Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

I have read it in several places too, along with onion and other extremely strong herbs. I have also heard some people say that it doesn't affect taste. I just try not to give large amounts at a time (I give my flock meal leftovers).

 

[Elyssia001]

Just got done watching "Save Our Farm" on netflix streaming, and it really brought home what we're up against to keep government from interfering with how we choose to live our lives.

 

[NightOwl3]

Wow this thread can get away from you quick with all the posts!

Welcome! @RBahmer might be interested in talking with you. When I was talking with her about bantam cochin eggs, she started swaying me toward silkies. We have 2 bantam birds. One is a silkie and one is a d'uccle. If you're open to other breeds as well, check out the d'uccle breed. Our Ruby is wonderful with the kids and FULL of personality.

Yes we are open to different breeds. I'd like to start out with 6-8. 2 in each breed would be fun. Thank you your suggestions. I will definitely read up on it.

I like my d'uccles, and i like my easter eggers. The best ones are from personal breeders; idk where any are here though. I just got an rooster that's easter egger/ blue laced red wyendotte cross last fall, and he's sweet so far. From what i've read about the blue laced red wyendottes they usually are friendly, and the d'uccle ones too. My easter egger and d'uccle girls are complete hams! Some of the hatchery ones are more skittish; i handle all my birds A LOT and i've noticed a difference. One thought would be to stalk the buy/sell part of BYC? Eggs will be shippable from a long distance once this cold snap lets up! I had a bantam cochin for a little while, sweetest thing. Mean ones i've had? The rhode island reds i started my first flock with feared me and turned buck wild, couldn't coop them and they got ate by raccoons. Got an orpington from the feed mill because they were supposed to be nice, she was permanently broody and had a mean pinch!!! Tried to house a production red girl with my easter eggers, and she wouldn't let them eat......... Other breeds to consider on the friendly scale are speckled sussex, barred rocks, and the orloff (which is on the conservation list, and there IS a breeder here in MI! ) Welcome to BYC! You have a coop picked out? Another thing to consider is predator proofing, that will be the next likely question you have! Ask away and don't be shy! We are a good bunch here.

I've been looking at photos of coops here and showing them to DH. Leaving it up to him to build me something I do need to read up some more on predictor proofing. Thank you for your breed suggestions!

Depending on what type of birds you are looking for, there is BJs Poultry in Howell. Thats close to Lansing

I will look them up. Thanks,

Hi NightOwel, WELCOME to the MI. thread, I got birds from Chick hatchery, John Blehm out of Burch Run, he breeds Chanteclair and Ameraucanas, small combs,very winter hardy and very friendly! I got chicks last yr and my granddaughters raise them till they get to big for the brooder then they come home to Grandmas. the girls, 7 and 10 come every Sunday and play with them, their favorite is the Lavender Ameraucana as they are small standard(more bantam size) and look like gray doves, Very friendly The Ameraucana lay blue eggs the Chantecler's brown He also vaccenates all his birds for Meriks unless you request not to have the vac. you do have to order early as he is a small hatchery I have a ## of rooster. from him all are very friendly The Spanish Basque Roosters are also very friendly I bought from 1mutsfan on BYC Mary is in the UP and has beautiful birds,she may send eggs to hatch, as will some others on BYC the best hatchery rooster (not from breeder) was an EE from Murry McMurry's -14 here this AM not sure I want it to get light, afraid to go down to the coop don't remember ever having that low an actual temp ever in our area lived in GR all my life

The weather has been unreal! I will look up your suggestions too. Thank you!

Just checked online, looks like its -11 at the Howell airport. My house is virtually ALWAYS 5 degrees cooler....which would make it -16. Last week it was -17 actual temp. Figures my first year having birds would also be the year that's been the coldest in over TWO decades... Everyone is whining here in Alabama cuz it's +19; heck, feels downright balmy to me And, there MIGHT be snow flurries today, which could lead to shutting everything down (they got an inch last Jan when I was here; everyone was sent home, the schools all closed the day BEFORE just cuz there was the chance of snow).

My parents are in the Gulf Shores, AL area and they are getting freezing rain - it's crazy! I'm glad this is not my first year raising chickens during the winter!

Hi NightOwl, Welcome! Sounds like you are near Jackson area? We will be breeding Iowa Blues this summer. I have one cockerel and three pullets. This breed is very rare and being studied at the APA right now. My girls are one silver (preferred color) and two birchen colors. They are winter hardy and the cockerels are great flock watchers/hawk fighters by legends . We live east of Okemos. Other than that, I have a variety of birds, most of them outside of the Iowa's were gotten at TSC chick days and .50 cents a piece for our RSL's and 1.00 a chick for our EE's. We have an Ameraucana that was born last May and she has yet to lay an egg. We got her as a 5 month old to replace one we lost to a domestic dog attack. We are waiting every day to find a blue egg in the nests. Our EE's have finished molting and started laying again two days ago YAY!

Yes I sure am! We won't be getting any Roos since we have close neighbors. Blue eggs sound fun! I'd love to have a colorful egg basket. Love the dark eggs that Marans produce but will wait til we get our feet wet before dabbing in the Marans. They seem pricey.

I do believe I am installing "hen cams" in the coop and run and outside this spring! 1) Then I will see when they or their water freezes. No need to go out in the early morning deep freeze if everything is good!

2) I will see what predators are lurking around. What big eyes I'll have, the better to see the raccoons, stray dogs, and wild turkeys! (Yep we have 5 young jakes running through the property now, everyday! 3) Chicken TV! Better entertainment when there's nothing on the "Big Screen!"

I think that would be fun to have set up! Point one towards the nest and maybe you can get those eggs before they freeze! Newbie question here. Can you still eat eggs that have froze?

 

[NightOwl3]

I apparently missed the last page in my posts.

Welcome to all the new people.. I love my australorps and leghorns, my isa they come to me but not as personable as my leghorns, they will jump up on my lap if i go out and sit in the run, and the australorps, well they just sweeties, they jump down from their roost and come out of the coop into the run when i go out to lock them up even when its freezing out.. they are sweethearts. and both breeds are excellent layers and started laying at 4 months..

I've read on a chart that was posted here, that Leghorns are aggressive? I suppose it's all in how they are treated and raised. Raising any chicken from a chick or egg probably makes a world of difference then buying them as pullets etc.

We are now at 21 weeks of age. Close enough to start thinking about POL. I couldn't find the golf balls so I tossed a couple of ping pong balls in the nest box. The canaries are showing great curiosity about what they might be.

Is that to trick them into thinking they are eggs and therefore encouraging them to lay their own?

Hi NightOwl, welcome to BYC! And thanks for asking the question of which breeds...I also do not have my chicken yet and am deciding which breeds. So, without chickens, what does one do on a day off, besides curse this super crappy weather? Behold... CROCKPOT CINNAMON PECANS Practicing this new recipe for my momma, for Valentine's Day. My co-workers are about to enjoy this! Boom. Also, since I couldn't make dinner solely out of these... What I think was the best avocado and cheese quesadilla I've ever made in my life. Stay warm!

That avocado quesadilla looks yummy!

Just got done watching "Save Our Farm" on netflix streaming, and it really brought home what we're up against to keep government from interfering with how we choose to live our lives.

I will have to see if that available on our amazon prime movie subscription.

 

[jlynnet]

Welcome NightOwl! My Leghorns are friendly and busy, always looking for bugs in the summer. My big Orpingtons are calm and friendly. The BR and RSL are friendly and outspoken. I have EE too and some are friendly while others are not. Just all depends on the bird.
This weather is nuts! I've given the birds light, especially since they've been locked up so much. Constant darkness isn't fun for anyone. Most of them won't go out when they aren't locked and I don't want them in the dark either.

 

[preciouskitty]

@NightOwl3

I love my Marans (Maia & Lela). Got them from Wynette at Chickenstock last June; they were ~22 & 18 weeks old. They are so sweet, beautiful & lay gorgeous eggs. These French girls don't seem to mind the snow too much either! They both just finished a molt & are giving me jumbo eggs almost daily.

These were taken about a week ago...

 

[Opa]

This morning is another day that staying indoors drinking coffee would be the preferred activity. However my responsibility to my flock requires that I venture out in spite of yet another day of arctic temperatures. Once the birds are watered and the eggs are collected and Granny is up and about, I think I'll go get my old farmer friend and take him out for coffee and donuts.

While he calls each morning to let me know he is okay, I still feet a need to physically check on him. The day after a recent major storm I thought I should go check on him. When I arrived I found that his power had gone off late the previous afternoon. Power wasn't going to be re-established for several days but he hadn't called because he didn't want to bother me.

I think like many of us asking for help is extremely difficult to do. So rather than wondering if he needs anything I'll try to anticiipate his needs. All of us like knowing that someone cares about us and the older we get the more that care is needed and appreciated.

 

[snowflake]

Well said Opa,

NightOwl the pecans look soooo good may we have the recipe?

 

[annagarret]

How very kind of you Opa!

 

[Candy442]

Yes I sure am! We won't be getting any Roos since we have close neighbors. Blue eggs sound fun! I'd love to have a colorful egg basket. Love the dark eggs that Marans produce but will wait til we get our feet wet before dabbing in the Marans. They seem pricey.
I think that would be fun to have set up! Point one towards the nest and maybe you can get those eggs before they freeze! Newbie question here. Can you still eat eggs that have froze?

Our next pullet will be a Maran's to get the dark chocolate egg. Right now we have seafoam green, medium brown, coffee with cream color and cream colored eggs Now to add a dark brown and hopefully getting that blue would be real nice!

We will have chicks for sale of the Iowa's if we have a successful hatch this spring. I hope to have them ready by our Chickenstock meet up this June 21 in Lansing. I hope you can make it and meet us all. There is a pot luck, and also a thread for buy/sell/swap or raffle items to bring along

. People do bring adult birds so maybe you can find something there?

This was our first year raising chickens and neither my DH Brett or I have ever had chickens. I will tell you I have been so worried about them out there in this unusual cold, but every morning I hear my boys crowing and the girls are ready to scamper into the run to have fresh water and air.

. Here is a picture of our coop, a converted plastic storage barn to coop and 10 X 5 foot by 6 foot high dog pen run. All of my birds free range all day. They get no artificial light or heat in this weather. I leave the water in the run to make sure there is less humidity in the coop. We cut two windows on the east/west walls and the building came with north/south front roof vents.
A few of our eggs have frozen in this weather... if they aren't cracked we use them but if they are cracked you should throw them away or cook them up to feed back to the birds. A little extra protein never hurts. We also sprout barley for fodder in this weather so they have a source of fresh green grass. It gives them something to scratch and nip in the run to keep them from picking on each other in close quarters. When the temps hit around 20, they have a favorite place on the south side of my house near the foundation they can dirt bathe and soak up some sun.
Below shows the front of our set up and in the pop door, our shy wheaten colored Easter Egger peeking out. The Red Sex Links (RSL) are in the run, our two cockerels, left is Gandalf the Iowa Blue silver and right of him is TwoTone, our EE rooster (he was supposed to be a pullet LOL , oh well! ). You can see our purebred black Ameraucana in there and I wanted to mention that I am really in love with our single Delaware pullet. She is the sweetest girl! Always laid back and talks to us a lot by cooing. A great breed to have in your flock in my opinion.
I will stay away from the silkies since they hate cold weather, even though they are so cute ! and I will personally not get bantams in my flock at this point.