Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[aart]

@HollyDuckFarmer were you able to flood out those ground bees?

 

[1muttsfan]

You need slaked lime to make whitewash - http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/07/whitewash-recipe-barn-coop.html

 

[BigHope888]

Got my flock in Sept of 2013....freaked out when I saw them panting with wings out.
Put out wide shallow pans of ice water and got them to stand in it, really helped.
I have tons of windows and it doesn't help much as there is no shade on the coop building.
I put up a shade cloth my first summer and it helps some.
Thinking about putting up some insulation on the south roof and wall and the west wall above coop enclosure,
luckily the coop itself is only part of the building so won't have to protect insulation from birds.

Just put shade cloth up again this week, going to shade more of run this year too.
You do learn to watch their behavior, they can wings out pant and still be fairly active, it's when they stop moving and show no interest in eating treats that it's time to go to further extremes like the cool bucket of water dunk.

I have shad on the west and south sides of my coop, and I insulated it, which helps a lot in warm weather too. Plant trees and shrubs, north, west, and south, and meanwhile add shade cloth. Mary

Well, you know, the past two days have been awfully hot for the birds, they haven't shed all their winter down yet. I opened the bay windows in the coop and had both doors open but it was not enough in the eve. So, it was time to get out the fans! I always put a dual fan in the coop, about 5 feet off the floor. It seems to help them a great deal, especially when the air is still.

Thank you, ya'll.

That is not good! Where in Northern Indiana? I am hoping most of our flocks have healthy immune systems, unlike commercial flocks who are only expected to live maybe 6 months. I'm also hoping the migrations have stopped and all the wild birds are nesting. The barn swallows arrived last week, the last of the birds that migrate in here.

I wonder if that was a flock someone got from the infected areas or brought in a bird? Lots of transport going on right now.

Found this map....https://batchgeo.com/map/2015-avian-influenza-outbreaks

For those of you worrying about AI, MSUE has published the following article. http://msue.anr.msu.edu/program/avian_influenza/avian_influenza_what_do_you_need_to_know_1

One thing that I find of note is that sunlight kills the virus. So consider that the majority of known infected flocks have been commercial or battery hen operations which deny the birds access to the outdoors and thus sunlight. I also read that warm temperatures (spring time weather) also kills the virus. I can't find that article to cite at the moment.

Something else to think about. MSUE is now firmly controlled by special interests that are not friendly towards small scale farming of any type. Their funding depends on the "donations" of large corporations. Take all of that with a grain of salt. Including my comments as well.

Keep healthy, happy birds, and keep hope. Good to see you here, RaZ.

@ nikolairapunzel-welcome!

Quote: The word "refuge" is well chosen there.

Thanks again for sharing your tactics for keeping chickens from overheating. I'll be employing some combination of those. BF put several more ventilation holes in and we've draped an old mattress protector over the West side of the run. (Looks dorky, but hey, it does the job.) And we discovered by propping the egg collection door open with a board we allow for added ventilation without bringing in extra sunlight. The chickens all seem happy in these mild temps! I'm surprised that they haven't explored all corners of my backyard yet; they really don't go out of sight of the coop. And they're definitely better foragers than hunters so far. I wish they liked ants better than they do.

 

[wannahomestead]

You need slaked lime to make whitewash - http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/07/whitewash-recipe-barn-coop.html

Thx, do you know a good place to pick that up? I have TSC and Family Farm and Home near me. Also Wal Mart/Meijer, and a hardware store.

 

[Opa]

My oldest son works for a company that buys spent laying flocks. They euthanize the birds on site, grind the entire carcass, pump into a tanker truck for transport to their facility for processing. The liquefied birds are run through various centrifuges, cookers, and dehydrators to obtain the different products that are then sold for many different uses.

So He is well informed with what s currently happening in the poultry industry. Over 41 million layers have been destroyed in Iowa. The resulting egg shortage is already affecting the market and one example is that the liquid egg price had a one day increase of 61%.

Any time a pandemic like disaster hits Big Ag they always try to find someone or something to blame. I doubt that wild birds are the cause or we wouldn't be seeing any. Plus while wild birds can't get into where the commercial flocks are quartered. Now there's some who claim that the backyard flocks are the problem but again how do we or our birds get in proximity to the commercial flocks? When any creature is confined in such vast numbers the potential for disaster is not just possible but assured.

 

[aart]

I saw a show on PBS the other night about a virulent and antibiotic resistant strain of salmonella (Heidelberg?) in a poultry processor on the west coast.

It was very interesting to hear about how and what they tested for, and especially what they didn't test.....
.....they were only testing whole carcasses, not parts which is where it was finally proven to be residing.

Killed some and seriously sickened hundreds of people....boiled down to fed regs not being stringent enough, and the resulting red tape in changing those regs that allowed it to proliferate for something like 18 months before they were able to find the proof that satisfied the regs to shut down the facilities where the bugs were growing.

They never did say where the organism originated from, but it really doesn't matter, once anything gets into those huge facilities, if they can't find it......or don't have to find it due to regs...it's just gonna keep growing.

 

[wannahomestead]

My oldest son works for a company that buys spent laying flocks. They euthanize the birds on site, grind the entire carcass, pump into a tanker truck for transport to their facility for processing. The liquefied birds are run through various centrifuges, cookers, and dehydrators to obtain the different products that are then sold for many different uses.

So He is well informed with what s currently happening in the poultry industry. Over 41 million layers have been destroyed in Iowa. The resulting egg shortage is already affecting the market and one example is that the liquid egg price had a one day increase of 61%.

Any time a pandemic like disaster hits Big Ag they always try to find someone or something to blame. I doubt that wild birds are the cause or we wouldn't be seeing any. Plus while wild birds can't get into where the commercial flocks are quartered. Now there's some who claim that the backyard flocks are the problem but again how do we or our birds get in proximity to the commercial flocks? When any creature is confined in such vast numbers the potential for disaster is not just possible but assured.

This was interesting and kinda gross.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

@HollyDuckFarmer
   were you able to flood out those ground bees?

You know, I didn't try. After I observed a bit more, I see now that they have 2 entrances, maybe 12' apart. Under concrete slab, just to make things fun. So what I am going to do is plug the 1st entrance with Great Stuff spray foam, then go over to the 2nd entrance and insert a 3/4" piece of clear tube, and sort of reroute that over quite aways so that hopefully they will learn to use that rather than the spot right next to where we walk. Oh. And I'm going to create some cutesy "bee wary" signs to warn any visitors. Luckily we have no bee allergies here. If we did, this would not even be an issue, I would have had to destroy the hive. But since we are not allergic, then that means I can be a bit kinder toward the bees.

Thank you for providing the whitewash link. I have never done it myself, but love the idea.

Today I am keeping my focus on husbandry and nutrition. I think these are the only 2 aspects of the whole Avian Influenza that I can control. So I'll be doing my best to keep my flock healthy and happy. I'm curious what those keepers down state are hearing/thinking. The different strain is especially concerning to me. I do not like that one bit. But as we know, viruses are alive. They grow, they change and mutate.

 

[uchytil]

This was interesting and kinda gross.

If you think that's gross read "Mad Cowboy" by H.F. Lyman. Just one of the thousand books I read for someone else's take on farming in general. My disclosure is that I take everything I read with a grain of salt...seeing is believing.

 

[aart]

Quote: How interesting...do let us know how that works out.....they may dig out around the foamed hole, or make yet another hole.

I had a yellow jacket nest on sloped ground with 3 entrances, so flooding did not work,
had to resort to poison soaked rags shoved into each of the entrances.
Took a week to finally get them all.

Just a note, I found approaching the nest to apply deterrents is best done before dawn when it's coldest.
Easy for me, as I'm usually up very early. I spot and mark holes with long sticks during the day, then use a headlight to find them in the dark.