Spotlight on Poultry ~ Silkies

Silkies, We have all seen them and many of us have them. They are a breed all their own. I remember thinking when first saw a silkie, "that looks like an abominable snow-chicken!" Which is exactly what they look like! They are covered in feathers from the top of their head, to their feet! So if you own them now or might be interested in one day getting them, here is some cool info about the breed!


A Splash Silkie owned by

Tamara Paradis-Bittner


Silkies come from Asia. They are an ancient breed because they are mentioned by Marco Polo during his travels to china in the 13th century. He wrote about a fur covered fowl with black skin. Silkies have a blue slate colored skin under all that fur. That is one old chicken! Once a trade route was established and they were brought to Europe, Silkies showed up in the Netherlands and were sold as "a cross between a rabbit and a chicken"

Deana Rogers's day old silkie chicks

The silkie has many characteristics. Most of them are easy to spot. Having fur completely covering them is one but another is that they have 5 toes! If a silkie doesn't have 5 toes, they consider it a genetic condition called polydactylism. Silkies have what is called a Walnut comb. The comb is normally a black or mulberry color. As I mentioned above, they also have black skin and also they have black bones. Centuries ago in China the bones of a silkie chicken were thought to have healing powers and they would be ground up and eaten. I myself, am not going to eat ground chicken bones, but hey whatever floats your boat.

Samantha Avery's White Silkie Rooster & Splash Hen

There are many types of silkies that are recognized by the American Poultry Association (APA) and the American Bantam Association (ABA). Yes, they do come in a bantam size too! The colors that are recognized are White, Partridge, Gray, Splash, Black, Blue and Buff. Silkies are also available in bearded or non bearded.

Silkies are great mothers. They can become broody whether they have eggs to sit on or not. They were used in china to raise chicks because they are so great at it. Also, because of their feathering, they do very well in colder temperatures. They are fair egg layers giving between about 100 eggs a year. They lay cream colored eggs.  As far as their meat goes, most people in America don't care to eat silkies. They are great pets and very friendly, but in China they consider it a delicacy. Silkie meat was actually featured on the 3rd season of Top Chef. It was also on the show "Chopped" twice.  Famous chicken.


A white silkie sitting on her baby owned by Deana Rogers

Great Pyrenees ~ She needs a name!!

Our family just adopted a Great Pyrenees puppy to watch over our chickens and what ever else we may get. We wanted a dog that would be great with kids and keep our property safe. I did tons of reading on what breed would be best. Great Pyrenees kept popping up. We found some puppies in the area and we just brought our new little pup home tonight. I thought I would ask all of you for help in naming her! She is so sweet. We played in the backyard until it was dark.

We gave her a bath, at that point she fell asleep in my arms while i was drying her off.

And now, she sits on the couch with the kids watching a movie.

As you can tell, she is fitting right into our house. So she needs to be called more than just "puppy"

Can you put some ideas in the comments? Thank you!

She is already doing great with the flock!! :) Hope everyone had a great weekend like I did!

Spotlight on Poultry : Wyandottes

As a new addition to the Talking Chicken Scratch blog, to inform everyone about each breed of chicken. I am starting with Wyandottes because I love my wyandottes. We have 6 wyandottes. One white wyandotte rooster, a splash hen, a columbian hen, and 3 silver laced wyandottes. Their names are Nugget, Sesame, Omega, Turtle, Rainbow, and Buffalo. I sure hope that you will enjoy this spotlight each week as much as I will enjoy writing it. 

A silver laced wyandotte hen, Courtesy of Tamara Paradis-Bittner

The wyandotte breed of chicken originated in the United States somewhere in the 1870's. The silver laced wyandotte was the first of the variety to come about. It showed up in New York state.  Before it was called a Silver laced Wyandotte, it was called an American Sebright and/or a Sebright Cochin. It wasnt until later on that it was named a silver laced wyandotte. The breed was named after the Wyandotte American Indian tribe of the Iroquois Indians. 

Silver Laced Wyandotte hen and White Wyandotte Rooster

Wyandottes are a wonderful dual breed chicken that are great egg layers and great moms. They lay brown eggs and will lay around 200 eggs per year.  They are known to occasionally become broody.

There are 8 colors of wyandottes that are recognized by the APA (American Poultry Association) which are golden laced, silver laced, white, black, buff, columbian, partridge, and silver penciled. However, there are more colors too! Blue laced red and buff laced. There is a total of 17 wyandotte colors. 

A Silver Laced chick

There are also bantam wyandottes. Bantams are smaller birds. There are different colors associated with bantam as well. Buff columbian, black breasted red, blue red, lemon blue, barred, brown red, and birchen.

With personal experience, Wyandottes have been a grreat breed to have with kids and as a starter breed. They are easy to take care of too.  I wouldnt trade my wyandottes for anything. 

My kids, when we first got our chicks

Every afternoon, I go outside with raisins or bread, and they all come running up to me. Its one of the best parts of my day.They have made my family stronger. We all work together with the chickens and they have taught my teenagers how to be more responsible. 

Basics of Canning with Kelly Nale

I had a chance the other day to speak with a Chicken Scratch member, Kelly Nale, about canning and what I need to know to get started. She shared with me her knowledge. She has been canning for 30+ years.

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Kelly Nale was raised in California and married her husband in 1979. That year they moved to Indiana where they still live. Since then they have had three wonderful children. Samantha, Charles Jr. , and Heather. They are now all grown up. Kelly also has a few grand kids that she thinks the world of. I asked her why she got into canning. " I started gardening and canning as soon as we moved to Indiana. It was June and all of my husband's family was working in the gardens and canning so I had to jump in there and learn how to do it too! His mother showed me how to can things and his father showed me how to grow it all. It has been our way of live here for our whole marriage and I love it. I love planting something and watching it grow and I love to can it, freeze it, and dry it. We grow 95% of all our food. I love knowing what my family is eating and looking at all the jars of food and a freezer full. It is very comforting to me." 

Kelly, like a lot of Americans are beginning to do in today's economy, has figured out how to provide for her family. They skip most all processed foods and eat what comes from their land. They know that there is no chemicals going on the food that they eat. I myself am very proud of her. 

Orange Marmalade and Candied Apple Jelly

 

So, You want to start canning? Here is the info from Kelly on how to do that.

What Every Beginner Needs To Read

Kelly gave some links to things that you will need. 

Tools that you need

Pot for Canning

Pressure Cooker/Canner

Of course you dont have to buy from those links, you can find them at your nearest Walmart. Just make sure that you get something that is good quality so you can use it for years to come. 

Canning done by Kelly Nale. That is a lot of jars!

Before we get on to the recipes that Kelly uses, it is very important that you read and memorize the next information. It is how to prevent getting food poisoning. It helps to identify what you need to know about your canning process to make sure that you kill the bacteria that can make you sick. 

Canning Saftey - Prevent Food Poisoning

21 quarts of Green Beans

Now we get on to the fun stuff! Recipes!

Kelly has so many photos of things that she has canned I cant possibly share them all with you at once. You would be reading for weeks! So, we thought we would share the simple ones first. Applesauce, Pickles, Green Beans and Grape Jelly. I would say pickles have to be my favorite. I love them so much that I had a cat named Pickles when I was young.

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Applesauce

Applesauce is very easy. You can add cinnamon or other flavoring to create variations on just plain applesauce.

• Use sweet apples. Such as Fuji, Gala, Red Delicious, and Rome. Using sweet apples will make your applesauce sweet enough that you wont have to use sugar. 
• Wash and Peel your apples. Slice them up and cut out all of the cores. 
• Cook the apples. You can cook them in a few inches of water or you can use apple juice. Cook them until they are soft. Apples are 99% water so you dont need much liquid. 
• For thicker applesauce, ladle off the excess liquid once the apples are done cooking. Save that liquid! Is apple juice, home made and it tastes great!
• Now, make the applesauce by mushing or blending. You can use a masher, a food processor, a blender. Anything that will make a sauce consistency. 

Canning the Applesauce

• Put the applesauce in a big pot, heat it up and add your cinnamon (optional) You do not need to cook it any further, you just need to get it hot.
•  Wash your canning jars. You can put them in the dishwasher or soak them in boiling water for 10 minutes to sanitize. To wash the lids, do them the same way! Only boil them for 5 minutes though. 
• Fill the jars. You want them to be filled to within 1/4 inch of the top of the jar. Wipe any that may have spilled on the top of the jar. 
• Place the lid on and screw on the ring. Tight.
• Place the jars in your canning pot, boiling. Make sure the jars are covered with about 1 inch of water above the lid. 
• Boil the jars for at least 20 minutes. Keep the water level above the jars. Dont boil them any longer than 30 minutes. 
• Remove them from the boiling water and put them in a draft free place to cool. Loosen or remove the ring while they cool. It will keep the lids from rusting. 
• Let them cool overnight.
• Once they are cool, check to make sure you have a good seal. If they are sealed correctly, the lid will not pop up and down when its pressed on. Replace the ring.

Thats it! And you have just canned applesauce! 

If you would like to see the website that Kelly uses for this recipe , Click here

Kelly's Apple Canning

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Other simple recipes:

Grape Jelly

Pickles

Green Beans

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Kelly recommends that you also check out the Ball Canning & Recipes for more tips and tricks. Lots of great recipes can be found there as well.

I hope to find that many of you will try canning! If you have any questions you can leave a reply here or Email Me and I will do my best to get you an answer! Now go get some fresh cucumbers or green beans and get started!

Dont forget to thank Kelly Nale for all her help with this! Thanks Kelly!
You can also contact Kelly directly on her FB page! The Empty Nest Farm