Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

I water bath the jams, juice, and fruit. Been doing that for years. Great Grandma used wax for sealing jams (which used to be standard). Grandma used water bath and lids because to many jars of jam would mold that way. With water bathing she very rarely had a jar not seal and no mold issues.

My SIL made tomato sauce a couple years ago. Didn't sterilize the jars. Didn't add acid to them. She thought you just had to add a tablespoon of vinegar to the water in the canning kettle to raise acidity. She ran them 5 minutes. My brother refused to eat it since he grew up with good canning practice. I guess it was a huge fight. Mom said the jars sat on the counter for a few months. Then the seals started popping from pressure. It was stupid. She'd asked my mom how to do them before starting because it was her first try canning and ignored what she was told. I almost got her a blue book for christmas that year.

Mom called me about 8 times yesterday because she was making pepper jelly for the first time, wanting me to keep looking up the recipe and canning instructions. Mom was worried the vinegar wasn't enough acid.

My uncle and I have Mom using extra acid in all jams now, too. Even on the fruits that don't need a little extra acid. Fresh lemon juice. It helps retain the color of the jams better.

I wanted to add my Mother used to make awesome jalapeno jelly.....is that what your Mom was trying to make ?
Jellys and jams have so much sugar that they can be sealed with parafin, and there is no need to water bath if you have molten lava jam or jelly going into hot clean jars & seal instantly with hot parafin as you mentioned Grandma did.
I used to,
I even saved the parafin discs, washed of jam/jelly & put away in a coffee can under the sink to melt down again when ever needed.
No need to throw it out unless it gets really soiled.
Jalapeno jelly, looks like mint jelly & is excellent on meats, such as porch loin or lamb..................but it is super gross on a pea nut butter sammich !

 

[Chickielady]

We built a 11'x12' chicken tracter for under $200.

wow, 11'x12' tractor ?
I'd love to see photos !
How many wheels, how do you propel, carry it ?
We used an old bedframe cut & welded to make a hitch on the front of ours, that hooks up perfectly to our lawn tractor so we can drag ours around....how do you move yours ?
I think ours is about 5'x4' box with a 4'x8' run on the front, and the box has a lift lid, a skylight, and a heater inside that runs off a wafer thermostat (for baby ducks & chookies in early spring it gets cold)


Handles on the front enable us to move it without the lawn tractor, which works great until the corn ball (Cornish X) get so big & heavy !

Inside, lid up, you see the fan powered heater, wafer thermostat, and a sending unit for a wireless thermometer that I have in the kitchen.

Lid up, baby cornballs & they have a rain gutter waterer, Einstein connected to a toilet-type float valve & a 5 gallon bucket, plenty of vitamin filled water !

Skylight plexi-glass works great until it gets too hot, holes drilled all around with window screen over (hot glued on) allow fresh air with no no-see-ums or mosquitos.

Trailer hitch from a old bed frame.

Little off road tires on cool gold spoke rims, LOL
Sure not fancy, but has it's good qualities.
Love to see other's tractors !

 

[Hinotori]

I wanted to add my Mother used to make awesome jalapeno jelly.....is that what your Mom was trying to make ?
Jellys and jams have so much sugar that they can be sealed with parafin, and there is no need to water bath if you have molten lava jam or jelly going into hot clean jars & seal instantly with hot parafin as you mentioned Grandma did.
I used to,
I even saved the parafin discs, washed of jam/jelly & put away in a coffee can under the sink to melt down again when ever needed.
No need to throw it out unless it gets really soiled.
Jalapeno jelly, looks like mint jelly & is excellent on meats, such as porch loin or lamb..................but it is super gross on a pea nut butter sammich !

That's what great Grandma did with the parafin. Mom had to much issue with jars not sealing right, though after I got her to quit flipping them upside down to cool that was greatly reduced. She would pour the just finished jam into the jars that were in the pans of boiling water still.

Normally Mom makes low sugar jams anymore since they have to watch it. She made full sugar on the pepper, though. The next batch Mom is making will be all jalapenos. She used a recipe this time that called for bell peppers and used hablanos (because that's what she got from my great uncle) instead of the jalapeno in it. She's going to see if they have any jalapenos left and use just those. Both her and Dad have gone nuts on the pepper jams. It's going on to everything savory that they eat just about.

 

[Hinotori]

We built a 11'x12' chicken tracter for under $200.

Cattle panels, wire, and tarp? I don't think making one with that would run very much depending on what type of wire you use.

I've been thinking of making a sheep house out of the cattle panels. Then I could actually get a few.

 

[YNOT2K]

Materials are not cheap regardless of what you are building. We just put up 2 sides and a roof on an 11 x 8 foot chicken run and spent about $700 in materials.

Agreed - I priced materials out for this build at about $1200.

We built a 11'x12' chicken tracter for under $200.

I guess it all depends what you want, right? If price is the deciding factor, you did well. Price wasn't the deciding factor for us.

It takes all kinds to make the world go round.....

 

[jbkirk]

Quote:

Quote:

We built a 11'x12' chicken tractor for under $200.

Cattle panels, wire, and tarp? I don't think making one with that would run very much depending on what type of wire you use.

I've been thinking of making a sheep house out of the cattle panels. Then I could actually get a few.

I used 2 16'x8' sheets of 4" galvanized horse paneling for the frame, covered the back third and sides with sheet metal, the front two thirds and sides with chicken wire, and it's a lot nicer than wood framed ones because it doesn't soak up water and get VERY heavy like my old one did
It is just under 2' tall , two of the roof panels are hinged for feeding/watering, and I used two bike tires for wheels, and right now it needs two people to move it

.
The horse panels are $70 at Westside each. Sorry no pics as of now

, although after hearing what you guys paid I'm VERY happy with the cost

oh and we designed it ourselves.

 

[Hinotori]

And silkie hen number 3 just went broody. I'm waiting now. The last one will be broody by the end of the week I bet.

 

[CarolynF]

And silkie hen number 3 just went broody. I'm waiting now. The last one will be broody by the end of the week I bet. 

. :cd

 

[ochochicas]

I'm sure DH would be happier if it only cost $200. However, our chickens would last about one night in a tractor before something ate them.

They love their new run,which is connected to their 10 x 10 indoor stall/coop.

 

[Carolei]

Cockerels have emerging hackle that is evident to see by this time.
Not sure about "roos"

Hackle emerges on the back & neck cape of the male bird, called a cockerel, or up to 1 year of age the male bird is called a Cock.
Cock is the male, Hen is the female.

A young (under 1 year of age) female, is a pullet.
Over a year, she is a hen.

The last photo, with a yellow sweat shirt holding the bird in question, it does look like it has saddle hackle.................on coming sickle tail feathers is another clue..................

Thanks for your input! I also suspect that she may be a cockerel, but I'm holding out hope because I really want to keep her and I won't be able to if she's male. S/he's 17 weeks now. I'm just waiting to see if I find an egg or hear a crow.