Surviving Minnesota!

[I Love Layers]

No animal pics today.  Cows were uncooperative and decided to high tail it out to the furthest pasture when they saw I had a camera in tow and not grains.  I am assuming tomorrow will be a better pic day if it cools down some.  They were hot and bothered anyway.  Ducks with their babies have been out on the pond all day too.  Oh well.  Can't blame them.  

DS learned a valuable lesson today.  He had put an egg in his pant pocket for safe travels from the coop to the house only to have it smashed by the dog when it jumped on him.  I told him it might be better just to carry it in his hand next time but we can't always avoid losing an egg here and there.  



Thanks all for the welcome back!!

I've done that before

Another time I forgot and I went on the trampoline with eggs in my pocket

 

[ejb3810]

Ralphie, how old is that EE/PC pullet? The thing looks very big and should give some good sized eggs.

 

[duluthralphie]

Ralphie, how old is that EE/PC pullet? The thing looks very big and should give some good sized eggs.

I am guessing around 5 months. It has just started to lay eggs about a week ago. They are Extra large Olive eggs. I have a few of them. I really like them. They are giants!

I moved her today to the new pen and she is one heavy girl. In addition to being a nice looking girl.

They are way larger than the pure PC's.

 

[oakridge]

We all need to learn that lesson for ourselves, several times over.

I didn't tell him I still carry eggs in my pockets.  It is only a matter of time I suppose that I am picking out smashed shell from my pockets.

When it happened to me it broke in my deep heavy carhartt jackek pocket, I unfortunately didn't notice one broke until the next morning....

 

[I Love Layers]

Good morning! Forgot yo set my alarm. Thank god I only woke up 7 minutes late

 

[duluthralphie]

Morning Layers.

Holm texted me a couple hours ago he is at the fair now. He must have gotten there yesterday as he said he did not get a chance to charge his phone until 10:30 last night.


I am a busy beaver already today. I have tomatoes smashed, juiced and pureed on the stove heating to can this morning. I want to boil off some water before I can them. I am thinking I will only get one or two more batches of tomatoes this year.

I still need to do the sauerkraut.

I worked on pens again yesterday and moved some birds. I had one BA I had removed from the pullet pen and put into the rooster pen. Yesterday I noticed his back was missing feathers and he is kind of a Pat, so I thought I might have gotten his sex wrong. He was sitting in a corner with his head into the corner, like a girl in a pen of boys would.

I put him back in the pullet pen and it wasn't five minutes he was chasing and jumping the girls. I moved him back to the boys pen and he immediately started picking fights and jumping the boys. They put him in his place and he went back to the corner. When I gave them a little scratch he came out and again started fighting. He has no redeeming qualities, he is not a good rooster in any way. He is small and ugly. I told Judy he could become Cornish game rooster soon.... He is one bird I will not feel upset about removing his head.


I also took my Cuckoo Marans out of the pen with the AppleTinis', Yokohama's and Polish. I had a few CLB and one SS in there too. I moved the white sports and Marans to there own pen. This gave me my first good look at the Marans. I was not hear the day they arrived so I never got to see them in the box and look them over. ( I was doing Grandpa daycare)..

I know this happens, and I am trying to tell myself Cheet happens. I ordered and got 7 Cuckoos straight run. I have 5 boys and 2 girls. I cannot help but think some one screwed me in favor of some one who ordered the more expensive pullets. There is no way whoever at Cackle put the chicks in the box knew they were giving me 5 boys. I questioned even buying them from Cackle, now I wish I had not. I was hoping for a couple more hens and trying to build a decent line up. With two pullets that will be a much bigger hill to climb.

Hopefully, I can find some decent ones at Hutch and then just get rid of these and cut my losses.

I need to get in gear here too for Hutch. I was thinking I had nothing good to show, I forgot I have Bert's babies. They should give any of the CX's there a run for their money. I will not have a good PC rooster (old enough) to put with my hens. But I have to have something else here if I look. I know I have the SS and mine are still sprig free.

I plan to grade my Creamers soon and Creamettes, (grade is my term for seeing who gets on the camp bus and who stays) Andy has lost his place as show bird. His comb has gotten too large and crest has all but disappeared. The comb has rough sides, I think that is called thumb prints but not sure. Does someone know?

It is too bad he has everything else going for him. He runs around free, I kind of made a pet out of him, so I guess him and Bert will just be free roosters this winter living in the shed.

I think I am going to try to get to 4 hens and 2 roosters of each breed. I have to cut down on birds. I am out of feed and needing to go to Monticello again today.. Way too expensive!

Enough for one sitting. everyone have a great day...I will be hanging around here for a couple hours while my tomatoes cook down..

 

[Rhetts]

Are you seasoning your tomatoes (like 'spaghetti sauce) or just canning them as is? Pressure canning or water bath? My first year with tomatoes and I am still trying to figure out what I want for sure. I do want to can some like stewed tomatoes like chopped with onions for chilis and soups. and Salsa maybe. But perhaps just pureed sauce would be handy too.

How do you do kraut? I was going to try this year (my first with cabbage) and found a recipe that seemed too easy. Shred cabbage, put salt on it, put in jar, cover with large outer leaves, put lid on jar and let sit one week in a dark corner. Remove leaves from top and put jar in fridge for a month. Does that seem right? I wouldn't know.

Have a good day all. I LOVE these cooler temps. You can actually do things outside with out dying.

 

[lvie]

Good Morning chickeners . . . . Gorgeous morning as you can tell. Took the dogs for a walk. Still waiting on Grandbaby no. 7. That poor girl has been in labor since monday morning. They went to the hospital this morning at 1 and she was dilated to a six. Today is also GS no. 1 birthday. He is 16! Ugh! I am getting up there in years. Better than not.

We are going to the state fair this afternoon. I just care if I have enough time to see the chickens and quilts before the Don Henley concert at 7:30. Walk around a little and eat something. Late night out tonight. That is good for older folks. Helps us to remember our younger days. I hope I get to meet Holms. He is showing Buckeyes right?

 

[duluthralphie]

I am making a tomato sauce today. I like it thick enough use in chili and other things. I do not flavor it, I debated adding some jalapenos to some, but decided against it. If I keep it just tomatoes it is more versatile.

I use a hot water bath. Tomatoes are easy to can. I just heat, and dump the tomatoes in jars (sanitized and hot of course). I put Critic acid into each jar to retard spoilage. I have used lemon juice but prefer the acid.

I give them about a 20 minute bath and they seal right away.


I have a couple old kraut cutters. I just alternate cabbage a little salt then more cabbage in crocks. I put a plastic bag on the top of that cabbage in the crock. Then I put a plate on top of the plastic then put a rock on the plate. I pour water on top of that to get a good seal and let it sit in the corner.

I tried the jar method last year. It was a waste of a good jar.

Good luck.



Edited to note I did not copy Rhetts I just answered her here.

 

[I Love Layers]

I wrote a whole thing and then my phone didn't post it