Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

I'm in West Bloomfield . Oh really? I have only one hen now, she hasn't even begun laying yet. I was planning on getting a pair of silkies male and female, same with pekin ducks. So the rooster will have 2 hens, is that enough ? Then I suppose I need 2 female ducks and one male!
 
We dont have any hawk problem in the city, but our dog loves his chickens and plays with the roosters all the time.
He's never once shown any real aggression or desire to eat them, maybe he's too dumb to think they are food.
One thing that helped is we always had him and the chicks together growing up and a CLOSE eye on how they played together.
Now he loves them and if he hears a strange sound outside he really wants to check his freinds.

Some pictures to check out.
700

700


As they grew up everyone would even eat together, a habit he still has. Any advice on getting a dog to stop eating chicken food?
(and yes my dog and chickens love potato chips)
700

700


Our Houdan roo and him are always playing around on the balcony / run. He's got a little scar under his nose from when the rooster was learning his strength after growing up. Worst the dog has ever done is pull on the Roo's tail feathers but not even enough to bend them after he lets go.
700


Cant wait to get everyone back on a farm where they can run around more.
Living on the balcony works, but its not enough.
 
Last edited:
[quote url="[URL]https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/5514366/[/URL]"]
AWW, I really want one of those. [/quote] Some are available...
Me too!!!!!!
See above...
Do pigs like snow? It's one of those things I've never thought about.
They seems to be ok with it, although they stay in their sheds unless its feeding time. lol When I cull chicks, I give them to my sows, for they seems to kill the chicks faster than I can, so more humane that way in my opinion, plus nothing is wasted for it becomes food for the hogs. For older chicks and grown birds, I do the trick that my friend taught me, its bloodless and very quick, and I do that to my roos that are to be butchered too.
 
Hawks, eagles, owls, and thousands of other birds are protected under the Migratory Bird Act, and many of them also have other protections such as endangered or threatened species protections. Some non migratory birds are included in the act, such as cardinals, because at one time they were caught and sold as pets, leading to damaged populations.
The list of birds you are allowed to kill or possess parts of is much smaller than the list of those you cannot. Usually, only pest birds or nonnative birds are permitted to be dispatched.

Yes, mentioned in there is 'possess part of'. You cannot keep the feathers, bones, body, or any other part of a protected bird, especially that of a predatory bird. It doesn't matter if you had found the bird dead of natural causes, you can be fined just as heavily as if you had killed the bird. If you find a dead hawk, owl, or eagle, it's advised to call your local DNR officer to come collect it.

In very, very rare cases will a permit be issued allowing a predatory bird to be killed. The best advice is to create a secure run for your animals, provide plenty of hiding spots that are easy to access if you free range, and hope for the best.
Killing predatory birds is considered poaching and on top of fines and jail time, you can lose your hunting privileges as well as your hunting equipment and vehicles if they can tie them to the poaching incident.
 
About the Hawk problem,

I had a hawk attack and kill my silkie pullet while I let them free range while we were gettinf ready to leave, out for maybe an hour...He kept coming back, and back, and back. I

I also had a larger run-Which I couldnt figure out a way to cover...I kept my chickens cooped up for 3 weeks, would let them out supervised...as in me sitting in a lawn chair in the middle of winter watching them forage. I tried to let them loose for a hour or so a day, but he kept coming back. I would hear my birds sqwak and had to chase the hawk off, as he perched on my dog kennel fence getting ready to kill. ( my coop/run is bordered by 3 sides of my house, and 3 panels of dog kennel fence, a very weird shape)

We built a smaller run, inside my run. Its littely 6'x3', but it is safe from the hawk. He still revisits and my birds run inside the coop, but their protected...a month in a half later and hes still trying to get chicken dinner. He also visited my neighbors chicken coop a few days after he killed my silkie, I read on here once they get the taste of chicken they are persisent about wanting more.

-My hope is to let them back in the main big coop once summer hits, hoping the hawk finds other food, but I honestly dont think i will risk the attack. I like my birds to much.
 
Woops, the point of that was to say that locking them up for a day or two probally wont save them, the hawk will be probally come back, I recomend building a temp. run until warm weather hits.

Also, I have read that the DNR reads this forum to watch out for discusions like this about the hawks, so be warned. There is some threads about hawk detterants on the predato threads.

I tried fishing line, cds, radios, with nothing making a diffrence.

-Altough on one of the threads I read that having them housed with larger animals stopped the hawk attacks for one member when she put the goats in the run, hopefully that works for you.
 
Farmerboy-
"For older chicks and grown birds, I do the trick that my friend taught me, its bloodless and very quick, and I do that to my roos that are to be butchered too."

Any chance of sharing the technique?
I'm always looking for a better way to do things. Benefits me and the chicken.
 
Last edited:
Some twit hit the mailbox. The kicker? There is no snow or ice on the roads. This is the second time this has happened in the past few months. Last time, there was again, no snow or ice even on the ground at the time. Makes me wonder if it is some bored teenager. Or maybe Jason Ives' family. Yea, those are a bunch of news articles detailing the progress of his charges and days in court.

That is the man who tried to scam my parents. He was selling a parcel of land, so my parents put down a down payment. Good thing they documented everything and are fastidious about paperwork management. Because he attempted to sell it to two other people. It also had a lien against it, because of a former loan. that he did not disclose to my parents. In the end, we got it and he made nothing from it (all the money went to pay off the lien to a recently widowed neighbor. In fact, the check was written to her, not the scammer, so he couldn't misuse it). But because he mishandled the down payment money (blew it before the sale even was finalized), it was a charge levied against him when he was arrested.

*sigh* time to stop the mail for a bit until I get a new mailbox.
put a post to the side of the mail box that is being hit, any one driving by will hit the post before the mail box,,,
No but that is close to me. Do they have a website?
Yes,
Chick Hatchery.com he has some very pretty Americanas and Chantaclaires (sp)
We dont have any hawk problem in the city, but our dog loves his chickens and plays with the roosters all the time.
He's never once shown any real aggression or desire to eat them, maybe he's too dumb to think they are food.
One thing that helped is we always had him and the chicks together growing up and a CLOSE eye on how they played together.
Now he loves them and if he hears a strange sound outside he really wants to check his freinds.

Some pictures to check out.


Cant wait to get everyone back on a farm where they can run around more.
Living on the balcony works, but its not enough.
love the pics, is he husky mix?

I wouldn't count on no hawks just cause you are in the city,,,, when I worked in GR as mail carrier, I saw hawks all the time, mostly took out sparrows That said when I had dogs in the yard I rarely had predator problems
 
Last edited:
I'm pretty sure we are going to go through a lot of coffee waiting for warmer weather. There is no way to look at upcoming week without shivering.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom