Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[SillyChicken]

Today was a good day for a "controlled" back burn. I take it that your neighbors are not qualified to use fire.

no..... he's not. He admitted he just "walked away" from it. Had I not been doing dishes and looking out my window to see the tree on fire... it could have been a disaster!!

He did this one other time... but caught one of his own pines, next to mine on fire, this was last summer when it was so hot and dry. He is an old dude that just charges away with what he wants to do, and not thinking about what could happen.

If he does it again... we'll call the fire department on him and let them deal with him.
On a lighter note! Here's one of the new chicks that hatched yesterday..

And...

Never had one this color before..... any takers?

 

[gladahmae]

The flowers are part of an ad for a Nutrena Contest. If you are like me and have a touchpad mouse and like to click to the side of the forum to get it working after you've pushed the back button, you will open a new tab or window that tells you about it. The ad goes all the way down the sides of the page where it's that lovely green color, not just at the top.

I feel like I should know this answer, but want to be sure before I go ahead and 'just do it.' I would like to mulch my bulbs that are coming up in newly-planted-last-fall areas. I have a bunch of the shavings that I took out of my coops in March (which were in the coop all winter) sitting in my compost bin. Can I use those? I don't want to burn the plants, but I also don't want to BUY mulch if I can use the 10 cubic feet of shavings I have.

Next question: when I clean out the coops and put in new bedding (hopefully in the beginning of next month) should I put all of the shavings in my compost bin again, or should I make a separate pile and add just SOME of the shavings to the compost pile? (I'm going to go rake up leaves in the woods, yes you read that correctly, so I have some leaves for my compost pile and hopefully get some useable compost this year.)

 

[snowflake]

the biggest problem with avian flue is people sleeping, living with their ducks. making sure every one washes hands and not putting them on your face, is a good way to keep healthy,

NOT seeing that article would have been OK too! very, very sad

You could always show him a photo of an uggo if it helps your case any!! LOL

still love the neck sweater

How is this for a celebration of Earth Day?
After doing chores all afternoon, the last thing I did was fill the bird feeders. As I hung up the high one some seed spilled on my sweaty neck and shoulder. The next thing that happened was a male Northern Cardinal landed on my shoulder and snatched up the sunflower seeds.

I don't know how you do it, animal magnet! I could stand there for an hour and not have a bird land on me

Hi! I don't raise chickens, but work with eggs. A FB friend (and BYC member) suggested that I might be able to find white chicken eggs

In other news, my chickens helped me build the garden fence today only not really, lol. I love how they refuse to budge when taking a dirt bath. They lose all sense of time and place.

first glanced at that pic and thought you had a predator, they all looked dead, Glad that wasn't the case

We spent earth day yelling at our neighbor for burning up our yard and pine trees!! The pine trees are the property line.. we put the livestock fence 20 ft onto our property. The wind is blowing pretty good and toward our land. *sigh* we use old tires to put around the trees when little to keep the grass away. There was a tire under one of the big trees....... it was burning along with the big tree in the photo below. We got the tire out from under the tree and the fire out.
Ugh... some peoples kids..

I sure hope this tree lives... its the only one I can see from the house.

can't believe he didn't watch it closely,

hope your tree survive:

 

[ladyrsanti]

If you are a nature lover, you might enjoy this.

Nice.

We leave our ditch un-mowed to let the milkweed grow but we didn't have any takers this last summer. At our old house (in SE MI) we had a lot of caterpillars and successful hatches. Hopefully they'll catch on at our new place. I also plant plenty of dill and parsley for both the swallowtails and us, and let them eat what they want. Again, I didn't have any last year. We do have tulip trees in the yard. I didn't know they were caterpillar food. Interesting.

 

[Amy PT]

Amy, the bantam cochin chicks in my avatar are splash and one blue - the dark one on the right.

So, maybe they'll be splash? Nice! Thanks.

Cute bunny!

Someone so careless burning so close to the homes of others is scary stuff!

Now that the river has crested, we've started doing laundry again. It's a mighty big pile.

 

[cuppycake]

Hi! I don't raise chickens, but work with eggs. A FB friend (and BYC member) suggested that I might be able to find white chicken eggs through some of the people in this group.

I live in Union Lake (NW of Detroit)." Why white eggs? I make pysanky, Ukrainian Easter eggs. Some of my collection is currently on display at the Detroit Historical Museum; you can view my eggs on my site here, and contact me via e-mail.

Thanks.

I don't have any white eggs now, but I do have a leghorn pullet that should start laying this summer. If you still need them then I can provide. Live near chesterfield.

The flowers are part of an ad for a Nutrena Contest. If you are like me and have a touchpad mouse and like to click to the side of the forum to get it working after you've pushed the back button, you will open a new tab or window that tells you about it. The ad goes all the way down the sides of the page where it's that lovely green color, not just at the top.

That's EXACTLY what I just did, and was very confused about why a new page was opening up.

 

[tmkuroda]

Hi everyone! A little about me..I have a wicked sense of humor (but don't most Michiganders?) I am new to the forum but old in years (53), we (my husband and I) live in the 'Burbs of Detroit or to be even a little more Michigan we live in the Downriver area. We will be retiring to Grayling next spring. That is when fowl things will happen in my backyard. I like to plan things in advance so here I am a year before we get chickens doing my research! Everyone else thinks I am crazy to start now but my Husband knows better. I will be building a chicken coop this summer and so far my plans have changed dramatically from day one.
What I knew was that I wanted Chickens for eggs. Then I wanted Chickens for meat and see if I could get lucky enough to have Chickens for hackle (fly tying). Oh..and lets not forget Turkeys, and maybe a few guineas tossed in to roam around the place. So I went from a small coop to house 6 chickens to maybe a central building to house all the birds sectioned off inside as coops. Yeah I know.. I'm CRAZY right? So here I am throwing myself at the mercy of this forum begging for some help If you ever wanted a clean slate to teach someone something then here I am!
Thanks for reading all this...
Tina

 

[gladahmae]

Welcome!! Chickens really are addicting. You will get this advice many, many times: build the biggest coop you can afford to build.....you WILL fill it. Ventilation is really, really important to avoid frostbite (since you will be living in one the coldest spots in the state!) Chickenwire will keep chickens in, but it will absolutely NOT keep predators like coyotes, raccoons, or dogs out. Hardware cloth is the generally recommended fencing material for securing things. I can't comment on guineas or turkeys.


Build big, but start small. I would say to start with a few of what you want to try and see how it goes.....this will help you get the kinks worked out as far as housing, run space, methods, etc. Once you have a handle on things then go for it! (Coming from someone who started with 8 layers last year, and how has a flock of 18, 45 eggs in the incubator, and 70 broilers and 6 more layers coming next month.)

 

[SillyChicken]

Welcome Tina... clean slate huh?

Muwha haha ha

!

No matter what you plan to build....

....make it bigger than you think you'll need... or... plan your coop location so that you can either expand or add more coops/runs. (LOL glad beat me to it!)

I'm working on my 4th coop/run....

Turkeys....... are generally recommended that they are not housed or allowed to range with chickens due to the risk of black head disease. They also do better with more ventilation. A friend of mine has a wonderful turkey coop that I wish I could make for myself. I'll post photos if I can find them. But for now mine are in a 6x10 shed with one side covered in lattus for air.(we cover that in winter) I had roosts in there but they never used them. ( macwaddles can't roost anyway).

this is my turkey coop - 4 birds.

here it is.. this is the coop I'd like to build.... only bigger of course!

The turkeys can get into the enclosed area through a pop door to next boxes.
(Michigan Yakkers)

OH.......... come to chicken stock June 22 in Lansing!

 

[ladyrsanti]

I have a conundrum. Do I start my almost 6 week old roos on finisher and eat them or keep them on and try to get rid of them later, either at chickenstock or on craigslist? What to do, what to do...

Welcome Tina!