My attempts at "Candling"

Unfortunately, we're down to five eggs. My black copper marans egg got stepped on and broken. Lucy is in the favored box (read: only nesting box that really counts), so the other chickens keep trying to step over her to lay. Never mind there's five other perfectly good boxes. We went camping for a couple days, and my neighbor chickensat for us. While gone, my neighbor was getting 1-2 eggs a day in the other boxes, and figured they weren't laying much because of the heat. Then, Sunday morning, she realized there was a broken egg under Lucy, so she went to clean it up. She found a DOZEN eggs there that weren't supposed to be hatching! Poor hen was trying to sit on 17 eggs.

I've never really been known much for my patience. When I heard that it's possible to "candle" an egg, I was all over that.

I've been trying to rig something to candle the eggs, but I don't think I've been entirely successful. I don't think the light is quite bright enough. The only egg that I feel like I'm getting much luck with is the white egg.

This is what I saw yesterday, which would be around day 7:


That definitely looks like more than just a plain, unfertilized egg. However, I don't see any veining, and I don't see any independent movement, like I've seen some of on youtube.

Today, after finding two different chickens sitting on poor Lucy, I decided to try and separate the henhouse so that she'll be left in peace. I used our chicken wire/fabric, and just tacked it up. Lucy still has access to food and water, but she can't get out of the coop. She hasn't wanted to, so I only feel a little guilty about that. On the plus side, so far, no other chickens have gotten in.

When I was trying to rig it up, Blondie kept trying to sneak past me into the nesting box so she could lay. She was such a pain that it was like having a 2 year old out there "helping" me. I finally got the net up enough to where she couldn't go in, and she finally gave in and went to a different box and laid.

I have the highest hopes for eggs 1 (white) and 4 (green). #2 is so dark I can't see inside. I think I can see a slight shadow in 2 and 4. 5 seems quite porous to me, and I can't see any air sac, so I'm pretty sure it's a dud. However, I'd hate to crack it open and discover I'm wrong, so I'm trying to sit tight.

Broody Hen!

I noticed that Lucy, my black copper marans hen, has been spending most of her time sitting in the nesting boxes. This coincided nicely with me putting Sue in with the girls, and getting (I hope) fertile eggs. With her going "broody", I thought it would be fun to experiment and see if we could get some chicks.

So, on Sunday night, I decided to give Lucy the four eggs that were laid that day (well, the fourth egg was one of her own, and from a day or two earlier). Then, I decided to give her three eggs that were laid Monday. I didn't bother giving her an egg from the silver laced wyandotte because she is so mean to Sue that I seriously doubt her eggs are fertile.

The eggs that I decided to let her try and hatch are all marked with a marker because the other chickens keep trying to lay eggs in the box she's sitting in, so when I go to collect eggs, it could get very confusing. Here are the eggs I have given Lucy to try and hatch (one of the white ones went into the cheesecake).

Monday night, I realized I was shy an egg for a cheesecake for K's birthday party, so I went and stole one back. Oops.

Anyway, from what I've read, chicks hatch in about 21 days, so I figure around August 8 or 9th, we could possibly see some babies!

When they have been sitting under the chicken for 7-8 days, I can try "candling" the eggs, and I should be able to tell if there is a chick developing. I'll have to try and find a really powerful flashlight and try it out in a week or so.

Here is Lucy sitting on the nest. Doesn't she look MEAN? So far she hasn't tried to peck at me, but she makes a weird growling sound whenever I root around, trying to find eggs that I haven't earmarked for her.

I may get her on video getting mad at me. It's kind of funny.

Chicken Update

I just realized that I haven't blogged about my chickens in a while. Frightening!

First, Lucy, the black copper marans, saw her replacement (more on THAT later) because we had all of the chicks outside in our time out coop, and started laying again. Same big, beautiful eggs, 3-4 a week. Because of that, there's been a few times when I've gotten an egg from all seven hens in one day!

Second, much as I hated to admit it, Foster/Sue seemed to have a much redder and more developed comb than I thought a pullet ought to have. Sadly enough, he started crowing, and is most definitely a rooster. He was kind of picking on a rooster my neighbor had, and she got fed up with it, and kicked him out. We put him in the time out coop, and she kept her chickens in her back yard.

Here's a video of him crowing from a month or so ago:

And here's a picture of him taken just a few days ago. I think he seems to have grown into a very handsome boy. His crowing has improved, but I haven't taken video of it recently.

We are in the process of making the chicken run about 3x as big as it was before. We did most of the work today, we just need to get some more chicken wire to complete the project.

Once that's done, we'll probably have Sue join the girls. As it is now, he's still separated from them because he hasn't quite asserted his dominance yet. He did manage to, um, not be a virgin anymore. That was awesome- we had our friends and their six children over when that happened. However, there's still a couple hens picking on him. He is bigger than all of them now, and that really helps. In the beginning when he was smaller, he just ran away like a big old chicke... well. Yeah. Anyway, we'd been calling him Foster up to that point. But, we decided to go back to Sue, following Johnny Cash's philosophy in "A Boy Named Sue".

I think he was shocked because his nestmates adored him. They followed him everywhere, and he basked in their admiration.

They still remember him, and recently when he was free ranging, the saw him on the other side of the fence and went running over to visit. It was funny.

Adams Canyon

For date night last night, J and I decided to hike up Adams Canyon to the waterfall. That link has a typo- it's actually 4.2 miles round trip, with an elevation climb of 1580 feet. It is a somewhat challenging hike. I'd take my 11 and 13 year olds, but not the 4 and 6 year olds.

The sun was starting to be a bit lower in the sky, and most of the hike is shaded, so it was really quite lovely.

Looking down the trail.

See that rope across the river? No? Look closer. It's there. To get to this angle, you have to take off your shoes and socks and walk through icy cold water. We're talking 35 degree water, I swear. My feet were numb by the time I got across.

The sunset view we saw as we left the canyon and went down the switchbacks to the trailhead.

Monster Repellent

What you are seeing here is monster repellent. Z got that viking hat at Scandanavian Days, and has loved wearing it around, pretending to be a viking. Yesterday, he told me that vikings are very fearsome and scary, and if he left his viking hat outside his bedroom door, monsters would be scared to come in because they knew a viking was in there.

S thought it was a great idea. Before she moved bedrooms, we would write "Keep Out, no monsters allowed" in dry erase marker on K's aquarium. Because everyone knows monsters respect keep out signs. But now that she's with Z, no keep out signs have been written.

A New Stove!

When we bought our house a few years ago, we immediately started remodeling the kitchen. I desperately wanted a gas range, but the ones I wanted were a bit spendy. In addition, our kitchen could only be called "tiny", and I figured that if I got a smooth surface range, I could use the cook top as counter space as needed.

I've really coveted gas ranges ever since though, and have been sad that I didn't have a gas range, especially since all the cool cooks had one. I got a nice commission check from my real estate business a couple months ago, and decided to finally give in and buy the range.

I have a friend who works in the Sears appliance department, and he helped me figure out what I wanted, then let me know when to buy it.

I invited my dad up for dinner, and he and J did all the plumbing for the gas line.

Meanwhile, I took our big, growly pickup truck to go pick up my range. Helped the guys load it, then tied it down myself. Then, I went to Lowes and got all the electrical parts and the flex conduit. I could just feel the chest hairs sprouting as I did all of that. It was kind of fun.

I am so excited to cook on it!Isn't it pretty and shiny?

After it was all installed, I brought S & Z into the kitchen to give them a lecture about safety. Z in particular tends to twist knobs whenever he can. Today alone, he turned on the water heater to the trailer, opened the drain of the gray water to the trailer, and turned on the hose bib to the house. Obviously, he couldn't be doing this with a gas line. I made a big deal about how dangerous it was to twist these knobs, and how if little kids twist them, it could make a big fire, and we could get burned, or our house could catch fire.

I then went to SHOW them what happened if they twisted the knobs, hoping to appease their curiosity. Z actually ran from the kitchen, yelling not to make a fire. I had to try to explain that it's ok if Mommy, Daddy, K or M do it. Just not little kids. I don't think he's convinced though. I suspect he'll freak out when it comes time to cook dinner tomorrow night.

The Scandanavian Days 5k

Every Memorial Day Weekend, we always head to Ephraim to attend their Scandanavian Days Festival, and have a family reunion. This year, the family reunion kind of fizzled because my uncle is in poor health, and my grandma (justifiably so) felt that he shouldn't be so far from a major medical facility. With the two of them staying home, we kind of agreed not to do a formal reunion, though we did make Grenco, a traditional soup we always make (I'll post the recipe later).

Since joining a gym, I've toyed with the idea of running in the annual 5k they hold at the festival. I've always chosen not to, partly because I'm chicken, and partly because it starts quite early in the morning. This year, however, I decided to approach J and my sisters and brothers in law, all of whom attend the family reunion. Yes, they're not related to the Larsen family, but they're all super fun people, so the Larsen side adopted them. J's parents also attend every year, and everyone is welcomed with open arms. So, I mention to them that there's a 5k/10k/half marathon that morning, and it had exactly the reaction I was hoping for/was afraid of.

Yes! Let's do it!!! So, J and I signed up. SIL N and SIL E say they'll do it. E, being a runner, plans to do the 10k. SIL J also is on board. The week before the 5k, BIL E ran the Ogden Marathon. He got a good time, but tweaked his knee, and decided he couldn't do another race so quickly. Definitely understandable.

The morning of the race dawns. I was a little nervous. I am not a fast runner, and I still hate running with a white hot passion. I don't want to be the last one in. I don't expect I will be, as the 5k is a "fun run/walk" and there's people with strollers and children. I don't have any illusions of beating SIL J, SIL N, or J. J and his sister (and his brothers, too, I imagine) are superhuman freaks when it comes to cardio stuff. I truly believe they could all wake up tomorrow morning and run a marathon with no training, just for giggles. SIL N had fairly major surgery a few months ago, and was just getting back into her routine. I wasn't sure how competitive of a runner she was, but she didn't seem to have my level of passionate hatred for running, so I figured she was also a lot faster than me.

The race began, and J and SIL J and SIL N all take off. BIL E was there to take pictures and cheer us on. Immediately, they all leave me behind.

Within a minute or two, I'm huffing and puffing. Is it the cold air (we could see our breath)? Is it the higher elevation (5500 feet)? Am I a wimp? Or could it be that maybe, just MAYBE, I should've tried running outside, instead of on a treadmill? I've run outside before. I think. Years and years and years ago. All those articles about how different treadmills are from outside running come flooding back. I feel stupid and slow.

After about 5 minutes, SIL N comes up alongside me. I guess she hadn't passed me after all. We ended up being about neck in the the whole race. We'd run for a bit, and then one of us would drop off and walk for a bit. But, for the vast majority of the race, we were together. It was nice, and I figured we'd most likely finish at the same time.

BIL E kept popping up to cheer on N, and take her picture. Seriously, the guy easily ran the 5k with all of his appearances. He was a great cheerleader, even running alongside her to keep her spirits up.

We finally get pretty close to the end. SIL N suddenly steps up the pace to a sprint. I was a little surprised because we were still a good way from the finish line. The competitive spirit that I thought I was utterly lacking when it came to running reared up. No way was I going to let her get a better time if we'd spent that much of the race running together! So, I sped up too. She sped up more. So did I. I think I was not as close to the end of my rope as she was, as I got a sudden burst of energy, and I actually was smiling.

We passed by some cones, and I guess she thought they were the finish line, so she completely dropped back, and I ended up finishing ahead of her. My competitive streak was pleased. Hey. I never claimed to be a particularly nice person.

Meanwhile, J had finished his 5k with an impressive 28 minute time. SIL J had finished with an also impressive 32 minute time. J had gotten his t-shirt and decided to come back to find me. He was pleased to find me within feet of the finish line, and he jogged past the line with me.

My time? 34.06.

Wait, what?!

When I ran the 5k on the treadmills, I was generally finishing it around 36-38 minutes. When I decided to do the 5k, I was hoping to finish in under 40 minutes. Considering all of the time I spent walking on this race, I figured I'd be over that for sure.

I was ecstatic to have beaten my personal goal by such a huge margin.

I still hate running though. I have yet to experience this "Runner's High". I'll probably keep it up, at least through this summer, and if the Runner's High continues to be elusive, I'll give up running come fall.