Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[chickflick]

My grandson did the same thing! Doing the same thing! Surgery in his very near future.

Glad things worked out for you, Sam. Stil, must of been hard. I hope you come to Chickenstock and visit with us. You are not expected to bring smoked chicken. There will be plenty of food and good conversation!

 

[chyna]

When and where is chicken stock this year.

 

[chickflick]

June 11 at Delta Mills Park Lansing

 

[Stacykins]

Finally my hens are providing me eggs again! It was a long wait, so glad to have fresh, better tasting eggs from my girls.

I made some goat's milk soap last night! A salt soap. What is a salt soap? Basically for each pound of soap, it gets 0.5 to 1lb of salt added. The only oil in it is coconut oil, because it produces tons of lather. Salt inhibits lather, so it balances it out. Coconut oil is drying though, so it has a 25% superfat. But since the oil resists going rancid so well, it is one of the few oils you can use that much of a superfat in without the soap spoiling.

Salt soap makes a lot of tight, creamy lather that is almost like shaving cream. It isn't abrasive, but feels polishing. The bar is as hard as rock though, doesn't turn into mush. They've quickly become my favorite for personal use.

I think I'm going to stick with individual cavity molds for salt soaps in the future. I love big, hand cut bars, but I unmolded and cut this while it was only a couple hours old. Still warm, managed to break some bars.

Ingredients: Coconut oil, coarse kosher salt, goat's milk, NaOH, white sugar, Lemon Creme natural fragrance oil. It smells divine!

The milk came from my own goats. The two girls I have in milk will be dried up soon, so alas, soon I will be without their lovely milk. My first doe due to kid this year will hopefully bring kids into the world on April 22nd, so not too long to wait (all my kids are dam raised though, so I don't get to steal milk from their mother for a while so the kids can get most of it).

I'm actually going to make most of these bars available to people to test them for me (the soap is free in exchange for review). I need people to tell me what they love! To tell me what they hate! To rate the shape of the bar, the scent, the feel of the lather, how long it lasts, how it felt on their skin, etc. I basically expect people to unleash their inner Gordon Ramsey! I want to eventually open a soap making business. But I need a marketable product that people will actually want to purchase. I definitely have enough testers for this batch, just waiting on it to cure!

 

[RaZ]

Love the soap Stacykins. That something that I would like to try. Just need that milk goat first. Then again, it seems like a waste of good drinking milk.

So the roos and the drakes are being initiated at freezer camp today. After dropping them off, I stopped by for coffee with Sam. It has been a long time since we sat and shot the breeze. Granny and David were there and you can't ask for nicer people to have a visit with.

Stopped at the Howell TSC --- No chicks yet, not even set up for them. Stopped at the Whitmore Lake TSC --- No chicks but they had the area set up. Should be soon. I'm counting on you people to keep me away from those places for the next several weeks.

 

[bobhoke]

Problem:


I have 25 birds. I live in Manton. All my birds appeared fine this morning. Not one bird is more than two years old. The eat non gmo corn, Purina organic layer pellets (TSC), and TSC worms. I seen a bird at 4:00pm acting like she didn't want to move out of a nest, but did. I opened up the worm sack and she jumped from her nest. She then walked to the corner of the coop and didn't move or react with an panic. She just laid there. She died three hours later - looked totally normal. Nothing was done to her. She just died - weird. I watch my birds daily too. They have zero wind / cold exposure too. Zero symptoms except no movement or reaction. Maybe the rooster Giant crushed an egg in her - IDK...no clue. Anyone have any thoughts?


Bob

 

[chyna]

I had a 2 year old Black Austolop do the same thing last summer. Very perplexing. What I have read that can just happen. Don't beat yourself up over it.

 

[Folly's place]

Birds will act 'normal' until they just can't anymore, so it can be very difficult to see signs of illness. Only a post mortem exam will show the cause of her death. You can chill her body and keep in in plastic in the refrigerator (not frozen) for several days, and still have a necropsy done, especially if more birds look ill or die. I've had severe mite infestations kill birds too. Mary

 

[bobhoke]

How much does that exam cost?

 

[snowflake]

Finally my hens are providing me eggs again! It was a long wait, so glad to have fresh, better tasting eggs from my girls.

I made some goat's milk soap last night! A salt soap. What is a salt soap? Basically for each pound of soap, it gets 0.5 to 1lb of salt added. The only oil in it is coconut oil, because it produces tons of lather. Salt inhibits lather, so it balances it out. Coconut oil is drying though, so it has a 25% superfat. But since the oil resists going rancid so well, it is one of the few oils you can use that much of a superfat in without the soap spoiling.

Salt soap makes a lot of tight, creamy lather that is almost like shaving cream. It isn't abrasive, but feels polishing. The bar is as hard as rock though, doesn't turn into mush. They've quickly become my favorite for personal use.

I think I'm going to stick with individual cavity molds for salt soaps in the future. I love big, hand cut bars, but I unmolded and cut this while it was only a couple hours old. Still warm, managed to break some bars.

Ingredients: Coconut oil, coarse kosher salt, goat's milk, NaOH, white sugar, Lemon Creme natural fragrance oil. It smells divine!

The milk came from my own goats. The two girls I have in milk will be dried up soon, so alas, soon I will be without their lovely milk. My first doe due to kid this year will hopefully bring kids into the world on April 22nd, so not too long to wait (all my kids are dam raised though, so I don't get to steal milk from their mother for a while so the kids can get most of it).

I'm actually going to make most of these bars available to people to test them for me (the soap is free in exchange for review). I need people to tell me what they love! To tell me what they hate! To rate the shape of the bar, the scent, the feel of the lather, how long it lasts, how it felt on their skin, etc. I basically expect people to unleash their inner Gordon Ramsey! I want to eventually open a soap making business. But I need a marketable product that people will actually want to purchase. I definitely have enough testers for this batch, just waiting on it to cure!

love the soap stacykins, hope you can make a go of it, bring some to chicken stock if you can. I would love to buy some, I use goats milk soap on my face all the time. it is my favorite, but I am having a hard time finding it now. looked all summer in my area, with no luck.

How much does that exam cost?

a necropsy is over $100 , can have it done at MSU they usually prefer to do more then 1 bird and the $100 covers 3 to 5 birds I think.