Michigan

[un-named543]

Well, time to get my butt on the eliptical in my barn. I'll let the ducks swim in the sheep tank while I work out. Here I go...maybe.

 

[KrisRose]

woowee I must be a hundred pages behind.
Hope everone and their chickens are well. I have some reading to catch up with

!

 

[chickflick]

Jennifer!
That rooster belongs in the soup pot, Opa!
HillybillyHen, how's your foot doing?? Hope it's as good as new.
Sorry bout your chick, Nova.
Have a good one....

 

[M.sue]

I just ghetto taped my chicken pen! The 6ml plastic I have it wrapped in has held up well due to the mild winter. But since we had some high winds and cold, cold, bitter temps it decided to split in a couple of spots on the north side. Duck tape works wonders!! My DH frowned when I asked him for it and I replied.....Don't worry, I'll buy you a whole new roll for valentines day!! Now if I could some themed with hearts or Xs & Os.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Got my Euskal Oiloa eggs lined up for mid-march, I can hardly wait it is so exciting! 3 dozen plus extras according to the breeder, set for 3/13. Should get here in time for the Easter hatch. Hoping to get some lemon blue and brown red cochin eggs too, and Taprock has kindly offered some EE/AM eggs which I am really looking foreward to. I don't like to count my chickens before they are hatched, but maybe if the EO's hatch well I will have some for Chickenstock!

1muttsfan, I was reading the thread on the EO's after you first mentioned it. They sound like a wonderful breed. I would love to have some but just don't have room for another breed. I hope you have good luck with your hatch

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Jennifer!
That rooster belongs in the soup pot, Opa!
HillybillyHen, how's your foot doing?? Hope it's as good as new.
Sorry bout your chick, Nova.
Have a good one....

Thanks Chickflick, it's finally getting better, still numb but numbness is better than pain.

 

[Chickmate]

Hello everyone!

I'm Jen and I live in northern Michigan, about 5 miles from Sleeping Bear Dunes.

My family is going to be getting 13 Bantams at the end of April and I'm just looking around and researching.

Mealworms!! So neat and so much fun. We homeschool and every year, we do a batch of mealworms (usually right up until the kids take them out and leave them in a Matchbox car one too many times... Our mealworms have many "adventures!") and I never thought about doing that for the chickens. The birds love it when I hit my mealworm max every summer!!!
Have you done superworms too, Bob?

I am so sorry for your loss, Nova.

I'll just be reading here and trying to soak up some of your knowledge while I shop for a chicken coop.

Hope everyone has a good day!!

Hello Jen and welcome to the MI thread, you'll love it here! So glad to have you!!

I decided to get some more thick cardboard to separate the Big Girls from my teeny tiny Scatter and her babies. I will NOT be happy if another baby comes up missing. I am still disturbed over it. I wish I knew that would happen. I mean, I knew they could get hurt and pecked at possibly, so I put up the divide. I realize since it didn't go all the way to the top, it could be a problem. None of them have been jumping over to lay their eggs with her either lately, so I didn't think anything else of it. Well, anyway, got some thick cardboard from work, and am stapling that in today.

Guess I better get to work then...

Nova, could it have been taken by a rat? They can get through tiny holes and when I had goslings they dragged off two of them. They just disappeared, like your chick. No blood, no trace of them at all. I only found them a few days later when an exterminator came out to live trap whatever was taking them and he reached down under the cement slab floor and found my two little babies pulled under the floor and suffocated. Turned out it was rats.

 

[Mom 2em All]

Or could the babies have fit through a hole or crack and out into the yard but couldnt get back in?

I realize that I may be playing a game with fate but I havent seperated my broodies or mamas from the flock- Mama has always kept the chicks close, and the flock at a distance- it hasnt been a problem. Is it possible the little chick fit through chicken wire and got lost somewhere? Im sorry, it sure is sad, isnt it- to lose one, especially hard when you dont know what happened.

 

[NovaAman]

M.Sue, Meijer has a lovely display of duct tape... Colors nd patterns. And I do believe I saw girly-ish duct tape there.

As for the holes, and rats.... My coop is 2.5 feet up. The only hole in the floor is covered with heavy wooden nestbox. That is where the first baby fell thru that I rescued. There is no other way in. No, it could not fit thru the poultry net. Its that heavy plastic type with 1 holes. The only tracks in the snow around the coop were cat and chicken and dog. I even dug thru the straw trying to find any possible thing that could have gotten in... Nothing... I put up the heavy card board partition all the way to the roof... I hope that will be the end of it. Skeeter has been a total psycho all day over this.

 

[babigyrl22]

Jaime,
Where is the place near Grand Rapids that sells cheese making supplies? Also, where do you buy your dairy products? Thanks for sharing this with us. Your photos and links were much appreciated.

Here you go: Welcome to Siciliano's Market & Online Store 2840 Lake Michigan Dr NW Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504 (616) 453-9674

I got my dairy from Harvest Health. They carry Whole unHomogenized milk.