Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[RaZ]

Sparrows are kind of annoying but I've learned to tolerate them. Especially since Gary the Cooper's hawk visits regularly.
I'm also not overly worried about wild-bourne illness being transferred to my flock.

Then again, I probably break most of the "rules" in chicken keeping.

 

[gladahmae]

What an awful day!! The wind is wicked. When is spring coming???

No kidding! We had yet another snowday from school, and I didn't realize just how nasty it was outside until I took our foster-dog out to pee around lunch time! We have 2ft+ drifts around the car, the wood piles, and boiler, anything that may have been a bit of a wind block is drifted in now. Went out to take care of the birds and found another silkie egg on the floor of the coop (frozen and broken again, so she's either laying really late in the afternoon, or really early in the morning and NOT in the nest boxes) and my boot prints were almost completely drifted back in by the time I came back in to the house.

You know, a whopping 10min later.

I WAS considering going in to town tonight to do some shopping for some vacation stuff, but I'm definitely going to hunker down for the day now!

Ordered a bunch of seeds for myself, my mother, and a friend from work today. Figured it would be good to cash in on the combined shipping, and give myself a little hope for spring pretties. I can't WAIT until this snow is gone and my 200+ bulbs that I planted this fall come up. I've got a thing for daffodils and tulips.

 

[ladyrsanti]

Great pictures everyone. Congrats on the bunny. I used to enjoy visiting the bunny barn at the county fair, never keeping animals as a child, jealous of those that did.

Sorry to hear about the sudden deployment, Josh. Respects and stay safe.

The wind is whipping the snow like... like a whip. It stings! The driveway has turned into a cruelest of skating rinks, undulating and slick. The barn becomes a wind tunnel when it's like this too. I opened the hatch to drop some bales of hay down and every bit of dust from below came spiraling up in a barnado to meet my unprepared eyes. Ouch! My kids had school today, seemingly some of the few who did. The roads didn't look bad but everyone was driving at a snail's pace so they must have known something I didn't. They're saying 6 inches of snow before it's over but hard to tell what it's doing because it all blows away. Maybe a dusting so far?

The chickens are a bit perturbed because they're cooped up today. The light is on and the pop door is open (should they foolishly decide to step out). I hung some sorghum heads in there to break up the monotony and they have what looks to be, to my projecting human eyes, a lot of fun jumping and taking it in turns to pull seeds off and sending it swinging to the next waiting chicken like a game of tetherball. They're probably actually cursing in-between hits, my every fiber for being so cruel as to make a game out of their boredom.

Oh well.

 

[Opa]

Working on my third pot of coffee and if for no other reason than grasping a hot cup with my frozen hands it's good stuff. I had gone to Tractor Supply and when I got home I put 50 lbs in the range feeder and the 2nd bag in a plastic storage container in the coop work area. Next I filled one pop bottle waterer and placed in on the cage and filled the outside metal waterer that sits on a cookie can heater. From the time I removed the feed from my truck until I was finished with everything couldn't have been twenty minutes. Yet, my hands felt as if they had turned to solid blocks of ice. Once the humidity goes up the cold seems to bite into me with a vengeance.

 

[Trefoil]

Just in case anyone was interested...here's a picture of the heated water base I made. I use them in all my coops and unless it gets below zero I don't have frozen water. It's fantastic and cheap. This is the base without the lid on it.

I'm interested and somewhat thick. Could you post more pics and explanations?

Some pictures
My daughter Hannah and her buck Runny who won Best of Breed at the state 4H show at MSU in January...



Our blue rooster...still needs a name

Congratulations Hannah and Runny! Nice rooster, how about George?

Sparrows are kind of annoying but I've learned to tolerate them. Especially since Gary the Cooper's hawk visits regularly.
I'm also not overly worried about wild-bourne illness being transferred to my flock.

Then again, I probably break most of the "rules" in chicken keeping.

I figure that being well fed makes the wild birds less susceptible to disease and gives the predators something other than my birds to chow on.

This is probably a really stupid question, but, what direction is the best for a 3 sided shed to have the open side on?

 

[tdhenson86]

Quote: x2! I'm always worried about the water freezing or about burning the coop down with heat lamps.

 

[RaZ]

Yet, my hands felt as if they had turned to solid blocks of ice. Once the humidity goes up the cold seems to bite into me with a vengeance.

I hear ya there. Ever since I got frostbite anything below 50 degrees makes my hands ache. I'm feeling it right now.

I got that one big honey locust log cut, split and stacked. It worked out to 12' long and 5' high. About 1 1/2 face cord. Sadly, you can't even tell that I hit the wood pile at all.

 

[Amy PT]

We've made the cookie tin water heater, and it's been a lifesaver. I hate winter, and going out to the coop 2x a day in this weather is enough for me. For those of you looking for directions, just google "cookie tin water heater."

I was planning on picking up some cochins and silkies from Family Farm and Home in a few weeks. But it looks like Townline isn't doing cochins. So... RIRJen, do you breed silkies and cochins?

 

[tdhenson86]

We've made the cookie tin water heater, and it's been a lifesaver. I hate winter, and going out to the coop 2x a day in this weather is enough for me. For those of you looking for directions, just google "cookie tin water heater."

I was planning on picking up some cochins and silkies from Family Farm and Home in a few weeks. But it looks like Townline isn't doing cochins. So... RIRJen, do you breed silkies and cochins?

What kind of light do you use? That doesn't look like a normal light bulb or is it part of a lamp or something?

 

[naglady]

Congrats to hannah and her roosters.. those are pretty silkies..

starting to keep eggs out for the incubator.. collected first fertile egg today and leaving on counter.. and will tilt once in awhile..

out of those 21 free hens and roosters i got last monday, i have 13 left.. and havent seen a egg in 2 days.. i think i will be cull 5 or 6 more tomorrow.. Makes me wonder how old they really are.. the rooster has some long spurs.. I am not sure the rooster is even active in that coop.. was going to use some of those eggs to incubate. but when we cracked a blue egg open to eat today didnt see the fertile dot.. on the yolk.. my daughter brought the young rooster to the coop with my 5 isa browns and he mated with crissy and her egg has a fertile dot.. so will be keeping her eggs to incubate also.. i know to keep the narrow point end down should i be tilting them till i incubate.. and does anyone mark where the airpocket is b4 they incubate.