Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[gladahmae]

Chicks are hatching pretty well today! 2 wheaton ameraucanas, 2 mutts, and one OE so far. Had an immediate cull on a 3rd mutt chick.....cross beak and deformed skull upon hatch. I'm holding out hope for one of the marans to hatch, but it's not looking very promising right now. Tomorrow we're picking up 6 silkie chicks, and DH is going to work on converting part of the shed to coop space. We're trying to decide how to shuffle everyone around since I want to keep my BLRWs together, and he wants to put the silkies and our polish and our houdan together (because the polish and the houdan are bald and have been since December). Trying to juggle it all mentally. Ay yi yi! I'll probably have to sit down and put stuff on paper later this week, and then do it all over again when we hatch out our next batch.

 

[snowflake]

Nice pics Nova, are your lilac's still blooming? Love the fluffy heads!!
congrats glad on the new chicks

Silly thank you for the tee shirt, order thread, Shirt is so cool,
IF any one is going to order do it SOON!! I ordered yesterday,got my confirm today will be delivered between the 17th and 19th, no time to procrastinate!

my hatch (under 2 moms) not doing well, hatch is late, and had 2 very broken shells, chick fully developed but no living. Thurs or Fri. should have hatched so far nothing alive

 

[NovaAman]

Yes they are. They are nearing their end though... Thanks!

 

[Opa]

Woke this morning at 3am and decided that it was just too early to start the day. Woke the second time at 730 and that definitely seems like a better time to start the coffee.

Got my shirt ordered so I am one step closer to being ready for Chickenstock. I'll brine the chicken on the19th, and smoke it on the 20th.

Sitting here drinking coffee and watching a huge wild tom turkey in the yard about 75 yards from my window. Sure is nice to see wildlife on a regular basis.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Thanks Silly for the link! I have ordered a shirt for my girlfriend and me.

 

[Farmerboy16]

My Embden goose "Samantha" had hatched 4 goslings, but I had hatched one gosling a few weeks ago, and stuck that under the goose after she hatched her own babies. She and her mate "Jess" adopted it. Yay! They are very very protective pairs!!!! They go after anybody and anything that comes near the babies even the emus stay away!!!

 

[gaitngirl]

My Embden goose "Samantha" had hatched 4 goslings, but I had hatched one gosling a few weeks ago, and stuck that under the goose after she hatched her own babies. She and her mate "Jess" adopted it. Yay! They are very very protective pairs!!!! They go after anybody and anything that comes near the babies even the emus stay away!!!

Awwww - good parents!

 

[gaitngirl]

Phew! Finally finished cleaning up after the horse and mule this morning and can sit down to breakfast and caffeine. Those two can really make a mess of their run-in area in the barn. Of course, letting it build up for a week and a half doesn't help

. I've been covering for everybody's vacations, etc. at work and have fallen so behind here at home.



I went out first thing to check on my muscovy hen that was attacked by something yesterday morning. She seems to be doing much better. She still has some wounds that are bleeding but not as profusely as they were yesterday. And she's eating and drinking now. I put her in a dog crate after I liberally applied Scarlex and Bluecote to her neck wounds. She was in shock yesterday and wouldn't eat anything until the end of the day. I think it hurt too much to even try. She's holding her head up better now, too. I have no clue what got her. The rest of the flock - chickens and ducks both - were all fine. She was the only one yesterday morn covered in blood. I'm almost wondering if one of the chickens could have done it???? I have an uber broody EE hen that will go after nearly everything in the coop. The rooster won't even look at her cross-eyed! Is it possible for a hen to hurt a duck so badly? There are feathers missing from the top of her head down to between her shoulders. She had blood running down the right side of her neck and shoulder yesterday. I couldn't see how deep the wounds were without further traumatizing her (she doesn't like to be handled) and the chickens kept trying to go after her (because of the blood, I think). I don't know if this could have been caused by feathers being ripped out in chunks or not. She and the other muscovy hen generally lay their eggs in an old horse feed bowl that's in a corner of the chicken coop. She had already laid her egg for the morning and I don't think she would have had she already been that badly injured. I'm wondering if the broody tried getting her off of the nest and she just sat tight without defending herself. I couldn't find any signs of a skirmish or blood anywhere else. The dogs and mule would have gone nuts had a skunk, coon, or coyote been around. I don't know about a muskrat or a field rat, but it seems like they would have gone after one of the other ducks or chickens after having failed to kill her. There used to be a muskrat hole out at pond but it was filled in ages ago and no signs of one since. I don't even have turtles in the pond anymore (it's a small pond, barely 5 foot deep; it completely dried up last summer).

Anyway, I was trying to think of a way to bandage and protect her neck without restricting her ability to eat or drink. Has anyone had to do this before with poultry? I was considering a spandex sleeve of some sort. I have a friend who is good with a sewing machine and I know she could whip something up quickly enough. Or would it be better to just keep it Bluecoted and let it heal uncovered?

 

[gaitngirl]

Holly - I got 3 Pekin eggs today! I would have had 2 scovy eggs, too, if my duck hen hadn't been injured. I guess I did end up with a Donald and a Daisy, after all! The ducks are going to end up outperforming the chickens at this rate. I got 7 eggs yesterday from the chickens and 3 from the ducks (2 scovy, 1 pekin). And that was a good day for the chickens! 20 (formerly) laying hens and I've been lucky to get 4 or 5 eggs some days. One day I only got 2!!!
I'm going over to check on the scovy hen that's sitting on 18 or so eggs today. They should be hatching within the week!

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Uchytil: Great idea! And sell some to me also! LOVED it last year when I was lucky enough to win a jar in the raffle. So did my DD which means it was gone much too quick.

Everyone else: this stuff is terrible. If you see it on the raffle table you don't want it - pick something else

Anyway I just wanted to show y'all what I'm working on now. These are clothespin bags, but I think you could use them also for plastic bag organizers (like grocery sacs) and I made this *prototype* (so it is not perfect) from recycled denim.

I for sure need to order a shirt with my name on it. I definitely want folks calling me by the right name. Come to think of it I've been called everything a man can be called accept twice to eat.

Love the pictures Silly and Nova. I was patient enough to get one of a bluebird yesterday.