Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[taprock]

Hmmm....well it sure doesnt bother her. Shes almost 6 months old and I first noticed it a couple moths ago. I bought her as a day old from Meyer Hatchery....so shes never been in a cage. Ah well...... just curious Thanks

I have an older hen with a toe like that. I thought it was just age or an injury. Since your girl is young it must just be something they grow up with, like having duck feet.


Opa I was wishing the snow was gone back at Christmas time. Even if we end up with a heat wave I'm sure we will have snow piles around until June. I believe the snow fall was at 108" last time I heard. My poor chicken yard looks more like an igloo.


On the neat side, I have never seen Snow Buntings until this year. They move so quick it took me a bit to look them up and figure out what they were. It isn't encouraging when an arctic bird has made this it's home.

 

[aart]

Once again it is insanely cold. This is really starting to get old.

Indeed it is.

 

[chickwhispers]

Opa I was wishing the snow was gone back at Christmas time. Even if we end up with a heat wave I'm sure we will have snow piles around until June. I believe the snow fall was at 108" last time I heard. My poor chicken yard looks more like an igloo.


On the neat side, I have never seen Snow Buntings until this year. 1They move so quick it took me a bit to look them up and figure out what they were. It isn't encouraging when an arctic bird has made this it's home.

Oh my!!!

That is a lot! We have 63" or so and they figure we'll break our "blizzard of '78" record of 73" so we're in for more! I hate to think this but I'm guessing you too!?!

 

[Candy442]

I would really like to get a silver duckwing for showman ship for my daughter dose anyone no were a can get a show quality silve duckwing

Any breed needs to be socialized well for 4-H showmanship. I can say of all my heavies, the Delaware hen is the easiest to handle. The Delaware is a breed that is endangered and dual purpose egg/meat bird. Our hen is the only one that always allows us to pick her up and carry her around. We do not go overboard with socialization--especially picking up any of our birds but Icee is so docile and sweet she never runs away when we pet her. We can eventually pick up all the birds but it is a struggle.

I would look for Delawares if she is interested in showing a "heavy" breed and not a bantam.

 

[1muttsfan]

Delawares are also excellent layers of large brown eggs, and the boys get big and meaty faster than any other dual-purpose birds I have raised.

 

[Our Roost]

fuzzybutt love , In regards to the hatching eggs delivery and inactive birds, I agree with you as I have been talking to other breeders who say their birds are just now starting to give them fertilized eggs for the bator. Being this is the first year they are offering this breed color, there may be a limited supply available. Patiently waiting!

 

[uchytil]

That is very possible. I honestly don't know the depth of this well. My husband was here for all the inspections and such when we moved. I was not. I'll have to look into it. The water in the house doesn't usually come out funky but we use all the faucets frequently. The outdoor hydrant however, where I get the chicken's water, does. It's all on the same system but the hydrant does put out a lot more water than any of the indoor faucets and I typically only use it once a day, in the morning. I wish we had a jacuzzi!

The depth usually does not dictate water quality. But, bladder tanks do build up a layer of crud (layman's term) that flakes off during high volume output. I've changed a few tanks and that solved the problem. If you don't get that in the house at all no worries. It's probably just the fact the water sits and is heated and that the crud ( layman's term) is ever present in the water. The sulfur smell is fairly common also if you have that. These are the things we well owners deal with. City water users that are treated with chemicals never have the issues. I prefer my well water.

No, you don't want a jaccuzzi, lol. Maintenance nightmares, trust me. Unless you like to clean them frequently ( especially on well water).

Good luck!

 

[coyzstze]

Once again it is insanely cold. This is really starting to get old.

Amen. I'm pretty fed up with winter myself. February is the worst month in Michigan - IMO.

 

[ladyrsanti]

The depth usually does not dictate water quality. But, bladder tanks do build up a layer of crud (layman's term) that flakes off during high volume output. I've changed a few tanks and that solved the problem. If you don't get that in the house at all no worries. It's probably just the fact the water sits and is heated and that the crud ( layman's term) is ever present in the water. The sulfur smell is fairly common also if you have that. These are the things we well owners deal with. City water users that are treated with chemicals never have the issues. I prefer my well water.

No, you don't want a jaccuzzi, lol. Maintenance nightmares, trust me. Unless you like to clean them frequently ( especially on well water).

Good luck!

Yeah, you're right; I probably don't want a jacuzzi. We almost bought a house with one about ten years ago and we likely would have never used the thing.

I've almost always had well water and it's been a love/hate thing. My parents' house has extremely hard water, an incredible amount of iron and other minerals in it that they have never been able to reconcile. They can't have a dishwasher and have to change their faucets out frequently because of the buildup. Our white clothes were always orange, growing up. In fact, to this day I still avoid buying white clothes and towels and sheets and stuff just because of the way I was raised with hard water. They don't have space in the boiler room (it's an old school house) for a decent softener and iron removal system apparently.

At our last house, the well water was alright and we did change out the tank once. It was a very deep pvc well that I was thankful for on account of the heavily sprayed potato field we were neighbors with. Now though, I'm nervous about this one being just yards from the heavy liquid manure application that's going on and not knowing how deep it is. I've been told to keep an eye on the surface water and believe me, I WILL. As soon as we get a thaw, I'm testing the well.

But yeah, I agree with the logic about the slime. I know this tank is old and they're fairly inexpensive to replace so maybe that's something to look into.

 

[mattsinger]

At our last house, the well water was alright and we did change out the tank once. It was a very deep pvc well that I was thankful for on account of the heavily sprayed potato field we were neighbors with. Now though, I'm nervous about this one being just yards from the heavy liquid manure application that's going on and not knowing how deep it is. I've been told to keep an eye on the surface water and believe me, I WILL. As soon as we get a thaw, I'm testing the well.

You should be able to check with your County health Dept......they should have a record of how deep the well is.