Brynnon's Update

Well... Brynnon's medication was changed to Depakeen in place of the Oxcarbazepine. This seems to have better control on the myoclonic seizures he was having all night long every night. It seems to have calmed him down a bit also. We have his registration off to med-camp to go to Shining Stars Camp, for kids with Epilepsy. I think it will be good for him to meet other children like him. Now that he is getting older (11.8) I think his low IQ is becoming more evident. Still waiting for the appointment at LSU Epilepsy Center in New Orleans. Perhaps they can at least give a better idea of his diagnosis and prognosis with the Epilepsy. All we have on the agenda medically is his blood work Thursday and his appointment this Summer with the Jefferson Neurobehavioral Group to hopefully get a better picture of his outlook academically. Still not sure of the Seizure Alarm is doing it's job effectively. I suppose that him being so active in sleep may be affecting the outcome. The alarm goes off several times most nights because he has gotten too close to the wall and it looses detection of him and also because of the myoclonic seizures if they are frequent. So... it's all a waiting game with Brynnon, lots of questions still and doesn't look like all the answers will come as quickly as I would like. He is chugging along in his home school work, slow but steady... Looking forward to finishing the 1st AVKO Spelling book in the next few weeks, if only he would retain more of what he learns... but I am ever thankful for the progress he has made!

Chickens... Our last hatch in the incubator only produced 5 baby chicks. *sigh* Both incubators are full and hopefully we will have some baby chicks in two weeks! Our Coop has a nice variety of chickens in it. We are only getting 3-11 eggs daily at the moment, which for a family of 8 we are shooting for two dozen a day! We use diatomatious earth to prevent worms and also to prevent mites on the chickens. We mix it in the feed every month and sprinkle it on the coop ground also. The well water here is not the best, so we add a splash of bleach to the water when filling it up. This prevents the hard water from building up and also helps keep our chickens healthy. For now here is a picture of our hatching chick! ~Denise

We have moved to Louisiana after Hubby was laid off from Gannett. Cajunland was the only place he could find work... Only was able to take 8 chickens with us, so we kind of had to start over! Hatching eggs and in my incubator and pics will be posted soon!

Too Many Chickens!?!?!

Well... Started with 7 Hens and Two Roosters. Today we have 42! Yikes! I had so much fun hatching and watching them grow. Now I need to Extend my coop! I cannot seem to pick any out I would want to sell! Here are a few pics of the growing coop!! In the next few weeks, I will be extending their living quarters.

Garden growing & More Chickens!

We are having a great time with the chickens and garden! We now have 26 baby chicks, 7 Hens and 2 Roosters! I made a easy transitional coop today for the biddies that are not ready for the big coop, but too big for the baby cage. There are 9 of these and they are all almost 4 weeks old. They seem to like this new space on the ground! The biddies in the hanging cage are 4 and 7 days old.
It is so much fun to watch them hatch, and begin to move around...
then to see them eat for the first time and oh boy how cute when they get their wings!
~Denise

Chickens & More Chickens Oh My!!

We started with 6 Hens and 2 Roosters.
We have a mixed lot! One Roster is a Long Island Red and one is a Game mixed with Bantam. Our Hens are all different as well. We now have almost a dozen Baby Chicks and one Hen sitting on 19 eggs! Oh, and we have an incubator filled with over 30 eggs too! We have had great fun watching the eggs hatch and getting to know the chickens.
Here are a few pictures...

My House...

I am Denise. Wife to Brian Sr. for going on 19 years. I am Momma to Tera (18), Brian (16), Brandon (12), Brynnon (8) and Brett (3).
We live on two acres in South MS. We have a small garden and chickens. We are survivalist and interested in being self sufficient for the hard times coming! I will post here about my everyday life with things such a HomeSchooling, Gardening, Building things, Chickens and of course the children!

~Denise