Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Opa]

Picked more tomatoes yesterday and will can them tomorrow. I would estimate that we have probably picked about 1/4 of the tomatoes. The vines are still absolutely loaded. I guess I forgot to mention with my oven technique that it still takes a lot of time. I only set the temperature at 250 and as they cook down the frequency of stirring increases as they get closer to being done.

As I sit here drinking coffee a spike buck has strolled into the yard. Something about being able to look out the window and see wildlife makes me feel good. Now two doe and a fawn have joined him and are feeding about 100' from my window.

 

[Momma K]

What kind of flooring do you have in your basement? Any rugs or furniture? Fleas can live in dirt floors quite happily.

I know I'm a few pages behind, but fleas can live in concrete!! It's porous so they lay their little eggs in the holes and are almost impossible to get rid of.
A roommates dog had fleas bad and would hang out in our basement. I finally had to call professional help because eventually if you went down the stairs, your feet were black from all of the fleas jumping on!!!!

There is a carpet powder that you can get. Get it, put it down, leave for 4-5 hours and vacuum. Vacuum daily, get rid of the bag or dump the bagless contents into a plastic bag, tie up and throw out DAILY.
The vibration from the vacuum helps the eggs hatch, so suck em up and get em out!!!

I won the flea war, you can too!!!

 

[Stacykins]

Well, the Allie the Conqueror strikes again. My dog, some sort of beagley mutt, killed a two month old chicken this morning. It was in the fenced in run attached to the back porch, so when I let her outside to potty, once she honed in there was no chance. About two seconds was all it took for her to turn from bouncy/gotta potty to determined predator, and her jaws were like a snap trap. I don't think the chick suffered much, it seemed really fast. Though Allie did not want to part with her kill, I had to pry open her mouth to remove the chick.

So her tally is now two chickens, one gerbil, and several wild mice.

 

[SillyChicken]

I know what you mean Opa, I opened my curtain this morning and saw a doe w/fawn walking across my yard, about 20' away... then later two more doe and a fawn out in the field. Love seeing them!

Well......... they're an hour late!! I'm going to be really angry if the workers that I scheduled don't show today.......ERRRRR! I can only do this work during off hours - Sunday or after 1:00 am. Someone is gonna get an ear full tomorrow! The manager suggested 10 as a start time, but I said make it 9:00am....... so I'm here waiting an hour past 10 am to make sure he didn't tell his guys 10 am....... so, if that's the case, they're still a half an hour late with no phone calls. I'm staying till 11, then sending an email and going home.

Yesterday was quite productive. I sectioned off 1/4 of the turkey leantoo, framed and sided the walls with reclaimed barn siding. Today I hope to get the front framed and sided as well. I'll have to share something stupid I did though. While working on the back wall, I got done installing the last board....... and realized I had the turkeys locked out of the leantoo........ which also meant, I had sealed myself inside of the turkey leantoo...... LOL! Derp! So I knocked out the vinyl lattes on the side and squeezed out. I laughed so hard at myself! (Had to replace the lattes there anyway so it was no big deal..... just funny what we do when we're trying to get a lot done in a short time).

I'm happy with how it turned out and the boys seemed to like it last night. we had to use a kennel panel over the shed opening to keep the boys out of the feed. This is the shed we keep the rabbits in.

 

[SillyChicken]

Well, the Allie the Conqueror strikes again. My dog, some sort of beagley mutt, killed a two month old chicken this morning. It was in the fenced in run attached to the back porch, so when I let her outside to potty, once she honed in there was no chance. About two seconds was all it took for her to turn from bouncy/gotta potty to determined predator, and her jaws were like a snap trap. I don't think the chick suffered much, it seemed really fast. Though Allie did not want to part with her kill, I had to pry open her mouth to remove the chick.

So her tally is now two chickens, one gerbil, and several wild mice.

That's a bummer Stacy... sorry you lost some chicks.

 

[RaZ]

I'll have to share something stupid I did though. While working on the back wall, I got done installing the last board....... and realized I had the turkeys locked out of the leantoo........ which also meant, I had sealed myself inside of the turkey leantoo...... LOL! Derp! So I knocked out the vinyl lattes on the side and squeezed out. I laughed so hard at myself!

That is pretty amusing.

 

[Brethren49619]

I think we can all relate to doing something like that. We're laughing with you, not at you!

 

[SillyChicken]

That is pretty amusing.

I KNOW RIGHT! One of those moments where ya not only gotta laugh at yourself... but share it with everyone you know!

 

[fuzzybutt love]

RAZ
I may be over-thinking, what if i'm not? I have been riding around the last couple days, and i see quite a few little dairy operations, veal operations that are housed either too close to residential or too close to the road.......... There is only 25 feet of difference in proposed regulations between the large commercial operations and the backyard flock, or any of the small farms, really. The law isn't just for chickens.....Looks like it will be bad for the small mom and pop ag business. I am against the zoning changes too, but the strict spacing/residential rules go way above that, to the point that even if you are zoned ag you may not be able to keep livestock. I barely fit the criteria, even at ag zoning with 5 acres! (family's property) I can't believe the news isn't all over this, it will be HUGE if it goes through. It even affects HORSES!

I see a sad attempt to get money for townships by adding new fines, and i see the state running a huge change through by hiding it under the guise of banning chickens from the city, If livestock owners were more aware that this affected them too, this wouldn't be happening so easy.

 

[swampducks]

Are your Roma tomatoes the usual roma II? I tried a new variety this year, that one and the other northern varieties I tried this year did lousy. I don't know if it was the heat, my lousy soil, the varieties themselves or a combination. Maybe I'm just lousy at growing tomatoes. I've never had success with all those supposed standard ones like early girl, big boy, etc.

Picked more tomatoes yesterday and will can them tomorrow. I would estimate that we have probably picked about 1/4 of the tomatoes. The vines are still absolutely loaded. I guess I forgot to mention with my oven technique that it still takes a lot of time. I only set the temperature at 250 and as they cook down the frequency of stirring increases as they get closer to being done.

Yesterday when I went out to the pens, I found this in my duck pen. http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e...rops/1-swampowlswamplandscapedogsmacro400.jpg

It had already killed one duckling and was attacking the group of ducks when I walked up. Took some doing and help from DH but we managed to get it out without any more damage to the flock. Apparently it came in through the overhead netting inside the 3 tree trunks that go up through the center. I tightened up the netting against the tree trunks, hopefully it didn't like the fact it could get back out without our help and won't try again. At least not until I get rid of the rest of the ducks. Got some generic muscovy ducks available if anyone wants some.