Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Folly's place]

I've never felt co-ordinated enough to try clicker training; it's one more thing to do, when all I want is focus and obedience. My dogs listen to my voice or watch the hand signals, no gadget involved. Just me! Hope your surgery goes well; if the surgeon wants anesthesia, there's a good reason. Asleep during surgery is a GOOD THING; screaming, snarling, and flailing will definitely annoy the nice doctor and make things go less well. Opa, all the best. Mary

 

[greenmimama]

Seems I only come on here with my problems, but my girls are not laying again, and since you all are in MI with the same kind of weather and lighting, are your hens stopping for the darkness yet? I asked a chicken group on facebook and they are saying w/o a doubt hens need 14 hours of light a day to lay eggs.

My pullets started laying like crazy last Feb and I never gave them artificial light?

I am so confused, I have 28 layers right now, a whole bunch of variety and they are almost all a year old, I got 1 egg today, 1 yesterday. They seem to scare so easy and then stop laying, sensitive hens I guess, can anyone help me?

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Could they be molting?

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

In my unfortunate experience with bad neighbors and property lines, it's a blurry line.  They can get a survey that says most of that wedge is theirs and you can get a survey that say's most of it is yours.  BUT, it's usually only a couple of feet difference at the most.  So likely, some of that 16' is yours.  But don't be surprised if there is a discrepancy. 

That's just my limited experience with surveys and neighbors though.  You might be right. 

Yep. That's when you hope you hired the Surveyor with the history of winning in Court.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Seems I only come on here with my problems, but my girls are not laying again, and since you all are in MI with the same kind of weather and lighting, are your hens stopping for the darkness yet? I asked a chicken group on facebook and they are saying w/o a doubt hens need 14 hours of light a day to lay eggs.

My pullets started laying like crazy last Feb and I never gave them artificial light?

I am so confused, I have 28 layers right now, a whole bunch of variety and they are almost all a year old, I got 1 egg today, 1 yesterday. They seem to scare so easy and then stop laying, sensitive hens I guess, can anyone help me?

My ducks have basically stopped. It's the resting Season here.

 

[taprock]

Silly - when we had our property surveyed we ended up with 4 foot of the cemetery next door on our property.

Opa - I hope you have good weather for fishing and then maybe some not so good so you don't miss it so much.

1muttsfan & BF -

Today I am in denial. I have decided the white on the ground must be powdered sugar or something because I refuse to consider this the beginning of winter.

Today is also worming day. I was going to do it this weekend but it rained so much there was water everywhere and I couldn't take it away from them. Since they will be penned up today with the wind and "powdered sugar" it should work. I shouldn't have to toss as many eggs as all the older birds are now molting.

Yesterday I unloaded a truck load of wood chips. Now all the mud has been covered so no more muddy feet or my fear of wiping out in it.

 

[Opa]

Even with supplemental light all chickens will enter periods of reduced laying. Also each year of a chicken's life you will see a marked reduction in the number of eggs they lay. The majority are laid the first year which is why I never keep them much over 30 months.

 

[gladahmae]

. That makes me sad opa. I have 3 birds from my original group that will be 2 years old in the spring. I'll have to figure out if I want to process them or give them away next fall. I know it's part of keeping them and all but they have a special place here with surviving 2 dog attacks and being my start in chickens.


My gosh darn cuckoo Marans he has taught one of my buff orps how to get OUT of the run but she hasn't taught her how to get back INTO the run. Went out to check on everyone last night and found the buff hunkered down in a hole she made to dust bathe in just outside the fence. Good thing I went out as it got COLD last night and we had some white stuff.

 

[RaZ]

Seems I only come on here with my problems, but my girls are not laying again, and since you all are in MI with the same kind of weather and lighting, are your hens stopping for the darkness yet? I asked a chicken group on facebook and they are saying w/o a doubt hens need 14 hours of light a day to lay eggs.

If it is on FB then it must be true.

That 14 hours of light tale is just an old wives tale. I suspect it is based on battery hen operations that keep birds inside in cages and use the lights to trick the birds into maximum egg output. Then think about this, IF the amount of light was the deciding factor, how can chickens lay eggs on the equator? The equator only gets 12 hours of light.

Light is only one factor among several for egg production, but considering the season you could be in moult.

 

[ladyrsanti]

NONE of my 18ish mo. old hens are laying. They're all in the throes of serious moltage. Only this year's hatch are laying at the moment and not at optimum, giving me about 4-5 eggs a day from a total of 19 hens. But mine are all cooped up completely right now which is adding stress to the mix. It's depressing but come spring I'll be complaining that I have too many eggs so...