Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[tdhenson86]

So many of you have heard about us finally getting our flock started. Well, let me give you a little back ground... I was raised in the country. Hunting and farming are just part of life... Well Kelly was not. She was raised in Mt Morris, for those that don't know that is near Flint. She has always been a city girl but with a love of horses. So, after living with her in her hometown for a year I finally convinced her that moving back to my hometown might make it easiest for our animal endevours. So two years ago we moved back, although the only place we could find was in town. So, our animals are all located at a daycare center that my mom works for... The kids love it and I like having the animals exposed. Ok so now that I have that all out, I have been raised with the whole circle of life ideals, she was not. So the other night we went to close up the birds, and Kellys favorite bird Fancy was missing...We spent almost an hour and a half looking in and around the coop, in trees, etc trying to find her. I finally told Kelly that we were going to have to wait till the next morning and hope that she had found somewhere else to roost. So I went back to finish closing up the coop and heard that deep throaty noise that we all know too well. I get looking again and she managed to get in the storage area of the shed and had squeezed into a gap in bags of wood pellets that go in the stove for heat, So after some work moving and restacking bags, Fancy was finally free. Meantime Kelly was sitting in the car waiting for me crying thinking her poor bird had fallen prey to one of the wild ones... Lets just say that with her getting that attached in 2 weeks, I worry about what will happen when we get our meat birds.

This happens to all of us! My first rooster I killed, I felt bad for a week afterward... I knew he had to go, but I felt horrible!

 

[Wrightsx4]

If you guys get this together let me know.  I could drive down and meet you there!

I plan to go in Feb/march if you'd like to join me! I'll be picking up some eggs but plenty of room in the van for chicks or chickens coming back Add me to your list of people that would LOVE some of those Swedish flower eggs. So pretty and I read they have wonderful personality.
Brethren - so glad your dh is improving!

 

[gladahmae]

Alright. I have a 'flock dynamics' question that kind of ties in with combining my different groups of birds.

In a week and a half I'm planning on adding my 7 new pullets to my 3 slightly older pullets in the big coop. However, I have 2 YOUNGER pullets (17 weeks old I think) in my chick coop that I also need to add to the big coop. They have pretty soft personalities and even though they are a month older, and larger, than the other chicks in there with them, they aren't at the top of the pecking order Would it be better to put my big dog kennel in the big coop for a few days, and then allowing them to integrate with the 3 oldest hens and THEN dividing the big coop and adding the 7 new pullets? I have fears of severe bullying if I combined them all at once since my 3 oldest are well-bonded, and the7 newest have also been together since they were chicks. The 2 younger ones, it would seem, would be caught in the middle. My thought is that it would at least be 5 vs 7 if I could get the 2 youngers and the 3 olders to get along before putting in the 7 newest.

And I'm probably over-thinking this.


Oh! And a silkie question! I've read that they don't navigate ramps well? Our big coop is about a 1ft 'hop' for the chickens to get in and out to the run. Will we need to build a ramp for the silkie, or will she figure it out?

 

[Opa]

If all of the birds are about the same size, sometimes the best method is to put them together and walk away. They will work it out much better than with our help.

 

[Wrightsx4]

Gladahmae - you're near me too if you'd like to join me going to Cedar Creek! I'm waiting until late February or early March to go pick up eggs. About joining your flocks - I just went through that. I kept them separated by chicken wire for quite a while until the younger ones reached about 14 weeks. I had also added a newcomer to their group since she was quite small although full grown, so she wouldn't have to join the big girls alone. After removing the divider you'd think there was still an invisible wall. The younger ones (now 16 wks) huddle in the corner

 

[Wrightsx4]

Oops...hit reply... huddle on the corner until the big ones go out for the day. They have no interest in being intermingled. At night I go out and move them all to the big girls' roost - yes, every night, I'm determined to get them to be one happy family! And as long as I don't have the light on they stay until morning then run to their invisible corner pen.

 

[SillyChicken]

I do what opa suggested, they'll work it out. I just keep an eye on them if they're singling out one they'll really harass, I may remove them.

Right now my d'uucle roo and hen are in a brooder box in my shed to keep him away from the sumatra roo... he really hates the d'uucle roo.
Plus, I want to keep the eggs pure. I have uggo/sumatra and silkie/sumatra eggs in the bator right now. He's a busy roo......

Silkies..... may have a hard time seeing with all the Poof around their eyes. I trimmed mine so he could see, but he refuses to get on the roost, so I put him up there every night while its been cold. If you make a ramp wide enough, they may use it. But then, some of my silkies......seem a little... well, "chicken".

 

[gladahmae]

If all of the birds are about the same size, sometimes the best method is to put them together and walk away. They will work it out much better than with our help.

That's sort-of what we did last time, except they'd had a shared run fence for a month before we combined them. The new ones then got picked and pecked at for 2 months before they settled in.

Gladahmae - you're near me too if you'd like to join me going to Cedar Creek! I'm waiting until late February or early March to go pick up eggs. About joining your flocks - I just went through that. I kept them separated by chicken wire for quite a while until the younger ones reached about 14 weeks. I had also added a newcomer to their group since she was quite small although full grown, so she wouldn't have to join the big girls alone. After removing the divider you'd think there was still an invisible wall. The younger ones (now 16 wks) huddle in the corner

Oh! Sound tempting! We're going on a vacation in the end of March and I promised DH that I wouldn't hatch or buy any more chicks until then. I'm out until April. Thanks so much for the offer though!

When we combined our first group, the 2 new girls were the same way. I ended up having DH build a small roost bar for them on the opposite side of the coop (where they 'hid' from the older pullets) so they would quit roosting in the nest boxes.

I do what opa suggested, they'll work it out. I just keep an eye on them if they're singling out one they'll really harass, I may remove them.



Silkies..... may have a hard time seeing with all the Poof around their eyes. I trimmed mine so he could see, but he refuses to get on the roost, so I put him up there every night while its been cold. If you make a ramp wide enough, they may use it. But then, some of my silkies......seem a little... well, "chicken".

The only reason I'm at all concerned is because one of the youngers is a mottle houdan and she's getting her crest picked at a bit right now from the chicks she was RAISED with. I have a gold laced polish the newer group, so maybe having 2 targets with weird 'dos will mitigate some of the picking.

 

[BackyardFarmMom]

I wanted to share some good news

All 7 puppies have found homes!!!
SIL and will be able to watch all of them grow from afar.
The last 3 went home yesterday with a friends mom. They have some big shoes to fill that were left by Big Ben, they will have 10 acres to run around on, and some new horse friends to meet!

 

[HooverHenHouse]

I have found a few leads for cochins...discussed with a couple people over pm, and now their not replying to me. So I guess I can say yes I have found some, but still nothing in my coop.