Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[chickflick]

Sam posted that he is doing well and may get released tomorrow.

 

[Alaskan]

Hey i live in Wisconsin and was wondering is -30 to cold for my chickens to be without a heat lamp. That is the temp it is suppose to be tommarow.

If it is just a dip of -30F... as long as they are adult and in good condition, they will be fine.

If you are going to stay in the -30 and colder for weeks on end... personally I would heat, but never with a heat lamp.

Especially when it is that cold, a single snow flake on a heat lamp bulb can make the bulb break.

However... there are people that manage to get chickens through -30 and colder without heat....

You need to have them on 20% protein feed, they HAVE to have 10 hours or more of daylight to eat, they have to have liquid water

 

[Sally PB]

One of my hens has started laying again, but rather sporadically. She's always been my "lounger;" she'll sit for over an hour in the nest box to lay her egg. She was there at 10 am this morning, and finally left sometime between 11:30 and 12:15.

Except she didn't lay an egg. No evidence of an egg that broke and was eaten either. This isn't the first time this has happened.

Did she just want to be left alone for a while? She is the low bird of the hens. I'm not sure how the pullets/hens have set the pecking order between the groups yet.

 

[RaZ]

Good news about Opa.

Very cold here today but we have severe clear conditions. I swear I can see Tawas from here. lol The down side of this beautiful sunshine is that I can see how dirty my windows are. I need to motivate my lazy arse to go out and bring in some firewood A couple of beers should do the trick. Or not.

The Jeep has a bad vibration issue so I stopped by my favorite repair shop. I thought I might have bad U-joints. Both mechanics diagnosed the problem as the front drive shaft is shot. So I wasn't that far off. Trouble is that the new shaft will run around $600. The simple fix is to just pull the shaft and forget it. I'm going to have them do it. I just can't lay on the cold ground and do it myself. My arthritis has been really bad this week. This getting old is killing me.

 

[troyer]

For my bird watchers: Do anyone knows what type of bird these are? The come every day and when it is cleaned out, they come in bunches. They do not walk like chickens, they kind of hop along.I think their breast is whitish but it could also be the snow. I am not sure.

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^Look like starlings. Image from Wikipedia.

^^^^^^^
Common starling (Sturnus vulgaris) by PierreSelim - Own work

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Dark-eyed Junco. Photo: Jocelyn Anderson/Audubon Photography Awards
^Commonly called (Snow Junco), but it's real name is Dark Eyed Junco. They are pleasant birds to have around. Here they eat the plant seeds of the Lambs Quarter when there is a a bunch of snow on the ground, one reason to not keep your unused areas weed free.

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Common starlings
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Common Starlings


By the way, My poor Blanch (EE) is almost unrecognizable as well as baby mama (sebright) with no tail,

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Your chickens are molting, probably the result of too much light for this time of the year.

 

[troyer]

My arthritis has been really bad this week. This getting old is killing me.

I think that would be a general consensus... Old age seems to do just that. (pulling your leg a bit there).
Sorry about the arthritis it's a debilitating disease, I feel it and I'm not even old yet, at least not age wise, sometimes I wonder if this is what it's supposed to feel like. For me it probably comes from 20 years of roofing.

 

[Alaskan]

One of my hens has started laying again, but rather sporadically. She's always been my "lounger;" she'll sit for over an hour in the nest box to lay her egg. She was there at 10 am this morning, and finally left sometime between 11:30 and 12:15.

Except she didn't lay an egg. No evidence of an egg that broke and was eaten either. This isn't the first time this has happened.

Did she just want to be left alone for a while? She is the low bird of the hens. I'm not sure how the pullets/hens have set the pecking order between the groups yet.

It could be a bunch of reasons..

But one possibility is that she is hiding from being bullied.

In case that is the issue , check her keel bone, make sure she is in good flesh, and hasn't been bullied off the feeder.

 

[1muttsfan]

Thanks for the update, Rose, that's good news.

30° below is not too cold for chickens that are properly housed, with plenty of fresh unfrozen water and food available.

Dreamz, some of those birds are juncos; there are also starlings in that flock. Juncos are one of the few birds that actually eat millet, and a very much prefer to feed off the ground. They migrate through up here on their way south and the fall and back up in the spring.

 

[saysfaa]

Five eggs today - everyone is laying again .

I bought sand today. I've been holding out because it is just so stupid to have to do that. I just needed to go out with a bucket and scoop it, sheesh. But I put it off a little too long and lost the chance until spring.

It will go on the poop board. I like the pdz that is there now. It will stay but it is a little too thin in spots. I'm going to try a mix of sand and pdz because sand is so much cheaper. Even if you have to buy it.

 

[Swiss]

For my bird watchers: Do anyone knows what type of bird these are? The come every day and when it is cleaned out, they come in bunches. They do not walk like chickens, they kind of hop along.I think their breast is whitish but it could also be the snow. I am not sure.

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@Dreamzchaser The second picture down is a Dark-Eyed Junco. The last 2-3 pictures look like European Starlings.