Minnesota!

[Cyrus83]

They can grow a foot a day in hot summer temps

 

[Cluckies]

@holm25 wow, I'm duly impressed, joined 4/14 and have over 4000 posts, wow, that is amazing! You must be like this!

Screw sleep, just keep the coffee coming! Hahaha! bye the way, my maiden name was holm

good people!

 

[duluthralphie]

Ralphie, I am guessing that Judy will be impressed but not necessarily in the way you might hope? Will you have your laptop when on your trip? You may not be fully up to speed of the trials and tribulations on the farmstead, but I would wager that you could find some lines to entertain us with in any case.
How about the escapades of a free range chicken keeper on sabbatical ?

You correct she was not impressed. I tried to paint a pretty picture of the chickens and their feathery feet. She did not seem to care, al she kept repeating was "2 more #$^* chickens, why do you need 2 more chickens?" The 2 new chickens look comfy in their quarters. They are so laid back, a mouse was in there pen and they did not even chase it. My other chickens love to chase mice.


I will have my laptop with me, but the only connection to the internet I will have is when I tether to my IPhone.

Ralphie, I am guessing that Judy will be impressed but not necessarily in the way you might hope? Will you have your laptop when on your trip? You may not be fully up to speed of the trials and tribulations on the farmstead, but I would wager that you could find some lines to entertain us with in any case.
How about the escapades of a free range chicken keeper on sabbatical ?

Is that sawdust in the bottom of the cage, duluthralphie?

That depends on who or whom you ask. If you ask me it is sawdust, if you ask the people at the Runnings store it is "wood chip". The manufacture labeled it as wood chips, but had it in a Yellow plastic bale/bag I could not see through when I bought it.

I am not a fan of sawdust, I like wood chips.

Hops need full sun. My husband is growing them on huge poles out in the pasture. They need a lot of space to grow. I'm actually afraid the chickens will ruin the plants!

Where do I buy hops seed? I could grow it over my creamettes run..

 

[holm25]

@holm25
 wow, I'm duly impressed, joined 4/14 and have over 4000 posts, wow, that is amazing! You must be like this!     Screw sleep, just keep the coffee coming!  Hahaha!   bye the way, my maiden name was holm    good people!

Thanks lol!! I do spend lots of time on byc.

Mrs Tiger lily is spending some time inside with me since its raining chickens and ducks aka cats and dogs. She should have kitten soon now. Her skin is SO tight if if touched barb wire she would POP!!

 

[nordicacres]

I love the pine shavings from Runnings! They don't cover as much space, but they coat the poo much better!

You have to buy either the plant (about $10/plant) or the rhizome ($5/piece). I'm not certain you can buy the seeds? We bought them from Midwest Supplies in the Cities. I think Brew and Grow also sells them. Or probably any good nursery would be able to order it for you. Not a beer drinker so Hops is DH's project.

 

[Cluckies]

Quote: I bought some at Fleet Farm like that last fall, so disappointed, it was fine the other times I bought it, so was really surprised. it is still sitting there half used as I don't like it. went back for more and it was the same. went to tractor supply and got some from them. I only don't like that they store theirs outside so it can get wet from humidity though.

What and where is a runnings store?

 

[nordicacres]

I bought some at Fleet Farm like that last fall, so disappointed, it was fine the other times I bought it, so was really surprised. it is still sitting there half used as I don't like it.  went back for more and it was the same. went to tractor supply and got some from them. I only don't like that they store theirs outside so it can get wet from humidity though.

What and where is a runnings store?

http://runnings.com/find-a-store/

They are awesome. Best farm store in my area. I never go to TSC or Mills Fleet Farm unless they have a better sale price!

 

[duluthralphie]

I bought some at Fleet Farm like that last fall, so disappointed, it was fine the other times I bought it, so was really surprised. it is still sitting there half used as I don't like it. went back for more and it was the same. went to tractor supply and got some from them. I only don't like that they store theirs outside so it can get wet from humidity though.

What and where is a runnings store?

We have a Running store in Monticelo. I use to visit them in SD when my son lived there. The store in Montecello is very nice, it is clean and loaded with "stuff". It is like a Fleetfarm or L&M. But neater and cleaner.

 

[holm25]

Well today I moved 2 maybe 3 week old chicks and poults to the coop with a heat lamp today. Also moved a broody standard Cochin to a pen and am going to give her eggs in the morning. Also have to move another broody BR tomorrow. So now I have 3 broodies that will have eggs and 1 with chicks!! Sorry Ralph that u have to read this again!

 

[Minniechickmama]

Hops need full sun. My husband is growing them on huge poles out in the pasture. They need a lot of space to grow. I'm actually afraid the chickens will ruin the plants!

I bought my husband 6 hops plants about 4 years ago. They LIKE to grow up and not out as much, or so I was told by the man I bought ours from. He had grown them horizontally on a fence but said they grow better on a trellis going up.
Here is another idea for shade, a gourd 'igloo', or house. We have grown birdhouse and other gourds on a dome-shaped trellis and had sand in the middle for the kids to play in. It was a really coot thing, and they grow like crazy once they take off. Making one for chickens would provide shade AND a snack when the gourds start filling out. They are the softest things to the touch too, if you haven't ever grown them.
I keep saying I am going to plant a garden in the chicken yard that will be protected from their scratching and messing with it until it bears fruit, but I never quite seem to manage to get it done. Too many things!
We ended up with 11 fruit trees in all, 2 apple, 3 pear, 2 cherry, 1 peach and 3 plum. We also got a free Japanese Tree Lilac for buying 10. That brings us to 11 apples altogether, plus the blueberry plants we are trying to get right this year - 8 of those. I still have strawberry plants to get in, hopefully tomorrow, that I will set the runners from too and should get a nice crop for next year. We started another raspberry patch too.
My husband and I now have this running joke, that "We" should do this or that. The last couple of years, "we" has pretty much meant HIM, since so much of my time is spent doing stuff with the poultry. So, we bought more asparagus plants that we planted too (I tilled some and he finished the rest). I guess the 50 or so plants we already have weren't enough

. If I could only grow some morels out here, fresh asparagus, sauteed morels and fresh scrambled eggs go SO well together!