Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[tjbeckman]

WOOT

Just got info that my chicks are ready to be picked up!!! I ordered from a semi local hatchery in Capac. Now I get to go pick out exactly what I want I am really excited now!!! Now I have to make the final decision on what I want to buy....

I think I might want a couple Jerseys, and some EE, maybe even a couple more Wyandottes...oh the choices?!?!?!

 

[ladyrsanti]

This weather is SO strange. Thunderstorms with downpours last night kept me awake. Then this fog! When I was out doing my barn chores, it was still cold but the barn was stuffy and stinky because there was no breeze and everything is damp. The concrete is sweating. So I turned on the box fan that hangs in the sheep area to get things moving a bit. When I left the barn, just as I left, a strong WARM breeze blew in and I swear the temps rose 10 deg. in that instant. Now all the fog is blowing through and it's just eery.

Oh... and the coop is soaking wet -_- Leaked all night long and we've got more torrential downpours forecast for today and especially tonight, 1-2" of rain. UGH.

Just weird and wrong, this weather. I'd rather have the snow.

 

[gladahmae]

Thinking ahead to chick days.......

Does TSC get bantams (and specifically silkies) in for chick days, or is it pretty much just LF layers? looking at Townline's website (which they've re-vamped btw) I don't see silkies listed, but they DO have bantams listed. Someone that is kind of local to me has silkies listed on CL and I'm trying to decide if I *need* another 1 or 2 to be incubators for me, or if I should just wait until spring and get some babies.

 

[ladyrsanti]

Close enough for this situation. I had heard 1 - 3 drops, though, depending on the size of the chook, are you using the cattle pour-on? Maybe I just ended up with a different source, but it did do the trick for the mites on my chickies. I did a few practice runs to make sure I could control the number of drops very precisely, since overdosing will kill, and found that every few times, too much would squirt out. I had the least amount of control with a oral medicine syringe, you mean the kind with the little plunger in it, right? It would all be going well, and then ssqqquuuiiiirrrttt! I don't know if my droppers just sucked, but it worried me, and in the end I just made sure I only had as much ivermectin as I wanted to use on the specific bird in the dropper each time. A needled syringe would probably give you the most control, I think I will find one by next time. Just make sure it doesn't get sucked up by the feathers or all is for naught.

I went ahead and used the food color bottle. It worked okay. Probably would have been better if I had worked the dropper but my 13yr old son was doing it while I caught and held them. No one received more than their dosage but there may have been some that soaked into feathers. His hands weren't as steady as mine and he held the bottle too far from the skin so that the drop didn't always land where he thought it would. Done properly, I think it would have been a great substitution.

 

[taprock]

I finally received my results from MSU and everyone is healthy and I can now start working on this years plans. It of course means working on pens which is always interesting with my lack of wood working skills.

I dosed everyone today with ivomectin - all 67 birds. Only about 10% of the chickens have noticeable mites, but I dosed everyone. I still have to go back and do legs and combs and wattles. With all the moisture now in my thawed coop I am more concerned about frostbite. I also have an Orloff who snapped off a claw and now the toe looks swollen. Tonight I will spray it down with Vetrycyn but with it wandering through the snow and mud I figured cleaning it now wouldn't last at all.

There was no schools open up here today. I guess we ended up with freezing rain during the night. By the time I was outside it was only misting regular rain. We'll see what tonight brings when it changes back to snow.

 

[naglady]

WOOT

Just got info that my chicks are ready to be picked up!!! I ordered from a semi local hatchery in Capac. Now I get to go pick out exactly what I want I am really excited now!!! Now I have to make the final decision on what I want to buy....

I think I might want a couple Jerseys, and some EE, maybe even a couple more Wyandottes...oh the choices?!?!?!

That sounds so exciting.. I am new to chickens since sept, and i think one of my hens is broody.. I am thinking of going and buying a dozen of eggs from a farmer for $1.50 pencil date on them, and see if she can hatch them.. but then i am not sure if its to early.. never thought i would want chicks.. but you all are making me want them.. and my daughter would be so excited..
make sure you post pictures after you pick them up..

 

[naglady]

Came home tonight to find my little disablled chick had knocked most of the water out of their dish. Poor tthing was soaked, cold and churrping er little heart out! I got her dried and warmed up. Looks like she'll make it.

Glad to hear it..

 

[tjbeckman]

That sounds so exciting.. I am new to chickens since sept, and i think one of my hens is broody.. I am thinking of going and buying a dozen of eggs from a farmer for $1.50 pencil date on them, and see if she can hatch them.. but then i am not sure if its to early.. never thought i would want chicks.. but you all are making me want them.. and my daughter would be so excited..
make sure you post pictures after you pick them up..

I am hoping that by mid march is is warm enough for them to go out with the other... not sure if that is going to be too long to have them in the house or not. It has been years since I did chicks LOL

 

[chickflick]

Thought this was interesting from Community Chickens.....

The Life Changing Device was invented. In Rich’s words:


We did a bath renovation, and my first thought was TANK. (3 ½ gallon = 3 days not to carry water.) My second thought was this thing stays full. (3 ½ gallon tank always full = never carry water). Basically the rest just came together.
This is the best watering system ever. I have had this working for two years now, and I’ve never had a problem, I’ve never had to clean the system, and the water is as pure as day one!

Here is a list of the parts and directions:
Used toilet tank—free from local plumber, trash day or renovation
Two ¾” PVC Slip to garden hose
One washing machine feed hose—often free from local appliance repair shop or trash day
PVC fittings to reduce the flush outlet to ¾”
One stick ¾” PVC
¾” slip to ½” thread tee (reducing couplings—as many as you want watering nipples)
One cap
Reducers from ½” to 1/8 pipe thread (as many as you have nipples)
Nipple waterers

This is a gravity fed system, so the tank has to be hung above the nipples.

1. Connect the feed to the fill float valve in the tank.


2. Reduce the flush outlet to ¾”. The sizes do vary, so you may have to hunt for exact fittings you need. I made two washers and just sandwiched a slip to thread in mine.
3. Connect the washer hose from the tank to the stick of ¾” PVC.
4. Install the tee as needed.
5. Put the reducers in and install the nipples.
6. Close off the end of the run with the cap.
That’s it—a life-changing device! Never water your girls again!




Reducers connected, nipples installed

Line set up​

Chickens demonstrating use of device



















As you can see from the photos Rich provided, the watering system runs along one end of the 24’ x 16’ coop.



There’s also a commercial feeder that holds 50 pounds of feed and a 2 gallon oyster shell feeder.


Rich told me if he had to do it again, he would make two changes. First, he noticed that the vertical watering nipples seem to leak. He has ordered, from England, horizontal spring loaded nipples, and he thinks this should take care of that problem. Also, he found saddle PVC fittings that go from either ½” or ¾” to 1/8” thread. They cost less than the PVC tees and adapters that he used and would eliminate both tees and adapters.

I asked Rich if he thought his system could be used in cooler climates. I like his idea, but this week in Western New York, the temperatures have been hovering right around zero. He suggested using a birdbath heater in the tank. A small circulation pump run out through the hole where the flush handle comes out, and connected to the end of the nipple run, should keep the system from freezing.

 

[BobBry]

This weather is SO strange. .

Just weird and wrong, this weather. I'd rather have the snow.

Man, I hope the temperatures return to normal, so as not to fowl up the growth of so many plant types as occurred last year. That would really put the hurt on agriculture.

Good things are apparently happening for several/many of us. That's wonderful.