Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[breezyschicks]

Hi everyone! I'm very new to this site and raising chicks...few questions if anyone can take some time..I know we just came out of a winter for the books but I am already looking to get prepared.. Any tips? I live near petoskey and we got hammered this year, snow doesn't bother me but the below freezing temps...not a big fan. I am lucky enough to have a few acres near like minded people who are excited to have fresh eggs when I can supply them...I'm sitting on my back deck now and at 10:23 the coyotes are already howling near me..doesn't bother me in the least bit..my neighbor has a blue heeler who thinks she's meaner than most love NMI!

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Yellow foamy poop= respiratory illness or worms i think. She needs special urging to eat and drink, dip the tip of her beak in water. Maybe sugar water? Even if it is not worms/illness the not getting atound well concerns me

Maah, you outdid yourself on that one!!! i would surely have caved for that one. Always a sucker for beardy ones, even more for blues! Keep us posted on growing pictures!!!

 

[JackieandChicks]

I'm a glutton for punishment I think. We picked up 4 more chicks from FF&H yesterday - and put them in the brooder box with the 2 keets we picked up last week.

DD picked out a Silver Sebright bantam chick.
DH picked out a new 50 cent discounted Buff Orpington pullet (to replace the BO we got 2 months ago from the pullet bin that ended up being a cockerel).
DS picked out a 50 cent discounted Black Sex Link.
I picked out a new little blue'ish ameraucana... from the pullet bin... again. I will try this again! The last one ended up being a cockerel. I'm hoping the people at Townline got it right this time, but my luck it'll be a boy -again. This little one is so stinking cute!!





For anybody interested... the Wayland FF&H has Freedom Rangers right now. I would have picked up some of those, but we already have our Cornish Cross on order through DD's 4H group.

I posted on the EE thread - I went to Townline today to get a friend (actually two) for the single chick. They were sexing the EEs and showed me how they did it! It's very obvious with the two rows are a female and one row a male. They said they had 90% accuracy, but I did tell them that there were a group of silvers that ended up being beautiful roos. I did peek in the bins (and resisted) and almost came home with a similar silver/blue but I have two here already (will have to post pics later) and really need to sell some of the roos I don't want before I take on any more (except for what I might bring home from CS LOL!). Here is the roo that I am very happy with even 'tho he's not a pullet...

 

[JackieandChicks]

Oh, and they do breed all there except for game birds and meat birds. I am very impressed with their helpfulness and taking time to show me how they sex the birds

 

[Farmerboy16]

I got home an hour earlier than usual today as my boss did not have any thing else for me to do. Thank God for that, because when I got home, my sister heard me coming home and yelled at me for Tippy was in labor, so I ran into the shed. She said that she was in labor for a while, so I grabbed the two hooves that was sticking out(checked to make sure that the head was in the right place, all is good, but the kid was either too big or the birth canal was too small.) proceeded to pull the baby out. It took my sister and I quite a few minutes to pull the kid out amid the yelling and screaming of the mother. Finally the kid popped out into the world. Its a very big boy! Very happy that its alive. The total count of kids born this year is 5 from 3 goats!

 

[Amanda39]

Hi Michiganders! I am fairly new to BYC. I have hatched my first batch of geese and duck eggs and loving this new adventure! I was given some free eggs, told they were Embden and pekin eggs and was told, try to hatch them, if you want them, keep them, if you don't bring them back. Of course after my first 3 hatched and we named them and fell in love, I found out the farm I got them from, that I was planning to take them back to, culls their flocks in the Spring. Well, now I don't want to take them back! So, we are keeping 3 for the summer, then I will need to find them a home. Also, I have 6 duck eggs in the incubator due in 2 weeks. ALSO, I don't have just Embden and Peking, I have 3 Embden, and 2 I'm unsure of, but look nothing like Embden OR Pekin!

Here is a picture of the goose and duck in question..

This is Moose











When I went to the farm, every duck and goose on the farm was PURE white except these 2....



Which look like 2 different breeds, but I don't know which.

Then we have Levi. Like I said, every single bird on the farm, with the exception of Moose's parents were pure white. This is the duck I got...










He is getting more and darker feather spots and his bill is turning green, as you can see, at the base and in the crevices. I have never seen a Pekin like this!

Anyway, so I need to build or buy a safe pen for them to play in during the day/possible night that is SUPER secure. I had over a dozen raccoons in my back yard last night feeding from the bird feeder on the ground. Last week a pack of coyotes took down a deer in my back yard, The sand cranes are plucking moles from the ground, there is a red tailed hawk and a Bald eagle's next withing the vacinity and a fox was on my neighbor's deck yesterday. I may need the military to guard my babies.

This is the area in my yard I would like to put something, and I really have no other option of putting it anywhere else as my entire yard slopes.



I have been on the internet for 3 days straight trying to find something to buy and put together. I can't build anything myself as I have had surgery on both my hands and I only have a hammer and a screw driver, no building tools.

Any advice is GREATLY appreciated!

Amanda


So, that's my story in a nutshell.

 

[Trefoil]

Have you tried craigslist? If you can't find a coop, you could purchase the materials and hire someone to make you a pen.

 

[Amanda39]

I have no problem hiring someone! I just don't know who. I will never go to Craigs list! Too many of my friends have been scared, lied to and ripped of from creepy people on Craig's list!

I don't know who to get in contact with honestly. But, I won't use craig's list.

 

[preciouskitty]

@Amanda39
@breezyschicks
Welcome!

@JackieandChicks
Your EE roo is gonna look a lot like my Bigboy & Blackie (adopted & very happy with his new harem & loving family!!). they are so pretty...

@RaZ
I simply am speechless...how can a judge wave around a piece of paper pertaining to YOU & the status of your "probation" and NOT let you read it??? This is beyond ridiculous & harassment. I am sitting here shaking my head...

One more full day of class...I CANNOT wait to get home & see my chicks...wonder how big they've gotten in the last 4 days?

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi Breezy and Amanda, welcome to the Michigan thread

A secure coop is very nescessary anywhere predators are an issue. As far as cold, a draft-free but well-ventilated coop will keep your birds safe as well. Often people underestimate the amount of ventilation needed by chickens. Even up here I leave a window at least partially open all winter.

Nice kid farmerboy, Spring sure is breaking out all over on your farm lately!