Dixie Chicks

[Ravynscroft]

Awesome! What breed is she?

Next chicken that goes broody will get to have a go at it. But on chicken eggs!! Mutts, but nothing I can do about that. I could always replace her eggs with all green eggs, breed myself some EE/Orpington. Hopefully the offspring also lay green eggs.

She's a Black Split Ameraucana... supposedly not known for broodiness, but she's gone twice this year, first times... her sisters have no interest though, lol... she teaches them well and knows just when to let em go on their own...

 

[Beer can]

My little buff no muff EE that lays a olive egg is going broody. I don't need anymore chicks so I have to kick her butt off the nest everyday. Might be partly my fault, I've been lazy at the egg collecting.

Anyone know when silkies start laying? My big silkie roo has spurs already, do they mature early?

 

[Alaskan]

All year this year I have failed to coordinate a broody with a hatch of chicks

When I move the broody to the broody coop... She freaks put and stops being broody!!

Except for the two d'uccles which were awesome and broody for the month that I didn't need them!!

 

[BriardChickens]

I am sure if the chickens hadn't moved coops and no fox my EE would have gone broody. I do see her playing in the nest boxes quite a bit now. Hmm.. might have to add even more shavings into the nest boxes for her to go broody. Golf balls or leaving eggs in the boxes usually does the trick for me. Right now I am leaving eggs for 24 hours, they need to re-learn where eggs go since the move.

I have only reached in once when she was in the nest. She freaked right out... not going to do that again. Scared both of us.

 

[bamadude]

My little buff no muff EE that lays a olive egg is going broody. I don't need anymore chicks so I have to kick her butt off the nest everyday. Might be partly my fault, I've been lazy at the egg collecting.

Anyone know when silkies start laying? My big silkie roo has spurs already, do they mature early?

Mine started at about 7 months +/- a week or so.
Are u sure you arent looking at the 5th toe?

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: All nettles sting and the little barbs get on your clothes too so use gloves and if you have to walk through them wear levis... and strip em off and wash dont sit on the furniture...

The trick to cooking with nettles is taking the tender parts and blanching them before using them in a recipe.... Look up the techniques on line. BTW dogs can bring in the little stingy barbs in too.... so if you get a spot thats itchy is probably that.... it doesnt last long thank goodness... nothing like poison ivy or oak.

our tree was with the house when we bought it in 1967.... house was built in 1950 so I am sure the tree was about 20 years old. It was about twenty feet high. and about eighteen around. The trunk was a multiple trunk Three I believe and each one was about twelve inches in diameter.

I was twelve or thirteen years old at the time.... Dad couldnt stand the fact that all those olves just dropped to the ground for the birds to eat. So that spring we stripped the tree completely..... Green ripe and inbetween went into a brand new eighty gallon plastic trash can... just the ones that werent bird pecked. Wash and pick stems a couple of times but we didnt worry too much about leaves...

Dad did the mixing but he used straight lye..... The can was parked in the garage and filled with enough water to float the olives. then Dad mixed lye in a coffee can... I have no idea how much only just that he wanted me a good ten feet away when he did this. Lye gets HOT when mixed with water so it had to be done quickly.

Then he poured the lye mixture into the olives and stirred it really well with a broom handle. After that he checcked the olives about once a week. He would pull one out and slice the meat off down to the pit. as the lye progressed and cured the olives the meat would start out (on a green olive) pale green and opaque. and the cured part would be somewhat darker and sort of translucent. I guess he figured he didnt need to check the dark olives.... because he only checked the green.

It took about a month for the meat to become cured down to the pit. The depleted lye water was dumped in the yard and fresh water was put in.... along with about a gallon of vinegar.

Lye is a base Vinegar is an acid. they cancel each other out. So no the olives werent vinegary.... He started tasting them about two weeks later and would add more vinegar.... By the end of the second month was done he started putting them into jars. Funny thing was they all came out about the same color... some only a little darker than the rest... He put fresh garlic in the jars as well.

He used old pickle jars and anything he could scrounge not Canning jars. And mold did form on top... but that didnt stop us from going through half our selves and giving the others away to friends.

I have since read up on other ways to do it.... some use salt some use vinegar and some use plain old water .....

Dont go by this description look up home curing using lye... its dangerous stuff to work with.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

OK I may have missed some steps in dads olive curing process.

Here is a recipe for doing a gallon of olives and it looks yummy

http://honest-food.net/2012/10/15/curing-olives-lye-recipe/

He specifies ONLY green... I would be good with that.... there are also links to different kind of curing...

deb

 

[Beer can]

Mine started at about 7 months +/- a week or so.
Are u sure you arent looking at the 5th toe?

Lol, no not toes. They are around four months.I've heard the hatchery TSC gets them from run large. The big roo with the spurs they are about a 1/4inch. His feet are about twice the size of the others, and he's as big as my leghorns already. I'm going to get a pic of his feet and weigh him tomorrow. He's going to be my breeder. I figured out today I have a second roo, same size as the pullets. Two pullets have no crest, them and the small roo will be soup. That leaves only one good pullet to breed, which will be ok being I'm going to put a couple white giants in with them also.

 

[minihorse927]

What do you think @RavynFallen? 12 weeks old yesterday. I'm guessing 2 pullets and a cockerel but the one throws me off. I keep going back and forth. First pic and last 2 are the same bird. 2nd and 3rd pic are my undecided. The one peeking his head from behind the pullet I'm pretty sure is a roo.

 

[bamadude]

Lol, no not toes. They are around four months.I've heard the hatchery TSC gets them from run large. The big roo with the spurs they are about a 1/4inch. His feet are about twice the size of the others, and he's as big as my leghorns already. I'm going to get a pic of his feet and weigh him tomorrow. He's going to be my breeder. I figured out today I have a second roo, same size as the pullets. Two pullets have no crest, them and the small roo will be soup. That leaves only one good pullet to breed, which will be ok being I'm going to put a couple white giants in with them also.

I have heard of both LF silkies and LF polish.