***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[hannahwren]

 

[hannahwren]

 

[Oceanseve]

237 posts behind, no way I'm catching up. Hope everyone is well and they were all happy and funny posts

Turkey got eaten last night DH has been forgetting to shut the coop most of the last week. Apparently something pulled him out in the middle of the night, dragged him about 20 feet into the brush, ate the breasts and innards. It was a very clean kill, no damage to neck or feet, looks like it probably grabbed it by the breast. Any ideas on what it was?

 

[Kassaundra]

Upcdayz don't run off! Ignoring the fussing & drama has to be easier than experiencing the chicken talk withdrawals.
Glad to here Blanchard is still on, not sure if we will make it this wk or not. We are WAY busy around here. Whoever thought planning to build a house while the garden is coming into full swing & DD is brooding all these birds & hatching each wk didn't realize there are only so many hours a person can put in & still crawl out of bed the next day.
Kass thanks for the how to. Dnk if anyone responded to your tomato question, yes tomatoes can be water bathed, no pressure canning required. Not sure if my kitchen aid has a julienne slicer, guess I need to look. I use zucchini as lasagna noodles, but never tried it for spaghetti. Doubt I will try the squash candy, I have never even let my kids drink Kool-aid. DD reacts to blue food coloring (hives, swollen lips & face). Easier just to do our best to avoid food coloring. I may brainstorm other flavoring ideas-- think I had read up on zucchini candy a few yrs ago.
Last yr my to do list was pineapple zucchini but never tried it. Just zucchini canned in pineapple juice. Found a recipe for zucchini cobbler.... It is on the list of things to try also. Every yr I always make a BUNCH of zucchini relish. We LOVE that stuff.
Yesterday everyone was talking about there okra just starting to bloom & couldn't believe we already had pods. Picked maybe a dz okra pods so far. The okra we planted are the red type too- wonder of they mature faster? I don't guess I ever looked at the DTM.
Just checked the weather. We have a 50% chance of rain tomorrow so going to get out & pick some more greenbeans today & spend a few hours cleaning inside the garden.
Going to have some coffee then drag the kids out of bed. I am expecting grumpy monsters, but they sure don't like doing any outside chores once it warms up in the afternoons.
Hope everyone has a great day!!! I will check back in when it heats up & we tucker out.

Fruit juice, or fresh fruit (like berries) boiled in w/ the squash, or flavored tea should do very similar maybe even better flavors.

 

[hannahwren]

They spent their first night outside an did very well, an seam to be happier out there. On another subject, that dang turkey of mine is getting SO BIG, AND IS SO NASTY compared to my chickens. . . . .

Is this all turkeys?

 

[NanaKat]

Drinking more coffee and waiting for the beets to finish cooking for pickled beets today. Putting up 1/2 bushel.
Finished the chicken rounds and already weeded some in the garden.
Took some pictures last evening and will post some after I go back and read the 58 posts from yesterday evening.
Saw some pretty birds while I scanned.

Oh and Kassaundra..on tomatoes. Yes, you can water bath them. I slip the skins, core them and quarter them. Just barely cover with water and boil until tender.(about 10 minutes. I pack into quart jars with 1 tsp of canning salt cover with the boiling juice and wipe rims and place in a canner of hot water. Has to be hot to the touch because the tomatoes in the jar are hot and you don't want the jrs to crack. I boil for 30 minutes timed from when the water boils.
I also make a soup starter or stewed tomato by adding celery, onion, garlic and peppers. I also use herbs for an Italian version Can it the same way. If you want to boost the acidity, add a tsp of lemon juice to each quart jar.

 

[Buster52]

My wife even liked the pic's of the cool garden stuff ..When i told her to come look she said i am not coming over to look at a chicken ..I said it's not a chicken it's that lady that grow's all the stuff an take's pic's of it..She said wow that is a nice lay out....

Now that I like. Mainly because I can't do it and am amazed at the abilities of some of our gardeners on here.

I also like to look at people's setup and equipment. I can learn from that stuff, like Carl's gorgeous a-frame tractors and plans. So, I guess I won't turn off the pics after all. It would be nice, though, if folks would be considerate of those of us with slower connections before posting multiple posts of bandwidth hogging graphics, pretty though they may be.

As to people leaving... well, I've talked to a lot of old timers and lurkers, serious chicken people all, who no longer read or participate in this thread, but not for the reasons some seem to think. But I won't say why to spare hurt feelings. Suffice to say we have many different reasons for raising chickens and using this forum. We all get something different from the experience. I do enjoy reading many of the posts here, to keep up with what is going on and do learn from some of the folks. Some people, I follow their posts religiously.

For that, I'm willing to overlook the things that don't interest me.

 

[Buster52]

They spent their first night outside an did very well, an seam to be happier out there. On another subject, that dang turkey of mine is getting SO BIG, AND IS SO NASTY compared to my chickens. . . . .

Is this all turkeys?

Depends on how they are raised. Turkeys on pasture are much cleaner than chickens, and much better foragers.

 

[hannahwren]

Depends on how they are raised. Turkeys on pasture are much cleaner than chickens, and much better foragers.

On Pasture? I let him do as he pleases, he has free range of our place. I put him up at night, I still think he is too young tobe left out on his own. An most days, my chickens run the yard also, but man o man he poops alot!!!!! I MEAN ALOT!!! And I guess since all mine are bantam, it is just a huge difference in amount. POOP SCALE One Turkey>>>>>>20 Bantam

 

[NanaKat]

I would like to take a minute to say a HUGE thank you to Okieridge for meeting me after work with those beautiful eggs for my broodie BA hen. I got home marked them and took them out with me to feed and gather. There she was sitting on the unfertilized eggs...I got her up she went to eat and drink and take a quick dust bath...while I played a quick switcharoo. She looked under there saw that I didn't take her eggs this time and the look on her face was priceless! I don't think I have ever seen a happier hen! She ran cooing and chortleing the whole way back to those eggs....then she went to talking to them while she settled in. It was absolutely awesome. I will move her and the eggs to a brooder once I am absolutely sure she has taken to them well enough to still sit should I change her environment. She was soooo happy! Thank you so much! We both appreciate it

Question:
To separate her or keep her where she is?

1st time broody...been in the same place for 2 weeks solid so she is happy there. She has made her nest on the ground behind one of the nest boxes in between that at a pallet in the coop with the other hens. They don't seem to be bothering her. Will they hurt her babies? Will moving her cause her to quit sitting? Will moving her cause huge problems with the pecking order?

I'd let her sit on the eggs for a few days before moving her. I set up a cage with a cut off cardboard box with nesting material pressed into a bowl shape. Then in the evening I slip the eggs out from under the broodie and place them in the nest. Then I move the hen. Providing feed and water and brief trips on the ground thru the rest of the brooding process helps. I have a 4 x 6 floor pen I can use once the chicks have hatched to keep the other birds from getting to the babies. Broodies are great at protecting their chicks from the other hens. But I like to give them a couple of weeks so the chicks are stronger.

Here is a pic of todays garden haul, the green beans aren't in the pic and the squash and cukes are just represented b/c there were to many to fit in the pic. a couple 5 gal buckets of cukes and a 5 gall bucket of squash.


the odd things in it are the red okra in the front, right behind them are white and purple eggplant, the red just to the rt of the eggplant are little caribean hot peppers, and the brownish orange to the far rt are poona cukes.

NICE!! We are getting a lot of stuff now too. Tomatoes are the biggest harvest unlike last year. Will be putting up soup starter this week now that the MILs tomatoes are coming on. We have been sending stuff to her for several weeks since her garden was planted later than ours. I planted several varieties of Okra later too. Have some German okra that has pods that are 2 inch in diameter and only 4 inches long.

Quote: Until he learns to climb

Quote: How old is your little roo? I have a Spangled pair from a Texas breeder that have provided me with eggs to hatch. There are 6 that are about 2.5 months old. I think 2 are pullets.
Here is the pair Fred and Ginger. Fred has molted out his sickle feathers and they are growing back. She is just now coming out of molt and will begin laying again soon.

morning everyone! just about finished my first cup o joe, need to feed and water- looks like the little serama hen's eye is on a mend, checked her this morning and she had it open!!

gonna be hot by the end of the week, so back to early hours to get outside stuff done... i am really dreading the rest the summer!

Read on the geese thread to put oxine in the bathing water so that eye infections would heal faster. Wonder if you bathed her face with a 10% solution if that would help.