And Then...



Baby thinks this is all for him!

 So being crafty all day seemed to have gotten me moving on other areas too.  First and probably most importantly, I got the spare bed in my office cleaned off!  It tends to be a dumping ground for anything I don't want to deal with immediately.  That meant that clothes (mostly sheets & towels) got put away, other things got shoved in other places (like the box of photos that need to be hung in the spare room) and best of all, I got the bed made!  The last guest we had was our (almost 5 at the time) nephew back in September!  I know I'm early getting it made up for the next guest (same nephew and my Mother) who come in the middle of April, but now it's done and all I have to do before they get here is blow up the twin sized air mattress for my nephew!  The big white teddy bear in the corner is there to keep Baby off the sheet, lol.  We also got all the laundry done and put away (except for the load currently in the dryer and the other load in the washer)!  Tomorrow I hope to get my desk cleaned off and maybe even get my spare room/office vacuumed.



Eggs ready to get put on the heat.



Next, I got a batch of Eggs boiled...I really like Egg Salad (I eat it with a spoon if I don't have any lettuce to make a wrap with)!  Because I didn't plan on pre-peeling this batch, I went ahead and added a few drops of Food Dye into the water before I set the pot to boil (I used Red this time around).  That way, I can tell the cooked ones from the raw ones!  We've had a few "oopses" when I didn't do this (I used to just write on the carton).



A nice pastel pink...



I think they turned out really pretty...I have plans on doing a batch for Easter in all sorts of color combos...I'll just cook them in batches of 3-6, lol.  I have tried Blue before and didn't have much luck, but I didn't put enough color in and I think the water was ice cold (tonight's water was already a little warm since we had the dishwasher going and that really heats up the tap water).



Mashed Yolk on a dish.



Since the eggs looked so good, I went ahead and peeled one while it was still warm.  I tore into it and got the yolk to give the chicks and then ate a few bites of the white before feeding the rest to the dog (she thought she must have done something especially good for a treat like that!).  I'm always impressed with myself when I can get the hard boiled eggs to turn out "just right"...usually they have that green ring around them (which I thought meant they were fully cooked growing up...I was an adult before I found out that meant they were over-cooked!)...so Yeah me!  Before the girls got any of the yolk though, I sprinkled a little Chick Grit on it (crushed granite...this is what chickens use to "chew" since they have no teeth) and a pinch of their starter feed (in case they weren't going to try the yolk on their own, food they "know" would help make it less scary (right?).



Clyde giving it a "sniff"...



Gerty "sniffing" it before grabbing it!



I don't think they needed the feed to catch their interest though!  I wanted to "cuddle" with them a bit, so I brought in the open-sided basket that will eventually be their nest box, lined it with paper towels, and got them in the box so I could sit on the floor and interact on a more eye to eye level.  Clyde was first to check out the mystery offering (they still don't like me much, so that's always a good sign when they'll take food I'm offering!  But, Gertrude was the first to actually try the yolk.

I had a grand time watching them grab the bigger pieces of yolk and run around cashing whoever had a piece!  And all the happy chick noises!  I did end up taking away the yolk after they ate about half of it though...they had stuffed themselves so much!  Their little crops looked like they couldn't hold any more!  Also, they had been out from under the heat lamp for a while (15-20 minutes) and they were starting to act cold.  Gertrude was shivering!  SO back in the brooder they went and I put the leftover yolk/grit/feed mix in a sandwich baggy for another day (I'll add more grit and some warm water to it next time).


Gerty has found she really likes the camera on my cell phone!


Gertrude has a little poo issue going on...I don't really know if it's pasting up or not...but it's kinda gross at any rate.  Clyde has a little every now and then, but Gerty's is really stuck in her fluff!  Tomorrow I'll bring her upstairs and give her a bath and blow dry in my bathroom.  She really does love the camera!  Any time she sees the flash, she's right there to see what's going on!  She also loves my freckles...but those she tries to eat, lol.  Not only has she discovered the one on my hand (and my healing blood blister), but she went after one on my chest tonight!  She also doesn't take no for an answer, lol.  If I cover whatever freckle has caught her attention, she picks at something else to get me to move my hand/finger and then goes right back to whatever had her attention in the first place!  Smart little chicken she is!

Full crops and a clean, fresh jug of water!

After everyone was back under the heat lamp for a bit (and I had the chance to clean the water), everyone enjoyed a nice cool drink of water from their freshly cleaned water jug!  I soaked everything in a little bleach tonight because one of the girls pooed in the water at some point today!  About a half cap of bleach in a big dog bowl (I had it handy) and filled with hot water...I poured half of that into the glass jar and then filled both with more water before letting them sit a minute or two.  Then I dumped and rinsed (twice) before refilling the water and giving it back to the girls.