Maine

[MustardTiger]

Hello all! What a beautiful fall day. Went to the Fair on friday and stuffed my face. I downed: a kielbasa, corndog, pickle, fries and some fried dough! it was fun. I hadn't been on a ride in years!

Anyhow I have a question: We processed our 3 turkeys yesterday. It was hard work. They dressed out at 18 pounds each. We did them a few weeks early as we wanted a smaller bird. Anyhow, is there a way to get the little feather shaft stubs out when plucking? I do a wet pluck with boiling water and a little dish soap added in. The feathers themselves come out fine but then I am left with all the little tiny stubs. You can't really burn those off with a torch....Same thing goes for the chickens I have processed.

We are going to deep fry one today

 

[Jazor]

Have you tried the "Breed & Sexing" category of the forums? Those people rock at figuring this stuff out. I have no clue.

I have not, but thanks for the tip! I'll head that way with photos as more feathers come in

 

[lazy gardener]

Thank you for all of the suggestions, LG! I have 14 beds each 8x4 feet with wooden sides and they are in full sun all day. (I only planted in 2 of them this year... such a shame!) There are 2-3 inches from the highest point of soil to the top of the wood. I had four of the girls out there for several hours again today. I had to keep shooing them from the young blueberry bushes (I'll have to block it off somehow going forward). Of all the beds to choose from that's the one they favor! Great idea re: the soil test. I'll do that.

I know what you mean about the coyotes. They've got some kind of nerve in my neighborhood doing their yelping in the middle of the day. Personally, with a few chickens in the yard, I even hate the sound of a hawk... or a coon.... or a fox... even a dog! These critters need to go away and leave my babies alone.
Quote:

HATE THAT SOUND!! As I'm sitting here, with the window open, I just heard the EERY sound of coyotes.

If the comb matches your other straight combed birds, I vote male PBR. If the comb is wider without the row of nubs like a straight comb, it may be a male Dominique.

More photos of the "rare exotic" who's ready to help ID this chick?!

A little more coloring has come through, and I'm noticing the shanks are partially black like the barred rocks.

Maybe a maran? Maybe a BR cockerel? Who knows?!

As I recall from the old days of plucking birds, I'd catch the nub between the blade edge of a knife and my fingernail and yank it out. If there's a lot of them, that's got to be a pain in the ....! Did you do the ride before or after all that fair food?????????

Hello all! What a beautiful fall day. Went to the Fair on friday and stuffed my face. I downed: a kielbasa, corndog, pickle, fries and some fried dough! it was fun. I hadn't been on a ride in years!

Anyhow I have a question: We processed our 3 turkeys yesterday. It was hard work. They dressed out at 18 pounds each. We did them a few weeks early as we wanted a smaller bird. Anyhow, is there a way to get the little feather shaft stubs out when plucking? I do a wet pluck with boiling water and a little dish soap added in. The feathers themselves come out fine but then I am left with all the little tiny stubs. You can't really burn those off with a torch....Same thing goes for the chickens I have processed.

We are going to deep fry one today

 

[Widget]

Had too many choices today for what to do. I ended up going to Camp Ketcha in Scarborough to attend the Planet Dog Woofminster dog show with Frances my Ibizan Hound. We had a great time and made lots of new doggy friends. One thing about having a rare breed is that everyone wants to see her.

We ended up winning a couple prizes in the scavenger hunt and a third place in the best beggar contest. Would have done well in the 50 paw dash but I did not feel comfortable letting her off leash since there were horses at the other end of the field so we came in fourth. The top three finishers were off leash. Oh well all the money raised went to a good cause and I now have one very tuckered out pup. That and two very angry pups (the pit and the potcake) who had to stay home today.

Only had one person sort of question that Frances looked thin. Had to explain that she is a sight hound and was bred for speed just like Greyhounds and therefore is supposed to look lean. If anything she has gained weight since arriving in Maine. Of course the dog this person had was a bit on the obese side but I was nice and did not point that out. I think the same lady also was freaking out when a puppy got stepped on and started screaming. She was convinced that the puppy was seriously injured and was not okay. Yes the puppy did scream and shake. But it soon calmed down and was fine. It was just scared and like so many puppies a bit of a drama queen. And this same person also had some not so nice things to say about pit bulls.

 

[ashandvine]

As eerie as it is I sort of like it.

X2

Keep the fortunes, skip the fame, buy a massive farm.

I like this saying. A lot.

I am keeping Pippy.

Congrats! This is awesome.

I am so excited to share that I have Orloffs coming again! What a mess its been since I culled everyone. I have tried eggs four times for these with only one hatched. They might be here as early as Tuesday!!!! Oh man, when you find that bird you love to work with no matter how much work it needs its just awesome. I have to say there are birds I like [Favorelles, Ameraucanas] and a lot I admire [Heritage Barred Rocks, Partridge Chanteclers, Sumatra, Langshan] but this is just the breed of chicken I want to work. I can love them. Now, that doesn't discredit the geese or ducks. They are whole different art form. The point is: yey Orloffs.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

X2

I like this saying. A lot.

Congrats! This is awesome.

I am so excited to share that I have Orloffs coming again! What a mess its been since I culled everyone. I have tried eggs four times for these with only one hatched. They might be here as early as Tuesday!!!! Oh man, when you find that bird you love to work with no matter how much work it needs its just awesome. I have to say there are birds I like [Favorelles, Ameraucanas] and a lot I admire [Heritage Barred Rocks, Partridge Chanteclers, Sumatra, Langshan] but this is just the breed of chicken I want to work. I can love them. Now, that doesn't discredit the geese or ducks. They are whole different art form. The point is: yey Orloffs.

Are they birds or eggs? Am I on incubating standby?

 

[Widget]

X2

I like this saying. A lot.

Congrats! This is awesome.

I am so excited to share that I have Orloffs coming again! What a mess its been since I culled everyone. I have tried eggs four times for these with only one hatched. They might be here as early as Tuesday!!!! Oh man, when you find that bird you love to work with no matter how much work it needs its just awesome. I have to say there are birds I like [Favorelles, Ameraucanas] and a lot I admire [Heritage Barred Rocks, Partridge Chanteclers, Sumatra, Langshan] but this is just the breed of chicken I want to work. I can love them. Now, that doesn't discredit the geese or ducks. They are whole different art form. The point is: yey Orloffs.

 

[dowgirl71]

More than you hate the sound of coyotes, they hate the sound of a firearm. Even if you're not shooting it directly at them. Just something to keep in mind!

Good to know-thanks for telling me! I do want to learn to shoot a gun.

On another "sound" topic: any doubts that I may have had about possibly having a cockerel were put to rest. I heard TWO distinct cock-a-doodle do's, this AM as I walked out to the chicken house. So now, I just need to be sure it's the RIR. It is about 20 wks, now, what are the physical characteristics I should see at this age?

 

[IZZYBELLA]

Izzy: You should have a lot of fun with those raised beds in the spring. If the girls aren't actually uprooting the blueberry bushes, or otherwise damaging them, I'd let them continue working that area also. How big are these blueberry bushes? My girls range around my bushes, although I had to fence them out of that area when they were bearing fruit. They like blueberries as much as I do. That many beds of that size should provide all of your veggie needs, as well as some flowers, and some good chicken fodder. If I had that many beds, I'd let the chickens knock the weeds down, and then immediately sow some winter rye. that'll smother the weed growth and give some nice stuff to turn under in the spring. Perhaps mulch half of the beds, and do winter rye with the other half. Do you have access to a tiller? I used to run my tiller in the raised beds by putting a ramp up on one end of the bed, but lately, I avoid the tiller as much as possible. My preference is a little stainless steel garden fork that I use to turn over a bed or loosen the soil just where I'm planting. With a heavy mulch, even the toughest clay soil is easy to manage with hand tools.

The bushes are quite small... I only planted them this year. At first the girls were just scratching around the base of the bushes, but then they started eating the leaves. Although these bushes were too young to bear fruit this year, berries of any kind are by far the treat the girls get most excited over! I don't have a tiller myself, but could likely find one to borrow. I'll probably do it manually, though, and call it exercise. Will look into winter rye. Thank you again for all of the suggestions!

Only had one person sort of question that Frances looked thin. Had to explain that she is a sight hound and was bred for speed just like Greyhounds and therefore is supposed to look lean. If anything she has gained weight since arriving in Maine. Of course the dog this person had was a bit on the obese side but I was nice and did not point that out. I think the same lady also was freaking out when a puppy got stepped on and started screaming. She was convinced that the puppy was seriously injured and was not okay. Yes the puppy did scream and shake. But it soon calmed down and was fine. It was just scared and like so many puppies a bit of a drama queen. And this same person also had some not so nice things to say about pit bulls.

Widget - I get the "isn't she too thin" comment about our greyhound, too. It gets annoying, especially since I can see how much healthier she looks from when she came off the track. Hounds do have such a different look than other breeds, I suppose I understand why people aren't familiar.

 

[GrafixMuse]

Good to know-thanks for telling me! I do want to learn to shoot a gun.

On another "sound" topic: any doubts that I may have had about possibly having a cockerel were put to rest. I heard TWO distinct cock-a-doodle do's, this AM as I walked out to the chicken house. So now, I just need to be sure it's the RIR. It is about 20 wks, now, what are the physical characteristics I should see at this age?

Can you post pictures of the suspected Roos? I bet the folks here can help confirm for you.