Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[iamfivewire]

Mary : i was hoping to see some sussex there too , & only one welsummer in the whole place. Didnt see any legbars, & only the one swedish flower roo for sale w severely twisted toes. A lot of other nice birds tho to see

 

[lbrykowski2011]

This is the chicken I got a new egg from today, I was told it was a buff orphington, but pics I see, don't really look like her. Does anyone know what she is? My boys named her Buff, she's gigantic. I've had her 2 mos. and she is still very skitish, but very docile.

 

[gaitngirl]

Good morning Michigan. It has been way too long and I'm to far behind to catch up on posts. How is everyone?

While I was gone, I welcomed someone new to my family. Here is Allie, my new Goldendoodle.

Such a pretty girl! What gen is she? I have a friend with labradoodles - she has 2nd gen, non-shedders.

 

[preciouskitty]

After we got home from fowlfest , we took our 2 Delawares out of the barn to a small outside run to get some fresh air , & found a small egg - a pretty cream colour (for comparison l to r: rsl, del, EE)

Such a beautiful rainbow of colors! Cream one looks like what I am getting from my NHRs. My PRs. (RSLs) give me the darker like yours in both a matte & gloss-like. Then the chocolate from the BCMs. Green from 1 EE, & unknown for Spaz...my lone holdout!

So. Stupid Michigan 4 OT game kept me up...was exhausted since up since 2:30am. Now totally awake w/wonderful headache. This is gonna be one of those "I don't get any sleep" nights.

So I am slicing hot peppers (ghost, habanero & bird's eye (Thai hot) & dehydrating to make wicked hot pepper powder . Latex gloves & glasses required ! Gonna have to run the dehydrator outside on porch. First time I've done ghost &'have read the fumes can do a number on the lungs, sinuses...especially for pets. Best not to take chance with 3 indoor kitties & the pup!

Ok...back at it...ghost done...now for the "mild" ones!!!

 

[kathi48836]

Hi Everyone,
I am a newbie to the site. I hope you can provide insight to the massacre in my coop. Last night my beautiful girls (buff orpingtons) went to bed happy. They had just started laying last Tuesday. This morning when I went out to check on them I was met with a massacre I never want to experience again. We think a weasel got into the hen house and chewed the back of their heads, it tried to haul three of them out through the fencing. All 10 ladies are gone, no survivors. I feel that I let my wonderful ladies down, they had a beautiful coop, we thought we had taken every precaution, even putting hardware cloth under the floor, this thing came through the fencing. We can find no other entry point. They were so beautiful, they were not free range but had a large covered yard, made of heavy dog kennel fencing. I think that was my first mistake. I need to put hardware cloth around the fencing. Has anyone else had this happen? We live south of Webberville, farmland an all sides. The only difference with last night was the local farmer cut his bean field down yesterday. I wonder if that possibly drove the predators out of the field. Does anyone know how prevalent weasels are in Michigan? Could it be other than a weasel attack? I won't get anymore hens till next spring, however I want solve this problem before bringing in anyone else and then have them slaughtered. The small chicken entry door in the hen house was open when it happened, should I always lock them in at night? Some nights it seems to warm to shut them in completely, so I leave windows (screened) and their small door open. I felt their heavily fenced yard would protect them, how wrong I was. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.I have already ordered weasel box traps and scented lures. If we are successful in trapping the weasels they will be dead from lead poisoning.

 

[iamfivewire]

That is terrible kathi. Weve had 2 get killed from pet dog attacks (not our dogs) & were devistated - cant imagine loosing 10 :- (
we lock ours up at nite , but both of our dog attack losses were during the day while we were home.

 

[iamfivewire]

here's a couple pics of one of our newest children :

 

[Amy PT]

Hi Everyone,
I am a newbie to the site. I hope you can provide insight to the massacre in my coop. Last night my beautiful girls (buff orpingtons) went to bed happy. They had just started laying last Tuesday. This morning when I went out to check on them I was met with a massacre I never want to experience again. We think a weasel got into the hen house and chewed the back of their heads, it tried to haul three of them out through the fencing. All 10 ladies are gone, no survivors. I feel that I let my wonderful ladies down, they had a beautiful coop, we thought we had taken every precaution, even putting hardware cloth under the floor, this thing came through the fencing. We can find no other entry point. They were so beautiful, they were not free range but had a large covered yard, made of heavy dog kennel fencing. I think that was my first mistake. I need to put hardware cloth around the fencing. Has anyone else had this happen? We live south of Webberville, farmland an all sides. The only difference with last night was the local farmer cut his bean field down yesterday. I wonder if that possibly drove the predators out of the field. Does anyone know how prevalent weasels are in Michigan? Could it be other than a weasel attack? I won't get anymore hens till next spring, however I want solve this problem before bringing in anyone else and then have them slaughtered. The small chicken entry door in the hen house was open when it happened, should I always lock them in at night? Some nights it seems to warm to shut them in completely, so I leave windows (screened) and their small door open. I felt their heavily fenced yard would protect them, how wrong I was. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.I have already ordered weasel box traps and scented lures. If we are successful in trapping the weasels they will be dead from lead poisoning.

Oh, I'm so sorry. That sounds like a terrible experience.
We don't live in a rural area, and I've always hoped that the city would protect us from weasels. It sounds like you'll be buying some hardware cloth before spring.

 

[preciouskitty]

Hi Everyone,
I am a newbie to the site. I hope you can provide insight to the massacre in my coop. Last night my beautiful girls (buff orpingtons) went to bed happy. They had just started laying last Tuesday. This morning when I went out to check on them I was met with a massacre I never want to experience again. We think a weasel got into the hen house and chewed the back of their heads, it tried to haul three of them out through the fencing. All 10 ladies are gone, no survivors. I feel that I let my wonderful ladies down, they had a beautiful coop, we thought we had taken every precaution, even putting hardware cloth under the floor, this thing came through the fencing. We can find no other entry point. They were so beautiful, they were not free range but had a large covered yard, made of heavy dog kennel fencing. I think that was my first mistake. I need to put hardware cloth around the fencing. Has anyone else had this happen? We live south of Webberville, farmland an all sides. The only difference with last night was the local farmer cut his bean field down yesterday. I wonder if that possibly drove the predators out of the field. Does anyone know how prevalent weasels are in Michigan? Could it be other than a weasel attack? I won't get anymore hens till next spring, however I want solve this problem before bringing in anyone else and then have them slaughtered. The small chicken entry door in the hen house was open when it happened, should I always lock them in at night? Some nights it seems to warm to shut them in completely, so I leave windows (screened) and their small door open. I felt their heavily fenced yard would protect them, how wrong I was. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.I have already ordered weasel box traps and scented lures. If we are successful in trapping the weasels they will be dead from lead poisoning.

Oh, kathi...I am so sorry for your loss. I can't imagine how horrific that was.

This is my first time owning chickens (since March). I ALWAYS close the coop door at night. My entire pen/run is hardware cloth & have it buried 12" deep & 12" out around the pen. All windows & vents are covered with hardware cloth. Part of the pen is covered w/ a metal roof, the rest covered with hardware cloth.

As for type of predator you experienced....I will defer to others.

 

[preciouskitty]

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here's a couple pics of one of our newest children :

Ah, they are beautiful

Congrats, mom & dad!