Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Amy PT]

On noisy hens:
The egg song is a joy to hear. Some girls are a bit more exuberant than others but the song doesn't last very long. It still better than the barking, yapping dogs in the neighborhood. Or the woman across the street talking on her phone for hours on end.

Must be that Hazel and Alice have different taste in music than mine. Their "egg song" sound like angry power metal, with a chicken voice.

 

[1muttsfan]

Glad, you are better off using a primer first, or a paint and primer in one, regular wall paint will not always stick so good on wooden surfaces, and may peel later - peeling paint is very attractive to birds and they will eat the flakes.

 

[Stacykins]

It is RAINING! Yay rain! There has been so little of it this year, that rain is hugely exciting!

My goats are a bit bummed about the rain, but the ducks are having a blast.

 

[SillyChicken]

Come on Opa... admit it... You are a man and just love going to the Depot and Lowes, even when there is nothing you need from either.

Truth be told, I absolutely detest Home Depot. They contributed to the demise of local lumber yards and that loss has made my life more difficult.

At a lumber yard I could get quality lumber. I would place an order with a counter man who knew what I was talking about. I would then drive my truck into the yard where a yardman would help me load the materials I had just purchased. In and out in short order.

Now I have to use imported lumber that I have to sort through to find a straight board. Load it on a cart, maneuver it through crowded aisles to stand in line waiting to check out, then wheel it in to parking lot and load it by myself. Oft times materials must be special order and that in and of its self is a joke. If something is out of the ordinary and the computer doesn't show it it doesn't exist. I have to convince the sales person that after almost 50 years in the business I know what I'm talking about.

When Home Depot first came into the area we received a special invitation to visit the store prior to the opening where they told us how much nicer it was going to be than what we were used to. Highly trained counter people, special contractor only checkout lines. Everything possible to speed up the process and lessen our time in the store so we could get back to the job quickly. What a joke.

Trying to find a salesperson to wait on you is difficult. When you do you stand there waiting while they explain to a homeowner how to do something. When you finally get your items, have checked out, you find the loading zone plugged with unattended vehicles so you must push the cart half way across a parking lot. Oh yeah they've made the process easier.

Then to add icing on the cake they are satisfied with just selling materials they also sell the installation, which puts them in completion with the local contractors.

Ya oughta try working there....I worked at the commercial desk... I had to pull all my own orders for my customers cause if I didn't, the boys in lumber would simply pull the first board they could. Never checked for quality etc. Then you have the know it all that thinks that cause I'm a girl, I didn't know what I was talking about. I worked with a good bunch of guys, and they actually enjoyed it when a customer would come up and see me, then ask them to speak to the GUY who knows everything......... and they'd point at me. Of course there were also customers that would come in, break stuff, leave, and then come back in and demand a discount on the stuff they broke. The middle eastern men were the worst because they didn't like to work with a woman... so between crabby customers all demanding discounts or complaining cause things weren't the way they wanted..hearing nasty and lewed comments about my female atributes and rude comments...people screaming at me on the phone cause their delivery was late... (I was not in deliveries, but commercial desk often dealt with delivery issues).. we had managers breathing down our backs, writing us up for not getting our credit card quotas (quotas were only met with approved and money applied cards) met, or making enough soliciation calls. We always had to be careful about what we said to a customer cause the strore managers were always trick calling.....and the DOS based computer system.......OMG, that was the worst.. I could spend all day telling stories about the computers.. and I can tell you alot of good people lost jobs due to flaws in that system.... Word to the wise, wash your hand tools as some end up in the crack of a mans behind as he tries to steal it, very popular place to hide stuff - everyday thefts was an issue... So........ yeah, I'll NEVER work retail again! Cause, honestly, there are a lot of customers.........that are huge pains in the keester!

On a good note,,, I got the door done for the goat shed! The people I got the goats from brought their girls over to play with them a little on Sunday.

 

[RaZ]

I just saw a mallard fly by and thought it might have been my last one.
I have one left. She is the hen who was plucked by my GR about a month or so ago. Dumb dog was "playing" with her and pulled out a lot of feathers so she couldn't fly.

I went out to check and she wasn't in the run so I thought she it was her. Turns out she was in the coop, sitting in a patch of sun coming through the window. If she doesn't leave soon, I think she just might spend the winter here.

 

[NovaAman]

Hey wishtofish... I just about abbreviated that... then I saw what it was and so do not need to get in more trouble... ANYWAY! I free range my birds during the day. I have lost birds to hawks, my silkie roo being the most recent loss. I don't like it much that it happens, and I do a lot of running in and out during the day the last several days because of the arial predator migration. My neighbor does not let his birds out during the week but for a few hours in the evening. Most the day on the weekends. AND I have to say that my birds look much nicer also. If you don't want completely free-range, but do not want penned all day, you could fence a part of your yard... I just let mine go where ever. I have a great neighbors, and I made certain it would not be a problem if my chickens wandered into their yard. They like to see them.

Another problem I have is random people stop and look at my birds all the time. Yesterday we had a young couple stop and look and take pictures... That is kinda a freaky, but it happens...

 

[NovaAman]

I just saw a mallard fly by and thought it might have been my last one.
I have one left. She is the hen who was plucked by my GR about a month or so ago. Dumb dog was "playing" with her and pulled out a lot of feathers so she couldn't fly.

I went out to check and she wasn't in the run so I thought she it was her. Turns out she was in the coop, sitting in a patch of sun coming through the window. If she doesn't leave soon, I think she just might spend the winter here.

That'd be cool.

 

[gladahmae]

I bhaven't been on the site in quite a while. I was out driving and went by a farm that had their chickens "Free Ranging" in the yard .... the birds looked great! I have a friend in the area that free ranges his birds also ...

I have a dozen hens that I've had for a year and a half. I keep them in a coop that is 7' x 8' at night. They have a automatic door that opens in the morning and they come out to a run that is 7' x 16' ...

I've noticed that they are all beat up ... I'm assuming from pecking at each other at night ... I was thinking of "Free Ranging" them during the day to give they more room to roam .... any Ideas or sugestions?

could they be starting to molt?? just throwing that idea out there....

 

[NovaAman]

Word to the wise, wash your hand tools as some end up in the crack of a mans behind as he tries to steal it, very popular place to hide stuff -
On a good note,,, I got the door done for the goat shed! The people I got the goats from brought their girls over to play with them a little on Sunday.

Great... I will never be able to go into the tools dept and look at them the same again... AND THEN, I have a top crack to rival any mans crack... And if that can hatch eggs, I wonder if it could hide a scroll saw....

Nice door... Thats a weird looking goat too... the one right there ^

 

[SillyChicken]

could they be starting to molt?? just throwing that idea out there....

have you ever watched them when they put themselves away at night. Are they squabbling for roost space? Do you have too many roosters? They will make your hens look reallly bad. Are they feather plucking and eating the feathers?