Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Huston's Happy Hens]

Ms BLRW (from Kathy Pearl) and her chicks!

 

[gaitngirl]

Good morning.. Well, this rain is certainly something..my green bean seeds have literally bursted thru the ground & grown over 2" in less than 48 hours. Of course, so has my grass AND weeds.. Speaking of weeds. I have this evil prickly weed that showed up about 2 years ago and will grow over 4 FEET if you let it. Truly invasive...my question (wish I had taken a pic yesterday, & it was too dark this morn as I left for work); anyone have a good NON-CHEMICAL idea of how to get rid of it? I have noted this year when clearing an area for aspargus & red potatoes that the root system seems vining vs. tap-root....any help greatly appreciated. Now that I have the "kids" no chemicals whatsoever in the yard, so I need to creative with this weed Thanks!

Weed burner or a small propane torch - if you can get close enough without harming your other plants/veggies. That's what I do around the areas for my horses, chickens, and garden. Otherwise, it's good old pulling and weeding by hand . . .

 

[Scifisarah]

Too stink'n cute! I just bought another Hovabator Genesis, but I do want to try letting my hens hatch our their own chicks someday, once I have a good flock again instead of my current handful of birds. I have two batches of BBS mottled cochin eggs in the bator now and am SOOOO exciting about them hatching. Going to candle the next dozen eggs right now that will hatch 10 days after the first batch. I have six of them due to hatch 6/21 from a Bluebell (The Cochin Coop) /Orion (Matt McCammon) mating that should turn out lovely.

If anyone in the Grand Rapids/Rockford area is interested, I'm selling an incubator for $10: http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/grd/3868204312.html

Ms BLRW (from Kathy Pearl) and her chicks!

 

[SillyChicken]

Lady and holly, the hat and cpin bags are great! Nice job and feel free to bring your stuff to CS to sell n stuff!

 

[gaitngirl]

What the heck? He just went along, cut your field, and now caused you to loose ALL that precious hay? I know time is short and all, but cutting at a bad time and causing a massive crop loss is pretty irresponsible. Are you going to try and confront him in some way?

I'm going to have to. He's been doing my field for 5 years now and he did this one other time (but the rain wasn't nearly as bad as what we got last night). He was able to come out and keep flipping it until it dried and it turned out okay - not the best hay from the field but the horses were fine with it. I don't know if that will work this time. First cutting last year was baled slightly damp - not enough to mold or get dusty but I had bales overheating. I had to cut several open and toss them around the pasture for the horses to pig out on before they burned the building down.
My field looks better than it has in years, too. The grass was over 2 1/2 ft high in many places and the alfalfa had spread nicely. I'm down to my last 2 weeks worth of last year's hay in the barn now. The weather is supposed to be really nice for the next few days - if he can flip and dry this it may be able to be saved . . .

 

[SillyChicken]

I'm going to have to. He's been doing my field for 5 years now and he did this one other time (but the rain wasn't nearly as bad as what we got last night). He was able to come out and keep flipping it until it dried and it turned out okay - not the best hay from the field but the horses were fine with it. I don't know if that will work this time. First cutting last year was baled slightly damp - not enough to mold or get dusty but I had bales overheating. I had to cut several open and toss them around the pasture for the horses to pig out on before they burned the building down.
My field looks better than it has in years, too. The grass was over 2 1/2 ft high in many places and the alfalfa had spread nicely. I'm down to my last 2 weeks worth of last year's hay in the barn now. The weather is supposed to be really nice for the next few days - if he can flip and dry this it may be able to be saved . . .

seems like he's just creating more work for himself that way.....

 

[gaitngirl]

I put my little blue copper marans girl down this morning. I can definitely say that I never want to have to do that again. I know it's a part of responsible pet ownership but it's definitely the worst part . . . I don't consider my chickens (or ducks) 'just' farm animals for eggs, they are pets and each have their own personalities.
My EE rooster Cruiser came over after I had buried Little Blue and just hung out while I cried it out. Usually he has his hen posse with him but he was by himself. Turns out he's a pretty good listener.

 

[gaitngirl]

seems like he's just creating more work for himself that way.....

That's what I thought!

 

[Maah]

If anyone in the Grand Rapids/Rockford area is interested, I'm selling an incubator for $10: https://post.craigslist.org/manage/3868204312


I think your link is tagged to your account only. I found your ad though here: http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/grd/3868204312.html

 

[Maah]

I put my little blue copper marans girl down this morning. I can definitely say that I never want to have to do that again. I know it's a part of responsible pet ownership but it's definitely the worst part . . . I don't consider my chickens (or ducks) 'just' farm animals for eggs, they are pets and each have their own personalities.
My EE rooster Cruiser came over after I had buried Little Blue and just hung out while I cried it out. Usually he has his hen posse with him but he was by himself. Turns out he's a pretty good listener.

Sorry you had to do that. You did the right thing though & are a strong person.

We've had to do that with some chicks around here & I'm so thankful DH handled it.