{"id":1261,"date":"2011-05-05T03:00:23","date_gmt":"2011-05-05T07:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/?p=1261"},"modified":"2011-05-05T03:00:23","modified_gmt":"2011-05-05T07:00:23","slug":"qa-canning-on-a-hot-plate-and-how-to-tell-which-hens-are-laying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/2011\/05\/05\/qa-canning-on-a-hot-plate-and-how-to-tell-which-hens-are-laying\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Canning on a hot plate and How to tell which hens are laying"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canning on a hot plate<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have a new glass-top range, and we don’t want to risk cracking it with canning. Also, it gets very hot here in the summer, and it would be nice to be able to can summer veggies outside on a hot plate. Have you ever pressure canned or hot water bathed on a portable hot plate? Is 110 enough or is a 220 required? Do you have any brand recommendations?<\/em><\/p>\n

Dallen Timothy<\/em>
\nGilbert, Arizona<\/em><\/p>\n

I have personally never canned on a portable hot plate. I’ve used portable propane countertop stove units, as offered in Northern Tool and Harbor Freight catalogs. They are inexpensive, quite heavy duty and do a good job. Do keep in mind when canning outdoors that breezes can make canners fluctuate in temperature and also crack jars when they are taken out of the canner. So do your outdoor canning out of the wind, in the shelter of a building, or even build a temporary windbreak out of plywood to protect your canning area. You might want to consider building a permanent summer kitchen for canning and other food preparation. With screened windows and a roof you can process food in comfort out of your house. (They also make a great place for a picnic or for grilling!) — Jackie<\/p>\n

How to tell which hens are laying<\/strong><\/p>\n

We just got three hens and get one or two eggs a day. How can you tell which hens are laying the eggs? We always get one larger brown egg, one smaller brown on occasion, and one time we got a white egg. I don’t know what type of chickens they are, but one is red, one black, and one white. I’ve read your book and online info, but can’t find this info. Thanks for the help. We are sure enjoying the girl’s crazy personalities and delicious eggs.<\/em><\/p>\n

Donna Clements<\/em>
\nHoquiam, Washington<\/em><\/p>\n

The only sure way to find out which chickens are laying which eggs is to “catch” them in the nest box. To generally determine if a chicken is laying, check the vent area. If it is pale and dry the hen is not laying. If it is moist and pink, she probably is. If the width between her pelvic bones is at least two fingers wide, she probably is laying, if not, she probably is not. If her comb and wattles are red and shiny, she probably is laying; if dry and pale, she probably is not. BUT if you just got the chickens, they are under some stress from moving and that can throw them off stride in their egg laying cycle. Have patience and they should soon be up to speed. — Jackie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canning on a hot plate We have a new glass-top range, and we don’t want to risk cracking it with canning. Also, it gets very hot here in the summer, and it would be nice to be able to can summer veggies outside on a hot plate. Have you ever pressure canned or hot water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}