Ducks Ragtag 2019 gardening

[ducks4you]

The cleanup of the stall. It took 30 minutes and a large wheelbarrow full of wet bedding, wet dusty OLD bedding (in front of the stall on the mat) to get to this point.

 

[ducks4you]

So...two DD's and DH go to see a scary movie that I DIDN'T want to see last Tuesday, and they convened and decided that I should butcher the whole flock bc eldest DD, who is a super cook, wants good chicken broth. We are vacationing for a week in CO, youngest DD is housesitting and would rather Not take care of chickens, just the horses, cats and dogs for a week. I already have a local guy arranged to muck stalls while we are gone. Been wary of my brand-new-in-the-original box Pressure Canner, but DD says that SHE is game and DH is game to break it in with canning chicken broth. DH also wants to make no salt baked beans and can THAT, too. So, this weekend at least 2 hens go to "freezer camp". Four of them are 6yo and haven't laid for a good month. I am getting 5 egg/week from 11 layers--I lost one last year. I am waiting to hear back from my hen supplier about purchasing new layers. I bought 6 layers from them in 2017, and they were 6-7mo. Started laying immediately. Right now I believe that I am feeding chicken meat!

 

[seedcorn]

No salt baked beans? Canned? Recipe?

 

[flowerbug]

hmm, we just boil the beans we want in water until they're done, no salt added, drain then freeze in quart jars. after that when we need to use some we thaw them out or nuke them and put them in whatever.

basic baked bean recipe is a BBQ sauce aka ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, mustard, garlic, onions, bacon or ham or ...

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks! I should say, at least LOW salt if no salt won't can.

 

[flowerbug]

Thanks! I should say, at least LOW salt if no salt won't can.

if you are canning cooked dry beans, you'll be using the pressure cooker (follow directions of that device). they're not acidic enough to do boiled water bath even if they have salt added.

 

[ducks4you]

Canned 3 more pints this morning. There aren't too many tomatoes left, but they dutifully keep turning orange/yellow/red for me on top of the dishwasher.
We did a job NOT recommended by our user's manual last weekend. I had DH lift me up in the bucket of the tractor to stand and clean the house gutters. I only got to the north side of the house, but the gutters there fill up with needles from the pine trees. They settle into tubes that come out in chunks. I made no effort to collect them, but dumped them on the ground, instead. The bucket is Supposed to able to pick up just under 1,000 pounds and we went slowly and carefully. I figured if I fell it would be a soft landing, but no mishaps.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That reminds me of a warning I saw on a ladder several years back. "If you climb on this ladder, you might fall".

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks, Captain Obvious!!

 

[ducks4you]

TRAGEDY!!!!
I go out to feed livestock this morning and ALL OF MY HENS ARE DEAD!!!
GOTTA be a weasel or ferret. NONE of them were eaten. The gate was shut with the chain over it, which I always do. YES, I had planned to butcher them. Now, not sure WHAT to do?
We have 39 degrees F with a wind chill below 32. Should I process their carcasses, anyway?
What do you'all think?
Pictures to come...