Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[kimmie6067]

Hehe, yep! She is close to a cashmere goat, an Angora.

And of course, I must shamelessly share pictures of my living plush doll of a goat, hah!

Nibbling on some hay


Good side profile of her. And a chicken nearly photobombe the picture!


Doing what goats do best, climbing!


Bowl of nummies drawing her attention. She is still wary of me.


I upped the ante, I offered her grain from my hand


Food won!

I would love one of these babydolls.

My hubby got a new job and we will be moving by the Mason area yahooooo he will be making twice as much and then some!!!!!! I will be looking for a new place around there. I want a nice size place four bedrooms three baths, pole barn and out buildings for my chickers.

Kimmie

 

[ChicwannaB]

I haven't started yet, been watching You Tube vids about it. I bought mine from New ENgland somewhere, probably Vermont, it came with one small bundle of pre-carded stuff!

 

[kimmie6067]

Now that I got my son's chickens here's the tally:

1. Jersey Giant roo
2. 2 Jersey Giant hens
3. 5 Golden Comets hens
4. 1 Buff Orpington hen
5. 1 Golden Campine hen
6. 1 Barred Rock hen
7. 1 Cuckoo Maren hen
8. 3 Easter Eggers hens
9. 1 Rode Island Red
10. 2 Icelandic roo's
11. 1 Icelandic hen
12. Blue Orpington roo
13. 1 Blue Orpington hen

21 chickens in all! How in the world did this happen? I just wanted a few chickens now I have a whole herd of the silly birds.


Kimmie

 

[Juise]

Highlights of what you missed...

Daron's 24. Tap shot a nice buck from her basement window, she was not wearing a dress, but she did have on dress pants and a nice sweater, so we'll let that one slide. This time. RaZ is still a free man and working hard to stay that way and to keep us all in chickens. We've got a lot of new members recently. That's always nice. Stacy got the prettiest cashmere goat. I think it was Stacykins. Babigyrl is preggo with twins. RaZ is a docent... yet kids make him puke. There was is the winter heat/no heat/ what about frozen water discussion that seems to happen every year. (I asked those same question my first winter also). The presidents still president. The sky is still up and the ground is still down. Good books for chicken keeping/homesteading were discussed a bit. Crazy people are incubating or are letting broody birds incubate (guilty!). Oh, and Brethrens hubby had an accident at work that crushed his leg, several surgeries to fix it. Plate and screws, but is on the mend. SO, in other words, same ole same ole. Different day, same poop. Kicking and screaming.

Thanks, Nova! That's what I was hoping for. I was still around when Brethren's husband had the accident, glad to hear that he is improving.

Congrats, Babigyrl!!

Why haven't we locked RaZ up yet?

Oh, and Nova, did you still wanted to split the run cover stuff, or are you going a different route?

What a cutie!

GUYS GUESS WHAT! You know that piece of dirt I have been talking about all year? Well, maybe not, hopefully I didn't actually talk about it that much, but I finished it! It took me a bit over 8 months to turn this field of sand, densely packed with evil dune grass of doom, into a real bed of soil, but it's finally over! And in time for me to have garlic, onions, and potatoes in, a cover crop down, and ready to plant in the Spring. I am so, so happy. There is still work to do, I still need to drive posts, stretch a fence, finish the shed, build a gate to match the arbor, and I will want to put more wood chips down for paths at some point, but I can grow food in it now and that's what counts! No more giant mountains of wood chips or mulch hanging over me!

I realize this doesn't actually sound all that exciting, hehe, but it really is to me! And I know this is not much to some, and wouldn't take nearly so long for many people as it did me, but keep in mind that I did it all myself while taking care of two young insane children and a million other day to day tasks, and the technology I had to work with consisted of a wheel barrow, a shovel, a pitch fork, and a rake.

It was, if I remember correctly, about 18 cubic yards of wood chips, and 20 some odd cubic yards of mulch. I started getting the bottom layers of tarping and old boards to smother out the dune grass down back in March, and I have been plugging away at it in my "spare time" ever since.

Also it is bigger than it looks in this picture, I swear, LOL. It is about a foot and a half deep, (hard to tell with the dune grass around it,) and I forget the exact perimeter measurements by now, it is about 44 foot by 30 foot, something close to that.



Other than that, the water is on a warming pan, and no one is dead yet, so all is going well. I want to get more windows in the coop so it isn't so dim, but that will have to wait I think. There is just too much to do elsewhere in life. Like Christmas, omg! You have to freak out early when you make all your gifts, and I never freak out early enough! I'm considering putting a light on a timer in there, but I am terrified of fires, and there is at least one large window.

 

[Juise]

And Kimmie, hope your husband is okay, that sounds scary! Congrats on the new grandbaby and the new job.

 

[lhawes]

Now that I got my son's chickens here's the tally:

1. Jersey Giant roo
2. 2 Jersey Giant hens
3. 5 Golden Comets hens
4. 1 Buff Orpington hen
5. 1 Golden Campine hen
6. 1 Barred Rock hen
7. 1 Cuckoo Maren hen
8. 3 Easter Eggers hens
9. 1 Rode Island Red
10. 2 Icelandic roo's
11. 1 Icelandic hen
12. Blue Orpington roo
13. 1 Blue Orpington hen

21 chickens in all! How in the world did this happen? I just wanted a few chickens now I have a whole herd of the silly birds.


Kimmie

I said the same thing... I think we are up to 40 something... but 15 of them are broilers that are about to have a date with their processor here soon. How do all the roo's get along?? We only have one roo right now, but I know we have a couple of the Americanas that are roos, but young right now.

 

[kimmie6067]

I said the same thing... I think we are up to 40 something... but 15 of them are broilers that are about to have a date with their processor here soon. How do all the roo's get along?? We only have one roo right now, but I know we have a couple of the Americanas that are roos, but young right now.

The broilers are going to freezer camp then? I don't think I could eat my chickens but I wish I could. I only have the Icelandic roos together, they don't fight yet. I got them at fowl fest this last spring. But so far they get along really well they sleep together and hang out. They are soooooo pretty. The Jersey roo would smash the others, but the blue orpington is getting big.

Kimmie

 

[lhawes]

The broilers are going to freezer camp then? I don't think I could eat my chickens but I wish I could.

Yup.... freezer camp. That was the whole purpose that he got the broilers. I told him I will never again have them. It is sad that their whole purpose is to be destined for freezer camp. If they are able to survive, they often die of heart attacks. We have already had that happen to one of them. We got the broilers and some Isa Browns at the same time... and the broilers are HUGE in comparison. I myself will have a hard time eating my chickens. They each have such a personality it is sad to see one go!

 

[RaZ]

Why haven't we locked RaZ up yet?

I don't know what hurts more...
That Juise wants to see me in prison...
Or that no one here defended my honour.

 

[taprock]

We had our neighbor offer us an 8-point buck last night since he did not have time to find someone to process it. We were so excited until he told us it had been hanging in a tree since Thursday

Felt bad telling him we didn't think it would be good anymore with the higher temps we had this weekend, but was a little upset he had wasted all that good meat and the life of the deer. We process our own deer and are super picky about keeping it cold and processing right away. I usually don't even hunt unless I know it is going to be under 40-45.

What a waste! We have been lucky that it has been below freezing every night. Mine is now quartered up and in the garage fridge awaiting cutting and grinding. My son got a doe also and that's done up too. We have a commercial grade grinder and do our own. My DH wanted to have my buck mounted. I know they look nice but to me it's a waste of money. My brother who does taxidermy came over and skinned it out for us and someone is buying the cape. I just wish I had read about the heart and liver before we got rid of them. We also had a bald eagle come in and have a bite to eat off the gut pile.

Beautiful birds who like the grossest things.

Bretheren - how is your DH dong?

My son has been "working with" the button quail - in his words. He has her so tame now that he can get her out and let her run around on his lap or the table and she doesn't try to fly away. He says he wants to show her for 4-h and was disappointed when I informed him they don't have quail showmanship. I would never have let him get her out and play with her had I known but now she is so friendly. I still have 3 baby cinnamons who need a home if you can't resist a quail.