Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[BayBay Peepers]

Welcome Angela

 

[CherMoz]

AACCCCKK!

Just yelled at and chased off a fox!!! I'm so glad I was out there! Mama Silkie and baby were just put in the tractor in anticipation of my leaving (whew!). The turkey didn't linger on the nest she has outside of the pasture area (woven wire fencing). I had let her out not 10 minutes beforehand!!! She got the egg laid, but in her haste to retreat to safety didn't cover it up! I'm afraid it will be back.

 

[Firstchic]

Hey everyone, new member here, glad to find a Cheesehead group!

As far as toughness, my husband always brines our homegrown chicken, which helps a lot. If you google "brine for chicken" you should find lots of simple brine recipes. I know the recipe he uses has soy sauce in it, and it always turns out great, even when grilled. Let me know if you want me to post it here for you.

Angela

Hey Angela, Welcome. Don't know where you live....I am in Clintonville, well, 6 miles out. I am a newbe also, Just got chickens the first of the month. I ask a lot of questions and some nice person on here always answers me. Great site because of the great people.

 

[CheesePoultry]

Hey Firstchic,
We live in Sheboygan County. My hubs and I have a small hobby farm (about 5 acres) that we have plenty full. We've lived out there almost 13 years now. Besides hubby & myself we have 5 kids ages 13 to almost 2 years old. We have random outdoor cats, 6 or so sheep (including 2 lambs we're butchering this fall for meat), turkeys, chickens, guineas and a pair of peafowl. Yep, quite a zoo. Not to mention our large garden, numerous fruit trees (apple, pear, cherry & peach) and a very old asparagus patch. My hubs has a green thumb, so he's really good at growing stuff! He's really the driving force behind all the chores. He grew up on a hobby farm, whereas I grew up in town. But I love country living dearly and wouldn't trade it for anything!

My oldest daughter is the chicken obsessed one. Well, I love them, too, but she takes it to a whole new level! LOL She just hatched her first white silkie chick on May 4th and was so very excited. She took the chick to the 4-H meeting on Monday for her "talk and demo" and told the club all about her chick. Pretty cool! It sure is a cute little thing.

I couldn't even tell you all the breeds we have at the moment. We had baby chicks in our basement since January. Gotta get them early so they're full grown for showing at the fair and stuff like that.

 

[Firstchic]

Hey Firstchic,
We live in Sheboygan County. My hubs and I have a small hobby farm (about 5 acres) that we have plenty full. We've lived out there almost 13 years now. Besides hubby & myself we have 5 kids ages 13 to almost 2 years old. We have random outdoor cats, 6 or so sheep (including 2 lambs we're butchering this fall for meat), turkeys, chickens, guineas and a pair of peafowl. Yep, quite a zoo. Not to mention our large garden, numerous fruit trees (apple, pear, cherry & peach) and a very old asparagus patch. My hubs has a green thumb, so he's really good at growing stuff! He's really the driving force behind all the chores. He grew up on a hobby farm, whereas I grew up in town. But I love country living dearly and wouldn't trade it for anything!

My oldest daughter is the chicken obsessed one. Well, I love them, too, but she takes it to a whole new level! LOL She just hatched her first white silkie chick on May 4th and was so very excited. She took the chick to the 4-H meeting on Monday for her "talk and demo" and told the club all about her chick. Pretty cool! It sure is a cute little thing.

I couldn't even tell you all the breeds we have at the moment. We had baby chicks in our basement since January. Gotta get them early so they're full grown for showing at the fair and stuff like that.

Wow, does sound like a zoo. We have 2.5 acres, 7 chickens, I know we have two Delawares, I think 2 Red Stars and 2 black chickens I have not figured out yet. This is my first chickens, we have 3 dogs, or as my son says 2.5. His wife is a Diva, but, I forgive her cause she is a great cook. We also, have 3 cats. I think we have a crabapple tree or it could be a cherry tree and maybe a plumb tree, don' know cause they never bear fruit. Well they do but the fruit only gets about as big around as a big pea. Don't know if either of the trees are self-pollinating or not. Since you have cherry and apple, maybe you could tell me.

 

[CheesePoultry]

Well, we only have one cherry tree. It's blossoming out now (white blossoms - very fragrant). So that doesn't need a mate and is self-pollinating. I believe pear and apple trees need a cross pollinator tree to bear fruit. We have a Macintosh apple tree, one variety I can't remember, and then two Honey Crisp. You might just have crabapples if the fruit stays small? Post a pic and maybe we can figure it out.

 

[Firstchic]

Well, we only have one cherry tree. It's blossoming out now (white blossoms - very fragrant). So that doesn't need a mate and is self-pollinating. I believe pear and apple trees need a cross pollinator tree to bear fruit. We have a Macintosh apple tree, one variety I can't remember, and then two Honey Crisp. You might just have crabapples if the fruit stays small? Post a pic and maybe we can figure it out.

Well, we only have one cherry tree. It's blossoming out now (white blossoms - very fragrant). So that doesn't need a mate and is self-pollinating. I believe pear and apple trees need a cross pollinator tree to bear fruit. We have a Macintosh apple tree, one variety I can't remember, and then two Honey Crisp. You might just have crabapples if the fruit stays small? Post a pic and maybe we can figure it out.

Well, the one is not a cherry, it has pink to dark pink flowers, the other tree is white tho. I will take pictures and post them with my chicks, maybe you could tell me what they are too.

 

[jvls1942]

good afternoon,

apples do not need a cross pollinator,, but plums do.. any other plum tree will do.. even a tiny tree as long as it gets blossoms..

the tiny apples you describe sound to me like a Quince.. Quince is used for root stock for grafting apples..
the only way to get a true reproduction of an apple is by grafting,,
sometimes the apple tree dies, and the roots send up shoots.. these shoots will be quince if that what was used in the original graft..
quince fruit is very sour..

on the other hand,, the tiny apples could be Thorn Apples.. if they turn red in the fall.. they are excellent for making jelly ..

..........jiminwisc..........

 

[bigzio]

Afternoon all...well firstchic I hope you make the bash...it's just up the road between c-ville and marion.

Busy as heck here this time of year. The deer managed to eat all but one broccoli and one late cabbage plant....dang vermin in the full size...no wonder why they taste so good all year long...something about revenge and tender meat.
Hope the greenhouse has some more plants.

Cut some more grass today...what a waste of time.

gotta go...more to do before dark!

bigz

 

[Firstchic]

Afternoon all...well firstchic I hope you make the bash...it's just up the road between c-ville and marion.

Busy as heck here this time of year. The deer managed to eat all but one broccoli and one late cabbage plant....dang vermin in the full size...no wonder why they taste so good all year long...something about revenge and tender meat.
Hope the greenhouse has some more plants.

Cut some more grass today...what a waste of time.

gotta go...more to do before dark!

bigz

Afternoon all...well firstchic I hope you make the bash...it's just up the road between c-ville and marion.

Busy as heck here this time of year. The deer managed to eat all but one broccoli and one late cabbage plant....dang vermin in the full size...no wonder why they taste so good all year long...something about revenge and tender meat.
Hope the greenhouse has some more plants.

Cut some more grass today...what a waste of time.

gotta go...more to do before dark!

bigz

Ok, for the first time in my entire 70 years, I washed a chickens butt. She was only so good. My diva daughter in law even helped, altho she kept saying the whole time, chickens stink.....yeah! so do peoples poo. My girl was so good, she only got excited once but settled right down. She absolutly loved the hair dryer. I felt the area just below the vent (?) . Not knowing what it is suppose to feel like, I do not know if it was hard or not. It felt "full" to me. Can someone tell me how to tell if it is hard---like hard as a watermelon or hard as a very ripe muskmellon? I await with baited breath for your replys.