Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[RaZ]

http://www.marthastewart.com/americanmade/nominee/95192/design/landscape-design--associates-llc

The above link is for one of our own.
Juise is part of our Michigan thread people and this is her Mom.

If you are on Facebook, please go there and help her gain some recognition.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Anyone like fish?

That's a lot of fish! I have never had luck with pond fish, all I have is a few minnows. Probably because we had a snapper in the pond. I was thinking, and it seems all the chickens in have lost had something to do with food or something consumable. Like the two roosters we had given away who died, Mocha and Salt, and the two hens I had S'mores and Muffin. I still have a few chickens named after food...

 

[Stacykins]

The neighborhood Great Horned Owl attempted to snack on my extra cockerels last night...and found he was quite cockerel blocked!

I did the same as Sillychicken, I put a cockerel in a livetrap. He was probably the safest of the bunch until it was proven the new netting over the others worked!



Staring contest


And a confused/hungry owl


He/she likely looking for a way in


Testing out the netting. Great Horned Owls weigh from 2.5 to 3.5lbs on average, so they're not too hefty.


Snacking on 'leftovers' from an attack a few nights ago. I guess something is better than nothing?

 

[Maah]

Grand Rapids is going to review the backyard hen ordinance this and next month. Word is it might be a more favorable outcome than last time.

I hope it works out & the change is made.

maah, how did you do at fair?

Fair this weekend was GOOD, but tiring! DD did very well in the open class competition especially. She entered just 4 chickens in the open. Her Leghorn took 1st place, her Ameraucana took 1st place (plus the judge wanted her in the final round), and her 2 Mille Fleurs took 1st & 2nd place. Couldn't have asked for better. Another thing that was cool, is that one of her friends entered a couple of our old birds. We gave them 5 (3yr old) hens a few months ago & their daughter entered the Barred Rock. The Barred Rock placed 1st as well in that class plus the judge wanted to see her in the final round too.

Some pics of DD & her Ameraucana judging





Of ALL the standard chickens entered, the judge only called back 4 to compete in the final. DD's Ameraucana, the Barred Rock (that incidentally was our chicken until a few months ago), and 2 others. The Barred Rock "Omelet", took Grand Champion. So that was like a win for us too since we raised her from a chick. Very happy for DD's friend to get that win.

Here's a pic of the final 4. Sorry it's not too good, the Barred Rock is in front of the girl in green (DD's friend).



DD didn't enter any chickens in the 4H breed classes but is planning to do more of that next year.

She did well in her showmanship event too. She was 2nd to last to go out of 15-16 kids in her age group. Ugh, talk about a LONG DAY. DD did well but didn't place. All well. Her friend took 3rd which was nice.

Here are some pictures of DD waiting her turn with her showmanship bird "Oliver" that she got from Amy PT. He's such a snuggle bug. He was one of the few well behaved birds there. Most the other kids were chasing down escaped birds, or distracting the show with their wing flapping escape attempts. The showmanship event was a bit um... chaotic, unorganized... ? The poultry show "started" technically at 1pm, but DD's group was the very last to go for the day. ... She didn't get to give her speech until after 6pm. Blech. So the kids had already been sitting around for a long time before their group went up. I can't blame these kids or their birds for becoming restless. Even when their group was finally called up, it took HOURS where those kids just had to sit there & be quiet. After each kid was done with their individual presentation, they were allowed to return their bird to the cage, but as DD was next to last in line to go, she & Oliver had to sit there the whole time. Couldn't have asked for a better bird. He sat on her shoulder for a while, took a nap on her lap, sat on the chair between her legs, perched on her leg, her hand, the back of the chair, or even just sat on the ground in front of her & played in the grass/dirt. He never tried to run away or anything, happy just to sit with her or near her. She didn't have to constantly hold him, or try to keep him under control like other kids did. That was SO nice.















DD didn't place in the market pen either, but we're not surprised by that. We didn't figure she would (though of course we hoped). However, DD had to enter a hen pair and they don't tend to get wins as well as rooster pairs. DD wanted to enter a rooster pair, but couldn't. Of all the meaties we raised, only 1 ended up being male so she had to enter a hen pair. That's ok though... they'll be sold at auction on Wednesday & the rest will go to freezer camp. It's all good.




Also, speaking of freezer camp... hubby has been working hard helping some friends put a new roof on their house. The homemade plucker has been back burnered. Anybody know of someone close to me (Allegan/Wayland area) that we can have our remaining meaties processed cheap? I'd rather just do them ourselves, but time is non existent & I'm done paying to fill their bottomless tummies. If I don't find anybody new, I'll use the same guy we used last year... I just wasn't impressed with his packaging & will repackage them myself.

 

[SillyChicken]

my trap is a bit different...it has a small cage you put the "bait" in so you can actually catch the predator. At least you know what's going after your birds. Question though, how come you don't lock them up in the coop at night?

 

[Stacykins]

my trap is a bit different...it has a small cage you put the "bait" in so you can actually catch the predator. At least you know what's going after your birds. Question though, how come you don't lock them up in the coop at night?

Nifty!

I don't put the cockerels in the coop because I don't want them competing with my chosen rooster. I have him because he has everything I would like in an Araucana. The others do not. So they have no place attempting to breed my Araucana hens once they are old enough. Separation until they sell or are big enough for freezer camp is the best option.

 

[1muttsfan]

Stacy those pictures are very cool - you so seldom get to see owls, and they are so majestic.

 

[mindylee]

Anyone like fish?

I love koi and goldfish. Lost all my 2ft+ koi over winter and all my large golds. But I have hundreds of lil golds still in pond. I'm good friends with Rob Trott (PBS hunting show of Great Lakes Out Of Doors) and he's a koi freak. He just won in a raffle a $1200 beautiful imported koi. He said once his koi have some fry he will give me some next year. My face are the butterfly kois.

 

[birdman55]

wanted to try and incubate my own eggs so i made one myself out of a styrofoam container and it hatched 10 out of 13...and the 3 i cracked open an they were infertile so i think i did pretty good.


male pit checking out his new peeps


barred rock mix


male pit sunbathing with some of his peeps

these are the youngster i hatched out a styrofoam incubator...you can make just about anything nowadays...check out youtube under rushlanepoultry.com and he shows you how to make a digital incubator...and these are prolly just as accurate as the expensive models...with a little design you can build a commercial one for way less...close to hundred bucks...and it will do the same...with some enginering you can also make your own egg rotator you just have to be a little handy and its super cheap..and all you do is buy two of each so if anything happens you dont need to call someone and wait...you just fix it...

 

[Amy PT]

. Here are some pictures of DD waiting her turn with her showmanship bird "Oliver" that she got from Amy PT. He's such a snuggle bug.

I'm grinning reading this. Oliver is a little... co-dependent, maybe? The pic is so sweet, I'm happy that they've bonded and that he helped make a chaotic and lonnnnngggg day a little easier.