Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Captnrex]

Including shipping? Sounds reasonable to me. If you don't need that much, can you split it with someone?

Or am I all wrong on the price?

I've seen some people mention getting barley for pretty cheap at feed stores so I figured I would see if anyone know of any local ones that sell it. But the online site sells it for 22 rest being shipping so probably a best option unless someone knows a place lol.

https://www.elkmoundseed.com/monsterbuck/barley-seed/

also saw you could order a big bag for 58.99 from Ernst Grain & Livestock through walmart and get free delivery to a local store.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/seort/1296551799

 

[Captnrex]

It was a nice day for cleaning out the coop. XD

wish i had time to do that, ended up jury rigged 2x4s and bolts into the base of the coop so I could attach a hitch coupler on it so now i can tow it around easier with my tractor and then replaced my roll of fencing with hog panels cause i was tired of it wanting to curl up all the time lol, maybe tomorrow.

 

[1muttsfan]

Well yesterday was full of angst here. 2 days ago Big Mama decided she was done with her chicks, so I moved her back to the big pen, leaving her half-grown chicks with the Bantams. Yesterday I walked out to find 2 of the chicks (the pullets, of course) dead and partially dismembered in the pen. The only thing I could think of is that the rooster went after them once their mom was gone - which was very strange, as he has never shown any sign of aggression towards any bird.

I removed him from the pen, cleaned up the mess, and left with very bad thoughts about his future.

Later in the afternoon I went out to check waterers, and found this :

And another dead chick. Now I have left only 2 little cockerels that I do not need.

Spent a little time stitching up the netting over the pen with binder twine, it looks like he stooped on the birds and went right through, leaving an almost invisible hole. Might need to replace all that netting, as it is lighter than the heavy-duty net over the main pen.

 

[RaZ]

Later in the afternoon I went out to check waterers, and found this :

Oh no.

 

[RaZ]

I had a good time at the car show on Saturday. I even took 3rd place in voting for the "people's choice". I certainly didn't expect that. There were a lot of cars nicer than mine.

After work on Sunday I did a bunch of small things. You know the things...those 15 - 20 minute chores that don't seem like much but take up all day. And it looks like you didn't do a thing all day. The only sign of progress was the ground around the coop that I raked up with the tractor. There has been so much rain here that the run is supersaturated. When I cleaned out the coop I just dumped the straw and chips in the run. So I started grooming the run. I'll work on moving all that to an area to start a new compost pile.

Chores have been extra difficult since the cardiologist put me on a new medicine. Side effects are muscle fatigue and extreme tiredness. I do not like this stuff. I feel like I've been doing daily double full pad football practices for a month.

All of the littles are doing well. I'll try to get some photos later. Happy Monday.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Well yesterday was full of angst here. 2 days ago Big Mama decided she was done with her chicks, so I moved her back to the big pen, leaving her half-grown chicks with the Bantams. Yesterday I walked out to find 2 of the chicks (the pullets, of course) dead and partially dismembered in the pen. The only thing I could think of is that the rooster went after them once their mom was gone - which was very strange, as he has never shown any sign of aggression towards any bird.

I removed him from the pen, cleaned up the mess, and left with very bad thoughts about his future.

Later in the afternoon I went out to check waterers, and found this :

And another dead chick. Now I have left only 2 little cockerels that I do not need.

Spent a little time stitching up the netting over the pen with binder twine, it looks like he stooped on the birds and went right through, leaving an almost invisible hole. Might need to replace all that netting, as it is lighter than the heavy-duty net over the main pen.

We had a red tailed hawk and a bald eagle flying above our yard yesterday. I noticed the shadow of a large bird flying overhead and I looked up and maybe 30-40 feet up was a red tail hawk circling. Most of our chickens were in thick brush thankfully but our 2 geese who had been following me had stopped so I stood near them incase the hawk got any ideas.

As for the eagle our Toulouse Gus was the one to notice that one. I was feeding them carrots and he suddenly stopped and tilted his head at a weird angle and very high up was a bald eagle riding the current. Much higher than the red tail had been so I would hope it wasn't eyeing the birds. I wasn't that nervous about the eagle but that red tail hawk was way to close.

I'm sorry you lost your little ones.

 

[1muttsfan]

You can actually see a partially dismembered chick on the stump down on the lower right

 

[Folly's place]

So sorry, Mary. @cmom had issues with light netting a few years ago, and had to replace it with better stuff. She had photos of an owl in one of her pens, as I recall.
Mary

 

[chickflick]

I heard my chickens carrying on this past Saturday. Looked up and there were two hawks circling above. I was sitting for my daughter's mini Aussie so let him out to play with his frisbee. He runs around pushing the frisbee with his nose. Hawks went on thier way. Dog was good for something. But haven't seen too many hawks hanging around this summer.

 

[RaZ]

I haven't seen any hawks around my place. I give credit to the crows that have nested and reared chicks. The crows do a pretty good job of chasing away any hawks. This is the second year that crows nested here. As a reward for their vigilance, they get peanuts every day. Then again, so do the woodpeckers, blue jays, squirrels, etc.

My BO is broody again. I found her nest out in the tall prairie grass Dumb bird. There is no chance of the eggs being fertile.