Minnesota!

[KlopKlop]

klopklop, thanks fo the craigslist idea.  Found a bunch of choices, including one on my route home.  Probably will have armenian, chesnok, and german planted by this weekend.

minniechickmana, lucky to have the apples.  Dry and wormy, they still make great apple jalopeno jelly, your own apple cider vinegar, and....what I am craving now, old-fashioned apple butter.   My apple trees drowned a few years ago when we had that wet spring that lasted months....and I havent replanted.

We make many gallons of apple butter every year. Makes great gifts and we love to pile it high on fresh bread!

Our chickens have been going mad for our wormy ground fall apples too

 

[Bogtown Chick]

We make many gallons of apple butter every year. Makes great gifts and we love to pile it high on fresh bread!

Our chickens have been going mad for our wormy ground fall apples too

I made apple butter for a couple years and they're still in the cupboard. The only way we eat it is on fresh bread too! I love it that way. Everybody likes the STrawberry Freezer jam and Wild Grape Jelly the best though...and poor old Apple butter is 3rd in line. I've got a ton left from a couple years ago. I love the way the house smells when I make it though. Mmmm. Makes me want to make it again.

I planted garlic last year and the same thing happened with the chickens as LaLa. They had fresh dirt to roll around in and then I put it to bed with straw in which they would kick around too much in the garden. And when the little green shoots started popping up well they plucked on those. I also understand there is a middle sort of "whimpy" shoot you are suppose to trim away...and I didn't get that far in tending to it. I think not seeing anything come back this spring put the whole project in the dumpers for me. I should retry though....

Mmmm. That freshly cleaned coop is so nice to visit the chickens in this morning. I used that Seventh Generation lavender and mint cleaner too (that you get from Target) Gosh I love the smell of that stuff. Touch up painting on the outside for sure this week. Reflectix tacked up this week on the inside...and then I might start getting after my nest box redesign. I don't like lifting the lid (big and heavy) I'm thinking I want the top stationary now and make several smaller drop down access doors. Let gravity help me and hinge those doors at the bottom. That's a bigger project though...LOL. I need to figure it out before I start backing torque screws out and cutting away.

 

[Mistahbue]

Incubator halp?!!!


Borrowed a neighbor's incubator for the guinea eggs. I've got hatching happening on 4 eggs.


It's got an auto turner and the egg trays don't seem to be removable. Got other eggs that aren't as far along


What do I do?

Disconnect the tray. stop it from turning. There must be a way to shut the tray off and not the incubator.



Are you planning on house guineas this winter?

Oh yeah they have a winter house - they refused to go in it since spring, preferring the pole barn eaves.

The aviary area is getting done before snow flies or I'm going to pitch a fit. That will give them an enclosed nesting area for next year. This nest was first one with a broody girl.

 

[Mistahbue]

Unplugged tray turner. Got to go check it again. Watching progress on other cracks.

Do you leave chick in incubator 24 hours? Longer?

 

[Mistahbue]

We make many gallons of apple butter every year. Makes great gifts and we love to pile it high on fresh bread!


Our chickens have been going mad for our wormy ground fall apples too

I made apple butter for a couple years and they're still in the cupboard.  The only way we eat it is on fresh bread too!  I love it that way.  Everybody likes the STrawberry Freezer jam and Wild Grape Jelly the best though...and poor old Apple butter is 3rd in line.  I've got a ton left from a couple years ago.  I love the way the house smells when I make it though.  Mmmm.  Makes me want to make it again.

I planted garlic last year and the same thing happened with the chickens as LaLa.  They had fresh dirt to roll around in and then I put it to bed with straw in which they would kick around too much in the garden.  And when the little green shoots started popping up well they plucked on those.  I also understand there is a middle sort of "whimpy" shoot you are suppose to trim away...and I didn't get that far in tending to it.  I think not seeing anything come back this spring put the whole project in the dumpers for me.  I should retry though....

Mmmm.  That freshly cleaned coop is so nice to visit the chickens in this morning.  I used that Seventh Generation lavender and mint cleaner too (that you get from Target)  Gosh I love the smell of that stuff.  Touch up painting on the outside for sure this week.  Reflectix tacked up this week on the inside...and then I might start getting after my nest box redesign.  I don't like lifting the lid (big and heavy)  I'm thinking I want the top stationary now and make several smaller drop down  access doors.  Let gravity help me and hinge those doors at the bottom.  That's a bigger project though...LOL.  I need to figure it out before I start backing torque screws out and cutting away. 

Apple butter yummmmmmmmm

 

[Mistahbue]

Incubator halp?!!!


Borrowed a neighbor's incubator for the guinea eggs. I've got hatching happening on 4 eggs.


It's got an auto turner and the egg trays don't seem to be removable. Got other eggs that aren't as far along


What do I do?

Disconnect the tray. stop it from turning. There must be a way to shut the tray off and not the incubator.



Are you planning on house guineas this winter?

Not house Guineas! But might have too with these! They are so TINY!

Further proof these birds are whacked in their dinosaur heads..... Broody hen in late summer...

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have a plot that I double dug then piled on composted chopped leaf and chicken poo bedding mixture and tilled it. That was a few weeks ago and I covered it all with carpet scraps to attempt to 'solarize' it and keep back any grass trying to come back up.

I have some dirty old straw in the top of my grainery that I plan to mulch with too

I would add a photo of my awesome seed stock but since I updated my iPhone to the new IOS it is too buggy.

We wanted to do more than 2 lbs but I talked myself into starting slower. Quality over quantity

if all goes well we may add more kinds next time. We enjoy Music garlic

Oh dear! I did the same with my phone yesterday and I am not happy that I did!

We tend to start with overboard and scale back LOL!

Even old straw should help. It sounds like good prep. We spread compost from the big piles where needed. DH decided it would be easier to turn and move in piles rather than a long row. The far pile is pretty well composted. You can see some excess eggs that got tossed in the closest one. It is layers of grass and chicken litter and house scraps that don't get given to the birds themselves.

 

[KlopKlop]

Any food scraps that don't go to the chickens go into a compost 'cage' I made from welded wire fence. That is the only way to keep my dogs out of it and it still barely does.
My ultra-food-motivated hound dog will gladly take a zap from her collar for even a few seconds of digging in the compost pile.
She is such a goofball!

 

[scandiafowl]

A few photos of one of the scrawny JG roosters. He's tall and skinny. They were hatched on 12 June.

 

[holm25]

My mother wants a few more freezer roosters, anyone have some?

I have a few if u want. Not quite ready to butcher but should be soon.