Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[mindylee]

I got them from Winterberry gardens, in VA
          very healthy looking not dried out as much as I expected, they are reblooming  iris however and their web sight said to fertilize in the spring as they need more then single blooming iris  
They sent an extra as well as 2 of 1 that I had ordered as a single, very excited to see them bloom (hopefully next yr.) one is named Peggy Sue, our daughter that passed away last yr. so I had to buy it 

I'll have to look into that farm.

I have that iris too. Bought it yrs back. Very pretty.
I bought all rebloomers, space ages, jumbos, and 2 tone stripes. My favorite is red velvet cake this yr.

Here's a couple of my favs that bloomed this yr. Can't wait to see what blooms next yr.

 

[Opa]

Since the dog wasn't caught in the act you have no real proof that he is the culprit. It does sound like a dog was the villain and probably was yours. Trying to find a good home for an obese 7 year old dog is going to be difficult. Plus if you have had him for that long I would think giving him up would also be very hard for both you and the dog. I think I would put him on a run to keep him from getting to the chickens.

 

[SpidersHuman]

Not sure why that double posted :-/ I'm just absolutely devastated. They were more then just egg layers to me. I handled every bird daily if not more then once a day. When I was stressed or needed quiet time I'd just go hang out in there coop and they would all come over and coo when petted. He might as well have just killed my other dog that's how bad I feel. Still not sure if I'm going to replace the chickens well the ones I can this year or if i should just wait till next spring to try :-( It just sucks. Then cleaning up the massacre was even worse.

 

[1muttsfan]

So sorry to hear about your great loss. I agree, it sounds like a dog attack, and since no alarm ws sounded it probably was yours. You could beef up security to help keep him out of the run, cattle panels covered with hardware cloth and chicken wire and buried wire, or an electric fence would help quite a lot. You might also consider an underground or proximity fence to keep him away, but that wild not keep other predators out (if a fat lazy dog could get in so could other predators).

 

[SpidersHuman]

I'm definitely going to have to fix the gate area. I had not worried much cause during the evening they're in locked all wood stalls and we didn't think we'd have much predators during day light periods and we haven't had any. The outside fence isn't flimsy however its a welded cattle wire 6 ft tall with small squares the bottom is staked down. But whatever it was found the gate wasn't staked down and the bottom wasn't hooked in well to fence and that is where it was pushed up/dug under it :-( I think tomorrow I'm going to finish the fence around the coop for my 2 llamas abd a couple horses to deter wild predators.

 

[iamfivewire]

thats terrible spiders ;-(

 

[SpidersHuman]

It's hard to think of emotionally replacing them but then when I think of my crazy flock it'll be harder physically to find all the ones we had. We had a barred rock, 4 Easter eggers, 2 light Brahmas, a black sex link, 2 buff orpingtons, An Isa brown those were all pullets about a month from being laying age. Then I had 4 cockerels, a fayoumi, 2 silkies and a Rhode island red. The only pullet that made it was our leghorn who popped up an hour later beyond scared. An I'm thanking my stars is left m ducks alone. All besides one young muscovy. It's hard to lose 16 pets in one day. And it was senseless not even killed to be eaten just murdered for dog fun :-(

 

[Trefoil]

It's hard to think of emotionally replacing them but then when I think of my crazy flock it'll be harder physically to find all the ones we had. We had a barred rock, 4 Easter eggers, 2 light Brahmas, a black sex link, 2 buff orpingtons, An Isa brown those were all pullets about a month from being laying age. Then I had 4 cockerels, a fayoumi, 2 silkies and a Rhode island red. The only pullet that made it was our leghorn who popped up an hour later beyond scared. An I'm thanking my stars is left m ducks alone. All besides one young muscovy. It's hard to lose 16 pets in one day. And it was senseless not even killed to be eaten just murdered for dog fun :-(

I have a hard time believing a dog that has left them alone for that long suddenly decided to dig under a fence to get them. It would be different if they were running around him or being already chased by something else, but it really seems odd that would happen out of the blue like that. I would take precautions but be very aware that it might not have been the dog. Does he act guilty?

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Good point- dogs act guilty. Also seems like he would be super excited around the survivors. On the negative labs are bred to be bird dogs, and neither dog sounded even though something was digging long enough to get in. So sorry

 

[JackieandChicks]

Good point- dogs act guilty. Also seems like he would be super excited around the survivors. On the negative labs are bred to be bird dogs, and neither dog sounded even though something was digging long enough to get in. So sorry

Sorry for your loss.

The only thing I can think of is labs are bred to be gentle when they retrieve - even with extra skin on their lips to not hurt the birds.

I'm betting something else, too, but you never know.