Wednesday

No Wednesday Wives Tales today.

See ya in two weeks. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving!

Saturday Smile

It's a beautiful fall in the mountains! These pictures were taken at Mount Magazine State Park.

Wednesday Wives Tales~Raising Chickens

Raising chickens in the mountains can be a bit iffy. One has to worry about disease and most of all, varmits that are always looking for a tasty chicken meal. Then, there are other problems, such as getting a good hatch out of a batch of eggs. Through the years, Ozark and Ouachita mountain folks have found several ways of dealing with all of these problems.

Never raise chickens next to a potato patch. The smell of the potato plants will make hens quit laying eggs and start setting.

If you collect eggs and put them in a woman's bonnet to transfer them to be hatched, they will mostly hatch out pullets (hens). But, if you put the eggs in a man's hat, they will mostly hatch out to be roosters.

Any eggs that are elongated or sort of 'rough' on one end, are thought to be 'rooster' eggs and should be avoided putting in a clutch to hatch.

A sure trick to protect your chickens from varmits is to pull one feather from each chicken in the flock and bury the feathers deep in the dirt under the hen house. As long as they stay buried, the chickens will remain safe.

And most important~never give away a chick or you may be giving away your 'luck' with it. Any payment will prevent this curse, even just a trade of something, like a bucket of berries or garden produce for the chicks.

I've been trying to remember if we've given away any chicks, LOL!

Saturday Smile

These beautiful animals run wild in the National Forest area next to us and sometimes wander down our road. I think the owner has been fined~but they are still out there. I look for them whenever we are back there. I hope they stay safe!