Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[RTFchickens]

Opa, I hope everything goes well.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

You can't get rid of predators, kill one and another takes its place.  All you can do is protect your chickens when most predators are the most active and dangerous.  For mink & weasels I think that's night time.  Predator proof your coop and lock them in at night.  Against weasels that means covering every "hole" with 1/2" (at the largest) hardware cloth.  Sorry for your loss.

Ok thank you. I will make sure to tell her.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Also, do you know if minks/weasels can break through or get through chicken wire?

 

[ladyrsanti]

You can't get rid of predators, kill one and another takes its place. All you can do is protect your chickens when most predators are the most active and dangerous. For mink & weasels I think that's night time. Predator proof your coop and lock them in at night. Against weasels that means covering every "hole" with 1/2" (at the largest) hardware cloth. Sorry for your loss.

That's what I always tell people and they still want me to shoot them! I get that advice so often I prefer not to announce that I have predators. It's the same as with feral cats. If you get rid of your wild cats, more will come to fill the territory and you'll be constantly inundated with new ferals. That's why it's important to TNR the cats, the all important 'R' being RETURN. Nature abhors a vacuum.

 

[snowflake]

coop building party sounds fun,
we do have a big 29th birthday party, we call it chicken stock, ...always lots of cake

hope your surgery goes well, having son pull in fish sounds like a plan, I'm sure he won't mind a bit

Now, I am sitting at Midway airport, awaiting my bi-monthly flight to NYC for my latest check up at Columbia University Medical Center. So far, the trial drug has worked better than I ever expected. Here's to hopibg it can eventually lessen the bone pain.

prayers for contiued success, ,,,no pain is such a good thing, ....

That's what I always tell people and they still want me to shoot them! I get that advice so often I prefer not to announce that I have predators. It's the same as with feral cats. If you get rid of your wild cats, more will come to fill the territory and you'll be constantly inundated with new ferals. That's why it's important to TNR the cats, the all important 'R' being RETURN. Nature abhors a vacuum.

agree!! an electric wire also helps a lot, , having a dog in the yard also seems to help,

 

[snowflake]

Dogs, many of you have trained your dogs to get along well with chickens, I liked the idea with the shock color,BUT

• I have a 12 week old puppy(St. Bernard, Austrailian sheperd mix) is starting to chase the chickens and catch them by the tail, My plan is to tie him to me and feed toss scratch, ect to chickens any other ideas to teach him to watch, but not chase???? I am working on leave it, , he was doning ,SIT, Down very well a few weeks ago but now seems to do only when he is not distracted, stopped usig treats so much cause he started to nip at my hands to get the treat,ALL THE TiME......lots and lots of praise for good behavior

 

[gladahmae]

Honestly, I wouldn't leave ANY young dog alone with chickens. There's a lot of threads about training dogs to be tolerant of chickens with several different methods if you do a search. Impulse control is hard and IMO comes with age. "Leave it" seems to be a really common starting place.

I very much like Kikopup on YouTube fore general training and the first thing she works on is " not mugging the hand" since she trains with a clicker and doesn't want her trainees to think its ok to snap or maul her hand to get the reinforcer.

 

[chickflick]

Dreary day. Cold and rainy.

Sam, good luck on your surgery tomorrow. When do you go to dr about your thumb/wrist? I went today and am having surgery on Nov 5. Can't wait. This pain is getting old. DR suggested therapy, shot or rest as treatments. All are useless or temporary fixes. Told him I want the surgery now and not mess around with the other treatments.

Have a good day everyone!

 

[Opa]

Well I won't have to worry about the elbow surgery interfering with fishing this week. I had thought that it would be performed today in the office, but today was only a consult and for the surgery it needs to be performed in a hospital operating room. Probably so they can charge a lot more money. I don't know why it can't be done with just a local. I don't like be put under.

So now I have to go on the 24th for a pre-op interview and the surgery on the 30th. Sure doing my part to help the medical profession stay in business. I'm waiting to hear from both the ortho surgeon and the vein specialist to find out the prognosis for the old knees and hips. I have my first appointment with the arthritis specialist on the 31st and who knows where that will lead.

 

[1muttsfan]

Opa, all I can tell you is that anything surgical you can put off as long as possible, you should. The surgeons's motto is "To cut is to cure", which I disagree with; and there are things that can go wrong with anesthesia and surgery. Of course, anything that interferes significantly with quality of life (especially fishing!) is always important.

My BF's dad had a stroke over the weekend, and ended up in the hospital with apparently no one but me thinking he had a chance to recover - much to the surprise of the medial staff he has shown improvement over the last 36 hours, now they seem a little confused about what to do next. Grrrr. Spending a lot of time at the hospital right now.