Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[ladyrsanti]

be careful, swearing in public in front of kids will get you fined too! Not that i wouldn't have said all that and a lot more too, probably accompanied by my throwing whatever i could find handy, but our fickle laws..........

To me it comes down to if it was an honest one time mistake, or is it an everyday occurrence?

I run into this situation more frequently than i'd like, i hate to say it but i am not friendly at all in these situations, even to friends and family. To me it is a lack of respect, and i don't take kindly to it. It usually don't take but one or two of these situations before the offender realizes that i'm deadly serious, and to stop playing russian roulette with my animal's lives. I want to save up for a bunch of fencing enough to do a whole yard in the tall fencing, but it also angers me because i shouldn't have to if my animals are in their own yard.

Heheh, yeah, I didn't actually swear at it, that's just what I wanted to say. Instead I bellowed at the dog to "GETTOUTAHERE!!!!" and people who know me would have cowered in fear because I just don't raise my voice like that normally. I couldn't even bring myself to look at the woman, I was so mad, afraid I would say something that created bad neighborly relations. I'm hoping she got the message and keeps that dog contained from now on. If it happens again, we'll have an issue.

ANY dogs taken off of your property should be leashed properly, I can't even count the times a dog has scared the daylights out of my son, he is 3 now but has always been scared of dogs and the owners always act like he is silly. He's a small child, it's the equivalent of a horse running up to you with it's tail wagging, it's huge and scary.

I was the same way as a child, still am to some degree and my children are as well and yes, we are all treated like we're silly by dog owners/lovers.

 

[1muttsfan]

Bretheren, hoping all goes well for your husband.

If I figure in the cost of building the coops, pens, and all the gear associated, feed is a trivial expense.

At least 3 chickies out now!

 

[tdhenson86]

Quote:
She is BEAUTIFUL!!! Congratulations on her!!!

Stella, my molting hen from Stacykins, has started laying again. I thought it might have been her, but actually caught her in the act yesterday morning. This was the second beautiful egg from her.

Theron, glad to hear the duck is alright. Scary. I'm glad I haven't had that experience yet.

The hoop top looks great. And very impressive that you did it on your own. PVC can have a mind of it's own when you ask it to bend. Have you had any winds yet? Just wondering how it reacted...

DH has surgery today to put the plates and screws into his crushed leg and will be in the hospital for a few days at least. He's very much looking forward to having the external fixator off/out as it is very restrictive to any movement. His leg is still swollen, but the surgeon said they can't wait any longer. There is concern that the skin will not hold up and essentially fall apart because it has been so swollen for so long (since Oct 15). If so, they will have a plastic surgeon put in a flap of skin over the area. This will cause an additional risk of infection, along with the fracture blisters, which are healing, but very big and nasty on both sides of the leg. The surgeon said, " We will do the best we can with it, but it will never be good." DH has two very good orthopedic surgeons who will be performing the surgery today, and I know they will do the best that they can, but with a crushing leg injury, you can only expect so much healing. It will still be another 2 months (if all goes well today) before he can put ANY weight on this leg.

I know many of you good folks will continue to pray and wish him/us well. The support I have had from so many of you here through PMs and postings has truly touched my heart and has meant so much to me. Without even knowing what your faces look like or your true names, you have become a source of support and strength for me.

Thoughts and prayers your way! Please keep us informed!

 

[NovaAman]

The consensus on several of the other feed related threads is to treat your chickens like spoiled kids at dinner, and not give them anything else til they eat what's on their plate. Others say that chickens know what their bodies need and will eat what they require so free choice is best.

What do you find to be fact?

I free choice mine. I have also switched to deeper pan so the chicks can just hop up in and get their grub, and soem homemade feeders like this, only the holes I put in are closer to the bottom of the bucket, 1.5 inch hole saw, about every 5 inches around. You could do it with a 5-7 gallon covered bucket. You can screw the bucket to the pan, or just set it in, I screwed mine in, used a near flat head bolt on the outside, the nut is inside. 5 buxks for the bucket and lid, 4 bucks for the pig pan. Food loss to the ground has pretty much disappeared and a 50# bag of feed lasts me 2 weeks for 37 birds with just feed. With 3/4-1/4 feed/corn/scratch mix, going just shy of 3 weeks.

The hoop top looks great. And very impressive that you did it on your own. PVC can have a mind of it's own when you ask it to bend. Have you had any winds yet? Just wondering how it reacted...

DH has surgery today to put the plates and screws into his crushed leg and will be in the hospital for a few days at least....

No, I haven't had anywinds yet. My coop and run are a bit shielded on the westside from a thickish stand of younger trees. I am hoping it'll be ok. I have double bracketed all the hoops, and I HOPE it will all work out. We'll see I guess. I also made sure to secure the tarp with wood on the outside where it connects to the run, sandwiche it if you will... Anyway, I was talking a builder in Lowes at the time I was picking the pvc up, I guess I must have been looking perplexed, and he asked what I was looking for, SO, i had to explain, and he was thinking that since I have them rounded, the wind might pass up and over more easily, and not push and bend them the other way since they are already curved in the direction the wind would be blowing, and as long as I made sure wind couldn't get in up under the tarp, he was thinking they'd hold. He said he's never done something like this, but... I figured, the argument was good enough for me. LOL

Good luck on your DH surgery.

If I figure in the cost of building the coops, pens, and all the gear associated, feed is a trivial expense.
At least 3 chickies out now!

x2. If I even tried to balance, recoup, from the cost of building every thing and feed, I'd give up. I don't think you can actually expect to see any balance in the first few years and you have to suck up the cost. Kinda like a business. If they don't begin to see profit after something like 3 years, then it can be considered a bust. If your goal is to make money, then, you have to spend money to make money. I don't expect to make any money. Selling the eggs is nice. I do not advertise, people just come to the door. Now I am going to have to start turning people away when they come, since I am getting only 4-7 eggs a day from the 20 girls that are laying/pol. I have 9 chicks, and 5 boys, and 3 hens that are not laying cuz they are brooding/raising chicks. The one who is brooding, she is starting to get really witchy cause I won't let her, but she's being a terror to break...

Yeah, more chickies!

 

[NovaAman]

Oh, better clarify something, that bag of scratch/corn... depends on which I pick up, that last over a month, since I also feed it during the day when I want everyone to come so I can do a head count, I scatter about 2 cups on the ground in a long line.... Nothing like 37 birds all lined up in row. So very colorful.

 

[Herducks]

Brethren prayers for you and your husband, I hope all goes better then expected today

 

[glitchchick]

Anyone know of a decent place to have a chicken slaughtered and processed near Kalamazoo?

 

[greenmimama]

I didn't factor in cost of building because we bought the place and the shed that we use as a coop was already here. We will have to reroof it in the spring, but I don't consider that costs of the chickens, because we would have to do it anyways, even if we were just storing lawnmowers in there.

I do have some cost into wateres and feeders, but it is very minimal since I made a friend who was getting out of it and she sold them to me at garage sale prices! yay!

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Thanks Laura for asking. Feel a bit better, but still stuffy and coughing.

sounds like you got the "crud" that is going around. Feel better soon

Well, got the run covered. I think I did a pretty good job for a nut case who just flies by the seat of her pants and hopes it all works out in the end.


I still have to finish the tops obviously, but! They now have a nice snow free place for the winter.Trying to decide if I should run a bit of fencing around the top to discourage any critter from trying to get thru the tarp. I haven't had anything get on top of the coops yet. Yet being the key word there...

I would suggest that you cover the ends too because a good gust of wind might have you scrambling.

HH used cattle panels to make hers. DH,and I helped DD make one like hers it was very easy and not to costly

Hi HH, hope you are feeling well!

Thanks mutt, I am much better and getting lots of rest.

.

That's it? no supports? .......we have cattle fencing, had it for the goats but i don't think we are getting them back...........I would still need the hardware cloth for predators, but i would love to do a hoop run!

We had supports for the big one. Here is a link to mine, https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/386902/we-gave-the-chickens-our-bedroom-pic-heavy I really liked it a lot.

DH has surgery today to put the plates and screws into his crushed leg and will be in the hospital for a few days at least.

I know many of you good folks will continue to pray and wish him/us well. The support I have had from so many of you here through PMs and postings has truly touched my heart and has meant so much to me. Without even knowing what your faces look like or your true names, you have become a source of support and strength for me.

Breathern, continued prayers for you and your husband

And I agree, there are some really wonderful folks here on BYC

 

[ladyrsanti]

Hoping everything goes well for your husband Bretheren.