Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[naglady]

made some homemade sausage sticks yesturday and smoked them today.. taste pretty yummy..


tdhenson - Congrats on your egg fertility.. Good luck..

 

[Gigiintheforest]

I really think "homestead" represented what we are trying to do better than "animal facilities". All i want to do is be able to buy a little land, and do what i need to to put food on the table that i have made myself. ...

 

[tdhenson86]

Sigh.

Happy/ funny coop news:
A lot of you know that my birds are kept out on DH's family's property (we live in a town) Today i ended up driving through drifts and finally stopping at the beginning of the dead end dirt road they are on; walked 9/10 of a mile on a tire track through drifts that ranged from knee deep to waist deep; finally getting to the house and starting the 200 feet trek back to the coop which was pretty much all thigh deep with ice layers under the banks which broke as i walked and let me sink DEEPER........ turn around and walk BACK 9/10 a mile on the track again..........but don't worry the girls presented me with *4* eggs, LOL. "extreme poultry" anyone???!

I can't wait for spring!!! We ought to have our own poultry reality show in MI

Oh my word! That is insane! I get upset that my birds are about 300 feet from my house and I have to trudge through the snow to take care of them. That is EXTREME chicken keeping for sure!

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Mine are doing great! That sausage looks divine. Hi gigi!

Since i've switched to the new feed: (better vitamins) I don't know what amount of feed the birds were eating before i switched to the kent, but they are eating i think about a large butter tub of it a day between all 10 of the grown up birds, and the one tough little 3 mo cockerel. Some days i have to give the whole tub of pellets, plus half a tub of cracked corn; other days i get in there i find it only mostly eaten. I think it depends on temps. I don't know who's eating the new omega egg booster crumbles, a few hens seem to watch pretty intently when i add it to the grit dish. Tossing baby spinach the last couple days for c and calcium. No more poopy butts that i saw. Got one more hen to check, she was laying an egg when i was looking.

No frostbite on the ee's, but they are still getting frozen beards! Of the two wattled rescue hens only one has any frost damage, but it's only faintly white and seems to be disappearing. Still using the rubber buckets. Need to stomp harder these days the ice is soo thick!

 

[chickwhispers]

How do you take water to yours?

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Extremes is why i keep only the "huggers" LOL. Everyone was so glad to see me, and i to see them. My best girl laid an egg on the spot! I like it when she does that for me, then i know hers. I hoard them just in case, plus spring i want to hatch a couple. Just to see what she throws with the new roo?

Soon i hope to be moving again, this time to a family friend's rental unit, where me and the chickens can share the same yard! Trying desperately. Still not locked in yet, but looks promising! I like renovating the ol trailer i got at the park here in town, but...... 4 acres of rental ......... Oh, to drink coffee with the girls! I see gardens....... spring! This place is more incognito, and has less ornery neighbors that i know of.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

I recycle my kitty litter tubs, i have the jug style with the handle at the top. This time i took them empty and filled them at the family's! I'd have asked the family but the ones renting the trailer at DH's family's property this time have no interest at all in chickens, and did not even venture out to shovel.........can't trust my babies to "what ifs"! Usually i just drive out with some warm water. Road wasn't plowed when i got there though!

 

[chickwhispers]

Good luck on the new rental. Sounds exciting and wonderful! I know what you mean by coffee with the girls. We have a deck off the kitchen Iccan see the girls when they're out, from the kitchen but I really like when it's nice enough to be outside with them drinking my morning coffee! I use milk jugs for water. With just 5 right now 1 gal is enough. But with more 2 or 3 jugs are needed. Difficult to carry with anything else. But I hope to get rain barrels.

 

[chickwhispers]

I would not like to walk a mile in the snow and cold wind to get my girls water and feed. But if i had to for a while i would. Or find a snowmobile or monster truck ! I'm a cold whimp!

 

[Farmerboy16]

I noticed a bright yellow flower blooming today in this brutal cold weather. It sure did brighten my day a bit. Its the cactus plant that I had found growing wild in Florida 8 years ago.