Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[swampducks]

It's actually raining way up here, it's not heavy, it's certainly not going to break any records or probably even amount to half an inch, but it's nice to have something other than heat and dryness. My chickens don't seem to mind it, just took a look at the run and they're all standing out there looking soggy. I do believe that they think standing around the door to the run will entire me to let them free range. Not gonna happen. I have no desire to chase around the idiots who can't figure out how to find the door later tonight in the rain. In the mean time I'm just watching some Olympics, playing with my new camera and thinking about having some tea and lemon biscotti.

Oh, and anyone who is interested in the Up North Chicken Stock please follow the links in my signature. Got 3 peeps officially signed up in the food/attendee thread.

It's Sept 22nd in Lovells near Grayling. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...try-fest-2012-food-and-attendees#post_9471174

 

[RaZ]

Someone was asking about my Emus.....
Now at 11 weeks...

I love this photo!

Question: How long after you break a broody before she might start to lay eggs again?

My Uggo laid her first egg 2 days after being broken. She was every other day or so for a week and this week has been 4 for 5.

I have an Isa Brown that started laying at 17 weeks. Three months old seems early but I'm super new to chickens so I have no idea.

My ISA Browns started at 21 weeks. They start when they are good and ready is the only advice I can give you.


Just don't tell Ashli that you are getting eggs. It hurts her feelings because her hens are all boys.

 

[jrsckn]

It's Sept 14th in Lovells near Grayling. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...try-fest-2012-food-and-attendees#post_9471174

I thought it was the 22nd?

 

[swampducks]

It is the 22nd, Don't know where my mind was though the other date is DH's birthday. Thanks for catching that, I edited my post.

 

[HouseCat]

I have a ventilation question. My coop is an old cattle lean-to on the side of our turn-of-the-century barn so it isn't exactly "air tight". It's bigger than most @ 44'x14' or 680sqft, for the 16 banties I housed in it last winter. Other than opening the door from 11am til around 5-6pm, there weren't any vents. Now it gets pretty cold up here in Gaylord, staying below freezing for most of the winter, and the wind is bitter cold at night.
I was talking to my dad the other day, an old cattle farmer, about how I need to cut some vents into the walls for this winter. His thoughts are that it's too cold up here to keep a coop vented 24hrs a day and that "winter ventilation" must be a southern thing. I admit, there was no ammonia smell last winter as their droppings were frozen 15-20mins after they "dropped". I also didn't notice any respiratory distress in my birds, although when I would finish my head-count at night with a flashlight, the straw dust in the air was pretty visible.
So I guess my question is, is 24hr winter ventilation a southern thing? Is my coop so big that my chickens don't need ventilation from 6pm 'til 11am? What does experience in raising birds in this climate tell you?
Thanks again in advance,
hc

 

[NovaAman]

I promised back in the olden days that I would get a pic of my coop set up... SO, here it is, The whole containment it 12 wide, and 28 long. There is that much GROUND space. The coops have 74sq of floor space. I am pretty confident that it will be plenty of room for the winter. The whole run will be roofed with tarping, so that I can take it off in the spring... Maybe. I just need to work on building the supports first. I have an idea, but not sure if it is the best plan. I expect Opa could tell me if it is feasible. The plan is to attach anchor point, use 16 foot pvc to span the 12 wide area. There will be center supports as well as supports for weight bearing that go to the ground, Holes will be dug for those, and anchored in cement. SO, permanent placement. I will place the pvc roughly a 18 inches apart. I could place them closer if it is better to do so.

 

[teeville5]

I have an Isa Brown that started laying at 17 weeks. Three months old seems early but I'm super new to chickens so I have no idea.

I have no clue but that's a big spider!

See, I think that is when I started getting the eggs last year. For this girl, I can't remember her hatch date, but I do know it was right before the end of the school year so she is between 3-4 months old. I just don't know if I've ever heard of an early early layer like that. I have chickens I got in March that still aren't laying yet. It's just baffling.

I'm with Opa on those wolf spiders. They get so big. I can handle little ones just not the big ones.

As for the ix-nay, our Baby Girl actually crows from time to time and she is definitely a she. So there is a little itty bitty ray of hope, right?

 

[NovaAman]

Oh, and those peices of wood that are just laying over corner and such... Keeping food dry. I take them down when its not raining. BUT, I have feed EVERY WHERE. Other wise there is fighting if they are all in one area.

 

[chicken grandma]

Nova, is your chicken set up on asphalt? Just wondering because if it is then no predator could dig under the coop........but I think you had floors in the coops anyway as I remember.
That is a really nice set up. Is any of it covered on the top for the hawks?

 

[NovaAman]

Not yet. In fact, the chickens are not confined to the run at all. It is only closed at night to keep the buggers away from the feed. It is on dirt. The dirt is so hard compacted, and the tree roots so thick underneath that I haven't had anything try and dig under. Most of the run that meets the ground has wood landscape timbers anchored down to the ground and and also screwed to the run itself. I am working on some help for gravel placement. I am going to attach and lay fencing on the ground and then cover with crush concrete that I have left over from a driveway project. I figure that will make digging under/through it very challenging to both coons and fox.