Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Sally PB]

Now you sound like RaZ!

Well, I will take that as a compliment! Thank you!

 

[chickflick]

Where is everyone? Enjoyed the warmer days. Able to take new puppy for walks. Chickens are loving the warmer weather. Christmas was a fun filled family affair. Always good to see the kids, grandkids and great grandchild all together having fun.
Hope you all had a good time.

 

[Sally PB]

We had a quiet day, just us, Freya, and the chickens. No gifts this year, though I did get hubby a Steeler throw to use for his "horizontal viewing," aka, falling asleep because the game is boring.

I discovered I like collard greens last night! I cooked them in my Instant Pot, and they were delicious! I will definitely plant them in my garden next season. I want to try turnip and beet greens too.

Chard, collards... mm mm mm!

 

[picklestheduck]

It’s rained allllll day here. Very miserable. Woke up to a loose horse this morning, one of my mares slipped through the electric fence in the middle of the night it seems. The solar fence charger seems to have quit so it’s time to replace it. Until a new one comes, she’s locked in a dry lot…. Which is essentially a mud pit right now with a mare with metabolic issues. The chickens are miserable. I’m afraid they’ll catch something in this. Only ones out in this weather are my ducks, who are surprisingly even sick of it. My poor pekins looks so so yucky. It’s all that weight dragging them down in the mud. I love my ducks but I will never buy pekins again poor things

 

[Chickin Fairy]

Had a good Christmas. Split it between my family and hubby's family. It went suprisingly well with my family. It was the first I've seen my sister since she came out and she's transitioning female to male. *shrug* All the emotional mess we all went through after he came out and actually spending time with him was wonderful. He's the exact same person they were, it's just the label has changed. It's really hard to flip your brain around, though and call them by a new name and pronouns! He's very patient with us, at least there is that. Even my husband was alright being around him. I was very worried about that because my hubby is quite against it.

Played games with the in-laws. Wizard and Golf. Watched A Christmas Story. Had a delicious dinner.

Yesterday was beautiful, and the weather we've had lately has been cloudy and drizzly, so the chickens have stayed in. But yesterday I wanted to let them out so badly, but the guys trimming trees for the power company were around. They finally left about noon and the birds got to get out. I installed 2 more cameras in/around my run. Glad I did, too. I put everyone away and hubby and I are in Indianapolis for a couple of days. He works down here, I'm just taking the opportunity to get away. But last night... I set my pop door to close at 5:30 but because it was sunny, they didn't all make it into the coop when it closed Thankfully, I have amazing neighbors who were able to go over and let the stragglers in. It's raining again today, so I don't think the birds will be out much later than 5:15. Let's hope!!

 

[Chickin Fairy]

Gosh, I almost forgot to mention... my favorite girl, Shuri is having a really hard molt. It feels like all the birds have been molting for over a month now! I have upped their protien, but lookit this poor baby. For once, I'm thankful for the warmer Temps this winter.

 

[Chickin Fairy]

It’s rained allllll day here. Very miserable. Woke up to a loose horse this morning, one of my mares slipped through the electric fence in the middle of the night it seems. The solar fence charger seems to have quit so it’s time to replace it. Until a new one comes, she’s locked in a dry lot…. Which is essentially a mud pit right now with a mare with metabolic issues. The chickens are miserable. I’m afraid they’ll catch something in this. Only ones out in this weather are my ducks, who are surprisingly even sick of it. My poor pekins looks so so yucky. It’s all that weight dragging them down in the mud. I love my ducks but I will never buy pekins again poor things

Poor guys, they look pretty miserable.

 

[aart]

My poor pekins looks so so yucky.

They need some wood chipping bedding in there to help with all that muck.

 

[picklestheduck]

I’ve tried a lot of stuff, most things sink out of sight plus wood chips would rot wouldn’t they? I’m thinking next springs and summer I’m going to lay some pea gravel down underneath the topsoil for a better drainage system. I might try dumping something in the run tomorrow. Or some of those absorbent stall pellets I use for my horses

 

[aart]

I’ve tried a lot of stuff, most things sink out of sight plus wood chips would rot wouldn’t they? I’m thinking next springs and summer I’m going to lay some pea gravel down underneath the topsoil for a better drainage system. I might try dumping something in the run tomorrow. Or some of those absorbent stall pellets I use for my horses

Gravel will just hold the poops and get nasty.
The slope I see there should be fine for drainage, tho you would also have to rake any bedding back up the slope over time,
maybe add some trenching at the bottom of slope to carry any run off farther away.
Stall pellets might be good for a right now thing.
Good coarse wood chippings from a tree trimmer will last quite a long time.