ThreeBoysChicks - Sold Sheep and Guineas, what to buy.....

[Queen Mum]

Love the pictures.

 

[manybirds]

Hey everyone!! I hope everyone has an opportunity to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend. Last weekend, I took some pictures, but then life got really busy and I did not get a chance to upload anything. I took some more pictures yesterday and this morning. Thought I would share.

DaisyChick I added pictures of the babies and of Nina this morning before and after milking.

First Up, the cheese experience. So I used the very simple, heat it and then add vinegar and salt. Started with gallon of milk. I finally found a use for the fancy banana holder my wife purchased. It worked great to hang the cheese on. I forgot to weigh the cheese before we started eating it. Not a lot of flavor, but I guess that is what it would taste like. Actually, it seemed sweet. Ate most of it on salads. Next batch, I am going to make cottage cheese as I love to eat cottage cheese and apple butter.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/20120520_CheeseHanging_3.jpg http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/20120520_Cheese_Final.jpg


Next up, some FOWL pictures. Our Tufted Roman pair hatched out two goslings. Henry and Snow are great first time parents and are very protective. Henry and I are getting along fine, because I pick him up and carry him around if he gets too carried away. The Silkies are all young ones with the exception of the Cuckoo pair, which are several years old. We found a Guinea Next, 24 eggs in it. I candled them and then put them under two broody hens. I tossed in a picture of one of the White Leghorn Roosters, because he decided to pose so nicely for the camera.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/TuftedRoman_2.jpg http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/TuftedRoman_1.jpg

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/20120526Silkies.jpg http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/20120526_Silkies_2.jpg

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/SplashSilkie.jpg http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/WhiteLeghornRoo.jpg

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/Gunnea_nest.jpg

Horses They have lost their winter hair and have been enjoying an abundance of pasture and are looking mighty good. We hope to use the horse trailer for the first time this weekend and go do a small ride somewhere.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/Blue-1.jpg http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/Luna-1.jpg

Sheep Well, they are sheep, what can I say. They are pets and quite content to help keep the pasture mowed.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/Sheep.jpg

Flowers and Garden This is a picture of our Foxglove, which has never looked this good before. Love the mix of colors. Also a photo of the garden. There are tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini and cucumbers in there. Also not up, Dahlias, Hollyhocks, 50 Gladiola bulbs, zinnias and lettuce. The strip on the right with nothing in, if you can see it will be a new chicken house that is split in the middle with a long run on either side that will house B/B/S Orpingtons and B/B/S Marans.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/Lupine.jpg http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/Garden.jpg

And last but definitely not least, my sweet girl and her babies. First up is Nina, First Freshener at 38 days fresh, 10 hours since her kids were locked up.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/...526_FF_Nina38DaysFresh_11HoursinceMilked3.jpg http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/...526_FF_Nina38DaysFresh_11HoursinceMilked6.jpg http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/...526_FF_Nina38DaysFresh_11HoursinceMilked4.jpg

And Nina again after providing 3 lbs of milk and still has enough to feed the starving, screaming babies waiting for her.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/20120526_FF_Nina38DaysFresh_AfterMilking.jpg


And the girls (Libby and Tilly) They are the sweetest things and just love attention. Very hard to get a good picture because as soon as they realize I am there, they come running to me. I get a lot of nose shots. The last photo is them doing what they do best.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/20120525_Babies_36DaysOld_3.jpg http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/20120525_Babies_36DaysOld_2.jpg http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/20120525_Babies_36DaysOld_Nursing.jpg

Wait, I almost forgot, two of my three faithful milking assistants. They love that first squart of milk that might happen to be aimed at their face.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/20120526MyAssistantFran_2.jpg http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj22/Familyofanimals/20120526_Jacj.jpg

Hope you enjoyed the photos. Have a great weekend!!!!!

is that queso blanca cheese? if so when i made it i cheated and added some cheese salt and it taisted great

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

is that queso blanca cheese? if so when i made it i cheated and added some cheese salt and it taisted great

That is a good idea. Where do you purchase cheese salt?

 

[elevan]

is that queso blanca cheese? if so when i made it i cheated and added some cheese salt and it taisted great

That is a good idea. Where do you purchase cheese salt?

I use regular salt and the addition of herbs and things like garlic pump up the flavor. I always taste before I hang and add more flavor as needed. You can also change up the flavor by using a different vinegar. I made a batch using 1/2 Balsamic vinegar and 1/2 white wine vinegar along with some salt and Italian style herbs and it was AWESOME. This basic cheese is like a blank canvas of fresh beginner cheese - love it.

 

[Symphony]

is that queso blanca cheese? if so when i made it i cheated and added some cheese salt and it taisted great

That is a good idea. Where do you purchase cheese salt?

I use regular salt and the addition of herbs and things like garlic pump up the flavor. I always taste before I hang and add more flavor as needed. You can also change up the flavor by using a different vinegar. I made a batch using 1/2 Balsamic vinegar and 1/2 white wine vinegar along with some salt and Italian style herbs and it was AWESOME. This basic cheese is like a blank canvas of fresh beginner cheese - love it.

That Italian sounding cheese made me hungry again and I just ATE!

I love your horses and those Cats remind me of our barn cats.

 

[elevan]

That is a good idea. Where do you purchase cheese salt?

I use regular salt and the addition of herbs and things like garlic pump up the flavor. I always taste before I hang and add more flavor as needed. You can also change up the flavor by using a different vinegar. I made a batch using 1/2 Balsamic vinegar and 1/2 white wine vinegar along with some salt and Italian style herbs and it was AWESOME. This basic cheese is like a blank canvas of fresh beginner cheese - love it.

That Italian sounding cheese made me hungry again and I just ATE!

I love your horses and those Cats remind me of our barn cats.

Not the best pic, but this is what I called "Balsamic cream cheese" as the balsamic makes the cheese take on a cream cheese texture. It also gives the cheese a tan hue.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I love the idea. I thought about using some Balsomic vinegar, but was not sure it would work the same. I have almost 2 gallons of extra milk. I think I will need to make some cheese tomorrow.

 

[elevan]

I love the idea. I thought about using some Balsomic vinegar, but was not sure it would work the same. I have almost 2 gallons of extra milk. I think I will need to make some cheese tomorrow.

My first attempt failed miserably as I used only balsamic. When I split it 1:1 with another vinegar it worked out great.

If you want it to be more crumbly make it 2:1 other vinegar to balsamic. I've done it both ways but like the creamy version better personally.

eta: It looks awful when you first pull the curds from the whey...you might be tempted to throw it out at that point but follow through and you'll be rewarded.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

Yesterday was a great day. Church, then power washed the pool area, the deck, the outside furniture and the house. Everything was going great, until I kicked my toe into one of the picnic tables. Pretty sure I broke my little toe on my left foot. Black and Blue and swollen. Oh boy. Going riding this morning, hope an pray I can get my foot into my boot.

So someone asked me to incubate some peacock eggs for them. I have them in the incubator now. Started them yesterday. If you have any special advice regardign Peacock eggs, let me know.

Thanks!

 

[Goatherd]

My pea hens usually hatch their own eggs, but I have used an incubator to hatch 'found' eggs that don't belong to any specific hen.

My best advice would be keeping the humidity consistent throughout the incubation. Keeping it at 60-65% throughout the incubation and then bumping it up to 90% around the 25th day, which is also the day I stop the automatic turner. I have incubated eggs upright and on their side and have had greatest success with eggs incubated on their side, much like a goose or duck egg. After 6 days, I candle the eggs and remove any that aren't fertile. I only use forced air incubators so I don't have any experience with still air incubators. Other than that, can't think of anything else that is different than any other fowl eggs.

Of course this is what has worked for me but there are others with others methods, I'm sure. Hope it goes well for you.