Stella's Social Club

[The Sheriff]

I went berry picking this morning. I have a huge blackberry patch loaded with big ripe blackberries. This is one corner of the big patch.





Thanks to these two, there were only about six blackberries I could reach! In the middle were thousands of huge, juicy berries which could only be picked if lowered in a basket from a helicopter.




So I grabbed Tucker and headed out on the Cricket to the corner of our property on the road to pick berries. Guess what? The deer beat me to those.




I am not sure why I have a BB gun in the back. I'll have to ask Michael about that. If I get accosted, I can shoot the perp, hit him in the head with a hammer, tie him up with string, and chain him to a tree. I'm set!




But, I managed to get enough berries to make a batch of scones.

 

[ronott1]

I went berry picking this morning. I have a huge blackberry patch loaded with big ripe blackberries. This is one corner of the big patch.





Thanks to these two, there were only about six blackberries I could reach! In the middle were thousands of huge, juicy berries which could only be picked if lowered in a basket from a helicopter.




So I grabbed Tucker and headed out on the Cricket to the corner of our property on the road to pick berries. Guess what? The deer beat me to those.




I am not sure why I have a BB gun in the back. I'll have to ask Michael about that. If I get accosted, I can shoot the perp, hit him in the head with a hammer, tie him up with string, and chain him to a tree. I'm set!




But, I managed to get enough berries to make a batch of scones.

Nice berrys!

A trick is to get a ladder and lay it up and over the berry patch. You then climb up the ladder and pick the berrys from between the steps.

 

[The Sheriff]

Thanks Ron, I may have to try that!

Kelly, wanna come pick berries?

I don't think Tucker is up for another round of berry picking.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Terrible freak summer storm last night (complete with tornado warning!) destroyed a grower pen and knocked out the power. It was out in it catching 40 very wet and freaked out chicks, then back in to hurry and cover the incubator with blankets. Finally at 2 AM the temp had dropped to 90 and still no power so I ran 30 eggs out to broodies and went to bed hoping for the best. One of the hen that I didn't think was really broody just sleeping in a nest box abandoned the eggs this morning before I managed to get out and check on them at 7:30 AM so I hurried them back into the incubator. I had about 140 eggs in there. Time to invest in a generator I think. And now my eggs are all mixed up because I pulled from several trays! Yeesh!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Nice dark eggs, but your egg skelter is full. You better get to baking.

Thinking about it!

Thanks Ron, I may have to try that!

Kelly, wanna come pick berries?

I don't think Tucker is up for another round of berry picking.

I have to pick my own berry bushes! Where's my scone?

 

[The Sheriff]

Wow Rinda, what a night! get one of the little portable Honda generators. Ours has worked well for years.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Terrible freak summer storm last night (complete with tornado warning!) destroyed a grower pen and knocked out the power. It was out in it catching 40 very wet and freaked out chicks, then back in to hurry and cover the incubator with blankets. Finally at 2 AM the temp had dropped to 90 and still no power so I ran 30 eggs out to broodies and went to bed hoping for the best. One of the hen that I didn't think was really broody just sleeping in a nest box abandoned the eggs this morning before I managed to get out and check on them at 7:30 AM so I hurried them back into the incubator. I had about 140 eggs in there. Time to invest in a generator I think. And now my eggs are all mixed up because I pulled from several trays! Yeesh!

Tornadoes.

 

[gryeyes]

Wow Rinda, what a night! get one of the little portable Honda generators. Ours has worked well for years.

One of my local friends has recommended I get one of those. I am trying to decide if I just want the well powered, or if I want to add the freezer, fridge, and......my wireless router, computer....and if I "need" the TV and DirecTv on generator power....

I don't hatch often enough to need the incubator(s) on auxiliary power. Power has never been off longer than four hours.

Just another Project for a later date.

 

[gryeyes]

I went berry picking this morning. I have a huge blackberry patch loaded with big ripe blackberries. This is one corner of the big patch.

I am so jealous. I would love to have blackberries growing on and over ANY section of the property fence, but I can't keep the poultry away from it. So I planted three blackberry vines in my garden. Two of them were eaten down to the ground TWICE by Penelope's chicks but have come back, just no blossoms yet. The third one has produced ten berries so far. The chicks are now too large to get through the garden netting. Woo hoo! I ate the six ripe ones yesterday. My very own blackberries!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Wow Rinda, what a night! get one of the little portable Honda generators. Ours has worked well for years.

I will look into it. Hubby has been trying to talk me into getting a generator for about a year now. We have crazy ice storms in the early spring that can knock out the power for days sometimes. So I think we will start looking for a good deal with a goal to have one by the end of the year. I hate rushing into a large purchase and would rather wait for a good deal! The damage is done for now so I see no reason to rush. Man I am dragging today though. Tried to nap and of course hubby called and woke me up... not intentionally but it's still annoying!

Just finished checking on everyone outside. Momma, one of my Cream Legbar hens, was acting lethargic so I picked her up to examine her and found maggots in a wound on her rear.

Scared me to death. Once I got it cleaned up I could see it really was not very big, maybe a dime size pocket wound up under her skin. It cleaned up really easily and she's in a plastic tote in the garage while it heals. Yuck, that's the first time I've had to deal with that. I trimmed her butt feathers, washed the caked poo off with water and dish soap, cleaned the wound with hydrogen peroxide, rinsed well with water, and packed it with triple antibiotic cream. She has some colloidal silver in her water. There were about 20 maggots in the wound and I made sure I got them all. Anything else I should do for it?

ETA: YUM on the berries! Post some yummy pictures later!