Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[fuzzybutt love]

Quote:Originally Posted by gaitngirl Quote:Originally Posted by Trefoil I had the same thing, as soon as they put the new meter in my "usage" shot up drastically! But my trailer is essentially a gutted shell still, so $40 for "swirly" lights and microwave, I turned the AC on for 5 days i think. I even turned my hot water heater off! ( I have elsewhere to go to eat and bathe, no worries! ) So this month i get a fridge and get the gas turned on for the heater, which also has an electric blower.............. my bill this month was $7.50!!? Go figure. I checked my use and it was indeed down. My theory is that when they shut it down to hook it up to the new source, it made the difference since the new meters were probably designed for the underground wiring???? Same unit price, just less units used. ? ( They shut down the coal plant that was supplying the old power)

Quote:Originally Posted by Farmerboy16 I was just telling my family about your milk, and wishing to make butter myself! You'll have to tell of how it tastes different, i've heard it's so much better but no one I know has had the experience. I don't use shortening any more in my cooking, only butter.

Quote:Originally Posted by preciouskitty Nonsense! Birds (a lot of them anyway) are quite intelligent. My birds that are human oriented you can tell, the way their eyes light up sometimes and they are like cats or dogs in that they will learn certain phrases or words. Once you have them longer you will learn their "language" ( trills and calls they make in danger situations). There are different ones for different things; i accidentally made the "hawk" trill to my first batch of chicks before i knew what it was. I was trying to get them to look at me; they actually all ducked and ran under whatever they could and froze! Took me a second to catch on, but now i know what to call out if i'm ranging them and i see a suspicious bird in the sky. Has been invaluable.
Quote:Originally Posted by kathi48836 I am unsure about WHAT did it, but weasles do go through small openings. It was my understanding that weasles pierced the throats and drank the blood though? At any rate my only advice is that the hen-house itself be fort knox! half-inch hardware cloth on the windows, secured with bolt and screw instead of the "staples" style nail that they can pull out. Bars if you think your coons are really big, i've heard large coons being called "little bears" because of their strength! And do shut the pop door and make sure the latches are locked and not knobs or so simple little hands can do it since coon really do have little hands and are intelligent enough to turn knobs and open the latches! I do not trust any fence at night personally.

It's really sad and morbid but if you still have a dead body you might try putting it in a trap to see if whatever did it comes back. Comb the ground carefully out side the coop and run for prints; post pics of those if you find them. So sorry about this. I lost my first flock but for my old pet rooster my first year. Mine was coons.

 

[EverMystique1]

You havew an absolutewly beautiful granddaughter !

and yes, I can picture her as a younger version with spaghetti in her hair.

It is great to be able to rescue and to rehome the unwanted dogs, I wish that I could.

Right now I seem to be stalled on rehoming an Iowa Blue trio, 2 beautiful pullets and a really flashy cockeral.

This is a beautiful  start for someone wanting to help this recovering heritage homestead breed. Both pullets are near POL.

Sadly, you are just too far away. I am only 5 miles from Indiana.

 

[Candy442]

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.

Hi Kathi, we are between Williamston and Perry so not too far from you.

I am so sorry to hear of your huge loss.

. We modified a plastic storage building (8X8) into a coop, then used a 5 x 10 dog kennel to get them used to their new home when first introduced to the coop. We bought TSC chicks last spring (8) and now have 10 total (six of the originals and four new girls-chicken math!). We are real new to chicken flocks with this one being our first ever since April.

I read that a weasel can fit through an opening the size of a 50 cent piece and we do have them in the area (although I have never seen any personally). We also have many coyote, fox, raccoon, opossums, and skunks that can raid the coop area at night. We have trees and brush the birds can scurry to during the day and for the most part chickens have a good chance of hiding from predators during the day free range. We wish our birds to have fresh air and exercise. Come what may and take our chances so to speak, but night time is a much different story. We decided before we got chickens that we would always lock them up tight at night.

Is there a reason you do not feel they should free range during the day? Just curious.

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi Kathi, so sorry to hear about your hens. I had a weasel get into my coop one evening and kill several birds (the main coop door was not closed and secured, out fault). They can get through openings only a few inches wide. If your run is secure, you can leave the pop door open, otherwise close it at night.

Hardware cloth around the bottom 3 feet of your run, and chicken wire over the rest - dog pen wire is way too large for security, and even chicken wire will allow coons to reach through the wire and grab a hen. Chicken wire is made to keep birds in, not predators out. You can attach this directly to the dog pen fencing.

Bury or lay flat wire around the perimeter of your pen - prevents digging, and many predators will dig

Cover your run. I use heavy-duty poultry netting bought on Ebay

Cover the coop openings with hardware cloth securely fastened

After dark, have someone inside the coop shine a flashlight around to look for openings that may need to be covered or blocked. Make sure your door securely closes and that the bottom can not be pulled out enough for a little body to squeeze through.

Predators have to work for their living, and will be very persistent in hunting for a chicken dinner. They will come back repeatedly to check that things have not changed. Killing whatever shows up at your coop is not a solution, since as soon as one is gone it leaves an opening for another to move in - your best bet is to provide a pen secure enough that nothing can get in.

 

[iamfivewire]

Jake - We will adopt your 3 IB's
Weve done some reading/research on the breed (although there is a very limited amount of info available), & are intreagued & excited to preserve & re-establish the breed .
Will also contact the iowa blue club to keep up to date on any updates for breed standards & etc ...

 

[kimmie6067]

Hi everyone! Been awhile since I said Hi. Busy with the birds and all the other stuff that life seems to toss at me. Hoping everyone is doing good and their birds are all ok.

Kimmie

 

[kathi48836]

HI Everyone,
Thanks for all the advice. We scrubbed the coop yesterday, what a mess. The reason we don't let our chickens free range is we have neighbors close by and they wouldn't be happy. We don't have property fencing and we are surrounded by a 400 acre field. My big mistake (I now realize) is thinking manicured lawn and proximity to neighbors would keep predators at bay. I have always lived on large amounts of acreage with large animals. We moved to 1.5 acres for retirement 2 years ago. I missed my large animals and also the feeling of harvesting my own food. We raised chickens 20 years ago so I thought it would be nice to have a small flock again. My husband built a 7x8 heavy resin shed, we raised it 5 inches off the ground, enclosed it with rat wall. We even went so far as to staple hardware cloth over the floor boards before the finished flooring went in. The windows are screened, (I will change that to hardware cloth). The coop is 8 feet tall so we put in power, roosts, nest boxes, even litter pans under the roosts for easy cleaning. I sent for my Buff's in late July, they were started pullets around 15 weeks old. Paid over $450.00 for the 10 of them, most of it was shipping from Texas. I am so angry with myself
for not realizing that weasels are so prevalent in Michigan and taking precautions. I will take all your great advice and next spring put hardware cloth everyplace. We are going to dig out the bottom of their run, then put hardware cloth completely under the yard, coming up the sides. Then we will put the dirt back in over the hardware cloth. Would all of you also cover the entire dog fencing with hardware cloth? We now have fencing panels for the roof of the pen, should we cover the roof with hardware cloth, too? I did allot of research on minks and weasels in Michigan ( last night after the fact), I think it was a long tailed weasel, because 3 of my girls were drug out of the hen house and he tried to drag them through the fence. They were very large hens, so I don't think a least weasel could have drug a really large bird. Also I learned weasels crush the back of the skull, which is exactly what happened to my ladies. Only one was chewed up a little bit on the breast. I was so shocked to walk out the door and see our back yard covered with feathers, we didn't hear a thing. Last night I went to a trapping site and ordered a weasel box trap, along with the scents and lures. We will staring trapping next week. Hopefully we will put a dent in the population in South Webberville.

 

[RTFchickens]

Kathi, we close our chickens in every night, and free range in run during the day. So far no losses to predators since we started this routine.
I'm sorry to hear about your loss!

 

[Candy442]

HI Everyone,
Thanks for all the advice. We scrubbed the coop yesterday, what a mess. The reason we don't let our chickens free range is we have neighbors close by and they wouldn't be happy. We don't have property fencing and we are surrounded by a 400 acre field. My big mistake (I now realize) is thinking manicured lawn and proximity to neighbors would keep predators at bay. I have always lived on large amounts of acreage with large animals. We moved to 1.5 acres for retirement 2 years ago. I missed my large animals and also the feeling of harvesting my own food. We raised chickens 20 years ago so I thought it would be nice to have a small flock again. My husband built a 7x8 heavy resin shed, we raised it 5 inches off the ground, enclosed it with rat wall. We even went so far as to staple hardware cloth over the floor boards before the finished flooring went in. The windows are screened, (I will change that to hardware cloth). The coop is 8 feet tall so we put in power, roosts, nest boxes, even litter pans under the roosts for easy cleaning. I sent for my Buff's in late July, they were started pullets around 15 weeks old. Paid over $450.00 for the 10 of them, most of it was shipping from Texas. I am so angry with myself
for not realizing that weasels are so prevalent in Michigan and taking precautions. I will take all your great advice and next spring put hardware cloth everyplace. We are going to dig out the bottom of their run, then put hardware cloth completely under the yard, coming up the sides. Then we will put the dirt back in over the hardware cloth. Would all of you also cover the entire dog fencing with hardware cloth? We now have fencing panels for the roof of the pen, should we cover the roof with hardware cloth, too? I did allot of research on minks and weasels in Michigan ( last night after the fact), I think it was a long tailed weasel, because 3 of my girls were drug out of the hen house and he tried to drag them through the fence. They were very large hens, so I don't think a least weasel could have drug a really large bird. Also I learned weasels crush the back of the skull, which is exactly what happened to my ladies. Only one was chewed up a little bit on the breast. I was so shocked to walk out the door and see our back yard covered with feathers, we didn't hear a thing. Last night I went to a trapping site and ordered a weasel box trap, along with the scents and lures. We will staring trapping next week. Hopefully we will put a dent in the population in South Webberville.

Your plan sounds very good for chickens in an enclosure. That is just awful they killed all of them. Weasels do that to all because they "hoard" food for the winter. We have some outdoor cats and believe it or not, I read that cats manage to fight away weasels. We only let our flock in the dog run during the day and only while they were getting use to where "home" was before we allowed them to range most of the day. We have 1/4 inch hardware cloth bolted through 1 x 3 board frames on the window openings in the coop. The dog pen area is not secure at all because it is never used for them now, we open the coop and open the dog pen door. Close it up and the dog pen door right after they go back in for the night. We only have blue tarp covering the top of the dog pen held down by bungie cords. If it were me and my flock was in the enclosure all the time, every single part would be hardware cloth covered UNLESS you lock them down during the night. Covering the top with hardware cloth does not seem needed if they are only going to be out during daylight hours. Hardware cloth is so expensive, but you never can predator proof the enclosure enough really.

welcome to the site. Hope you come back often

 

[Trefoil]

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.

Aside from revenge, trapping predators is a waste of time and money, you can't eat a weasel. They are also your control over rats and other varmits. The first time I purchased fencing from my local hardware store the owner informed me of weasels and told me they could get through holes the size of a quarter. So I purchased hardware cloth accordingly. I use 1/4 and 1/2" hardware cloth on the sides of my run, with 1' buried underground around the perimeter and poultry wire on the roof, 1/2 of which is covered by a tarp to give them more room to exercise in the winter and rainy weather, it also keeps my run relatively dry during rainy weather. I don't lock my birds in the coop at night and so far at least have had no causalities. You are starting ahead of the schedule, having chain link as a support for the much thinner hardware cloth that you need to bury and put over it. As long as you bury the wire around the perimeter, you don't need to put it under the whole run. Hardware cloth is expensive, the cheapest place I've found is wayfair (shipping is free), I last got it when they had a 20% off everything sale. Check their price and then ask around locally ect. to try to beat it. So sorry about your loss, its a tough way to learn.

Hi Kathi, so sorry to hear about your hens. I had a weasel get into my coop one evening and kill several birds (the main coop door was not closed and secured, out fault). They can get through openings only a few inches wide. If your run is secure, you can leave the pop door open, otherwise close it at night.

Hardware cloth around the bottom 3 feet of your run, and chicken wire over the rest - dog pen wire is way too large for security, and even chicken wire will allow coons to reach through the wire and grab a hen. Chicken wire is made to keep birds in, not predators out. You can attach this directly to the dog pen fencing.

Bury or lay flat wire around the perimeter of your pen - prevents digging, and many predators will dig

Cover your run. I use heavy-duty poultry netting bought on Ebay

Cover the coop openings with hardware cloth securely fastened

After dark, have someone inside the coop shine a flashlight around to look for openings that may need to be covered or blocked. Make sure your door securely closes and that the bottom can not be pulled out enough for a little body to squeeze through.

Predators have to work for their living, and will be very persistent in hunting for a chicken dinner. They will come back repeatedly to check that things have not changed. Killing whatever shows up at your coop is not a solution, since as soon as one is gone it leaves an opening for another to move in - your best bet is to provide a pen secure enough that nothing can get in.

The only thing I would add is if you feel the need for extra security, run an electric wire where you transition from hardware cloth to poultry wire.