Maine

[Widget]

Okay folks...here's your laugh of the day: I stopped in at a dollar store for candy. (We'll just say it was for the kids;-)) A couple of women in front of me used coupons to get the Airborne Immune Booster, got 2 boxes for 11 cents. I said 'Couponing at its best' which struck up a conversation on extreme couponing and time spent clipping coupons. When I said I don't have 60 hours to devote to coupon cutting because I have a family and farm to raise the teenage cashier says "Oh you play Farmville?" My sweet reply was 'No honey, REAL animals and REAL poop." Teenage cashier then says "Oh I have always wished for 500,000 dollars so I could start a real farm!"

I would settle for $100,000. Heck even $10.000.

 

[buckabucka]

Originally posted by Widget
I love my Speckled Sussex. I have five pullets that are about four months old. They are very friendly. Sometimes too friendly since they love to be underfoot especially when there is food. Know I am regretting I did not get a SS rooster when I ordered the girls this past spring.


That's what next spring is for! You have all winter to dream up your plan.

 

[suzMEchicks]

I was thinking about a couple of posts a while back about Japanese beetles.they did start off slowly but they are crazy right now for me.i usually collect them in a jar every morning. I tried to give them to the chickens after drowning them but they walked away from them! The one thing I wish they would eat! Not chicken related but is anyone experiencing a blight on their tomatoes? Leaves are turning yellow with black spots.

 

[lazy gardener]

Suz: be sure your girls are hungry the next time you offer them the Japanese beetles. My girls will kill for a Japanese beetle. I dump them into a water bowl to keep them from flying away, and the girls go bobbing for beetles. It becomes an absolute feeding frenzy. Your collecting jar does not have soapy water in it, does it? I love my ammonia bottle scoop for collecting. I can easily collect a cup of beetles, then just unzip the bottom and dump them in the water.

Dow girl with your SS rooster, and Widgett wishing you'd gotten a SS rooster... you two need to get together! So many wonderful breeds, so little space and time.

 

[lazy gardener]

Oh glorious day! This morning, I let the girls out of the coop, and when I came home 5 hours later... they were all in the run! I didn't get the wings all done last night, but apparently enough so, that the first few to attempt the freedom flight weren't successful, so the rest didn't even attempt it!

 

[lazy gardener]

One of my little BSL girls laid her first egg, and, it's a beautiful shade of blue green!!! To look at her tiny little comb, you wouldn't expect her to be ready to lay yet! But, she went into the nest, and tended to business in record time! I'm so proud of her!!!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

All of a sudden we have japanese beetles and issues with blight, too. It seems like overnight the tomato plants in the front garden have just turned brown and crunchy on the lower half. The tomatoes in the kitchen garden still look great.

 

[IZZYBELLA]

Congrats, LG on the successful wing clipping and the first egg!! I just love watching the little ones grow into big girls. It's so cute when they start doing those innate adult actions... scratching, dust bathing, and especially laying!

Tomatoes - I'm having issues, too. Interestingly, my tomato plants were purchased from the Portland Farmer's Market and are organic. I haven't added anything fertilizer to them. They have turned yellow in the past week or so. My neighbor, whose tomatoes are in the bed right next to mine, are totally fine. He purchased his from Home Depot and has put god only knows what fertilizer on them. Not sure if there was just a blight in my bed, or if it truly is a testament to the organic/non-organic approach and/or GMO vs non-GMO... I will definitely not be planting tomatoes in this bed again next year.

As for Japanese beetles... I have two fairly large grape vines going up a trellis in my garden. The beetles totally devour the grape vine leaves, but don't seem to be bothering anything else. Works for me, since I'm not making wine. (I think this may have been why the previous owner planted the grapes in the first place.) I pick the beetles off daily and it's a feeding frenzy for the chickens!

 

[anyasmifya]

Yes, my chickens love japanese beetles. I try and collect them once a day with a mason jar with a little water on the bottom of it. It's true they love grape vines. They also love primrose, I let some grow just to pick the japanese beetles off them.

Luckily, (knock on wood), no yellowing tomatoes here yet. This year I have been doing serious pruning on my tomatoes, I have removed about the bottom third branches and any extra leaves in the center to let air get though. I've also being spraying with calcium chloride. My only issue is the chickens eating my tomatoes! I hope they save me some

 

[lazy gardener]

Anya, please tell me about your calcium chloride. Is it the stuff you buy to melt snow? What concentration are you using?