Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[gladahmae]

Much advise I see/hear says to leave eggs alone once incubation is started, whether by hen or incubator. Why do you, if you do, candle them?? Seriously !!!!

I think some people just like to watch the development, but from what I've read, if you have an egg that's a dud and you don't remove it, it can explode and the rotten stuff can permeate the other eggs and kill the ones that ARE developing. A good broody (again, from what I've read) will push eggs out of the nest that aren't developing, so the exploding thing isn't an issue. I'm only planning on candling once or twice when I incubate this week.

 

[1muttsfan]

The more often you handle the eggs the greater the chance of accidents - dropping one, usually on the other eggs, is a big one. And the chance of doing it seems to be directly proportional to how badly you want the eggs to hatch. Best to handle them as little as possible, I usually candle on day 10 and again at lockdown day 18. I do take a good look at the eggs to check for weeping, and a sniff for stinkers. about every day, but don't handle them any more than nescessary.

 

[ladyrsanti]

Howdy! Found you guys a few days ago. Haven't had much worthwhile to say though. Just the usual farm stuff.

We got about 2" of rain the other day so things started growing. My cabbages exploded and my tomatoes split. The sunflowers are blooming at 10' tall and the sorghum is awesome this year (also 10'). My neighbors went out of town and asked me to pick their tomatoes while they were gone, as if I needed more. So I canned them for them. Hopefully they aren't offended that we didn't eat them ourselves but my tomatoes are weighing in at over a pound apiece and we can't keep up. A little neighbor girl came over yesterday too with a bag full of cucumbers and zucchini for us. I told her we had too much as it was, felt really bad afterwards but can't they see we have a monster garden of our own? I have terrible social skills, I know. Should have accepted them and fed them to the chickens. What was I thinking? I need a sign for my yard that reads, "WARNING: Introvert". I want to know who owns the farm down the road too, the gorgeous Victorian house with the cute little chicken coop and run... I'm too dang shy to stop by though.

Anyway... Crisis averted with the dead pasture. Grass is growing and the sheep are happy with that. Didn't end up buying hay but probably should have - no one would return my calls though! The Oesch dairy outfit down the road gave me a lead that I'll hit up come winter, which was nice of them. I sent the hubby out to mow the back pasture yesterday because the lambs were too small to go out there until mid-summer and the wild carrot took over (the smallest lamb could fit through the woven wire fencing!). But now that they're a bit bigger and I set them out there, the seed heads were getting stuck in their fleece something terrible. Now it's gone. Happy for that. Happy for rain. Life is restored to the Serengeti--I mean Michigan.

The chickens are doing good too. We were gone on vacation for a week and had a pet sitter come, a MSU student in Animal Science. She did a good job and I might get some wool out of her father's flock as well (spinner). We're new to the area and don't have family or friends in this half of the state so that's what we had to do or not vacation at all... which might of been okay too, since I picked up a parasite somewhere near Lake Michigamme or Marquette. BAD. Still recovering from it some 2+ weeks later. Ugh.

Anyway, my chickens aren't laying yet but the countdown has started. They'll be 20 weeks this Wednesday. I let them free range on our four acres but they rarely leave the shelter of the barn and have never strayed more than a few yards from it. Sometimes they wander into the pasture a little ways but it's short-lived. It worried me that they preferred the dark barn all day. They put themselves to bed around seven, when there's plenty of daylight left too. But then I found out that there's a small hawk in the neighborhood - you can hear the finches panic when it hunts. My flock has been running back inside when it appears and staying there. Sometimes it's our sandhill cranes flying over, that sends them running for cover and they fly over A LOT. But I can't complain; they're being careful and that's good. Haven't lost a single one... yet. Instead, now they get cozy with the sheep and barn cats. They get along pretty well. The cats cower and run if they get too close so that's good. The boldest cat, Weasley, got his eye pecked by one of my BO pullets when he didn't make way for her, which got infected for about a week and a half. Taught 'im good. The chickens eat seeds and pick things out of the sheep's fleece too, which is funny to watch. Chicken TV is great.


Here are a few of them. You build them roosts and they sleep in the rafters! Oi! My only consolation for my hard work is that they use the roosts to get up there.

 

[1muttsfan]

ladysranti, if you are going to need hay this winter you may want to get is as soon as possible, supplies are very tight due to the dry summer here and the drought out west and you may have trouble finding any if you wait too long. I know in some places a first-cutting square bale is going for 12-15 dollars, and rounds are in the $50 range.

 

[Wynette]

Good morning, friends! My, y'all are a chatty bunch - took me an hour to catch up!

Chicflick - hope you're having fun camping!!

Opa - yep, prices seem to have skyrocketed on everything from building supplies to feed to groceries...sigh....we still don't have the electric & water run to our new barn; the goal was to have it completed and runs built before the snow flies this year, but I don't think that's gonna happen. Priced out the lumber for just a couple of pens and runs, and....suffice to say, I'm going to have go through another winter with our current situation. Sigh.

I'm getting duck eggs! Made a big omelet for DH and I yesterday - spicy sausage, peppers, onions - so delicious!

We're sure enjoying the ducks. They're most definitely lots more work than the chickens, but oh so animated! LOVE them!

 

[Amy PT]

I need a sign for my yard that reads, "WARNING: Introvert". I want to know who owns the farm down the road too, the gorgeous Victorian house with the cute little chicken coop and run... I'm too dang shy to stop by though.

Moving to a new area is hard, and making friends as an adult is really hard! The sign idea cracks me up. Does the Victorian house have a garden with tomatoes? If not, gather all of your courage, get a tomatoes, and walk over.

 

[NovaAman]

 Nova, ubua. But when were u ever rong?


I have a recipe for FREEZER PICKLES, that seem to be fine for more than a year after frozen.  If I can find it, if you want to try  those. PM 


Lucky is the person who has only good memories, if there is such a one.  I wish.



Sam,

Did you just discover that prices of everything are always going up?  Anyway, I've noticed it to.


I'm JUST WONDERING,

Much advise I see/hear says to leave eggs alone once incubation is started, whether by hen or incubator. Why do you, if you do, candle them??      Seriously !!!!

I candled the eggs after a week only. I do not want my broody sitting on eggs that are duds. She does not push out eggs. Both were duds. I gave her some of Snows eggs that I know are not.

ladysranti, if you are going to need hay this winter you  may want to get is as soon as possible, supplies are very tight due to the dry summer here and the drought out west and you may have trouble finding any if you wait too long.  I know in some places a first-cutting square bale is going for 12-15 dollars, and rounds are in the $50 range.

Hay/straw prices are up here also.

 

[RaZ]

RAZ, my tree is still alive! Much much shorter...but still alive! I'm going to put a fence around it this time so it doesn't get mowed over again.

You'll be hanging a tire swing on it in no time.

The catalpa sapling that I got from a friend last month looked like a dead twig but has come back strong with new leaves. The ability that nature has to recover just amazes me.
I have a few mulberries to transplant in a few weeks. They are the native red ones (Morus rubra L.), not the invasive white species (M. alba L.).

 

[Opa]

Quote Bob Bry
I've noticed how prices keep rising since the day I took my feet from under my father's table. Retirement has made the increases more noticeable. Last year to get some idea of home much my pension buying power has reduced, I took the amount of my pension and addd the cost of living for the 29 years I had been retired. If I had gotten a cost of living increase I would be drawning $22,000 more than I currently make. The pinch is really starting to be felt. I guess I have lived to long.

 

[mrshaggie810]

Is it the Alleghan Fiber Fest? I've been wanting to go to that for years, but it's always the same weekend as Lapeer Days. :/

Things are about to get busy here! Lapeer days this weekend, and I just got a job coaching JV cheerleading!

Heading out to work on the duck house once I finish up lunch! Woot!