The Suprise Chicks

      Three weeks ago we gathered eighteen of the best looking eggs and put them in the incubator thinking that if we were lucky we might get nine to hatch and probably half of them would be roosters, so we might get about five hens.

  Five days in the power went out for four hours and the temperature in the incubator dropped to 82 F. A few days after that the power went out for a couple of hours. And the Monday before last the power went out again, this time for two hours. I was sure the eggs wouldn't hatch, but I kept turning the eggs every day just in case.

   Last Thursday I started hearing chipping from the eggs. And thought, 'Wow, we might get a couple of chicks out of this after all.' 
   The first chick hatched on Saturday, two more hatched a little before midnight that night, and by midnight Sunday fourteen chicks had hatched. Seven black with cream markings (including two with Barred Plymouth Rock white head spots), two yellowish red, two yellow with brown and black racing stripes and leopard print heads, and three pure blooded Ameraucana mahogany chicks.  Most of the chicks have those cute little Ameraucana cheek tufts. Neither one of us can really believe so many hatched.

   For some reason after most of the eggs hatched the incubator got too humid for the chicks to dry in the incubator. The first three chicks to hatch who had started to dry ended up getting wet all over again. Not really knowing what to do after the 24 hour mark for the oldest chick we started taking the chicks out of the incubator and putting them in this dish in the cage right under the heat lamp. Our thinking being that the dish would be extra protection from drafts and that the chicks could eat the food in the dish while they dried. Apparently we should have taken the dish out sooner or not put it in at all, because last night we found one of the little black and cream chicks died in it. Mom and I think it got squished by the other chicks jumping in to 'dog pile'. We had a funeral for it this afternoon.

   Now we're probably going to line the bathtub with newspaper and let them run around in that because that cage is so not big enough.

      Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!  

Pesto with Homemade Egg Noodles

The other day Mom and I decided to try making a pesto sauce to put over egg noodles. It was weirdly good with a haunting taste. Kroger has been putting pistachios on sale so we used those and some mixed nuts from a can we happened to pick up on sale. I've seen some recipes that use sunflower seeds, too, but most use pine nuts. Here is a link to my post on making egg noodles: http://batsbizarre.blogspot.com/2013/08/egg-noodles.html

                                                        Basil Pesto

2 cups basil                                                  1/2 cup chopped nuts
4 garlic cloves                                              1/2 olive oil (or enough to make a paste like consistency)
1/4 parmesan cheese                                     Salt to taste


   Put everything except the oil and nuts in a food processor and pulse several times. With the machine running slowly pour in the olive oil until it reaches the desired consistency. Scrap the sides of the mixer and stir in nuts.

Here is the printer friendly version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yxGBa7CqgJfZPzihMRfgKRDjfi8IFhjJ7QpSor0qImc/edit?usp=sharing



     Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!



  


  

My First Knitted Project

When I was about twelve I saw a 'Teach Yourself: Knitting' kit on sale in a store and decided I was going to learn to knit. No such luck. Frustrated at my inability to make a slip knot I put the kit in my closet. Where it languish until I finally fond a 'Teach Yourself knitting book' that showed how to make a slip knot I could understand. Between the two books I finally learned. This bag is the first thing I made. Originally, it was going to be a pair of socks for my mom, but half way into making the first sock I realized my plan of making a flat piece of fabric and sewing it into a tube wasn't going to work and made it in to a purse instead. Mom uses it to pick vegetables when we have a good year. (Not that we've had a lot of those lately. Hint hint, Mother Nature.)

     Once I decided to make it into a purse I started having fun with the design, throwing in new stiches and adding in a new color to add drama to the fabric and reinforce what I had just learned. I think it came out rather pretty.

 The yarn used over all is Red Heart Super Saver in the Williamsburg print, it's one of my favorite color combinations, but like a lot of Red Heart Super Savers it's a little scratchy. It feels softer after you knit it, but I wouldn't recommend it for a baby blanket or anything like that. Of course, some of the Red Heart Super Saver yarns are really soft and study. I'm using their Café Latte color to make a horse and it's wonderfully soft. You really need to feel this yarn before you buy it because the difference in feel between prints is drastic. The add in color is Red Heart Super Saver Hunter Green which is kind of the family color. It's not quite as scratchy as the Williamsburg print. The handles are ones I bought, but can't remember where.

   I'm entering this in Interweaves' The story of your first knitting project contest if I win I would like:
Sage Koolhaas Knitted Hat Kit, Campbell Love is a Rose Crochet Kit, Metal Clay for Jewelry Makers The Complete Technique Guide, Resin Alchemy, and Crochet Aspen Infinity Cowl Kit in Twilight.
Want to enter your own story? Here is a link: http://bit.ly/BeregereSweeps4
                Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Eggs in the Incubator

We're afraid most of Amy's babies are roosters so Mom and I decided to hatch another batch of eggs. I'm also trying to get as many babies out of Abe as I can, because if he keeps going the way he's going, he's going to end up in a soup pot. 
   Anyway, I poured water in the moisture ring and plugged the incubator in to get it calibrated. Over three days we gathered eighteen of the choicest eggs, largish, no poop. Wrote the date on two sides, an 'X' on one, and an 'O' on another side and storing the eggs big end up in an egg carton in a cool room. Which was hard to find, it being summer and all. They went in the incubator on the eleventh and the next day I started turning them three times a day.
   We have a basic still air incubator. It works pretty well and fits about 40 chicken eggs, but you have to buy an automatic egg turner or do it by hand, so far I've been opting for the by hand method.  

  Naturally, five days after the eggs went in some storms blew through and the power went out for four hours. We put a blanket on the incubator, but when the power came back on the thermometer read 82. I'm not sure if any of the eggs are going to hatch, but I'm continuing to turn them and talk to them like I had been. Hopefully we'll have some little chippers come September.


      Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!