Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[OldMissionChick]

@wannahomestead where are you from? We are in the outskirts of Gaylord and have had our 9 chickens & 8 ducks for 3 months as well. when I let them out of their run they bee line for the woods to forage for all sorts of bugs & spiders

 

[dyorto]

Hey, I'm new, I don't have chickens yet, but I plan to very soon after I move into my new house! It's cool to see so many Michiganders on here!

Hi sue,
I am new to chickens too. I have 3 for almost 3 weeks! I'm already thinking I need more but that will require a bigger coop!

 

[wannahomestead]

@wannahomestead where are you from? We are in the outskirts of Gaylord and have had our 9 chickens & 8 ducks for 3 months as well.

when I let them out of their run they bee line for the woods to forage for all sorts of bugs & spiders

I'm south of Lansing about 30 miles. I'm from up towards your parts though and came down yonder for work about 6 years ago.

 

[OldMissionChick]

I'm south of Lansing about 30 miles. I'm from up towards your parts though and came down yonder for work about 6 years ago. 

We just moved here almost 4 years from Metro Detroit and absolutely love it. Truly is Gods Country.

 

[bigmrg74]

Finished up a small coop for quarantine my new hen today, and got her in it instead of using a dog crate for her. seems to be a little happier in it. Hopefully will calm down with the whole change in her routine soon. Had her in my lap for a bit trying to get some pictures and she almost took a hunk of my forearm off. Just a hint of a scratch left from her beak. Note to self, always wear gloves with her.



Miss Belle inspecting the coop.


And a shot of her when she's not craving human flesh.

 

[Maah]

So even with the fair poultry events canceled, our meat chicks arrived on schedule anyways. We moved our 10 spring townline specials outside, and refilled the large brooder with all the meaties.

Apparently they're going to try for "alternative events" for the 4H poultry kids.

Some suggestions were doing the judging by pictures, and having the kids do their showmanship with a toy chicken. Ugh... I know there are some kids that really want this, and I'm thankful that "those who decide" are actually trying to come up with alternatives, but inside I'd really like to just say "let's be done with this! - either do the poultry events or don't". What good is pointing out the feathers of a rubber chicken, or judging chickens by pictures?

Will we need to hire photographers now? If one chicken is better than another, but the better chicken owner used their phone camera and the lesser chicken owner used their high tech Nikon, it will throw things off. Is this a poultry event, or a photography event? I know my daughter sighed & gave an "are you kidding?" face about the alternative event solutions. Like I said, I know there are some poultry kids that want to do "something", but I don't think it's going to hurt the kids to learn "sometimes things just need to happen" and to move on. Ok, there's the end of my 2 cent rant. LOL.

DH has always had a soft spot for the Barred Rock chickens. Every spring he gets a new barred rock chick and names her and then spoils all his barred rock ladies with worms & treats. And they adore him in return of course. Well this year was no different... with new barred rock pullet named "sunny". Whenever he does the chores, Sunny is the first to get the worm he found under the stump. However, yesterday he has fallen in love with another of our new spring chicks as well. A little buff orpington. Apparently he was sitting out in the run with the new kids and literally cuddled with the little BO. She got up on his lap & talked with him, layed down, pruned her feathers, tucked into his arm, nipped at his chin & glasses etc, and even laid on her side in his lap and stretched out her leg. Apparently he was her new man. So funny. I told him "well that's it. she's yours now too & you'll have to name her". This was yesterday... I haven't heard what her name is going to be yet.

DH has been thinking about rehoming our goats, if we could actually find them a good home. Really? I was a bit surprised when he said that. Why the change hubby? The goats are fun. I didn't get a definite answer but they are his goats and his decision (though DD like to claim one of them). We have 3 Nigerian Dwarf wethers. Basically they're good for entertainment & pasture clean up. They'd be excellent little petting zoo critters (which is pretty much their job here - all the little kids come to pet the mini goats).

 

[aart]

Whelp...it finally happened:

http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/06/bird_flu_found_in_michigan_gee.html

 

[uchytil]

The AI in MI Geese will give us something to talk about at CS. Too bad we don't have a speaker on the subject. A non-biased, avian expert, who likes to eat good food.

 

[wannahomestead]

Perhaps this was already known by the powers that be and that is why the quarantine and cancellations happened.

 

[aart]

Perhaps this was already known by the powers that be and that is why the quarantine and cancellations happened.

Could be....timing's about right, and maybe they didn't want to announce the gosling case until the testing in Iowa was confirmed.