Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[fuzzybutt love]

Quote:Originally Posted by yorkchick well, if i got face to face with my bird's killer i certainly would! But i have never, DH handles for me thank God. But i do remember some discussion about doing a certain angle of head shot, or the bullet wasn't killing the big coons? I think essentially between the eyes was the advice.

Quote:Originally Posted by Chambertin Not me, but ah ha you ARE back for a minute! I remembered the crazy avitar, kinda sticks to you


Quote:Originally Posted by Maah I remember a discussion about this once from the guys i used to work with- they said always test a thermostat by dropping the thing in boiling water. It should pop open fairly quickly, if it does not or is only partially open than it's no good. Also i remember DH saying once that his stepdad drove without a thermostat in his vehicle in FL. Got too hot down there, so he took the thing out/ drilled a hole? did something and it essentially was "open" to circulate all the time!

Quote:Originally Posted by Scifisarah I'd check this one, they are poisonous to cats . My old downstairs neighbor grew them up to our porch, my cat vomited horribly. I *think* birds aren't supposed to eat them either, and cooped birds do eat things they normally would not. As in my catnip they aren't supposed to have either. No puking, but possibly some pretty messed up birds!

 

[1muttsfan]

Umh, Silly - Aaaack!!

 

[SillyChicken]

lol, you ain't seen Uggos daddy yet!

 

[NovaAman]

Skeeter on Ekta, Ekta on babies

Skeeter on Ekta again... Skeeter is a bantam cochin, and Ekta a black serema


Here they were just brooding...normally...


All the circles are chicks beaks and heads.

And... if you wouldn't see em if i didn't circle them... LOL

SO, yes, two hens can brood and raise chicks together. Skeeter was more dominant in it, Ekta was more vicious about it. LOL, but Skeeter also had been through the whole, "Oh crap, she's coming to mess with us again" routine... Gonna miss that mama...

 

[Huston's Happy Hens]

Skeeter on Ekta, Ekta on babies

Skeeter on Ekta again... Skeeter is a bantam cochin, and Ekta a black serema


Here they were just brooding...normally...


All the circles are chicks beaks and heads.

And... if you wouldn't see em if i didn't circle them... LOL

SO, yes, two hens can brood and raise chicks together. Skeeter was more dominant in it, Ekta was more vicious about it. LOL, but Skeeter also had been through the whole, "Oh crap, she's coming to mess with us again" routine... Gonna miss that mama...

Thanks much! I think we'll move forward with our Wheaton hen and our cochin bantam being 2 mommas!

 

[gaitngirl]

Gaitngirl, when hay is baled too green, with too high a moisture content, and especially if it becomes overheated, the nutritional content drops dramatically. Even if it doesn't get hot enough to spontaneously ignite, the quality of the hay drops to extremely poor. In addition the warmer temperature of the bales encourages the growth of mold spores, which are found in all hay. In properly dried and baled hay, those mold spores do not get the chance to grow. Even the smallest amount of excess moisture leads to the growth of mold, which for horses in particularly dangerous, as chronic exposure to mold spores can lead to the development of heaves. Not to mention the tremendous danger of storing too-green bales in a barn.

Hay that gets rained on, even if well dried before baling, still has poorer quality nutritional content.

That guy is costing you an awful lot.

We talked tonight. He came and flipped/scattered the hay to dry it. He thinks it will be okay but offered to replace it with hay cut from one of his other fields. I told him that if it's still even slightly wet, not to bale it. And I definitely don't want it in my barn if it's bad. The last time I had hay that had been lightly rained on before baling, even though it was baled dry, the horses turned their noses up at it . . .

I still have 3rd cutting, 90% alfalfa bales left that are too rich for my guys - I can always mix if I need to but I hate doing that.

 

[taprock]

Has anyone ever put 2 broodies together to raise chicks?  I have 2 hens that have been bunking together for weeks~!

Yes, I had two raise a batch together. They did a good job together. Opa, I also had three in together today and dug them all out. Titus, the pup also learned that sticking his head in the nest box wasn't a good thing to do. He got himself pecked several times and one broody polish girl attempted to chase him out of the coop. My older birds do not trust the dog, however after surviving two dog attacks from neighbors dogs you can't blame them. This springs chicks don't mind the puppy at all.

 

[Opa]

Unless the weather forecaster was lying, today is going to be glorious. Sunny, no rain, temperatures in the 70s. Don't think it could be much better than that. It's exactly the kind of day I hope we have for Chickenstock.

It is always wise to assume that there are predator just waiting for you to lower your guard so they can help themselves to your flock. I'd had four dog proof traps set for several weeks without catching anything. Rather than think that there were no predators in the area I kept refreshing the trap's bait. This morning found two large coons waiting to be dispatched. Once the traps are cleared I will reset them in a different location and continue my vigil.

 

[Maah]

I am for some reason unable to pm so, yes, I;m interested. Are you going to chickenstock? I may be able to have someone pick him up there for me if I'm not there. I've got just the partridge silkies and really like the white ones.

Right now it's up in the air if we'll be able to get chickenstock. It is DEFINITELY on our schedule and leaning towards "yes, we're going". DH has been putting new shingles on the roof and it needs to get done. He and his crew worked all last weekend on it, and have plans to start again tonight thru this weekend. He's hoping to get it completely done. I'll keep in touch with you over the next week whether we're not able to come out. If we get out there, I'll bring Corny with us & you may take him home. (Our daughter named him "Cornelius". I really don't think he cares what his name is. LOL.)

 

[preciouskitty]

Quote:
A glorious day indeed. Left house in the dark at 0430, got to watch a beautiful sunrise en route to Harrison Twp. Sure hope that I get out of here early enough to get home & finish cutting lawn, do a quick hoe on garden & start attacking those EVIL prickly weeds. Sure the "kids" would really like some free time out in the yard, too (but only let them free-range if I am home; they were a little confused when I opened the coop door at 0430; Bigboy doesn't start crowing til 0500!) Hope everyone has a great Friday & gets to enjoy this great weather!