Backyard Chickens 101

This is the speaking note outline for my class on keeping backyard chickens.  I'll likely flesh it out more in the future.


Why keep chickens

• Home-raised eggs are healthier than conventionally raised, especially when free-ranged (Mother Earth News did a study)
• It’s fun - and good for the blood pressure to watch them, like an aquarium
• Bug patrol
• Free fertilizer
• To help teach kids where food comes from

What kinds of chickens would be good for you - some characteristics of some breeds

Silkies (and other banties) are the ultimate pets and are good mothers, but don’t produce large eggs

Rhode Island Reds and Sex Links - production layers

Buff Orpingtons - friendly, good layers

Cochins - friendly

Cuckoo Marans - dark chocolate colored eggs

Ameraucanas - “Easter Eggers” - to get kids to eat eggs when they don’t like them

Heritage Breeds - you might consider them since demand helps breeders keep breeding them, thus preserving them - LivestockConservancy.org

Roosters - not needed for egg production, some can be mean, most are loud

What chickens need - Basic housing and feeding

Have everything set up ahead of time, and ensure it’s all working

STRONG coop and run - BackYardChickens.com page on coops - also consider Chicken tractors (portable chicken coops)

1. size is relative: good starting point is 4 square feet per chicken in coop, 10 in run
2. if free ranging it’s still a good idea to build a run (vacation, in case predators show up, inclement weather, etc.)
3. the bigger the coop and run, the easier it is to take care of them and the less behavioral problems you’ll have - PLUS leaves room for more chickens later
4. Roosts - make them sturdy, not like swings - one foot per bird minimum for a few birds
5. Droppings boards below roosts - optional, but help keep coop clean and preserve floor space - empty into compost pile
6. Nests - one nest for every three or four hens - line with hay/straw to keep eggs clean
7. Chicken wire over all surfaces
8. Make it well-ventilated, but able to close up in the few cases of really cold weather, inclement weather
9. Chicken tractors - portable chicken coops
10. Electricity is handy to provide light during winter months to encourage laying throughout
11. Good to have a way of separating them just in case - a small cage (2’x2’ at least, 3’x3’ would be much better) is handy as you can also take it out of the coop to quarantine new arrivals or a sick bird
12. commercially made feeders and waterers, or homemade feeders and waterers at BackYardChickens.com
13. Cleanliness - the larger the coop, the easier to clean - rake it out and compost it all
14. Bedding: use organic hay, straw, rice hulls, coir fiber, shredded paper - use pine or cedar only in WELL-ventilated areas and NOT for chicks/youngsters since the fumes can be toxic
15. Deep Litter Method - essentially piling more bedding on top of old - composts in place, put on garden when you clean out in spring
16. DE - in coop and run and dusting spots and food grade - NOT POOL GRADE

What to Feed

1. laying pellets to avoid waste
2. grit - chickens don’t have teeth, so need grit so their gizzards can grind food - not needed if they have access to bare ground
3. calcium supplement maybe - watch their combs, if it’s light colored, give them calcium for sure - deficiency not common if feed layer ration or in free-ranged birds in our lime-y soiled area
4. DE in with feed to avoid intestinal parasites
5. kitchen scraps
6. trays of “grass” (grains grown in shallow pans outside the coop, then given as a treat)
7. bugs!

Gathering Eggs

1. don’t wash them until you’re going to use them to not remove protective coating
2. collect eggs every day in hot environments
3. float them to test for old eggs

To brood or not to brood

Buying adults

1. avoids the messiness of brooding inside and higher death rate from starting with chicks
2. can be cheaper if you just want a few chickens
3. avoids “surprise roosters”

But brooding from chicks is

1. fun - allows more bonding
2. allows for more choice of breeds
3. sometimes cheaper IF you want more than a few chickens - someone like me it would be good, for someone who just wants three maybe not good

How to brood 
Have everything ready beforehand, ensuring it’s all working - read, read, read also to learn, learn, learn
1. 90-95 degrees at chick height, decreasing 5 degrees every week
2. draft free
3. rubbermaid tub is good
4. no newspaper to avoid spraddle-leg - paper towels the first few days/week, rice hulls, fine coir fiber, corn cob chips
5. keep it clean - DEFINITELY
6. light for heat - 100 watt INCANDESCENT - foot and a half above the floor at one end
7. feeders - most anything shallow - marbles in water
8. feed - chick starter crumbles - non-medicated if you vaccinated - FRESH
9. about two months ‘til they’re fully feathered and can go outside full time, 4 to 5 months to laying age though varies with breed
10. WHEN to get chicks - March is good, because it’ll be warm two months later
11. Integrating into the flock - I usually don't have problems doing it at night all at once, once they're fully feathered out, but do watch them CLOSELY the next day. If problems arise, I separate them in a cage, but keep them inside the coop.

Problems you may encounter

NOTE: If using any type of medication, be sure to read the package to find out about how long, if at all, you have to avoid eating the eggs, and if you have to retreat.
Predators - build a strong coop and run, with wire flat out on the ground a foot all the way around

Picking each other - “Pecking order” - usually caused by too confined a space, nutrient deficiency, or boredom

Coccidiosis - chicken looks depressed, isn’t eating, possibly blood in feces - time to call the vet

Mites (body) - tiny little beasties on chicken's body - keep DE in coop, liberally spread everywhere at all times, especially in their dusting spots - use ivermectrin wormer if you have to

Mites (leg) - scaly leg mites - tiny little beasties that burrow into the legs making them look scaly - keep DE in coop, cover their legs with Vaseline, repeat every few days for a couple weeks

Lice - you'll notice nits on the base of feathers - DE, then pyrethrin based insecticide if needed (repeat spraying in ten days to kill newly hatched eggs)

Intestinal parasites - DE in their food, worm with ivermectrin wormer if you have to

“Leather eggs” - give them calcium

Finding a vet - You likely won’t, so bone up on common diseases beforehand

Egg bound - massaging the abdomen may help, but sometimes nothing will 

Other weird things, but not really problems:

“Fart eggs” - small, undeveloped eggs usually laid by young hens

Molting - usually late summer, early fall - lasts a few months

Winter pause of laying - give them light to help keep them laying

Broodiness - let her do it because you can’t stop it - maybe substitute other kinds of eggs, or plastic Easter eggs that you later substitute for chicks (slip them in at night) or don’t substitute if you don’t want to deal with chicks (the hen will eventually give up, after a month or so)

Where to get chickens and accessories: local is usually best as you can see the chicks and assess their vigor and health, also allows you to just get a few (hatcheries usually add male chicks for warmth to orders of less than twenty or so)

• Your local feed store - ask them if they order chicks - sometimes as a “Co-op” order
• Ideal Poultry - mostly just chicks, cheaper than most other places, $25 minimum order
• Murray McMurray - McMurrayHatchery.com minimum order is 25 chicks during cold, 15 other times
• Callahan’s - chicks and adults
• Hill Country Poultry.com - all ages
• Tractor Supply

Definitions:

1. Chicken - either sex
2. Hen - female of laying age
3. Pullet - young female
4. Straight Run - males and females together, unsexed
5. Sexing - the practice of physically determining the sex, not always accurate

Laws:
No matter what the laws are, it’s always good to be a good neighbor.  Imagine if you had a dog instead of chickens: you would keep them quiet, not have too many, and keep them in your yard.  Same with chickens.  This is especially important in areas where there are no ordinances allowing chickens as it would be easier for your neighbors to cause problems for you concerning your chickens than your dog. 

There isn’t any need for a rooster.  This will go a long way towards keeping things quiet.  You don’t need a rooster for eggs - only for fertile eggs.  And three hens should be sufficient.  Depending on breed you’ll get about two eggs a day from three hens.  That’s almost a dozen a week. 

And check your HOA bylaws, if you have an HOA.  The city you live in may allow chickens, but your HOA may prohibit them.  

City of Austin: I didn’t find any law prohibiting chickens, nor addressing how many or of what sex, so I think they’re allowed but regulated as small animals. You can find more in Title 3 (Animal Regulations) of the Austin Ordinances.  From my reading it seems you can keep chickens (the ordinances specifically list “fowl” in some of the sections), but they must not be allowed to roam at large, must be kept in an enclosure at least 50 feet from an adjacent residence or business not counting your own, the enclosure must be kept clean enough that it doesn’t become a nuisance from odor or flies, and you can’t have more than 100, though it’d be a good idea to keep a lot less than that so your neighbors don’t lose their cool or you your sanity.  Also, the ordinances specifically prohibit noisy animals, so if you want a rooster, get a quiet one.  (That’s a joke - there ARE no quiet ones.)

City of Bee Cave: There is no city ordinance regarding chickens except that livestock sales are restricted to agricultural districts.  I confirmed with Michael Polley, Senior Code Compliance Officer of the City of Bee Cave, that this means chickens are neither allowed nor not allowed.  He told me that they likely would be considered as pets and problems would only arise if they became public nuisances. 

City of Lakeway: City ordinance prohibits livestock except in agriculturally zoned areas.

Dripping Springs: Still not sure exactly, but according to the city secretary, they are essentially prohibited but allowable with a Conditional Use Permit.  How easy that permit would be to get I have no idea.

Helpful links:

Feathersite.com’s Poultry Pages

Mother Earth News.com

BackYardChickens.com

LivestockConservancy.org

February Birthday Cakes ~ Mexican Chocolate with Lime & Cream Cheese Frosting

I had a LOT of names to write this month.  It's spring, so we have a lot of new hires at work.  I didn't have an updated list of employee birthdays, so I just brought my writing icing with me.  Good thing ~ I kept finding more people to add.  I hope I got everyone.

This month I wanted to try something different.  Kirk sent me his grandmother's recipe for Italian Cream Cake some time back and I had my heart set on that one, but I didn't have any buttermilk.  Darn.

So I looked through my bookmarked recipes on Food.com and found one ~ Mexican Chocolate Cake.  It sounded perfect ~ very chocolatey with cinnamon and a little kick from some cayenne.  I get to try out my fancy new Korintje cinnamon!  Bonus!

 It was lovely.  I can't say how moist and tender and YUM this one was!  Absolutely fabulous.  And so easy!  Preheat the oven, grease a pan, dump all ingredients together, and mix.

The recipe didn't call for mixing dry ingredients together, then wet, THEN mixing them both together, but I did it anyway out of habit (Ha!  I'm developing cake-baking habits!).  I don't know if it made any difference.

I didn't like the glaze that the original recipe called for.  I was wanting a frosting I could decorate.  I thought about it for a while and decided cream cheese would be good.

Then inspiration struck.  Lime!  Cream cheese and lime!  It was perfect - nice and thick for beautiful spreading, creamy cheesy goodness to compliment the chocolate, and tangy lime to oh-so-slightly cool off the cayenne kick.  Perfect!

I found out that there are a lot of people at work who are gluten-intolerant, so I decided to try to make a gluten-free version.  There's a new girl named Jennifer who works at a bakery that does a lot of gluten-free things, so I asked her advice.  One thing she said was that flour made from garbonzo beans was great, so I looked for it at the grocery store.  Lo and behold, they had it!  Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour.  Sub for regular flour one-to-one.  Perfect!  Easy.  I like easy. 

I made a double-tier regular cake and a single-tier gluten-free one, and they were both gone in hours despite the bosses buying pizza for everyone that day.  25 pizzas and they still finished off the cakes?  I'd say they were a hit. 










Mexican Chocolate Cake

(halve the recipe for one 8" cake)

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or ground mexican chili powder)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups cold water
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350*F. Lightly coat two 8" round cake pans with vegetable cooking spray. Combine all cake ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until smooth. Pour into pans and bake 25 to 30 minutes (until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean). Cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely.

Lime & Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
5+ cups confectioner's sugar
4Tbsp. lime juice

Combine all ingredients except the sugar and beat the hell out of them 'til they're smooth and creamy.  Add sugar a cup at a time, blending well between each addition.  Keep adding sugar until you have the consistency you want.  

Sometimes it sucks being a grown up

A few days ago, I came home to this:

So sweet.  Sleeping there like a little angel.

Oblivious to everything going on around her - Nellie barking loudly to greet me,

me banging in through the front door, groceries in hand, heading for the kitchen.

 

Just laying there so peacefully...

  ... because the little bitch was worn out. 

See all that stuff on the floor?  All those things streaming from the couch, around the end of the table, in front of those chairs, then almost out the front door?  

It WAS on the coffee table.

Yeah.  

I like how she carefully pushed those black boxes off the far end so that they all landed on their sides.

So I made the hard decision to give her back to the man who gave her to me.  It wasn't done out of malice or anger. It was done out of concern for her.  She didn't do that because she's a bad dog.  She's not a bad dog.  She did it because she was frustrated. 

When I agreed to take her, it was with the understanding that I could give her back if it didn't work out.  I've lots of experience with dogs.  I also have experience with working dogs, of which she is one.  I know how to be calm and assertive to bring out the calm and submissive in her.  I also know that the sense of hearing is the least important to them, so her deafness is more of a concern for me than for her (And man, is she ever deaf - never even stirred a bit when I came home that day.  I had to touch her gently on the back foot to wake her.).

But I don't have the amount of time she needs.  I spent lots of it walking her, desensitizing her to shadows and light, putting a stop to the fights between her and Nellie, fights I know were caused by her insecurity.  I spent even more time trying to build self confidence in her so she would quit being so scared of everything.  I walked her some more, up and down the front drive, Nellie with us on her own leash.  I got all "Dog Whisperer" on her, making her face her fears while being there for her, massaging her when she would give in and calm down, showing her that facing her fears was a good thing, that relaxation came after.  I built trust in her so that she would look back to me periodically, even when she was running in the pasture chasing something exciting, so she would see the hand signals I was teaching her.

But she needed more time than I had to give.  Day after day it was a new obsession.  We would work our way through one just to have another pop up.  After beating my head against that wall for a month, I finally realized I wasn't doing her any favors.  I think that came to me about four in the morning one night, when she started her new trick - standing on that coffee table and barking at her reflection in the front window.

I can't say I'm not relieved after giving her back.  Bill loves her and hated giving her up in the first place.  He has too many dogs already he said.  But he sure was happy to see her again when he came to get her, carrying her out to his truck, giggling and talking to her all the while.  Methinks he's decided he doesn't have too many dogs after all.

But I'm still going to miss her.

Season Extenders

Row covers over tomato cages.

Lots of people think that down here in Central Texas we have one long frost-free growing season.  With the last average frost date in mid-March and the first average frost date in mid-November eight months later, I can understand that thought.  But we really don't have one long growing season.  There's more to it than that.

Two types of row cover frames.

Our climate is relatively mild when you're talking about cold, but when considering the heat, it's extreme.  It's common to have more than 30 days above 100 in Summer, sometimes much more.  For instance, during the Summer of 2011, we hit 90 days of 100+.  The sun is so intense it will fade so-called "permanent" magic marker in weeks.  And with rain being rare past May or so, it's brutal. 

Row cover over pvc frames.

People in a more Northern climate get a break in deep winter when it's too cold for much of anything to grow.  If they plan right, they can cover some of the more cold-tolerant veggies when the freezes start and harvest all winter.  But nothing really grows, nothing's being planted, not much is happening at all in deep winter when the ground is frozen solid and often covered with snow.  It's just not fit for man nor beast at that time of year.

Row cover clipped to top of pvc frames.
You can do the same with shade cloth
for hail protection. 

Down here, it's High Summer that's not fit for man nor beast.  From about July until the end of September, it's so hot outside that things stress so much that they don't really grow - they just exist, dormantly waiting for temperatures to cool off again in fall.  We use shade cloth, seaweed, and mulch to help things get through 'til fall, kind of like Northerners using mulch, row covers, and plastic to hold mature crops for winter harvesting.  Due to the nature of cold season things and warm season things, sometimes we don't get to harvest much during this time like our Northern neighbors do.  Our plants are just hanging in there, sweating, stressing, waiting - just like us.






So we have two incredibly short frost-free growing seasons broken up by the interminable heat.  When you think of it that way, you'll see that we have to get a jump on things in Spring in order to beat the heat.  And we have to make plans to protect things into the Fall and even Early Winter in order to maximize our harvest.

Here are some things that will help you do that...

Devices to capture heat

Row covers are the BESTEST THINGS!  They're most often used when cold threatens.  They work to capture the Earth's heat as it radiates up from the ground.  For this reason, you should use them by covering things like a bell, not wrapping them like a lollipop.  If you wrap a tree or plant like a lolli, you're not really covering any of the ground, so you don't get that radiant heat benefit.

I also use them to cover newly planted seeds or transplants.  They don't just trap heat - they also keep moisture in and act as a windbreak.  That's great for new seedlings that have just sprouted, and new transplants that might not have been hardened off adequately.

If you haven't seen it yet, read my post on how to build cheap and easy row cover frames for raised beds.  I give a lot more information on what row covers are and how to use them.  And you can even make a quick and dirty "mini greenhouse", like in the picture just above and to the left, using the same method as outlined in that post.

Cold frames are handy as well.  They also work by trapping the Earth's heat, but they're much better at it than a tall row cover frame since they're lower to the ground yet still have a big footprint - more ground area covered equals more heat trapped, but shorter overall means less volume of air to be warmed.  You can see that means it'll be even warmer in the cold frame than in a four-foot-tall frame covering a bed, or even in an unheated greenhouse.

And that's just if you simply put the frame on top of the ground and cover it with row cover.  If you dig a hole in the ground a foot or so deep, then cover it with a cold frame, you'll get even more warmth.  And if you use old windows or greenhouse plastic to cover it, you can expect even more heat, though be careful you don't cook what's inside.

I like to use my cold frame to hold transplants for a few days until I can get them in the ground.  Things sell out FAST at work, so I get when the gettin's good.  But holding them inside isn't really good for them what with no light and the dryness and all, and sometimes it's too cold on the front porch in the open air.  The cold frame is perfect.  Lets in some sun, but keeps in the warmth.  Easy to water them all at once, too.

It's also great for hardening off transplants you started indoors.  I think next year I might dig down a foot in my cold frame and try starting seeds right in there.  Even tomatoes and peppers.  Might work if I pre-sprout them on the heat mat.  I might can even put that heat mat in the cold frame for a little extra heat when real cold threatens.  Growing seedlings in cooler temperatures makes for a stockier plant, so we'll see what happens. 

Devices to add heat

I've used incandescent Christmas lights extensively in the past.  They're easy to use, give off a good bit of heat, and most people already have them.  The drawbacks are you have to lay out a lot of extension cords, and if you're not careful to make sure the junctions (plugs) aren't laying in a puddle of water, you could get shocked.  But they'll work in a pinch.

Below are C7 Christmas lights on the left and the same lights hanging on my tomato cages on the right.  They work okay just hanging there, but they really shine when used under row covers, adding a good bit of heat to the +10° you get from the covers.  (See what I did there? *snicker*)

   

Prayer candles are a godsend (Did it again. *giggle*) when you're standing there watching the weatherman turn purple as he tells of the Arctic Blast coming your way.  You don't have Christmas lights.  You DO have row cover, but it's only good for ten degrees higher.  You quickly do the math and realize your tomatoes are toast.

But not if you've thought ahead and picked up some prayer candles!  You grab them and some clay pots, run out to the garden, bury them in the beds, and save the day!  Your homegrown tomato dreams are preserved!

For more detailed information, check out my post on how to use them.  


                              



                                                     

Devices to ward off heat

Remember when I said we have two short growing seasons broken up by horrendous heat?  Near the end of July it's just so hot in the garden that I can't believe anything can grow, but it does.  If you've done things right and prepared for this with lots of compost in the soil, an irrigation setup, and mulch on top, there's only one more thing you need to do to help your plants get through it: shade cloth.  Here it is in action, protecting my winter crops from an early demise due to either hail or sun:

Don't get just any kind though.  Some kinds are made for people's comfort, not plants', so if you don't look closely, you may get one that's too dense and casts too much shade.  Look for 40% shade cloth.  That means it will block 40% of the sun, hence the name.  Your plants will still get 60% of the sun, and since the kind of sunlight we get in midsummer is so strong, that will be plenty. 

Notice I said hail, too.  I try to keep some sort of cover on my gardens all the time, at least until danger of hail or frost is past.  When the frost cloth comes off, the shade cloth goes on.  In the photo way up there about four paragraphs in, you'll see how I simply roll up the sides of the frost cloth so I can drop it quickly when the weather man's predicting frost.  I do the same with the shade cloth.  This leaves a two or three foot wide "roof" that hail bounces off of.  In the past five years or so, they've had to replant tomatoes more than once due to hail.  I have yet to.

~*~

So next time you're out and about, pick up some supplies to have on hand when frost threatens or the sun is baking.  If you're like me, you'll forget all about it when the time comes to need them and you and your garden will be screwed.  But if you plan ahead, you're golden.

Of Chickensicles and Ice Fountains

Sleet's here!  Has been coming down off and on for a while and has built up a bit.  The weatherman's saying we might get an inch of snow!  I hope so!  I love snow.  My boss gave me tomorrow off so I don't have to drive in this mess (Bless him!), so all I need for it to be a true snow day is the snow.

My boss also told me to be safe.  I told him I would.  I lied.  I just busted my ass going down those stairs trying to put a chicken back under cover while holding the leash of a naughty dog.

That's the new girl in the picture.  She's hard to catch when she's outside.  All I can do is sit calmly, motion to her to come (she's deaf), and hope she does - or walk around 'til she follows me, then walk back in the house.  She got out a bit ago, and I wasn't too worried, until she found the chickens.  Yeah.

I finally caught her, put her on a leash, and went outside to find the traumatized chickens.  She'd chased one up on the porch and he'd hidden, frozen (in more ways than one), in a spot that would have collected a lot of snow and sleet overnight.  By the time he would have felt it was safe enough to move it would have been too dark for him to, so he would have stayed there and been a chickensicle by morning.

I scooped him up and headed down the stairs, being all calm and assertive while poking the new girl a la Cesar Milan if she even WINKED in the chicken's direction.  I got to the bottom, and ...

... my feet went out from underneath me, I hit the ground, the chicken went running off (luckily in the direction of good cover), and the dog laughed (I'm sure of it.).

There's a happy ending to this story.  Chickens are all inside and toasty, dogs are all inside and toasty, and I'm inside almost all toasty.  Waiting on a great big, piping hot, bath to settle down in to.

When you get older, you don't bounce as well as you used to, so that hot bath is going to feel SO GOOD on my poor sore butt. Mmmmmmmmmm...

So here I sit, waiting for the snow.  Come on snow!  I can't wait 'til morning!  

I put a sprinkler up in a tree in the front yard earlier, just before The Great Chicken Caper.  It's going to look gorgeous come sunup.  

Anybody else ever done that?  You should.  The ice fountain it makes is so beautiful.  

I'll update with pictures in the morning.






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update:

Man, I didn't need the sprinkler!  I got a LOT of ice last night!  You should see the house - looks like bars on the windows.  Luckily I'd brought the chainsaw inside to sharpen the chain and clean it up - I had to use it to get out the front door!

*snicker*

It's like a winter wonderland out there.  The sun keeps peeking out, making it all glisteney and shiny.  It's so pretty.  I might have to brave the cold again to take more pictures.

The new girl, chewing on the ice stalagmites.  (And yes, that's a leash on her. After last night's experience, I'm taking preventative measures from here on out.)

January Birthday Cakes

I've decided to start baking cakes for everyone at work, one a month, writing all the names of the people who had birthdays that month.  Last Friday I brought the birthday cakes for the January peeps, and a special one for Rosi.

Rosi places great importance on eating all-natural, organic, chemical free food.  I like that.  So I tried my best to make a cake that adhered to that.  I think I did a good job of it, even coloring the icing for the writing with turmeric. 

It was a carrot cake with a cheesecake layer on top, and cream cheese icing all over it.  Nomnomnomnom!

Yup, those are real flowers.  I asked Anne to pick whatever looked pretty from the garden and this is what she came back with.  Organically grown flowers and chard leaves.  Beautiful.

And yup, those are real cracks.  I had a heckuva ride to work that day, balancing three cakes on the front seat of my shaky little Toy truck.  What fun.

Here's the one I made for everyone else.  It's a peanut butter cake with dark chocolate ganache filling, chocolate buttercream frosting, and homemade chocolate fondant over the whole thing.

I had some homemade marshmallow fondant in the freezer, so I worked some cocoa into it and rolled it out.  Adding the cocoa made it dryer so it cracked as I was rolling.  I cussed it, rolled it back up, rolled it back out, cussed some more, laid pieces over itself, tried rolling them together, cussed some more, then realized ...

Design feature!  It wants to be leather!  Yeah!










Rosi's cake:
Cheesecake Factory Carrot Cake Cheesecake ~ I played around with the frosting, adding more cream cheese and sugar to make it thick enough to stick to the sides of the cake.

Everyone else's cake:
Peanut Butter Cake
Dark Chocolate Ganache ~ I used unsweetened chocolate and added some sugar.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting ~ I used heavy whipping cream instead of the milk.
Marshmallow Fondant ~ This is what I added the cocoa to.



And just for grins, the carnage after I was finished.  I need a bigger kitchen.