Illinois...

[Faraday40]

@chickendreams24

Oh No! Not "THE apple tree!" I remember you brought some of those apples to the orchard and we all tasted samples to try to identify the flavors. i really hope you are successful at planting, grafting, and saving some of it for the future.

 

[Faraday40]

As I mentioned, we set about 2 doz eggs in 4 different incubators in classrooms around town. Today I moved the turkey eggs into the classrooms as well. I have about 3 weeks now to prepare for whatever hatches. I must clean out the garage to set up the brooder and I am hoping for a broody to volunteer.

So guess who decided to go broody this afternoon! Nope, not the silkie - she still has chicks. Not Jewel, our giant orp - she may be clumsy, but she can at least cover a lot of chicks. It's our tiny OEG. She's literally smaller than our serama & every egg of hers has been infertile. She's the last chicken I'd expect to be a mom.

Oh well, a broody bird in the nest box is better than 2 in the bush. I guess I'll wait & see how it goes. Hopefully I'll get another back-up broody to help. The OEG is only about the size of a 3 wk old orp chick. Can you imagine her trying to cover baby turkeys & orps?

 

[Tortoise]

As I mentioned, we set about 2 doz eggs in 4 different incubators in classrooms around town. Today I moved the turkey eggs into the classrooms as well. I have about 3 weeks now to prepare for whatever hatches. I must clean out the garage to set up the brooder and I am hoping for a broody to volunteer.

So guess who decided to go broody this afternoon! Nope, not the silkie - she still has chicks. Not Jewel, our giant orp - she may be clumsy, but she can at least cover a lot of chicks. It's our tiny OEG. She's literally smaller than our serama & every egg of hers has been infertile. She's the last chicken I'd expect to be a mom.

Oh well, a broody bird in the nest box is better than 2 in the bush. I guess I'll wait & see how it goes. Hopefully I'll get another back-up broody to help. The OEG is only about the size of a 3 wk old orp chick. Can you imagine her trying to cover baby turkeys & orps?

Are the school eggs the Orp chicks I will be able to purchase from? I so cant wait.

 

[Molpet]

As I mentioned, we set about 2 doz eggs in 4 different incubators in classrooms around town. Today I moved the turkey eggs into the classrooms as well. I have about 3 weeks now to prepare for whatever hatches. I must clean out the garage to set up the brooder and I am hoping for a broody to volunteer.

So guess who decided to go broody this afternoon! Nope, not the silkie - she still has chicks. Not Jewel, our giant orp - she may be clumsy, but she can at least cover a lot of chicks. It's our tiny OEG. She's literally smaller than our serama & every egg of hers has been infertile. She's the last chicken I'd expect to be a mom.

Oh well, a broody bird in the nest box is better than 2 in the bush. I guess I'll wait & see how it goes. Hopefully I'll get another back-up broody to help. The OEG is only about the size of a 3 wk old orp chick. Can you imagine her trying to cover baby turkeys & orps?

Shortly a turkey would be bigger than her..

 

[Faraday40]

Are the school eggs the Orp chicks I will be able to purchase from? I so cant wait.

Yes. I will have Leghorns, Spitzhaubens, lots of Orpingtons, and a handful of seramas & silkie/serama mixes.

I should have lavender, black, silver laced, possible blue & blue laced Orpingtons. I also set a few eggs from my Buff Colombian Orp hen x lav Orp roo. The last chicks from that pairing looked like pale buffs with a lavender collar, so I set a couple more of her eggs for fun. One preschool was where my 6 yr old EE (Tyrion) was hatched. At the request of the teacher, I set 2 Tyrion eggs as well. I call those chicks: Easter-Orps. The resulting big, black hens have muffs & lay green eggs.

 

[Faraday40]

Shortly a turkey would be bigger than her..

She'd be bigger for about a week.

Of course most of my bantams have a Napoleon complex.
Here's Trouble with her 3 week orp chicks. She actually mothered them for 8 weeks. They were more than 2x her size, but she kept them in line.

 

[Tortoise]

Yes. I will have Leghorns, Spitzhaubens, lots of Orpingtons, and a handful of seramas & silkie/serama mixes.

I should have lavender, black, silver laced, possible blue & blue laced Orpingtons. I also set a few eggs from my Buff Colombian Orp hen x lav Orp roo. The last chicks from that pairing looked like pale buffs with a lavender collar, so I set a couple more of her eggs for fun. One preschool was where my 6 yr old EE (Tyrion) was hatched. At the request of the teacher, I set 2 Tyrion eggs as well. I call those chicks: Easter-Orps. The resulting big, black hens have muffs & lay green eggs.

Oh wow sounds great. The blue or silver laced and buff are what I'm hoping for. So excited.

 

[Molpet]

She'd be bigger for about a week.

Of course most of my bantams have a Napoleon complex.
Here's Trouble with her 3 week orp chicks. She actually mothered them for 8 weeks. They were more than 2x her size, but she kept them in line.
View attachment 1733865

I am also praying for a broody
I had 2 last year today... So far this year, nope

 

[chickendreams24]

The seeds will definitely grow, and being from grocery store, or other source has little affect if any on germination.
My grandparents who were born in the 1800's were farmers and did have an orchard.
Here is what My mom told me many years ago, since she had a huge apple tree in her yard. (probably equivalent to the one you had Chickendreams)
Planting an apple seed will not produce a tree bearing the same apple as seed came from. It will produce something with whatever genetics are in it. (MIXED). She said, (and this was old school estimates) that one in one hundred will be a genuinely useful apple tree. The rest will be wild trees that will produce usually small apples, with varying flavors. With this being said,,,, my grandparent would plant apple seeds , and then graft them with twigs from their choice apple trees.

The same thing is done with rose bushes. (not all, but choice ones)
The root stock is grown from hardy wild varieties. They are then grafted with the choice variety. When you purchase rose plants , it is easy to see the bud union. When your rose grows, you only allow new growth from above the bud union. If you allow twigs to sprout and grow from below, or from roots of that rose,,,,,, The rose will go wild, and most likely not produce desired flowers.
I had some roses go wild in my flower beds. They grew like 7734, but did not produce any flowers.
I can most certainly understand the sentimental value of your apple tree Chickendreams. You can still maintain that by planting a seed or grafting a twig from it. Those are the feelings that will stay in you Heart . forever. and renewed.
About 30 years ago, mom and dad planted a few plum tree in my yard. They were from plums that they kept in their yard. Only one original plum tree is still left from that planting, but so many new trees sprouted. I have them all over. I also shared the new sprouts with with my children, to grow in their yards. The memory just goes on with it.. I shared it with neighbors as well, and the story.
Here is a pix of the plum tree in spring bloom.
View attachment 1733406

Thank you for the response.

I know most apple trees won't breed true but some will. Part of me is hoping that this old tree is one of those kinds. That would be great.

We are going to try grafting and several kinds of rooting. We were planning to air layer some new trees this year but of course can't do that now that the tree has been cut.

There didn't appear to be a graft of any kind on our old apple tree but even if there were there is some of the trunk left above where the graft would be.

The plum tree is beautiful! Definitely save some more of those!

Are they edible plums?

very true

good, bet there are more

Thank you for the hugs.

Yes there probably are more fox around although we have few here. I'm okay with them being here as long as they live as they should and eat their natural prey species of which there are plenty around. Especially coming into spring there will be of course new prey.

 

[chickendreams24]

@chickendreams24

Oh No! Not "THE apple tree!" I remember you brought some of those apples to the orchard and we all tasted samples to try to identify the flavors. i really hope you are successful at planting, grafting, and saving some of it for the future.

@Faraday40 thank you yes the apple tree. I admit there were many tears from Mom and myself. We were devestated.

I still can't believe I'll never see that huge tree just covered in blossoms again or taste those amazing apples. I really really hope we can save some of it.

As I mentioned, we set about 2 doz eggs in 4 different incubators in classrooms around town. Today I moved the turkey eggs into the classrooms as well. I have about 3 weeks now to prepare for whatever hatches. I must clean out the garage to set up the brooder and I am hoping for a broody to volunteer.

So guess who decided to go broody this afternoon! Nope, not the silkie - she still has chicks. Not Jewel, our giant orp - she may be clumsy, but she can at least cover a lot of chicks. It's our tiny OEG. She's literally smaller than our serama & every egg of hers has been infertile. She's the last chicken I'd expect to be a mom.

Oh well, a broody bird in the nest box is better than 2 in the bush. I guess I'll wait & see how it goes. Hopefully I'll get another back-up broody to help. The OEG is only about the size of a 3 wk old orp chick. Can you imagine her trying to cover baby turkeys & orps?

Yes. I will have Leghorns, Spitzhaubens, lots of Orpingtons, and a handful of seramas & silkie/serama mixes.

I should have lavender, black, silver laced, possible blue & blue laced Orpingtons. I also set a few eggs from my Buff Colombian Orp hen x lav Orp roo. The last chicks from that pairing looked like pale buffs with a lavender collar, so I set a couple more of her eggs for fun. One preschool was where my 6 yr old EE (Tyrion) was hatched. At the request of the teacher, I set 2 Tyrion eggs as well. I call those chicks: Easter-Orps. The resulting big, black hens have muffs & lay green eggs.

Chick therapy would help my sadness. LoL I'll set on the chicks hahahahah.

Can't wait for some of your babies this year again! We are almost at a dozen turkey eggs ourselves time to fire up the incubator shortly.

Oh wow sounds great. The blue or silver laced and buff are what I'm hoping for. So excited.

I am also praying for a broody
I had 2 last year today... So far this year, nope

Still hoping for a broody as well. So far no luck. Just so long as it's not a turkey because we need their eggs.