INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

Still no change in grey or anyone else. His left face is not swollen, his right fave looks like it might be, especially around nostrils. I also noticed when he's breathing his throat flexes in and out a lot, like there's a restriction. Oh, and his breath isn't gurgly today. He's still eating and drinking. He definitely has diarrhea.
I can go to tsc tonight to get meds for him, but I still have no idea what to try.

Just sent a pm

 

[pginsber]

To those with silkies: how high will a silkie jump/fly to roost at night?

 

[alliejean]

I want to make this-- never tried but its on my list of things to do will try to tap into my inner Julia Child.

Let us know about it turns out!

Since a couple people expressed interest, here's the recipe/technique for making Mayonnaise. If you don't want to know way too much about mayo, skip this entirely. Here we go.

First, forget everything you've ever heard about it. If you look online, you'll read that it's difficult, time consuming, and can not possibly be done with kitchen appliances, but only works by hand. All of these things are nonsense. I make mine in 15 min. with my stand mixer, but a hand-mixer would do just as well.

I use a modified version of Alton Brown's recipe. I doubled everything and then doubled the egg yolk again. Here it is, after my mods (so don't double this!):

4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon sugar
4 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice (or the stuff in the jar is just as good)
2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 cup oil, safflower or corn (or whatever - see below)

Notes on the ingredients:

I've made this with grocery store "large" eggs, and four yolks is just right. If your hens lay giant eggs, use three.

You can use coarse kosher salt (I do) but if you do, put it in the bowl first to give it the maximum time to dissolve.

If you don't have dry mustard in the pantry, you can use the regular stuff in the squeeze bottle.

Feel free to leave out the sugar, some people like it better that way, some don't.

I've used fresh lemon juice, I've used the jar kind, and I couldn't tell a difference. Maybe you can, do what you like.

White wine vinegar is the most "traditional" in the French cooking sense. Hellman's uses plain old white vinegar, cause it's cheap. I use rice wine vinegar because I like the very subtle flavor it adds. Feel free to experiment, but I can tell you from personal experience, do not use ACV. It was nasty.

You can use almost any oil you like. If you use corn or canola oil, you'll get pretty standard mayo. If you use extra virgin olive oil, the flavor of the oil comes through in spades, which is great for some uses but unpleasant for others. If you melt a pound of butter and let it cool back down to where it almost but not quite solidifies, you'll make hollandaise.

Along with these things, the mayo will support a fair bit of flavoring, as long as it doesn't overwhelm the liquid balance. One of my favorites is to use olive oil and 1 tablespoon of garlic powder (added with the mustard) and one teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper. I've also done a garlic/dill mayo that's outstanding on ham/swiss/rye.

The most important thing about using an appliance is to have the beaters and the bowl sized correctly. Mayo is an emulsion, and in order for it to come together, the entire body of mayo has to be beaten pretty much constantly from beginning to end. I have a Sunbeam stand mixer that has two bowls, and the bowl tray slides over depending on which one you're using. I use the regular beaters with the small bowl and it comes out just fine. If your stand mixer is a Kitchen Aid 6-quart bolt-down paddle-beater behemoth, not only am I jealous, but also it won't work for mayo. A blender or food processor won't do it either, because when the mayo starts to thicken, it won't turn over in the bowl fast enough to keep the emulsion alive. My stand mixer works because the beaters take up more than half of the bowl, get really close to the sides and bottom, and the bowl spins while I'm working. If your stand mixer won't do that, the only alternative is a hand mixer with a whisk attachment. You'll be using the highest speed pretty much the whole time, and rotating the whisk around the bowl constantly to keep all parts of the mayo moving. You want a big enough bowl to hold a pint and a half of mayo, but small enough so that when you run the whisk around the sides, it almost overlaps itself in the center. You might end up trying a few until you find what works best for you.

The other piece of equipment that really helps is some kind of plastic bottle, at least 2 cups capacity, with a restricted pouring nozzle. I use a 17oz Sriracha bottle. Failing that, a measuring cup with a pretty aggressive pouring lip works well too, although it gets a bit heavy toward the end. You want to be able to pour the oil in a thin, controlled stream, and a squeeze bottle does a really great job.

Okay, so here's the technique:

Drop the egg yolks in the bowl, add everything but the oil, and get the mixer going on high. You want to aerate the yolks a bit; it helps them emulsify everything else.

Now, while your mixer is on the highest setting and running around the bowl, start adding the oil. At first, just add a few drops, and beat it in, then a few more, and beat it in more. You want a good eight seconds of beating between adding drops. After a minute or two of this, you'll see the yolk mixture start to lighten.

At this point you can start adding the oil in a more constant stream. What you want to watch for is that the oil is blending in smoothly, and not accumulating anywhere. If it starts to puddle up, stop adding oil and keep beating until it's all blended, then add more, but a little slower. The farther you get into it, the more forgiving it is, but a steady stream about half a pencil wide is what you're after.

Oil and beat, oil and beat. The mayo will gradually grow in bulk and body and lighten in color. Depending on your additions, it can be very white, but mine is usually slightly yellow.

Once all of the oil is in, keep beating the mayo for another minute or so. This helps to make sure everything is emulsified and adds just a little bit more air, which helps the texture.

Leave it in the bowl for at least ten minutes. Then jar it up and put it in the fridge. It should stay good for a month.

Oh, and now, a warning. Once you do this, you'll never buy the stuff in the store again. ;-)

For those of you who want to or do make your own mayo... try to use an immersion blender. It is life changing!! Toss all those ingredients in a mason jar and in seconds it will be perfect, no standing by the blender forever trying to keep a steady stream of oil going in

 

[Leahs Mom]

For those of you who want to or do make your own mayo... try to use an immersion blender. It is life changing!! Toss all those ingredients in a mason jar and in seconds it will be perfect, no standing by the blender forever trying to keep a steady stream of oil going in

Really? Wonderful!!! What kind do you have and recommend?

 

[kabhyper1]

Still no change in grey or anyone else. His left face is not swollen, his right fave looks like it might be, especially around nostrils. I also noticed when he's breathing his throat flexes in and out a lot, like there's a restriction. Oh, and his breath isn't gurgly today. He's still eating and drinking. He definitely has diarrhea.
I can go to tsc tonight to get meds for him, but I still have no idea what to try.

Try Tylan 50. Get a syringe and give him a quarter cc/ml orally for 3 days. Put vet rx under each wing, some on nostrils and some on a qtip pressed under top beak under nostrils. Get some saline to keep his eye washed out. Vertrycin eye solution is better. It sounds like what my hen got 3 times. She is finally over it. Vet said its from dust. Bad winter and dusty brooders cause it. Tylan vetrycin and vet rx are all found at tsc.
Dosing instructions for tylan 5 days may be better, just be watchful of it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/599057/tylan-50-dosing-instructions

 

[kabhyper1]

To those with silkies: how high will a silkie jump/fly to roost at night?

Maybe a foot max. They dont really roost.

 

[raisinemright]

My back is getting worse I think, I tried to till in some top soul but I didn't finish. My son took over and done a pretty good job. Half of the garden is going to be normal garden then the other half will be a raised bed area. We are doing around 16 (heat treated) pallets. Then mulching I between them for looks and weed control! Next weekend it's planting time. I let the little RIR & BR's out with the bigger chicks after a day together but separated. There was a little pecking but not to much. They are all roosting now.

 

[kabhyper1]

My homemade candler. It works pretty well.

(Just a random egg for testing.)

 

[Minminme]

Wait. Herbs around a coop can help keep pests out? Which herbs and which pests? I am so interested in this! We are getting ready to build an enclosed chicken run that will surround our bird shed. We are using galvanized steel poles for the structure and I have plans to hang guttering from the middle horizontal pole, into which I'll be planting various herbs. I was going to do this just for practical, sustainability purposes (and I think it will look nice, too). But I had no idea that certain herbs could help keep pests away from chickens! Would be grateful if you could share more details!

I read somewhere when I first started last year that Aromatic herbs ( Thyme, Marjoram(sp), Oregano, Lavendar, Lemon grass and a few others) all have natural pest "control" effects when used in the nesting boxes and as dried herbs sprinkled in the bedding. Ive bn using them in my coops and havent had any issues with any type of pest neither crawiling, flying or creeping. When I pick up my girls they have a faint lavendar and oregano fragrance about them. I put the spices in my girls dust bath box too-DD mixed in very well with wood ash, sand, peat moss and DE. It also wont hurt them if they peck at it...its all natural! I buy Herbs d'Providence in a large container at my local Grocery store when my own home grown fresh ones run out. LOVE LOVE LOVE using herbs!!!!!!

 

[bradselig]

I can finally park in my garage! Got all the old brooders/winter boxes out of garage the last couple days. I moved one pen of chicks out to the garage! I really need to get some cages built in the garage for chicks/bantams/broodies. Still need to put "stuff" back in its place and try to find a place for some extra sheets of osb I haven't used yet. Then it should all be back to normal!