Michigan

[ChicwannaB]

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16 days at 99.5 and 50% humidity upped to 60% for lockdown the last three. Our one little guy is great! I wish things would have worked out to have more. I think our humidity was too low and they really dry out.

dianaross - the no chickens in the basement rule goes here too, but seems to get broken a lot, however I know once it's finished and not just cement it will be the end of it.

ChicwannaB - I love the frozen June beetle idea! I would never have thought of it. They actually eat them if they aren't moving? I can turn it into a contest between all the boy cousins in the family next year! All are very competitive and all love bugs!

I was stuffing them into a icecream bucket with the lid just setting on it loosley, but some were dying and starting to stink, so I tossed dead ones, and started putting them in ziplocks and right into the freezer. They gobble them so fast they didn't take time to look and see if they were dead or alive, quite a fiasco.

 

[M.sue]

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Heartfelt sympathy & condolences to Ranchhand's family & friends. I never knew her but from reading the other thread she sounded like a wonderful person....you were very fortunate to have such a wonderful friend.

 

[Stacykins]

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I actually took a class the first time I made soap. The lye part bugged me too! It is just something you have to be extra careful about. In my personal soapmaking supplies, I have certain things that are for lye only and are labeled as such. And you always keep a big jug of vinegar right there when working with lye. Always pour the lye into the water (or goats milk, coffee, etc whatever the liquid part of the lye solution is), never water into lye.

http://www.thesoapbarn.com

Dunno how far you are from Davison, MI, but I know I had a blast at the class! I brought my Mom along and she loved it too. Seems like the price has gone up a lot though. When I did it a few years ago it wasn't 84$ per person, ouch.

 

[babigyrl22]

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I will be getting one for Christmas. It is supposed to be real easy to use, I need easy.

It is a hova bator 1588 with the turners and holds up to 42 eggs. I also just bought a used 1602n still air hova bator to possibly use as a hatcher if I need to. I am very nervous about doing this as I have never done this before but thanks to BYC I am getting lots of info.

I used the 1602n and it worked great as an incubator. I have the turner too. I only had 6 eggs in there and seemed to work perfectly. Temperature and humidity held great (of course incubated dry then brought the humitity up on lock down).

 

[babigyrl22]

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My sympathy & condolences. I am so sorry you lost a friend Opa and to all those who knew her.

 

[AngelaB]

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Non of them are broody, since only one is laying....they are all too young yet. I thought of that though. lol Something to remember in the future. I wish I knew which eggs on my family's farm has been fertilized or I would use those.

We are just going to make our own incubator sometime this winter.

 

[fifelakelooper]

So sorry to hear of Ranchands passing. Hugs and sympathy to the family and her friends.

 

[M.sue]

All this talk about incubation and hatching makes me wish I had more free time. I think letting a broody hatch a batch would be awesome to watch and worth the wait. My kids would love it and so would I.

 

[Opa]

The trees in my orchard have gotten to old and this years crop was really poor. So yesterday Hope, Granny and I went to a local orchard. It has been many years since I had been to one and I was shocked to discover just how expensive apples have become. They were asking $32 for a bushel. I definitely need to plant new trees.

 

[1muttsfan]

I have 2 honey crisp and a nova spy that I planted 3 years ago. this was the first year they really had apples, and the crows came in and stripped them all off. Could not believe it until my neighbor told me he had seen them do it to his trees too.