***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[NanaKat]

to all our lovely Mothers here in Okie land!

 

[BetsyOK]

Same Mother's Day greetings from us!

 

[nolakes]

Hello
I'm new to Norman from TX! Here in OK do you know of anyone who takes in roosters to rehome and not kill? I live off Main Street and don't think this area allows roosters?? Or do they? Thank you to all.

 

[ashtree]

Hello
I'm new to Norman from TX! Here in OK do you know of anyone who takes in roosters to rehome and not kill? I live off Main Street and don't think this area allows roosters?? Or do they? Thank you to all.

If you're on Main st in town roosters are definitely not allowed. I believe Norman allows 4 hens. Also I don't know of a rooster rescue in the area. Good luck! And welcome to Norman! I love it here.

 

[NanaKat]

My sister lives in Norman and can have 4 hens, but no rooster.

Hope everyone was safe thru the storms last night and continue to be safe with the storms today.

My poppies and larkspur are beautiful this year. Are those who got seed seeing any blooms?

Anyone having trouble with humidity in you incubators or experiencing difficulty hatching...check out the Facebook page. Hatching 411. You will learn how to modify your incubator with both a wet and a dry calibrated meat thermometer and other very helpful advice. You ask to join the group and then read the info files so you know about the wet/dry hatching process. They are helping me right now with my big cabinet incubator. There is good advice on Hovabator , Brinsea, yellow Chinese and other incubators as well as informational files for the reading. AND there are plenty of baby chicks, ducks and other poultry.

Time to look at planting beans and summer peas if you haven't done it already. You can still plant carrots too. Okra can go in now since the ground has warmed up...it likes the heat.
Looks like we won't get Sandplums this year...good thing I canned up a bunch of juice.
We are canning poke right now...it is a bumper year for it...really tender and not flowering yet. So far I've finished 55 pints and have the rest to do today. I can it like spinach...wash, cut, boil, jar and then pressure 70 minutes at 15 pounds of pressure. Roger's family loves it...especially fixed as poke and eggs
.

And a few carrots from the garden...the chickens loved the greens.

 

[beautifulpirate]

Any of my fellow Okies know if this plant is safe for chickens to eat? I dont know what it is but we cut down a lot of it today and we were wanting to throw it in their run.

 

[NanaKat]

Any of my fellow Okies know if this plant is safe for chickens to eat? I dont know what it is but we cut down a lot of it today and we were wanting to throw it in their run.

That is poke. Exactly what I have been canning this week. It is either considered a weed or "poorman's spinach".
You can only pick it in the spring before it flower's or the oxcalic acid in it will give you a bellyache. Go back to the post before yours...I got the pictures to work. Let me know if you are interested in cooking any...it has to be boiled twice.
And yes, the chickens can eat some. I usually toss the a few stalks with some leaves in their pens. If they were free ranging, they would already have eatten some...they know when to stop.

 

[Tika75]

Any of my fellow Okies know if this plant is safe for chickens to eat? I dont know what it is but we cut down a lot of it today and we were wanting to throw it in their run.

I like poke berry jelly it kind of has a "twang" that you either like or hate. My great-great grandparents made poke berry wine, though I've never had any. I was told it had a "twang" to it too. I don't like spinach so I've never had poke salad.

 

[jrjoplin]

I have a question for my fellow Okies. I've mentioned that I received 8 meat birds with my order from Murray McMurray. I've noticed about a week ago that they were acting like they were too heavy for their frames. They lay on their sides take a few steps and lay right down again while the other forage normally. At first I thought they were just sunning themselves but if you watch them it looks like they would just rather lay down than stand. I don't have a problem with meat birds and had already decided to process them once the get to the right size. My issue is that I've lost one yesterday and one today. I don't see any signs of trauma and it looks like they died in their sleep, one even appears to have fallen off the roost. None of the other chicks show any sign of illness, I checked everyone out after I found the first one yesterday. The only theories I can come up with is that they had something congenital or it is weight related. From the hatchery site they should take 12 weeks to reach processing age and mine are 6 weeks. I'll admit I've never raised a batch of meat birds just to process but I can't imagine that there is anything different from the standard chicks. I'm debating just culling the remaining 6 as for all intents and purposes they act just like the two that died. If they aren't going to live to processing age they are just taking up space and eating feed. Is it unusuall to lose meat birds like this or am I missing something that I should be doing?

 

[Okla-doodle-doo]

Hope all my Okie friends are hanging on tight with the storms. Saw some pictures on the news of some really awesome ones that hit out there. Be safe.
Boy Nana you have been busy canning already! Have never tried it with eggs. But I love wild onions with eggs!