Michigan

Rockshar- I have a large wood stove in my basement that I want to get rid of. The price is right, free, but the catch is that it needs to be taken apart and hauled out. Its also attached to a chimney that is not used any more. Has some sort of rusted gizmo that comes with it, a blower maybe? Please come git this thing , I'm not a fan of fire.

Quote:
usually when they are about a year old. you can really tell (generally! of course, if i say that, it would be different!) because they look like they have the mange!

my little bantams just got done and the rooster looked like he was doing a Turken impression! it grossed me right out.

Did they stop laying for you Toro? That's usually the first sign I have found. Then it looks like someone had a pillow fight in the coop! Mine have all been one year old when they first started to molt. I have 4 hens that have done the molt thing this year. Now we're down to the last one and getting eggs again!

Miss Jayne is right they look like they have the mange or something. Really rough looking!

Quote:
Hey there Miss Jayne,

Nope, no Escaping Wonder Chicken. But I do occasionally have the Escaping Wonder DUCK!!! I'm sure I look pretty dense doing circles around the duck pen trying to convince them I'm not going to hurt them and they have to go back in with the others!

They don't try to leave or anything, just stay right there trying to figure out how to get back in with everyone else!

Try talking to them and explaining that they are going to get hurt if they keep getting out.[/img] Yeah right. A couple of times I've had birds get out and chasing them with the net was a trip. I make a pass with the net, miss, then run like crazy trying to block their escape route. Much to old for that type of "fun". Now I use a hook. Much, much easier.

I can't believe it. I had just logged off and was going back to the house when Hope came out to tell that we had a chicken loose in the yard. It flew over the fence. Got close with the hook and it flew up on top of the outside run. Got close with the hook again and it flew back into the garden. I'm going to have to make the fence around my garden higher. Another $200 I'll need to spend on chickens. It's a good thing we enjoy eating eggs that costs over a hundred dollars a dozen.

Miss_Jayne-I still can't believe how fast kids grow up. Seems like yesterday they were little people and now two of them are in their forties.

I find it's easier to get the chickens in with scratch or some other treat. All I do is say Heeeerrrreeeee chick chick chick and they all come running. It's the fastest way to get them all back in the run.

I'm wondering who the nice lady from here was who I spoke to briefly at Fowl Fest ?

I waylayed (no pun intended!) her in the sales aisle 'cause I thought she looked knowledgeable in her name tag

Turned out her name tag was a BYC id.

I was the middle aged redheaded newbie with a British accent crouching down wondering what breed a chicken was in a lower cage

Welcome to BYC, Tiempo.
That was me and I was disappointed in myself for not being able to help you identify those two Roo's.
I though they might be Andalusians but they did'nt have white ear lobes. Name tags can be misleading .
Did you buy any birds?? Any certain breed catch your interest?

Hey Michigan Chicken Folks!

I am not on this board as often as I should be. I am always away for a bit and then come back and realize all the nice people I've been missing. Anyhow! I need some help!

Over the course of two days last week I lost 7 pullets/hens. I knew it was a weasel (bodies in piles, heads gone), but I did not know how it was getting in, or where it was living, I had several live traps out, but to no avail. Last saturday I decided to go to an animal swap in St. Louis and pick up some pullets to replentish my numbers and get my egg production back on track.

So I bought 5 nice looking birds and put them in my quarantine pen until i got them adjusted to the new surroundings and other birds. The quarentine pen happens to be a fences in area 12ft x 16ft, that connects to the back of the chicken coop. It is secured with chicken wire and welded wire on all sides and the top, and the sides are buried in 18inches. It is my fort knox for the chickens.

2 hours later I cam back out to find all 5 new chickens dead. I am as furious as coudl be at this point. I then notice that one chicken is stuck halfway underneat the chicken coop in a hole I never noticed. The stuck chicken sacrificed himself so that i may know the location of the predator.

I immediatly got this little engine I have, hooked a hose from the exhaust to the floor a hole I dug underneath the chicken coop and sat outside in a lawn chair with my shotgun waiting for the critter to come out. 15 minutes later, a dizzy stoat (very similar to a weasel but with a black tail) comes out and immediatly losses his head. I asl managed to make a large hole in the side of my chicken coop (no birds were in it at the time) but I figure it was worth it.

Anyhow! I have no lost over half of my layers to this little stoat and I need replacements. If there is anyone in the mid-michigan (Midland) area that has some pullets they would like to sell, please let me know, I need more and there are no more small animal swaps, at least not until next year.

Thanks to anyone that can help!

-Tyler