Water Those Chickens & Give Those Rabbits a Home

Unfortunately where we currently live, we cannot have chickens. Darn zoning! Someday....someday :)  But....my mother in law can and already has chickens! I stumbled upon a few different ways to make homemade waterers for chickens. These are great for a couple of reasons:

1. The water is kept up off the floor, which give your chickens more room to walk around
2. Having the water up makes the chickens reach for the water and the stretching helps egg production
3. The water is kept clean! No more sawdust, or droppings, or any other misc stuff in your chickens water, which is so much healthier for them!

You can't beat that! I saw this idea, looked up a few different ways (because there are soooo many different ways to do things) and I decided I would try it this way.

1. I bought a 5 gallon bucket from Lowe's, with the lid.

2. I took a tape measure and drew 4 lines crossing the the middle with a Sharpie marker

3. I took the tape measure and measured about 2 inches from the outside rim of the bucket and marked with a Sharpie

4. I drilled a hole in the bucket at the 2 inch mark with a 5/16 drill bit. (pretty surprised my hubby let me use his drill and get into his tool box :) )

5. Then I took these nipples I ordered off ebay, http://www.ebay.com/itm/110861344116?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 it said it could take up to 20 days because the seller is overseas, but I received then within 10 days, and I used the socket adapter for the drill, fit with a 9/16 inch socket and inserted them into place. 

          *I had to use the 9/16 inch socket for it to grab the nipple snug enough to thread through the hole. 

          *I made sure to tighten them so they were snug, you don't want water to leak out around the nipples,                                                                 

            but not too much because they will break

Now for the big test, will it hold water? Will it leak? Here we go......

IT WORKS! YAHOO SUPER EXCITING! You can see in the video below just how easy the nipples move, it will be super easy for the chickens to get their water :)

 

Also we have decided to put our daughter in 4H. She is going to show a rabbit this year, plus we are contemplating raising rabbits for meat. We are going to give it a whirl anyways :) The hubby started building a rabbit hutch out of a shipping box and pallets:

We just need nesting boxes, a door, and some chicken wire. And the best part it isn't going to cost us anything except for the cost of the chicken wire! The shipping box and pallets were free, we already had drywall screws, and we already had the 2x4s that are going to be the legs. We have decided to use a solid bottom instead of wire so the rabbits and bunnies do not get their nails caught. It wont be hard to scoop out the cages when we clean them and it is more safe for the animals. I will post more pictures when we have rabbits in them. 

Until next time, God Bless <3

Almost St. Patty's Day & That Means Cabbage

I guess I am on a vegetable kick this week. We had a corned beef brisket, getting into the spirit of St. Patty's Day and all, and well you can't have corned beef without cabbage! But we also love potatoes and carrots, and my crock-pot just isn't big enough to handle our hearty appetites, so I ended up with half a head of cabbage left over. 

I wasn't sure if you could freeze cabbage or not. And the only canned cabbage I had seen was sauerkraut  which my hubby despises, and then it occurred to me *duh* brussel sprouts are like mini cabbages and people freeze those...yes, that was really my logic :) 

So here we go:

I took my half a head of cabbage, and halved it. So if you had a full head of cabbage, you could quarter it. Don't cut out or cut through the stem portion, this holds the leaves of the cabbage together so they don't come off when blanching.

Then I placed the cabbage into boiling water, and blanched for 3 minutes:

Just like with the green beans from my last post I removed the cabbage and placed into an ice cold water bath to stop the cooking process...only this time I didn't have an ice bin to un-thaw so it is just ice cold water, works the same :)

Then, once cooled, I placed into food saver bags and vacuum sealed them.
Voila, ready to be frozen cabbage.

Woohoo. This time a year stores generally have cabbage on sale due to the St. Patrick's Day Holiday. And although I enjoy coleslaw, I prefer cabbage much more in roasts and sometimes soups. This is an awesome way to add some out of season veggies to your freezer without breaking the bank. And believe me I am all about NOT breaking the bank :)

Until next time, God Bless <3

Also if you get the chance, please check out the following blog and pray for Ryan and his family. What an amazing journey they have been on and are going through. As they are going through this bit of hardship  please join me in praying for them:

Matthew 18:20English Standard Version (ESV)

20: For where two of three are gathered in my name, there I am among them"

http://rkprudhomme.blogspot.com/