***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[Adorkable]

Yesterday, I put up 8.5 quarts of soup starter...sure wish these onions came from my garden! The onions are called Colossal and each weighed about 2 pounds...@ 88 cents apiecee. Had to buy green peppers too, but they were $1.09 each. The recipe card is 4 x 6".


Also picked and prepped elderberries for jelly. I can't image how many it would take if someone was making wine...he/she would have to be really desperate to make wine. A five gallon bucket full of the berry umbrellas, picked and sorted, and then de-stemmed made about 7 cups of berries....took me 4 hours to just pull the berries off the umbrellas and pick out the little stems..... I'm going to see if the berries on the tray ripen any...or may just see if the chickens like them.




Washed the berries this morning and floated off the tiny stems, then they have been cooking on the stove to be hung to drain out the juice a little later today.

Today was also the day to make some peach jamelly. The small peach is ready to harvest. I've made one batch already.

Now it is time to go move the chicks from the brooder to the barn, Chicks inside to the outside brooder, and then move the quail that hatched last night to the inside brooder and then clean the hatcher and move another set of eggs into lockdown.

Oh! Someone asked me about Little Joe and how he was doing. He was adopted by a cow that lost her calf March 31...she thinks he is just a tiny baby still.....cleans and protects him. But here he is with one of his pasture buddies. Little Joe is now 8 months old...He is the one looking at us.



Couldn't resist this photo...the chick is about 9 weeks old and was hunting bugs all the way to Little Joe's pasture from the barn...about 50 yards from the barn!

Edited to add the picture of the finished jelly...three batches.

I found some elderberry bushes here and wanted to make wine until i saw how tiny those things are!

Careful with the berries and the chickens I am pretty sure they are poisonous unless cooked or dehydrated.

They jelly looks great

 

[NanaKat]

I found some elderberry bushes here and wanted to make wine until i saw how tiny those things are!

Careful with the berries and the chickens I am pretty sure they are poisonous unless cooked or dehydrated.

They jelly looks great

Thank you. Yes, they are so tiny and the stems make jelly bitter...guess it would to the same for wine.
Read an article the other day on dehydrated elderberries. Apparently elderberries have more anti-oxidents than blueberries. Someone in Wisconsin is making tablets for a healthfood chain now.

The chickens scarfed down the mash left from the cooked elderberries this morning along with their cracked corn, the peach skins, some cantaloupe skins and the left over cabbage slaw.

 

[NanaKat]

The rains are sure nice, but I hated to see the hail this morning. the Marble sized hail only lasted a few minutes. After this next shower, I'll go check my purple hull peas, the new squash and Okra bed and the tomatoes to see if there is any damage.
Moved 27 chicks to the barn last night and 15 chicks and quail to the brooder box in the hot tub room. There are 9 tiny quail in the inside brooder with a tiny Serama and two little Duckwing RCBantams. I moved 10 chicken eggs and 16 quail eggs to the hatcher due Sunday and Monday.

@SharkmanDan thought you might want to see what a goose can do in an attack on a dog....
Our Australian Shepherd Gracie has a huge mass on the side of her neck that originated from a hematoma from a bite from our gander. They can bite and twist hard. The hematoma was from a clamp down that included a blood vessel. Look at the left side of her neck. The mass was inoperable at her age, has formed its own blood supply and probably now weighs about 6 pounds. She is 11. After many visits for antibiotics and treatment, the vet said he was afraid she would bleed to death before they could remove it. It does not interfere with her breathing or activity yet.
The other dog is Red, our Catahoula Lab. Yes, she wears a seat harness when they go for a ride.

 

[Ironsights]

@ NanaKat and Sharkman

I've been beaten by a goose. When I say beaten, I mean the goose won. I got to close to a nest and two other geese got me. They bite and hold, then beat you with their wings. I wound up with some very bad bruises but they were just doing what comes naturally.
I saw on a National Geographic show that a swan can break bones.
One is always on guard duty while the others do what gooses do. lol.
I lost six eggs that a broody turkey was sitting on to the snake. I've tried everything suggested and haven't caught him yet.

 

[Adorkable]

@ NanaKat and Sharkman

I've been beaten by a goose. When I say beaten, I mean the goose won. I got to close to a nest and two other geese got me. They bite and hold, then beat you with their wings. I wound up with some very bad bruises but they were just doing what comes naturally.
I saw on a National Geographic show that a swan can break bones.
One is always on guard duty while the others do what gooses do. lol.
I lost six eggs that a broody turkey was sitting on to the snake. I've tried everything suggested and haven't caught him yet.

Sometimes ya just gotta sit outside with a shovel and wait for em

 

[SharkmanDan]

I guess that we're pretty fortunate here. The goose is very sweet. He did nip my friend's daughter, on the belly, and the little welt left behind, looked pretty much like she'd been kissed by a goose wearing light pink lipstick.
I try to keep the dogs locked up, when any birds are out (guineas being the exception, as they are ALWAYS out), and vice-versa. For everyone's sake. Sometimes, when I'm able to monitor them closely, I'll bring the dogs out, while the chickens are out. But, I'll never have full trust in the dogs, after the slaughter they did, last year, on chickens and turkeys. So, they get monitored closely. And, it's rare, that they are all out at the same time. My pup (8 month old mixed breed) is the best with the birds, as she has been brought up interacting with them. But, being a pup, she still wants to play, and "Help". She's been known to kill hawks that tried to grab a chicken, and also has retrieved a wayward pullet, wandering in the woods at dark. No harm to them. She brings them to me, like a lab would a duck that's been shot by a hunter. She's only done it 3 times, and since she's not supposed to do so, I still discipline her. She wants to play, and wants to help. She's just still learning her boundaries. I am guessing that she was the one who got the feathers from the duck that first night they wouldn't coop up, in an attempt to play. Now that the waterfowl are secure in the 50' x 150' chicken pen, they seem to be pretty secure.

 

[NanaKat]

Geese have knuckle bones on their wing joints that are formidable weapons. They are flogging machines when they choose to be.
We lost our goose to a coyote and the gander made a wonderful dinner when he would not stop attacking Gracie. The goose was a Chinese White and the Gander was an African Gray. She was a lovely goose, sweet and gentle...laid 119 eggs for us.

 

[Matt in Okla]

Just got moved into my place this year, late spring, so I didn't get a garden going. The neighbor and I have worked a barter though eggs for vegetables. Think we are both happy which is the basis of a good deal.

The girls reap the reward from the scraps and ends which I've been cooling in the fridge for them to help with the heat. They don't seem to like the peppers though.

 

[Kassaundra]

I had a traumatic childhood experience w/ a flock of geese, I will never have a goose, ever.

 

[mjgigax]

My roo is from Southland Silkies in FL. Hens are from Heavenly Feathered Farms in IN, ChickenJunkies in WV and a breeder in GA that her name escapes me. They all came from shipped eggs so should provide good genetic diversity crossed with Betsy's line!

thank you, that is good for my flock- lots of different bloodlines. I can see your roo's crest in some of the babies. The are amazing. The crest of the young too that I posted the other day has grown even more! My two hen that I got fromBetsy have some big crests too. Next year is going to be so fun- Pom pins everywhere