Michigan

[7961]

Quote:
Don't see too many of those in N. Michigan....winters too harsh....but we have seen a couple in the past 8 yrs. we have lived here. Glad you are settled in Stacykins...Michigan is a lovely state . Yesterday I had a scarlet tanager in one of our trees! Beautiful.

Pheasants can handle the MI winters. They due very well in the upper central plain/western states. Population declines are mostly due to habitat loss and very fragmented habitat pockets. You see fewer and fewer grass/fallow fields and fence rows than 10-15+ years back. There is a booming population to their needs. And the predator numbers have exploded both native and non-native (feral/house cats). Yes and we are talking about an introduced species. The combination of those factors is like dancing on a mine field for pheasants. I am fortunate enough to see or hear ringnecks every day.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Quote:
Me, too, 7961. Our 10 acres of deep grass pasture land is refuge for a lot of ringnecks. I even have a "resident" male that greets me every morning either at my coop or at my barn. He jumps up on the corner wooden fence post, beats his wings, and "salutes" me around 6am. I'm glad they feel safe around our farm...considering my neighbor's (1/4 mile away) property adjoins mine, and he's a pheasant hunter.

 

[ChicwannaB]

Quote:
Don't see too many of those in N. Michigan....winters too harsh....but we have seen a couple in the past 8 yrs. we have lived here. Glad you are settled in Stacykins...Michigan is a lovely state . Yesterday I had a scarlet tanager in one of our trees! Beautiful.

I have more luck seeing ringneck pheasant around me cuz of all the fields. Up where we deer hunt in the Beaverton area we see quite a few. Apt to see males fighting, thats a sight.

 

[Chickmate]

Quote:
Don't see too many of those in N. Michigan....winters too harsh....but we have seen a couple in the past 8 yrs. we have lived here. Glad you are settled in Stacykins...Michigan is a lovely state . Yesterday I had a scarlet tanager in one of our trees! Beautiful.

Pheasants can handle the MI winters. They due very well in the upper central plain/western states. Population declines are mostly due to habitat loss and very fragmented habitat pockets. You see fewer and fewer grass/fallow fields and fence rows than 10-15+ years back. There is a booming population to their needs. And the predator numbers have exploded both native and non-native (feral/house cats). Yes and we are talking about an introduced species. The combination of those factors is like dancing on a mine field for pheasants. I am fortunate enough to see or hear ringnecks every day.

I used to work at the Renaissance Center in Detroit and the first time I saw ringneck pheasants along the roadside I thought it was just a fluke, but for 11 years that I worked there before I retired I saw them every single day, summer and winter. I'm talking from 8 Mile all the way downtown along the expressway. One day I counted 38 of them just on the morning drive. One day when I-75 was closed due to an accident I had to take Gratiot all the way out of the city. Just a few blocks from the Eastern Market there is a little circle median where three streets converge in a very poor and bad area of town. There is nothing there but concrete, dirt, rocks, trash and broken glass. In that little median I counted 10 ringnecked hens. Everytime I would see them I would say in amazement "you have wings, you can fly, what are you doing in Detroit???"

There is also a very nice well kept area of large older homes only a mile or so from downtown called Indian Town. Driving through there one day I noticed many ringnecks picking around the yards and flower beds. Go figure. If I had wings I you wouldn't find me in Detroit or any city. I'm sure they flourish because there are fewer predators and people probably like to see them and maybe even feed them. One frozen winter morning when driving to work along Jefferson going through Grosse Pointe, I looked out at Lake St. Claire and saw a huge and beautiful coyote standing on the ice. Also had a coyote run past the Ren Cen one day.

 

[Henny Penny04]

My sister in law lived in a converted loft in Detroit. She saw more wildlife than I often do in the country. There are lots of open area, devoid of people, in Detroit. It's ripe for agriculture, actually. I even read about a huge organic farm planned for inside the city limits. Crazy.

Everyday last week I heard an interesting sound that I thought was a neighbor working on a car. It actually sounded like when someone restarts a car that is already running. Curious, I finally walked out to our back meadow and my dog flushed a female ringneck. I'm guessing the sound was her?

 

[keyt1969]

Quote:
Pheasants can handle the MI winters. They due very well in the upper central plain/western states. Population declines are mostly due to habitat loss and very fragmented habitat pockets. You see fewer and fewer grass/fallow fields and fence rows than 10-15+ years back. There is a booming population to their needs. And the predator numbers have exploded both native and non-native (feral/house cats). Yes and we are talking about an introduced species. The combination of those factors is like dancing on a mine field for pheasants. I am fortunate enough to see or hear ringnecks every day.

I used to work at the Renaissance Center in Detroit and the first time I saw ringneck pheasants along the roadside I thought it was just a fluke, but for 11 years that I worked there before I retired I saw them every single day, summer and winter. I'm talking from 8 Mile all the way downtown along the expressway. One day I counted 38 of them just on the morning drive. One day when I-75 was closed due to an accident I had to take Gratiot all the way out of the city. Just a few blocks from the Eastern Market there is a little circle median where three streets converge in a very poor and bad area of town. There is nothing there but concrete, dirt, rocks, trash and broken glass. In that little median I counted 10 ringnecked hens. Everytime I would see them I would say in amazement "you have wings, you can fly, what are you doing in Detroit???"

There is also a very nice well kept area of large older homes only a mile or so from downtown called Indian Town. Driving through there one day I noticed many ringnecks picking around the yards and flower beds. Go figure. If I had wings I you wouldn't find me in Detroit or any city. I'm sure they flourish because there are fewer predators and people probably like to see them and maybe even feed them. One frozen winter morning when driving to work along Jefferson going through Grosse Pointe, I looked out at Lake St. Claire and saw a huge and beautiful coyote standing on the ice. Also had a coyote run past the Ren Cen one day.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Renaissance Center!! Sadly I haven't been there in about 15 years! I used to work at the Michigan library and museum in Lansing. I used to look at the various birds on display there (obviously stuffed) and wish I lived in the country again. Little did I know 2 yrs later I'd be here.
To tell you how naive I can be, I had no idea we had sand cranes in MI til i saw them in our "back yard" and flying over! I don't remember seeing them at my sister's ranch.

 

[hillbillycitygirl]

we lost another broiler chicken this morning, I am assuming from the heat. They are about ready to butcher anyhow, I think we may be busy tonight butchering the rest before the heat takes them all down.

I hope it doesnt take any other victims, I put a fan in the coop the other day, hoping that would help but I guess not. Any other suggestions? I cant even get some of my chickens to leave the coop...and our egg production is way down.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Sorry to hear that hillbillycitygirl. Try giving them some watermelon or you could put a mister out, maybe spray the ground down with water. Can you make them leave the coop? We used to freeze gallon jugs of water for the animals to lay next to. Lost some broilers one year due to heat because they would not get up and move out of the coop.

 

[fifelakelooper]

Quote:
Don't see too many of those in N. Michigan....winters too harsh....but we have seen a couple in the past 8 yrs. we have lived here. Glad you are settled in Stacykins...Michigan is a lovely state . Yesterday I had a scarlet tanager in one of our trees! Beautiful.

Pheasants can handle the MI winters. They due very well in the upper central plain/western states. Population declines are mostly due to habitat loss and very fragmented habitat pockets. You see fewer and fewer grass/fallow fields and fence rows than 10-15+ years back. There is a booming population to their needs. And the predator numbers have exploded both native and non-native (feral/house cats). Yes and we are talking about an introduced species. The combination of those factors is like dancing on a mine field for pheasants. I am fortunate enough to see or hear ringnecks every day.

That makes sense....when I grew up down in Eaton County my dad and I would hunt the pheasant (which were plentiful) in our open fields....I didn't shoot but probably made enough noise talking to flush them out for him to shoot!

Then I'd take the feathers in for show and tell at school. We have been working on converting our fern fields into native grasses and wildflowers on our property.....maybe they will like the tall native grasses enough to make their habitat...I would love to see them about. (I'd have to tell hubby "no" to hunting them here....)

 

[fifelakelooper]

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Sorry to hear of your chicken losses hillbilly.....