chicken of the woods?

[minky]

I have a few questions about the chicken of the woods mushrooms.

What time is best to harvest the chickens?

Are there any look alikes in MN I should watch out for?

I know I have seen some chickens while out hunting, how common are they?

What would be a good field guide to purchase?

Thanks for any info,

Minky

[Stick in Mud]

That's a lot of questions.

Chickens are easy to identify. I've seen people misidentify them, but I honestly don't know how....they're pretty unique. Two different species in Minnesota: one with orange top and yellow bottom, one with orange top and white bottom.

Last year was a bad year (for me, at least) for chickens. The year before was insanely good. Year before that was good, too. So I guess their frequency depends on the year. It also helps to walk around in woods that have oak trees; you'd spend a long, long time walking through piney woods looking for a chicken.

There are lots of good books out there. Do a quick search on the site for a few threads that deal with the topic. I like Michael Kuo's books. Mushrooms of the Midwest is good. David Arora has the "Bible" of mushroomin'.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Stick has a lot of good advice, there are no real look alikes, but I have been told to avoid chickens growing on pine as they can make you sick. So I only pick from hardwoods. Dont pick them if they are past prime as that also will give you a bad experience.

Weather will play a huge roll as to how good a season it will be, I do best in early fall late summer.

For mushrooms in general the national audubon mushroom guide has been a great investment for me.

[delmuts]

Good advice! I've always called them " Hen of the Woods", but that's just me. Try to picture a piece of coral growing at the base of oak trees.

[JP Z]

Delmuts, those are Hens...........Chickens are the yellowish ones that grow up on the tree.

[Stick in Mud]

  Deitz Dittrich said:

...there are no real look alikes, but I have been told to avoid chickens growing on pine as they can make you sick. So I only pick from hardwoods.

.

I've heard the same thing, and I spend a lot of time looking in piney woods for other mushrooms. In all my miles, though, I've never come across a chicken on a coniferous tree. Have any of y'all actually found them on a conifer?

[JP Z]

Stick,

Yes it was guarded by some knights......they were like "neeing" if that makes any sense....... Had to bring them a darn shrubbery to get it though.

[Stick in Mud]

[JP Z]

[snapcrackpop]

Is this what people refer to as sulphur shelf mushrooms?

[B-man715]

  snapcrackpop said:

Is this what people refer to as sulphur shelf mushrooms?

Yes

[Deitz Dittrich]

Yes