Maine

[DwayneNLiz]

I hung her upside down between my legs and stroked her neck, felt a bulge pushed on it and she puked it up/down-out,,
she got on her perch last night, and this morning she's out running around with the others, and eating just fine,
i did see her expel a fluid instead of a solid, but time will tell, so far so good I'm not a chicken doc, and first time I've ever choked my chicken
had a flattened blue egg in the nest box, don't know if it was hers or her sisters, but also put out some calcium with there food,

cheers
john

glad to hear she is feeling better, she may have had an impaction or something in her crop
you may want to try fermenting some feed for her to get her gut cultures in better order
even adding some acv with the mother to their water can help

good luck

 

[lazy gardener]

Quote: I soak my large seed before planting it. Often, I like to wait until it is just barely sprouting. (you soak it for 4 hours or so, then drain it and keep rinsing it until you plant it.) The most dangerous time for a plant is before the sprout gets up out of the ground. Insects just love those plump little energy packets. Then, there's the rot that will set in if it's too cold for the seed to sprout. So, if you pre sprout, and perhaps even pre-warm the soil with plastic, or lay down plastic after planting, those seedlings will jump up out of that danger zone. IMO, it's almost too late to be planting spinach. But... this is the spring that never happened. Better late than never!

Peas can be planted just as soon as you can open up a row to plant them in! Same with spinach, onions. Lettuce and carrots just a bit later IMO.

 

[combatfuzzball]

I'm hoping I can get some stuff in the ground this weekend. It kinda sucks since I just bought this place so nothing has been improved and we're dirt poor at the moment. Paying for house, baby delivery, etc. I will be getting stuff in from seeds I had last year. Hoping I have enough left over stuff to improve the soil some since the chickens haven't built enough poop up yet.
LMAO! Wife is now saying she wants me to let the chickens free range now to keep the ticks down. LMAO time to get some more chickens. Anyone have any pullets in Central Maine for sale or trade? Also still looking for a home for Tolkien and Jules. Jules is reddish brown with a black head. Tolkien I guess you could call close to a splash. I'll post pictures of anyone interested.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

And my offer to show you how to process them in a few weeks still stands.

 

[combatfuzzball]

And my offer to show you how to process them in a few weeks still stands.

I'd be the only one to eat them since wife won't eat anything she's seen face to face. Appreciate the offer.

 

[goldeaglenest]

So it's fine to start planting even though there's a nice frost nearly every morning? My soil is totally workable but I worry about those little seedlings getting frost bitten and dying after the all the work of getting them in! Also has anyone planted a chicken garden? (I.e. Plants specifically for your chickens to eat to help offset feed cost?). If so what did you/do you plant?

 

[buckabucka]

So it's fine to start planting even though there's a nice frost nearly every morning? My soil is totally workable but I worry about those little seedlings getting frost bitten and dying after the all the work of getting them in! Also has anyone planted a chicken garden? (I.e. Plants specifically for your chickens to eat to help offset feed cost?). If so what did you/do you plant?

The only things I plant this early are peas, spinach, and fava beans. I'm hoping to put them in on Sunday. I start my onion from seed in late February. When I set them out in a week or so, I'll cover them with floating row covers because we get late hard frosts here (light frost is okay).

I don't grow any feed, per se, but I try to grow and extra cabbage or two to hang in the coop during winter. Unfortunately, it disappears within hours. In the summer, in places where I have fixed fencing, I like to plant clover, orchard grass, and buckwheat. It has to be protected from the chickens while it is growing and last year they kept breaking in and destroying it. This year will be much easier because I only have two flocks, and four fenced in areas, so I plan to do rotational grazing.

 

[lazy gardener]

I grow sunflowers, sorghum, and field corn for the birds. They get to clean up the garden in the fall, and I give them any left over/overgrown veggies. Planning a bit of sheet composting this season to re-claim some soil. Hope to plant some bush beans, short peas, some wheat, barley, field corn, sorghum, rye to help break up and feed the soil in that area. Will let the birds work it after it's well established.

Lettuce seedlings can tolerate temps down to 20*. Same for kale and chard. However, by putting a bit of plastic or row cover down, you'll have an earlier harvest.

 

[lazy gardener]

Any one on this thread ordered fruit trees through the mail? If so, what was the quality, what did you order, and what company?

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Any one on this thread ordered fruit trees through the mail? If so, what was the quality, what did you order, and what company?

i have i got them through the conservation (belknap land conservation commission- local county thing), but they werent 'trees' they were starters and have done amazingly well
and i know they were grown in this area and therefore would do very well