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Found these in the Red River Gorge of Kentucky. I’ve only ever eaten the orange variety of hen of the woods. These look and smell almost identical but they are much lighter than I’m used to and they feel porous and almost velvety. Think they are good to eat?

Hello! Can anyone help me identify this mushroom? I have two of them approximately 2ft in diameter growing in my backyard. They are tan in color. Thanks!

So I'm skeptical to call this a hen, I've found and identified them last fall but I just came across a mushroom at work that really screams Maitake to me but I am unable to find any reports or sources online of ppl finding them this early.

Last year I harvested some Hen of the Woods from this large oak tree stump in my yard I had someone who was good with mushroom ID and tell me they were good and I cook them then cooked them then pickled them and have been eating them all year this year. Same tree stump now has two large mushrooms growing from it. One looks like another Hen of the Woods still kind of small the other one which is larger and all white I thought might be a chicken of the woods but I do not have any experience with IDing this type of mushroom. And the person who helped me last year is not around any help anyone could be I would appreciate it.

Hey everyone I’m Matt 24 years old, have been foraging for 2 years now. Check out these monsters I harvested the other day. It was a great day.

Hello, This came up out of nowhere in my side yard in the past two days (September 22-ish in New England after two days of cool, wet weather). It also appeared in the same spot last year, but by the time I had discovered it, it was too far gone. Approximately 6" tall and 18" across. There's another clump 6" x 6" about a foot away. From my research I suspect it is Hen of the Woods, but the pictures online tend to be more grey in color and this one is more brown and tan, so I just wanted to be a little more sure. Also, this is not growing at the base of a tree. However, there is a stand of oaks and maple about 10 feet from it, and I am unsure if an oak was once growing in this location as I moved into the property two years ago and have no knowledge of what may have been there prior. I cut off a piece to provide a picture of the underside - texture is leathery and pliable but firm, with white underside that has very small pores. If it is Hen of the Woods, does it look ready for harvesting, or should I wait a little longer? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Just thought I'd share a couple pics from northern Minnesota, USA. I had one lone shaggy mane growing in the front yard. That is from my attempts to get my front yard populated with spores. I throw all byproducts in my front yard after cleaning mushrooms. The Maitake has been growing each year for the past 4 years. As you can see there is a small creature guarding it

Got out yesterday for the first time in a while....new dad+school=steep learning curve. We found a few hens though!! They are just starting here. There were a lot of very immature or none on trees that we knew to have them in years past. I uploaded a pic of the biggest one from the trip. It felt like it is 15-20 lbs! Also, I could use some help on the ID for the other pictured mushroom. Spore print was white. Younger specimens had a slightly underturned edge on their cap. I think it is a blewit. Thanks and happy hunting! P.S. Sorry about the sideways photo...too lazy to work it out.

This mushroom has come back for the second year since I've lived at this house. It grows on an old stump in my back yard. Could it be hen of the woods? Photos attached. The close ups are of the underside of the caps. I know maitake should have tiny pores, but if there are pores present on this mushroom, they are very tiny. My confidence bolstered by reading look-a-likes are harmless, I tried cooking some very small pieces. Though it smelled nice, the result was very tough. I gave up eating it when I couldn't easily bite though. Perhaps it's too far gone? I live in south central Wisconsin.

The few times I found "Hens of the Woods" they were at the base of dead oak trees, more or less on the "ground", where the wood was light, fluffy, already completely decomposed. I'm wondering if these are the conditions they require or merely a collection of random circumstance: where the spore(s) fell. This past year a guy told me he found several on live Oak trees. Of you that have found Maitakes, what were the conditions?

Does anyone know the fruiting specs on "hen of the woods"? (i.e.: ground temp, air temp, moister, humidity, etc.). The reason I ask is I am finding them around Saint Louis, MO. right now, and want to take a trip to my property a couple hours South of Saint Louis (Jadwin, MO). However I don't want my foray to be a bust if the conditions are not ideal in that area yet. Any thoughts?