Stella's Social Club

[The Sheriff]

Hi Tonya! Ya' busy thing.

We finally got the dead cedar tree removed from the front yard yesterday. Son-in-law has taken over the company now and they have been really busy. Freebies for us get worked in when they can.

BEFORE:



DURING:



Snn-in-Law Mike cutting the stump down.





They cleaned up every twig and blew the area clean!




I kept three small stumps to put in the chicken runs. The chickens need stuff to get up on during the wet weather when the runs are muddy. I have to get some tree seal though to stop the sap from flowing. I won't put them in the runs till that stops! Apparently the tree was diseased but still had a bit of life in it.



AFTER: I actually like it better!







Kind of an interesting name for a tree cutting service!

 

[Happy Chooks]

It looks great Mary!

 

[The Sheriff]

It looks great Mary!

I told Michael it gives us a better view of the power lines!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

It looks great Mary!

x2

 

[gryeyes]

I am more like you Linda! Always want to just sign before they change their minds! BtW, yesterday a young couple stopped by to see if I was interested in their parents five emus! They have to downsize and the couple drove past my house and saw the emus and wondered if I wanted more. Free. They also have two Barbados sheep they want to re-home. I thought about you and told the couple I would pas the info on to you.

Barbados sheep? My former landlady in West Sac had a few Barbados sheep - those are the ones that don't need to be sheered because they don't grow wool, but hair, and lose it themselves each year. They eat star thistle, I think.... I hope, anyway. As for the emus, I am thinking I should raise from chicks.... In any case, I'd have to get fencing appropriate for them in an appropriate area of the property.... Still waiting for a response to my counter offer, much less actually having space for 'em. That corner looks a lot better without that old dead tree, Mary.

 

[debs_flock]

Quote: Linda, as soon as I can get organized, I plan to sort out some call ducks for you.

When I realized I was spending close to $2K per month at the feed store, I knew I needed to do something about it. I've been "processing" cockerels all week.

The lady that used to buy all my excess boys and a couple of freezer ram lambs from us each year disappeared from the face of the earth. Guess who drove into our driveway today??? YAY!!! She lives in Elk Grove. Her cell phone died and she lost our phone number. She was in Folsom today and decided to drive up just so she could reconnect with us. She's coming back on Thursday to take two lambs and every cockerel/rooster I can spare. She'll be back in two weeks for three more lambs!!!!

Yay, I can put away my chicken processing stuff, I already put ten in the freezer (and two in the oven) in the last four days. I had told DH we were going to have to start eating chicken five nights per week just to knock down the numbers. She'll take all my current excess and I can grow out another pen full of boys for her. Now I'll just keep the young marans boys (they have been the tastiest) and the extra bresse boy to try.

 

[The Sheriff]

Wow Deb! Now that's good news.

 

[The Sheriff]

Lockdown tonight on my cream legbars. 1 viable out of the remaining five eggs.

These are the ones that sat five days in the post office floor. This last one better hatch and it better be a boy!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Lockdown tonight on my cream legbars. 1 viable out of the remaining five eggs.

These are the ones that sat five days in the post office floor. This last one better hatch and it better be a boy!

Every other Cream Legbar hatcher in your position is usually saying, "... and it better be a girl!"

 

[debs_flock]

I know there are other CL people here and I made an interesting observation today that I found odd.

In my processing this week, I was working my way through a pen of boys all hatched at the same time. I did four each of CL, polish and marans. They were all within days of each other in age, the polish and CL dressed about the same size and the marans about a pound heavier.

The thing I found odd, (this might be too gross for some people) each bird was done one at a time with the same technique. It takes me about the same amount of time to pluck each bird. Each of the CL, rigor mortis set in before I could even get them half plucked. The other two breeds, it was not until I had them chilled. This was true of all 12 birds that I did. I just found it odd that it was breed specific.

The bird was perfectly fine, I braised one of the CL for dinner tonight and it was tender and delicious. I didn't bother resting it since I was going to braise it anyway.

Just found it odd.........