Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[aart]

they aren't as colorful in fall

The color is amazing... green to yellow to orange/red...sometimes showing all 3 at once.

 

[Folly's place]

They are such interesting trees; varied leaf shapes, neat fall color, and that 'root beer' scent. Never dug up the roost to make the drink...
Have you been able to transplant any? Want one!
The most colorful tree we now have in fall is a smoke tree, related to the smoke bushes at most garden centers. The tree is totally gorgeous in fall!
Mary

 

[aart]

Have you been able to transplant any?

Never tried....no reason too.
I spend more time beating back the woods so it will stay out of the yards and fields.

 

[Folly's place]

Just got in from pulling poison hemlock second year plants, starting to flower. UGH! Wore long sleeves, jeans, boots, and heavy work gloves, and filled a garbage bag! There are a number of locations covered in first year plants, so spraying is next. Hate to use herbicides, but here we are. Outfit in washer, alone, gloves tossed with the garbage bag, and long shower. Not a happy camper right now...
Second year flowering plants ranged from 6" to 6' tall!
A section of our NW winter horse pasture has first year plants, so must be sprayed. Glad I saw this before the horses are on it!
Everyone, look this up, and look out!
Mary

 

[saysfaa]

Just got in from pulling poison hemlock second year plants, starting to flower. UGH! ...

Yuck!
Thank you

 

[saysfaa]

Chicken snacks or plant food?

I called the state wildlife department to check whether it is okay to gather them. It is. So I picked up a couple of gallons of them this morning.

It went better than I expected. I thought it was much more likely to find plant food quality than chicken snack quality. Them I found most of them are completely dry - I think the moisture was sucked out of them completely and quickly by the hot, dry (for around here) air above and hot, dry sand below. Anyway, I can remember tbe die offs of the seventies that had rotting fish and stink. This is not that. I don't smell them in the truck or on my hands. I tempted to seal them in mylar to feed the chickens through the year.

I also found a few that were fresh enough that their eyes were still partly clear. I'm tempted to see if the chickens like them.

Edit to add: I asked only about the dead ones on the beach.

 

[troyer]

Chicken snacks or plant food?

I called the state wildlife department to check whether it is okay to gather them. It is. So I picked up a couple of gallons of them this morning.

It went better than I expected. I thought it was much more likely to find plant food quality than chicken snack quality. Them I found most of them are completely dry - I think the moisture was sucked out of them completely and quickly by the hot, dry (for around here) air above and hot, dry sand below. Anyway, I can remember tbe die offs of the seventies that had rotting fish and stink. This is not that. I don't smell them in the truck or on my hands. I tempted to seal them in mylar to feed the chickens through the year.

I also found a few that were fresh enough that their eyes were still partly clear. I'm tempted to see if the chickens like them.

Edit to add: I asked only about the dead ones on the beach.

What are they?

 

[saysfaa]

Alewives

They are saltwater fish that spawn in freshwater. They came up the St Lawrence seaway into the great lakes and are invasive species here. They aren't as well adapted as the native species so sometimes they are stressed too much and die off in huge numbers. This year more than most years lately. Not nearly as much as several decades ago.

 

[saysfaa]

Wow! I should have expected it I suppose but I haven't given them anything bigger than a Japanese beetle. These fish were about four inches long.

I let the hens vote. They are emphatic that fish is better than insects of any kind. I took a lot of pictures, these are the least blurry. The hens very energetically tore the fish apart. It took, maybe, ten seconds from whole fish to completely gone.

I wish I could have started earlier in the season. There is only a fraction of the numbers there were 7 - 10 days ago.

 

[Sally PB]

Do you squish them and feed them to the chickens? I’ve been spraying mine wish dish soap and water mixed together to stop them from flying then I flick them into a cup of soapy water, but I felt I can’t feed them to the chickens because of the dish soap ? So curious what way you do it so my chickens can get a nice snack too! We killed a lot but they seem to be dying down now and not as many as last week.

I have a wide mouthed container with a lid. JB's defense is to let go and fall when something disturbs them. I put the container under whatever they're on, tap them, and catch them in the container. It has about 1" of plain water in it. They will cling to each other and make islands in the water.

Question for you guys, my girls (we officially got no rooster) are coming up to 11 weeks old. I believe there is no eggs until 16 weeks of age or so? What is the earliest your chicks have laid? Our entire flock is Australorps in case the breed makes a difference?

My Black Australorps laid at 19 and 20 weeks.

The chickens like them alive, drowned, or squished.

One of my hens does not like them.

The color is amazing... green to yellow to orange/red...sometimes showing all 3 at once.

Ours get mitten shaped leaves. They are a show in the fall, that's for sure.

I've never transplanted any either. They are practically invasive.