Michigan

[Farmerboy16]

Update : Momma sheep died last night. Went out at 11:00 to check her and she had died. Was just too much on her I guess.
Thanks everybody for your well wishes.

I am so sorry RBahmer! Snowflake- All of my breeds have their own pens, and they take turns free-ranging for a day. I will be putting more sand in the coop today. Hope that I will have 2 to 4 pens done.

 

[RaZ]

House chickens?
Bra chickens?
Chickens with nail polish?

And yet I get grief for groping. It just ain't fair.

 

[snowflake]

LOL. I love it...in a camper, of course. No tents for me. We had so much fun with the grandkids. Went to the Cheeseburger fest in Caseville and had so much fun. They really love their cheeseburgers! The whole campground was decked out. People decorated their campsites like it was Christmas.

we love camping to, go with son and his family, daughter and her family, some times oldest daughter can get away from work but her kids are getting older. last Sunday grand daughter Megan said she wanted to go were we went last year for her birthday. Had to tell her March is a little to cold for camping but we will go as soon as it gets warm enough.We go in big tents with off the ground cots. had to sell the trailer it was getting so old I was afraid it would fall apart while we were driving down the road LOL

 

[snowflake]

House chickens?
Bra chickens?
Chickens with nail polish?

And yet I get grief for groping. It just ain't fair.

poor Raz

 

[dmclalin]

Sorry for your loss RBahmer. Even a seasoned person still feels bad when losing one of their flock.

On another note, how messy and smelly is it really to raise chickens. My sister owns the farm and now she says I can't use a stall in the old barn because they are messy and smelly and she doesn't want them anywhere around the horses. I was going to let them free range - we have 40 acres! She was okay with it until she saw I was serious and started converting a stall to a coop and then she wanted to know what the heck I was going. Now she says I could keep them maybe up by the house but she doesn't want them free ranging - which means building a large run nest to and refurbishing a dilapidated coop. Now I have to wait for her final decision. talk about a 180°!!!

I can put some pics of the old coop on my page.

 

[Opa]

Trimming the toenails or the spur is much easier if the wings are held tightly to the body. For one person attempting to trim their birds capturing the wings against the body can be accomplished with a wide Ace bandage or the method I prefer is using the bottom half of a leg from an old pair of jeans. Simply slide the bird in.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

RBahmer, so sorry that you lost the ewe

I hope the rest of lambing season is smooth and uneventful

Opa, try to enjoy the memories and have a safe trip. I hope all goes well for you.

Farmerboy, your coop looks better and better. I need to get more sand put down in my runs.

Chickflick, that is so wonderful that you are making wonderful memories for your grandkids.

 

[Olive Hill]

Sorry for your loss RBahmer. Even a seasoned person still feels bad when losing one of their flock.

On another note, how messy and smelly is it really to raise chickens. My sister owns the farm and now she says I can't use a stall in the old barn because they are messy and smelly and she doesn't want them anywhere around the horses. I was going to let them free range - we have 40 acres! She was okay with it until she saw I was serious and started converting a stall to a coop and then she wanted to know what the heck I was going. Now she says I could keep them maybe up by the house but she doesn't want them free ranging - which means building a large run nest to and refurbishing a dilapidated coop. Now I have to wait for her final decision. talk about a 180°!!!

I can put some pics of the old coop on my page.

I hope you get it all worked out, but I'm with your sister. I wouldn't house chickens in the same barn as horses. Chickens aren't stinky if you keep up on the cleaning, but they're very, very dusty no matter what you do and dust can trigger heaves in horses which is not something you want to mess around with. Not only is it a pain to manage it reduces their value and usability tremendously.

 

[M.sue]

dmclalin......I totally agree with Olive. You don't want to have to mess around with the dust that the chickens will stir up. As for free ranging you might want to think that over too taking into consideration the number of horses, where, when & how long they are turned out for. Plus you don't want them to be able to have access to the stalls when they are foraging around....a kicked or stepped on chicken ends up being put down. With 40 acres to play with I'm sure will come up a solution. Maybe revamp the old coop & put it on the side or back of barn and just let the chickens free range in the morning/evening when the horses are in the stalls.

 

[M.sue]

Trimming the toenails or the spur is much easier if the wings are held tightly to the body. For one person attempting to trim their birds capturing the wings against the body can be accomplished with a wide Ace bandage or the method I prefer is using the bottom half of a leg from an old pair of jeans. Simply slide the bird in.

You make it sound so easy and I'm sure it is once you get use to it. The tips & advice from everyone is greatly appreciated & helpful! I need to have my DH read the posts or relay them to him for he will be the one helping me.