Surviving Minnesota!

[lvie]

Good Morning Chickeners. So nice to be able to sit down to the computer and pull up our thread. Love the chatter.

Sleepy - LOVE those birds of yours. Beautiful and Handsome. Thanks for sharing.

Bogtown - we had brats last night. We always saute onion and green pepper to go on them. This time I sliced a jalapeno to saute also. My DH groaned as he ate his dinner it was so good. The cukes made it all that much better and there was not one slice left. Good idea about the flavored cream on potatoes.

I sat very little yesterday but when I did it was by the big chicken coop and then I sit behind the garage along the river of course. It was hot and humid so I wanted to see how the chicks were doing in the heat. I have enclosed a small area that is from their coop door and out about six feet from their coop, then over about six feet and it uses the garage for shade. There is a fair breeze on most days through this entire coop area as it is between two other buildings. The area outside the coop is black dirt (used to be beautiful plants -LOL) As I sat there they were digging and laying and purring and purring and purring. Not one was panting. Pretty cool.

We waited for the storm, that Ralphie talked about, for a few hours to arrive. All of a sudden the wind whipped up and bam! It poured. It was dark at 7:30. I went out to lock the chickies into their coop around 9:30. When that wind came through it had blown their coop door closed. It had never occurred to me that this would happen. Dah! My chickies were huddled into an area between their coop and the garage about 18" wide soping wet. Poor birds!

I gently picked up each bird (they weren't going to move in the dark) and I gently put each one inside the coop. They were talking! Not too happy with me. Then I watched and finally saw, that because it was dark and they were so wet, they could not get on their roosts. So back into the coop I went and lifted each up to the roost. Then they quieted right down.

They seem none-the-worse for wear this morning. I will be watching - but what should I be watching for? Sneezing. Lethargy.

 

[lvie]

They were on vacation.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Ivie are they feathered? If so they should be fine.

Oh really German meal with the brats!

Today we get our bums ready for Ely. No going to work. A little sleep in then shower and last tidbits for the camper and then we're off.

 

[jerryse]

Okay....so there has to be variants or crossing of those black berries Jerry. Remember the photo of the bushes so thick with white blossoms. Well that lady friend of mine that took hat photo is now harvesting those berries. She's near GR. North and East of here an hour. I'd say definitely a different berry...as how can there be such a huge difference in ripening time? Do you think the age of the cane makes a difference as well? Younger, smaller bushes ripen sooner than big old ones? I'm thinking you're theory is more in the running, here....

The crossing could have been a long time ago as they exhibit mostly blackberry traits . The soft texture and light color gave me the hint . Early ripening also . While there could be more than 1 species of blackberry in the area . I find no evidence of the Canadian smooth blackberry or Himalayan blackberry in the area . So you most likely have the Wisconsin species . Nothing else is likely to survive zone 3 . Species ID is hard to find on the native species . I saw Tayberry while in Washington state . The canes look raspberry more prickly than thorny. Fruit was very long and red . A Scottish blackberry / raspberry cross . I assume it gets a purple tint when over ripe . Boysenberry is a more round berry . No hint of the red raspberry that is in the parentage . Most blackberries I have grown ripen fairly close . My wild was first then Triple Crown and Boysen just finished . So about a three week spread from early to late . I doubt age of the plant has much effect on ripening dates . The Himalayan is actually from Armenia . Burbank thought it was from Himalayan mountains . He got his start from Germany . I do not know Canadian zones so no idea the zone the Himalayan grows there . Zone 4 at least in Wisconsin and no info on zone 3 . So the 6 week or more ripening of the wild red raspberry seems the likely source of the wide gap in ripening times of the local blackberries .

 

[lvie]

Ivie are they feathered? If so they should be fine.

Oh really German meal with the brats!

Today we get our bums ready for Ely. No going to work. A little sleep in then shower and last tidbits for the camper and then we're off.

Yep - they are feathered. Thanks for the encouragement and it did reassure me.

Have a great weekend in Ely. Should be nice weather.

 

[duluthralphie]

I am home!

We both had early Dentist appointments today.

I lost an apple last night. My new apple tree only had 3 Apples on it so the loss of one was noticeable. I picked off the ground and spilt it 3 ways. Judy and I liked it my Mom thought it was too sour.

It was firm and could have used another week on the tree. Darn pouring rain and wind. I also picked a couple pears. They were ok, but small. I was disappointed Judy liked hers. I am thinking of picking and canning them. The tag says they are ripe in early August. One was overly ripe (rotten) on the back side.

We got 3 1/2 inches of rain since last night. I guess we came out ok. Judy read Ogilvie got 9 inches. Mosquitoes are crazy thick outside today. I had one turkey hen that was not around at lock up time last night. This morning when I let them out she was outside the door B*ing at me for locking her outside in the rain. She looked like a drowned rat.

The stupid cockatiel has a name. Cookie, and it has found it's way in the house. This is not good. I want it gone. Judy does not seem to want it gone as much as I do. I am thinking it did not escape, I think someone decided what a noisy PITA it was and threw it out the window. Anyone here want a cockatiel?

We stopped at target and shopped after the dentist. I dislike target, I have no idea why we had to sop there. Judy said we had too, so we did.

In other news, We binge watched the BBC series "Banished" the last few days. Great show. Hulu did not have season 2 on it, so I went online to see when it would on. They cancelled season 2! We will never know if Australia becomes a country or all the people die there now. Darn rotten BBC has to cancel the first show of theirs I liked.

BC have fun in Ely. Ivie glad your chicks are fine. It appears we are in for another round of heavy storms today.

 

[SleepyOwl]

Thanks for the compliments. It would be great if every rooster could go to a home that will keep them, but I know that just isn't going to happen.


We tried going to the fair last night. My sister wanted to take her 2 year old to the lawn mower pull, so we decided to go. Should have checked the weather first. We were there 10 minutes before we had to get out of there because the storm came in. *sigh* Ah well, we will go again another day.

Here are a few more of my chickens. This is Big Boy and his girls.



..my Calico Bantam Cochins. I lucked out. Out of the 8 that hatched, 7 were girls. I already had a roo, so I will have 2 roos over 7 girls.
(I may or may not keep them all to breed, but so far all look pretty good.)

Isn't she cute? I love how friendly the bantam cochins are. These were not handled much as babies, yet most will let me pet them (although don't "ask" for petting) and are easy to catch. They are so sweet!



This is the roo I already had.


Right now they all live in my main layer pen. They, along with the EEs I hatched, are too scared to follow the big chickens out into the great outdoors. I don't mind, as the bantams are better targets for prey, but it's kind of funny that they don't even try to go out. Maybe it's about time I just throw them outside to see what they are missing? LOL I plan to have them in a chicken tractor next year. I'm working on building one now. It's slow going because I don't work outside when it's hot.

 

[duluthralphie]

Nice birds Sleeepy.. I like the Calicos.

Princeton Fair?

Did you see the chickens?


I am going to go in next couple days. I wish they had an open class. I need to get busy and move birds and cull like crazy. We might be doing some hens on Camp Day. I have way too many. I am going to place and ad for CLB hens this fall. I only want a few for next year. I like their floppy heads and nice eggs, but I think the market for them has played out.

I am going to resist anymore GFF "fad of the month" birds, as Minnie calls them, I have learned my lesson. That said I will keep my white sports if I get a hen. I think I have 10-11 roosters and maybe one hen. They are so fragile, but so beautiful. A blue egg from a crested pure white bird would be cool. I would like to show them just for their beauty, but not being SOP or APA I am not sure where or if I can. Just as an exhibit would be nice, I think people would be impressed.

 

[jerryse]

Found this Cushaw hidden in the vines . These make great pie .

Predicted to hit 92 with heat index over 100 . Did some mowing . Heavy rain predicted for tomorrow . I will stay inside a lot today .

 

[Minniechickmama]

Actually, I call those GFF types "flavor of the month" but I think it comes out about the same in the wash.

We got at least 5 inches of rain last night, that is the point where my gauge ran over. I was told possibly 7 1/2 inches in Mazeppa, so I think we got at least that.
It was a lot of rain, the tubs in my attic and bedroom can attest to that! I was awoken at 2:30am to the sound of water dripping from the ceiling in our bedroom to the floor next to my side of the bed. DH was sleeping soundly. I got up and grabbed towels to soak up the floor and went up to the attic. What a nasty mess! It was bad enough I had bat guano up there to clean up when it cools down, but the west edge of the flat part of the rooftop was dripping in numerous places.
You see, last month when the storm hit that took trees down, it also peeled off shingles along the edge of the NW hip of the roof. We called a roofing outfit in Roch to see if they would fix it. They sent two guys out. We have had a small leak since 2001 when we had the whole roof redone by an incompetent crew. My trust in roofers is seriously in question. These two thought they would help us out by tapping down some of the metal that is supposed to flash the ridge of the square. There "helping out" is forcing us to get a crew out here to fix that whole danged thing before it starts raining again tonight! Two and a half hours sleep followed by that mess until a doctor's appointment in Rochester this morning, I am one crabby and tired chickmama. Top it off, DH flew out early this morning for his fishing vacation with his childhood buddy he hasn't seen in 30-years in Maine.
You know the old saying about 'only being given what you can handle'? Well, I wish like H311 I couldn't handle so stinking much!!!

On a better note, the Prairie Chick birds that went to our county fair did very well. The family that showed them lost their show birds to some of those nasty masked killers on four legs, so they got some on short notice from me. The judge said he liked them, but I think he favors Black birds and White birds, they got beat by 3 pens of Australorps and a pen of White Wyandottes. The hens tails were a bit beat up though from being in the cages and some feathers got broken. All in all, they did well. The older one is a girl who is a friend of my daughter and she may be taking the Buckeyes to State Fair.
It was a very small show this year. We started at 5:00 and were done by 8:30. In years passed we have been there at least until 10:30, and one year until 1:00am. I didn't count how many birds, but numbers were probably half of what they were last time. Hopefully, with the help of Senorita loco pollo, we can drum up more interest for next year. My DD is even thinking about showing again next year, but we shall see.

I hope everyone has a good day. It will be hot and muggy now. So fun! Like the last few days haven't been muggy and sweaty enough