Maine

[anyasmifya]

Yeah, I'm just going to leave her alone. She doesn't have the "normal" spread that most chickens have, she probably will have some slight balance issues as she fills out! She's probably a good swimmer! lol

I'll call her Ducky.

 

[MEMama3]

Miss Greycie Blue finally laid her first egg. It's been a long time coming! It also answered the question of what she's mixed with. She's definitely Silkie/Ameraucana.

 

[CoopChick719]

To Coop chick 719 re:
I've raked up all the grass clippings over the last 2 days for coop & run bedding. I've bagged them up in old feed bags. Does anyone else do this to stretch their shavings? If so, should I pack the bags tightly or leave some space? I know you can't pack hay too tightly. The clippings were dry when I bagged them. Should I put holes in the bags for air flow?

I use nothing but grass clippings in the lower area of my coop and dump them in straight from the lawn mower bagger. (The lower level is on what used to be sod) If the clippings are too deep or get too wet from rain seeping in, they can start to get moldy, and smell like cow poo, but that's only happened once, and the situation quickly turned around when I repositioned their shade tarp. The girls love to dig around in them, and actually do some dust bathing with them. I can't wait to add them to my garden when the girls are done with them... if there is ever any thing to add. They decompose very quickly, and I need to top up with about 4" every week or 2. I'm already stressing and planning re: finding a ready source of bagged leaves for winter bedding. Any one out there have input about using oak leaves for mulch in the garden? Do they have any - effect on plant growth?

If you bag them, be sure they are very dry first, and I wouldn't pack them too tight. The mixture of clippings with shavings and poo should be a delightful blend when it's done cooking.

Thanks for the advice LG! My girls love them too! I'm sure the neighbors watched me rake & bag yesterday and said there she goes again that crazy woman with the chickens! I'll have to rebag--I did pack some a little tight. We used to have a great old maple tree in the middle of the yard tons of leaves! Had to cut it down as it was dying. I'll just have to collect whatever blows into our yard from the neighbors for the run this year. Trying to convince DH to get another lawn sweeper that you can pull behind the mower. We had one years ago but he sold it after I convinced him that composting the clippings back into the lawn was better for it.

She's probably a good swimmer! lol

I'll call her Ducky.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I love Lakeside...they have great donuts...haha

Farmingdale is the next town over from Hallowell, on your way to Gardiner!

I picked probably 60 lbs of apples there last fall... used them all. BF went today while I was at work and got 2 gallons of milk. Then he found that they just started picking the early apples, so he got a bag of those, plus some baked goods, and some honey. My two gallons of milk cost 30$.

hello!

This morning I noticed that one of my pullets has webbed feet! I looked on the threads for info. and didn't find much. I did find someone else asking about their chick with webbed feet that was a silver laced wyandotte and someone else also had a chick with webbed that is a slw. My pullet is an slw. Is this common with the breed? Should I be concerned at all? She seems fine to me. She runs around like the rest and has started roosting. One person did say that you should cut the webbing! Ugh, I do not want to do. It seems like cruel and inhumane torture.

here is a photo. Sorry it's not the best photo. But you can see that it's between her outter toe and middle. It's on both feet.

I wouldn't worry about it. I have a chicken with such deformed toes that her feet look like swastikas. I'm not trying to be crude, they really do. She walks fine, eats fine, acts fine. I'm not worried about it and don't think you should, either. I wouldn't breed her on purpose.

 

[ashandvine]

ap

Thanks, but that's a bit far. I do love your covered bridge, though.

Sounds like you have options but I did just talk with a fellow who makes his own butter so I am sure I have at least two sources, though both are near 45-60 minutes from you.

DH seems to think it is illegal to sell raw milk except directly from the farm. I don't know.

I have a grainy IPad photo of my blue leopard bird that I took quite a while ago. I'll try to add it here. Really, she is just a splash patterned bird, but I never had one of those before.

Lovely! Thank you

This morning I noticed that one of my pullets has webbed feet! I looked on the threads for info.

here is a photo. Sorry it's not the best photo. But you can see that it's between her outter toe and middle. It's on both feet.

This is one form of Duck Foot. Another is version is when the fourth or rear toe is forward. It isn't going to be an issue for her but it would be something to consider if you were going to breed her as it is a genetic trait.

Regarding the gardening questions: I use my grass cuttings as a mulch and nitrogen cover for my garden so often now that I don't use it in the coop but I have. It smells nice at first even, like fresh, first-cut hay. Regarding Oak Leaves; these are acidic and you may want to be careful how many you use. Maple leaves make a great mulch that really encourages the worms, but oak can kill things the same as if you were using pine needles. If your soil needs to be more acidic, great, if not... well, take care.

 

[lazy gardener]

ap

Sounds like you have options but I did just talk with a fellow who makes his own butter so I am sure I have at least two sources, though both are near 45-60 minutes from you.
Lovely! Thank you
This is one form of Duck Foot. Another is version is when the fourth or rear toe is forward. It isn't going to be an issue for her but it would be something to consider if you were going to breed her as it is a genetic trait.

Regarding the gardening questions: I use my grass cuttings as a mulch and nitrogen cover for my garden so often now that I don't use it in the coop but I have. It smells nice at first even, like fresh, first-cut hay. Regarding Oak Leaves; these are acidic and you may want to be careful how many you use. Maple leaves make a great mulch that really encourages the worms, but oak can kill things the same as if you were using pine needles. If your soil needs to be more acidic, great, if not... well, take care.

Thanks Ash. I have a lot of maple around my yard (surrounded by mixed hard/soft wood) but it is no where enough to meet my craving for mulch material. I know an old co-worker in Bangor who I may call on to get her leaves this fall. Perhaps trade her some empty bags for some full bags! I put a lot of grass clippings on my potatoes this year. The tops are growing like crazy, very poor blossoming. I know that potatoes are heavy feeders, so not sure if the excess nitrogen will set back tuber formation. My squash has completely taken over my garden. I've allowed it to go where ever it wants to because last year was such a poor squash year for me. It's quite a challenge wading through waist high squash leaves to get to the pole beans... which are completely covered by squash vines... not to mention the potato vines that are growing up through my cucumber trellis. When rogue potato or tomato plants show themselves, I don't have the heart to rip them out. As a result, my garden is a jungle. Every year at this time, I say... "next year's garden will be more manageable." Have had potatoes, pole beans, and fresh garlic from the garden every night this week... YUMMY! Cooked a couple of Doms on the grill tonight. The thighs/drumsticks were like shoe leather. I'll be stewing the rest.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Sounds like you have options but I did just talk with a fellow who makes his own butter so I am sure I have at least two sources, though both are near 45-60 minutes from you.

Does he have the cow physically on his property? What I'm really looking for is small time farmer that has extra milk. If this guy does, I could go and then visit you.

 

[MKandtheforce]

I got another chicken today! A full-grown partridge silkie. She laid us an egg already, silly girl. I got her to keep our other silkie company-- I guess silkies don't like roosting, and I didn't want my silkie to sleep on her own in the corner. Sure enough, when I checked on them tonight, two little feather dusters were snuggled in the corner.

Anyway! I got about five pounds of blueberries in today. I'm going to spend my next day off making two different kinds of jam, yum! I might cave and just buy peaches from the grocery store. They're on sale, heh. I missed ordering them from the Belfast co-op. Anyone have any extra raspberry bushes that need picking in exchange for jam? Lol.

Does he have the cow physically on his property? What I'm really looking for is small time farmer that has extra milk. If this guy does, I could go and then visit you.

Ohhh, are you into raw milk, too? I buy my stuff at a local farm stand- they sell milk from Winter Hill Farm. Their cows are gorgeous (Randall Cattle). I just made a pat of butter from the cream this afternoon. I don't know about raw milk laws, though... If someone has a proper license, you can sell raw milk. I'm not quite sure what that entails, though.

 

[CoopChick719]

I got another chicken today! A full-grown partridge silkie. She laid us an egg already, silly girl. I got her to keep our other silkie company-- I guess silkies don't like roosting, and I didn't want my silkie to sleep on her own in the corner. Sure enough, when I checked on them tonight, two little feather dusters were snuggled in the corner.

Your silkies may surprise you some day. My 3 originally slept pig-piled in the corner then 1 by 1 they started to roost. DH put a flat board on part of the top roost to keep the other from pooping on the Silkies. They decided they'd rather sleep on top of it rather than under it.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Ohhh, are you into raw milk, too? I buy my stuff at a local farm stand- they sell milk from Winter Hill Farm. Their cows are gorgeous (Randall Cattle). I just made a pat of butter from the cream this afternoon. I don't know about raw milk laws, though... If someone has a proper license, you can sell raw milk. I'm not quite sure what that entails, though.

I'm not "into" raw milk - at least not for drinking. I'm making cheese. The pasteurization process denatures the proteins so the cheese doesn't set as well.

I made two different recipes of mozzarella last night - one was much softer but a higher yield, the other was twice the yield but a really soft cheese.