Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Folly's place]

Sorry news. Mary

 

[TreeTree411]

 

[aart]

Sad news to report.
One of our own has been killed in an accident. I don't have the details other than Mike Beers lost his life in a traffic accident this morning.

Just found this on-line.
http://accidentdatacenter.com/us/mi...sterfield-road-chesterfield-township-michigan
Edited to add.
https://www.gofundme.com/btfk4tqc

Someone from this thread? Screen Name?
Condolences.

My brother was in a similar accident, no fatalities tho.

 

[SillyChicken]

oh that's so sad

I don't know the name, does anyone know their screen name?

 

[SillyChicken]

So the last few nights when I went out do do chores, I noticed Uggo...... my pet roo.......... was on the lower roost by himself. I would put him back up on the upper roost with the girls to keep warm. Last night, poor uggo was on the floor, pale white and looking like he was on his way out. I think the ol boy lost his place in the pecking order (there is a younger roo in with him, whos name is now Stew). I took Uggo out and put in a cage with a heat lamp by himself. He survived the night and was still pale, but a bit more alert. Uggo had spent a winter in our heated garage a year ago, while his legs healed from frost bite (lost one foot and the toes from another). Looks like he's going to be inside again for a while.
This is Uggo last winter while we waited for his dead feet to fall off.

 

[aart]

Bummer Silly....looks like has has both feet and most his toes?

I think once frostbite happens, they are always more susceptible to the cold.
My finger and toe tips got nipped when I was a teen, they get very cold, very fast yet still.

 

[wannahomestead]

I noticed a small spot of what might be the start of frost bite on my roosters comb, so I'm going to pull him in today and warm him up.

No further signs of the coyote, my remaining 2 ducks have recovered and have been living in the chicken run w/ the chickens. So far so good. I'm probably getting new duckings in perhaps jan/feb, maybe a little later. I haven't decided yet.

What are you all using for water in the winter? My bucket water w/ the poultry nipples doesn't work w/ freezing weather, the valves freeze up. I've been told a bucket heater won't help w/ the valves freezing. I'm going out of town for a few days for xmas. My current plan is to put the duck's pool in and add a floating heater to that. I have some fencing I can use that will keep the ducks from swimming in it, but they can still put their heads through to drink.

I'm still considering a run of meat birds, perhaps 40-50. We would be splitting them up throughout the family. I need to start planning now so I'm ready come march.

Hope everyone is having a good winter so far. Safe travels and great times to all moving into this holiday week.

 

[aart]

I noticed a small spot of what might be the start of frost bite on my roosters comb, so I'm going to pull him in today and warm him up.

No further signs of the coyote, my remaining 2 ducks have recovered and have been living in the chicken run w/ the chickens. So far so good. I'm probably getting new duckings in perhaps jan/feb, maybe a little later. I haven't decided yet.

What are you all using for water in the winter? My bucket water w/ the poultry nipples doesn't work w/ freezing weather, the valves freeze up. I've been told a bucket heater won't help w/ the valves freezing. I'm going out of town for a few days for xmas. My current plan is to put the duck's pool in and add a floating heater to that. I have some fencing I can use that will keep the ducks from swimming in it, but they can still put their heads through to drink.

I'm still considering a run of meat birds, perhaps 40-50. We would be splitting them up throughout the family. I need to start planning now so I'm ready come march.

Hope everyone is having a good winter so far. Safe travels and great times to all moving into this holiday week.

Really not a good idea to bring rooster inside, unless you're going keep him in for the rest of the winter...can you post a pic of the 'frostbite'?
Slight frostbite, grayish coloring, is not really a concern...even when it turns black there's not much you can do and if it's not infected, it's best to stay hands off.
Messing with compromised skin can make it worse and introduce infection.

Even this healed up all on it's own with absolutely no intervention.
Swelling lasted a couple days.

One month later...eventually the black part of the wattle was lost, but was never infected.



This is what I use for water, worked great last winter once I got a good heater.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples

 

[wannahomestead]

Quote:
Thanks for the link and tips on the frostbite. It's just the very top part of his comb, and it's just noticeably "different". I thought I'd try and catch it before it becomes full blown frostbite

 

[aart]

You can't really stop frostbite 'once it starts'.
Best thing to do is increase your coop ventilation to remove humid air from the coop.
Using a closed waterer in the coop, or watering outside instead, can really help.