Banana Cupcake Sunday

Icy Walk

Last night we had an ice storm.  This morning we awoke to everything covered in ice!  The ice is expected to melt by noon today, but it's cold outside now! 

Come on outside and check it out with me...

These first couple pictures are of ice on the cars.

The guineas were not happy with the ice.  They were up on top of the chicken coop and refused to come down to the ground.  The one on the right has ice on her back - it looks like she put glitter on!

Lets go in the chicken coop and say good morning to the chickens!  They didn't want to leave their coop to go outside, so they were all hanging out inside.  Here's Muffin, lead rooster.  He approved our visit to the coop.  If he didn't approve, he would have attack us.  Today he was friendly.

This is Luna.  Luna doesn't look good.  I'm worried about her.  She just sneezed.  Luna and her sister Virginia are 2 hens that we purchased as adult hens off Craigslist last year.  I will never buy a bird off Craigslist again.  Luna's been sneezing for the past year, since we got her, it just seems to be getting worse now.  She's a great hen, has gotten very friendly, and lays every day.

Cinnamon is laying an egg!

Dotti is looking outside.  Dotti is Muffin's grand-daughter; she's still a pullet.  She lays green eggs.

Here's Freckles, our very first hen - we bought her as an adult with a batch of chicks from an Amish farmer.  She was with us through the early days of chicken-raising.  She's a senior now and doesn't lay anymore.  We couldn't have had a better first mama hen than Freckles.

Let's go for a walk outside...  Bundle up...

Past one of the fields...

I'm heading up to the cemetery.  Looks like someone else, a family of deer, were here just recently.

Rest in peace.  It's quiet out here.  And cold.

The ice is starting to melt in the road.  My hand holding the camera is cold, I'm going to head back now.  Thanks for coming on the walk with me!

Ahhh, nice and warm inside!

Happy Saturday!

Angel Food Cake

To celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day today, I made an angel food cake!  I'm off work today, and I've been wanting to make an angel food cake since I got an angel food cake pan for Christmas!  I actually bought the pan for myself since I realized I didn't have one, and then I also realized I've never made an angel food cake before!  So today was the day!

I downloaded the following recipe from food network.  I really liked that it came with a video on the website that showed Alton Brown actually making the cake.  It looked easy!  I can do this!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/angel-food-cake-recipe/index.html

The craziest thing is that it takes a dozen egg whites!!!  The recipe calls for an entire dozen!  I actually used 15 egg whites because my eggs are small.  Luckily, I usually have 5 dozen or so eggs in my fridge at any given time.  I do love my hard-working chickens! 

The most important thing is to bring the egg whites to room temperature before baking begins!!  I've attempted to use cold egg whites before to make meringue - they don't get fluffy when they're cold, I guess.  My previous meringue was awful.  And the recipe called for fresh eggs.  My eggs were laid yesterday ~ guess that's fresh enough!

This time, my eggs whipped up higher than could fit in the mixing bowl!  Yeah!  My batter was fluffier than what was shown in the website video.   

For Christmas I also got a new mixer as my old one broke.  This was my first time using it.

My cake pan was pretty small - only 7 inches around. I thought it was cute because it was small. But then I wasn't sure for how long to bake the cake, as the pan was smaller than the one used in the recipe. I ended up baking my cakes for 23 minutes. I made 2 angel food cakes because they were so small. It's important to cool the cake upside down.

I used almond extract in my cakes. You can use any flavoring - the recipe called for orange extract, but said any flavor could be used. The cake turned out light and fluffy ~ just perfect. The cake itself didn't have much flavor, it was just light and airy and moist and good. I served the first one with warmed blueberries. The second one had mixed berries as a topping. Next time I'm going to use another extract other than almond and see how it tastes. There will definitely be a next time for this cake!

 

I loved this angel food cake - I give it 5 forks up!

Now you go give it a try and let me know how it turns out!

Diesel Fuel Spills in NJ Waters

Although this didn't happen here at Razzberry Corner, this happened to my sister in NJ, and I felt compelled to mention it here.

On January 12, 2012, twenty-six thousand (26,000) gallons of diesel fuel spilled into NJ waterways, including Big Timber Creek, Greenloch Lake and Blackwood Lake.  The area is a country, wooded area, with lakes and creeks. Many animals lived there in and along the waters.  This caused devastation for the animals living in and along the water, and greatly impacted the people in the area.  My sister lives along the water there.  Here's the initial video from a local website about the spill.

Diesel Fuels Spills Into New Jersey Lakes: MyFoxPHILLY.com

The spill is now contained according to the  state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).  As of about 8 a.m. Friday, roughly 13,000 of the 26,000 gallons of diesel fuel believed to have leaked from the New Jersey Transit underground storage tanks had been collected, Gloucester Township Mayor David Mayer reported.   The heavy odor of diesel fuel hung heavy in the air and over the water Friday as crews from Clean Venture Inc., a contracted environmental remediation firm, worked to clean up the spill for New Jersey Transit. Workers in protective suits installed 1,300 feet of yellow booms to stop the fuel’s spread. Water vacuums, skimmers and absorbent pads were all utilized during the cleanup. Residents should not enter the impacted waterways or fish in them or their tributaries until further notice, officials said. New Jersey Transit has installed signs around the area notifying the public of the ongoing cleanup efforts.  Despite the heavy odor of diesel on the waterways, officials say there are no air safety concerns. 

Good luck to all those people who live there and who are dealing with this.  I don't know how the animals who used to live in and beside those waters, who depend on those waters to drink, can survive.  Such a tragedy...

Artificial Light in Chicken Coop?

Just thought I'd ask my online friends about artificial light in the coop.  What do you think?  Do you add light in the coop?  There's so much passion among backyard farmers about it.  

Here's my take.  I do it.  I have a light in the coop which stays on about 12 or 13 hours/day.  I think it does help the hens to lay in the wintertime.  Plus my coop just naturally gets dark, it's only got a small window to let in natural daylight.  And that window doesn't face the sunny side at any time of the day.

We have 17 hens and are averaging about 9 to 11 eggs a day right now, in January in Maryland. 

How many hens do you have?

Do you supplement with artificial light?

How many eggs do you get a day?

Here's today's photos.  The coop always looks dirty - I cleaned it a week ago.  This is the nest box scene at 11AM.

There were lots of birds hanging in the coop this morning.

These hens were in the nestboxes this morning:

Bella

Chloe.  She's broody.  She's starting to look bad.  We are going to have to break her of her broodiness if she doesn't get over it soon.  She's looking very dehydrated.  Poor girl.

Zoner.  Her name fits her.  She's such a space cadet.  I love her!

Cheryl

We also add plastic eggs in the nest boxes.  The hens seem to like them, although they know they are not real.  They are supposed to encourage the birds to lay.  When the hens are in a bad mood they throw the fake eggs out of the nest boxes.

Here's the first egg today.

I'm looking forward to your comments!

Welcome, Bobby!

It's come to my attention that I neglected to tell my blog friends about our kitty, Bobby, and his Christmas wish...

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Bobby

Bobby WAS an outside feral cat.  He did great work out there, taking care of the rodent population, and even taking care of any wild birds that ventured too close to him, too.  He enjoyed working with the chickens and always kept me company at chore-time, although he HATED when he was locked in the chicken pen by mistake.  He dealt with the guineas - he really didn't like them, but they allowed him to live outside, so he respected them and kept his distance when they came close.

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Bobby outside

But Bobby didn't understand why he had to stay outside in the cold when two other cats lived the good life inside.

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Jack and Shadow

And so, Bobby was granted his Christmas wish...

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Bobby

Bobby moved inside the house, and now lives the high life.  He's still a teenager, he's full of spunk and plays 24/7.  (In the picture above he removed the tail from the toy mouse.)  He gets into everything, but he listens and wants to please.  He watches the other two cats and imitates their actions.  Bob is now a happy boy.  My only problem is that he looks VERY similar to Shadow, and when he flies by at 10 MPH, or when I hear a crash and enter a room just in time to see a black tail disappearing around the corner, I never know if it's Bob or Shad.  But most of the time it's Bobby who's causing the commotion these days.  

He lived a few weeks locked in a bathroom, then moved into the kitchen, then after he kept escaping from the kitchen, we decided to let him have the run of the house.  None of our cats get up on tables or counters or anything.  They eat in the kitchen like respectable beings - their food bowls are in the corner all in a row.  They come when called to eat.  So far Bob hasn't learned to shake hands for treats, but he will.  Shad and Jack both happily sit and shake hands and earn treats.  Shad is funny because she's not good at sitting and shaking, she needs to lay down to give us her hand to shake.  It's something about her balance, I think, and she's plump .  Bob's just a little too hyper to sit down and shake hands right now.  We worry that we didn't keep him locked up long enough when we first brought him in and he's too hyper now because of lack of restraint in the beginning, but I think he's hyper because he's young and he'll mellow out.  He's very curious, and he learns by watching.  He can meow, unlike Jack, but he's not loud.  I've found that he needs toys.  He'll play with the table legs or Jack's tail or whatever else is available if he doesn't have toys.  Maybe I'll work on teaching Bob to fetch since he's so full of energy...

Happy New Year!!

Santa's Choice!

The holiday baking has begun here at Razzberry Corner! 

I know it's the holidays when the cookies start appearing!

I want Santa to know that this is the place where the cookies are! 

Right here, Santa, your choice - whatever you want...

White chocolate macadamia nut cookies, double chocolate chip cookes, Rice Krispie Treats, Peppermint sugar cookies, lemon bon-bons with lemon icing

Gingersnaps up front

Lemon and Orange cupcakes with buttercreme icing

All ready to go for the reindeer and the elves!

Happy Holidays!

That Rainy Night!

One day this past week it rained here for 12 hours straight.  Pouring rain.  Luckily it was actually warm that day.  Warm as in, not freezing, but not warm as in, comfortable.  Warm in the 50 degrees F range in the afternoon and 40's at night.  After dark the weathermen predicted the rain to turn to snow, and I assumed all the water to turn to ice.

It really flooded that day.  The ground was saturated and could take no more water.  Streams overflowed, roads had standing water and parking lots flooded.  It just so happens that I work during the day in a building directly on the bank of the Potomac River near Washington, DC.  And of course, the massive river overflowed into the building's parking lot.  I left the building around 6pm that night, had to swim through water higher than my knees, in my work clothes, just to get to my car.  Luckily I keep a gym bag in my car, complete with a clean towel, gym clothes and sneakers.  I dried off and changed in my car - it was dark anyway, no one could see.

And when I made the slow drive home, the winds picked up.  Boy, did it get windy.  When I pulled up to the farm, I found one of the guinea fowl down on the ground in the pitch darkness.  It gets really dark here at nighttime.  The guineas roost in the trees at night.  But they don't sit on a solid branch when they roost - they sit on a tiny twiggy branch in the trees, which is right beside a strong branch.  And then they fall when the wind blows the branches around.  And they are so very blind after dark.  And stupid.  They just freeze up, and don't move.

Guineas in trees

So I ran up to the front door and literally bumped into a opossum on the front porch because I wasn't paying attention.  It was the Little O.  He had torn open a bag of aluminum cans which was ready for recycling and cans were all over the porch.  He was waiting for food beside the cat, Bobby's, foodbowl, which was empty.  Bobby was nowhere to be seen.  I pushed the critter away with my foot.  Damn opossum.  He's almost as tame as Bobby. 

I went inside, put on an old farm coat which I would never wear out in public in a million years, got a big spotlight flashlight, and went out to help the guineas roost.  An umbrella wasn't possible, it would have scared the birds and with all the wind and branches, it just wasn't feasible.  So I knew I was going to get soaked to the bone.  I picked up the guinea on the ground, it was a grey male guinea, and tossed him up to the branches.  He screamed and flapped his wings in my face (they have strong wings), but he would not grab onto a branch, he just came back down to the ground.  I tossed him a bunch of times, but he flapped back down each time.  All the other guineas were screaming at this time, and the chickens, who were safe and warm in their coop, could hear all the loud guineas noises, and I could hear all this noise coming from their coop.  The roosters were crowing in there.  I had guinea feathers in my mouth, that must have happened with the wings flapping in my face.  My hair was all plastered wet to my head.  Cold rain was running down my back under my coat.

More guineas in tees

I shone the flashlight up in the tree for a while and a few of the other guineas who didn't have good footing were smart enough to move to stronger branches -they could see a little with my spotlight.  But this one boy guinea just wouldn't roost in the tree.  Sitting on the ground is not an option for a guinea at night.  He will be killed by fox, opossum, owl, or coons.  Finally I decided he'd sleep with the chickens that night.  My guineas have been known to be mean to the chickens these days, so I normally wouldn't want a guinea in with my beloved hens, but there was no other place for this bird. 

I wrapped my arms around the soaking wet guinea (they are very strong) so he wouldn't get loose from me, and we marched into the chicken coop.  We swung the door open and entered.  The chickens were having a party. The heat lamp was on, and they can see with any kind of light, even though it's a red bulb and isn't supposed to produce light.  And when they have a light on, the chickens like to party.  Five or six were eating at the feeder (there's a feeder and waterer inside the coop).  A couple were drinking.  One rooster was crowing.  The other was having sex with Zoner in the corner.  A few hens were sitting in nestboxes.  What was going on?!  Everyone was excited to see me and came running and gathered around my feet when I walked in.  They all wanted hugs and pets and treats.  The guinea in my arms was terrified.

I chastised everyone for partying after bedtime, told them it was too late for hugs and pets and treats, and turned out the party light.  The party's over!  Everyone moaned little chicken moans and started rushing around bumping into each other trying to find their roost spots.   I put the guinea on a roost beside Freckles (a hen).  I got my tiny flashlight I keep in the coop and put everyone up on their roost spots, making sure to turn out the light quickly so they wouldn't jump down.  I promised hugs and pets and treats another day, sung a quick lullaby to them (they love to be sung to, it calms them), and closed them up for the night.  Freckles chatted briefly with the guinea - Freckles used to hate guineas, and when she was a young hen herself, she killed a guinea to protect her chicks at the time.  But Freckles has gotten more understanding with age and she let the guinea sleep beside her that night.  The guinea was terrified without his fellow guineas nearby and he was quiet and good all night.

Freckles chatting with Boy Guinea

Leggy, with Freckles and Boy Guinea chatting

I love Leggy

And such was the beginning of my night.  I had to clean up the cans, called Bobby many times, but he never showed up for dinner, and this was back when Danni the hen was still alive, so I had to feed her and deal with the human's dinner and other household chores afterwards.  I was concerned about Bobby, he was missing for a couple days.  On a good note, the rain never turned to snow and ice that night, and it stopped raining by the next day.  The Boy Guinea was released back to the guinea flock the next morning and he told his brothers and sisters about the horrible night he was forced to spend locked up in "The Coop" beside a convicted murderer and a monster-sized albino man. 

By the next night the flooding in the parking lot at work was all gone and that rainy night was just a bad memory.

RIP Danni Hen

This is how she carried her broken right leg

Yesterday Danni the Hen was put to death.  She had previously broken her leg, but it appeared to be healing well.  Then yesterday when I came home and ran into the infirmary coop to check on her, I found her sprauled oddly on the floor, cold to he touch, even though she was under a heat light, and moaning terribly in pain.  She must have fallen on the leg and re-broken it.  I think she was in shock. It was time.

I had been working with the chicken, bringing her in the house, feeding her treats every day.  She'd have other friendly hens visit her inside her coop - Jade spent a lot of time with her.  (But she had no visitors when she somehow re-hurt herself yesterday).  She was able to get around by hopping.  She wasn't in any obvious pain.  She enjoyed tasting various foods.  She taught me that chickens have a sense of taste.  She'd taste every new food by licking it with her tounge, if she liked it she'd eat, if not, there was no way I could get it into her beak.  She liked cooked spinach, surprisingly enough.  She liked her grains - bread, cereal, oatmeal.  She liked green beans and of course corn and brocolli.  She didn't like tomatoes.  She was moody - in certain moods her tastes varied.  When she was happy she'd sing little soft songs.  She wasn't a loud bird, she was a very gentle, quiet bird.     

Danni loved to be rubbed under her wattle and she really loved a good back-of-the-neck massage.  The stepstool was put beside her to help her balance.  She learned to lean on the stepstool.  The napkin is under her butt because she never pooped when she was sitting beside her stool eating or hanging with me.  She's always jump up and run off to go poop.  I quickly learned to put a napkin under her butt.

Danni had a hard life, with her broken toe, broken neck, then broken leg.  She must have had weak bones.  I think we may have a daughter of Danni's - we hatched our own eggs last year.  Jade, Genny, Nutty or Cinnamon could be daughters of Danni.  But none of them are as sweet as Danni.  None of them have her exact personality.  None of them ever broke any bones, either.  Poor Danni Hen.

Rest in Peace, Danni Hen.

Oct 13, 2009 - Dec 8, 2011 

Let the Guinea Games Begin!

Girl guineas hanging together

Boy guinea on chicken pen roof

Our guinea flock has been feeling their oats lately.  We used to have 4 Rhode Island Red roosters, which are large birds.  We had to separate them from the chickens due to too many mating injuries with the bantam hens, and the only caged area when the boys could range didn't have a full roof or ceiling.  The roosters couldn't fly out, but the free-ranging guineas could fly in.  And those guineas didn't like those roosters one tiny bit. 

Every day the guineas would be in the rooster pen fighting.  The guineas always won, despite the fact that the roosters were larger.  Even the guinea HENS would fight the roosters and win!  Once I found all 4 roosters in the corner of the pen, tails up, heads down, huddled down hiding their faces, while the guineas attacked them and ripped out their tail feathers!  I didn't know guineas were so mean.  They seem to be territorial - if there's anyone new in the area, they want to chase him away.  The guineas rule this farmyard!

Yesterday I heard alot of mad guinea screaming in the back yard and found the flock attacking a small buck.  The buck didn't like the guineas one bit.  He took off running while I tried to take photos of the guinea vs deer action.  The guineas won the fight, the deer took off and the birds actually chased him away!  I didn't get many good shots, but got a few that weren't too clear. 

Earlier yesterday I watched the guineas chase a woodchuck out of the backyard. 

Woodchucks should be sleeping underground anyway, it's cold out there!

Let the games begin...

Guineas 3

Everyone Else 0

The guinea games will continue every day around Razzberry Corner.

Flying guinea