OK, so now you see why I'm not posting pictures all the time.  Wet still have A LOT of work. Especially in our bedroom and both bathrooms!  We are hoping to get the concrete poured for the sunroom this week!