Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Maah]

My silkies are laying! FINALLY! They were hatched in May and June of last year and I FINALLY got my first 3 eggs from them today! (I should probably find something to do with my extra cockerels......)

SO GLAD TO HEAR!! Our silkie chicks were hatched on April 23rd last spring. I have 2 from that batch & I still haven't received an egg!! I'm hoping it's soon. It's time for them to stop being freeloaders.

Hello, I've been here for about a month and I'm getting my first ever chicks (around 25 or so) in around a month… gonna use them for 4-H We moved to the country about 2 years ago from Swartz Creek, MI and now we're living in a tiny town near Muskegon, so we've never owned animals other than dogs or cats, lol. Been doing a lot of research about owning chickens so I'm really excited about it Any advice for a new chicken owner?

---My advice... same as the others. GO BIG! The "experts" will tell you that chickens don't need much space. They're wrong (IMO). First of all, you will always have more chickens than you think you wanted in the first place. It's a given, so just get used to the idea now. Plus, chickens honestly do better when they have more room... in the coop, and outside. When they get too congested (even if they have more space than experts suggest) they get irritable with each other, & tend to peck and bicker with each other more than they do when they can spread out). Think about the size coop you think you need, and make it at least twice that big. Same with the outside run. Make them both as easy to clean as you can. Walk ins are great... & tall enough that you can stand up straight. My opinion anyways. Welcome again.




Good luck Silly!

 

[chickwhispers]

Happy Valentines Day to All ! ! !

 

[nluoma]

What type of bantams are you looking for?

We currently have three mille fleure (two hens and a roo), and love the smaller chickens much more than the big ones. We don't know about any of the other breeds, but we do need something that is hardy enough to stay outside over the winter. We have one coop now and are planning on building a second for the new chickens. These guys did fine in my current coop (in fact they're doing better than me! I'm getting a little tired of the cold and they didn't even flinch when we had wind chills of -31. I guess I build better than I thought...) I've heard that some of the "fancy" breeds don't do as well in cold.
I have learned that bantams are not safe free ranging on my property so I'm also adding a bigger fence with a top so they're safe when I'm at work.

Ugh. Typical chicken lover. You ask what kind of bantams I want, and I tell you all about what I have.

So, to answer your question, prefer females as we already have a big and little roo, and need something okay with the cold.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

For sure on the room! In the winter they don't get out much. Bunch of bickering kids! I have a 8x16 camper with6 grown birds & one poor late hatch cockerel. Since he started getting bigger i have noticed tension in there. It is the girls getting onery.

 

[SillyChicken]

Well, i have to say that paying more out of pocket for the dentist was probably worth it. Handsome young fella, very good chair side manor, did a great job though it was almost 2 hours. You guys were right, wasn't that bad... except for the shots. I think had my infection still been full blown it would have been worse, but that was almost cleared up. Otherwise, I didn't feel a thing. I liked some of the new finagle stuff they used, mouth guard, so all that crud wasn't flying around in my mouth

. They had a tv on the ceiling and he handed me the remote so I could flip through channels while he worked. I was happy with the results. Though, my tooth is cracked badly enough he said I shouldn't wait to get the crown or I could lose the tooth.

Thank you all for the well wishes... I appreciate it!

So I'm gonna hang out on the couch for the rest of the day and practice my knitting........ apparently, I need a lot of it!

 

[chickwhispers]

SillyChicken Glad all went well!

 

[1muttsfan]

A lot of knitting or a lot of practice?

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Looks like a good garter stitch to me. Just count your stitches to make sure you aren't picking up extras on accident. Pretty yarn and color.

 

[RaZ]

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/...le-changes-could-put-new-limits-urban-farmers

Thanks to the internet and social media we can get information from a number of sources that are not controlled by the mainstream media. People still have the ability to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions from a variety of sources.

 

[Candy442]

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/...le-changes-could-put-new-limits-urban-farmers

Thanks to the internet and social media we can get information from a number of sources that are not controlled by the mainstream media. People still have the ability to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions from a variety of sources.

There is nothing "urban" about Williamstown Twp in my area. all lots are at least 2 plus acres, with most being 10 acre lots but we are zoned rural residential not ag.