Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Maah]

So Tuesday night my best friend came out to work & feed my family for me. I appreciated that on so many levels. We tackled the mini coop/run (breeding pen, but doubling as a grow out pen atm.). We completely gutted it out, scrubbed it down with bleach water, let it dry, then oiled the wood surfaces, let that dry/soak in, and then laid new bedding. It was due time... & since the kiddos can get on top of the mini coop to perch, we scrubbed that down too. And then raked out the entire run, laid down more DE all over, spread some fresh straw. Scrubbed out all the water & feeders. Everything is spic & span... & by keeping my body busy it kept my mind distracted, which was the whole goal in the first place. Bonus, & it worked well. I really need to do the same thing to the large coop/run with the layer flock.

Yesterday I wasn't so lucky to have the distractions though. The day sucked! I did manage to work in the morning (since I work from home it's easier not facing people), and I gave my boys haircuts, then spent the rest of the day going through pictures. A couple glasses of wine before bed & I fell fast asleep. No more work for me today, I'm off the rest of the week. I'll take my daughter shopping for a new dress this morning & then us girls will get haircuts this afternoon. Visitations tonight & tomorrow, & the memorial after.

In the back of my mind I'm thinking "go to chickenstock Saturday"... but I just can't do it. Maybe I'll tackle the large coop & run. I really need the manual labor distraction. And I think my friends will probably come over to try to cheer me up, which I need.

So as I sit here, having typed this, I'm debating clicking the "submit" button. I wanted to keep you all updated on how things have been going, & in all honesty they're doing well considering, but at the same time I didn't want to be a "debbie downer" to the rest of yas. But I'm gonna hit the darn button anyways I suppose.

If someone arranges that W. MI mini gathering that y'all been chatting about... that would be great! I missed last year's CS as well, and I'm going to miss this years. I'd be up for a mini local.

 

[naglady]

14 guineas
13 eggs in bator 1 of them is zipped..
tomorrow is original hatch day.



Started out dh friend gave us 51 eggs.. 10 got eaten by us.. wanted to try guinea eggs, they were very tasty.. so day one 41 eggs in bator, 13 confirmed infertile, 14 hatched, 1 almost hatched.. 12 eggs left to go. all of them look the same except the grayish color one.. so pretty.

 

[Opa]

Another wonderful day is in full swing and 2 of the 3 crossword puzzles I work each day are completed. Hope is off to babysit and Granny is up and going. When David get here he will see chickens in the apple trees. Normally I wouldn't want chickens roosting in my orchard but they are only going to be there for a little while longer, until they have quit dripping.

These particular birds spent the night soaking in a dark brown sugar and salt solution in preparation for smoking today. The next step before smoking is making sure that they are dry. Smoking wet product, be it fish or fowl results in uneven smoke application and bitter spots.

Once in the smoker I will heat them for at least one hour before introducing smoke into the hanging box. Apple wood chips smoldering for hours will impart a golden hue to the bird and wonderful flavor.

Smoking is a slow process and I don't anticipate the birds reaching the proper temperature til late tonight. A lot of time is invested in slow smoking but I'm sure once you taste it you will agree it is worth the effort.

 

[gladahmae]

I LOVE shade tarps. I bought a couple of really cheap ones off ebay last year. one is over the small coop/run and the other is still in the packaging and needs a frame built so I can put it over the kids' sandbox. We get sun all day long here, and once July and August hit and it's REALLY hot I have a hard time making the kids go outside to play because I know they are going to get fried. Maybe I should mow a spot back in the edge of the woods and help them build a "fort" to play in. It's further from the house than I would like, but I spent HOURS of my childhood playing in the woods a lot further from the house than the spot I'm thinking of......

I'm going to slip some eggs under my broody this morning. I meant to do it last night, but couldn't bring myself to get out of my very comfy bed and walk all the way out to the coop.

Need to get a few projects done this morning. We have a 2nd foster dog coming in, a 15mo lab who's owner had a liver transplant (in the last 2 days we think?) and will be unable to care for it. So we'll be back to the hustle of 3 dogs, and I need to get the wire fence I'm backing my split-rail fence with up so the darn dogs stay the heck outta my garden! Yesterday our boxer/lab mix foster was chasing butterflies in there!


In gardening news, I planted all my pepper plants a few weeks ago, and as far as noticeable vertical growth, there hasn't been any. A few are putting on peppers, but the plants are still tiny. My tomatoes are doing well, the green beans are growing, (I won't mention the squash because I just planted those), but the peppers are just SITTING there!?

 

[chickflick]

Good Morning!

I've had trouble with my pepper plants also. They don't grow. I put some plants in my front flower garden last year and they did better. Planted peppers in my vegetable garden a few days ago. Well, the hail storm took everything out. So, got some more plants and planted yesterday. I'm hoping they do ok. But, can't figure out why they won't grow??

 

[gaitngirl]

Welcome Morrison!

Gladahmae - so sorry for your loss!

I met Karla (Keirys) last night. What a nice family! They came and picked up a few Muscovy babies. Lucky duckies, lol. Can't wait to see their grown up colors - they should be interesting!

I lost my little blue roo yesterday. No clue what happened. His neck appeared to be broken. I don't know if he got in a tussle with the other roo in the growup tractor or what . . . All of the others seem fine. That is my second blue marans lost to some goofy injury. I've never had this happen before . . . This was one of the roos I planned on keeping and crossing with my EE's for pretty Olive Eggers. I hate losing chickens - especially young ones.

 

[Living the Simple Life]

So,so,so incredibly bummed!!!

It looks like I won't be able to bring home any birds from Chickenstock. Our truck took a cr@p again yesterday. We just replaced brake lines last week. Now it looks like the fuel pump is going. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it only needs a new fuel filter...but I am afraid I am fooling myself. It is a '99 and only has 107,000 miles but is rusting away to nothing....there seems to have been some major issues with 99 and 00 Ford F-150's having serious underbody rust out. Our plan was to eventually drop the licensing of it and use it strictly as an on-farm vehicle....just not quite this soon. Now we need to look at replacing it with a vehicle that we can haul a trailer....our other two vehicles aren't really an option for that. Last night DH immediately started looking for another truck, but I am of a mind that we may want to look at something like an SUV. We could really use something with more seating. Since we don't do financing, we need to find something that we can pay cash for (without breaking our account) yet is in good enough shape that it will last for a number of years. There goes my coop money.....

And all of this comes on top of me taking a $785 per month hit in my pay for health insurance starting next month...due to the new state laws affecting educators. This monthly premium payment takes my compensation back to what I was making in 2002....yippee!! Wish they would reduce my workload to what it was in 2002...

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Morning y'all my tomatoes are doing what your green peppers are. Leaves were looking sort of yellow last week too. Those plants are a growin in the halfway hugel bed, where I decided to try to smother the Peppermint that is taking over my property. In the other full sun new bed, I threw down Monticello Hollyhocks (for blooms next year), cukes and a row of cosmos in front. These also look stunted. And I've been watering. Speaking of Cosmos, Glad, was it you I said I'd bring some for? I will still bring them, but I want to warn you, they are still in my winter sowing milk jug, and... You guessed it, they too look stunted. Hopefully you'll get them planted and they'll just take right off. I sowed way too many.

So I found a perfect fabric to make aprons for y'all.

Only problem is decided yesterday to try something totally new and just about drove myself insane. So today I've really decided to put it all away and paint, then I will get back to sewing up that sweet chicken fabric at a later date.

Finally, here's one of my youngest girls. I'm keeping her, but what are your guesses for her breed?

So looks like I still have 2 female Pekins, 1 F&W Runner (beautiful), and the brother of the girl pictured above (he is bibbed) all coming to CS.

RaZ-- I love the idea of pink! Have a great day everyone.

 

[naglady]

I have a tomato and pepper plant that started a couple blossoms.. going to pinch them off. so all the energy can go into growing a bigger plant.

i have peppers and tomatos planted in my 3 month old woodchip area.. i made hole, put soil in it, then put plant in it.. they are doing better then the tomato plants i put straight in the dirt.. i also planted my kohlarobis and a few collards in the wood chips also. and they are doing great. i may have to retransplant the other tomato plants from the dirt to the woodchips.. if they dont start growing good.

whats the secret to radishes.. i have bigger plants, how do you get them to make the bulb underneath.. do i just wait and see or can i amend something in the soil to get them to grow the actual radish. they should be starting to swell soon. but i never have much luck.. they have enough moisture. i think my soil is lacking something.

 

[Elyssia001]

Good Morning!

I've had trouble with my pepper plants also. They don't grow. I put some plants in my front flower garden last year and they did better. Planted peppers in my vegetable garden a few days ago. Well, the hail storm took everything out. So, got some more plants and planted yesterday. I'm hoping they do ok. But, can't figure out why they won't grow??

It's been my experience that pepper plants like a little shade. I've grown them in spots with full sun all day long and on the otherside of the house that gets shade for most of the morning, and the shaded ones did much better. I'm not sure if its a matter of the moisture levels (the full sun spot dries out quick) or if it's the sun/shade thing.