Michigan

[teeville5]

They're unlikely to choke, but personally we make it a rule not to feed chicken to chicken, pork to pork, etc. Not because cannibalism is gross -- they're cannibals naturally -- but because there's more potential for pathogen transmission than when you feed by-products cross-species.

We go by that rule, too, although I think it's more for the cannibalism is gross part. Dh basically thinks it's better not to tempt them to being cannibalistic by feeding them one of their own kind. It works for us, though, as we give the chicken to the pork and the pork to the chicken.

Nope, totally different animal. Imagine brown sugar baked into little shapes like maple leaves but tasting like a concentrated shot of maple syrup. Wonderful.

Hey, I had that once! Many, many years ago when I went on a second grade field trip near Battle Creek. It's one of the few field trips I remember because I came home sick with what turned out to be chicken pox.

 

[Juise]

Not only do I have a probable root canal in the future but most likely two because the 'hazy' spot on the x-ray is between the roots of two teeth.

I've had one done, and I did it with no drugs at all, including the general anesthetic. Wouldn't recommend it!

It's right up there on my list of most painful experiences ever, at least number 4. If I have to get another one, I am requesting every type of drugs they've got.

(And maybe one that they haven't!)

Nope, totally different animal. Imagine brown sugar baked into little shapes like maple leaves but tasting like a concentrated shot of maple syrup. Wonderful.

I loooooove maple sugar candy. As kids, my brothers and I use to get a piece on our annual apple orchard / pumpkin patch visit. That isn't nearly enough maple sugar candy, so my girls get get one every time we go to the farmer's market, which is usually at least once a week while it is open.

(Okay, sometimes I get one too, they can't have all the fun.)

 

[b737drvr]

I tap a few dozen trees but I end up with so much I gift it out. I could do a commecial operation but you really need to run tubing which makes the woods look like something out of a horror movie. I average 3 gallons per tree per day. This year the flow is sporadic but I still got more than last year already. If the temperatures climb too high the sap will stop and some people will miss out. I flyfish for salmon and just found a new way to use that stock - Maple glazed salmon, Oh My!

We have 20-30 maple trees that line our driveway. I don't think they are sugar maple though. I think they might be silver maple or Norway maple. They are all about 10-12 inches round and I think around 15-20 yrs old. Do you really think we could tap those? Where do you get your taps and buckets? How far up the tree? Does it matter which side you tap? Do you drill a new and different tap every year? What is the ideal time to tap - probably too late this year? Thanks for the info!

Chicken related. I have been trying to follow the conversations about mixing chickens, biosecurity, etc, but since I am such a newbie, I'm not sure about this.

Could I get some chicks from TSC, and a month or six weeks later mix hatchery chicks in with the TSC chicks? I ask, because I'd like some Australorps which I hear TSC might have. I could cross that breed off my "wish list" and get the other chicks in the middle of April from a hatchery. If I wait until all of the 3-5 breeds I have decided on are available, it will be May or June, and that is just too long to wait and my schedule is just too unpredictable that far out. How old is too old to mix chicks together (for a newly started coop)? Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[chicken grandma]

O.K. I am pretty sure I did this all wrong but here is what happened.

I stuck a tap in a maple tree in the yard. South side of tree, about 5 ft off the ground.
It started dripping. Drip, Drip, Drip. I hung a bucket on there. A covered bucket I got with the tap from a Nature Center.

When the bucket was full at the end of the day I put the sap (maybe 2 gallons?) on the stove in a big soup pot. I have an exhaust fan above my stove which I let run and I started to boil the sap really slowly - just so I could see steam evaporate.
Left it on for hours while I cleaned and studied.
Just a slow little boil giving off steam. Didn't leave the house, kept close eye on it

When I had about 1 cup of runny sap left in the pot, I was thinking of putting it in a jar for pancakes but it was still pretty runny so I let it cook a bit longer and BAM!!!

MAPLE SUGAR CANDY in my pot. That surprised me. So I let the kids eat it. It wasn't in the shape of a maple leaf, just looked like sugar but WOW! Tasted GREAT!

Next day I repeated the process but when there was about 1 cup left in the bottom of the pan, I turned the stove off and put that runny syrup in a jar in the fridge. We love that runny syrup!

 

[Juise]

Hey guys, I put up a post here asking for thoughts on combining certain breeds, and I am not really getting much response. I would appreciate if any of you that have mixed flocks might have a moment to jump over at some point and let me know what you think, there or here.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/636628/what-do-you-think-of-these-breeds-together#post_8550138

Nigerian dwarf goaties, and they are a small dairy breed. The breeder I am getting my doelings from especially focuses on milk production, both in quantity and nice, milkable teats. The milk is delicious, but definitely try fresh first. The store bought kind is awful, very 'goaty' tasting (if you know what a goat buck smells like, that is what store bought milk kinda tastes like, how they smell. Hard to describe!).

Goaties can't be kept alone, so if you eventually get milk goats, they should be kept in a pair at least. A solo goat is a very stressed out, noisy goat, since they are herd animals!

I love goats, I am still trying to accumulate enough excuses to get it past my husband, though, since we wouldn't be milking ours.

So far I have got: *Eat poison ivy, and *Help deter chicken predators, but it's not getting my goat, if you know what I mean.

I would like a couple of pygmies. And a couple sheep. And... okay, I better stop there for now, actually.

 

[NovaAman]

No, I didn't know the young man well. Thats really not the point though. Just sad because he was one of "US" you know. Came out 7 days a week to deliver a paper in the middle of the night, in all conditions. He was a nice guy. Very polite and helpful to some of the old timers there. Would help load other carriers cars (again, the old timers, and by that, I do mean ones who'd done this for 20-30 years). I feel awful for his girlfriend. The kid he had with him, that kid and Josh's girlfriend took turns riding along... And his family...

Well anyway, prayers are what his family needs now.

AND on a different note!

I got the duck coop cleaned today. OMG the smell was horrendous. Just delaying one day! I actually think its more along the lines of delaying 4 days, because with the warm weather, I probably really should have done it Monday or Tuesday when it really warmed up. I also cleaned half of their side of the enclosure. AND I can say that they've definetly won a place in my heart. Why? Well, if you've never seen a duck get excited over freshly uncovered earth, then you are missing out. I cleaned down to the soil on half of their side. It was the stinkiest crap! It wasn't crap, just rot from leaves and moisture. (I bucketed that for the veggie boxes.) The worms were insane! The ducks were totally spastastic over it all! I wore rubber gloves just cuz it was so nasty... Well anyway, I was literally rolling the leaves and straw up, (almost makes me think "green side up!" the way it was rolling up) and the ducks were not even pascient enough to let me get out of the way before they were in the way getting all those little baby worms! I was laughing and crossing my legs to not wet myself cuz it had to be the funniest thing I had ever seen!

Tomorrow if it isn't as cold as they say, I might get the other side of their enclosure done... If I were smart, I'd video tape it. Key words their are "IF" and "SMART".

Well I feel like something farted on me in a major way, so I need to shower... Maybe soak my jeans in antiseptic... Well, Purex should work.

 

[Juise]

Well I feel like something farted on me in a major way, so I need to shower... Maybe soak my jeans in antiseptic... Well, Purex should work.

 

[chicken grandma]

What will your duck pen be like in July Nova??????????

 

[fuzzybutt love]

NovaAman Wow. that's crazy. Poor guy.

Juise Coons dragged my first flock right out of our little log goat house and ate them. Had a bucket of grain out front, but nope, wanted fresh chicken. Poor goat wouldn't sleep in his house for months, even when it was raining.

 

[Juise]

Yikes! I won't be depending upon the goats to keep predators away, but I figure the chickens can use any help they can get. Mostly I just want a couple little goat pets.