Maine

[ashandvine]

Not sure who else might be interested in this but:
http://www.sialis.org/raisingmealworms.htm#other
This was a really straight forward and comprehensive page on raising your own mealworms. I found some in the coop and just fed them to the chickens but should have kept them for breeding I guess. Broody was pretty happy I did.

 

[MKandtheforce]

I can hold them for a bit. I would like them gone though by the middle of June or so.

I'm pretty sure I can get it done by then. I'll keep you posted! Thanks so much!

 

[Widget]

Okay I have to admit that I am a bit addicted to House Hunters and House Hunters International. I am amazed by what some people want and what they don't want.

First of all everyone seems to want stainless steel appliances. Really? Yes they look great but a white refrigerator and stove work just as well. To me if the appliances still work than who cares. When they wear out I can replace them with whatever I want.

Second they just have to have a master bedroom the size of Canada. Why? You sleep there. And the closet have to be the size of Russia. Again. Why? No one needs that many clothes. Or shoes.

Then there are the number of bedrooms. The majority of the people say they will have lots of guests so the spare bedrooms need to be huge. They are guests people. They aren't staying permanently. So what if they have to sleep in a twin bed or even a double. If they don't like it then they can go to a hotel.

Yard size is always interesting. Toss up between a large yard, fenced in yard, corner lot, pool, street noise. Very few ever seem to worry about livestock though. . Dogs yes. Kids yes. But no chickens.

Finally there is the commute. I swear people on the show think a 30 minute commute to work is pure torture. Wow. I guess they have never been to Maine. I have a 35 minute commute. Yes in the winter during a nasty snowstorm it is terrible. But the rest of the time is is relaxing. And here I can have chickens, horses and goats along with plenty of 'wilderness' instead of neighbors who are so close I can watch their tv from my living room window.

 

[buckabucka]

can anyone tell me if i use ivermectin for mites and lice if it is still ok to eat the eggs from the chickens. just want to make sure before i use it.

I believe you have to pull the eggs for 10 days. But you can feed them back to your chickens as boiled or scrambled

I don't even feed them back, just because if the drug is in the egg, you will be reintroducing it (albeit in smaller quantity). I toss 'em.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Use to live in the DC/Balti metropolitan area ... a hellish commute is 4+ hrs due to gridlock. You haven't lived until your bladder is about to explode and you haven't moved more than a few feet in hours. There is no such thing as traffic in Maine, even leaving the York toll plaza on Columbus Day weekend. The traffic at least moves. And sometimes there's a man in a lobster suit to wave you goodbye. In Maryland leaving Charles County to go to DC or Balti politicians running for office would park along the side of the road and wave to commuters with big signs with their name. When the traffic was really bad and stopped they'd be able to talk to the "voters." That's my idea of insanity. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the news around here didn't include what was backed up on the beltway or that the bridge was blocked due to an accident and rubbernecking. No traffic reports, ever. Welcome to Maine. The way life should be. When I go home it's hard to remember that if I want to go somewhere I need to include at least an hour window for traffic.

I also admit I have a huge house that I don't need, but it was a steal during the housing nadir, and I can afford it. A pellet stove later and it's a breeze to heat, too. I enjoy having space after living in dingy cramped apartments for years. Don't care about the guests, but *I* love the space.

I do wish I had more land, and more privacy. I would move for that, even if the commute was longer. Because I need more garden room and goats. And maybe a cow or some horses. Or guineas.

 

[buckabucka]

Use to live in the DC/Balti metropolitan area ... a hellish commute is 4+ hrs due to gridlock. You haven't lived until your bladder is about to explode and you haven't moved more than a few feet in hours. There is no such thing as traffic in Maine, even leaving the York toll plaza on Columbus Day weekend. The traffic at least moves. And sometimes there's a man in a lobster suit to wave you goodbye. In Maryland leaving Charles County to go to DC or Balti politicians running for office would park along the side of the road and wave to commuters with big signs with their name. When the traffic was really bad and stopped they'd be able to talk to the "voters." That's my idea of insanity. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the news around here didn't include what was backed up on the beltway or that the bridge was blocked due to an accident and rubbernecking. No traffic reports, ever. Welcome to Maine. The way life should be. When I go home it's hard to remember that if I want to go somewhere I need to include at least an hour window for traffic.

I also admit I have a huge house that I don't need, but it was a steal during the housing nadir, and I can afford it. A pellet stove later and it's a breeze to heat, too. I enjoy having space after living in dingy cramped apartments for years. Don't care about the guests, but *I* love the space.

I do wish I had more land, and more privacy. I would move for that, even if the commute was longer. Because I need more garden room and goats. And maybe a cow or some horses. Or guineas.

Ha! You should be a writer, SCG!
That's how I always felt about California, - wow, beautiful place, too bad you can't drive anywhere.
I often feel rather guilty about my huge house for 2 people (I live in the house that Jack built), and large chunk of land. I grew up in Massachusetts in a large house, and we had a decent-sized yard, woods behind us, small garden. It is overrun with development now.
I suppose that Jack might feel that way about Maine. He grew up in Waterville when Elm Plaza was a field.
The city has so much to offer, but I don't understand how people function there day in and day out. I need the woods to clear my head. And about 5 years ago, I got my commute down from a half-hour, to 15 minutes (different job, not crazy driving)!

 

[PollyC]

I would never live in the city or a very large town again. I live in the foothills in a town that has no store, gas station, post office (we have to share a zip code), schools or a fire department. Because we pay taxes our town provides free trash removal once a week and we do recyle every other week. I rent my land but can do anything I would like to here. I am able to raise my chickens, grow my own veggies(as much as I want and still have some to provide for others) and raise a pig or two and basically what ever else I want. When I go to the city I am so thankful I have this place to come back to, it is so quiet and peaceful. We have to travel anywhere from 15 minutes to 35 minutes to go shopping but that is a price I am more than willing to pay. We have all the services in the next town over (2miles down the road) we need. Nope small town beats city every time.

 

[m.kitchengirl]

I have a small place, big yard, long commute. I drive 45 minutes to Cape Elizabeth & get to barrel through Portland. Whoo. I am ready to give some PSAs on driving after a swing down State St. I get funny looks from all of my friends about where I live, how I live - the ducks seem to tip the scales from "kooky" to "whacked" for a lot of folks. (Silly.)
But I come home to peace & mostly quiet. A spot to hang my hammock & watch the critters run around. I have room enough for my sewing table, a spinning wheel and to do the things I love. None of the neighbors complain about our friends & their banjos, and they even come over & ask me to let the ducks & chickens free range. "We miss them," they said to me the other day.
I can grow veggies and sing as loud as I want in my garden. I drive 15-30 minutes for shopping, which is fine because I am not a huge fan of shopping.
I lived in NYC for college. That was more than enough city dwelling for this gal. After college I moved out to Boulder, Co. I rented a place in town, but spent most of my time in my tent in the foothills around Boulder & would go to my house to shower, or on days I felt like cooking a big dinner - then back out to my quiet tent site on a mountain side. After 2 years I stopped renting & just lived in the woods.
I like being close(ish) to a place where I can see live music, take the kids to cultural events, socialize in the rare moments I feel like socializing. I only like it when I have a hermitage to run to. My mind needs trees & grass, flowers & bugs. My heart needs room to roam.
There are trade-offs to living out here, but my kids get to be a little bit sheltered from our helter-skelter reality & I get some truly blissful moments watching the bluebird at the feeders, or seeing the ducks swim in a vernal pool. Or the other day - when I heard a weird barking type sound & looked out to see a flock of turkeys around the chicken pen. They were all chattering away to one another for almost 2 hours. I just sat out there watching. After a while the turkeys came up & made a loop of the bird feeders. I think the chickens told them about all their favorite places to forage.
I wouldn't trade my small house, big yard for anything else - except maybe a bigger yard. I want to expand to having more Angora rabbits and maybe a mini cow. Would be nice to do my own pig. I love to cure my own meats.
I could do that stuff here where I am, we have a "lifetime lease" but I am not in love with the house, and so I hate to invest much more into temporary coops/a barn for much more than what I have going on now.
I would LOVE to move to Bowdoinham. What a cool, little town. My band mates live there & there is just something about it...

 

[ashandvine]

Well, I live in Bowdoin. I live in a 200 year old house on 9 acres with a beaver pond/stream out back, cemetary to the left, and one neighbor to the front and side. Kitty corner there is 150 acres preserved which used to part of all this. I rent here, and just moved mid-April and left a lot things behind us-- including materials. More of a 'zen' style aspiration, though the house is big enough for more and more and more.... I still own a place half a mile from town in Sanford. Close to town had its advantages, like being able to say, 'I'll just buy dinner cuz I don't want to make it," and a nearby library, but the quiet and the green are necessary. I had almost half an acre in town, fenced in and filled with flowers and two raised beds I put there. The dog and kids were OKAAAY cuz we had a park next door but we all wanted more space. The road was too close, the neighbors were loud, it smelled and sounded like a pile of people lived there. They do; People piled on people. I remember seeing chickens piled up like that as a kid. Its outlawed now. Wish we could outlaw people piling, but I figure its better than clearing enough land for all of them. I've lived off grid and in downtown Portland. When all you want is convenience and experiences of a certain nature you go to town. When you want experiences that are self-growing you go out of town... and work harder to be there than you did in town. I love how you said, no one worries about keeping chickens. They are worried about keeping status. I don't watch tv. I know how to 'dress for success,' as part of the job I just left as well, but the success that was defined by the cars, tv and what not were not what made me feel like a success. I feel... something... when I look out the windows here and see my kids on the land, or the chickens or the dog, or when I walk out there. I'm a part of it, not a part on it or apart from it. They are safer here. Serenity? Is that it? I don't know if serenity can be found keeping chickens, but maybe. Humor sure is though.

Helps to have humor when you step in a slippery one...

 

[kinsey228]

So, out of the 2 Marans chicks that hatched a few months ago, I'm pretty sure I have 1 male and 1 female. Since they're not related (thank goodness), I may just have to hatch some more out this winter ! Thankfully I'll have a breeder coup ready for them. (In a few months because they're only like 8-10 weeks) How old do cockerels have to be to start fertilizing eggs ? My black Orpington is about 17-19 weeks, and I am thinking of having him breed with my buff orp, and some of my wyandottes. Should be some beautiful birds !