Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[SillyChicken]

Well Opa I ran out of my regular Black Silk this morning and am drinking Michigan cherry. It's good but just not the same. Hopefully the caffeine content is the same.

If anyone is interested in a quad of sebrights let me know and I'll find a way to get them to you. They need to go. I have to settle on the fact Sebrights are just not my breed.

Also I need some advice on my meat birds. They are dual purpose and all roosters. They are 3 months old now and are free range most of the time. They have absolutely NO meat on them. So what do I do? They are starting to get rowdy and pick on the little bantam girls and fight amongst themselves. I don't know at what point their meat gets tough. Do I keep them longer and try fatten them up, pay to have them butchered now and have no meat or just give them away and count it as a loss? All I know is I am ready to be done with the group of pesky boys.

I am having the same dilemma...How can you fatten up a chicken fast?

 

[1muttsfan]

Oh and I feed them a starter/grower (non medicated) as much as they will eat.

 

[tsetse9]

Well flooding all over our area was what I woke up to this morning. Between trying to keep my house from flooding again, trying to get kids to school while every road and all the school parking lots were flooded, my husband trying to get to Lansing for work and expressways closed due to accidents. I just want to crawl back in bed and start over tomorrow! . Now I just got my coffee and I've been up for hours! Apparently unbeknownst to me my hubby must have made me a cup from my keurig because I popped in a cup and turned it on and walked away...when I came back I had a flood of a different kind! Coffee flowing over the sides of my cup. Oh well I prefer coffee floods to the backyard flooding! At least I can drink it. Points to the hubby for making me coffee, points deducted for not mentioning it

And i'm with you Opa, when I see decaf coffee, I think, why, what's the point!

 

[Stacykins]

My two babies have gone to their new (and awesome) home! I do hate how their Mama, Bailey the Angora, is fretting so much. Extra treats have been going her way.





I went with them to their new home to see them settle in. They're only two miles away and with friends who are excited to add goats to their family. They've got chickens, ducks, and horses, so goaties are a great addition! They're planning on cart training the little ones when they are older, so they can pull light loads like a square bale of hay. Since they have halfingers for driving, teaching a goat how to drive a goat sized cart shouldn't be too hard!

 

[SillyChicken]

Well, we have one side left to cover on the goat shed and the ridge vent... and loft flooring. We finished one and 1/2 of the walls yesterday. The last 3 weekends in a row, I've been called into work on emergency @ 1-2 to 4 am am Saturday morning, home to sleep a few hours and then back in all day on Saturdays...
I'm tired... UGH!

I've hardly had any time off to get things done and it's getting down to crunch time! We wanted these things done before vacation to make it easier for my parents to care for the critters with minimal effort. Hopefully I won't continue having the issues...

Last night I set up the brooder box, divided it in half with hdwr cloth and put both the Phoenix/Yokohama birds in that. It will be their winter home. The pair are so attached they cannot stand to be apart, but they can't be in contact for breeding (apparently breeding inhibits tail growth in the roo) so they are separated by the wire, but they can still see and rest next to each other. spoiled babies!

 

[uchytil]

I'm putting in a new coop room, probably 10 by 8, and am looking for some new roost ideas. My current roosts are single 2x4 about 3 feet high and a dual 2x4 about 3 feet high and another above that inset. These work but are attached to walls. I found one neat idea that's a ladder type with 2x4s at about a 60 deg. angle. It has about 6 roosts but each one is only about 18" wide (similar to a ladder). I'm roosting about 25 layers so...I'd also be interested in a floor plan layout for nesting box/roost location. I have 10 feet of overhead space to work with also. The exit will be a 3'x3' window east facing about 3 feet off the floor. I've used the same window exit elsewhere with good results so I'm not framing in a pop just yet. Pics? Ideas? Thanks, John.

 

[lhawes]

I read that but I didn't see a time frame. It would be my hope to fight as long as possible.

They're leaving the state soon, so there'd be no real point.

Are you going to fight this?

We sent them a letter asking for them to reason with us as we are moving to TN and we have a closing date of 11/15. That has been moved up to 11/1, but I haven't told them that. I have not heard from them yet, and the 12th is getting closer. My husband uses them for therapy animals as well for his severe PTSD - so between the stress of buying a house, selling another house, and trying to move, we have the stress of what to do with our goats. We already found homes for all of our chickens and turkeys, just the goats are proving more difficult!

They're leaving the state soon, so there'd be no real point.

That is what we decided too... sent them a letter in hopes of some kind of exception, but doesn't look like they care.

 

[Maah]

I am having the same dilemma...How can you fatten up a chicken fast?

Feed them a broiler grower... We have been feeding our meaties a 20% protein feed, and have had HUGE results from it. We just had our meat pen processed and they dressed out from the smallest hen at 8 lbs, up the largest rooster at 12 3/4 lbs (after processed weight). Gotta roast them like turkeys.

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My daughter just spent the weekend at the fair with her chickens. This is her first year doing 4H & fair competitions, and I'm very pleased & proud. She only did one open class entry. She entered her Leghorn pullet and received 1st place. And she received participation ribbons for the showmanship and market class.

Her meat hens that she brought to the fair weighed in at 11.2 lbs each... total of 22.40 lbs for the pair (before processed weight). The pair go up for auction Wednesday morning if anybody would like to come to the Allegan Co. Fair please come & bid on them.



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Also, we are considering getting rid of our white silkies. They're my daughter's chickens, for the most part, but DH has talked about getting rid of them and DD hasn't objected to it. He would like to be done with bantams all together (he's tired of dealing with the seemingly never ending broody hen. LOL), and I think DD is secretly hoping to free up the pen for other breeds of bantams, like millie fleur or more old english. So long as they don't express their alternative motives to each other, they're in agreement that the silkies can go. Ha! We have (I think) about 3-4 pullets, 1-2 cockerels, & 1 hen. I sure wish I was able to tell the youngsters apart better. Which brings me to another question, ladyrsanti was very kind to bring our silkie chicks to Chickenstock in June. 5 of the 6 chicks were sold, but I don't know to whom, and if they're happy with them. Just curious how it turned out for them. & if anybody is interested in some white silkies let us know and I'll take the offer to my daughter. Thanks.

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edited for details/spelling...

 

[RaZ]

Speaking of shows...
I sent a note to a lady who took in 2 of my hens and got this reply:
"They are doing very well, Gravy is molting and currently not laying...but her eggs did place first in blue or green bantam class in open and 4-H at fair. She also placed first in open and 8th in showmanship with a score of 68. Crispy is going to spend the fall and winter at another 4-Her's farm as she plans to take her for showmanship to a show in December and in March."

I sure do miss my hens but I'm glad that they have found good homes.

 

[NovaAman]

ND they are SHOW hens now!