Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

We have 4 birds. Right now, our most reliable layer is the silkie. That says something for the seasonal slowdown. I'll let them rest, and save the artificial production boosting light for me. So grateful for my happy light. ;)
 
Dare I even say that out of seven hens, I average 4-6 eggs a day in the April hatch and from the late June hatch getting 1-2 a day (two hens, two pullets). Being their first year and they still have their feathers, I think we are doing pretty good so far. I hesitate to sell my eggs though, because this is just the very early beginning of the first winter and I am nervous they may really slow down?

we are using no light in their coop, they get out around 9am every day to free range and then go back in around 530pm.
 
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You mean in Fowlerville Raz? map quested 44 miles and canton 22 from 8 mile inkster

Munsell's in Howell (their mailing address is Fowlerville just like mine, but it is really Howell Twp- they are only 2 miles from me) only does poultry processing. And, as RaZ said, they do a great job.

For our deer processing we use Richardson's in Cohoctah (he does all meats, except I don't think poultry). Jeff does a very good job.
 
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I, too am getting 6-8 eggs/day from 9 layers. 10 were laying, but Lela decided to molt at only 8 months old!

It was consistently 8/day...now closer to 6..so slight drop in production. Currently have 7 doz in fridge. Think I'll be taking 5 to work tomorrow. That $20 will cover a bag of feed & pine shavings :D
 
I, too am getting 6-8 eggs/day from 9 layers. 10 were laying, but Lela decided to molt at only 8 months old!

It was consistently 8/day...now closer to 6..so slight drop in production. Currently have 7 doz in fridge. Think I'll be taking 5 to work tomorrow. That $20 will cover a bag of feed & pine shavings
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that is great to hear! I hope they keep on going, really do not want to have to EVER buy any more eggs from the store. Congrats on the Buck Precious!
 
that is great to hear!  I hope they keep on going, really do not want to have to EVER buy any more eggs from the store. Congrats on the Buck Precious!


I hope they do too. I am NOT gonna buy from store ever again. If they slow down, then people at work will be the ones to suffer (& have to go back to spending $6/doz @ Trader Joes/Salvaggios!!!!).

I am not going to use any supplemental light to aid in production; just let nature do its thing.

Well, guess I should start peeling apples. Yep, know I said I wouldn't peel another this year. Somehow I got convinced by a couple people at work to make them an apple pie each (that's what I get for taking one into work to share). Just finished making the crusts for 3 pies...now for the filling....
 
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Congrats on the buck precious! picts? I saw a nice young 8 pt following a doe yesterday. They were in the field across from my place. I'm excited about gun season! .. but I'm SO not ready for it! I'll be taking the 15th through the 22nd off from work... I am however, ready for the time off work!
We got the frames built for both the chicken runs, sand is getting delivered Wednesday! I think the chickens will be really happy when we're done. Next up. New roosts for the inside of the coops.
We received our proposal for the land survey, $2600.00. We don't have all of cash yet so we'll have to see if we can budget it yet for this year or in the spring. DH is traveling for a couple days this week so we'll review and discuss when he gets home.
Of all the hens we have, I'm only getting 2-3 eggs a day. Though the Sumatra coop produced 3 yesterday. Most of the hens are young, so I expect more eggs will be coming soon. I think moving them around and being newly confined also contributed to low production. I have a dozen or so uggo roosters to process. Some are so handsome I hate to get rid of them, but they cannot all stay. I only have one order for a turkey so I'll let them grow and sort out which of the toms we'll keep. I always seem to end up with more toms than hens.
Is it me or has anyone else noticed that the bagged pine shavings are way loosely packed now? And that they don't cover anywhere near as much as they used to? I had a bag that I could hardly dig the stuff out of, the next new bags, its so loose it falls right out of the bag. Of course the cost is the same.
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To whoever asked (sorry, I am mostly lurking these days and lose track of pages so fast I can't locate past conversations), the wool I use for stuffing is the reject wool from my spinning. I used to try to put it out for the birds but they never took it so I started saving it for stuffing. It sometimes contains lots of vegetable matter but is clean and I honestly don't know what I have on hand at the moment as I am often stuffing the corners of closets with it for lack of better storage. I used all the black I knew of for the kitties but might have some elsewhere. I'm well on my way to becoming a hoarder apparently, at least as far as wool is concerned.

My chickens are also on hiatus. I had 21 girls. Two got eaten by the fox, two are non-laying pullets, seven are in hard molts, and the rest are in various states of stress from adding the two pullets to the coop while confining them because of the fox attacks. I get about 4 eggs a day, mostly from this spring's pullets, but the number is gradually increasing to 5 or 6, depending. I have a couple that are just real troupers and a couple that I think might be of better service in the stew pot. Anyway, I've been letting them out now that the weather is turning because they don't wander too far and spend most of their day rooting around in the sheep's straw and basically spreading out to where they're comfortable. I don't routinely add extra light. I mean, there's a light in their coop but I mostly use it to count heads after dark or when I'm opening up early in the morning.

Here's my remaining WHY?andotte in her moltage. Her sisters were snagged by the resident fox. I did eventually find the bleached bones out in our field, before our neighbor plowed it under. The good news is, I no longer find soft-shelled eggs on the poop board. Mystery solved. You can tell by the sun that I didn't take that photo today.



That's our neighbor harvesting the corn in our field by the old hickory tree. He's just so laid back with his thermos in one hand, I love it. He feeds the whole ears of corn into the roof of his monster corn crib with an elevator. I didn't think people still did that. Most corn cribs are rotting or rusting. His father sold his land to the nearby monster dairy farm (Oesch), leaving him nothing to work with when he bought his dad's farm. So he has gathered a network of small fields from homeowners like us around the community to farm what he needs to get his steer to market and pay the bills. I get paid in hay and beef. It roughly pays the taxes on our land and his steer are tasty - plus I know where the feed comes from and have been known to glean ears out of the field after harvest for the chickens.
 
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I have a bully hen, shes been gaurding the nest box and kicking the other hens out of it.. so i took her and her 2 other friends and put them in a different coop and run.. she hates it.. now my 6 months old pullets are able to sit in the boxes and not get kicked out like before.. well see if that work.. see if that increases egg production.. the bully is pacing at the fence.. i think i will wait till i know most have laid and then let her back in.. see how she likes it..

its snowing out.. yuck...
 

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