Surviving Minnesota!

[Cebarmlds]

Erli, Spring Snow is a fruitless variety of Flowering Crab. It is grown for the spring flowering display, and some folks don't want to have to deal with the apple clean up.
Those flowering crabs which have very small apples generally are much appreciated by the birds. Some varieties hold the fruit into winter and have an ornamental appearance even then ?

Ralphie, glad to see that you maintained the NPIP as you put so much effort to attaining it in the first place.

Jerry, glad to see your trip home appears to have gone better than the trip up. Good luck in catching those sunnies. They are very tasty.

BC, even with all this water I never have problems in my house. I am on a hill and so stay high and dry even in the worst floods.

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EJB Thank you, I'd love to have a crab to feed the wild birds. The Cedar Wax Wing is one of the most beautiful birds and I'd love to see them around more often!
Is the Spring Snow tree sterile? what i'd like to know is if it's going to work as a pollinator for my full size apples(dwarf and semi dwarf). I have 5 trees I planted here 3 yrs. ago most of them have blossoms. Wealthy, Transparent, Duchess, Haralson, Red Graverstein... my Wolf River died and I replaced it last year with State Fair.

 

[bobbi-j]

How are you related to my wife again? Another one of her cousins on this thread...wow

Well I'm feeling like I should really confuse you Ralphie with these orioles.

These would be the moocher oriole I believe.

Morning
is the sun ever coming back?
I went to a friend of a friends yesterday and dug up about a dozen wild blackberry canes!! Planted them on the edge of my herb garden where all the wild raspberries are growing...a little chicken poop and they should take off! I was told the berries are not as big as the berries you can buy in the store but are very sweet.

Well, no matter how big they get, you know they'll taste better than anything you can buy in the store.

 

[ejb3810]

Erli the Spring Snow will not be a pollinator. With all those apple varieties you have planted I don't think you will have a problem with fruit set.

Ralphie, the rooster seems to be improving, but not to the point of propagation yet. I think he will be up to speed before long ?

 

[Cebarmlds]

Erli the Spring Snow will not be a pollinator. With all those apple varieties you have planted I don't think you will have a problem with fruit set.


Thank you

 

[duluthralphie]

Erli the Spring Snow will not be a pollinator. With all those apple varieties you have planted I don't think you will have a problem with fruit set.

Ralphie, the rooster seems to be improving, but not to the point of propagation yet. I think he will be up to speed before long ?

Good, I was wondering how he was doing...Idiot bird..

How they can hurt themselves when you want them most is an art form for them....That little PC cockerel I was counting on has made the point today.... Another reason to stop selling chicks, so I can have enough of my own! Greedy I am Greedy!

 

[lilmynx13]

Update on fluffy butts. 2 pullet salmon favorelles, 2 pullet welsummers, 2 sr Blue laced red Wyandotte, 3 pulllet what might be black Marans as they were hatchery choice rares and one ameruacauna pullet. So please fellow chickeners educate me on these as all I have really had before are Ameracauna, buff Orpington, bbs orps that were part of the great chickening (I spent 2 years coping with the loss) , and production reds. Which I think I have 5 of now.

 

[holm25]

Mr. Ole found a new way to scratch himself!

 

[jerryse]

Morning . I have not seen the sun in days . Sun is peeking through the clouds now . I want to get out and check things . Rained all day yesterday .

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Sun is out today.

I cannot get over the dead deer in the ditches. I must have counted 4 road kills on my normal path. Rough weekend on the local herd and tourists.? They have been running out of the ditches like they're in rut but idk what the deal is. Anyways the eagles have full bellies and that's a good thing. One carcass I saw was gone basically in two days.

The chicks are feathering fast jerry, I feel. Crazy how fast. I brought up their lamp again last night as they were sleeping on the opposite end of the brooder yesterday. The were under it with our 40's for a while.

Time to get the chickens out of the coop

 

[Siggie]

Good morning! There is a strange bright yellow ball in the sky????? Very deceptive because my outdoor thermometer still read 32 degrees when I got up to let the chickens out at 6a. Maybe I should have waited to plant my Yarrow in the garden....oops?! It is a little droopy but not dead so maybe I will get lucky. Yarrow is pretty much a weed so I don't think a little frost is gonna kill it! But it is a GREAT medicinal herb and so I grow, I grow, I grow...... in an emergency, if you are bleeding you can pull a few leaves, chew on them and put it on wound and it will stop the bleeding! Ok, just a little herbal trivia.....I will get back to chickening now...
My chicks are finally on their own. The broodies have gone back to sitting up on the roosts and leaving the chicks to huddle together by themselves on the floor of the coop. I worry just a little because the last two that were hatched are only a little over 4 weeks old. All are feathered out though and growing fast! I have noticed that they would rather hunt for bugs than eat the greens I throw out for them? Usually they all love the greens (a mix of grass from the yard, weeds, parsley, cilantro, cucumbers and strawberry tops)
but they turn their beaks up and walk out of the run in search of bugs. Hmmmm. I have very good foragers!
The chicks are not getting the message though that when all the adults go in to roost, it is time to go to bed! They stand outside under the barn roof and cry like they are lost? It takes them about 15 minutes to realize that everyone has gone to bed and they should too...
Well it's official, I have 2 more broodies. Went into the coop yesterday and the broody Cochin had moved into a different box and I had a Barred Rock in the box with the incubating eggs. Had to shoo her out and then return the eggs to the broody....she BIT ME! Ungrateful little broody!!! Next time she can sit on pine shaving and I will let her eggs go cold! The Wyandotte is in the corner of the coop and is NOT moving! Funny story....I walked in the coop to check on them and there was a tiny dead vole or mole (not sure which) that apparently had gotten too close to the Wyandotte in the corner??? It was laying about an inch from her beak...very dead. dumb vole. Ok, coffee high is wearing off so I will stop typing now....