Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[ladyrsanti]

Well it's absolutely pouring here today. And someone's dogs got into our chick coop this morning AND into one if my meat coops. I'm down 8 layer chicks and 15 meat birds. I'm really really irritated. Someone's lab and German shepherd were literally inside the chicks coop. They jumped the fence of the layer pen and then dig under the apron into my "secure" chick coop. Thank goodness the layer coop door wasn't open yet or I'm sure they'd all be gone too. Dh chased them off. He knows now that next time he needs to catch them so that we can get costs from the owners and they can pay to retrieve their unrestrained unleashed dogs. Called and left a message with animal control. I'm going to shuffle everyone around once the rain stops and lock them in. After the hawk attack and now this I almost don't want to even let them out if I'm not there to supervise.

GAH! Sorry to hear it. Condolences. Sometimes it feels like it's not a matter of security but a matter of time before something gets in.

 

[gladahmae]

Yep. They got into our most secure coop. They didn't touch the week-old chicks that would have been the easiest to get at. They didn't get the layers because the timer for the door wasn't to open time yet. I haven't bothered to shut the coop that they got into because I was so confident in its security features (thick wire fenced top, welded wire sides and 1/2 in hardware cloth on the bottom 2 ft of the sides and hardware cloth apron all the way around). That means those birds came out as soon as it got light out every morning....around 6am or so. That's probably why they went after them.....they were rthe only ones out and moving. Really hoping we can recoup some of the loss.

 

[Amastacia]

Yep. They got into our most secure coop. They didn't touch the week-old chicks that would have been the easiest to get at. They didn't get the layers because the timer for the door wasn't to open time yet. I haven't bothered to shut the coop that they got into because I was so confident in its security features (thick wire fenced top, welded wire sides and 1/2 in hardware cloth on the bottom 2 ft of the sides and hardware cloth apron all the way around). That means those birds came out as soon as it got light out every morning....around 6am or so. That's probably why they went after them.....they were rthe only ones out and moving. Really hoping we can recoup some of the loss.

so sorry for your loss. good luck getting something for it.

hopefully you can figure out where the dogs live and do something to make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

[iamfivewire]

Good afternoon - Hope everyone had a nice Holiday

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I saw this link on the forum about a food recall for grower feed: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm359617.htm

It's Hubbards feeds, but I'm not sure what stores its sold in but apparently it is a local feed.

 

[RaZ]

http://www.freep.com/article/20130707/NEWS05/307070062/Raising-chickens-in-residential-backyards

 

[gladahmae]

Can anyone comment on how much it costs to run a fence charger? I'm STRONGLY considering adding a hot wire near ground level and a the top of the fence as a predator deterrent. We're probably going to make our fence 6 or 8ft tall as well. We've got 4ft chainlink on our layer run right now, and another 90ft roll of 4ft just sitting there (and a decent amount we pulled down when we took apart a dog kennel to fill in other spots) that we could just add as a layer.

I am extremely concerned about my meat chickens when I have to go to work today. I can coop all the other chickens up, but apparently I can't keep dogs out of my meat tractors. :/


In other news, I will no longer have a problem with culling roosters on my own when it is needed. Cervical dislocation and skinning/gutting were easier to do than I thought. I managed to muddle my way through 3 birds in just over an hour that way........

 

[ladyrsanti]

http://www.freep.com/article/20130707/NEWS05/307070062/Raising-chickens-in-residential-backyards

Ooh, Detroit Free Press. Good one.

 

[tdhenson86]

We finally got around to updating the inside of our 4x8 coop we built about 7 years ago. I never liked the ladder roosts - the bottom ones were never used and just collected lots of poop. I am loving the layout with the poop boards now. I just took the nest boxes out since they weren't getting used, but I plan on sticking some baskets in front of the three egg ports with some fake eggs in them to see if that will work.

WOW! That is AMAZING!!!

 

[RTFchickens]

I LOVE the coop!!!