Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[ChickenLady2014]

Yeah, there was ice this morning in the girls heated waterer this morning.   Just around the outer rim on the thing.  I made the girls a big bowl of oatmeal with sunflower seeds, flak seeds, chia seeds, mealworms, some pumpkin seeds and a little dab of honey in it as well.  They loved that.  2 eggs so far.  About time for me to go get a shower and wander into work today.  

Mines water dish had ice on the edges as well, we are currently at a high of -1*, but thankfully the sun is trying to peak out and I'm seeing the girls go in and out of the coop. They haven't done that in a couple of days.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

Sorry birdman, that stinks it's hard enough to do all the chores & build in these cold temps, but you certainly didn't need pipes freezing

 

[birdman55]

have heat tape and a 250 watt light in there and still froze....michigan was talking about dropping the freeze point to 53 inches...

so im trying to buy an incubator...any thoughts...i want a gqf incubator and hatcher combo but i have heard bad things about the incubators motor quitting and people having to replace them every season...any thoughts

 

[preciouskitty]

So ready for spring...I know this winter has been a breeze compared to last, but it sure doesn't feel like it right now.

My Ameraucana pullet FINALLY a laid her first egg yesterday, guess she wanted to wait for the coldest day of the year. Appears all my pullets are now laying. The one EE pullet I was waiting on fooled me..she lays light brown instead of green like her mom & sister . But she still a sweetie.

Hope everyone is staying warm; I just want it to stay at 0+ so I can use the heated waterer again!

 

[RaZ]

February has not been a good month so far.

 

[birdman55]

i thought feb was supposed to bring love in the middle of the month....hahaha...the only love i got from good ol michigan was minus 10 for the week...and frozen water lines...hahha..that just means next month is going to be great..

 

[uchytil]

The heated hose is only 40 ft. It doesn't reach all the way out to the trough but I have a non-freezing hose hooked up to it. So long as I make sure both hoses are completely drained after use, it works well enough. It was still a good investment in my case.
I am thinking about adding a goat or 2 to my menagerie this year. I had an issue with something getting my ducks in December. Going over the 6 ft fence and eating all or part of them. I was losing one duck every other night for a short while. And one polish hen that roosted on top of the duck pen at night. I've enlarged the pen and will be adding several more 10 ft panels in the spring. If I can find a medium-sized goat to house with them, I am hoping it may be a deterrent for predators. A quart or two of fresh goats milk would be a nice bonus, too. I want to set up a fodder system in my basement this fall for my herd/flocks/etc. Such big ideas . . . We will see, I guess.

Yeah, that stinks. I've had good luck with my ducks over the years. One hen got attacked and I almost lost her. I had a possum eating their eggs right in the house. I removed him (permanently). The only defense they have is getting closed in at night. As for a goat - one won't do, you'd need at least two for the herd factor or the one will do everything it can to escape. I'm not sure it would deter a coon though. Those things are nasty, nasty, nasty. They will walk right past a goat and steal a bird. The best, and only, deterrent I know of is closing them up at dark and letting them out in the AM.

 

[1muttsfan]

While limited antigen diets can be helpful in control of allergies, cooking the food does not have any impact on whether it causes allergies or not. Salmonella (one of the biggest cause of food recalls) is a big risk with raw food diets, since meat that is processed on equipment in a processing plant is the main source of salmonella bacteria, even in cooked diets. If you plan on feeding raw food you should consider carefully the possible health impacts on you and your family.

 

[tntchix]

So ready for spring...I know this winter has been a breeze compared to last, but it sure doesn't feel like it right now.

My Ameraucana pullet FINALLY a laid her first egg yesterday, guess she wanted to wait for the coldest day of the year. Appears all my pullets are now laying. The one EE pullet I was waiting on fooled me..she lays light brown instead of green like her mom & sister

. But she still a sweetie.

Hope everyone is staying warm; I just want it to stay at 0+ so I can use the heated waterer again!

Yay! I have no idea who else has started laying here, it's too cold to find out. LOL

----Sorry about the frozen pipes, that stinks.

----My heated nipple waterer had frost down to low water line but water wasn't frozen luckily. Girls sure were happy to get more warm water first thing this morning though.

----I'm thinking about oatmeal breakfasts for them for a few times a week until it warms back up.

 

[Stacykins]

The heated hose is only 40 ft. It doesn't reach all the way out to the trough but I have a non-freezing hose hooked up to it. So long as I make sure both hoses are completely drained after use, it works well enough. It was still a good investment in my case.
I am thinking about adding a goat or 2 to my menagerie this year. I had an issue with something getting my ducks in December. Going over the 6 ft fence and eating all or part of them. I was losing one duck every other night for a short while. And one polish hen that roosted on top of the duck pen at night. I've enlarged the pen and will be adding several more 10 ft panels in the spring. If I can find a medium-sized goat to house with them, I am hoping it may be a deterrent for predators. A quart or two of fresh goats milk would be a nice bonus, too. I want to set up a fodder system in my basement this fall for my herd/flocks/etc. Such big ideas . . . We will see, I guess.

Yeah, that stinks. I've had good luck with my ducks over the years. One hen got attacked and I almost lost her. I had a possum eating their eggs right in the house. I removed him (permanently). The only defense they have is getting closed in at night. As for a goat - one won't do, you'd need at least two for the herd factor or the one will do everything it can to escape. I'm not sure it would deter a coon though. Those things are nasty, nasty, nasty. They will walk right past a goat and steal a bird. The best, and only, deterrent I know of is closing them up at dark and letting them out in the AM.

Seconding that you need more than one goat. They're herd animals, and it is not good for their health and stress levels to be kept alone. A two does or a doe and a wether make a great pair for a beginner. Chickens won't count as part of the herd, it has to be a like herd animal. Though sheep have different mineral needs than goats, so mixing the two is not as easy as one would think.

Plus, how do you keep the goats from snarfing any chicken feed? It isn't good for them. You also need to make sure you'd serve the goats hay in a way that keeps it from getting pooped on by chickens. Once hay hits the ground or is soiled, goats won't touch it.