Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[snowflake]

that is a little surprising as it wasn't near her chicks, but some mother hens are Very Protective.... my BO charged the cat for just looking in the direction of her chicks. poor little thing ,just trying to rest

 

[Wynette]

Good morning, Bob - I enjoyed your story; you sure have a way with words! I have not heard of this before, but I am not surprised. It seems some are EXTREMELY protective, and others, not so much. Poor little dove must have been in a very wrong place at a very wrong time.

 

[shegeekster]

New eggs! EXCITEMENT!!

Well, my first chicks turned 21 weeks today. And one of them celebrated by laying her first egg! Of course, I was at work today for a 10 hour shift. I think DH is more excited than me!

The lighter egg above is a small silkie egg. I believe the egg below is from one of my Buff Orpingtons. The other choice would be Black Austrolorp, but wouldn't an Austrolorp's be a little darker???

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[snowflake]

I would avoid it personally, unless you are sure you can clear them out well in the spring. I used straw and it was a bit easier to clean up than wood chips and did not start breaking down into "muck". I try to avoid putting any sort of organic matter in my run and keep it as sand-based as possible. From my biologist background, it makes sense that organic matter = bacteria growth = sick chickens. But there are quite a few people that seem to like doing it.

If you do decide to get some, check out this place maybe: http://www.cnsawdust.com/ I have gotten very fine wood shavings bagged there for my smaller coop and they seemed nice.

thanks, I was thinking that they decimate the wood chips in the garden so fast, in the run should be no different, and maybe add some help to my clay soil, my run is on the edge of a hill so it dries fairly fast, was hoping to not have to clean out in spring as they would be all broke down, But i was concerned about food spilled in them bringing more mice

CN sawdust, I have boughten feed from them and wood shavings. (not really the kind I had in mind



by the way all OCT. 16 is national EGG DAY!!

 

[shegeekster]

Mine was a rollercoaster. First, I got a call to have an interview with our local petsmart. Then, when I was locking up all my birds, a few capuchine pigeons were still out. One of them was a very nice beautiful bird that was still growing. Well, I tried catching it and he started flying around. he then missed a tree branch and fell. As I walked to pick him up, a cat ran to it and killed it right in front of me. Everybody better have their cats locked up cause I am not to happy with them.

How awful

 

[SillyChicken]

oh Raz... I feel for ya. Hope you feel better soon!

I've got heritage chickens (salmon faverolles), though even when mature they don't have a large meaty carcass like the ones you can buy in the store, I think the flavor far out passes the store bought bird.

 

[SillyChicken]

Mine was a rollercoaster. First, I got a call to have an interview with our local petsmart. Then, when I was locking up all my birds, a few capuchine pigeons were still out. One of them was a very nice beautiful bird that was still growing. Well, I tried catching it and he started flying around. he then missed a tree branch and fell. As I walked to pick him up, a cat ran to it and killed it right in front of me. Everybody better have their cats locked up cause I am not to happy with them.

Can you find out who owned the cat and send them a bill for the lost bird?

I view cat ownership the same as I do dogs. If you want to keep it alive, keep it on your own property.

 

[kimmie6067]

I forgot my very exciting chicken news - ok maybe not exciting to you, but my 5 youngsters tucked themselves in tonight in the big coop. I didn't have to dig them out of the coop with the broken window and move them. I went to check and the sweet little things were all roosted with the big chickens on their own! So much less work.

Yahooo they are big girls now.

 

[gladahmae]

Maybe if I have a really good weekend at work DH will consent to a hot-wire around the chicken runs. See the outline of the coops in the background? Yep. Varmints. Super. Oh, and the neighbors' cat has started hanging out back here too.






I STILL haven't gotten any eggs from my ladies yet. They are 22.5 and 20.5 weeks old now. I check daily to see if they've left me a present, but so far I haven't gotten anything. The barred rocks and wyandottes have looked ready for a few weeks now comb-color-wise. I don't know about the squatting or anything, but they LOOK ready.

I'm cleaning out the small coop today in preparation for the chicks, and cleaning out the brooder as well since I put my eggs in lockdown yesterday, and BIL put his in lockdown this morning. I could have up to 20 little chicks hatching out here starting Thursday!


Menards has a double ladder stand on sale this week, so DH and I bought one so that the kids can sit out with us when we get the opportunity. Last year we used a ground blind, but it got blown around a lot (and spooked the deer some).


Welcome to all our newbies!

 

[Opa]

I've been watching my tomatoes quite closely hope to get every single one before the frost does. I can't believe how many are left on the vines and how slowly they are ripening. I softened a batch in the oven the other day and ran them thru my food mill. The product has been sitting in the garage refrigerator for a couple of days allowing the pulp to settle and the water to come to the top. I'll next ladle off the water and put in the oven to cook down. David suggested that I try allowing the settling to occur before cooking and it is amazing how much water you can remove before cooking. Try it, I think you will be pleasantly surprized.