Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[1muttsfan]

Dreamz, if you are feeding a layer feed, then it has adequate calcium already, and does not need any added to it. If you are offering oyster shell grit on the side, that will allow them to take in more if they need it. They will know how much calcium they need, and adjust their intake accordingly, if you do not add it to the regular food. Until they start laying regularly they do not need as much calcium. Too much calcium in the diet of young birds, especially under 18 weeks, can damage their kidneys.

So that you don't encourage egg eating, shells fed back should not be identifiable as coming from an egg - they should be crushed up fine.

Sometimes it takes time for the egg laying mechanism to sort itself out and lay a proper egg. Young birds often have little mistakes along the way.

 

[aart]

I mix eggs shells in their feed and they have oyster shells available

Mix the crushed egg shells in with the OS, not the feed.

giving them a bath and blow dry them and them put DE on them

Why?
Did you see bugs?

Have you checked them over real well for mites and/or lice?

Google images of lice/mites and their eggs before the inspection so you'll know what you're looking for.

Part the feathers right down to the skin around vent, head/neck and under wings.

Best done well after dark with a strong flashlight/headlight, easier to 'catch' bird and also to check for the mites that live in structure and only come out at night to feed off roosting birds.

Wipe a white paper towel along the underside of roost to look for red smears(smashed well fed mites).

Good post about mite ID by Lady McCamley:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-chicken-has-mites-now-what.1273674/page-2#post-20483008

 

[Sally PB]

We had some rain (haven't looked to see how much), but missed all the high winds, hail, and tornados. I hope everyone south of me came through the storm ok.

 

[aart]

We had some rain (haven't looked to see how much), but missed all the high winds, hail, and tornados. I hope everyone south of me came through the storm ok.

Good here, worst was farther south. Power blipped once and got 1/2" of rain.
I guess a tornado touched down in Coldwater.
Guess there was a tornado warning in the middle of the night, I was asleep.

 

[1muttsfan]

It FINALLY rained here too. Nice overnight soaker that we needed badly.

 

[Folly's place]

Rain here last night, and if there was a tornado warning we missed it too.
Had the roof inspected yesterday, and definitely has damage from the hail June 11th. Next is calling the insurance company... One house, several outbuildings, and hail damage. We'll see how it goes...
Mary

 

[1muttsfan]

A tornado passed 6 blocks from my sister's house in Naperville, no damage thankfully, no way she could have brought her chickens inside!

 

[Folly's place]

Glad your sister is okay! Late night tornadoes are the worst, when there's no advanced warning, and most people are asleep.
Mary

 

[SillyChicken]

By the way, I found these by the big pine tree on the side of the house. Hope are from birds and not snakes. Any thoughts?View attachment 2720211View attachment 2720212

Snakes eggs are soft skinned

 

[SillyChicken]

Hi guys,
I updated one of my runs for the egg layers this spring. I used to cover in wire fence and plastic over the winter, but that was a pain. So I took that all off and put up the clearish panels. They work great! I added a rat wall inside to put deeper bedding in (dirt floor) and buried two layers of fence on the outside. the first layer is buried, but the chickens kept digging in the loose dirt, so I laid a second layer on top to stop them. That worked great too.

I got pretty lucky on Friday - headed into Detroit, I did some 3 lane highway surfing and a little wall climbing... hit the opposite divider head on. Yeah me! I'm glad traffic was light and I'm ok, but I can't say as much for our poor car!

We had too many eggs, so when I left for CA for the week of training, DH didn't collect any eggs. Soooo, I just left them with the 5 broody hens that were laying on them. Once a few chicks hatched I cleaned out all but the ones closest to hatching and left those with the hens. I have about 8 chicks being shared with those hens. They are so funny to watch clucking and showing the chicks what to eat etc. Yesterday they started bringing them outside.