Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Chicken Rustler]

Hey Rob... are you... um... still... um... uninvited? LOL I think this may be the fastest I have ever been able to catch up on "THAT" thread.

Cute chicks! I like that little redish one. It's the poor odd ball. LOL

 

[Lisa and girls]

Had a great day at the show! So cool to run into all of my BYC friends.

RIRJen, you did AMAZING as well! You weren't as insane as I was and only brought a handful of birds. Anyway here is the show awards I recieved. -First place for Frizzle White Serama cockerel -Reserve of Breed for Speckled Sussex hen -Reserve Variety for Black Runner drake -Best of Breed for young White Sebastopol gander -Reserve Variety for Silver Call drake -Best Variety for Chocolate Pied Call hen -Best Variety for Black Bibbed Call drake -Reserve Variety for Frizzle White Serama pullet -Best Variety for Frizzle White Serama pullet -Best Variety for Bantam Lavender Ameraucana hen -Best Variety for Bantam Barred Cochin hen -Reserve Variety for Bantam Lavender Ameraucana hen -Best Variety for Bantam Black Mottled Cochin hen -Reserve Variety for Bantam Black Mottled Cochin hen -Reserve Variety for Bantam Barred Cochin rooster -2nd for White Runner hen -3rd for Speckled Sussex hen -Reserve Variety for Bantam Blue Cochin hen -Reserve Variety for Bantam Splash Modern Game hen -Best Variety and Best of Breed for White Serama pullet (I just LOVE this girl!) -Best Variety for Bantam Splash Cochin hen -Champion Frizzle Serama for Table Top competition -Reserve Champion Frizzle Serama for Table Top competition -Champion Serama pullet for Table Top competition -Reserve Champion Serama pullet for Table Top competiton And the best for last... -Best Modern Game with Best Variety and Best of Breed with my Birchen Modern Game hen -Reserve Modern Game with Best Variety and Reserve Best of Breed with my Splash Modern Game hen It was a fun day, but once all the excitement was over, I became physically drained and slept for 3 hours as soon as I got home.

Wow. That's a lot of bests! Congrats!

 

[Opa]

Looking at the projected weather forecast and it seems we are on tap for several days of sunny skies and moderate temperatures. After having endured our endless winter the coming weather is a godsend. It will be a perfect week to start getting the garden ready for the coming planting season.

This year it is my intent to suspend my tomatoes on strings attached to a wire that runs from one side to the other at the top of the fence. With the weight potential of the growing plants I feel it would be prudent to replace four of the existing fence posts with heavier ones set deeper in the ground. Of course this required purchasing new ones. It seems that 4x6 posts have gotten much heavier than I remember them being. When I was actively working with David we built several pole barn and I remember handling them with ease. Those I got yesterday required a great deal of effort as I struggled to off load them.

Congratulations to both Theron and RIRJen for the results their beautiful birds brought to them at the recent show.

Well done

 

[taprock]

Great job Theron and RirJen! Your hard work paid off!

I have a moms and chicks picture for you!
Cotton sitting on Moppit sitting on 6 chicks. The two moms are still sharing in chick care with no fights. They have moved into a corner of the small coop on their own. It is not as busy of a spot as beneath the nest boxes.


Yesterday I worked on my new small coop but was interrupted by opening day for little league. It was beautiful weather. Looks like more of the same today so maybe I will get it finished.

 

[1muttsfan]

Theron, that is great! HOW did you find the time to do all that, you must have cloned yourself.

Hopefully will get the house power washed today and get the patio furniture out - now that it looks like we might actually get summer. Looks like my first hatch is over, only one out of 6CCL eggs but that one looks like a nice little cockerel.

 

[RaZ]

Congratulations Theron and RIRJen. Great job.

I still can't get my mind wrapped around the idea of the bath before the show. I have a mental image of a 50's beauty salon with chickens sitting under hair dryers.

 

[gaitngirl]

Congrats Rirjen and Theron on your wins yesterday! Beautiful silkies Jen!

 

[gaitngirl]

Good morning! These are a few pics of the freebies I got a couple weeks ago. The lady said there were 13 (I only counted 12 so she might have lost one and didn't realize). They were supposed to be Isa Browns, Jersey Giants, Barred Rocks, a RIR, and a Polish. There are 2 I'm pretty sure aren't either - in fact 1 may be a banty of some sort. The Polish looks Silkiesh to me but I've never had either before so I may be wrong. I took pics from my phone so I will have to post each pic in a separate post . . . Sorry!

Reposting this - trying to figure out what type of chick this might be . . . any ideas? She makes some unusual trills compared to the other chicks.

 

[gaitngirl]

And this one? She looks more silkie than polish to me . . . they just got polish chicks in at the FF&H in Swartz Creek and they don't look anything like her!

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Congrats! Very Impressive Awards!

Hey Opa-- about tomato plants: I saw *somewhere* a very cool Vintage Trellis idea that I'm planning to do here this year. I can't recall if I already posted this, apologies if so. Anyway, what you do is drive your stake into the ground. The source I saw used a wooden stake, Altho I imagine it really doesn't matter, just so long as you've got a good sturdy stake. Then you find yourself some old school wire hangers, and you're going to turn the hangers so that you are looking at them upside down, with the hook pointing toward the ground, and the flat bar across the top. Then you are going to attach the hangers to your stake, I'm thinking staples, zip ties, twine, a combination of the 3... The image drawing I saw (and I can't remember where, sorry) showed a stake with a stack of 4 hangers toward the top. Easy Peasy. And I don't really think that would look horrible and it would work for really any plant that you want to grow vertical. Last year I did 3Sisters with my pole beans, but that just got way too jungle-esque, so not doing that this year. In the meantime, I am stockpiling on the garden all the deep litter that I am continuing to pull out of the duck pen.

If the rain actually holds off as forecast, I might try to till this week. Anyone else? Seems early but I say make hay while sun is a-shinin.