Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Mish]

Well, I can no longer edit the Michigan member list, it's too old a post. I don't think I'll be spending much time on the site anymore either, so does anyone volunteer to start a new Michigan member list. You can copy the first post and then in your new thread you can keep the first post updated. Thanks!

 

[Stacykins]

So, even though it is beautiful and I love it up here. There is one problem. Rocky soil OR solid rock underneath a layer of rocky soil.

I lost a goat last week, an avoidable accident involving horns and a collar. I buried her as deep as I could get in the ground, four feet because I hit solid rock. It was a battle to get that deep to begin with. As added security, I managed to get a small granite boulder (small as in several hundred pounds) in the tractor bucket and put it over the grave. Well, something dug around that and exposed her. SO I filled it in with pea gravel, and added slabs of granite and another, bigger round granite. So unless the animal is a bear on steroids, I don't think they can do it again. I hope to not have to do it another time, it makes me sad all over again since her death was 100% preventable.

At least the newest granite rock on her grave is pretty. It is a type of granite that is all rosy and pink. And I found a fossil while picking and loading the slabs, but unless I chisel it out, it is on WAY too big a rock. At least I have a lot of big rocks at my disposal on the property.

 

[chicken grandma]

Stacykins - sorry for your loss - twice! How can others avoid having the same problem with a collar and horns?

Babigyrl - Beautiful EEs. Such sweet faces!

Mish - I am unable to volunteer but I hope someone will!

 

[Stacykins]

Stacykins - sorry for your loss - twice! How can others avoid having the same problem with a collar and horns?

Babigyrl - Beautiful EEs. Such sweet faces!

Mish - I am unable to volunteer but I hope someone will!

She died because I left her collar on her after leading her out to the pasture, and another goat with horns accidentally hooked her collar. The solution I think would be to not keep collars on goats unless the goat is actively being led. The breeder she came from told me, after I broke the news, that she too had lost a goat with a collar, because the goat climbed a tree to browse, became caught, and panicked.

 

[RIRJen]

Snapped some pictures today Here's the rebuilt coop with the flooring put in it for easy clean up! I need to tack it onto the wall and it'll be all done.



Two black pullets

Took a picture of one of my showgirls trying to figure out if she is a blue or blue partridge and thought it was funny she look like a big poof!


This is "Coon Bait" the sussex pullet that survived being grabbed by a raccoon. She's my little feathered football lol She'll probably never get her tail feathers back. ((sigh))

 

[mrshaggie810]

Opa, my grass is completely green again too....it's purdy. lol.

Yay! Nice weather! I'm going out to work on the duck house!

 

[Opa]

One of my driveways is concrete stamped to resemble cobblestone. Over the years it has lost its color, the expansion strips are just about gone and trying to keep the grass and weeds from growing in the saw cuts is a major pain. Finally decided it's time to do something about it. So for the last sevral hours I've been cutting and pulling weeds and cleaning the dirty from all the expansion cracks and sawcuts. Now I must get on my hands and knees with a 5in1 tools to do the final cleaning. Once that is done I will be putting caulk rod in the expansion cuts and saw cuts before filling with a rubberrized caulk. Hopefully that we be the end of the weeks and grass coming back. How expensive every thing has gotten. Just what I bought today was $70 and I still need to get stain and sealer

 

[Amy PT]

Nova- are you sure its not wildlife? Deer, or something that is eating your veggies?

Chipmunks keep taking our tomatoes. It's heartbreaking to find a big ole roma on the ground with 3 bites gone.

 

[Wrightsx4]

I need some advice from fellow Michiganders. Never hatched eggs before and just finished building my incubator using lots of info/plans from BYC. It's holding temp beautifully. I don't think I can wait til Spring!!! So I'm curious, do any of you hatch chicks in September or October? The brooder could go in the basement (no? Too stinky?) Or in the unheated garage, but I'm worried about putting them into the coop with the others for the winter. It's not insulated or heated in any way but well ventilated - added more based on what I read here. Thinking of insulating outer walls underneath the nesting boxes and creating separation from big chickens with chicken wire. They'll have their own separate run area outside too. Thoughts? Good idea or bad, hold off til spring? :/

 

[Stacykins]

I need some advice from fellow Michiganders. Never hatched eggs before and just finished building my incubator using lots of info/plans from BYC. It's holding temp beautifully. I don't think I can wait til Spring!!! So I'm curious, do any of you hatch chicks in September or October? The brooder could go in the basement (no? Too stinky?) Or in the unheated garage, but I'm worried about putting them into the coop with the others for the winter. It's not insulated or heated in any way but well ventilated - added more based on what I read here. Thinking of insulating outer walls underneath the nesting boxes and creating separation from big chickens with chicken wire. They'll have their own separate run area outside too. Thoughts? Good idea or bad, hold off til spring?

No, that isn't too late at all, even in Michigan. Maybe November would be getting a bit late, unless a broody did it.

When I hatched chicks this spring, before it warmed up, I kept them inside for six weeks. If I kept the pine shavings in the broody clean and fresh, there was no chicken-y smell. Actually, you might be well off by starting them in the basement, and then moving them into the garage as they start to feather up and can regular their temperature. That way, they slowly adjust to the cooler temperatures. Lastly, move them into the coop when they are very well feathered. Though they'd need to be properly introduced, or else the birds that are already there will beat them up.

This spring I had a broody successfully raise two chicks and a duckling when the temperature was far below freezing. They would actually go outside into the snow, too! They'd run back and forth back to the broody to warm up, and then be back around again.