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Post by DarJones on Jun 30, 2015 20:35:11 GMT -5
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Post by 12540dumont on Jun 30, 2015 22:39:14 GMT -5
Oh my, those chickens are going to be eating high!
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Post by steev on Jul 1, 2015 0:13:17 GMT -5
Very nice, for those in the "ample water" areas. My corns are now ~knee-high; gonna be inter-planting them with watermelons soon, including Whitley's Yellow.
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Post by DarJones on Jul 3, 2015 14:41:19 GMT -5
Woohoo, 4 inches of rain over the last 2 days. The corn will make a crop and it will be a big one! Now if I can just keep the raccoons out of it.
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Post by reed on Jul 4, 2015 9:50:43 GMT -5
That surely is a beautiful patch of corn. After a couple years of near total loss of corn and tomatoes I keep coon traps out all the time, summer and winter. Marshmallows are the best thing I'v found for bait.
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Post by sevenmile on Jul 4, 2015 21:53:24 GMT -5
Great project-- first I have seen this thread. Just the kind of characteristics I need to work on for my pigs.
This is an example of what I love about this Forum -- doing the things others say can't or shouldn't be tried.......
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Post by DarJones on Jul 14, 2015 12:47:11 GMT -5
I've got a problem and I'm blaming it on Holly. All that nice pretty corn in the pictures above is starting to mature. So Holly told me I should feed some of that nice fresh green corn to my chickens. So I shelled an ear and the chickens looked at it a few minutes, then a few of them pecked at it, then they decided it might be something good so all of them got in on the act and 6 hens and a rooster filled up on that soft mature corn. That was 3 days ago. This sounds good at first, but they are ignoring the expensive feed in the feeder that is made just for laying hens. Every time I go by their pen, they rush over to where ever I'm standing and mill around close to the fence. If I put my hand in to gather eggs, they peck at my hand until I finally give up and shell them an ear of that corn. So why is this a problem? Well, now I've got a chicken and a half laying an egg and a half in a day and a half. At this rate, I'll be overrun with fresh laid eggs. I gathered the eggs last night at dark and, when I went out to give them some fresh water a few minutes ago, there were already 7 eggs in the nest. I only have 6 hens so that means all 6 hens have already done their business for the day and laid an egg and that blasted rooster has decided he can lay eggs too! I'm setting up a trail cam so I can watch the nest from my computer. If I see that rooster on it, I'm going to pack him up and ship him to Holly!
Seriously, the eggs are coming in at 1 per hen in 24 hours which is a pretty good clip considering that most hens only lay once every 28 or so hours.
This is arguably the best crop of corn I've ever grown. Each stalk has at least 1 huge ear about a foot or a tad more long and 2.5 inches diameter. I'm looking forward to harvest when I can start picking ears to go forward for next season. The corn I've been feeding the chickens is from the high Methionine line crossed to Cherokee Squaw. I might mix in some of the high lysine line and see if that helps too.
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Post by blueadzuki on Jul 14, 2015 18:17:29 GMT -5
I only have 6 hens so that means all 6 hens have already done their business for the day and laid an egg and that blasted rooster has decided he can lay eggs too! I'm setting up a trail cam so I can watch the nest from my computer. If I see that rooster on it, I'm going to pack him up and ship him to Holly! . If it does, just make sure to keep the egg away from your manure pile and make sure the rooster doesn't hatch it. According to Medieval folklore, if a rooster lays and egg on a dunghill and then either it or a toad sits on it for nine days to hatch it, a basilisk is born.
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Post by steev on Jul 14, 2015 18:57:21 GMT -5
Maybe basilisk is delicious.
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Post by blueadzuki on Jul 15, 2015 5:43:03 GMT -5
Considering it is supposedly so poisonous that it turns the ground it walks on into a desert, makes birds fall dead from the sky as it walks past,and can kill you just by looking at you I'd rather not try. The real life basilisk (the South American lizard than can run across water) may be tasty (like a little iguana) but the mythical one.......
It's like the difference between a real salamander (the long vaguely lizard shaped amphibian I find under old logs and the mythical salamander (the small lizard that literally likes to play around in fire. The former might be tasty (it probably tastes like frog) the latter would probably kill you (since it may have skin made of asbestos)
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Post by DarJones on Jul 15, 2015 20:19:21 GMT -5
I'm getting really upset Holly. This is ridiculous. I gathered 8 EGGS today! There are only 6 hens in that pen and they all lay blue eggs. Are you sneaking over here when I'm not looking and putting extra eggs in the nest?
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Post by 12540dumont on Jul 16, 2015 11:58:58 GMT -5
Nah, I'm paying your son to do it. I'm not much good at sneaking. My nudibranch colored picking shorts, wakes up everything within a mile. Leo thought they were a color never seen in nature, until I showed him the neon nudibranchs! Really good job on that corn. My corn is filling and one of the few things that have done really well in the drought.
My farm sitters lost a few chickens so I have only 3 hens a laying. One of them is sulking, so she's in detention. Of the other two, I'm getting 1 egg every other day. This is not good. I'm going to send them to you. As to the rooster, thank you for the generous offer. Maybe he'll shape these hens up!
xxoh
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Post by DarJones on Jul 16, 2015 13:06:50 GMT -5
Ok, so this is getting weirder by the minute. I decided to go with the flow so I went out a few minutes ago and shelled TWO ears of that high protein corn and dropped it into the chicken feeder. All 7 of them gathered around and squawked and clucked and crowed until it was all gone. I looked out the window a minute ago and now all 7 of them are laying flat of their backs with their legs up in the air. Holly, in light of this, do you think I should prepare for 18 eggs today? If you have an incubator, I can ship you a few eggs. I seem to have a few extra at the moment.
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Post by 12540dumont on Jul 16, 2015 14:52:36 GMT -5
Dar, Now you're pulling my chain. Incubator? Would that be the silly broody hen who every 2 months thinks she's going to hatch a load of chickens? Does she care that there are no eggs underneath her? Not one bit. Don't ship, I can't risk that you'll send the one with the basilisk.
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Post by oldmobie on Jul 16, 2015 15:34:55 GMT -5
Don't ship, I can't risk that you'll send the one with the basilisk. The basilisk egg should be shipped, to someplace where it can be kept from getting out of hand. Like D.C., or at least a law firm. (According to legend, they can only be killed by weasels.)
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