Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Peep-Chicken]

Does anyone have an adult breeding pair(or more) of chickens? Preferably bantam.

 

[tmkuroda]

Hi, Tina, yup we remember you, congrats on your chickens just sure you have a large enough coop with a larger run and all are predator proof.
yes, , ours has treated posts and treated cross members supporting the floor. paint every thing and put on a dry roof and you should be good

Well I am not planning on keeping all 10 lol I am hoping that many of them are roosters and they will fit nicely in my freezer. I am planning a 4x8 coop and only want at max 4-5 chickens.

 

[justplainbatty]

they were before the ones you posted...when i got back i sent them in

Ok, I'll go back and look for them in this thread. I guess I was a little slow.

 

[justplainbatty]

ive worked with chickens for only three years now...i have worked with pheasants and peafowl for under a year....and when you spend the time and resources that i have you can just walk into a pen and see a bird feeling ill....or mistaken care of....or picked on...and if the owner dont take matters into their own hands and fix the problem whatever it may be...then it makes it worse....i spend at least four plus hours in my pens aday...and have well over 20k into birds and buildings....so you just cant wing something like that...that is y my birds can be hand fed in each pen...that comes with time and trust between you and the bird...even the ringnecks...as was mentioned before after being moved to a fellow bycer are very tame and not really flighty...you learn thru time and effort...not saying the sellers there dont spend there time with their stock, but i would not bring a bunch of birds that were tore apart and try and sell them...especially for top dollar.....i take pride in my birds and i was not thinking the birds that i was about to see where in the condition that most of them were in...and obviously i wasnt the only one seeing that...i should have taken pics of the birds there that were pheasants and put a pic of mine next to them....you would understand just by looking at them...its understanable to see picking on the females right now bc of the breeding season..but there were no female pheasants there...when you looking for good stock....money talks and you get what you pay for....you can tell if a person knows about the birds and their reputation by just one simple conversation.....and it takes time to meet people....you can see how one takes pride and care for their birds just by seeing their pens and such...there is over 15k in coops in the backyard...there living conditions, how big the pens are, if the birds have tails...(pheasants)...if there is standing blood on them...for example....i had a male golden kill another male in my male pen....well that was it for that bird...no chances..so he got peepers...some other males started to get aggressive with females, they got peepers...most people dont put peepers on their birds...from what i have seen....anyways...for michigan...go to the website mbgba.....and get a membership they will send you a copy of the people of michigan and what they breed...start calling and asking questions you are interested in....and do your own research...once you find someone that sounds like they know what they are talking about....then you go and look at their parent stock...i could go on for days but i have to get to work....spicer is on the board of the mbgba and their stock was quality...hands down the best their...peacocks and pheasants..nice display good looking birds, no blood, no ruffled feathers, or droopy wing feathers....no birds with the backs ripped to bare skin, no blood on the birds...no leg mites (scales on their that would look like mountains...)hope this helps
am im no expert....however you can see a difference in the people that spend alot of time and money with their birds compared to ones that dont. peacocks for example need 100ft 2 per bird...that means for a trio you have to have 10x30ft section for three of them...if birds have to small of living space...disease, picking, all the negative things happen...we went from 30 birds to after the first week in may...we will have over 300...and that was no easy task by any means....

Yes, I too was disgusted with most of the birds there. I wish they had better standards on what condition of birds can be at a swap. I was horrified at the condition of most of the birds! I saw those roos with their tails missing, no excuse for that, and the debeaked birds,nasty! the pair I bought, the blue oeg are in great shape, the porcelain had crud balls on her feet and dirty feathers like she was raised in a barn. Her eyes, breathing,feathers and vent looked good, I could tell she is out of lay, the seller admitted that. She got a bath! Both sellers let me inspect the birds and I had been watching them for some time before I bought them. There was a trio of chocolates I had my eye on but just as I got back to them, some lady was stuffing them in her carrier.

That's why I went for the blues immediately after that. When I got the birds to the car, I fed and watered them, cracked all the windows, put a towel over the carrier and went back to check on them every 2 hrs. I stayed all day to bid on a disker for my tractor, got it and went home pooped around 6pm. I have 4 different quarantines right now (my own flock, the 3 new birds, my banty babies, the GLW someone dropped off to me the same evening) Boisecurity nightmare right now! I expect much higher standards for the BYC CS2015! Chicken math, chicken crazy!

P.S. We just put a deposit on a Border Collie with breeding rights ABCA papers if anyone is interested in pups next year. She is just over a week old, not ready until June.

 

[birdman55]

Not sure if any of you remember me but I took the plunge and bought some baby chicks I bought 10 intersex Black Australorps. They look to be about a week old. I am hoping to pick up a chicken coop this weekend. Right now I have all the chicks in a 50 gallon aquarium. I am sure I will be asking more questions later on but besides food, warmth, and clean water what else do I need? I picked up some probiotics.

Tina

the 50 gallon will work for a couple of weeks for sure....there is 66 in a 4x4ft brooder with perches and they are doing fine..biggest thing with aquariums is they retain moisture which is super bad news under the right conditions...and as long as you put new bedding in their once a week acouple of inches thick they should be fine for a bit...be careful when feeding probiotics..i know an importer of the svart honas and they said in pm if you use to much you can actually kill the birds..they stopped using it and then the flocks did much better...

Yes, I too was disgusted with most of the birds there. I wish they had better standards on what condition of birds can be at a swap. I was horrified at the condition of most of the birds! I saw those roos with their tails missing, no excuse for that, and the debeaked birds,nasty! the pair I bought, the blue oeg are in great shape, the porcelain had crud balls on her feet and dirty feathers like she was raised in a barn. Her eyes, breathing,feathers and vent looked good, I could tell she is out of lay, the seller admitted that. She got a bath! Both sellers let me inspect the birds and I had been watching them for some time before I bought them. There was a trio of chocolates I had my eye on but just as I got back to them, some lady was stuffing them in her carrier.

That's why I went for the blues immediately after that. When I got the birds to the car, I fed and watered them, cracked all the windows, put a towel over the carrier and went back to check on them every 2 hrs. I stayed all day to bid on a disker for my tractor, got it and went home pooped around 6pm. I have 4 different quarantines right now (my own flock, the 3 new birds, my banty babies, the GLW someone dropped off to me the same evening) Boisecurity nightmare right now! I expect much higher standards for the BYC CS2015! Chicken math, chicken crazy!

P.S. We just put a deposit on a Border Collie with breeding rights ABCA papers if anyone is interested in pups next year. She is just over a week old, not ready until June.

wisconsin swaps you have to have each bird tested...i just wish i could have made it there before 9am so i could have seen all the good ones that sold quick...i just talked to a pheasant breeder by me that was there and he sold out before 830am....so next swap im going before the sun comes out

 

[justplainbatty]

the 50 gallon will work for a couple of weeks for sure....there is 66 in a 4x4ft brooder with perches and they are doing fine..biggest thing with aquariums is they retain moisture which is super bad news under the right conditions...and as long as you put new bedding in their once a week acouple of inches thick they should be fine for a bit...be careful when feeding probiotics..i know an importer of the svart honas and they said in pm if you use to much you can actually kill the birds..they stopped using it and then the flocks did much better...

wisconsin swaps you have to have each bird tested...i just wish i could have made it there before 9am so i could have seen all the good ones that sold quick...i just talked to a pheasant breeder by me that was there and he sold out before 830am....so next swap im going before the sun comes out

Me too. I got there at 8 and cages full of birds were already flowing out as I went in. Early worm gets the bird?!

 

[tmkuroda]

the 50 gallon will work for a couple of weeks for sure....there is 66 in a 4x4ft brooder with perches and they are doing fine..biggest thing with aquariums is they retain moisture which is super bad news under the right conditions...and as long as you put new bedding in their once a week acouple of inches thick they should be fine for a bit...be careful when feeding probiotics..i know an importer of the svart honas and they said in pm if you use to much you can actually kill the birds..they stopped using it and then the flocks did much better...

I was wrong this is a 90 gallon tank I was going to give them probiotics once a week but now I will not give them any. Thanks!

 

[birdman55]

if you give them...give them just a sprinkle...i normally do...but after what the importer guy said....i have monitored them quite well...i have had good luck using the product...so maybe he used alittle to much...90 gallon is plenty of size for that many for prolly 3 weeks..i have 30 in a 2x4ft brooder and they are 3 weeks and they are fine...if you see any feathers missing or fighting...then it is time to move them to something bigger

 

[mindylee]

If ur looking for chocolate
I have a rooster. A bantam orphington.
He is $20

 

[birdman55]

thought i would share some pics...
hope you enjoy