Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[SillyChicken]

Ahhhhh......a rare Sunday off of work. I usually open the restaurant on Sundays, so I end up being gone for the majority of the day. The weather is nice and cool, so DH and the oldest DS are out cutting more firewood. We have permission to cut wood on our neighbor's property.....they had it logged 2 years ago and we have been cutting up the tops for our firewood. The only catch is that we have to cut a load for the neighbor for every load we cut for ourselves. Not a bad deal considering!

Took the kids to 4-H soccer yesterday for their first practices of the year and found out that they have 3 teams of 1st/2nd graders and only one coach "so if you can count to 9, and tell the kids not to use their hands, you can be a coach!" And now I'm "coaching" soccer. I know NOTHING about the sport except the no-hands rule. DH is the same since his school didn't have a soccer team when he went.....should be an interesting year.

I got DH to go out and help me powder all the chicken butts last night, and I wormed everyone while I had help. Hopefully we're OVER this lice stuff, and the ivermectin knocks anything else that may be going on off before cold weather gets here.



Can anyone direct me to a good website or directions for fruit tree care? I have 2 apple trees (honeycrisp and gala) and TSC has a zone 4 hardy pear tree that my oldest desperately wants me to buy. The honeycrisp has been in the ground for 2 years now and bloomed this spring, and the gala went in the ground in May. I've seen sooo much conflicting information about pruning, not pruning, fertilizing, spraying, etc that I have no idea what I really should be doing.

You may have to get 2 pear trees, they need to cross pollinate.

 

[SillyChicken]

Peach blueberry jam: from Hillbilly Hen # 15051. Delicious!!! I made a batch as directed, and it didn't set well at all. although it's delicious sauce/ runny jam.. This week I tried again with modifications and it set up beautifully. I used what was in the kichen that day; Seven cups chopped peaches, five cups frozen blueberries, four tablespoons lemon juice, and more spices, all cooked for ten minutes, Then I added two boxes of the pink sure-gell mixed with one cup of sugar, and brought to a rolling boil for one minute. Then added seven and 1/4 cups of sugar, and boiled until thickened and the right temp. Took out the spices, put in jars, and water bath for ten minutes. Set up really well and tastes great. mary

Thank you! Got it!

 

[lhawes]

Where is Shaftsburg? Aptly named town........ so if you are already moving, why are they not working with you on keeping them until then?
I would be interested in some of the does/doeling... Depending on your location and price. Are they tested for CL/CAE/Johnes?

Shaftsburg is near Perry - close to I69 and M52. Not far from Lansing or Flint. We have sent them a letter asking them to work with us, but have not heard anything back yet. The breeders that we got all of them from had tested for Cl/CAE/Johnes but we had not yet had them tested ourselves. We were planning on doing that the first of the year.

 

[preciouskitty]

One of my pullets (24 wks old) just laid an obnoxiously HUGE egg...81 grams. She's probably not gonna be able to sit for a week! Have had a few jumbos & XLs, but this exceeds the largest by 10%!!

One of my EEs is awful close, too. Can't wait to see what color she gives me...

On a 3 x 5 card

And Partridge JUST came through for me. Nice green egg..now I have quite an array of colors! Yippee! Now just have to wait & see what the other EE lays (Spaz)

 

[RaZ]

I love seeing what a new layer produces. Double yolk, fart eggs, oddly shaped shells and even strange colour combinations. Collecting eggs is like x-mas every day.

 

[preciouskitty]

I love seeing what a new layer produces. Double yolk, fart eggs, oddly shaped shells and even strange colour combinations.  Collecting eggs is like x-mas every day.

LOL!
Yes it is. Especially today with that mutant jumbo egg, then Partridge laying her first green egg

Got 9 eggs so far today from 11 pullets....pretty good haul!

 

[Chambertin]

Chambertin, What about Ayam Cemini?

Honestly that is a breed that no one understands and is dramatically overpriced for no reason.
If I had wanted to I could have snuck some eggs into the country that would give those sellers a run for their money.

My theory is people had some eggs they got handed back when no one cared about what the bird was and anything different was cool. Now that its the next cool chicken thing the truth that no one knows what this bird is supposed to look like and the eggs in the US are not really what they were supposed to be is coming out.
The Ayam Cemani thread has been going downhill for a long time. No one seems to want to let those who live in Indonesia and can pick up a true to breed Ayam Cemani speak for what it is supposed to be. Instead they just defend what they want to sell.
(People cant seem to separate talking about a breed and talking about a breeder, these are two very different things)

Still if anyone has some to share I'd be more than happy to try and breed up a line.
The white to black changeover in the US version that I have heard about is extremely cool and if true maybe more interesting than the pure black and always black genetics.

 

[RaZ]

I find it rather interesting that heritage or rare breeds aren't discussed much here. But then again, we tend to be pretty social with our mutt breeds of chickens and our reasons for keeping chickens in the first place.

 

[RaZ]

Thank you to anyone that can help spread the word! And... we have already tried the Michigan Right to Farm act with them - they are telling us that only has to do if you are zoned agriculture! We believe it to be a load of BS because if you are already zoned agriculture, why would you have a problem?

Are you going to fight this?

 

[SillyChicken]

Are you going to fight this?

They're leaving the state soon, so there'd be no real point.