Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[yochickiemomma]

FOWLFEST is Saturday at Birch Run; anyone else going? I'll be there late morning, as it's always fun to see all the birds and people, and buy stuff.
Raz, are your birds okay? Mary

I wish I could go! Will be passing by there Saturday morning heading south to a wedding. Will probably be driving back north late Saturday night. Now I'm completely bummed we agreed to go to the wedding. It's a 3.5 hr drive each way for us going to be a long day.

 

[WhatAboutBob?]

Welcome to the flock Boyne! I'm about 45 min south of you but have plenty of family in that area. Good luck putting your flock together if you have any questions everyone here is very helpful.

Thanks! I just received my 6 GLW pullets, 5 9 weeks old (hatched 7/24) and 1 7 week old (hatched 8/8) - THIS MORNING!! Raced around and got them in the coop, which isn't completely finished - but all wired up and they are secure in there. I will post a pic, but be warned there isn't any bedding down on the floor yet - that will be rectified today at lunch.

 

[WhatAboutBob?]

 

[Candy442]

We just returned from two weeks driving out west, all the way to Yellowstone. Wonderful!!! We've never been there; it was about time, and a great trip. Good weather, in between snow events. Lucky! Mary

Hello everyone
This will be my first winter with chickens and I'm so nervous!!
I can only hope that the coop we built is good enough for Michigan's weather, even if it won't be heated, but there is still so much more I haven't figured out yet
1 How do I keep water from freezing?
2 How do I keep bedding dry when we have snow on the ground, and we have to walk in and out?
3 Do I let chickens out every day no matter what the weather?
4 Do I need to add to their diet during the colder months?

You guys that have kept chickens successfully for years, could you please pass on some advises so I can do the same?

This are pics of the coop we built with the cedar posts we got from Sam

Mary, wonderful pictures of out west trip. Been a long time since I was out there! Welcome back!

@Outdoorlover gorgeous coop! We use those wired dog food bowls for waters during the winters.
We stomp what we can off our feet before going too much into the coop. We place everything within good reach so we dont have to bring too much in. The run is covered so that helps. We cover dog kennel fence panels with plywood sheets and cover the plywood with tarps.
We open the doors for our flocks, but it's up to them if they want to venture out. Most do not want to .
I add a weekly treat of warm oatmeal and give the flocks some barley fodder grown by me in my laundry room. I add BOSS to the sprouts and flax to the oatmeal bowl treats.

We have had practically everything negative happen this year. Mostly a huge mite/lice infestation. Just an off year for the girls for sure. The ducks are doing great!

Not going to Fowl Fest this year. We have to downsize for winter and have our meaties in the hoop house ready to go to freezer camp in about three more weeks. We feed our meaties on and off and they have fresh grass to pasture in. Now that I have raised meaties, I am not satisfied with the store chicken at all!

 

[snowflake]

sounds like paradise, so glad you found such a nice home.
one more busy week done. leave Sunday to spend a couple days in a cottage near Rose City. can't wait

 

[snowflake]

That is a beautiful coop, i'm not showing it to my chickens. they will hate me to pretty for chickens. I wonder it you could wrap your water pipes with heated tape of some kind. your run roof looks good and strong, you could put a tarp over the top for winter and on the windy side and they would have a sheltered, outside area. I keep my food and water outside, under a covered area, and they go out most of the day even in winter, chickens will hangout were their food is ...
welcome to the Mich sight!! I used to cover my poop board with pine shavings, cleans easy but gets costly, I now cover them with empty feed bags, clean off real easy
and through away when they get to dirty.


boynedoc, your hens are very pretty, you will want to cover or paint the wood though as the water will make a mess of it in no time. doesn't scrape well when it is swollen.

 

[snowflake]

the pics of yellow stone were very nice , we went there on our Honeymoon, 50yrs ago. would love to go back some day.

 

[WhatAboutBob?]

That is a beautiful coop, i'm not showing it to my chickens. they will hate me to pretty for chickens. I wonder it you could wrap your water pipes with heated tape of some kind. your run roof looks good and strong, you could put a tarp over the top for winter and on the windy side and they would have a sheltered, outside area. I keep my food and water outside, under a covered area, and they go out most of the day even in winter, chickens will hangout were their food is ...
welcome to the Mich sight!! I used to cover my poop board with pine shavings, cleans easy but gets costly, I now cover them with empty feed bags, clean off real easy
and through away when they get to dirty.


boynedoc, your hens are very pretty, you will want to cover or paint the wood though as the water will make a mess of it in no time. doesn't scrape well when it is swollen.

Thanks for the tip! I will get to that after they acclimate and I can put them out in the run for a few hours. I have some quick drying paint to use from Valspar.

 

[robyn8]

@Outdoorlover
I read most of the posts but forgive me if people have already said this. Last year was my first with my chickens and I was worried sick all winter but they did great other than some frost bite on my buff Orpington rooster.

I found my chickens went out nearly everyday no matter the weather once we enclosed the run on 3 sides. We put up a tarp around the sides and it made a huge difference. Our run is covered so snow inside wasn't a huge problem.

We used a heated base for our waterer from rentacoop on Amazon. Worked great and very low wattage. We had a bucket with horizontal nipples on the base. On the coldest nights I brought it inside cause the nipppes would freeze too much over night.

 

[Folly's place]

We went to Fowl Fest today, and had a good time. Talked to two ladies about our birds, and theirs, very interesting. Loved seeing the many different fowl, and some nice white Chanteclers, my favorites. I don't think that there were as many birds shown as last year, too bad.
This year I'm going to try zip ties for my 2017 birds; we'll see.
I'd love to be able to talk with exhibitors of specific breeds, but there's now way to find them. Maybe ID tags? Something? I'm sure they were all there, but ??? Mary