Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[lbrykowski2011]

I don't use any light either and my few young ones (under a yr) still lay every day. The rest are pullets(24wks) and waiting still for them to lay, so I don't think I'll have to deal w/molting till next yr. My ducks are only 8mos old and they are still laying every day also, I'm thinking age has alot to do with it. Slow down when they get older, kinda like us. lol

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Those legs look olive on my phone! Beautiful. I agree, I'd say increase price. Personally I am getting so few eggs I am hogging them all for myself! But my Spring hatch dark KC girl started laying last week, so I was happy happy. Going back to the color green, I have a green billed female Rouen x KC! Her pic is on the Duck Side if you'd like to see her. Have a peaceful Sunday evening y'all. Hope everybody's got deep warm bedding and buttoned up tightly for these cold nighttime temps we'll be getting this week ahead.

 

[RaZ]

So you say you are worried about your flock in the cold?
Those birds are far more hardy than you think.
I moved my canaries out to the aviary today and they are doing fine.
Even though there are 2 heat lamps securely attached, the birds are nowhere near them.
They are not dog-piling so I suppose they are warm enough on their own.
I think the move was less traumatic to them than it was for me.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Ha, out of about 50 hens I have, I am getting a big fat ZERO eggs. Yup, that is right, ZERO eggs! 99% of my girls are half naked as they are molting like crazy!

 

[naglady]

Ok Farmerboy you got me feeling better.. atleast i am getting a couple eggs. i would be freaking with 50 and no eggs.. but they are molting.. and a chickens got to go through it..

12 of mine are 6 months old.. and i have 3 that are a little over a year and they look like they have some feather loss but they are still laying.. i witnessed atleast one of them.

 

[jlynnet]

My lovely ladies are starting to lay more. They had a hard molt this time. I fed extra protein to them fir a few weeks. They look great now. Many of this years pullets are laying also. I give some light in the morning and evening. The evening is more for us, so we can feed them in light.

 

[EverMystique1]

I have nearly 70 birds, and if we get 2 eggs a day right niw, it is a good day. Granted, i have only 20 whom I know to be active layers. The rest are pulkets and roos, still not yet to POL age. Gotta identify thise roos real soon, though, and get them into freezer camp.

DH thought it was a lot of work fir such a small amount of meat when we did the last 2, but the soup was soooooo good. With a rare disease, I have been trying to stick to as much organic, local food as possible. Hoping this next year to be able to buy into the local CSA again, too. Got some fantastic produce from them when I was last able to participate.

I would love to have sheep for wool, too, but we just do not have the acreage. My sister has pigs, and my SIL has cattle, so we have some family sharing to help the natural food source aspect of things.

I absolutely HAVE to get some extra construction done on my coop and run, though. Not enough room for so many birds.

 

[preciouskitty]

Well, the score is tied

Wind died down around 16:00 yesterday, sun was out, fairly warm. So I figured it was a great time to sit in the blind, relax & read for awhile. Not out there for 30 minutes & our little button buck (aka Piglet) shows up. Put the iPad down just to watch him eat & can see another bigger deer off in the woods ( one nice thing now that the leaves have fallen).

Well, it was a buck. And the biggest deer I have ever gotten. DH says prob around 200lb. Thank goodness he was 5 minutes from home...cuz this boy made for a long track & REALLY long hike home. He would've been a pretty nice 8 pt, but he had been in a fight & broken 2 antlers

So score: 1 doe each; 1 buck each . Though really should give DH half a point for this one as I would've NEVER been able to get it home myself

HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY!!! THANK YOU to ALL the Veterans out there

 

[lbrykowski2011]

DH thought it was a lot of work fir such a small amount of meat when we did the last 2, but the soup was soooooo good.

Can't you just take them in to be done for like $2ea? I haven't done any for the freezer yet, thinkin next spring of getting meat hens. What is the easiest way in your opinions as far as processing? I"ve heard save the $, it's easy to do yourself, processing is cheap and the easiest and I had a friend say she just goes out and skins it, brings it in and throws it in the pot? I do as much organic n homemade as possible, meat is the most expensive, this is y I want to learn to do some of my own animals.

 

[mara1]

Happy Veterans day.
I was planning on butchering my 3 meat birds in a couple weeks. Then found out I can take them to canton and have them dome for a couple bucks. I figure it will cost me that much in propane/water just to heat a scalding pot.Plus the time and cold out. I plan on getting 10 in the spring so I may decide to do those myself.