Michigan

[teeville5]

Quote:
They are sooooooo pretty!

Agreed. They are adorable.

Well, I had an unwelcome guest in my yard tonight. I was driving home from the store and just as I was getting near to my driveway I saw something big scramble across the road from my yard. Caught it in the headlights before it disappeared into the cornfield across the road and it was a huge fat raccoon. I wasn't too thrilled to see him coming from my yard especially since it was the side with the coop. I checked on everyone, though, and all is well, but I will be keeping my eye out for the darn thing in the future.

 

[taprock]

Started the morning with a hawk, afternoon there was a huge coyote in the back and I was too slow with the gun, evening brought a visit from a neighbor's dog - different dog and neighbor than killed my birds on Monday. What's with the predators today?

I love all the chicken pictures!

... and while you won't hear this from me often, I'm glad I'm in Michigan not the east coast right now.... I was whining about the frost/cold until I saw their forecast.

 

[Chickmate]

Quote:
babi - Nice set up and beautiful birds! I'm wondering if those dowels are your roosts? Do your birds perch on them OK? I know it's difficult for a large bird to grasp a narrow roost, but maybe if you have banties it works for them? I'm getting ready to take down all my old roosts and put up thicker 2x4's laid on the side so they have a nice flat board to sit on and cover their feet for the winter. I have found that poop boards save me so much time cleaning and in pine shavings. Thanks to Opa for clueing me in on them! Mine are wooden frames with laminated wall board (like you see in some bathrooms) and I scrape them off with a hoe. They are suspended with plastic coated clothesline, but I'd like to change that to chains. I also sprinkle PDZ on them about once a week to help soak up the moisture and cut down on any odor.

RaZ - Absolutely beautiful little girls! Congratulations! Your coop is so nice and clean and I love the plastic lattice you used.

Also welcome to Crazycat! You'll love it here, lots of great people who are always willing to offer wonderful advice. You'll learn a lot!

 

[chickflick]

Love your banties, Raz. They are beautiful. I'm glad you're in love with em, they're gonna be a couple of spoiled chooks.

Good Night!

 

[babigyrl22]

OooOo what a frosty morning!

Chickmate - yes those our dowels and they roost on them just fine. They are close enough so that the girls kind of snuggle on eachothers backsides once they are all up there. I only have two bantees that go up to the top roosts and there is one below the poo tray as well. My sikies and frizzle wedge themselves betwen the wall and a straw bale piled on top of each other. lol

My DH had already installed the dowels before I heard that 2x4s would be a bit more comfortable for them. I didnt have the heart to ask him to change it since he's done so much for my chickens so far. (I'll wait until next year)

Raz - your lavendars are sooo cute. I also have bantee envy.

 

[snowflake]

Happy Sunday all, just got in from cleaning the poop boards and treating the gang. Every thing is freshened up, put some DTE on the boards with some bedding from the floor. sprayed a little pine spray (home made remedy of white pine and alcohol) found a leak that is getting the floor a little wet will fix that in a little while.
chickmate, love your coop, your colorful nest boxes are too cool for words. one of thees days, after a spring cleaning ,I will have to paint the inside of my coop. looks very bright and cheery.
Taprock I had a hawk last week, and have talked to several people with the same problem one even took out a small dog. It seems they are preparing for a bad winter or something. It has started early this yr. Dogs are another problem and to have 2 near by is too many. maybe you need an electric fence! I hope your neighbors at least offered to pay for the damage. When we firs moved out to the country I had a deaf dalmatian that proudly brought home a small hen. (didn't know anything about chickens then) I brought it right over, introduced myself, apologized and offered to pay, she never said anything to me, and hasn't since. we have been here almost 20yrs. So be nice the first time maybe you have neighbors like me that just didn't think, we have 10+ acres didn't expect the dog to go to the nearest neighbors to play. Now we have an acre fenced in for dogs and try to keep them on our property. We also have neighbors that have lived here forever and until the animal control threatened to take all dogs away they let them run all the time. still get visits now and then but not to often by the big dog. I yell loud and threaten to shoot, when there dogs come up so they know I don't want them in the yard.

OK it is daylight already heard some shooting going on, Have a peaceful Sunday!

 

[KrisRose]

Quote:
YUCK

!!! You can do better!
They are ttoooo pretty for names like that! Try Angelina, Zoey, Sparrow, Willow, Dove, Sky. Or use the names I gave my bantum Favorellas which were my house chickens- Miz Lacey Mae and Miz Sophia Marie. They were French chickens after all and needed fancy names

.
Cold morning. Time for breakfast!!!

 

[chicken grandma]

I just want to put a good word in for 4 inch perches. My hens love them. They even turn sideways and lay on them lengthwise.
It is evidently very relaxing for them to have more board to rest on and they love perching up high also. The perfect combination.

Also, I have been thinking about the issue of providing some heat in the coop.
A lot of birds in our area go South for the Winter, because it is just too cold here. A surprising number of birds die over the Winter. I was really surprised once to hear the statistics on that. It is nature's way of ensuring that the healthiest birds reproduce in the Spring.
And chickens are not native birds in Michigan. So I think helping them along during the coldest times of winter with a bit of supplemental heat makes sense to me.

Just wanted to share those thoughts. Now out to the coop!

 

[Opa]

Sitting here drinking coffee and watch the thermometer and wishing I wasn't seeing below freezing readings. Since it's sunny I guess I'd better take advantage of it and get busy before too much of the day has wiled away. Trumpet vine needs to be cut back, lawn should be mowed one last time, leaves picked up and placed in compost, chicken coops need cleaning. Hey this list is just getting entirely too long.

 

[AngelaB]

Well, I figured out where I can get my fertile eggs when we build our incubator. My rooster, that had to go live on my family's farm, Tempest is just fertilizing away! He's a beautiful, huge Light Brahma. Show quality, gorgeous bird. I have no idea what kind of chicks we would get though, since there is such a mixed bag of hens. Alot of the chicks would go up there anyways. If we hatch again, we would get eggs from somewhere else, but for the first time, I would love to try and hatch some from up there, since they would be free!