Corwin Davis came up with the idea after watching what came to visit his blooming pawpaws one evening and finding it to be carrion flies. Might be a good opportunity to recycle dead squirrels and so allow them to contribute to the fruitfulness of the orchard and pay their keep.

"compost nut"??? Please, address us as "compost enthusiasts" if you don't mind. :) As to your query, bale of straw weighs what, 50 pounds give or take? Pretty high in C. Trying to figure out how much manure based on how much you have fed them could be tough, especially if they are eating bugs, seeds etc. I would suspect that it would be nigh onto impossible to get an accurate read. If it were I, I wouldn't sweat it too much. Do you clean the pen or whatever to "harvest" the bedding/manure to put into a pile? If so, add water and experiment. If it doesn't get hot pretty quick, you needed more N. If it really stinks then you needed more C. I think this what Sue was saying upthread as well. As for balance, I would adjust C/N (if I had to) using leaves and UCGs adding an inexpensive source of varied nutrients. In any case, if it becomes too problematic, I would be willing to take it off your hands if you want to ship it up here. Just trying to be helpful. :) For those that can't recognize the "tongue in cheek" humor, I was trying to be funny 'bout the "composting enthusiast" comment. Lloyd

I prefer the bone-in breasts. I think they are more flavorful. One of my favorite ways to prepare them is to grate the peel of a lemon and mix it in a small bowl with a large clove of garlic, 1/2 a small or 1/4 of a large onion, a handful of celery leaves and fresh parsley (all finely chopped). Then I add S & P, some dried or fresh tarragon and marjoram and about a Tbs. of olive oil or softened butter and a couple of squeezes of the lemon juice. I lay the breasts on their sides, pull back the skin and smear the mixture over the meat. Then I pull the skin back down over it and secure the skin to the breast meat with a wooden toothpick. Put in pan, bone side down, and add a little white wine or chicken broth around it and bake at 350 for 45 min to an hour, depending on the size of the breast, until juices run clear when pierced with a fork. The chicken should be nice and moist. You can also cut up some potatoes and put them in the pan with the chicken. I usually use unpeeled redskins and turn them occasionally during the cooking period. Here's another easy one for bone-in breasts: HONEY CURRIED CHICKEN 4 bone-in chicken breasts or 1 cut up chicken 1/4 cup melted butter or margarine 1/4 cup honey 1/2 cup orange juice 2 Tbs. prepared mustard 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. curry powder 2 Tbs. dark rum Place chicken skin side up in shallow baking dish and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine remaining ingredients, stirring well. Pour sauce over chicken. Bake for one hour, basting occasionally with sauce.

Hmmmmmm. Sometimes these upscale places do not know the difference between oh, say, French peasant food and French cuisine developed and tested, by trusted experienced chefs, with the recipes carefully guarded, and handed down through generations. For instance, Italian royalty did not eat squid. Squid is what gets caught in the fishermen's nets and is cut out and tossed to the street urchins who did not have the money to buy fish and vegetables. I Googled *Chicken Skin Salad* and one came up from Daniel Boulud's ''Cafe Boulud Cookbook'' linked below. Yuck. I guess it is just a matter of what one is used to. I mean if someone tried to explain hot dogs to a visitor I'm sure the person would cringe. "Hot dogs! Why yes siree, they are a favorite of almost every American! You just take some pig intestines and rinse out the fecal matter, and then fill them with ground up snouts and tails, and liver and hearts and spinal cord and whatever else is laying around after a hog butchering. Mmmmmmmmmm. Oh and lots of salt. LOTS of salt. Then boil 'em. Boy, I could sure go for one right now with onions. Hey wait! Where are you going?? Don't you want to eat here? No, I wasn't kidding, why?........" Here is a link that might be useful: Chicken Skin Salad