Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Scifisarah]

My chicks all 44 of them are doing quite well, I have them out in a separate big girl coop, no heat and they are doing well. When I go out to feed them, they are so happy to see me, it's a little crazy, they drain 2 gal. of water every single time. I am a bit concerned about their water freezing this winter since they drink so much of it. I might just drop the money on a larger heated waterer. I feel like I have put a lot of time, effort, and money into these chicks, don't want to lose them on frozen water this winter.

Spend the money on a heated waterer, you won't regret it. Was such a pain before we got ours last winter. We got this one from TSC: http://www.tractorsupply.com/farm-innovators-heated-poultry-fount-3-gal--1011128 Ignore the one bad review, that person must have coordination problems!

Just make sure that when you flip it over, you have your hand on the rubber plug so the force of the water wooshing down doesn't knock it out. Easy peasy.

 

[RaZ]

I haven't added up feed costs for my little flock, nor did I factor in any cost for the chicks themselves. So I have no idea what my investment really is.

I do know that my hens have produced 119 dozen eggs. If I had sold every single egg at the price of $4/dozen, I would have netted less than $500.00 for the year.

I guess that I am not a chicken baron. I ate up too much of my profits. Literally!

 

[Elyssia001]

On a different spectrum, I bought hens that were already laying 8 of them for $55, 2 dies so I have 6 and I am getting an average of 2 eggs/day that isn't even enough to feed my family all that we want to eat yet, so I haven't sold any of them yet. I have bought 100lbs of food for them, and we probably have 25lbs left, maybe even 30lbs, they free range most days. So it has cost around $80 so far to buy and feed the hens and they have given us approx. 140 eggs, that doesn't even seem possible, but yeah so the eggs have so far cost $6.90/doz LOL that should go down considerably when I am getting a better % of them laying, 2 days this week I had 3 eggs each, now today I got 1.

Now if that isn't confusing chicken math for you, I'm not sure what is.

Just wait till the chicks start laying and see how much those eggs cost me

But isn't this the time of year that the Chickens molt and drop in production anyways? Us being in a very northern state, I figure the cold weather slowdown would affect us more than the southern states.

Also curious if you've tried fermenting the feed or sprouting grains? Do you only feed them the prepackaged feed pellet/crumble, or do you mix your own grains in to string it along?

 

[theron]

Glad your duck is ok, Theron.

What a beautiful day today was! Been outside cleaning chicken coops all day... in a t-shirt!

Thanks Laura for asking. Feel a bit better, but still stuffy and coughing.

Hope you all got to enjoy today.

Thanks!

 

[greenmimama]

Spend the money on a heated waterer, you won't regret it. Was such a pain before we got ours last winter. We got this one from TSC: http://www.tractorsupply.com/farm-innovators-heated-poultry-fount-3-gal--1011128 Ignore the one bad review, that person must have coordination problems!

Just make sure that when you flip it over, you have your hand on the rubber plug so the force of the water wooshing down doesn't knock it out. Easy peasy.

Thanks, that is the one I was looking at, I will get it ordered.

But isn't this the time of year that the Chickens molt and drop in production anyways? Us being in a very northern state, I figure the cold weather slowdown would affect us more than the southern states.

Also curious if you've tried fermenting the feed or sprouting grains? Do you only feed them the prepackaged feed pellet/crumble, or do you mix your own grains in to string it along?

You are right, I literally got into chickens at the wrong time of year to make it less expensive, but I am too impatient to wait for spring to get chicks and THEN wait another 6ish months for them to lay. I am experimenting with fodder, I put 7 days of work into a "crop" I was so proud to give it to my animals tonight and none of them liked it, I won't give up because it sounds like the answer to high feed problems, but I was so mad at those little buggers

So my figures do figure in a bad time for laying, and feed from TSC and my local feed mill.

 

[RaZ]

But isn't this the time of year that the Chickens molt and drop in production anyways? Us being in a very northern state, I figure the cold weather slowdown would affect us more than the southern states.

I've had only 2 hens with noticeable moults and both only lasted a few days. Some birds have ugly moults and some you can barely tell that they lost a feather. Most of my hens have been laying quite well. So far this month, I'm getting an average of 8 eggs a day from 10 proven layers. The eggs have also been larger than previous months.

I am experimenting with fodder, I put 7 days of work into a "crop" I was so proud to give it to my animals tonight and none of them liked it, I won't give up because it sounds like the answer to high feed problems, but I was so mad at those little buggers

I've been giving my hens several options of food and they seem to be picky and selective of what they like to eat. They looked at the pumpkin and walked away. They didn't like the egg plant or stale corn flakes that I put out either. But I know that they are eating because they all have full crops when they go in to roost for the night.

I'm sure feeding needs will change as the ground freezes over.

 

[Elyssia001]

The consensus on several of the other feed related threads is to treat your chickens like spoiled kids at dinner, and not give them anything else til they eat what's on their plate. Others say that chickens know what their bodies need and will eat what they require so free choice is best.

What do you find to be fact?

 

[snowflake]

well I lost my multi quotes, forgot who said you have cattle panels, but if you have them, use them
I think HH has pics on her sight,,,,,, Just make a frame of 2x4 or 2x6 make it as long as you want and about 5ft. wide, put one end of the panel next to the wood frame,(inside) bend the panel over and put it inside the frame on the other side. Staple the panels,to the wood frame, wire them together and cover with chicken wire or hardware cloth, Easy to tarp the top or as much as you like. build a door for one end and put the other end up to your coop.......I think there was a good pic on the TSC sight also if you google cattle panels . My daughters is tall enough for her to stand up in

 

[snowflake]

google cattle panels and check out building a green house

 

[Brethren49619]

Stella, my molting hen from Stacykins, has started laying again. I thought it might have been her, but actually caught her in the act yesterday morning. This was the second beautiful egg from her.

Theron, glad to hear the duck is alright. Scary. I'm glad I haven't had that experience yet.

The hoop top looks great. And very impressive that you did it on your own. PVC can have a mind of it's own when you ask it to bend. Have you had any winds yet? Just wondering how it reacted...

DH has surgery today to put the plates and screws into his crushed leg and will be in the hospital for a few days at least. He's very much looking forward to having the external fixator off/out as it is very restrictive to any movement. His leg is still swollen, but the surgeon said they can't wait any longer. There is concern that the skin will not hold up and essentially fall apart because it has been so swollen for so long (since Oct 15). If so, they will have a plastic surgeon put in a flap of skin over the area. This will cause an additional risk of infection, along with the fracture blisters, which are healing, but very big and nasty on both sides of the leg. The surgeon said, " We will do the best we can with it, but it will never be good." DH has two very good orthopedic surgeons who will be performing the surgery today, and I know they will do the best that they can, but with a crushing leg injury, you can only expect so much healing. It will still be another 2 months (if all goes well today) before he can put ANY weight on this leg.

I know many of you good folks will continue to pray and wish him/us well. The support I have had from so many of you here through PMs and postings has truly touched my heart and has meant so much to me. Without even knowing what your faces look like or your true names, you have become a source of support and strength for me.