Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[gladahmae]

What do you look for when it is time to tap the maples? Is it temperature?
I want to tap my tree this year.

better get on it Raz! It has to do with temperature and sunshine. The first sap will also make the clearest, highest sugar content syrup. My BIL has (I think) somewhere around 1000 taps this year. DH helps him with his sugar shack and setting taps, etc so we get syrup for free.

 

[RaZ]

I'm going to a seminar/demonstration this afternoon.

 

[aart]

....It seems my mouse population has taken a climb in the past week. Yesterday I moved the heated dog dish to find a nest of new born baby mice. Needless to say it was mouse snacks all around. Then last night I am closing up when I hear squeaking. My small sizzle had a mouse in her beak, wrestling it. I had the traps stacked under the nest boxes, unused but in a spot they would stay clean. I dug them out only to find two frozen mouse carcasses already trapped. They are wonderful traps (thanks 1muttsfan) and even doing the job when stored.

What kind of traps are you using?
I got one of those live traps, smokey clear plastic, baited it with pnut butter..... it has mouse feet prints in the dust on top of it<rollseyes>

 

[chickflick]

That's fantastic, glambka!! I wish you much success!

 

[RaZ]

One of the myths that the ordinance nazi likes to spread is that "chickens cause rats and mice" and "wood piles cause rats", yadda-yadda-yadda.

With all the snow we have had it is easy to check for critter sign. I check my wood piles, garage, porch and all other areas that could be hiding rodents and there has not been a single sign of them. I've even checked the vacant house next door since they always seemed to have a mouse problem, there are no tracks except for the squirrels.

The only vermin around here is the local officials.

 

[Folly's place]

Good morning! We tapped some of our sugar maples years ago, and made syrup. HUGE project! Fifty gallons of sap equals one gallon of syrup; fire pit outside, with large surface tub of boiling sap, for a very long time; then finished it in the kitchen, which left a mess around the range and in the exhaust fan. It was delicious, but not happening again here! Mary

 

[Candy442]

Good morning! We tapped some of our sugar maples years ago, and made syrup. HUGE project! Fifty gallons of sap equals one gallon of syrup; fire pit outside, with large surface tub of boiling sap, for a very long time; then finished it in the kitchen, which left a mess around the range and in the exhaust fan. It was delicious, but not happening again here! Mary

Hey Mary,

No sign of blue eggs, you?

 

[tdhenson86]

I was greeted this morning on my birthday morning with Cream Legbar, Rhodebar, Norwegian Jaerhon, and Welsummer chicks beginning to hatch. What a great birthday treat to wake up to.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Best i could do for color representation. Mine are muted colors. Little one in the middle is a booted bantam girl, and one washed out brown from an older barred hen. She don't lay often. I save them for a week in case i need to do an emergency hatch. My birds have no purpose other than for my breeding project and to make me smile

 

[fuzzybutt love]