Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Farmerboy16]

Very nice set-up, Nova! I like it.

I like it too RaZ.

Its still pouring here. Not complaining.

Bella will be going into heat anytime this weekend, and I got the guy ready to AI her. We are having her bred by Guernsey semen, so if she have another heifer, it will be more dairy than beef, so we can have more milk. Its a waiting game right now. I have been checking her a few times a day, so we can catch her in heat, for cows have a very narrow window to get bred. Just 24 hours.

Here is the new picture of Maybelle- Note that she looks very beefy like her dad the Angus bull, that will means that she will produce beefy calves for our freezer, when she is bred by Angus bull when she is old enough to be bred. She may go to her first heat when she turns 1.
She just turned 2 months old a week ago.

Bath time!

Silly Pancake

Even sillier November

 

[1muttsfan]

Housecat, a not-tight, large enclosure like that is probably well enough ventilated for the number of birds you have. If you start seeing condensation on the inside of the coop, you could always open some ventilation up near the top along one wall.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Ok, got to go and clean out my 16 by 16 layer coop, so I can move in all of my laying and ready to lay soon chickens in it since I have this weekend off. That coop is my two story coop that my brother and I built in '07. The nickname for that coop is chicken mansion. The thing is that it cost us nothing to build it for all the materials came from the backyard, and it looks like a real house that a person can live in! Hillbilly Hen and Olive have seen that coop and will agreed with me.

I will take a picture of it AFTER I am done cleaning it out. It has been empty for almost year now, but I have not had a chance to clean it out yet. Also, I want to make some changes in it.

Speaking of Hillbilly Hen and Olive, where are they?

See ya.

PS, if you guys see me on here between now and 8 pm, tell me to get off the computer and get back to work!

 

[taprock]

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

Welcome! Nice to see more up north people. Like 1mutts said you have lots of space so keep an eye on it. I found a big difference in the past two winters and haven't changed my coop - I have a 2 inch opening all along the eaves and at the ridge. The first year everything froze and I had too much ventilation so I stuffed sheets in the gaps to close things up a bit. I did the same last year but ended up pulling the sheets out on half the coop because I needed more ventilation. So much depends on weather.

Farmerboy - Those emu look like they are friendly. Are they?

Looks good Nova.

 

[NovaAman]

I'd suggest, and I may be stupid in this, but I'd say, get vents with covers, or louvered vents like you see on heat ducts. This way, you can open and close as needed. Mount them on the inside, so the louver doesn't freeze. OR, drill 1/2 inch holes along the top of the wall, near the roof, so the roof overhang will prevent water from going in, you won't get draft. Cut a 3 in by 18 inch window in, put the peice of wood you cut out on hinges, and open and close as needed. Cover with a predator deterent for when it is open.

 

[chickflick]

Welcome, Housecat!!

 

[chicken grandma]

Yes, I was thinking about predators if something is not air tight, I guess even one open inch and weasels can get in.

Nova, I thought that black compact dirt was asphalt.

 

[NovaAman]

It doesn't look so black when it is dry! Lol, I took the pic off my deck in the rain. I just posted my coop progression from where I started, to where I finished on another thread, and now my table computer is crashed AGAIN!

 

[CaraBear]

Howdy, everyone...

I'm in Midland, MI - still working hard to be able to HAVE coop....there is a group of us working to change the proposed draft of the 2013 GAAMPS to provide better protection for urban farms under Michigan's Right to Farm Act -

We would appreciate any and all support that other chicken owners can provide - we have created a facebook page:

www.facebook.com/BYChickenKeepersofMI

If you could/would "like" and share that page, and then stay tuned for our 'plan of action' with regards to the upcoming GAAMPS vote, we would appreciate it!

 

[mrshaggie810]

Thanks, all, for sharing in my duck egg excitement! You know, they even FEEL different than chicken eggs! They're sort of silky feeling for lack of a better word. I may not be able to wait until the weekend to make an omelet...may need to have eggs for dinner!

Yay for duck eggs! I know we have at least one girl, so I can't wait to get my first egg!

I understand that Freedom of Speech is one of the blocks our country was founded on and I spent several years in the military making my contribution to keeping our country free. While it is the right of a group like the Westboro Baptist Church to express their views to do so at the funeral of one of our gallant soldiers goes beyond the pale. To protest at the funeral of someone who gave their life defending our countries values seems horribly ungrateful and extremely callous and cruel.

The families of our fallen are suffering and for someone to add to that grieve is unconscionable. I was glad to read that others plan to create a human wall of privacy for the family. God please take our fallen comrade to your bosum.

I don't understand the idea behind the protesting...what are they protesting against, and why do they think it is appropriate to do so at a funeral?

Farmerboy: Sorry about your nephew. I have not been around for very long. What is his diagnosis if you don't mind sharing? I will keep him in prayer.

More rain today...love it, but not really letting me get much done outside. I got my first tomato from the garden today....a tiny cherry tomato from a plant that is broken and laying on the ground but still growing! lol!

Hopefully the next few days will be more productive.