Maine

[ashandvine]

I just bought coconut milk on a whim and now I know what the universe was telling me. I have a chicken waiting to be cooked too... tomorrow. I don't think there's fuel in the grill tank and I don't have a summer kitchen. If I ever have a house of my own I will though.

So, has anyone else ever tried to catch a guinea hen? I put some real effort into trying to catch one that just showed up on my lawn. They fly but not until you've chased them for a while.

 

[lazy gardener]

it was too hot today to do anything other than be cranky. The chickens were panting all day. Any suggestions re: helping them cool off? I did take the hose and spray a "gentle rain" over them. It cooled them a bit but the ensuing panic probably made them hotter. Hopefully will get the elec. net up tomorrow.

 

[MEMama3]

The girls are in chicken time out for a day or two. A storm was coming so I wanted them in the coop early. The end result was me drenched and chickens scattered everywhere. Maybe a day or two and they will figure out where home is.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Those of you looking to cool the flock down - I've done:
1. Spray the soil in the run down
2. Freeze containers of water and then put in their waterer
3. Give them frozen fruit to peck at
4. Give them refrigerated fruit (canteloupe or watermelon)
5. Shade

 

[mlowen]

Cool off chickens idea (not mine, read it on another thread shallow container with water and bricks in it. Bricks soak up water & get cool. They can stand on the bricks and cool off...not get feet wet, not flip container over.

 

[hoppy]

one of mine is an over achiever. found this when I came home, on the right is a muscovy duck egg.

 

[gracejr]

Oh my goodness hoppy, I feel bad for that hen!

Loving all the cooling off ideas. My flock has shade and plenty of water, but they've been panting the last two nights. I tried spraying them with the hose, but they hated it and ran away. I'll have to try spraying the ground tomorrow. I love summer, but going from 50-90 in just a couple days? No thanks! 80 with a breeze however, just perfect.

Memama, what naughty girls! How are they settling in otherwise?

I am so far behind on the garden. Still don't even have loam for the beds. Too cold and wet last week, just way too hot this weekend, and with DH only having had one day off a week there just isn't enough time. And the lawn mower broke, so the lawn is SO high now with all that rain.

Love the recycling ideas, I never thought to save the string.

Had a gray fox rear its ugly head tonight. Thank goodness the coop was already closed up for the night!


Now a hatching problem... I set 31 eggs, due to hatch this last Thursday. It took about a week to collect them all, iirc. I had one hatch late Thursday night. Several hatched Friday, and two more hatched overnight Friday night. I hadn't gotten around to checking the rest of the eggs, and now it's midnight Saturday and I have one pipping. One of the ones that hatched Friday night was a rough hatch. Took forever to break out, was wet and messy, and had two curled feet. Unfortunately that one didn't make it. The two that hatched overnight Friday night were also sticky, I think one I will need to wash? It is so dirty looking and matted, hasn't fluffed up at all.

Anyway, what would cause such a drawn out hatch and so many wet messy chicks? I did a dry incubation, around 30-40%, then mid 60s during lockdown. After the fist batch of chicks hatched it skyrocketed to 80% (also when the temps soared outside). Is that the problem with the sticky chicks? How do I decrease the humidity when it does that? And what would cause such a drawn out hatch? I have 5 thermometers in there, 3 were consistently reading 100f the whole time. One I know is off (read 97), and the other one I think may be off as well. That one reads 98-98.5. Oh, incubator is a little giant circulating air with turner.

 

[CoopChick719]

How are they today?? Did the switch work??

Update on the bait & switch mission that happened in my coop last night. Mama #1 has accepted everyone.

Mama #2 pecks at any chick she sees and this is the one that's already hatched 2 clutches.

So I have taken her & everyone else, except babies & Mama #1, out of the coop. Will be making an enclosure, within the coop, for the new family today because Mama #2 tries to invade the family's space. Here's a pic of Mama & babies in their new pen.

 

[MustardTiger]

The jerk chicken is just a simple marinade. I think DH just googled it. Just quarter the chicken and throw it on until slightly charred on the outside but still juicy on the inside. Here is the coconut rice recipe I used. I think it turned out really well. I used some of the jalapenos from the jerk marinade instead of the habanero.

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/jamaican_rice_and_peas/


Sometimes I miss having a gas grill for quick dinners. We use a smoker and a chimney with charcoal or wood only. It does taste better, I think, but takes longer.



ahhhh off to work on another sweltering day. At least there is AC there!

 

[MEMama3]

Memama, what naughty girls! How are they settling in otherwise?

They are settling in beautifully. They tolerate my presence in the run, but they certainly don't look forward to my visits yet (totally understandable). They aren't the least bit stressed.

My littlest one (the son I had with me) calls them "my baby peeps" and says hi to them every time he goes by. The two older ones only saw them briefly because they were off doing sleepovers. When they come home today, they'll get to see them out of the crate.

I was going to coop them up today so we don't have to go through another round of chase tonight, but I'm wondering with the heat if I should let them out and deal with the "knowing coop" issue on Monday and Tuesday since it will be about 20 degrees cooler. I'm just afraid that despite the ventilation and shade that the coop might be toasty. What are peoples' thoughts?