Be cool, Be frugal...

A Brown Leghorn enjoys a slice of frozen watermelon

Hot enough for ya?!? The heat wave we're experiencing in WV/OH and most of the US is certainly no joke to our feathered and furry friends who live outdoors. Keeping them safe and cooled is a BIG job these days, but it's vitally important. Heat stroke is common, deadly, and serious, especially in chickens.

The best strategy is to prevent overheating altogether. A fan in the coop, helps cool the nesting boxes so the girls will WANT to lay. I lost a chicken recently who was very intent on laying her egg and overheated in the nesting box. Proof that sometimes you do all the right things, and heat stroke STILL strikes.

A simple fan can keep air circulating in the coop and cool the girls

Providing ample, fresh water is also vitally important. We have a creek, thankfully, that the girls can wade in and drink from, but it gets HOT when the heat index is over 100. We provide 8 fresh water stations for our 32 chickens. A few of those contain mineral and electrolyte mixtures on these hot days. Chickens, like people, enjoy a biodiverse diet, to include water. They will gravitate to and drink from the water they need.

Bigger Red in the coop, water to her left elevated to stay cleaner

We change their water twice a day to ensure it stays cool. In normal conditions, we only change it once per day. A good example of why is yesterday, when the heat index was 106. The filled all the water first thing in the morning, but by afternoon, it was warm. I began filling the pans and the ducks were SO happy that they immediately came out to the creek and laid in them to cool their body temperature.

Aaflac, Spunky, and Quackers enjoy the cool water bath

Another tip: We keep old yogurt containers and freeze water in them, and put them in pans in the coop. They melt slowly and give the girls a cool drink for about half a day.

A block of ice is an effective way to keep cool water available to animals

Tips to beat the heat: 

1. Frozen goodies, like watermelon
2. Fan to circulate the air and/or curtains to block out direct sun
3. Multiple water stations with clean, not hot water
4. Blocks of ice to provide cool water all day
5. Do not excessively handle chickens on hot days
6. Provide shade

If you chicken is panting, holding her wings away from her, or her wattle/comb is pale and floppy, she may be having a heat stroke. Submerge her in cool, not cold water to her neck to bring her body temperature down and offer her electrolyte water.

To read more about hot to beat the heat, hop on over to the chicken expert: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/beat-heat-how-to-help-chickens-survive.html

Being cool can result in being adorable

The Ameraucana girls we eggs are doing great! They are getting so big and brave and are just about to grow larger than their surrogate mommy, a bantum named Willow.

Miss Dive holding Ana

 Of course, they get lots of love and attention from the Maple Valley Farm kids...

Wild Man holding Spike

who are also cool and adorable. Where do they get their "Chicken Whisperer" skills?

Tim with his anniversary girls

It's genetic I'm sure! Tim is pictured above with the girls I got him for our anniversary. The Laced Wyandottes sure look a lot more like Barred Rocks! In fact, we've given into that fact, LOL.

It's canning time on Maple Valley Farm!

Chickens and fresh eggs are a great way to go off the grid, but let's move onto the garden. How's your garden coming along?

Thanks to a good watering system, ours is thriving and that means.... CANNING TIME! This week, I put up dilly beans, pickled squash, pickles, and lots of peppers and onions. Canning is a great way to go off the grid, eat organically, and be frugal. Nothing is better than taking a jar of veggies off the shelf in the middle of winter and enjoying the freshness of your garden:)

Here is my pickling recipe (and I pickle EVERYTHING!):

• 2 cups water
• 1 3/4 cups white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh dill weed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 8 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons course sea salt
• 1 tablespoon pickling spice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dill seed
• 4 sprigs fresh dill weed

 My #1 tip for crunchy pickles veggies is NOT to process them. Simply fill the sanitized jars, heat the mixture, fill the jars, seal, and sit them upside down on their lids overnight. The heat will cause the lids to seal and they will be CRUNCHY and crisp. If they do not seal, which happens occasionally, simply refrigerate and eat within a few months.

Easy peasy, right?

Homemade yogurt lets you control ingredients and save money

Another easy peasy way to save money, reduce waste (think yogurt cartons), and consume fresh, organic food is to make yogurt. Yogurt is a protein staple in this house, so we consume a lot of it!

I prefer to use raw milk, but if you can't get your hands on some, nearly any whole milk will work. I use a yogurt maker that I got for Christmas a few years ago, because I know it does not heat the temperature above the point in which the probiotics from the raw milk are killed. But you can make a big batch in the crock pot VERY easily. Here's a tutorial that shows you how: http://ourlifesimplified.com/kitchen/all-recipes/homemade-yogurt-in-a-crockpot/#axzz1zwTCmbgg. Prep time: about 20 minutes!

Clarabelle keeps one eye on us while she has her breakfast

Next month our fiesty Clarabelle comes home! It will be a while before we can breed her, but I"m looking forward to a good supply of raw milk!

Thanks for stopping by the Maple Valley Farm blog:) Remember, Be cool and Be frugal!