4rum Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 I'd never harvested any mushroom except morels in spring. This past August, 2012, I started looking for a fall mushroom to add to my foraging list. Research online led me to the Chicken of the Woods. That seemed like a good place to start since it can be identified readily and there are oak trees on the hill behind my house. Within 20 minutes and 300 yards or so I spotted my first 'chicken' ever. I saw it from a distance and just knew that it was a Chicken of the Woods mushroom from all the pics and articles I'd gone over. When I got to it I was just tickled pink. It was large, very orange, fresh and did I mention LARGE? I'm attaching a pic. The view is from the top. It does not show that the cluster was over a foot tall. It was an almost perfect circular stack of shelves growing at ground level. (Cincinatti?) (( I am not well versed in mycology)). This post is going longs so ... bagged 'em, cleaned 'em, boiled 'em, sliced 'em, lightly floured and sauteed in butter ... oh yeah !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dualsetters Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Congrats on your first chicken! I have a few favorite wild edibles and the chicken is one of them. My favorite preparation is to bread them and fry them. Thanks for sharing and happy hunting! MayFly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Nice Chicken, 4rum. Looks to be a prime specimen. A few times I have seen over 50 pounds on one dead tree. As for species type, if it's yellow underneath, then I'd call this oak-lover Laetiporus sulphureus. The ones that are white underneath are called L. cincinnatus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted September 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 Thanks y'all... The cluster in that first photo had the white bottom. This next one I found two days later had yellow and was growing directly out the side of a small oak log. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted September 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 Found a log full of fresh chickens today. (Found more not so fresh). The ones pictured are only 3 minutes (timed ... uphill) from my truck which was parked by the highway. Made some batter, added some dry pork bbq seasoning to it, had some for dinner ... really, reallyl good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted September 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 Harvested this log yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feral Boy Posted September 19, 2012 Report Share Posted September 19, 2012 Found a nice one the other day -- while driving home from our MOMS board meeting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted September 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 Found lots of chicken mushrooms this morning. Most were old, the ones in the pic are perfect. Fresh, moist and nice and clean. ... hmmmmm ... no image ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted September 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 There they are !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dualsetters Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 Good batch. I've been finding them here and there this week. Oysters too. I like the little fresh popped buttons the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted September 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 I 'think' I found some oysters, but not being sure (and being VERY new to all mushrooms except morels) I left them. With a very welcome response here, I did go back and sniff them. I could not discern any anise or licorice odor. They were very pretty though (I posted pics in the ID thread). Happy hunting all ... 'rum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaJay Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 I Harvest oysters all the time, and have never been able to smell Anise or licorice odor. To me they smell like the ocean, sort of fishy smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted September 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 I may not gain the confidence I need to harvest oysters this year but I am just tickled pink at my beginners luck with Chicken of the Woods. I have found SO many. I've prepared them in several different ways and really like them. I did some almost like french fries the other day and just sat them on the counter to drain on a paper towel. They dissappeared! Can't imagine what happened to them ALL ... but the wife and I weren't very hungry at dinner time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunny_0ne Posted September 29, 2012 Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 Sounds like they met a mysterious happily ever after fate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted September 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 Took a long hike this morning. I found some Chicken of the Woods but all were past prime. None were fresh enough to consider. I think the chicken season must be over here. We've had pretty good rain for over a week now and I'm not seeing any fresh clusters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted October 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 On Saturday's trip (9-29-12) I spotted a Chicken of the Woods high in an oak tree. The hillside is really steep here so I was closer to the chicken than I was to the bottom of the tree trunk. The growth must be at least 30 feet up. I didn't see any other clusters on the tree. I'm not sure what this is. Wish the pic were better. I didn't want to pick up the dead branch it was on to look underneath or take more pics. It had the appearance of layers of white crystal. VERY pretty. I think this is an old Chicken of the Woods. Cincinnatus maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dualsetters Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 I found lots a fresh chickens last Friday. Im looking for hens and keep finding chickens. I do enjoy them, but there are more than I can use lately. I'd like to see a closer picture of that 2nd one. Im in lion's mane mode and would walk through water to check out that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted October 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 I'm very sorry that I don't know more about mushrooms. That pic isn't good either. The mushroom was the whitest of whites. It appeared to be layer upon layer of extremely thin membrane, like layers of sheer curtains layers and layers and layers. I'd never seen one like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyflyfsh Posted October 2, 2012 Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 A nice Hericium from last year. I love these! Not great focus though (dark and hand held). This was just a test. I just increased the file size max upload so it should be a little easier to upload photos without having to edit them first to resize them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyflyfsh Posted October 2, 2012 Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 'rum, those photos are all a bit too small to tell anything but the second photo could possibly be a Climacodon species and the last photo is not a chicken, but some polypore like Fomitopsis or other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted October 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 Thanks ladyflyfish ... I'm really ignorant about mushrooms. I really do appreciate the help AND patience you folks have extended. 'rum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunny_0ne Posted October 2, 2012 Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 ladyfish, do the fall mushrooms fruit during the winter in Florida? We will be going home (north and central Florida) in late November-December. If I miss Hericium up here this year, it would be so nice to think I might find one down there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4rum Posted October 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 'rum, those photos are all a bit too small to tell anything but the second photo could possibly be a Climacodon species and the last photo is not a chicken, but some polypore like Fomitopsis or other. Click on 'em. The site reduced the sizes but they are thumbs of sorts. They are clickable and will enlarge to almost the 600 pixels that I sized them to before posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyflyfsh Posted October 3, 2012 Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 ladyfish, do the fall mushrooms fruit during the winter in Florida? We will be going home (north and central Florida) in late November-December. If I miss Hericium up here this year, it would be so nice to think I might find one down there. I have not found Hericium in FL. I have found chicken of the woods here though since we have tons of oaks. Also Lactarius indigo. It will start to dry out once hurricane season is over, so no on mushrooms in the winter. Mushrooms come with rain, so no rain = no mushrooms. Where in central FL are you? I'm in Sarasota. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyflyfsh Posted October 3, 2012 Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 Click on 'em. The site reduced the sizes but they are thumbs of sorts. They are clickable and will enlarge to almost the 600 pixels that I sized them to before posting. I did, but still not large enough to know for sure. That first one almost looks like a hen growing out of that hole! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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