Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Folly's place]

John, your buckling is very cute, but no goats here! Mary

 

[audy5000g]

It would be best to lock your birds in their safe coop and run for a while, and try to ID and eliminate your predator, because it will return!  Mary

I agree. Get a live trap to see if that gets him. Or sit outside quiet with a rifle awaiting his return.

 

[bigmrg74]

Man it's hot out there. I just can't wait to load hundreds of bails of hay in the barn, lol.

suck it up cupcake!!

darn shame I was stuck going to a wedding today. some sort of a third cousin of Amy's. Had to get all dressed up and knock the poop off of my shoes.

 

[PaisyQ]

It would be best to lock your birds in their safe coop and run for a while, and try to ID and eliminate your predator, because it will return! Mary

I agree. Get a live trap to see if that gets him. Or sit outside quiet with a rifle awaiting his return.

They are all locked up now. Originally, I was only letting them out for a couple hours in the evening, but they do so much better when they can move around and find their own places to eat and hang out, I had started letting them out all day. I can't bring myself to leave them locked up all day, so I'm thinking I'll let them out a couple hours before bedtime, and that will have to do it for them.

I had something get into one of the runs over the winter. Tried trapping then, before I patched up the hole I found in the defenses, but never caught anything. And I'm gone for most of the day during the week, so can't really sit around waiting for something to decide to show. Thinking about getting a camera, just to see if that will show me what's hanging about.

 

[RaZ]

Had to get all dressed up and knock the poop off of my shoes.

Suck it up, buttercup.

 

[bigmrg74]

Suck it up, buttercup.

eh, at least I wasn't wearing heel like Amy was. Heels are the Devil!!!

But they also help to keep me employed.

 

[uchytil]

John, your buckling is very cute, but no goats here! Mary

He really is. He's going to be an above average size Nigerian Dwarf.

 

[uchytil]

eh, at least I wasn't wearing heel like Amy was. Heels are the Devil!!!

But they also help to keep me employed.

so you say

 

[snowflake]

We are doing the epsom salt water baths. plus giving probiotics and anti-fungus spray on the cleaned butts.

been a really busy week, unexpected things popped up and we had to miss CS, sounds like you had a good time.

vent gleet, is usually a yeast infection (I think) in older hens, I have had success with povidibe iodine, it is messy and will stain cloths, squirt some on her vent after cleaning with warm epsom salts

Happy Fathers day to all you dads

 

[Candy442]

What about the gaps created where the rounded corners meet?

We don't do anything to the dog kennel gaps at all because in three years of chicken keeping, it has only been other people's loose dogs that have killed our chickens.

Maybe coons and coyote will not get through dog kennel panels, but I have to say that I have seen a dog (mine) chew right through dog kennel panels on a couple occasions. (What can I say, she didn't like being in there and wanted out... really bad!) So, just keep that in mind if you do not put hardware cloth along the bottom. A large dog can get through if they are determined.

One of the panels we just purchased was tore up by the owner's pigs So I can see what happens to the fencing with some animals. Someone is around the coops and runs during the day. They are there to only protect from the dog running through our yard since that is how we have lost chickens to date. It used to be free range all day and locked in at night until dogs started loving the chase on our property so we decided to just protect against that during the day only. Oh we do have wooden plywood roofs for winter time keeping snow out.



I know other things can dig or grab through. We do have tarps to help keep shade in the runs strung on the outside as well. I do not see too many birds just hang out against the fencing during the day and at night they are locked in their coop all secure.

Wow, okay. No more opinions of mine, lol...

Anyway, I talked to Sam and he said the Backyard Chicken Banner was brought by a moderator who got it from the the BYC site. Maybe Wynette knows? So, if the banner was returned that would make sense. Next year, depending on the level of interest (since it was low this year) I will check with the managers about getting one, and some bumper stickers for giveaways. We've always had such a good time there even with the few hour drive. So, that said it's off to clean the pig pens

Always welcome an opinion

. I can see if Wynette remembers who brought the banner. I will send her a note and see what we can find out. x 2 about the great time! Brett and I love it and meeting all the great people from this thread! If it is held out of our area, we would make the time to travel to it!