Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[ijon]

Hope you have a speedy recovery Sam.

 

[SillyChicken]

Thanks for keeping us posted on Sam, please pass on our wishes for a speedy recovery.

I'm down to 2 laying hens....... I had been keeping them all penned up and made the mistake of letting them out. Everything was fine while we were home, but they wouldn't go in the coop before we left for dinner. Fox got four hens. Poor roo was crowing for them all day Sunday. I feel bad cause I left them out. I hadn't seen the fox at all and hoped they had moved off. Apparently that's not the case. I'll be fixing their little red wagons very soon.

 

[Folly's place]

So sorry, Silly, that's just rotten.
I don't have any extras right now, but check with Candy and Bret?!
And get that fox!
Mary

 

[aart]

Best wishes to Sam.
That stinks Silly!

 

[1muttsfan]

Thanks for letting us know Rose, pass on my best wishes to Sam. Getting old is not for sissies.

Actually pigs do not sweat much, they have very few sweat glands, that is why they wallow.

Silly, sorry about your birds. I have made the same mistake before.

No matter how many wild animals you kill off there is ALWAYS another waiting to step into the opening you have just created by eliminating their competition. Any time you leave chickens unprotected, they are and always will be at risk. Free-ranging chickens are just free dinner for an animal that hunts just to survive, not for pleasure.

 

[RaZ]

Agree. Even though I haven't seen the fox for over a year, I know that they are still here. It's been about 2 months since I spotted the coyote but I'm not letting my guard down. Do 'yotes prey on fox?

My sapphire gems should be at POL but no extras eggs yet. But the year-olds are doing their job every day. I expect that they will moult soon so those newbies need to step up their game.

Everything else is pretty much normal...working crazy hours to try to make ends meet. Cutting and stacking wood for the winter in my spare minutes. Where did the summer go?

 

[Folly's place]

This year; too cold, too wet, too hot, now too dry. Michigan! And it's almost September!
So, I'm whining. Again.
Happily, no hurricanes, no big earthquakes, no volcanoes, no tsunamis. Paradise!
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

More complaints!
We have a farm pond, about one acre, shallow, and this summer really low. For the first time ever, we have a huge overabundance of muskrats out there; not two pairs, but MANY! Burrows in several new locations, few fish, and cattails and other plants nearly wiped out.
Anyone trap them? The season is fall sometime to March 1st, and they need to be mostly gone. Where are all their predators? This is nuts!
Mary

 

[chickflick]

I mostly agree. I left the coons alone. You stay on that side of the fence and leave my chickens alone, and I'll leave you alone. The coons are coming into my yard, climbing over the fence. Coming up on the upper deck and pooping and knocking things down. Attacking my chickens in broad daylight. There isn't enough food to feed all those raccoons in the field. I have 3 small dogs that I will protect. Last year there was a coon with rabies. I held off until it became overwhelming. Neighbors have been shooting coons and coyotes since before we came.

 

[Folly's place]

Raccoon poo carries a roundworm that's possibly deadly to humans! Treat it like the poison it is!!! If your dogs eat it, they will possibly be carriers, so get fecals run. Heartgard probably takes care of it too?
Mary