Dive deep into the shady underbelly of Maine’s forests where ghost pipe, Monotropa uniflora, lurks as a devious freeloader, sapping life from innocent trees via fungal middlemen. Don’t be fooled by its eerie, ethereal glow; this perennial predator thrives in the dark, pilfering nutrients without a hint of photosynthesis. A touch of mystique surrounds its limited culinary and medicinal applications—handle with care, if you dare.
Mandy Wheaton
Is this egg a DUD? Good egg vs. bad egg
You are here because you’re wondering: Is this egg is a dud? Well, you’re in the right place. We candle our eggs at 10 days and again just before lockdown on day 18. Candling can be done before 10 days but keep in mind the embryo is quite fragile during the first week. Handling them View Article
Finding the Best Autosexing, Rare and Fancy Chicken Breeds
What we’re looking at for 2023 breeds:
55 Flowery Hen
Black Ameraucana
Lavender Ameraucana
Black Copper Marans
F1/F2 Olive Egger
Cream Legbar
Opal Legbar
Mille Fluer d’Uccle
Frizzle d’Uccle
Gold Bielefelder
Polish (multiple colors)
Frizzle Polish
Wild Maine Fox: Videos of Red Fox vs. Gray Fox
There are two wild Maine fox: red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Foxes have keen eyesight and hearing, and are very agile, jumping up to six feet high. Gray fox are the only member in the canid family in North America that can climb trees. This gray View Article
How to Treat Chicken Lice: What do chicken lice look like?
LAST UPDATED DECEMBER 1, 2024 First step: What do chicken lice look like? Below is a SEVERE case of chicken lice. Chicken lice eggs look like white mats usually near the vent and chin area feathers. The longer the chicken has had them, the larger the mats will become. The lice View Article
3 Easy to ID Edible Maine Mushrooms
Once again, it’s mushroom season in Maine. Periods of rain, foggy mornings, early frosts and insulative leaf litter summon the mycelium to shoot forth great masses of fruiting bodies, known commonly as mushrooms. This post will lay a framework for teaching you the basics to easy to ID edible Maine mushrooms. View Article
How to calculate hatch rates: counting your chicks before they hatch
Count your chicks before they hatch by calculating the number of mature birds with this in-depth, situation-specific formula.
The ancient beauty and lifecycle of Maine moss, lichen and liverwort
Moss, lichen and liverwort are ancient plants. In fact, they were the first to creep out of the preverbal waters as algae as tiny plants that clung to rocks creating the basis for plant life on land. A single moss can live for thousands of years, and they grow on View Article