What did you do in the garden today?

[FernwoodHollow]

I have feed-store New Hampshires and had a pair of RIRs, but the RIR cockerel was processed after he fathered a batch of RIRxNH chicks. Still have the hen for the time being. I have a younger batch of chicks that are straight NH.

For meaties my plan is to breed for size by pairing the largest, fastest growing cockerel with the largest hens, whether or not they have some RIR in the mix. I also plan to develop a line of straight NH birds.

Nice! Id be curious to hear how that works out for final weights etc in the meat birds forum when you're done, I've never had either of those breeds! I have one of my 4 blue splash ameraucana named Big Girl (one guess why lol) and normally I wouldn't think of ameraucana for dual purpose but shes so chonky I've been considering crossing her with a fat speckled sussex for dual. I tend to lean speckled sussex in general for dual purpose.

 

[Smokerbill]

Nice! Id be curious to hear how that works out for final weights etc in the meat birds forum when you're done, I've never had either of those breeds! I have one of my 4 blue splash ameraucana named Big Girl (one guess why lol) and normally I wouldn't think of ameraucana for dual purpose but shes so chonky I've been considering crossing her with a fat speckled sussex for dual. I tend to lean speckled sussex in general for dual purpose.

I processed two NH cockerels at 40 weeks and the carcasses weighed right at 5 pounds each, skin off. The RIR hen is more aggressive than the NHs, but the RIR cockerel never caused problems.

I have two 17 week old RIR over NH cockerels that look like they'd process out at 4 or 5 pounds already. The two smaller ones are soon going into the freezer.

The NHs are pretty docile birds. I started with 7 pullet chicks and two of them grew a lot faster from the start. I lost one early on, but the remaining one grew quite a bit larger than the other NHs. I've hatched two batches of her eggs so far. She also started laying early, right at 18 weeks.

The meat's great. The dark meat is DARK! It's firm but not tough at all, and to me tastes a little like turkey.

 

[WthrLady]

76 at 1130am here, 1215 it was 51 degrees, now at almost 5pm it's only 35 with a wind-chill of 28 degrees, and we have a tornado watch and a winter weather advisory.
UPSIDE, I brought home a lovely anjou pear tree, they were unloading the HD truck when I got there!

 

[WthrLady]

Not necessarily in the garden but it’s about all I can do right now. First time tapping maple trees and I think I’m in over my head with over 15 gallons in just 24hrs…. I should have only tapped the 4 trees in the yard but no I had to go all out and tap another 15ish others along the woods
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It takes a LOT to make a little syrup. Have a blast though!

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

I am currently at 3 out of 4 tomato seedlings. They got moved under the grow lights.

 

[jxp]

Not necessarily in the garden but it’s about all I can do right now. First time tapping maple trees and I think I’m in over my head with over 15 gallons in just 24hrs…. I should have only tapped the 4 trees in the yard but no I had to go all out and tap another 15ish others along the woods
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Keep going, another 25 or so gallons of sap and you'll be able to boil down your first gallon of syrup. You're doing great!

 

[jxp]

First time doing it but I guess they heal up on their own or so the general consensus says from the web.

Yes they do.

 

[jxp]

It's nice not obsessing over a bunch of seedlings this year. If I get a smaller and/or later harvest it'll be a fair exchange for the time and effort saved by not starting seedlings in the house.

I've been focused on my chickens anyway, having 24 now spread out in four age groups. Trying to decide on which to freeze, which to keep for egg production and which to use for breeding larger meat birds.

Sounds like a handful. I'm happy for you that you've found a way to reduce the workload, even if just a wee bit.

 

[jxp]

I am trying my luck again with standard white Cornish hatching eggs from eBay. I have tried with a few other suppliers in the past and failed. Based on my experiences with other types of eggs, I found that the eggs that ship by priority mail have double the chance of hatching, so I may get lucky this time around. In addition, the seller mentioned that he has local orders to fill first, so the eggs he sends will be fresh and there may be a waiting time before its shipped.
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With luck like that, is there a reason you don't just buy from a hatchery?

 

[jxp]

UPSIDE, I brought home a lovely anjou pear tree, they were unloading the HD truck when I got there!

I love when the day works out like that. Sometimes two or three things go so well at the same time it makes me feel like I should run out and buy a lottery ticket. Congratulations.