Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[snowflake]

Considering the price of candles, it might be cheaper to buy real coffee, brew it and dump it out.

to true,, good for the garden, been dumping DS coffee grounds all winter on all my plants

This is actually a giant rice krispy treat.

Happy Birthday to the birthday boy!!!

Grand Daughters will be 7 thurs. they are the youngest of my grand kids.Time goes way to fast-------------------

 

[tdhenson86]

Quote:
Are domesticated guineafowl any different than Kenyan Guineafowl? I've never seen the Kenyan variety.

 

[Trefoil]

Are domesticated guineafowl any different than Kenyan Guineafowl? I've never seen the Kenyan variety.

yes, the guineas commonly found in this area are the helmeted Their needs are also different. You can do a search for pictures of the Kenyan crested,and other guineas. A few people have the crested, but the other varieties are pretty rare. They all ( except the helmeted) are expensive and need tropical climate or heated quarters.

 

[ladyrsanti]

Ya know,I have had good and bad luck with Beer/Ale mash. A few years back I fed my chickens the mash from a batch of Ale and they acted like I was trying to poison them. The hens I have now just gobble it down.

They didn't think twice about it when I gave them a scoop with their breakfast yesterday. They gobbled it down. My sister didn't have much luck with it though and they brew all the time. Picky little buggers.

 

[gladahmae]

yes, the guineas commonly found in this area are the helmeted Their needs are also different. You can do a search for pictures of the Kenyan crested,and other guineas. A few people have the crested, but the other varieties are pretty rare. They all ( except the helmeted) are expensive and need tropical climate or heated quarters.

This is what I suspected. They had the MOST GORGEOUS purple feathers though. Really pretty little things. I'm not sure I'll be able to convince DH to get a few guineas, because of the free-range aspect....he's paranoid of poop all over the yard.....but it sure would be nice to have something that would get rid of ticks and other nasty bugs!

 

[naglady]

today will be starting day 23.. loosing hope..
i have eggs on the counter waiting to go in.
will wait till day 25.. see if there is a late stragler..

Yippee... score one for the wife.

So, I have my "broody in the rafters" situation. I didn't want to bother DH with securing me a proper area for her on the coop floor. I know he would do it if I asked... but honestly, the man works hard and has a mile high list of things that he does, so I didn't want to bother asking this of him. Plus, I'm an intelligent woman! And I can do this!

I went out to the coop after work today with some "borrowed" things I found rummaging through hubby's barn (aka: man cave)

. My intention was to block off the far end of the coop (there's a ramp at the end, so it was already partially covered). I cleared it out, put up the board (I even did some sawing...

with a handsaw!). BUT.. I couldn't quite figure out putting the chicken wire over the top of it in a way that would both protect the other hens if they got on top of it (I didn't want them to get hurt), and make it so I can still have easy access to the broody. I made it that far, but then I was stumped. I figured... well, I can at least ask this of him. Maybe he will make me a panel/door type deal or something to cover it with. So after he got home, I told him about the project I spent all afternoon working on, but that I needed his expertise finishing up the last bit. He agreed with that so we went out to the coop to check it over. I thought I did AWESOME... but by the look on his face I guess it wasn't as masterful as I thought.

It took him all of a minute to completely re-plan how it was going to be done. It's not going to be at the end of the coop, but running under the nest boxes instead. He even had an instant great idea that's going to utilize the existing water & feeder so that the broody can get to them both from her side, but that the rest of the flock will still have access to them from their side. AND he's going to make me access panels, covered in wire, & on hinges so I can get to her easily without having pretend I'm a master of yoga while getting into the corner. He said if I can wait, that he would have it done for me by this weekend!!

Awesome hubby!!

Oh, and while I was out there all afternoon I took a picture her.

It'll be part of the Toddler Tails at the Humane Society story. I bring a chicken in every once in a while for the kids to see and pet. I like to think that maybe I am helping create future crazy chicken people by getting them used to chickens at a young age, haha.

I think this is great..

 

[SillyChicken]

Had bunnies born yesterday..... unfortunately. 1 new mom, ate/killed all of hers. The other new mom did good, though they were very cold. I warmed up the babies a little and put them back in the nest. Have one more new mom that should produce today. I'll post some picts in a few days.


Raz, Good luck next month!

 

[Scifisarah]

Is anyone else in Michigan not having their chickens lay, AT ALL? Granted I don't have as large a flock as I used to, but come on all I want is one egg! Ages of the hens are about 11 months - 14 months. I have two bantam cochins, one serama and two silkie hens in with one bantam cochin and one serema rooster. I got excited last night when I thought I saw an egg, and then remembered I had put a golf ball in one of the nest boxes...

This is the first year in a while I won't have any chicks by Easter. I'm feeding them the Blue Seal layer, but had been feeding Finish for most of the winter when I didn't expect them to lay. Any ideas for getting them motivated?

 

[Living the Simple Life]

The MAEAP tech is visiting on Monday April 8th for the second step of compliance certification. If you are local and want to sit in on this I'll have coffee ready, PM me for info.

http://www.maeap.org/

Raz: Will you be through your certification process by Chickenstock? If so, would you be willing to do a short presentation on the process and your experience. We are looking at eventually pursuing certification and would be really interested in hearing your perspective of the process (and pitfalls to avoid )

 

[1muttsfan]

Sarah, none of the breeds you have are very well-known for being good layers, except maybe the serama. Of the silkies and cochins I hatched out last summer only 3 have layed an egg yet. You might consider getting a few birds of better laying breeds just for eggs.