Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[SillyChicken]

nice table Lady!

I have an old white machine. The actual machine is sitting on top of my cupboards, but the legs to the base are in the attic......... I was going to make a coffee table with mine, since the legs are real short. I think I'll have to dig mine out too....the problem is always finding the right top and I think you succeeded!



Raz, I have an uggo hen........ just one though....I hope she goes broody in the spring cause the sumatra roo (he could have frizzle gene too) and uggo roo have been having fun.....her... not so much! Guess I'll have to produce my own uggo army!

Farmer, forgot to say congrats on being an uncle soon!


We only got a dusting of snow over the weekend..... I was highly disappointed.


Opa, Yeah. the price is quite cost prohibitive to go on a hunt like that, and you have to provide your own transport to even get there, so it's really a lot more. Plus, I'd want to get the head mounted (or two if I was lucky!)...........so there's another grand(or two)...we'd be looking at 8 to 9k!! Guess I'll keep dreaming!

 

[SillyChicken]

www.backyardchickens.com/t/725919/

Try this for puffy feet link

 

[SillyChicken]

just ordered shrink wrap bags from this place. http://www.whizbangbooks.com or
www.PoultryShrinkBags.com


I will give them a try and let you guys know if they're any good.

 

[Trefoil]

"We only got a dusting of snow over the weekend..... I was highly disappointed." Silly you are one sick chick, but I'll give you mine anytime.

 

[RaZ]

I keep trying to find the time to finish projects in and around the coop, like putting up some lights for the extended daylight that they are supposed to need for egg production, and for my use in early morning and late evening care. Has anyone else tracked the egg production with and without lights? If egg production is relatively unchanged, I'll pass on the lights for now and work on another project instead. My time is just so limited, I can't afford to waste it on projects that really don't matter.

I've been tracking egg production for over a year now. During the last semester of my master programme, I enlisted several people across the country for a light study on egg production.
Conclusion: amount of light is not the determining factor in egg production.

I suspect that a number of factors influence egg production: breed; age; protein; vitamins; health; stress; as well as light.

Nearly all of my resource data focused on production birds, bred specifically for egg production and not the backyard flocks that most of us have. Production birds have been studied extensively because that is where the commercial money is that supports most university research. Thus, when someone says that a chicken needs 14-16 hours of light to lay, they are merely repeating an accepted commercial practice as a "rule" for yard chickens.

This year, my little experiment is to see how food supply (worms and fresh greens) affect the egg output.

nice table Lady!
I have an old white machine. The actual machine is sitting on top of my cupboards, but the legs to the base are in the attic......... I was going to make a coffee table with mine, since the legs are real short. I think I'll have to dig mine out too....the problem is always finding the right top and I think you succeeded!
Raz, I have an uggo hen........ just one though....I hope she goes broody in the spring cause the sumatra roo (he could have frizzle gene too) and uggo roo have been having fun.....her... not so much! Guess I'll have to produce my own uggo army!

I have an old treadle machine in my living room. It still has the original leather belt. I also have a couple of extra machine heads that need a base...so if you have a base and don't know what to do with it...

One of my Uggos went broody in the spring. It took an effort to break her so I guess they would be good for raising the littles. An Uggobator.

 

[greenmimama]

Very interesting on the egg production, I hope to have enough worms to feed them by Jan.


I feel like I only come on here asking for help for all my chicken issues, but today while I was in the coop it became quite obvious why I am only getting brown eggs and hardly ever any from my EEs. I went in to let them out to free range and an EE was up on an egg, while I retrieved the 2 other eggs and went to get hers, she had hopped off and there was already another chicken trying to peck and break it. When I picked up the egg, it was very cold, so she hadn't just laid it she was trying to protect it from the bullies Or so that it how it looked, then I was in the house for 45min and in that time, another EE laid an egg and the others ate it. It's quite frustrating to feed and care for these hens and they won't even let me collect all the eggs laid.

SO today would have been another 4eggs out of 6 hens, not too bad, but they ate another one.


ANy tried and true methods, except caging them all up individually?

 

[Stacykins]

Storebought eggs are so....flavorless. I broke and had to buy a dozen. With a bunch of new girls just getting to point of lay soon, and my older hens still molting (or broody, as is the case with one), I am getting an egg a day. I even bought the 'freerange' pack of eggs. But the yolks are only a pale yellow and don't taste at all great

 

[BioNatural]

Hello, Michigan peeps. Newbie here. I was wondering if there were many here living in or near southeastern Michigan. I suspect just a few would since it's generally pretty urban, but though I'd chime in and see.

Cheers,
Greg

 

[Farmerboy16]

Bio! There are quite a few of us living where you are, like RaZ, and some others!


Beautiful day today! Enjoy!

 

[ladyrsanti]

Two of my EEs stopped laying for the winter. They are the green and blue layers. I haven't seen a green or blue egg for nearly a month now. the blue layer, Honey, just started moulting too, poor thing. The third EE lays a brown egg and she's still laying. Plus my runt pullet (the one who had the curled toes when I bought her) just started laying a few weeks ago. She's been behind on all development but seems to have finally caught up. Despite all that, my egg numbers have been fairly consistent, around 5-8 eggs a day between the nine layers that I suspect are all still laying.

My coop is being winter tested right now. I have no idea how it's going to perform in the coldest months but last night gave me an idea. My BO rooster got a little frostbite on the lower tips of his waddles this morning. He has monster man-waddles though. He went out to drink from the sheep's trough this morning and dipped them right in to make it worse, freezing water on his breast feathers too. I added some vaseline to prevent further damage but I don't suppose there's much I can do to fix the damage that's been done. It's going to be a long winter if I can't find a solution. The coop does have a dampness to it that I'm not sure how to cure. It's got a cement floor, deep litter (wood shavings). I've got three windows on the east wall, one on the north and two on the south that open into the barn with one vent high above them and a stovepipe vent that takes air from the floor and through the roof. Right now all but one of the windows are shut, the vents are perpetually open. Would like some advice if anyone's got it to get some more ventilation going.

This is the coop exterior, the two inside windows and the venting is above in the peak. It only vents into the barn. I know I need some cross ventilation on the other side but I'm not sure what kind is best or how to go about installing it (height being an issue - I only have a 7ft ladder and that peak is well over 10ft high).


Below you can see the four windows that are now inside the coop (this was taken before I built the coop). I built it single-handedly, armed only with the knowledge I gained from researching here on BYC and no chicken experience so I'm sure it will require tweaking and reworking, etc. I'm totally open to suggestions.