Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[gladahmae]

Woohooo! I got eggs today to! Still fiddling with the incubator I'll need to use as a hatcher in a couple of weeks..... trying to get a decent temp through the whole thing rather than 103 in one corner and 96 in another....and that's WITH a fan! I'll probably candle everything that's in the bator now, get rid of anything that's not developing and put the new eggs in there since I know that one holds a steady temp.

Going through my seeds today and deciding on what I'm going to plant this afternoon. I like to wintersow my flowers in milkjugs, and while I'm getting a late start on it this year (I like to get them done in Jan or Feb) there's still plenty of time! I'm probably going to pick up some cell packs and try starting some veggies here too. With this late of a spring certain, they'll need a little extra time indoors to grow.

 

[kimmie6067]

Had a fun morning helping Daran pullorum test his flock, we got about 1/2 done, He has some lovely birds!!, The blue turkeys were awesome, his cat liked to clime up the back of your leg and sit on your shoulder,the billy wanted to be right there checking things out and the emu's were a hoot, pulling things out of your pockets and making sure everything was checked out.
His roosters were very well behaved. Not one went after us even though, we were tormenting the hens.I think the Icelandics were my favorite, they have such pretty colors. Although his tiny rooster was VERY SWEET!!.
Got to meet his mom and some sisters and brother, Very,very nice people.
Was REALLY getting cold by the time we decided to stop

Wish the weather had been nicer, would have liked to have gotten a look at the cows and pigs. but it was raining and windy and cold all morning

That sounded like a fun time was had by all,

Even the animals had fun. Yes the cold and rain can go now.

 

[kimmie6067]

The horror! The next thing you know people will be growing their own food in gardens and putting solar panels on their roofs and drinking raw milk! Oh, the humanity!

And our children and grandchildren will be outside taking care of the animals in their yard they may even touch the ground with their bare feet, what are we going to do?

 

[kimmie6067]

Hi my name is FANCY and I have a FAVEROLLE FETTISH

Fancy thats just to funny!! Love the roo he's a beauty.

 

[kimmie6067]

Good point. I need to find somewhere I can get pine shavings in bulk. Any one know a place? In sw mi?

I am going to try sand this year I heard it's way cheaper and easier to keep clean you just use a big poop scooper made out of a ptichfork and hardware cloth attached to the fork

 

[kimmie6067]

sorry posted twice

 

[keyt1969]

GOOD LUCK, RaZ!

Good to see you, Sam! Don't think you can catch any fish in this weather. All the rivers and creeks are overflowing here, too.

Very wet out there.

Someone dumped a pit bull on our street and was hanging around Krisrose's place. We tried to get close to it, but it's really fearful of humans. It is not aggressive towards us or other animals. Unfortunately I think the storm scared it away. A neighbor gave us a number for a rescue, so hoping the dog will come back and we can get him taken care of. Poor thing. Why do people think they can dump their animals in the country??

I agree! This must be the season for it. Now we have a cat (outdoor only) and a couple of chickens because we're the only ones nearby with chickens now after two neighbors got rid of theirs. I mean we have offered to take birds people didn't want, even a pig (now re-homed) but just dumping them is wrong!

 

[keyt1969]

Good point. I need to find somewhere I can get pine shavings in bulk. Any one know a place? In sw mi?

We have a cement floor because our barn was supposed to be a garage 60-some years ago but it's always been used for chickens. We keep straw in there at all times because pine shaving was too messy for us. We use pine shavings in the brooder/grower pens which works great. I love that stuff, I really wish we could use it in the big part of the coop!

http://www.michigan-horse.com/horse-bedding.asp

Also, don't know if it's feasible for you but we have a relative that goes to KY to buy hay, straw, bags of shavings of different sorts super cheap. They take a very large trailer and bring it all back to sell nearby or use themselves. They buy their supplies from several different farms depending on the price at the time. Maybe you can find a few friends and take a road trip out of state where supplies are so much cheaper. I'm totally all for buying local (we buy our straw from a local farm 2 bales for $5) but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!

 

[gladahmae]

I am going to try sand this year I heard it's way cheaper and easier to keep clean you just use a big poop scooper made out of a ptichfork and hardware cloth attached to the fork

I'm trying to figure out how sand is cheaper. I don't get it. If I get a yard of sand (and, I'd need more like 2 yards) and get it delivered, it's going to cost me about $200, depending on where I order it from. It's a wash to haul it myself because then they charge you by weight, and I'd have to make 4 trips to get enough, so once you add up the extra cost and the gas to get it, they could have just brought it for you and saved all the trouble.

I've put 8 bags of shavings in my coops, and try to keep it about 8in deep. That's $40, and I can use it to mulch my flowers with when I change it.

Maybe sand is just really expensive here?

 

[Amy PT]

We are using sand in our brooder this year. At first, I LOVED it. Less dust (but still a little dust), cheaper (we just needed a bag of play sand from Lowes, and that $4 purchase has lasted 6 weeks), and it really seemed to keep the smell down. But 5 weeks after near daily poop scooping, and occasional complete sifting (with a very fine fabric), it started to really smell.
I had considered switching our 3' x 4' coop floor to sand, but now that I know that it really has a limited time, I won't be doing that.