Hi There from a Michigander Newbie

[swampducks]

I've noticed other newbies posting under this section so I thought I'd say hi here too.

I seem to have caught the chicken bug (after telling my family last year that I'll never have chickens, don't ask me why I said that.) Last spring I bought my first ducks because I had this pond and always thought ducks would look nice on it. (For some bizarre reason it took me 7 years to actually do it.) I even managed to train my labradors to leave them alone.

Now, after deciding keeping poultry through the winter isn't so bad I've decided to raise chickens because I like to eat chicken and I've been reading all these horror stories of commercial birds. Ewwww. At first I was only going to get a few meat birds and have the local Amish butcher them, then thought why not get a few egg layers, too. So now I plan to get about 30 birds and have even roped DH (Hal) into building me a hen house. (He'd already agreed to a duck house.)

So hopefully, it will soon be me, Hal, my 5 ducks, 2 dogs and a bunch of chickens hanging out here in my swamp communing together. I'm even planning a few more ducks just because I like them so much.

I've learned a heck of a lot on this website so far, you guys are great!

 

[sawyer]

Swampducks....

Welcome

Hello from Croton twp, Newaygo co, bout 35 mi n of downtown Grand Rapids. Just started this year (winter) with some feebie chickens, 9 hens, 1 roo, EE's, bout 30 eggs per week so far on a regular basis. Have gotten a bit crazy and am incubating 14 eggs right now and have ordered another 37 chicks, heck, pretty soon we will have a regular chicken ranch.. (Not the Nevada kind mind you.)

What part of state are you from, says ne, is that somewhere by the bay or up near the tip of the mitt??

Sawyer

 

[beekybuzzard]

Welcome and good luck on your soon to be flock. I agree with you on the commercial birds. I work for a feed mill and deliver to turkey farms and egg producers and you would not believe all of the crud that is put into the feed they use. Getting away from as much of that as possible is always a good move.
Have you thought of adding some bees? There are a few of us here that keep them too. They are as amazing to raise as the chicks.

 

[Frizzledhen]

Welcome Swampduck,
Where ya from? I live just South of Lansing. This is a great place to learn about chickens and a lot of other things too. Be very careful of a guy called Purple Chicken, PC for short.

What kind of ducks do you have? Other than meat birds what kind of chickens do you want. Many people here sell hatching eggs, chicks and started birds. Look in the forum for informaion.
Welcome aboard.
Gayle

 

[Stormhorse23]

Welcome! sorry about your addiction. Get well soon!

 

[Cheekon]

Quote:
I'm sorry to say but their is no cure to chicken addiction.

Welcome!

 

[Gersbud]

Hello Swampduck

Welcome to the madness from Clare county. I too said I would never have chickens. Didn't like them, thought they were mean and always tried to pick you. But now I have around 25 of the little girls.
All different breeds but they are all loved. Wouldn't know what to do with out my fine feathered friends.

 

[swampducks]

Quote:
Heh, heh, chicken ranch.

I'm about 35 miles SSW of Alpena, or 16 miles due west of Harrisville. That's about 1.5 hours drive north of Standish. I'm in Alcona County, Hawes Twp.

I'll answer some of the other questions in this post too.

No desire to have bees, I've got this fear of being stung. Besides there's this great little honey store in Mikado that I don't want to compete with.

Besides the meat chickens, I'm going for the Barred Rocks and Buff Orps. I am guessing the local feed store gets the birds from Townline Hatchery in Zeeland. I've been reading Backyard Poultry Magazine and was thinking of Dominiques and other free range birds but TH doesn't carry them. I really, really like the idea of birds that seem to live for free ranging.

Then I thought maybe I should just go with something basic (and a little cheaper) till I have a clue what I'm doing. If I like this, I'll experiment next year with more "exotic" birds. I really like the idea of those Chanteclers bred for colder weather. It gets pretty nasty up here in winter and I like the idea of birds with barely a comb or wattle.

As for my ducks, I have one male Pekin, 1 male Rouen and his 2 girlfriends and 1 female fawn and white runner. I am going to get a few more runners as she seems so lonely without her pal who was eaten by an eagle while I was away for 2 hours!!!!! The pekin doesn't seem to mind being "alone" he has a crush on one of the Rouens.

I also want some muscovies because I hear they eat insects and living in a swamp provides plenty of those. Does anyone know, will they eat deerflies?

Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

[countryboy]

hi. welcome to the forum

 

[Maggie3]

Welcome fellow Michigander...Yes, Muscovies will eat deer flies. They are also very quiet ducks, which is nice.