Michigan Thread - all are welcome!



Once again we must face a brutally cold day and with the exception of tending the birds I will be staying indoors. Granny has a dinner after church tomorrow so Hope is making pizzelles for her to take. Since making them is a slow process I think I can be assured of a steady supply of warm cookies to eat for several hours. Plus I think it is prudent that I maintain a constant quality control during the entire baking to insure that none of them are less than perfect.

For those of you planning on getting Welsummers for the first time I thought I'd share my experiences with the breed. First it is quite easy to sex them with pullets possessing the identifying dark vee cap on the heads. Second they are a very docile breed and I have never owned an aggressive Welsummer rooster and they normally are very easy of the hens. Third is that they are slow to start laying and typically are 28 weeks old before you'll see the first egg. Fourth is that their eggs run large to extra large with color ranging from a dark terra cotta to ones that are heavily speckled and you can expect around 220 eggs per year.
 
Thanks for the info opa! I am looking longingly at the townline "booklet" and wondering if tractor supply will still be carrying chicks in April. As we are planning a family vacation, we decided to not have any chicks until we get back. Less critters for a house sitter to have to take care of.


I shuffled all of my birds around yesterday to lessen the number of pales to maintain feed and water, and to hopefully have everyone settled in for when I want to start hatching. I did it in the morning, but my Roos did a great job of regulating the existing birds and the new birds and had no bloodshed from what I can tell. My husband even remarked that our Roos have all been good so far; not an aggressive one in the bunch!
 
Our TSC starts chick days on the 24th of this month. Im thinkin all do and end chick days the 14thish Of aApril.
I work at TSC and asked about the welsummers and was told tgat were gonna most likely carry the same breeds like we do every yr. They "might" get a small amount of the welsummers as a special breed 1 week only however thats a "might". Otherwise expect the same breeds from the past...

I asked if we can order certain breeds and he said nope. Its up to corporate and townline to come up with the breeds. And with the amount townline has to produce for TSC, they stick with whats easier.
 
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Sinus and teeth, very useful things, until they hurt. Feel better soon.

Opa quality control is very important! Good to see you are taking it seriously.

I ended up with a button quail situation this morning, not resolved. Titus, the pup found a quail upstairs, was trying to determine what to do with it when I rescued it from him. I go downstairs to put him away and discover a female in another cage has hung herself. By measurement the wires are close enough together to be safe and have been for the three years we've had them, however she must have popped with enough force to put her head through and was hanging by her neck. I thought she was dead, put down the boy got her out, she is alive, barely and partially scalped. I should have done the responsible, tough thing and snapped her neck but I didn't. She is just resting in the cage, with her mate, I don't expect her to survive. The boy took off and is somewhere in the basement. The strange thing is his cage was locked up tight.

I am only taking one chicken to my library program today. I have three kids coming but they are spread out over 2 hours so I think the one girl can handle it all. One of the 2nd graders I see weekly is coming for the first time and could barely contain himself when I saw him this week. It really is so fun introducing chickens to kids!

Stay warm, it's only -9 here.
 
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I
Only other addage i have towards health is for sinus infection if you can get to an herbal store "collodial silver" will cure it; i had a lady at work who couldn't get to a dr so i gave her some and she was better in 3 days. :) She still went to the dr, but all was well supposably. There is the drip bottle and should be a nasal spray bottle; i always get the spray one so if i get hit with flu instead i can still use it (so many squirts under the tongue). Worked on all of them but the "swine flu". Pricey at $15 a bottle, but it'll last all year. Don't work for colds, though.
I agree with the colloidal silver treatment, it works for a variety of eye/skin/nose and throat conditions. I make my own.
 
I rarely get sick but when I do, it's a doozy.
I have a doozy that has been hanging on for over a week now. It has dropped to my lungs now. I think I tore an abdominal muscle during a coughing fit.
 
Our TSC starts chick days on the 24th of this month. Im thinkin all do and end chick days the 14thish Of aApril.
I work at TSC and asked about the welsummers and was told tgat were gonna most likely carry the same breeds like we do every yr. They "might" get a small amount of the welsummers as a special breed 1 week only however thats a "might". Otherwise expect the same breeds from the past...

I asked if we can order certain breeds and he said nope. Its up to corporate and townline to come up with the breeds. And with the amount townline has to produce for TSC, they stick with whats easier.
Our TSC didn't carry as many or the variety that FF did. And they said they would order for me whatever Townline carries - but a minimum of 15 (which defeats the point of buying from TSC bins).

I will speak with the people at Townline again and see if I can pick :)
 
Sorry about spelling here....

* Last yr we carried weekly...
st run & pullet blk sexlink
st run & pullet blk astroloaps
pullet isa browns
meat chicks
assort bantams (white silkies, porclines, millies, seabrights, OEG)
st run & pullet white leg horns
st run americanas
pekin ducks

* Here n there we had...
pullet americanas
st run wht and brown bramas
st run assort reds
st run amberlinks
st run brown leg horns
roun mallard ducks
kakie cample ducks
Runner ducks

Can special order birds from Townline
min order 25 for chickens
15 turkeys
15 min ducks
15 min geese
15 min on gunieas
pre paid only!
 
Sorry about spelling here....

* Last yr we carried weekly...
st run & pullet blk sexlink
st run & pullet blk astroloaps
pullet isa browns
meat chicks
assort bantams (white silkies, porclines, millies, seabrights, OEG)
st run & pullet white leg horns
st run americanas
pekin ducks

* Here n there we had...
pullet americanas
st run wht and brown bramas
st run assort reds
st run amberlinks
st run brown leg horns
roun mallard ducks
kakie cample ducks
Runner ducks

Can special order birds from Townline
min order 25 for chickens
15 turkeys
15 min ducks
15 min geese
15 min on gunieas
pre paid only!


Interesting. The TSC here in Hudsonville would special order 15. Maybe that's a manager's decision? And the "Americanas" here were all pullets I believe, - they never had any in, so I really didn't pay much attention to that except the ad was all about egg color.
 

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