{"id":2391,"date":"2012-07-15T03:00:45","date_gmt":"2012-07-15T07:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/?p=2391"},"modified":"2012-07-15T03:00:45","modified_gmt":"2012-07-15T07:00:45","slug":"q-and-a-canning-pickled-eggs-hamster-litter-in-compost-pile-and-pecking-order-in-chicken-flock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/2012\/07\/15\/q-and-a-canning-pickled-eggs-hamster-litter-in-compost-pile-and-pecking-order-in-chicken-flock\/","title":{"rendered":"Q and A: canning pickled eggs, hamster litter in compost pile, and pecking order in chicken flock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canning pickled eggs<\/strong><\/p>\n

I tried to make your recipe for canning pickled eggs. I followed your instructions exactly and everything went well until I put the packed jars into the water bath canner. After the jars had been in a good rolling boil for about 10 minutes the lids popped outward and unsealed. I have never had this happen while water bath canning. I took them out of the canner, took off the lids, removed some of the liquid, wiped the rims good and replaced with new (boiled hot) lids, replaced the rings and put them back in the canner to finish processing. I made sure I had removed all air bubbles and did not have the eggs packed tight. The pickling solution covered the eggs good and had a bit more than 1\/2 inch headspace. The only thing I did different was to leave the pickling spices floating in the vinegar solution which were also floating in my jars with the eggs. I wanted the extra spice flavor to permeate into the eggs. There was probably no more than a half teaspoon in each jar. The lids looked like they were about to explode had it not been for the rings holding them on. It was the strangest thing I’ve ever had happen when water bath canning and I’ve made TONS of bread & butter pickles, pickled pears, peaches that use whole spices as well. What could have made that happen? <\/em><\/p>\n

Bonnie Martin<\/em>
\nPerdido, Alabama<\/em><\/p>\n

Boy, I’ve never had that happen, EVER, with any water bathed food! Did the lids seal when the jars cooled? I leave my spices in my eggs too so that’s not your problem. Anybody out there have any ideas? — Jackie<\/p>\n

Hamster litter in compost pile<\/strong><\/p>\n

I just bought my daughters a couple of hamsters. Can I use their used hamster bedding (wood shavings and their poo) in my compost pile?<\/em><\/p>\n

Rhonda Jurgenson<\/em>
\nJeffersontown, Kentucky<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s no reason you can’t. Just be sure to mix it well and bury it with other compost so it decomposes well. It’d be like using rabbit droppings in your compost. — Jackie<\/p>\n

Pecking order in chicken flock<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve got a flock of eight hens. One of the four Barred Rocks seems to be pecking the others above the base of their tails and behind their wings. The pecked birds are getting bald. The birds have access to a large outside run and plenty of food and water. Do you have any advice on how to manage\/stop the pecking issue (besides having a BBQ)?<\/em><\/p>\n

Rick<\/em>
\nSpokane, Washington<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes removing such a bird from the flock for a few days to a week or more will change the pecking order so this behavior stops. If it doesn’t work and the pecking begins to draw blood, BBQ for her. — Jackie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canning pickled eggs I tried to make your recipe for canning pickled eggs. I followed your instructions exactly and everything went well until I put the packed jars into the water bath canner. After the jars had been in a good rolling boil for about 10 minutes the lids popped outward and unsealed. I have […]<\/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\/2391"}],"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=2391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2391\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}