Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[ladyrsanti]

OH MY GOSH!
OH MY GOSH!
OH MY GOSH!
I saw the SUN rise! I haven't seen the sun come up in forever and I don't mean because I'm usually asleep. It only lasted a few minutes and is behind the clouds again but stilllllll.... I SAW IT and I HAVE PROOF! Picture is the sunrise behind me reflected in the western-facing window of my kitchen. It was already fading as I took the picture.





Welcome to all the newcomers of the thread. Love making local connections. It's the most important part of chicken keeping to me. I'm from SE Michigan, Monroe Co. so if anyone ever wants any dealings with me, I do visit family there now and again. Just sayin'.

 

[snowflake]

Just jumpin in to say Hi to some other "mittens" - My D.W. & I are new to the site & new to raising chickens. Hope that we can make it to the chickenstock & meet, share chicken stories, etc . . . . sounds like it'll be a fun time.. . . .

Welcome to the Mi. thread,

Hi Everyone. Just wanted to introduce myself to the Michigan thread. I'm Kelly and a Michigander myself. I didn't realize this was here for Michigan. I have 6 Buff Orpington Hens, 2 of the most adorable little girls, and a couple outdoor cats. I live on SE MI, in a very small town. I have a passion for photography and love to share life on our piece of God beautiful world through my blog, Our Country Chronicles.

Our chickens have all kinds of adventures with my kids from sledding: Click on any of the photos to more picture of that event!​

To Swimming:




To Laying magical eggs!!
​

We love our precious Henny Penny's very much and look forward to connecting to other Chicken Keepers in MI! Please feel free to visit my blog and make yourself at home. All are welcome!

Welcome to the Mi. thread!!

This is truly amazing, if I had known chickens could swim I wouldn't have panicked so much when one almost flew into our pool!!
How on earth did you teach them to do that? They don't seem to be panicked at all, I have read of chickens drowning in a water trough


Or basement isn't flooded that bad, just coming in puddles were the wall meets the floor and through cracks in the cement. We have a couple rooms were the floor is raised, heaven knows what is under that wood.

 

[Lisa and girls]

Nope! Definitely not photoshopped! you can see more of my swimming chickens AKA "Dukins" by clicking here.

Great photos, adorable chickens and kids, great blog!

 

[gladahmae]

Can someone tell me the difference between self blue and blue?

I'll take a stab at it.
Self blue is also called lavender.
Lavender is homozygous recessive for genetics, so it has to have the lavender gene from BOTH parents. If they are heterozygous for lavender (lavender split) they will have one black gene and one lavender gene, but will be black in color. The color itself I *think* has to do with the entire feather including the shaft being all the same color. Lavenders also tend to have "frayed" looking feathers since there is a gene lurking that causes that linked to the color. Might be a result of lots of back-breeding initially to get the color (that's my own speculation). I remember seeing something about a silver factor showing up with the lavenders too (DMRippy's ameraucanas?) if you really want to geek out over it.

Blue is attached the black gene as well, but gives you 3 possible outcomes for color when breeding.
Blue is heterozygous, so the chicken needs one black (let's call it BL) and one blue gene (let's call it bl) to be blue. If they get a blue gene (bl x bl) from BOTH parents, they'll be splash.
If you want to breed and get blue offspring every time you need to breed (BL) a black to a splash (bl) so the resulting chicks will be BLbl. Blue chickens ideally should have mono-chromatic lacing.

I could probably dig up some pictures if that would help. I've kind of obsessed over blue for awhile, and did some research on lavender too since BIL hatched out a lav. orpington that I'm taking care of right now.

 

[gladahmae]

I'm thinking about screwing/nailing together some pallets to make a temporary run for the girls in my veggie garden. I'm thinking they would help get rid of some of the weeds and get things a little tilled up for me. I have big pallets from the matress store next to where I work. Thinking maybe I could toss my blue roo in there and maybe get some eggs that have a good chance of having his color genes in there as well and leave my EE roo in the layer run with the rest of the girls. Hmmmmmm.....decisions decisions. The hard part would be catching everyone every day. Twice.

 

[BentoMinion]

But most kids these day won't even go outside they don't know what they are missing.

I know, it's sad. In the winter we do not go outside as much since I get cold hives quite easily. Although I bring them out as much as I can. During the spring and especially the summer we live outside. We are in a township, but at least we have a double lot. I grew up in the country and we did not play inside unless weather is bad. I refuse to have kids who will not go outside. I think some of it is the parents though. You teach your kid it is ok to watch tv all day or play games and they will not want to go out after a bit. I know some of the parents in my sons' preschool class complain about having to be outside to watch their kids. *gasp* Oh no! lol

 

[SillyChicken]

Started my feed project this morning..

Project 1: Barley seed sprouting.
Wash the seeds, skim off floaties, soak overnight.


Spread 1/2" thick into pans.Pans have drain holes at one end. (I will need to add more smaller holes)

I'll do a pan a day for 7 days. By day seven it will be time to harvest!
The pans are set so the water is put in on the top pan,
and it drains down into the one below it and into a bin at the
bottom. I hope to hook up a pump and timer to water the trays
on it's own. The bags help keep moisture in (though I have a fan in
there as well to keep from getting mold. It also helps with water
splatter. Also a good reason for more, smaller holes! LOL!


Project 2: Fermenting feed! a scoop of layer pellets, barley and cracked corn along with Braggs, ACV with "mother" to activate.
And cover with water.
Keep covered so air can transfer as it pulls yeast out of the air And in a dark place..... so it's in a box covered by another. I was seeing some activity after only a few hours. Stir it a few times a day. Drain and feed after about 3 days.

Going to experiment with one coop first. My birds waste so much food. I cleaned the coop yesterday (I do every weekend). They had a feeder full worth of food on the floor they wasted. So they're wasting in one weeks time, about 2 days worth of feed. I'm hoping this will put an end to it! The bonus will also be better food absorption, (meaning less poops!). and needing less food in general. If I can cut down on waste, and improve the quality of the current food and the amount they need to eat.. and improve their health, thats a win, win!


I think we're about a day behind in the forecast. Sunday we put up a section of fencing, just the wood corner posts and t posts. We have 3 sections to put up and we'll have 2 pastures! I will be glad to get the goaties away from the house. I need to find another doeling, but that can wait till next spring. I need to test what I have now before bringing more goats into the farm.
I'm going to be making an enclosed chicken run. If all goes well, I hope to make several like it. I showed DH what I had in mind and he agreed it was what he was thinking to. It's Thomas pharr's run he posted on the coop section (large) Though, I'll need more pitch on the roof due to snow load.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/thomas-pharrs-chicken-coop

 

[1muttsfan]

Self Blue (lavender) is a gene that modifies black to an overall light grey tone. It is a separate gene from black. It is recessive so 2 copies are necessary to see the color change.

Gene: Lav (dominant) and lav (recessive)
Lav/Lav - non lavender
Lav/lav - non lavender, carries the lavender gene but not visibly
lav/lav - lavender


Blue modifies black in a different way, and in a partial manner - one copy partially dilutes black to blue, while 2 copies dilute it further to splash. The blue is somewhat variable from light grey to a dark charcoal, and usually some dark lacing is present at the feather edges.

Gene Bl (dominant) and bl (recessive)
bl/bl - non-blue (Black)
Bl/bl - Blue
Bl/Bl - Splash

 

[Keltara]

I'm thinking about screwing/nailing together some pallets to make a temporary run for the girls in my veggie garden. I'm thinking they would help get rid of some of the weeds and get things a little tilled up for me. I have big pallets from the matress store next to where I work. Thinking maybe I could toss my blue roo in there and maybe get some eggs that have a good chance of having his color genes in there as well and leave my EE roo in the layer run with the rest of the girls. Hmmmmmm.....decisions decisions. The hard part would be catching everyone every day. Twice.

That sounds like a lot of work to me. It would be so much easier to buy some rebar steaks and attach this to it (you can get it up to 6ft. tall). So much easier to put up and then take down.

Kelly

✿​

Our Country Chronicles

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[gladahmae]

true....but I've already got the pallets.....so all I'd be out is the screws. and I wouldn't have to worry about the dogs or hawks getting into it. these pallets are like......7x7...they wouldn't even fit into the bed of the truck laying down!