Maine

[hoppy]

I'm looking for a white leghorn rooster if anyone has one they want to get rid of or I have 2 point of lay white leghorn girls for sale. (only want a white leghorn roo- nothing else)

 

[CoopChick719]

this morning he's looking a bit better, eating and drinking but still wants his head tipped to the side and still can't stand. I guess the one good thing that came out of all of this is that I finally got a vent put in the coop after 2 yrs of being promised it would happen, i threatened to cut a hole in the wall myself and it wouldn't be pretty but would be functional.

Glad he's a little better today! I asked for a vent for the house to push heat up to the upstairs. When it didn't happen, I innocently (read here with an evil grin on her face) asked where the sawz-all was? DH said Why? I said if you're not gonna do it. I will! Got my vent!

When my Hubby's grandmother wanted a wider doorway between her dining area and the living room, she asked politely... waited a bit... then she took a sledge hammer to the wall. She got her wider doorway. I'm quite fond of sledge hammers for a variety of home improvement tasks. However, I find that a reciprocating saw gets the job done with a little bit less mess!

Re: Japanese beetles, I've tried with and without traps and found no difference in my yard. But I feel better about being able to destroy beetles via a trap. Also, when hand picking, supposedly the ones with the white spots on their heads are parasitized, and theoretically, if you leave those, your population will decrease in future generations. The good news is that my neighbor is now using traps. Last year he didn't... so perhaps next year, if he continues to trap, I won't! I've also heard that if you plant a trap crop (ie grapes) the beetles will leave the rest of your crops alone. I'm not seeing any oriental lily beetles this year. The only thing I've done different is to mulch flower beds heavily with a load of "shredded trees" from the dump. (Irises love the stuff... some of my more tender perennials chose not to fight their way through the heavy mulch. IMO, at this point in my life, if it's fickle... I'm not going to waste any time with it.) Any one else noticing less oriental beetle damage this year?

LOL on hubby's grandmother! My mum did the same thing to a wall at the bottom of our staircase. I remember her saying "There...now he'll have to fix it!"

I dug out last year's beetle trap and hung it in the run. I hope it works!! I have terrible lily beetles. They have just demolished my lilys. Any particular type of shredded leaves or just a variety? I may have to try that this for next year. My lilys are in with my Irises so 2 birds....1 stone.

OHHH went out to shut the pop door & the front door to the coop last night around 9:45pm saw a raccoon running away. Not sure if it was in the entryway of the coop (the people area) or what. It couldn't into the chicken room but given more time I'm sure it could break in thru the chicken wire. Will have to reinforce chicken wire with hardware cloth. I hate working with that stuff but if it keeps my girls safe, I'll do it!

 

[lazy gardener]

Re: the mulch for flower beds: It was shredded trees (not leaves)... the stuff left over after road side crews trim up the trees around power lines... they feed whole branches and small trees through the shredder, then dump the stuff when the bin is full. It's real rough, has huge chunks of chopped wood in it. Eventually, it will break down into what you would consider to be mulch, but it covers the ground, suppresses weeds. Our dump usually has huge piles of it and will load it onto your truck for free. Otherwise, if you have a road crew working in your area, they may dump it in your yard if you ask them. As I say, it's pretty rough, but gets the job done. If you were concerned about it looking pretty, you could put that stuff down, then top off with traditional bark mulch. I'm not so much about pretty as I am about functional. My blueberries love the acid in shredded evergreens. I wish it was chopped fine enough to be useful for coop litter. I wouldn't dare, be afraid the girls would injure their feet on it.

 

[lazy gardener]

Re: the mulch for flower beds: It was shredded trees (not leaves)... the stuff left over after road side crews trim up the trees around power lines... they feed whole branches and small trees through the shredder, then dump the stuff when the bin is full. It's real rough, has huge chunks of chopped wood in it. Eventually, it will break down into what you would consider to be mulch, but it covers the ground, suppresses weeds. Our dump usually has huge piles of it and will load it onto your truck for free. Otherwise, if you have a road crew working in your area, they may dump it in your yard if you ask them. As I say, it's pretty rough, but gets the job done. If you were concerned about it looking pretty, you could put that stuff down, then top off with traditional bark mulch. I'm not so much about pretty as I am about functional. My blueberries love the acid in shredded evergreens. I wish it was chopped fine enough to be useful for coop litter. I wouldn't dare, be afraid the girls would injure their feet on it.

 

[lazy gardener]

Re: the coon... nasty creatures. Be assured that he will be back. Get those girls locked up before it gets dark.

My girls have laid 100% 2 days in a row. I'm so proud of them. Their shells are laying down more calcium now. Some have the little extra swirly accumulation at the narrow end.

 

[buckabucka]

Glad you saw that raccoon before he did some damage, Coopchick! I do have friends that used to have chickens and they were going through a lot of feed. They went out one night to find a raccoon eating from the feeder. The chickens were roosting just 3 feet away. Not sure if he was a vegetarian or what, but they were lucky!
Good to hear the bees are working out, SCG. With the warm weather this year and help of the hoop house, I picked eggplant before I picked peas. I'm trying to add a photo using the mobile version of the site, -we'll see if it works.

 

[lazy gardener]

nice looking egg plant. I planted late. Picked my first summer squash. Have winter squash setting, pole beans blooming. Should be able to steal some baby potatoes to go with sugar snaps. Have found that if I pick lettuce early in the AM before the sun hits it, it's as tender and flavorful as new lettuce even though it's nearing "bolt" stage. Love this time of the year. Especially blessed this summer being able to snag a few fresh eggs to go with the veggies. Picked enough raspberries (yellow and purple) and blueberries so we could all have some on our cereal this morning. Have you folks tried scrambled egg tacos for breakfast? What a treat!

 

[Mainechick168]

nice looking egg plant. I planted late. Picked my first summer squash. Have winter squash setting, pole beans blooming. Should be able to steal some baby potatoes to go with sugar snaps. Have found that if I pick lettuce early in the AM before the sun hits it, it's as tender and flavorful as new lettuce even though it's nearing "bolt" stage. Love this time of the year. Especially blessed this summer being able to snag a few fresh eggs to go with the veggies. Picked enough raspberries (yellow and purple) and blueberries so we could all have some on our cereal this morning. Have you folks tried scrambled egg tacos for breakfast? What a treat!

I also love this time of year- being able to go outside and gather eggs and veggies and make dinner with things I grow here is awesome. I've got a few new potatoes....along with the lettuce, chard....beets and beet greens....lots of cukes too. Green beans are about an inch long, and some corn is starting to tassel! I wish I had berries though!!

 

[mlowen]

Has anyone bought from or know Mike Robinson, RMT Farms? Review/opinion?

 

[CoopChick719]

Re: the mulch for flower beds: It was shredded trees (not leaves)... the stuff left over after road side crews trim up the trees around power lines... they feed whole branches and small trees through the shredder, then dump the stuff when the bin is full. It's real rough, has huge chunks of chopped wood in it. Eventually, it will break down into what you would consider to be mulch, but it covers the ground, suppresses weeds. Our dump usually has huge piles of it and will load it onto your truck for free. Otherwise, if you have a road crew working in your area, they may dump it in your yard if you ask them. As I say, it's pretty rough, but gets the job done. If you were concerned about it looking pretty, you could put that stuff down, then top off with traditional bark mulch. I'm not so much about pretty as I am about functional. My blueberries love the acid in shredded evergreens. I wish it was chopped fine enough to be useful for coop litter. I wouldn't dare, be afraid the girls would injure their feet on it.

Re: the coon... nasty creatures. Be assured that he will be back. Get those girls locked up before it gets dark.

My girls have laid 100% 2 days in a row. I'm so proud of them. Their shells are laying down more calcium now. Some have the little extra swirly accumulation at the narrow end.

Ahhh shredded trees!! I may be able to get some of those. My folks might have a small brush shredder. Not too concerned with pretty. I think my raspberries need more sun. They've got pplenty of acid, planted under pines. Yeah I know the coon will be unfortunately. It's just been so darn hot I was trying let the cool night air in the coop for as long as I could before shutting the front door.

Glad you saw that raccoon before he did some damage, Coopchick! I do have friends that used to have chickens and they were going through a lot of feed. They went out one night to find a raccoon eating from the feeder. The chickens were roosting just 3 feet away. Not sure if he was a vegetarian or what, but they were lucky!
Good to hear the bees are working out, SCG. With the warm weather this year and help of the hoop house, I picked eggplant before I picked peas. I'm trying to add a photo using the mobile version of the site, -we'll see if it works.

Thanks bucka...me too!! Pretty picture!!