Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[lbrykowski2011]

I am so sorry. You should know that what you describe is heat stroke, probably not cow/horse related. Only thing you can do at that stage to do is stand them in a bucket of cool (not cold) water asap. Even if they live though their heat/cold body regulating will never be the same. They will also need electrolytes, and buttermilk (for the probiotics) to recover after.

I lost a pet hen to it because her confinement was shaded during parts of the day, but not good deep shade between noon and 3 pm. Simply having roof shade is not the same at all it seems.

Idk how the animals were housed but were it me i'd not go back there with another lest another die of heat.

Thank you, I guess at least now i will know what to do for heat stroke. I don't think next year I will be doing the FFA Show. The ducks did well so maybe the boys could show only them. I did have them confined to dog crates, the largest ones and only 3 chickens so plenty of room. We had a tent over us but it was still very hot. It was also around 1:30. They are used to roaming free here and not being in a cage. I told my boys it's different for FFA and 4H because they raise their animals to be around crowds and in cages, our's aren't. Thanks for letting me know what to do, hopefully there won't be a next time, I still really miss him and so do his girls. TY

 

[fuzzybutt love]

When ranging they get to dig holes and lay in the cool dirt to regulate body heat. It is a big factor i have waffled over when looking to my new coop/run design. I wanted to make a coop with one wire wall and a slatted porch floor but i'm worried that without daytime access to the ground in this heat could kill them. (Only range when i'm there)

 

[The Dixie Chick]

Here are the updated chicken pictures!

Molly didn't want her picture taken, so right when I was taking the picture she turned around and I got this XD

Thank you, Pinkaboo!

-Jeym

 

[brian5161986]

I built a chicken plucker over the weekend and butchered about 6 jumbo Cornish X and just wanted to let everyone know this thing is as good as advertised working amazingly. attached are some pictures of the finished project.

 

[Emilieb]

I built a chicken plucker over the weekend and butchered about 6 jumbo Cornish X and just wanted to let everyone know this thing is as good as advertised working amazingly. attached are some pictures of the finished project.

Nice.

 

[Maah]

This is an EE we got from the pullet bin at FFH a few months ago. Most everyone thinks she is a he. I hope now that it is a rooster and he can soon step up and take over the flock. He has nice colors, but i really wish I could have my Roo back.

.

Sorry about the roo you lost.

I agree that you have a nice looking EE rooster there... the saddle feathers. I also got an EE rooster from FFH pullet bin. He got rehomed this last weekend, and I'm trying again with another little EE from FFH's pullet bin in the same coloring. We'll see.

Thank you @fuzzybutt love for the heat stroke info. That's something we all need to take into consideration. Coincidentally DH & I were just talking about this yesterday as we planted our garden. Both of our runs have a shaded area under the coops so the birds can get out of the sun and dig in cooler dirt when needed, but we are considering adding some roofing sheets to the tops of the runs to give more shade.

I've been pricing out sand to put in the runs. One place quoted $16/yard, and the place down the street from us quoted $13/yard. DH remembers getting it cheaper than that a few years ago. What should we be looking to pay now?

We got our garden planted yesterday. Corn, cabbages, kale, brussel sprouts, lettuce, green & red peppers, watermelon, zucchini, spaghetti squash, pumpkins, lots of pickles and lots of tomatoes. I got a tad of sunburn in the process, but it's not too bad and doesn't hurt. Afterwards we took the kids swimming at Sandy Pines for a nice cool down. Loved it.

I dug up a bunch of old fashioned daffodil bulbs from my friends house on Saturday and plan on planting them around here. They've already bloomed but I'm going to stick them in the ground just the same & hope to see some pretty yellow flowers from them next year. I told her she was crazy for wanting to get rid of them. They're a nice old stock that has been thriving at her house for many many years.

 

[Maah]

I built a chicken plucker over the weekend and butchered about 6 jumbo Cornish X and just wanted to let everyone know this thing is as good as advertised working amazingly. attached are some pictures of the finished project.

Great job! We bought the fingers about a month ago to make one as well but haven't gotten around to it yet. Do you have the construction plans yet & would you be willing to share? We have a pottery wheel turntable that DH was going to use to convert into a plucker, but I think I'd rather keep the pottery wheel separate.

 

[lbrykowski2011]

I've been pricing out sand to put in the runs. One place quoted $16/yard, and the place down the street from us quoted $13/yard. DH remembers getting it cheaper than that a few years ago. What should we be looking to pay now?

Thank you. Our runs are almost to dirt now. With them free ranging most of the day I was able to keep grass in there a bit longer but now it's dirt. We were wondering if sand was good to put in or pine chips or just leave it alone. It seems kinda hard in there when it's dry. They do have 2 dust bathing sections I put playsand in. We got our garden in yesterday also, almost 2 weeks behind schedule, but it was to wet to get into it.

 

[lbrykowski2011]

@RaZ -thanks for the strawbale gardening idea, did some searches on pininterest and trying it.

red and green cabbage,pickles and cantaloupe in the straw bales

tomatoes(50), onions, radishes, carrots, kolrabi, green and yellow sweet peppers, hot banana, habenaro, lots of jalapeno and ghost peppers, lettuce, zuchini and beans. Still looking for celery

My favorite little girl is getting so pretty. 14 weeks now

 

[SillyChicken]

Sorry about the roo you lost.

I agree that you have a nice looking EE rooster there... the saddle feathers. I also got an EE rooster from FFH pullet bin. He got rehomed this last weekend, and I'm trying again with another little EE from FFH's pullet bin in the same coloring. We'll see.

Thank you @fuzzybutt love for the heat stroke info. That's something we all need to take into consideration. Coincidentally DH & I were just talking about this yesterday as we planted our garden. Both of our runs have a shaded area under the coops so the birds can get out of the sun and dig in cooler dirt when needed, but we are considering adding some roofing sheets to the tops of the runs to give more shade.

I've been pricing out sand to put in the runs. One place quoted $16/yard, and the place down the street from us quoted $13/yard. DH remembers getting it cheaper than that a few years ago. What should we be looking to pay now?

We got our garden planted yesterday. Corn, cabbages, kale, brussel sprouts, lettuce, green & red peppers, watermelon, zucchini, spaghetti squash, pumpkins, lots of pickles and lots of tomatoes. I got a tad of sunburn in the process, but it's not too bad and doesn't hurt. Afterwards we took the kids swimming at Sandy Pines for a nice cool down. Loved it.

I dug up a bunch of old fashioned daffodil bulbs from my friends house on Saturday and plan on planting them around here. They've already bloomed but I'm going to stick them in the ground just the same & hope to see some pretty yellow flowers from them next year. I told her she was crazy for wanting to get rid of them. They're a nice old stock that has been thriving at her house for many many years.

make sure you get clean play or beach sand, not construction grade sand.... DH didn't listen and got the later, now it's hard as a stinking brick and WORTHLESS for what I needed it for.