The Dixie Classic


Today was so much fun! We competed in the junior poultry show of the Dixie Classic, hosted by the Tennessee Valley Poultry Club. Our cousins David and Daniel invited us to participate, and they taught us how to get ready for the show. They helped us select our show hens, and explained how to wash a chicken before showing it.

Ruby gets a bath before the show.

Annie pets a bantam  -- just her size!

At the show, our cousins showed us around. We learned a lot. In addition to the judging of chicken breeds, there was a raffle drawing, concessions, a silent auction, and a rooster crowing contest! All the children enjoyed looking at the different breeds of chickens. Best of all, our chicken Ruby won fist place in her category! Judah accepted the award for Ruby. We also received a trophy for participation. Our cousins won lots of awards too. A bonus for me (Mom) was that I won a new watering device for our chicken coop in the silent auction. Everyone had a winning day at the chicken show!

Ruby has no idea she is a winning hen.

Judah helped draw the names for the raffle.

If you knew how much I couldn't stand the cheap, plastic watering bucket I have, you would appreciate my excitement about winning this sweet, new, watering container. 

Christ is Risen!


Celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord is my favorite time of year. This year it was extra special for many wonderful reasons, including that we were able to celebrate by coloring eggs from our very own hens. We decided to use dyes from beet juice and turmeric. The eggs dyed with beet juice turned a darker shade of brown. The eggs dyed with tumeric turned a lovely golden hue. These eggs were used to help decorate our Resurrection tree. From the egg, new life springs forth from that which seems inanimate; from the tomb, life bursts forth from death which seems final. Alleluia!

Juicing beets for egg dye

Boiling eggs in turmeric

Before coloring

After coloring

Resurrection Tree 

Images and design idea from Ann Voskamp's blog, www.aholyexperience.com

One Year Later

Its amazing to me that we have had our chickens for almost a year now. It has flown by so fast!
The hens made it through this rather mild Tennessee winter without ever completely stopping their egg laying. We joked that they took turns taking a few days off. They averaged 2 eggs per day during the coldest weeks of winter. Just before this warm weather arrived we had several days of no eggs at all, and now, on the first day of spring, we are seeing them return to 4 eggs per day.

This winter, our only major event of interest with the hens involved a visitng family of
rats who had a taste for chicken feed. They found a way under our chicken wire and were
helping themselves by climbing into the hens' feeder. This rodent break-in was really my fault, because I had gotten lazy about shutting up the coop every night. (Sometimes I wouldn't remember that I hadn't locked up the coop until I was already in bed....and at that point, it wasn't going to happen!) The rat problem however, was solved mostly by our dog, who, we discovered, is quite adept at catching and killing rats. So they didn't last long. Thanks Max!

These warm days of early spring remind of me of this time last year when we were adding the finishing touches to our coop so it would be ready to house our four Rhode Island Red pullets. When I look at the pictures of the coop BEFORE the hens arrived, and look at my coop NOW, I can't believe it was EVER that clean!!

I am planning to do a deep spring cleaning of the coop (scrubbing, clorox, water hose, etc.) very soon, so the hens will have a whole 'nother year to dirty it up again.