Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#16
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
Farm1 wrote:
wrote in message Ducks are pretty garden friendly, but chooks will turn the garden into a desolation. Try Silkies if you want to try chooks in the garden. They are small and not as active as bigger hens. yeah, they're nice. We had a large and expanding gang of langsheng bantams for some years, and they were nice in the garden, although they liked dustbaths and took over a sunny spot in the garden to have them. They didn't wreck stuff though, or behave in a disgraceful manner like larger chooks. -- ant Don't try to email me; I'm borrowing the spammer du jour's addy |
#17
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
|
#18
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
wrote in message
Farm1 wrote: wrote in message Ducks are pretty garden friendly, but chooks will turn the garden into a desolation. Try Silkies if you want to try chooks in the garden. They are small and not as active as bigger hens. We had some silkies. I was not particularly impressed. I found them a bit delicate, they aren't great layers and they are too broody. I don't like them either but many gardeners swear by them. Maybe I will get a pair of australorps. Of the readily available pure breeds, I like Autralorps the best. |
#19
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
"Barbara" wrote in message
You need some lizards, Blue tongues are very good for getting rid of snails. The only problem with that is that Blue Tongues and snakes both like exactly the same sort of garden. |
#20
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
HC wrote:
Are you sure you aren't confusing Muscovies with ducks? Muskies are genetically, a goose. I have heard that before, and certainly Muscovies are very goose-like (they hiss rather than quack). But they cross-breed with other ducks, so I guess that makes them the same species? |
#21
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
wrote in message
HC wrote: Are you sure you aren't confusing Muscovies with ducks? Muskies are genetically, a goose. I have heard that before, and certainly Muscovies are very goose-like (they hiss rather than quack). But they cross-breed with other ducks, so I guess that makes them the same species? Horses and donkeys interbreed and they are the same species being both from the equidae family. The offspring (mules and hinnies) are (almost) always sterile. I'm fairly sure that the same "species" rule applies to both Muscovies and ducks and I know that the sterility bit does. I've yet to hear of the offspring of the duck/muscovy mating being fertile. |
#22
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
None of my family thought duck eggs had an 'eggy' taste, although
Muscovy eggs, as do other goose eggs, had a stronger flavour. Their feed will make the eggs taste....when I first got ducks I threw out some leftover curry, sure enough the eggs the next day had a distinct curry flavour and were a strange colour. Just make sure they get plenty of green pickings and access to fresh water (although they like to play it their drinking water too) and the eggs will taste more hen-like. I always added some laying pellets to their feed bin but quite often it's very salty...taste some of the pellets yourself is the best test, I found. Not all laying pellets are equal!! We ate the eggs soft-boiled, scrambled, poached, fried and any other way I could think of to cook them as well as cakes, pavlovas, caramel pies...the list goes on and on. ant wrote: wrote: Ms Leebee wrote: I am also ashamed to say I must be a very bland person, as I find duck eggs too rich for my palette ! A lot of people say that, but I haven't noticed. We eat them soft boiled and haven't found them too rich. They have a lovely green-blue colour though, which could be a bit off-putting. First time I saw one I thought it was rotten and smashed it on the back fence. we had ducks for years, Khaki Campbells. The eggs were "normal", just large, and I often got upset guts from them. They were very "eggy". A cake with the number of eggs in where the recipe was for chook eggs was distinctly eggy. Khaki Campbells laid a lot. Pooed a lot, too. |
#23
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
Muscovies take 35 days to hatch....as do geese. Ducks, on the other
hand, hatch in 28 days. Muscovies will breed with anything...our dog discovered this one day much to his disgust!! ROFLMHO!! wrote: HC wrote: Are you sure you aren't confusing Muscovies with ducks? Muskies are genetically, a goose. I have heard that before, and certainly Muscovies are very goose-like (they hiss rather than quack). But they cross-breed with other ducks, so I guess that makes them the same species? |
#24
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
I'm guessing they would be sterile. Because I had up to 11 different
breeds of duck, only one breed were allowed out of their yard each day during breeding season. I had way too many orders to get caught up with crossbreeds. Farm1 wrote: wrote in message HC wrote: Are you sure you aren't confusing Muscovies with ducks? Muskies are genetically, a goose. I have heard that before, and certainly Muscovies are very goose-like (they hiss rather than quack). But they cross-breed with other ducks, so I guess that makes them the same species? Horses and donkeys interbreed and they are the same species being both from the equidae family. The offspring (mules and hinnies) are (almost) always sterile. I'm fairly sure that the same "species" rule applies to both Muscovies and ducks and I know that the sterility bit does. I've yet to hear of the offspring of the duck/muscovy mating being fertile. |
#25
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
The Blueys that live in my garden poked their heads out on Sunday for
the first time this season. They were waiting for the obligatory bit of chuck steak. Farm1 wrote: "Barbara" wrote in message You need some lizards, Blue tongues are very good for getting rid of snails. The only problem with that is that Blue Tongues and snakes both like exactly the same sort of garden. |
#26
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
HC wrote:
None of my family thought duck eggs had an 'eggy' taste, although Muscovy eggs, as do other goose eggs, had a stronger flavour. Their feed will make the eggs taste....when I first got ducks I threw out some leftover curry, sure enough the eggs the next day had a distinct curry flavour and were a strange colour. Just make sure they get plenty of green pickings and access to fresh water (although they like to play it their drinking water too) and the eggs will taste more hen-like. I always added some laying pellets to their feed bin but quite often it's very salty...taste some of the pellets yourself is the best test, I found. Not all laying pellets are equal!! Our ducks ranged over a 5 acre farm all day, and went into their shed at night. -- ant Don't try to email me; I'm borrowing the spammer du jour's addy |
#27
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
Farm1 wrote:
"Barbara" wrote in message You need some lizards, Blue tongues are very good for getting rid of snails. The only problem with that is that Blue Tongues and snakes both like exactly the same sort of garden. yes. Whenever I see them (the lizards) appear, my snake-hackles go up. ****ing browns. I have some of those weird blunt lizards also, and horny ones that have claws and drag themselves around. they come out first, and then it's time to look out for the Browns. -- ant Don't try to email me; I'm borrowing the spammer du jour's addy |
#28
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
"HC" wrote in message
... The Blueys that live in my garden poked their heads out on Sunday for the first time this season. They were waiting for the obligatory bit of chuck steak. We used to have a bit of 4 inch aggie drainage pipe sticking out of the ground in a previous house. In this pipe lived the fattest and biggest Bluie I've ever seen. One day I caught my husband throwing snails down into the pipe. When I asked him what he was doing he looked a bit embarrassed and said he was feeding the Blue. He'd apparently been doing it for about a year. No wonder the Bluie was so big :-)) I haven't seen one yet. Still too cold. |
#29
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
"ant" wrote in message
Farm1 wrote: "Barbara" wrote in message You need some lizards, Blue tongues are very good for getting rid of snails. The only problem with that is that Blue Tongues and snakes both like exactly the same sort of garden. yes. Whenever I see them (the lizards) appear, my snake-hackles go up. ****ing browns. :-)) Yes. I also have a resident Tiger Snake along wiht my residnet Brown. Brown near the front door Tiger at the back. Want either to add to your collection? I have some of those weird blunt lizards also, and horny ones that have claws and drag themselves around. they come out first, and then it's time to look out for the Browns. What sort is that lizard? |
#30
|
|||
|
|||
Pruning mint
Farm1 wrote:
I have some of those weird blunt lizards also, and horny ones that have claws and drag themselves around. they come out first, and then it's time to look out for the Browns. What sort is that lizard? Dunno. Some are armour-plated, and their front looks like the back, sort of blunt at both ends. Some others are armour plated, but thinner and longer and pointier, with claws. Some sort-of drag themselves around on their stomachs, using their claws to pull them along. There's a few blue tongues, too. Apparently the chihuahuas killed a lizard last week. One had been obsessed with lizards for years, spending hours motionless gazing fixedly at the rock wall. I guess he finally got one. My brother found the two of them eating it. -- ant Don't try to email me; I'm borrowing the spammer du jour's addy |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Doug's mint - dougs-mint.jpg | Garden Photos | |||
Distilling Mint | Gardening | |||
LINK-INDIA: Menthol mint... | sci.agriculture | |||
Purchasing Mint for garden. | Edible Gardening | |||
Penny Royal Mint dying off | Gardening |