Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[CGChickMama]

Anyone here from the Grand Haven area?

I am out in Robinson Township portion of Grand Haven.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

R.I.P. Spice

We raised him for a friend and we where visiting our friend sometime ago. We didn't see him in the pen at first so we didn't worry. We decided to go looking and in the neighbors yard under a bush we found him. They do have a dog, but that dog is pretty nice to chickens. Poor Spice

 

[iamfivewire]

sorry about spice
;- (

 

[tsetse9]

Anyone here from the Grand Haven area?

I am from grandville

 

[uchytil]

Anyone here from the Grand Haven area?

Twin Lake area.

 

[Stacykins]

Aww man, there have been a lot of losses lately. I am sorry for everyone's loss. And even though the Emu's aren't dead, having to sell them is sad.

So here are some happy pictures! Some purebred Araucana chicks that hatched yesterday! A few are still working on hatching, but these went under a broody mama last night so she can raise them!






Some other critters. I was invited over to visit the goaties I sold to a friend! We went on a fun walk with them! And also got to say hello to her horses, who were in the pasture.

Ron and Luna the recently harvested field of oats!




From left to right is Java, Annie, and Clubby. Annie and Clubby are halflingers, and I forget what breed Java is.


Clubby is super sweet, he gives horsey kisses if you let him, hah!


Annie! She is used for driving


Picnic tables make a good goat climbing toy!

 

[uchytil]

Love the barn!! It looks like a barn! lol Not the pole barns that are so popular now.

Yah, I've been waiting 30 years to get one up and was pretty specific in my thought process. One thing I wish I could have afforded was 5/4 pine diagonal sheathing, cedar siding, and tamarack posts. Nowadays with code restrictions (even on my ag land) you must follow certain structural/safety codes. That, and cost, blow away some dreams, however, when I drafted the drawings on my old school drafting paper I made sure I would keep the top pitch about half the lower 8/12 and 16/12. This gives it better proportions unlike alot of the "squat roof gambrels. I made sure to add lookout rafters (the flip out lower roof sections). I put in the loading beam and rated it at about 2 ton (I still need to re-rope my old block and tackle for lifting). In my studies I found that the first barn had no windows. Later they started adding them for light and ventilation ( that was early technology, lol). I factored in 10 windows, one windowed man-door, and west facing windowed main doors. I'll post a pic when it's finished.
P.S. Next year I plan to pull out the stops and build a custom cupola with a rooster wind vane to add on the roof. Maybe route a sign "circa 2013" or something for the front?

 

[uchytil]

Picnic tables make a good goat climbing toy!

My toggies love to get up on everything. Shirley jumps up on an 8 foot high manger. I've put a 30" diameter stump upright in their pen and sawn pines lengthwise to make runs from on tree stump to another - they love being up!

I need to find someone in the twin lake area with a buck toggenburg soon to breed my does! Anyone know anyone?

 

[Maah]

Quote:
One thing I found that helped with splayed leg... After a week of using the restricting band-aid hobbles, I found that replacing the band-aid with a thin rubber band helped a lot. It gave the chick more mobility & learn to walk/run better than it can when fully restricted. It only took a few days with the rubber band for the chick to really start cruising all over. Just take a really thin rubber band that's super easily stretchy. Snip it in one spot so it's long, and then tie loops into the rubber band on the ends leaving just the right amount of space between the loops so there's a natural distance between the legs, which I found was slightly less than I initially thought. (looked kind of like a horse mouth bit, or a figure 8'ish) The chick can then walk in it, stretching the rubber band and get used to the mobility, but with the rubber band there it helps to pull that bad leg back under the chick and helps to strengthen the leg as well. Just a suggestion.

LOVE the barn pics.

Sorry about all the losses of chickens too.

 

[Candy442]

Sorry to all about the losses....it is hard. I read somewhere, maybe in this site, that a chicken will attempt to fly right before they pass. I got to witness that when Diggie died. She actually did fly right before she died. She flapped her wings, flopped on her belly, let out a sweet little "skwauk" and that was the end.

I tried to find out if this was true by "googling" the topic, but couldn't find anything. A coworker asked me "is it worth it" because when I told them about how she used her last bit of energy to "fly", I started to tear up.

On my facebook page I posted why it is "worth" it. I posted a photo of a newly released "battery" hen....the same breed as Diggie. I know I am singing to the choir here, but out in the world of people who just don't understand how wonderful it is owning chickens, maybe they will start to understand after awhile.


Above is a "battery" hen for commercial production and below is the same breed having fresh air and freedom.