Washingtonians

[Kaneke]

Quote:
yes she does have a few!

What?? You can say that without giving me more info!

It won't hurt my feelings if I have a few boys there...it will just give me the chance to look for more breeds I want.

remember, Dana said her friends are NOT ready for chicks, so there might be some nice pullets available ... just sayin' ....

not sure we have those sexed yet, but they're old enough that Illia could use her magic eyes .. once Dana is back from AZ and can post pix

I forgot to ask Julia today, if Ginger's pink egg ever pipped ... and she has a dozen and a half going into lockdown, later this week if I heard her correctly

so if you like EEs that are gold duckwing with Columbian genes ... LOL

 

[Chickielady]

OK, I harvested what I thought (and was so worried about a poor harvest of) my winter squash.
Since it is soooooooooooo wet, I had to pick the bigguns, lest they develope rot.
I planted 6 sweet meats, 1 banana, 1 spaghetti...........that is all.
I looked & looked for months, and saw only 2 banana, 3 spaghetti and 6 sweet meats in the patch.
So, yesterday I went 'in' by pass pruners in hand, over & over and came out with 13 sweet meats (the largest is 16.9 # the smallest is 12#) and 3 bananas over 2' long, all covered with sugar warts

and 7 spaghetti squash.
HOLY MOLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than I 'saw' when I was lookin!
How on earth does a 16 pound blue squash HIDE???????????

Anyways, got all in, washed, sprayed with the bleach solution (per my Dad) and let air dry (to prevent fungus & rot while stored) and stashed away in betwix small layers of compressed clean wheat straw...(or the crusty sugar warts can poke holes and cause rot) otherwise they should store well into early summer.
Sweet meats has more sugar than any squash..and is awesome baked.
Chooks love the innards, seeds and all..and you gotta cut them open with a clean Ax.

I am set for winter for food, all but need the Stumpfarmer sausage (unseasoned) and maybe one of those deer in the driveway....

Edited to add:
There is still 8 sweet meats out there that are not ready to pick, 4 pumpkins (one is a mammoth) and Brussels sprouts are taking over!!!!!!!!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
What?? You can say that without giving me more info!

It won't hurt my feelings if I have a few boys there...it will just give me the chance to look for more breeds I want.

remember, Dana said her friends are NOT ready for chicks, so there might be some nice pullets available ... just sayin' ....

not sure we have those sexed yet, but they're old enough that Illia could use her magic eyes .. once Dana is back from AZ and can post pix

I forgot to ask Julia today, if Ginger's pink egg ever pipped ... and she has a dozen and a half going into lockdown, later this week if I heard her correctly

so if you like EEs that are gold duckwing with Columbian genes ... LOL

I was going to mention that...

 

[AriLovesChickens]

I'm kind of clueless on the genetics at this point...but yes, I'm still thinking about the EEs.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
get several large cardboard boxes, install a roosting 2x4 (or two) on top of your current brooder, and set the boxes up as a "second story loft"

you can cut a viewing window in the side of the added boxes; either use plastic (we used an old pizza box top) or wire mesh/hardware cloth

nice thing about cardboard boxes -- instead of trying to clean them out/scrape them out, you can consign the befouled ones to the compost heap, and use new ones

ours were partly paper-towel cartons from Walmart, and heavy liquor boxes from the liquor store -- an ideal box might be from an appliance store, one intended to hold dishwasher, dryer, or even hot water tank ...

cut to the size/conformation you want with a box cutter, then tape together --- set up access panels anywhere you want

actually for part of the time, I had cardboard on the bottom, and an upside down clear plastic bin on top of the roosting boards, so I could watch what they were doing

The BIG cardboard boxes, used at this time for pumpkins, or in summer, for watermelons, work great for temp coops.
Ask at your grocery for any they may have.
Before they crush them, give the produc guy your phone number, and go get the box when he calls.
The boxes usually come ON a plastic pallet, and in case they do not let you have said pallet but just give you the cardboard, use other cardboard, or set the pumpkin cardboard sides on constractor's plastic, hold in place with duct tape here & there, add shavings & you are in business.
I used apple crates in Idaho..they worked great for raising 25 or so chicks, or a flock of happy lab puppies too!
Love the apple crates.

 

[Chickielady]

I just set a handful of JUMBO Buckeye eggs, purebred.
These eggs will not fit in a LARGE egg carton.
It has made me miserable selling eggs, as I have few JUMBO egg cartons.
So these babies are destined for the Ogress' fortess on the mountaintop~~
Mommie:

Daddy:

Birds are barely 5 months old, and laying Jumbos

Beautiful, super friendly, I love them !

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
Those are so pretty! All I can think is what they're like roasted low and slow with butter and salt and LOTS of pepper, until the exposed surfaces start to bubble and caramalize, and then having the left-overs as muffins for breakfast. Or fried with ham steak and served with red-eye gravy. REAL old fashioned winter squash, wonderful stuff- we used to raise them among the acre or two of field-corn that Dad cut down with a machete and fed to the cattle in September (and corn-on-the-cob people steamed when the kernals were still in milk in late July and early August, and swore was better than sweet-corn), store the uncut ripe squash in the hay, feed the green ones to the cattle early and then as treats to keep their Vitamin A levels up in winter... take a thirty pound hubbard to the house, cut it with an axe and store it on the back porch wrapped in an old sheet, stuffed in a gunny sack, eat on it for a couple of weeks then cut it up for the milk cows and start a new one.

Winter squash is health food of the healthiest sort. Brussel's sprouts are more than OK, but they are one of the things I prefer to cook outside so my sheets don't pick up the smell; not a problem with brussels sprouts so much as with the bad air flow in my house.

 

[Chickielady]

Have to post this too~
My choice out of 4 Icelandic cockerals, my alpha man:

He looks meaner than snot what with the tilted comb and crest that is still growing out.
This cockeral is barely 4 mo old, and my main keeper.

OK, we need more photos here!
RFF and I cannot be the only ones with a camera!
C'mon!!

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
Those are so pretty! All I can think is what they're like roasted low and slow with butter and salt and LOTS of pepper, until the exposed surfaces start to bubble and caramalize, and then having the left-overs as muffins for breakfast. Or fried with ham steak and served with red-eye gravy. REAL old fashioned winter squash, wonderful stuff- we used to raise them among the arcre or two of field-corn that Dad cut down with a machete and fed to the cattle in September (and corn-on-the-cob people steamed when the kernals were still in milk in late July and early August, and swore was better than sweet-corn), store the uncut ripe squash in the hay, feed the green ones to the cattle early and then as treats to keep their Vitamin A levels up in winter... take a thirty pound hubbard to the house, cut it with an axe and store it on the back porch wrapped in an old sheet, stuffed in a gunny sack, eat on it for a couple of weeks then cut it up for the milk cows and start a new one.

Winter squash is health food of the healthiest sort. Brussel's sprouts are more than OK, but they are one of the things I prefer to cook outside so my sheets don't pick up the smell; not a problem with brussels sprouts so much as with the bad air flow in my house.

You forgot the brown sugar, and you can have it with Splenda brown sugar now!!!
And do not forget the Sweet meats flan~~~~~~~~~~and home made ice cream with fresh cinnemon and heavy cream and NO ADDED SUGAR!!!!!

I will bring you several sweet meats.
Cut them up with an ax, freeze the parts not eaten, they freeze well.
My next move is pumpkin butter (tastes like the custard of a freshly baked pumpkin pie) right on yer toast.
YUM, I eat it out of the jar....

When I come get the sausage, I will drop off a few sweet meats.

 

[Chickielady]

Time to close & lock coops, and it is monsooning here like hail on the roof!!!
One drop=1 gallon