Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Candy442]

Today I took my last two extra cockrels to Munsell's, so there will be less drama here for a while. Wynette, one of your BC Marans hens died this summer, but the other birds are doing great. I have three BC Marans chicks with a broody, of course two cockrels and one pullet. She stays for sure! Candy, I read your post, and the drool is running down my chin. Big incubator, wow!!! Mary

I KNOW!!! Nice BIG cabinets....two of them! a three tray Dickey incubator (with hatcher tray}and a five tray Dickey hatcher. Only used a few times. We just couldn't resist especially as these will allow us to keep the hatches divided by breed You will be welcome to add some eggs when we fire it up, can hold up to 300 chicken eggs I think LOL... oh help me!
They are very clean.

like that idea. I have some extras in the barn
I also use cut feed bags ( make sure there are no frayed ends) on my roost boards. they clean up real easy, just scrape poo off with an old dust pan, in winter they just pop off,

DH has even stapled some to the back wall behind the roost to prevent droppings going down past the poo board. Makes for a nice, colorful wall for them Love the feed bags for covers and wall paper. I also love them for the tote bags I make!

Had to rush home tonight after work as there was nobody else home to lock up the coop tonight. Brother beat me to it by about 10 minutes.

Absolutely have dreams about that very problem... Glad someone was there to lock them up. I love the way they are all in there just waiting for someone to shut the door

Chicks started hatching on day 19.....temp must have been running a bit high...that was a bit of a surprise.
I'm like, what is that noise, bird in distress but not chickens, sounds really close....Oh, look at that, haha!!
6 out in first 12 hours, more pips showing, 27 more to go.

AWWWWWW... Love the first loud peeper out of the shell! They rile the others to get out too Sounds like the beginning of a successful hatch.

 

[snowflake]

Chicks started hatching on day 19.....temp must have been running a bit high...that was a bit of a surprise.
I'm like, what is that noise, bird in distress but not chickens, sounds really close....Oh, look at that, haha!!
6 out in first 12 hours, more pips showing, 27 more to go.

congrats, on the chicks must be fun to watch, I would get nothing done

Candy does he fold or tape the ends of the bags? if they ravel and the chicks eat them, they can be dangerous as they can cause blockage in their intestines. some one had chicks die from this. I have not had any problems with raveling but it could happen. ... I also love the bags. just wore my last one out, jay make some more this winter, they are great for grocery shopping. so strong.

 

[iamfivewire]

i stapled them to the walls & on the poopboard , then i nailed some shims on the edges + seams on the board.
i have found that the nutrena bags seem to work better for the poopboard for easier cleaning, as compared to the shiney bags (purena, dumor, etc..)

 

[iamfivewire]

i will check for any frays & trim/tape/etc.. if needed - thanx for mentioning that snowflake
: )

 

[trailrider330]

Loved Chicken Stock and hope we can resume the bird ogling next year. I agree, love to talk with people face to face as well.

news...CAUTION...MARY @Folly's place stop reading now! )

well, we just became the proud owners of a cabinet incubator and hatcher combo!! But we are not firing up the cabinet incubator until February next year. If anyone ever wishes to have eggs incubated, this set up is amazing and we got a great deal on it. Of course Brett had to drive to Iowa to get them, but worth the effort. Met with the Iowa Blue club president Curtis Burroughs. Curt provided us Iowa Blue eggs descendants from the original blood lines in Iowa

Our newest coop is housing our young Bielefelder flock. Our new White Chantecler boy is doing great and crowing every morning.
Our EE coop, which houses some of our single breed girls is looking like an early molt ...terrible!

We also have an Iowa broody hen right now. Not sure if Brett is letting her sit on real eggs? We are going to set the almost dozen Iowa eggs in our foam incubator for a small hatch. Maybe add some Maran's eggs @Wynette ?

Being that you are a breeder, does that mean that you might be willing to part with some hatching eggs or chicks next year? They are certainly beautiful birds and quality Iowa Blues are hard to find!

 

[OldMissionChick]

Any ford tractor fans around here? There's an 8N for sale near my work and I kinda want to get it. 

DH & I are doing a complete overhaul on our 48 8N that has been in the family since its purchase. DH watches A LOT of YouTube videos. Took the forks off the front (they are what I call farm-gineered) and in the process of taking the front axle off to clean the engine and replace all the rings, gaskets and whatever else we find. Its the first tractor I drove and is a lot of fun. The kids love riding up & down the road on the forks (sitting on a pallet of course).

Sorry about your coyote problem. We thought for sure we would have the same problem. We heard all sorts of them last year but not a peep this year. Our neighbors sister lives in Mancelona, about 15-20 min from us, and swears a wolf got a hold of her chickens earlier this month. I believe she got pictures, and called the DNR out to do their investigation. Which they will say there are no wolves in the L.P..

 

[Candy442]

Being that you are a breeder, does that mean that you might be willing to part with some hatching eggs or chicks next year? They are certainly beautiful birds and quality Iowa Blues are hard to find!

Oh yes, we breed to sell both hatching eggs and chicks! We have a nice flock of Iowas and EE's. Now will have Chanteclers and Bielefelders come next spring early summer.

 

[bigmrg74]

i stapled them to the walls & on the poopboard , then i nailed some shims on the edges + seams on the board.
i have found that the nutrena bags seem to work better for the poopboard for easier cleaning, as compared to the shiney bags (purena, dumor, etc..)

some pictures of it would be nice to see as well.

 

[wannahomestead]

DH & I are doing a complete overhaul on our 48 8N that has been in the family since its purchase. DH watches A LOT of YouTube videos. Took the forks off the front (they are what I call farm-gineered) and in the process of taking the front axle off to clean the engine and replace all the rings, gaskets and whatever else we find. Its the first tractor I drove and is a lot of fun. The kids love riding up & down the road on the forks (sitting on a pallet of course).

Sorry about your coyote problem. We thought for sure we would have the same problem. We heard all sorts of them last year but not a peep this year. Our neighbors sister lives in Mancelona, about 15-20 min from us, and swears a wolf got a hold of her chickens earlier this month. I believe she got pictures, and called the DNR out to do their investigation. Which they will say there are no wolves in the L.P..

So far no apparent new visits. I'll just pretend they were stopping by to take care of the mice in the field, and not grab a duck snack

The general opinion over at the yesterdays tractors forum is that the one I am looking at is overpriced. I may try and get the price down. They're asking 2,200. It's hard to say though because I feel like a lot of them are going for around that price. I've waited a long time, I can keep waiting for the right one to come by I suppose.

 

[Candy442]

Candy does he fold or tape the ends of the bags? if they ravel and the chicks eat them, they can be dangerous as they can cause blockage in their intestines. some one had chicks die from this. I have not had any problems with raveling but it could happen. ... I also love the bags. just wore my last one out, jay make some more this winter, they are great for grocery shopping. so strong.

I was just asking him if he nailed them down by folding over the edges like a hem...well, DH doesn't sew so he wouldn't have thought about that like I would. Thanks for the heads up on the fraying issue. He will cover with duct tape to hopefully keep the fraying problem at bay.