Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[taprock]

It rained all night here at 32 degrees. I needed to go to town and get more chicken feed today as I am almost out, but I think it will be a raid the freezer day and they will eat leftovers. Woke up really scared in the night when all the snow came off the metal roof right outside our window!

Welcome to you MaahBeaker!

I spent the afternoon with friends yesterday and I have to tell you their chicken butchering story. My friends Melissa and Shireen have chickens for eggs. They also have large families, 6 and 7 kids. So Shireen had some hens who were escaping and pooping in her garage - where her husband does wood working for business. Melissa had a good size flock of birds that weren't laying well and they were all over 2 years old. So they decided to work together to butcher and can. The oldest boys 17 -19 years dispatched the birds with a .22, the next boys 12-16 skinned and gutted. Then one of the little guys about 8 years brought the carcass to the house and would drop it in a bucket of the other little guy who is 6. He took the birds to the basement to the two girls about age 11 and 12. They were in the shower and scrubbed the birds up and then they went to my friends who where in the kitchen cutting up and packing into jars. Melissa said it went well to start with but then she would be finding lungs and skin and feathers that had some how been missed during the all previous stages. She laughingly told me clean up took as long as the process. They had a blood trail that went from the chicken coop to the house, through the house and she said the kitchen looked like there was a massacre. She says she has yet to taste the chicken to see if it was worth it. Both of them want to buy chicks from me this spring so I will have more excuses to hatch.

 

[SillyChicken]

Welcome maah

Zen sorry about your birds.


Chicken stock volunteer list link is in my signature below........ If there are any changes to be made please let me know... (also the updated version is further back on the thread.

Happy Monday!

 

[ladyrsanti]

Yup, we have 2 barn cats & 2 house cats. I also work from home. My employer allows me to log in remotely to the office. YAHOO! Yes, one of our house kitties thinks he needs to help me on a regular basis, ever since he was a kitten. For the most part I've trained him to at least lay on my printer on my desk, rather than right on my arms/paperwork. Sometimes he's gets very insistent and so I end up having to haul him out to the livingroom, put down some kitty snacks and close my office door. LOL. This last week he's been a major pain! I have the brooder in my office with the 2 silkie chicks and it makes for the best kitty TV! He can get a great view from his spot on the printer... but he's been really annoying. LOL.

I wanted to come to the Chicken Stock last year but wasn't able to. I am planning on it this year! June 22... **just wrote it in the calendar!**

Welcome! You sound a lot like me. 11 hens, 1 rooster, 3 sheep, 8 barn cats, 2 house cats, 1 hard working DH, 3 kids and 0 profit - HEY!

 

[Opa]

Today is shaping up to be a little damp and a lot windy. However, the wind will help the snow leave much quicker with less flooding. It also will be warm enough that the droppings won't be frozen to the trays so I guess I should clean the everything before the next freeze.
Since the bantams are fed from cups mounted on the sides of their cages, they manage to "bill" a lot of feed out. It falls into the droppings tray adding to the cleanup. It seems a shame that it's wasted feed but there isn't much I could do to prevent it. As I watched the wild turkey grazing in the clover patch inspiration struck. I can dump the litter there. The turkeys will scratch through the droppings picking out the wasted feed and also further spreading and working the dropping into the ground. The feed will no longer be waste, the turkeys will benefit from increased food, the droppings will be scattered, the soil enriched, the clover fertilized. Now if I could only get someone to clean the coops for me the plan would be perfect.

 

[kimmie6067]

HELP! I have a sick hen. She has her feathers fluffed up and is listless lets me pick her up with no fuss, which is unusual. Her butt is poopie. I have her in her own little coop with a little heat, that is in the garage out of the wind . Wanted to bring her in the house but its pretty warm in here with the wood heat, I didn't think that would be good. Any ideas?


I have a broodie hen, a JG that I got from Wynette. I love this bird she is so calm. Can I let her hatch her eggs? If she does can I just keep them all in the same coop? There is a roo of course, a very large JG another JG younger hen and a Comet in that coop.


Thanks for the help

 

[MIchickens]

Ok, I'm jumping on this MI ship. Hi all!

I'll start with... Oh, man! Sorry your flock got taken out! We've been having trouble with coyotes around here for the last month. The more snow we get, the more coyote prints we're finding around the coop! GRR. Luckily none have gotten to our chickens, dwarf goats, or barn cats yet. The farm stores will start having their chicks in the next couple of weeks... You're gonna have fun picking out some little fuzzy butts! I agree with the other poster though. You've gotta have a couple silkies though, they are such good momma's.

....

With that said, I'll introduce myself a bit better. We have a small farm here. We don't produce much other than eggs for our own use, and we give some to our neighbor each week as well. No profit. Wife here, hard working DH (well, I'm hard working too LOL), & we have 3 kids. Outside critters are 11 "real" hens (he he)... BR, NH, Isa Brown, Australorps, Leghorn, Americaunas, Wyandottes... an awesome Light Brahma Rooster. A white silkie pair (we're currently trying to hatch out some chicks. Our second batch is incubating on the counter right now). We also have 3 Nigerian Dwarf goats (all wethers). Inside critters are 2 dogs (Maltese & Boxer), and 2 more house cats, currently 2 silkie chicks in the brooder and 7 eggs in the incubator on the counter.

Welcome! Sit a spell, take your shoes off, y'all come back now, ya hear!

 

[kimmie6067]

Today is shaping up to be a little damp and a lot windy. However, the wind will help the snow leave much quicker with less flooding. It also will be warm enough that the droppings won't be frozen to the trays so I guess I should clean the everything before the next freeze.
Since the bantams are fed from cups mounted on the sides of their cages, they manage to "bill" a lot of feed out. It falls into the droppings tray adding to the cleanup. It seems a shame that it's wasted feed but there isn't much I could do to prevent it. As I watched the wild turkey grazing in the clover patch inspiration struck. I can dump the litter there. The turkeys will scratch through the droppings picking out the wasted feed and also further spreading and working the dropping into the ground. The feed will no longer be waste, the turkeys will benefit from increased food, the droppings will be scattered, the soil enriched, the clover fertilized. Now if I could only get someone to clean the coops for me the plan would be perfect.

Opa, that is a good plan, let the turkeys do the work except of course the coop cleaning. I went out yesterday thinking I could clean the coops up a bit, huh! I didn't know that the poop would be frozen. I don't know why I wouldn't know that. Its like cement. I just wanted to spruce up a bit, oh well there's spring. Today its snowing and raining.

 

[MIchickens]

The Site Selection committee has met via telephone and they decided not to include Wingless and myself on the committee. However, they did ask us to address the first face-to-face meeting on April 12 in East Lansing. We are working on what we want to say to them.

Meanwhile the Michigan Small Farm Council (MSFC) has been organized and we could use some help if people are interesting in preserving their own farm operations.

Raz, I'm in and would like to help!
I don't foresee a problem with me having chickens at my house, even though the rule is 4 acres or more to have "livestock". I called my township supervisor and asked him if there was a problem with me having chickens even though there's the 4 acre rule. He said there's no problem with that. But, I'm leery of a "over the phone OK" as opposed to a written OK. In the military, it doesn't mean anything unless it's in black and white and in front of you! I just want to be prepared in-case I get flack about having them. I do have a kind of "ace in the hole" (besides the help from you all). My cousin is the Prosecuting Attorney for Huron County. I live in Lapeer County but he answers questions for me. I appreciate getting his take on "the other side" of how the system works. Especially since Huron County had the most "nuisance" for livestock reported in the state.

 

[ladyrsanti]

So I went out to the barn for treat time and my rooster was COVERED in blood. The frostbitten back of his comb had fallen off or been otherwise removed. He was scratching at it constantly - must itch and burn something terrible. So I gathered him up, carefully sprayed a little blukote on it and put him in a cat carrier inside the coop until it - hopefully - scars over a bit. He's not happy about the arrangement but I can't see that it's good for him to be running around crazy in the dirty barn scratching and bloody. The barn cats were awfully excited about the prospects, a little too excited for my taste.

HELP! I have a sick hen. She has her feathers fluffed up and is listless lets me pick her up with no fuss, which is unusual. Her butt is poopie. I have her in her own little coop with a little heat, that is in the garage out of the wind . Wanted to bring her in the house but its pretty warm in here with the wood heat, I didn't think that would be good. Any ideas?


Thanks for the help

I had that happen to one of mine just a few weeks ago. Turned out to be worms. Can't say that that's what yours has. Being new to chickens, I'm in no way able to diagnose much of anything at this point, still learning. Mine responded within a day to the wazine and has been fine ever since. Might be worth a try?

 

[naglady]

hi everyone, I am going to get 20 or so free hens and some roos, maran,americana,black sexlink they are 2 yrs old, been getting another coop ready.. the last day or so.. mostly yesturday since its warmer
will keep some for eggs and cull some, cant wait to get them.. she said the maran has nice chocolate eggs, maybe if i have a maran rooster and hen i will get some nice eggs for the incubator,
heading out in a little bit. to pick them up.. will keep you posted


Opa great idea, feeding the turkeys and utilizing the wasted feed..


kimmie hope your hen is doing better, check her vent area see if its hard, make sure she isnt internal laying.