Maine

[IZZYBELLA]

Skunk in the hen house! Skunk in the hen house! Note to self don't fall asleep reading the Murray McMurray catalog and forget to go close the pop door.

Eek! Did he/she do any harm??! My backyard looks like a super highway of animal tracks... I really need to educate myself on tracking.

Welcome, country chick! I've started with chickens, too, but in my dreams add all sorts of animals to the funny farm. Neighborhood and town covenants are my limiting factor...

Does anyone here tap trees? When I was a kid my grandfather used to tap his wood lot... such good memories of collecting the sap and then warming ourselves in the "sugar shack" as the sap boiled down. I'm contemplating trying it once again on a very small scale in the yard (obviously just for fun/family consumption), but my limiting factor is where I'll boil it down... don't want to steam the drywall off the walls and I'm not really equipped to create a sugar shack type set-up. I know it's a ton of work for very little syrup!

 

[MustardTiger]

We have a few trees we could tap...but we dont. We did some research and decided that we would never be able to get enough to make anything worthwhile!

Now, hard cider, on the other hand, is something we have been considering for a long time. We haunt craigslist looking for an old/cheap cider press. No use letting all the apples become deer food!

 

[Jazor]

Izzy,

I've got a coworker that boils his over a "burn barrel" setup out in his yard. It may not be for everyone, but it's a cheap easy way to go about making your own syrup without ruining your house/barn/shed.

Just a thought!

 

[ashandvine]

Ash, are you saying you have ducks you want to get rid of? You know how much I like ducks...

If you want a pair that's nearly read for breeding let me know. I have two pairs I might be willing to let go. PM me. Eggs will be coming soon.

RE hard cider.... look into ciser, its better imo. I guess you didn't know I was a mazer, huh? LOL. Yup. And we tap our trees. Between three or four trees we got about 5 gallons last year. Yup. And then I screwed up and it all went to vinegar. Good thing that's considered gourmet too or it'd all have been for naught. I did read about how boiling inside would ruin our house but its been done here for years and never had sticky walls. Seriously. I put it all in a few roasting pans on the stove and away we go. Each morning my son helps with birds and my daughter goes out to collect the jugs.

I want to redeem my OE's reputation. She lays this dark bronzy egg I didn't care for at first. Now that she is laying green with tiny dark spots again most of the time I appreciate that darker egg for its variety. I didn't want to sound too picky

I have a question: I got a suggestion from my Marans Mentor that shocked me. She suggested I make a rose comb Marans. This would be a pia and I have plenty of projects already. My first reaction was that no one would want one, but then I got to wondering if anyone would? I would up here. Chime in and give me some more food for thought!

 

[MustardTiger]

I think it is a great idea. winter hardy bird to begin with plus a small comb makes it even better suited for these parts. I hated seeing frostbite on my roo.

Hrm if you got that much from just a few trees maybe I will take a second look. Whats the diff between ciser and cider? I didnt find much info when I googled.

 

[anyasmifya]

Izzy,

I've got a coworker that boils his over a "burn barrel" setup out in his yard.  It may not be for everyone, but it's a cheap easy way to go about making your own syrup without ruining your house/barn/shed.

Just a thought!

That's what my neighbor does too!

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm game for rose comb any thing. I think a rose combed marans would be lovely. My long term plan is to develop pea and or rose combed birds from my initial flock of EE, RIR, adding RC brown leghorns, dominiques, GLW this spring. Then, next spring, planning to bring in a short term roo. If he's got the right genes, he should produce a bunch of OE, some RC sex links, and more EE. Has any one had experience breeding a pea comb to a rose comb? And what did it look like? I know that pea and rose are dominant over straight, but not sure what pea and rose do together. Someone stated that they'd produce walnut. My understanding of walnut is that it continues to grow and can get pretty large. My understanding is that pea over straight, though pea is dominant, it will produce a comb that is taller than the standard pea. I'm also picking up little tid bits of info here and there that comb style can affect roo fertility. Is this an old wives tale? or something else to consider????? I'd love to keep a long term rooster, but with my coop location, a roo would not be compatible with sleep. I'd love to hear from folks who've had some experience with F1 comb combinations.

An other thing to consider in a breeding program for Maine hardy birds is wattle size. We need birds that don't have long hangy down wattles!!

 

[ashandvine]

Chanteclers, Ameraucana, Breda, Shamo, Cochins, Orloffs, Brahmas, just about anything with a pea comb isn't going to have much wattle. I love them all up here.

Ciser is made with honey. Divine. Cider is made with sugar. Ciser is a tpe of mead, a hybrid. Morat is mulberry and honey wine, Melomel is a berry or fruit with honey wine, ciser is apples with honey, etc etc depending on the combination.

I went through my seeds today from last year and even the year before. Now to get out the incubator, clean it and establish a room for it. Then... where to keep the chicks?? All the dust is awful and I want to focus on the goslings. IDK what I will do for them exactly but I have to have them in a room where we are all the time. They thrive on our contact unlike the chickies.

 

[striperon]

The burn barrel and the skunk posts reminded me of something that happened to my cousin when he was small. His family had a burn barrel and it was his job to take the paper and cardboard out to burn it in the barrel. He was taking it to the barrel one evening and he heard some noise inside the barrel. When he looked in, a skunk was somehow inside the barrel and sprayed him in the face. It was hilarious for all who heard about it. It was not fun for him and his parents who had to take him to the hospital for his burning eyes. The hospital treated him outside so the smell didn't get into the emergency room. Then his folks had to de-skunk him so they could stand to have him in the house. Lots of tomato juice baths.

The skunk figured out his way out and was not seen again.

 

[buckabucka]

We've made enough maple syrup that we needed to take some time off from it. We have boiled it down in the house, and also tried it using an electric burner plugged in on the porch. Now DH boils it down in his shop, where he has a wood stove. It helps it to evaporate faster if you set up a fan to blow on the surface while it is cooking. Do not hang a plastic fan close to the woodstove, as it will melt. We have a metal fan now.