Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[RaZ]

ALWAYS get them at night when they are on the perch

Very good advice. But sometimes you have to deal with them during the day. Confidence and quickness come into play.
Larry decided to challenge me as top roo yesterday. He got a toe-lift I was just a bit quicker than he was. Today, he got a few meal worms as a treat and even took them from my hand. I think (my opinion here) that most critters learn the pecking order pretty quickly. Fair but firm is how I treat all of my fur and feather charges. It has worked for a few years now.
Your results may differ.

 

[1muttsfan]

I would walk him around the pen each time you go in for a while, just to reinforce that. They are always looking for their chance to move up in the world, and he doesn't know you very well yet.

 

[RaZ]

Good advice. Trouble is I don't have a pen yet.
Anyway, I think he will be fine. He was just testing the waters and found them to deep to cross.
Mariner is almost ready to come out of the kennel. Bender is still lethargic and a little raspy. We go to the vet on Monday.
Another picture perfect sunny day. Too bad it is only 29 degrees with lake winds.

 

[chickflick]

Yep, beautiful day here, too. We seem to have lake winds too. And they are wicked

 

[snowflake]

your faster then I am, some of the hens I can catch easy and pick up any time. the rooster is tame will eat out of my hand in fact he loves to take bread from my hand and feed it to his girls, if I have to catch him or one of the more skiddish hens I would use the net....
March winds are getting a little tiresome, sure dry things out good though

 

[snowflake]

I have a question for bee keepers. just wondering, I don't have any....... when it is so very cold, as we had this winter, how come you don't put bales of hay or something around the hive to keep them from freezing? seems every winter people lose all their bees because it was to cold??

 

[gladahmae]

Happiest chick day!!! My husband took our older 2 boys down to a Pistons' game last night, and they spent the night down there. During my late-evening craigslist-perusal, I noticed that there were a batch of chicks from John Blehm *still* available from his hatch last week. I convinced DH to stop there on his way home if the chicks weren't already pending pickup this morning. So NOW, I have approximately 20 chicks on their way home, including some lavenders which I've been trying and trying to find locally for almost 4 years. Assuming everyone stay healthy and I don't have all boys (or all girls) AND my meyer order stays alive during transit, I will have basically ALL of the birds I need for the projects I've been trying to get doing for the last 2 years.

Of course now I'm mentally doing the chick-shuffle trying to decide WHERE I am going to put ANOTHER 40 chicks, how soon I can take my current "older" chicks out of their brooder, how many of my old hens to keep (a few are laying, and I'm narrowing down which ones) until late summer. I'd really like to NOT have chicks in my basement for more than a week, and the tiny ones can't reach the waterers at their current height with the current older chicks, so shuffling will definitely have to happen.

But STILL! Lavenders! I'll be able to make SBELs! I have BLRWs coming!

OK. I'm off to make a materials/cut list so we can have all the stuff on hand to start overhauling coops as soon as DH isn't covered up with work.

 

[gladahmae]

OK. My shuffle plan is starting to take shape and requires that I make some poop boards before I move chickens to a different coop. Would 1/4in plywood (Luan?) work for these or do I need something a bit thicker?

 

[RaZ]

I would rather use a Melamine coated board than Luan. IMO

PS I'm kind of jealous about the lavs.

 

[aart]

I used laun for mine, but have 2x2's all around the edges and lined boards with nice heavy duty foam backed vinyl.
Would suggest that support brackets go l the way to edge of board,
had a bit of sagging at red circle, screwed another piece of wood to wall to hold up that end/edge of board.