Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Fancy Favie]

Hmm, I didn't think it was a contest. So do the favs make one crazy or do you have to be crazy to start with?

Or is it one of those contagious things that passes from person to person?

No contest .......It must be a FAVEROLLE thing IMO

 

[gladahmae]

So, I'm considering putting my EE roo in with my hens. I'm wanting to stick eggs in my incubator (if possible) in the beginning of April. He's around 24wks old. Do I need to semi-isolate him for a week or so in the dog kennel that's in the coop?

I've figured out what to do with the other 3 roos I don't want. Brethren is going to take one in the spring, and the other 2 are going to be dinner. What should I do with my other Wyandotte roo?

 

[JoyfulPromise]

I'm running into issues. We're wanting to get meat chickens in the spring, and meyer is far and away the most affordable place to get them from (that I'm finding), but I'm unable to get the number we are wanting (50-60) AND a late April/very beginning of May ship date. The best I can do is about a week and a half into May, and that would put us into July for 7-8wk olds, and I'm t afraid of the heat since we live on the east edge of a field.

McMurray is about $1/chick MORE than Meyer. Townline about $0.70. Cackle and Ideal are either sold out, or somewhere between McMurray and Townline. Are there other options for sourcing that I'm just not finding?

My brother raises several batches of meat chickens (Cornish broilers) each year, and the past few years we have ordered almost all of our chicks from Myers Poultry Farm in Pennsylvania. Their chicks have always been quite lively and healthy, and grew well, and I think their price is as good or better than Meyer Hatchery. (I know, it is easy to confuse the two - Meyer/Myers! ) Their website isn't as fancy as some others, and you have to call to order, but the staff is very nice and helpful. I highly recommend them!

They don't have availability online though, so you would have to call and ask if they had some for the dates you want.

 

[Nigellas]

This is my 4th year brooding chicks and the first I've ever lost any - and I've lost 3 already - one that I lost last week, and two more yesterday/this morning.
We lost our power again in the storm Tuesday night. I tried the hot water bottle trick overnight, waking up every 2 hours to refill it - exhausting, but it worked okish. Then my neighbor offered me to run an extension cord to her generator for the chick light that day. I did that yesterday while I took the kids to my moms to warm up. When I got home my electricity was back on but the generator that my light was attached to was now off.

Apparently they had been without any warmth for 4 hours - plus the window was cracked a tiny bit to let the extension cord in. Those poor babies. They were all alive in a tight pile when I got home, but 1 died overnight and another this morning. I appreciate that my neighbor let me use her generator for the chicks, I just wish it had worked out differently when the power came back on. I guess I wasn't specific enough.

 

[Lisa and girls]

This is my 4th year brooding chicks and the first I've ever lost any - and I've lost 3 already - one that I lost last week, and two more yesterday/this morning.  
We lost our power again in the storm Tuesday night.  I tried the hot water bottle trick overnight, waking up every 2 hours to refill it - exhausting, but it worked okish.  Then my neighbor offered me to run an extension cord to her generator for the chick light that day.  I did that yesterday while I took the kids to my moms to warm up.  When I got home my electricity was back on but the generator that my light was attached to was now off.  


Apparently they had been without any warmth for 4 hours - plus the window was cracked a tiny bit to let the extension cord in.  Those poor babies.  They were all alive in a tight pile when I got home, but 1 died overnight and another this morning.    I appreciate that my neighbor let me use her generator for the chicks, I just wish it had worked out differently when the power came back on.   I guess I wasn't specific enough.  

So sorry for your loss

 

[Totalcolour]

I'm running into issues. We're wanting to get meat chickens in the spring, and meyer is far and away the most affordable place to get them from (that I'm finding), but I'm unable to get the number we are wanting (50-60) AND a late April/very beginning of May ship date. The best I can do is about a week and a half into May, and that would put us into July for 7-8wk olds, and I'm t afraid of the heat since we live on the east edge of a field.

McMurray is about $1/chick MORE than Meyer. Townline about $0.70. Cackle and Ideal are either sold out, or somewhere between McMurray and Townline. Are there other options for sourcing that I'm just not finding?

gladahmae

We get ours from Schlect hatchery and they are the CHEAPEST I have found so far. This year we are getting 100 so the price is really good. The wuality is good too, plus they sent a fex extras to cover losses, and we only lost 3, but not during shipping.

http://www.schlechthatchery.com/

 

[mrshaggie810]

Wow! Been a long time since I've had time to check in! Most of the chickens and ducks are doing very well still! I lost my favorite little banty though...I let both the banty's out on a niceish day to free range since they had been cooped up because of the snow....they had been in their own small coop with the other 3 chickens and ducks in a seperate coop...well, they decided to take off and hide...the light gray girl (I still haven't named them....still not sure if I will...) got stuck in a picker bush...she wasn't hurt though and I was able to get her out...well I made the mistake of putting her in the big pen because I thought she would be lonely by herself (I had to set a trap for the black banty, and it ended up snowing, I thought she was a goner, but I caught her a week later!) Anyways...I'm not sure what happened with the gray banty, but I found her dead on the coop floor 4 days later. They other chickens didn't seem to be picking on her, and one of the female ducks even seemed to buddy up to her and want to protect her...I think she might not have been eating or drinking well because she was depressed because her sister was gone. Idk...but I was bummed. She wasn't bloody, and didn't have anything else wrong with her that I could tell. It was a big bummer though. I really like the banty cochins so I'm thinking I might get a couple more in the spring. I'm not sure though.

Anyways...cheer season just ended, and homeschool co-op is almost over, and I am sooo ready for things to slow down a bit...I'm 400 pages behind in this thread now! lol! We have lots of beautiful snow here right now, so I am trying to relax and get caught up on some stuff.

I made a feeder and waterer for the girls, and they are loving that...and so am I, and now they they have all been done molting for a little while I decided to start giving them some extra light and I've finally started getting eggs again! Yay!

I want to hatch out some ducklings this spring...I've never had birds before though...will they stay on the next all the time? Do they have to be on it all the time for the eggs to hatch? I'm hoping to have some hatch, but I also don't want to end up with rotten eggs in the coop! lol! I suppose they wouldn't go bad in the amount of time it take to wait to see if they are going to hatch though (how long is it for ducks roughly? I can't even remember...33 day? Maybe that is way short, I just don't remember.) Anyways..I don't want to incubate them myself...too much work for me right now, although it would be a cool homeschool project! I wish I could find someone that would do it for me cause I'd like to get some turkey eggs too from someone local who has them. Anwyays, I'm off and running! I hope you are all well, and that I can check in again soon!

 

[Maah]

This is my 4th year brooding chicks and the first I've ever lost any - and I've lost 3 already - one that I lost last week, and two more yesterday/this morning.
We lost our power again in the storm Tuesday night. I tried the hot water bottle trick overnight, waking up every 2 hours to refill it - exhausting, but it worked okish. Then my neighbor offered me to run an extension cord to her generator for the chick light that day. I did that yesterday while I took the kids to my moms to warm up. When I got home my electricity was back on but the generator that my light was attached to was now off.

Apparently they had been without any warmth for 4 hours - plus the window was cracked a tiny bit to let the extension cord in. Those poor babies. They were all alive in a tight pile when I got home, but 1 died overnight and another this morning. I appreciate that my neighbor let me use her generator for the chicks, I just wish it had worked out differently when the power came back on. I guess I wasn't specific enough.

Oh sorry about your babies!

 

[cheepcheep3]

You don't say what "local" is to you, but the family farm and home store in Richmond had Indian Runners the last time I was in there (Monday)

I'm like 20 min away from Richmond! thank you!

 

[Opa]

My Vorwerk rooster just committed suicide today. However, he just doesn't know it yet. He has been getting progressively more aggressive and I haven't been able to break him from it. However, today when I went to feed and water birds I found that the hen that shares a cage with him has been pecked to the point that it looks like half her neck is missing along with her head being severely scalped. My first instinct was to terminate him immediately but once I had removed the hen to a separate cage I decided that it would be better to wait until warm weather and all the bantam can be returned to their larger pen. Then once I have fertile eggs he will be on death row.