Michigan

[teeville5]

Wow. Our computer is having some serious wonked up issues. DH did the thing he does when it's wonky and I come back on and half of everything is missing. Finally notice I'm logged out so log in and everything reappears.

Anyway, I took notes for items I wanted to reply to, so here goes.

Msue- Easiest way to come out without chicks is to go in with a set breed inmind and stick to it. It's worked for me so far and I have visited 2 stores.
Taprock- DH couldn't believe the amount of snow you had. Glad to say we really missed out here.
Juise- hello and welcome
RBahmer- I do believe your bantam is a silver sebright. Looks just like the two we got last year.
Fuzzy- I was in the Lowell TSC today and they had a bin of ee's. Oh the temptation, but I held out.
Nova- Lowell TSC has leghorns, wyandottes, and 2 silkies. The wyandottes are the featured chicken so I'm surprised the Holland one didn't have them. And it took me a while on the silkies, but when I realized what they were I called DH. Sorry to say, he talked me down.

 

[RBahmer]

Thanks teeville5. I thought that's what they might be but wasn't sure. I have pair of adults but have never seen baby ones. I also got 2 golden sebrights. Had no idea what they were when I bought them, just thought they were cute.

 

[teeville5]

Oh, they're cute, but can get feisty if any are roos. Our recently lost golden sebright Mr. Peanut was quite something. Always there, always crowing, almost always going into challenge mode. It was quite funny to watch him challenge us as he was so small and we were so big. He always ran head-on toward any trouble and was a terrific watch-bird. Miss the little guy.

 

[NovaAman]

We are supposed to get them. Right now its, the reds, blacks, jg, cornishx, mixed bantams, and exotics... What's in the exotics? No clue. I said, mutts? Laughs... Don't know. Well alight then.

 

[NovaAman]

Swampducks, you might want to take a look at this lamp.  http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=18266&cat_id=132

oh, I like.

 

[Juise]

One of my favorite seasonal beers is back in the stores!

Which one is that?

Juise, I am coming to the conclusion that any time you add chickens to your flock you are taking a risk. Because unless you take a poop sample (fecal sample) to an avian vet and have it checked for worms and coccidia (which is a very nasty parasite that lives in the chickens intestines for their whole life and lives in your soil for 4 years even after you give them medicine to treat it), and then be sure to have the vet take a swab of a chickens throat so you can check for chronic respiratory illnesses that they may be carrying but showing no symptoms of at all. And you would have to do this for the old existing flock and then the newcomers.
So just keeping animals apart for 30 days and then putting them together is not going to solve these two problems.
If you buy chickens from a hatchery that does testing for disease buy enough chickens at one time from one place and let it be enough. That is the best way to start with and maintain a healthy flock. Then, don't wear the same shoes from the TSC or FFH stores into your backyard or you can track disease from other peoples farms onto your land. And be sure to keep mice/rats and wild birds out of your chickens area as best you can.

This sure gets really frustrating. I know I can't protect them from everything, and don't expect to, especially since we do free range ours. But I also don't want them to come to harm simply from my own ignorance or negligence, you know?

They may not get all the birds, but our 4 cats do at least keep down the rodents around here. The only time I normally see them, they are in at least a few pieces.

Well we didn't get much damage here, and amazingly little snow, considering. We are pretty close to the lake, so if anyone gets snow, we are usually dumped on. We've only got enough so far to barely cover the grass.

It was still so windy this morning though, that I was actually a little nervous to go out to the coop. When we got all that wet, sticky, heavy snow a bit back here, I had a giant pine branch come down just as I stepped into the run. It nearly had my head!!

Since the sticky snow had plastered the run, there wasn't actually much inside. I had mostly shut the door as I came in to keep the blowing snow out so that the chickens would still at least have their run to go out in. The branch came down pinning the door shut and it took me 15 minutes to get back out! Oh well, at least I wasn't concussed.

I shan't be forgetting the sound of that thing whooshing past my head anytime soon, especially 'round about 3am.

Nova, I see you are in the land of tulips as well.

 

[RBahmer]

Oh, they're cute, but can get feisty if any are roos. Our recently lost golden sebright Mr. Peanut was quite something. Always there, always crowing, almost always going into challenge mode. It was quite funny to watch him challenge us as he was so small and we were so big. He always ran head-on toward any trouble and was a terrific watch-bird. Miss the little guy.

My little Silver Sebright roo is quit awesome. He doesn't challenge or anything. They are in with my trio of Quail d'Anvers and the roosters don't even fight. I did have at one time a self blue OEG rooster and he would challenge us any time we went in the pen. One day I stood there looking down at him and said to him " And just what do you think you are going to do ? We are a lot bigger than you are pee wee !". I gave him to a friend of mine that needed a roo.

 

[teeville5]

Nova, you have jg's at your TSC, too? Okay, I'm getting a bit frustrated. All the TSC's near me don't have those, but all the TSC's near the rest of you do.

I am seriously thinking road trip whether DH likes it or not.

 

[RBahmer]

Nova, you have jg's at your TSC, too? Okay, I'm getting a bit frustrated. All the TSC's near me don't have those, but all the TSC's near the rest of you do.

I am seriously thinking road trip whether DH likes it or not.

 

[teeville5]

One day I stood there looking down at him and said to him " And just what do you think you are going to do ? We are a lot bigger than you are pee wee !"

Exactly! I would watch out the window when DH went outside to take care of the pigs. He'd be halfway across the yard and then Mr. Peanut would come tearing through the yard. DH would hear him and turn around and MR. Peanut would halt in his tracks and look slightly away as if he was just innocently there. DH would start walking again and Mr. Peanut would start the chase again. After a few steps, DH would turn around again and Mr. Peanut would do the same as before. They would do this all the way across the rest of the yard. It was annoying when he did it to me, but hilarious to watch when he did it to DH.