Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Scifisarah]

OH! I am so tempted. I decided that we're getting 2 cochins in the Spring. These are adorable, and I am really close, but.... must. wait. until. Spring.

That seems to be everyone else's thoughts as well. :/ I guess I will think twice about hatching eggs this late in the year. I have never had trouble selling the extra chicks before.

 

[Herducks]

I would love to have them, but am too far away

 

[fuzzybutt love]

3 of princess's, and cocoa's baby have come out so far! Idk about the other hen's babies, but out of the 4 of cocoas i hatched this last spring the 2 boys were clean faced and the 2 girls had puffy cheeks.........

Waiting for her to fluff so i can sex her.

2 others have pipped, one a tiny pip and one that has broken through and i say within an hour he'll zip if he follows the others program

I been good, i only opened the bator a *crack* twice; once to shove my frosting spatula in to move the carton so cocoa's baby could get unstuck. (I had the hydrogometer too close) and once to quickly grab her once she had dried somewhat and put on a quick band. (I don't want to confuse them, since she's the one i was after specifically)

 

[swampducks]

And I got a ton of DUDS. These were the good ones!

you got some great pics!!!!

 

[snowflake]

I toss my old bedding out in a pile a ways away from the coop. The youngster usually aren't adventurous to make it that far only the older chickens.

I looked ridiculous today with laundry. I'm still hanging things on the line, although today I would like to have used the drier but it is vented into the garage and DS's deer is hanging so it needs to stay cool. So in 20 mph wind I hung up the laundry. Now it is 30+ with gusts. I was taking it down with my clothes blowing out of the basket and basket itself blowing away. So DS saw me and came to help. I ended up sitting on the clean clothes and basket. He would take the clothes down - while they were wrapping around his head and then bring them to me to fold and sit on.

They are however super soft from being beat around.

For ventilation, if you see stuff blowing around (dust, shavings, cobwebs) then it is too much; if you have moisture condensing in the coop, or the bedding seems very damp, it is too little. Put upper ventilation on the wall away from the perches, to avoid cold air spilling over the birds as they sleep. Leaving small gaps around the bottom of doors - or at least not sealing them tighlty - allows colder, drier air in at floor level, away from roosting birds.

thank you Mary, ,there are openings near the roof were the wall and roof meet , there is and overhang and I don''t feel a draft., I also leave the window cracked a little, so far have not noticed a moisture problem..I think keeping the water outside helps a lot as it stays drier inside.


my little spanish girl laid her first egg today

I had laundry on the line today also, I love sheets dried outside.... we had about 63 today with lots of wind.. things dried fast!!

 

[NovaAman]

Same here. Towels will be very soft!

 

[taprock]

This afternoon my son points out to me that the window is broken in my little coop/tractor. I'm not sure how it happened. I figured it was hit by something in all the wind since it sits on the edge of the woods and there are limbs everywhere. But the broken glass is on the outside of the coop so I'm not sure how it happened. So all 5 of my youngsters have been put in a dog crate inside the big coop. They were making so much noise when I shut everyone one in, not sure about their new surroundings. I also moved 5 grown birds that are standard size from the small coop to the large coop. I want the small coop to be all my mild mannered and bantam birds. The nice thing about the big coop is I have roosts everywhere and so there is not often fighting over roost space.

 

[1muttsfan]

Yay Snowflake! Love first eggs

 

[Brethren49619]

I think I got pseudo skunked.

One had been lurking around, and I even saw it on the deck one morning before I let the dogs out (yea, they waited to potty that morn). So last night I finally caught the darn thing in a livetrap. Looks like a this years skunk, kinda small. Anyway, even though he did not turn tail and spray, there was a skunky odor in the air, probably because it was afraid from being trapped. Putting a bullet between the eyes and WHEW, yea, it couldn't hold it in anymore. I used a set of gloves to remove and dispose of the critter. Nothing skunk touched my skin or cloths.

Now, I smell skunky on myself. I have that set of cloths in the washer. But I still smell skunk. Not the worst smell ever, but not one I want to bring with me around other people.

We had a skunk in our trap just last Friday. It also looked like one of this years offspring. DH took a quick careful shot, but we still got the smell. Guess they release when they die. The smell is still lingering, sometimes pretty strong. Hoped that the rain would wash some of it away, but no such luck. At least the smell didn't get on our clothes at all. Try OxiClean. It has worked great on the dogs when they were sprayed.

Congrats Snowflake. Can't wait for my first egg from my babies. It should be any time now...

 

[chicken grandma]

Which one did you think it was, CG? We think it's Alice (the black one). But she's the one who lays in the run, not the box.

Yes, I thought Alice was the top hen! Interesting that she lays in the run! I like the golf ball idea!