Michigan

[Olive Hill]

The chicks will be fine in the coop with a heat lamp. We no longer raise chicks in the house and all do fine out in the brooder coop with a heat lamp -- even in -20 to -30 degree temps in the dead of winter.

To the person that asked about tomatoes, tomatoes are not bad for chickens but chickens are bad for tomatoes. They can decimate a garden full of them in a matter of minutes. It's best to fence them out. If someone expressed concern about tomatoes to you they were likely thinking of the tomato plant. Tomatoes are a nightshade and nightshades are generally considered toxic. Your chickens would have to be hard up for food to eat them even with access to them however, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

 

[fifelakelooper]

Cute chicks Hillbilly and dweej!!!

 

[CricketYang]

I put all my chicks that hatched this last weekend outside in the brooder room. They're fine. I think as long as you make sure their water/food supply is taken care of, you have the heat lamp set up and you keep the area clean, you should be fine. I feed my chickens tomatoes all of the time and have never had a problem with them. I heard that the tomato leaves are poisonous though, I'm not sure. BTW, I have 9 out of 11 eggs hatched right now! that's a pretty decent hatch rate so far, I'm going to give the last two eggs until tomorrow morning to make some progress, if not then I'm cleaning out the incubator and moving onto my marans.

 

[dweej]

Quote:
Thanks! I'm just happy they're all still alive. I have no idea what I'm doing! Seems more complicated than human babies sometimes

 

[keyt1969]

Finally got my incubator today woohoo!!! Patiently waiting for it to heat up. I'm surprised any of these eggs have survived. My little silkie had 19 EGGS under her. I took all but 4 from her to stick in the incubator plus I had 9 others she hadn't managed to steal. I might try putting in some duck eggs too. I have a total of 31 chicken eggs and 12 duck eggs. If just half of them survive I'll be very happy!!

I'm slowly making friends with Bella the pig. I sit on a milk crate in her pen and wait. Slowly she's getting closer to taking food out of my hand.

Feeling horrible today. I think I overdid it yesterday. Not even 2 months from surgery so I guess I should have been more careful!

 

[fifelakelooper]

Quote:
Happy for you and the new incubator!! It is such a exciting thing...hatching eggs! Hope you feel better Keyt...I imagine a day or two of rest will help you!

Dweej...just took a look at your website! Pretty interesting story...moving from Ca. to rural Michigan...sight unseen! Were either of you from Mi. originally?? Relatives??
Your children are very cute....looks like you are doing well for a transplant!

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Quote:
Thanks! I am getting more too

 

[Mom 2em All]

I moved my 2 1/2 week old chicks outside. I put them in part of the coop- blocked an area off with hardware cloth, and hung the heat lamp from a roost. Chicks cried and cried because they were scared, and because the ducklings didnt come with them.

That crying upset my broody/ well...not broody hen because she has chicks now- and she thought her babies were seperated...then she would go into the coop and look and those werent HER babies so she would run outside only to run back to them. So, I took one chick- set it on the ground in front of me and watched to see what she would do. She ran from it- so back into the pen it went.
Well,,,,,,she was freaking out when dark came. In the pophole ...cant get to THAT corner of the coop to sleep because its fenced off...out the pophole, check for another doorway...

and back in...over and over and over and over...

until finally she settled in in the opposite corner inside the coop.

Today, everyone is fine and dandy.



edited because sometimes you can proofread something over and over and still not catch the spelling error until it is up for the world to see...

 

[RIRJen]

Quote:
Must not be too bad? At the end of the gardening season I throw the whole dang tomatoe plant into the coop for them to pick at...been doing that for at least 4yrs and no dead chickens lol Maybe mine built up a tolerance and are now super chickens

(picture them with little capes...it will make you giggle)

 

[keyt1969]

Kim and Jen!

I am so happy my little pig is so smart!

Today I sat with her, trying to get her used to me and eat out of my hand. She came as close as about an inch. Maybe tomorrow. Tonight she put herself to bed...after only the 2nd night with her own coop!

All the eggs that I thought were viable are now in the incubator

I just hope a good number of them hatch

Since the silkie was sitting on 19 of them, I'm not sure how many of them are still good. I figured just put them all in and hope for the best! Last night when I carried some of those 19 in the house I dropped one and it had a developing embryo in it. I felt SO bad!

Well, one of the drawbacks to owning your own antique home and living in the country is things can fall apart very easily. Last summer we were out of water for a week when the well motor and one of the pipes gave out. The motor was about 20 years old and the pipes about 55, so they were due. Fortunately we had Aric's mom's about 12 miles away to take showers. Now it's the septic system. Aric drained out the water above the drain by bailing it out with a bucket. Despite bailing out two duck ponds yesterday, I'm not supposed to do that kinda thing yet so he did it all by himself. Now the drains are working again

Tomorrow he's going to teach me to use a couple more power tools so I can make a bird feeder for my dad and step mom from the barn wood we picked up at my best friend's. My dad and I don't get along, but his mother died Friday and my step mom was just as devastated so I'm going to make theme a new bird feeder with an MSU theme. I also picked up one of two very old tricycles out of the barn that I'm going to restore for my best friend. So the next month or two is going to be very busy!

Well I'm sore and tired so I'm gonna see what it's like to go to bed before 3am lol Hope you all had a great day!