It's Cheese Grommit!!!!

Well, after many less than fully satisfactory attempts I have finally made something that Annie believes tastes like Chevre.

It turns out that perhaps the recipe I had been using was not the ideal one to use for Chevre - despite being titled "chevre recipe" in our cheese making book. My suspicion is that the recipe right next to it for "soft goat cheese" is actually better - especially since we didn't have exactly the right ingredients perhaps to follow the chevre recipe. Our little packet of Chevre culture said it could be used for direct set, but it seems to not contain rennet. Our recipe seems to believe that direct set always has rennet in it.

Well - anwhoo, long story short. By tomorrow morning it should be ready to stop draining and be put in our refrigerator (and mouthes).

Perhaps I should not we took a taste this morning before it has finished draining and that is how we are aware of the taste. Perhaps the taste will be a bit stronger even by tomorrow. Annie wants a bit stronger flavor she says (though I think the addition of salt will take care of most of what seems different between what I just made and what we can buy at the Farmer's Market, which is tastey and comes recommended if we have any Carrollton or Atlanta readers).

Well I think i've written a bit haphazardly today, hopefully this makes some sense.

Jeff

Updated Chick Count

Well, not only was I mistaken about the number of eggs that we had incubated but I also miscounted the number of chicks that hatched in the incubator. There were 16 eggs total incubated and 12 of them hatched. Three of Wynona's chicks are still alive and well, and ALL SIX of the eggs we put under Nell, an Australorp/Silkie mix, hatched the other day. So, that makes a total of 21 baby Wellsummers! Unfortunately, one of the mama Wellsummers died last week. It was probably Marek's Disease again. :-( She was the Wellsummer pullet that layed really pretty dark brown eggs. The other pullet lays lighter brown eggs with dark speckles. We shall see what their offspring produce.


Today, while making the afternoon rounds in the barnyard, I noticed that one of Wynona's chicks had gotten out of the rabbit cage and was running around in distress underneath. So, Wynona and the rest of her brood were released as well. Wynona was very happy about getting to take a nice dirt bath. It will be interesting to see if she is able to get her chicks up the 3 steps into the chicken house tonight or if they'll stay the night somewhere else.
Jeff and I bought materials to build more chicken tractors for our growing flock today. We've got lots of work to do!

-Annie

Buying Land

Jeff and I are making an offer today for some land here in Carrollton! The property has 8 acres (it's about half wooded and half cleared), a modular home built in 2006, a horse barn, and a carport with attached workshop and pole barn. There's also a creek that runs along the back of the property. We're excited about it, so keep your fingers crossed for us!






























Chick update: 11 of the 14 eggs in the incubator hatched despite the temperature fluctuations in the incubator. However, one of the chicks had difficulty hatching, and I decided to intervene, even though most info resources advise you not to do so. The chick had pecked a largish hole around his head, but he was sticky for some reason and got stuck to the inside of the shell and its membranes. I just couldn't ignore his distress calls, so I picked away the shell and soaked him in warm water to remove the shell membranes that had become glued to him. I'm not sure how well I did. Of course, his head was difficult to work on without drowning him. He's fluffing up a bit better now, but he still looks a little funky. The fuzzy butts that had already hatched kept picking on him and the last chick to hatch, so we gave them their own little brooder box in the nursery.
I love hanging with my peeps. :-)
-Annie

More chicks!!!

Alright, there are now 8 chicks fully out of their shells, and at least two more who are pecking at their shells (for which the technical term is "pipping").

This is far and away our most successful run of hatching eggs, either in the incubator or under a hen. Probably because the Mama and Papa chickens were young virile love machines.

Yay!!!

Jeff