Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[birdman55]

Just so you know. Hillbilly Hen (Laura), who used to be a regular, built a beautiful hoop run attached to a very nice coop. She had all of the details on her page. I visit her and can tell you it's the best idea. In the winter she covered the hoop with a commercial grade landscape plastic that the snow would just slide right off. Her's was the best design I've seen. As hoops go they are very popular, practical, and can be built by anyone with minimal skill.

totally agreed hoop coops are awesome...just built the second addition to the other side...this coop is about ten and a half feet by 25 feet...works great...the left side has about 130 birds in it right now

INSIDE SCOOP....LOL

polish

 

[Ncantrell]

Hi Dportfamfarm,
I brood our ducklings in a kiddie pool. They do jump out occasionally, or climb up the slide. I don't think you'd have much luck with chicken wire, unless it was inside the pool. They could become trapped between the pool and the wire if it were outside.
Ducks are the best!

 

[gladahmae]

"Winter" sowed more stuff in milk jugs today. My very helpful toddler also decided that he needed to help with seeds while I wasn't looking and emptied 2 packets of beet seeds and 2 packets of chives seeds somewhere in the yard. Such a nice helper. I had to net off the sugar snap peas because the chickens that can get out of the run are eating them as they poke through the ground. Darn birds.

I also had to separate 2 roosters today. They've been in the same pen since they hatched and there's no other birds in there and boy were they going at it this morning. In different coops now, by themselves while I decide if I want to deal with the hassle of craigslisting them or just culling them.

 

[Opa]

I'm sure that many of you would be amazed at the number of potential chicken predators I have taken in close proximity to my chickens over the past few years. For several years I used live traps but dispatching skunks in them was a real stinker of a problem. I used dog proof coon traps which is a leg hold trap but as expected I only caught coons. Finally I started using conibear traps in a pail set. Coons, possums, skunks, and feral cats all have died quickly in the traps powerful jaws.

While late winter/early spring are the prime months for predators to be roaming, it pays to be vigilant year round. So I normally keep 6 traps set at all times and they guard my flock well. Today I had something occur that was hard to believe. One of my hens fell victim to the very thing meant to keep her save. This afternoon I went to the coop and discovered that three hens had flown over the 7' tall fence meant to contain them. One curious hen decided to check of the bait in the back of the pail containing a trap.

My son David was explain to his laborer about how many eggs over varying stages of development the hen would contain so I decided to cut her open to show him. The first egg would probably have been laid tomorrow as it was full formed and the shell was starting to harden. Next was a quarter size egg with no shell follow my many others in diminishing size down to on about 1/8".

If I counted those eggs in my year egg count it would have meant that my 18 layers gave be 34 eggs today.

 

[birdman55]

Hi Dportfamfarm,
I brood our ducklings in a kiddie pool. They do jump out occasionally, or climb up the slide. I don't think you'd have much luck with chicken wire, unless it was inside the pool. They could become trapped between the pool and the wire if it were outside.
Ducks are the best!

welcome to byc and the michigan thread....alot of great people on here...jump right in

 

[Trexroo]

I love those duckies.

(They are so messy)

 

[BigHope888]

"Winter" sowed more stuff in milk jugs today. My very helpful toddler also decided that he needed to help with seeds while I wasn't looking and emptied 2 packets of beet seeds and 2 packets of chives seeds somewhere in the yard. Such a nice helper. I had to net off the sugar snap peas because the chickens that can get out of the run are eating them as they poke through the ground. Darn birds.

I also had to separate 2 roosters today. They've been in the same pen since they hatched and there's no other birds in there and boy were they going at it this morning. In different coops now, by themselves while I decide if I want to deal with the hassle of craigslisting them or just culling them.

Sorry about your roos who decided to not be friends anymore. But your toddler story makes me giggle.

I'm sure that many of you would be amazed at the number of potential chicken predators I have taken in close proximity to my chickens over the past few years. For several years I used live traps but dispatching skunks in them was a real stinker of a problem. I used dog proof coon traps which is a leg hold trap but as expected I only caught coons. Finally I started using conibear traps in a pail set. Coons, possums, skunks, and feral cats all have died quickly in the traps powerful jaws.

While late winter/early spring are the prime months for predators to be roaming, it pays to be vigilant year round. So I normally keep 6 traps set at all times and they guard my flock well. Today I had something occur that was hard to believe. One of my hens fell victim to the very thing meant to keep her save. This afternoon I went to the coop and discovered that three hens had flown over the 7' tall fence meant to contain them. One curious hen decided to check of the bait in the back of the pail containing a trap.

My son David was explain to his laborer about how many eggs over varying stages of development the hen would contain so I decided to cut her open to show him. The first egg would probably have been laid tomorrow as it was full formed and the shell was starting to harden. Next was a quarter size egg with no shell follow my many others in diminishing size down to on about 1/8".

If I counted those eggs in my year egg count it would have meant that my 18 layers gave be 34 eggs today.

Wow-to all of that. Sorry for your young hen.

Opened the pop door today, calling out to my ladies as usual. I see they're getting used to the sounds of the suburbs. I did not realize how loud it actually is in this neighborhood until this week, spending so much time out there just supervising their free range time/doing chores! We have a train that passes 3x a day that we can see through some trees across the street, there are a lot of motorcycles and scooters, and hoopdee cars (bad exhaust or otherwise sounding like a bucket of bolts!) And let's not forget the tornado siren drill at 1pm this last Saturday. They've been outside for a week today, and when they get spooked, and they'll all freeze and/or run inside the coop. BF and I think that when we're out there, they feel safer. They hear our voices and know our presence as if we're the rooster, there to protect them. And we do watch the skies a lot for hawks. BF asks what kind of hawks and birds of prey we have in our area (SE MI) and I tell him, "duh, I think...." So what kind of birds of prey are here, does anyone know?

I'm having a blast with chickens. They're sweet creatures and they're so fun to watch. Abbey, who i suspect is the Boss Hen has such personality. I think she "gets it." I think she actually understands that my role in her life is to keep her safe. They'll all let me pick them up. A few of them will tolerate being held like a football, but everyone will perch on my wrist and accept being pet. When i watch them I feel like I'm staring at fish in an aquarium! Except I have immediate motivation to keep my backyard in better shape, garden, and be outside. Good times.

 

[aart]

.......
Finally I started using conibear traps in a pail set. Coons, possums, skunks, and feral cats all have died quickly in the traps powerful jaws.
........
One curious hen decided to check of the bait in the back of the pail containing a trap.

.......

Oh Crap....on the hen in the conibear pail!

I would love to see how this trap is set up tho....if you have pics.

 

[bigmrg74]

Grrrrrrr... Our Co-op came in this morning and started drilling ammonia into our field today. Had the tractor set up in a corner of the yard next to the field and I don't think it was a good idea to leave them there. Thankfulfy, I've got a clevis hitch for the quad and I was able to slide it all away from that part of the yard.

 

[BigHope888]

Grrrrrrr... Our Co-op came in this morning and started drilling ammonia into our field today. Had the tractor set up in a corner of the yard next to the field and I don't think it was a good idea to leave them there. Thankfulfy, I've got a clevis hitch for the quad and I was able to slide it all away from that part of the yard.

I am so suburban I have no idea what any of that means. LOL. "Co-op" I am not familiar with. Ammonia I knew only as a cleaning agent and cat excrement, idk why anyone would "drill" it into a field. I don't understand the phrase "Drilling into field." Tractor with Them, ok, mobile chicken containing structure, got it. Studying the next sentence, hmmm, type of hitch for "quad," I'm thinking 4x4 utility type vehicle to move chicken tractor...how'd I do?