Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[RaZ]

RaZ, are you still in touch with Mom2emall? Was that her name? lol Loved her stories. Miss seeing her on here.

I haven't talked to Kim for ages. She seems to have dropped out of touch when the city forced her to get rid of her chickens. I think I still have her phone number. I'll have to look for it.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Hello. Long time, no see.

Anyone going to have laying Olive Egger hens/pullets avaible for sale in the spring? I lost my olive egger before she could lay to a egg issue while I was away.

Not for sure if I'll buy a hen, just curious too see what's out there.

 

[uchytil]

I haven't talked to Kim for ages. She seems to have dropped out of touch when the city forced her to get rid of her chickens. I think I still have her phone number. I'll have to look for it.

RaZ, are you still in touch with Mom2emall? Was that her name? lol Loved her stories. Miss seeing her on here.

Yeah, I miss her too. She was a riot. I sold her a Flemish Giant a three, or four, years ago. When I talked to last she still had her. That would of been before last Chickenstock as she did not attend last year.

 

[uchytil]

Just watched a news video about the proposed allowance of Chickens in Grand Rapids. One owner (she has had some for years there) said she only has hens, no roos because of the noise, and they are quiet and clean. She said if your birds smell it's because you don't clean up enough. Anyway, a lady against chickens said no one needs to own chickens in GR and if you want to raise chickens you need to live on a farm. She went on to say Meier's sells eggs that are fresh "enough". LOL. Why raise chickens when you can buy "fresh enough" eggs at Meier's? LOL. And, support the large scale chicken factories that keep chickens in a box until they are too old (a year or so) and then ship them off to the soup factory. Hey, now I know why you don't need to raise meat chickens (thanks to the informed person against owning chickens) because for breakfast you can eat the "fresh enough" egg and for lunch you can have that same chicken in a can of Campbell's soup. Problem solved. No sarcasm has been noted in this report.

 

[RaZ]

That reminds me of the lady who told GC city council that chickens shouldn't be allowed because they cause chicken pox.

(Where do the stupid people keep coming from?)

 

[uchytil]

I just made some pretty cool hay/leaf feeders for the goat pens. Take a concrete mixing tub (Lowe's about 4 bucks) cut a section from the top but leave the rim on. I reused the cut out section by attaching it back with 2 zip ties (to keep snow/rain out). It sort of hinges and with the zip ties at the top it naturally hangs in the correct place. Then drill 6 holes around the perimeter. Zip tie to to the fence (on the outside) and stuff with hay and oak leaves. Holy moly the goats are going crazy. All in all this project for two goat fences took 20 minutes tops.

 

[Whatshisface]

Just watched a news video about the proposed allowance of Chickens in Grand Rapids. One owner (she has had some for years there) said she only has hens, no roos because of the noise, and they are quiet and clean. She said if your birds smell it's because you don't clean up enough. Anyway, a lady against chickens said no one needs to own chickens in GR and if you want to raise chickens you need to live on a farm. She went on to say Meier's sells eggs that are fresh "enough". LOL. Why raise chickens when you can buy "fresh enough" eggs at Meier's? LOL. And, support the large scale chicken factories that keep chickens in a box until they are too old (a year or so) and then ship them off to the soup factory. Hey, now I know why you don't need to raise meat chickens (thanks to the informed person against owning chickens) because for breakfast you can eat the "fresh enough" egg and for lunch you can have that same chicken in a can of Campbell's soup. Problem solved. No sarcasm has been noted in this report.

It's amazing, people have no problem with their neighbors keeping snakes, rodents of all kinds, mean or barking dogs, all kinds of caged birds, pigeons and exotic birds, but they come unglued with a simple chicken. It's got to be a power issue.

 

[bigmrg74]

That reminds me of the lady who told GC city council that chickens shouldn't be allowed because they cause chicken pox.

(Where do the stupid people keep coming from?)

Its pretty simple really. Stupid people are allowed to breed and its severely frowned upon on culling them for the good of the breed.

 

[Living the Simple Life]

I just made some pretty cool hay/leaf feeders for the goat pens. Take a concrete mixing tub (Lowe's about 4 bucks) cut a section from the top but leave the rim on. I reused the cut out section by attaching it back with 2 zip ties (to keep snow/rain out). It sort of hinges and with the zip ties at the top it naturally hangs in the correct place. Then drill 6 holes around the perimeter. Zip tie to to the fence (on the outside) and stuff with hay and oak leaves. Holy moly the goats are going crazy. All in all this project for two goat fences took 20 minutes tops.

This sounds great - please post pics!!!

Haven't posted in quite a while, but did get caught up on reading posts.

Re: ISA browns, love the production. We have been fortunate and had really friendly birds that like to be held. Our black sex link on the other hand can be a witch!!

Our kids are going to do production trios for 4-H/fair this year. We need to decide soon what they are going to get. Options are Barred Rock, Isa Brown or Leghorns. I know DH is going to push for them to get Isa, but I am leaning toward Barred Rock - end of the day it is up to the kids what they want to do!

Lost my pet guinea last Friday. I was home with the kids so we let the birds out to free-range. Jewel, the guinea that I hand raised in the house since he was 1 hour old and thought I was his mama, kept coming up to the backdoor and calling to come in (yes, he would come in the house, sit on my lap, preen my hair for me, raise a ruckus if he wasn't getting enough attention and generally act like he ruled the roost - which he did . I didn't let him in because I was busy and didn't want him (literally) underfoot. A bit later he started again and had three of the laying hens with him on the back steps - um, no way buddy, you ain't bringing in friends!! DD went outside and played with him for about an hour and a half. DS took his remote control helicopter out to play and that was a hoot watching Jewel run to wherever it landed. It had only been about 20 minutes since DD took some veggie scraps up to the coop when DH got home from work and went to fill feeders and water. He came back to the house and asked when was the last time I had seen Jewel. I figured he couldn't find him to put him in the coop for the night, but instead, DH had found him dead by the coop. He had a hole in his neck and had bled out. I was heartbroken. He was an awesome friendly bird with personality plus!! One day he even headed around to the front door because no one was answering his demand at the back door and he wanted to see his mama!!

 

[Whatshisface]

This sounds great - please post pics!!!

Haven't posted in quite a while, but did get caught up on reading posts.

Re: ISA browns, love the production. We have been fortunate and had really friendly birds that like to be held. Our black sex link on the other hand can be a witch!!

Our kids are going to do production trios for 4-H/fair this year. We need to decide soon what they are going to get. Options are Barred Rock, Isa Brown or Leghorns. I know DH is going to push for them to get Isa, but I am leaning toward Barred Rock - end of the day it is up to the kids what they want to do!

Lost my pet guinea last Friday. I was home with the kids so we let the birds out to free-range. Jewel, the guinea that I hand raised in the house since he was 1 hour old and thought I was his mama, kept coming up to the backdoor and calling to come in (yes, he would come in the house, sit on my lap, preen my hair for me, raise a ruckus if he wasn't getting enough attention and generally act like he ruled the roost - which he did . I didn't let him in because I was busy and didn't want him (literally) underfoot. A bit later he started again and had three of the laying hens with him on the back steps - um, no way buddy, you ain't bringing in friends!! DD went outside and played with him for about an hour and a half. DS took his remote control helicopter out to play and that was a hoot watching Jewel run to wherever it landed. It had only been about 20 minutes since DD took some veggie scraps up to the coop when DH got home from work and went to fill feeders and water. He came back to the house and asked when was the last time I had seen Jewel. I figured he couldn't find him to put him in the coop for the night, but instead, DH had found him dead by the coop. He had a hole in his neck and had bled out. I was heartbroken. He was an awesome friendly bird with personality plus!! One day he even headed around to the front door because no one was answering his demand at the back door and he wanted to see his mama!!

That just stinks, I have lost a lot of birds to critters over the years and it's always bothered me. It's much for you worse for you because you were so close to this one. Sorry to hear this!