NY chicken lover!!!!

[Tough Old Bird]

What do people do with crab apples? I have a crab apple tree in my back yard I discovered just this year. The apples on it are huge too. I do not remember this tree having apples last year, which is weird cuz it's not a young tree by any means.

An elderly friend of mine used to make the most delicious crab apple jelly....yum! I miss her and I miss her wonderful jelly, too.

TOB

 

[Lynzi777]

This is my pond so far, pathetic looking. But I don't have a way yet to redirect the water so I can dig. So when I do dig the water turns brown and I can't see how deep I've made it. So today I worked on building up the dirt to keep it in a "pool". It slowly trickles out the back and behind the mound of dirt. I need more rocks. It's about a foot deep in the center.

 

[stonykill]

What do people do with crab apples? I have a crab apple tree in my back yard I discovered just this year. The apples on it are huge too. I do not remember this tree having apples last year, which is weird cuz it's not a young tree by any means.

if the apples are huge it is probably a chestnut crabapple. I have at least 2 dozen of them. Some of the crabapple tree's I have actually have apples to eat raw but most don't. Mix crabapples with store bought to make a really good apple pie. The tart and sweet work together perfectly. Make crabapple jam, mix crabapples with store bought apples to make fritters, baked apples etc. The posibilities are endless with chestnut crabs.

 

[Lynzi777]

  if the apples are huge it is probably a chestnut crabapple. I have at least 2 dozen of them. Some of the crabapple tree's I have actually have apples to eat raw but most don't. Mix crabapples with store bought to make a really good apple pie. The tart and sweet work together perfectly. Make crabapple jam, mix crabapples with store bought apples to make fritters, baked apples etc. The posibilities are endless with chestnut crabs.

Oh wow, I wonder if I can find a way to get at few then...it's on the edge of my woods and where these woods start there's a sort of "wall" to get up there. Some of these apples are also getting some red on them, not that you can tell in this picture but maybe you can see what I mean by their size...

 

[stonykill]

Oh wow, I wonder if I can find a way to get at few then...it's on the edge of my woods and where these woods start there's a sort of "wall" to get up there. Some of these apples are also getting some red on them, not that you can tell in this picture but maybe you can see what I mean by their size...

looks like a Wild American apple tree. I also have at least a dozen of them. Many even most of them I can eat right off of the tree. They are on the tart side generally. Most are moist, some are drier. The drier tarter ones I only use in baking. The sweeter ones we eat or bake with, or can, or freeze etc. When we have an apple crop (when there isn't a late frost) we don't buy apples. Somewhere I have a picture of one of my tiny tractors pulling a wagon 1/2 full of an hours collecting for preserving one way or another
Is that tree 20 feet or higher as it appears? Gotta be a wikd American apple

 

[Lynzi777]

looks like a Wild American apple tree. I also have at least a dozen of them. Many even most of them I can eat right off of the tree. They are on the tart side generally. Most are moist, some are drier. The drier tarter ones I only use in baking. The sweeter ones we eat or bake with, or can, or freeze etc. When we have an apple crop (when there isn't a late frost) we don't buy apples. Somewhere I have a picture of one of my tiny tractors pulling a wagon 1/2 full of an hours collecting for preserving one way or another
  Is that tree 20 feet or higher as it appears? Gotta be a wikd American apple

Yea definitely 20 or higher. Now I wanna climb up there and get some! Lol

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

I am interested in checking them out if you have a name or website. I'm looking for some female duck

I just talked to my friend. He won't be getting back to his house for awhile so I don't have a number yet. The farm doesn't have a website. It is a man and his son that have lots of chickens and other birds. Once my friend gets back to his house he's going to get me the number and I can PM you with it. He also said that the son is on this site. He's going to try to get me his user name. There is also another woman that he gets some of his more common hens from. She too is a smaller farm that has "a ton of birds". She is in Jamesville. If you are interested in either let me know and I can PM you with their information as soon as he gets back to me.

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Rancher,

here are a couple of up-to-date photos of the pullets I got from you...from left to right, Ursa, Helen, Molly and Pringles. I guess Helen is officially a "hen" now! I call this photo "The Chorus Line", haha.





Speaking of Helen, note her high comb and generous wattle. Is this usual for Marans hens, or is this partially due to her being the Boss Hen and sort of taking on a rooster's role? Just curious... You can see that Ursa and Molly do not have very red combs yet. I wonder when they will start to lay. Pringles, the Delaware, has a little more reddening up of her comb and wattle. Maybe she will be next. When Helen goes into her nesting box to lay an egg, the other three are like maids in waiting. They hunker down under the box and wait for Helen. I figure they are getting an education and will hopefully use the box and not the floor when it is their time, but who knows?



TOB

 

[Lynzi777]

Beautiful birds TOB!!! Rancher did a good job growing those girls out for ya ;-) My Buff Orp has a larger red comb and waddles than all my other hens. I thought she was a roo when she was growing out because her comb was so much larger than Stella's. Not sure why some hens have larger combs than others...

 

[rancher hicks]

I'm missing two BR hens and I'm very upset. I don't know what happened. They were there this am and when I let them out this afternoon. I will be keeping everyone inside tomorrow though they will not like it and it will be cramped. I don't know what else to do.