carmen is right. They sound like textbook Cornish X. They need to have their feed rationed, you cannot leave the feed in front of them all the time. If they were on their way to the slaughterhouse, they must be old enough to process--if you keep them alive much longer, their bodies will get too heavy for their legs to support and they will either go down on their hocks, or their legs will break. Because of this, it's cruel to keep Cornish Cross birds alive past their slaughter age. The messy condition, poor feathering and jammed-together-like-sardines thing is VERY typical of Cornish X birds, that's how they are raised, and have been specifically bred by humans to be this way--lots of meat in the shortest amount of time. They ARE very sweet and docile birds. More info and pictures of the breed here: http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Broil/BRKMeat.html Best thing to do for them is to continue their trip to the slaughterhouse. Thank your fellow humans for creating these monsters. :( Velvet ~:>

Sure you can compost salsa. You can compost ice cream, yogurt, orange juice, chocolate (although composting chocolate would be a crime), brownies, rotten eggs, etc. The only things a home gardender should not compost are things that are poisonous/toxic like the eucalyptus or coral tree/plant, oleander, any plant that has the word poison in it (poison ivy/oak) etc.; meat products like leftover hambergers that did not get eaten for dinner; bio sludge (human or animal waste); or anything that has a needle or thorn like cacti (cati are also toxic), roses, bougainvillea, etc. It takes a long time for the needles to decompose. I do not want to reach into my compost and get stabbed by half decomposed thorns. I heard of a guy who tried it and it was a disaster. Many types of thistles are both thorny and toxic so I stay totally clear of these as well. When it comes to toxicity there are gredations - from 1 (major toxicity) to 5 (animal toxicity). If a plant is toxic to humans it should be assumed it is also toxic to animals even though not all plants that are toxic to animals are toxic to humans (chocolate is deadly to dogs, but a ambrosia to humans). Some plants like the oleander are very toxic (roots, stems, and leaves) while some are only mildly so (hollyhock). But just to be cautious I don't compost any of them. For most of the really toxic plants composting does not inactivate the poison. As long as you have a pile that has a good mix of nitrogen to carbon with good air flow and the right amount of moisture you can compost anything. The bacteria and fungi don't care what it is - if it is organic they will break it down. Tom

The issue is are they hybrids or heirlooms/open pollinated varieties. If they are hybrids then the seeds you save won't breed true. Hybrid seeds in the packet are the result of manual cross-pollination of at least 2 parent varieties. The seeds saved from those hybrid plants once grown, will revert to the parent stock or some strange combination of them. If your seeds planted and grown are heirlooms or open-pollinated plants, not hybrids, then yes you can save the seeds and re-grow them. Depending on what the plant is - self-fertile like tomatoes or insect pollinated like most flowers, they may or may not grow true. In some cases, like hollyhocks you will still get lots cross-pollination by insects so your saved seeds may change color etc. It all depends on how much you care whether or not the seeds you saved breed true or not. Many don't care, many do. Some research on cross-pollination will explain this in more detail. ;) Dave

foia, I've made stock with raw, and with cooked, and with a mixture of both. It all comes out pretty well. I make mine just like everyone else's, but I don't add lemon or tomato or leeks, just a bay leaf, some peppercorns, carrot, and onion and celery. I will freeze wing tips, necks, giblets, etc., until I get enough for a pot of stock, and sometimes if I just don't have time to simmer stock (oh, like any time between April and December, when I'm gardening, canning, cleaning calf pens, cutting hay or working at the job that actually pays for my farming habit, LOL) I'll toss roasted carcasses into the freezer until I get a couple or more and then make a big pot of stock to freeze or can. Even the store-bought rotisserie chickens get saved for stock and I toss it all in together. I've been known to simmer stock all day in the crockpot while I'm at work too, and that works pretty well, as does my big electric roaster if I'm doing several and it's the only thing big enough to do them all. I do beef stock in the roaster too, roast the bones, add the rest of the ingredients and let it simmer, works great. Annie