Remember how I mentioned that I was concerned about our bare-backed turken hen?  Denise kindly dropped off a couple of chicken saddles on Sunday for us to try out.  I put the larger of the two on the hen yesterday.  She initially hated it.  And the other chickens and turkeys started attacking her, probably because she looked different.  Birds are so weird sometimes.

She was trying very hard to get it off.  I wasn’t terribly optimistic.

As we are preparing to butcher chickens and turkeys next month (not the turkens though), I am trying to clear out the freezer from last year’s poultry.  We ate a turkey leg and breast last week.  Yesterday I decided to tackle an older roster we had butchered last year because he was mean.  I found a recipe for using an older hen so figured it would work for him as well.  Here he is going into the pot for 6 hours.

Here is the soup almost ready to eat.

I had forgotten to add the milk before the last photo.  Here it is with the cup of milk added. I thought it looked prettier without the milk.

But nonetheless, this is an excellent soup.  It has been windy and rainy recently so this soup is perfect.  I had it again tonight for dinner.  Highly recommended.  And not one tough bit of meat anywhere from this older rooster.

Today I was a little nervous to find out what happened with the turken hen.  But she seemed fine.  The saddle seems to be fitting her better, she is not trying to get it off, and no one was attacking her.  She appeared to be fully integrated back into the flock again.  So a success story so far.  Thank you Denise!!!!

In other news, it is definitely feeling like autumn around here.  Feeding apple pressings to the animals on a stormy morning is as autumn as it gets around here.  (Well, maybe feeding spent jack o lanterns is more autumn though).

Speaking of jack o lanterns, here are my future ones in the pig pen.  The photo is taken from the hay loft so you can see them better.  The large one is starting to turn orange.  No one seems to be eating them anymore after I fenced off the donkeys.  So this is promising.

Our neighbor across the road moved some cows and calves into his field which had been just hay fields.  So this is funner to watch than grass growing.  Steve keeps barking at them though, for some reason.  I am hoping he will get used to them with time.

For some reason, I am enchanted by the pets sleeping soundly on the couch.  Here’s Wally

and Ryeleigh.

They look mighty comfortable.