Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[snowflake]

Okey doke Michiganders... I have a question for those of you in the Southern part of the state regarding feed costs to turn some meat chickens. With getting them out on the pasture (contained in a tractor) and fermenting their feed, which goes 50% further with my layers, are there other cost cutting feed options for them? I'm going to reply a lot on what they eat on pasture, because I only want to feed organic mash. Is that realistic? Raising meat chickens for a few families and still want to turn a profit without them paying $11/chicken. Thank you in advance.

it depends on what kind of meat birds you have, Freedom Rangers do fairly well on pasture, Cornish x don't know enough to walk 1ft. to the water when it is hot

What is going on with this site? It is the slowest and jerker site of all my favorites.

I had trouble for a couple days too, jumping all over, yesterday was bad

 

[uchytil]

it depends on what kind of meat birds you have, Freedom Rangers do fairly well on pasture, Cornish x don't know enough to walk 1ft. to the water when it is hot
I had trouble for a couple days too, jumping all over, yesterday was bad

While that's generally true about CX (mine are pretty lethargic come 10 weeks) I know a gal that feeds her CX an organic mash she makes (kinda like making sourdough). Anyway she lets them free range all day and they end up running around like regular chickens. On the down side they are tougher, and weigh less, than my dressed 10 pound freezer ready birds. I'll admit I use Armada feed and my average cost per pound ends up being about 90 cents. I figure gas to and from, feed, Amish butcher fees, and cost per chick! But, it's so good!

 

[Trexroo]

Ok, got the latest hoop coup completed. This one has been dubbed the "duck fortress" it houses (currently) a split population of Rouen and Peking.

Moved out of there over crowded "trailer coup" into the new 120 square steel sided coup. Still comfy snug, but as they are juvenile they are still slated for additional division in the population.

As I looked at Peking tonight I see 5 or six potential roasted duck dinners in the future..

 

[wannahomestead]

My ladies/gents put themselves to bed tonight on their own. I've still been keeping them in the brooder that I moved to the garage at night. I let them out today to roam around and do chicken stuff around 10am. They spent their day in the Hawk Blocker and roaming around the yard and what not. About 7:30 I decided to cook dinner on the grill, and while I was sitting there they all wandered into the garage and were picking around on the floor a bit. About 10 min later I found them all huddled near the brooder, so I opened the lid and placed them in one by one. of course, a few of my spazzy ones freaked out because I picked them up, but for the most part they were nice. Two of them ran off back to the hawk blocker though. So about a half hour or 45 min later I decided I should get the last two put up for the night. I walked out and dipped into the garage real quick, and what do I find but the last two sitting ON TOP of the brooder lid, huddled next to each other. So I piciked them both up (they got super mad and flipped out) and placed them in the brooder.

they'll be warm and toasty tonight, then I'll put em back out in the morning and do it all again. hopefully they'll wander into the garage again tomorrow evening, lol.


I also bought a used JD lawn mower today. It's an old-y, but I only had about $400 to spend. It's a JD 111, 11horse motor, 38" deck. It's not in terrible shape, could use a little work, and needs some new belts. I did notice that while mowing, it seems to leave a strip down the middle, so I need to poke that issue and find out what's up. It seems to be leaking a lil bit of oil, but I'll just keep an eye on the level for now. The 38" deck is a bit small honestly for the 1.3 acre :-/. Oh well, it's what I have to work with for now, so it's what I'll make work .

 

[bigmrg74]

My ladies/gents put themselves to bed tonight on their own. I've still been keeping them in the brooder that I moved to the garage at night. I let them out today to roam around and do chicken stuff around 10am. They spent their day in the Hawk Blocker and roaming around the yard and what not. About 7:30 I decided to cook dinner on the grill, and while I was sitting there they all wandered into the garage and were picking around on the floor a bit. About 10 min later I found them all huddled near the brooder, so I opened the lid and placed them in one by one. of course, a few of my spazzy ones freaked out because I picked them up, but for the most part they were nice. Two of them ran off back to the hawk blocker though. So about a half hour or 45 min later I decided I should get the last two put up for the night. I walked out and dipped into the garage real quick, and what do I find but the last two sitting ON TOP of the brooder lid, huddled next to each other. So I piciked them both up (they got super mad and flipped out) and placed them in the brooder.

they'll be warm and toasty tonight, then I'll put em back out in the morning and do it all again. hopefully they'll wander into the garage again tomorrow evening, lol.


I also bought a used JD lawn mower today. It's an old-y, but I only had about $400 to spend. It's a JD 111, 11horse motor, 38" deck. It's not in terrible shape, could use a little work, and needs some new belts. I did notice that while mowing, it seems to leave a strip down the middle, so I need to poke that issue and find out what's up. It seems to be leaking a lil bit of oil, but I'll just keep an eye on the level for now. The 38" deck is a bit small honestly for the 1.3 acre :-/. Oh well, it's what I have to work with for now, so it's what I'll make work .

get em used to the sound of a bag of mealworms rattling and what that means for them, they'll come running. I find that it tends to work even better than my chicken herding dog most of the time.

And as far the mower goes, as long as you can get it all done in an afternoon, then you have enough of a mower. As far as the strip goes, it could be someone just put some short blades on it, when it needs something that's just a half inch longer or somewhere around that length.

 

[bigmrg74]

My 3 remaining Iowa Blues out in the sunshine today, with Miss Belle on watch.

 

[aart]

I also bought a used JD lawn mower today. It's an old-y, but I only had about $400 to spend. It's a JD 111, 11horse motor, 38" deck. It's not in terrible shape, could use a little work, and needs some new belts. I did notice that while mowing, it seems to leave a strip down the middle, so I need to poke that issue and find out what's up. It seems to be leaking a lil bit of oil, but I'll just keep an eye on the level for now. The 38" deck is a bit small honestly for the 1.3 acre :-/. Oh well, it's what I have to work with for now, so it's what I'll make work .

What year is it?!
I'm mad for the old 1975-1986 100 and 200 series lawn and garden tractors, they are the bomb!!
I've had a '79 214(rebuilt the Kohler motor once to.30 over and it's now the parts tractor) and an '86 216.
Use them to mow, throw snow and have a dump cart too. They are little tanks and can last forever if you've got some mechanical skills!

 

[birdman55]

Ok, got the latest hoop coup completed. This one has been dubbed the "duck fortress" it houses (currently) a split population of Rouen and Peking.

Moved out of there over crowded "trailer coup" into the new 120 square steel sided coup. Still comfy snug, but as they are juvenile they are still slated for additional division in the population.

As I looked at Peking tonight I see 5 or six potential roasted duck dinners in the future..

i will have to come visit soon...got those blue mutant ringneck eggs...one was so bright blue

My 3 remaining Iowa Blues out in the sunshine today, with Miss Belle on watch.

wow ...holy grass...i wish i had some green grass...in due time

 

[swampducks]

I'm surprised about the 'tude of your Isa's! Sounds like you need some RIR's or SLW/GLW's to keep them in line! I always had those along with my Isa's and they were well behaved. I quit ordering Isa's bc they don't seem to fare well in really hot summers, but I do like the breed.

I don't like the strain of ISA's I have (I assume they're ISA's they look just like them), the two I have left are only 3 years old and if I get one egg a week between them I'm lucky. The Dominiques I got at the same time though are smothering me in eggs. I probably should have known it wasn't a good strain as a lot died the first week I had them and then a hen would just drop dead randomly till I was left with these two.

On the avian flu note, my FIL asked me last night if I'd raise some turkeys for him. I think he's paranoid that there won't be any to eat at Thanksgiving. I said okay even though I know NOTHING about them other than hearing from people in the past about how hard they are to raise and will just die off randomly as poults.

 

[aart]

I don't like the strain of ISA's I have (I assume they're ISA's they look just like them), the two I have left are only 3 years old and if I get one egg a week between them I'm lucky. The Dominiques I got at the same time though are smothering me in eggs. I probably should have known it wasn't a good strain as a lot died the first week I had them and then a hen would just drop dead randomly till I was left with these two.

ISA and other sexlinked production birds are only meant to produce (a LOT) for a couple years......
......how many eggs a week did you get from them the first 2 years?