Michigan

[chicken grandma]

L..S. T. Did you see my photos of the two vets at Michigan State a few pages back? Their phone numbers and email addresses are below their photos. I am certain that they will be able to give you the information!

So glad you are bringing healthy birds into Michigan. Today the vets said not to wear your street shoes into your coop and if you go near other chickens, including your feed store, change your clothes and take a shower. All visitors should have plastic grocery bags put over their shoes if you let them near your chickens. They also recommended vaccinating your chicks. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[RBahmer]

Couldn't go had to work. I work for a Roofing and Remodeling Co. Was in Three Rivers doing a roof today. Do you know any certified testers in my area? I was very fortunate my mother who lives in las Vegas helped us tremendously. Bought all of my starter birds and most of the NPIP eggs she purchased to get us started and them bought me a 1202 hatcher and a 1502 incubator, so I am blessed to have all her help. She is still helping and is planning to visit in May. We are building an avairy outside for some of our birds. She loves chickens and lived here in Michigan until 15 years ago. Very supportive.

Welcome LST

You are very fortunate to have your mother help you. There was a guy in Charlotte that did testing. I don't know if he still does or not but I will look his number up tomorrow for you.

 

[babigyrl22]

RBahmer - whoa...what in the world are you going to do with all those chicks!? LOL!!

I could have gotten a steal on some meaties (jumbo cornish x) if I was really ready for them. FFH in Wayland is having a hard time selling them. Price is reduced to $1 a chick but I am sure you can probably get them for $0.25/chick if you bought out their lot (maybe 30-40 of them remain). I settled on 4 myself. They are comfy in my garage in the brooder coop eating and pooping....this should be an interesting experiment.

I did resist the BO's again...gosh they are cute chicks.

 

[Juise]

Woah. Okay, I still need to go back and pick up the posts that my reply disappeared on, and I have more I wanted to respond to now, too, but...

I thought I would make a brave showing for the other end of the spectrum a moment.

And I am even going to start with a disclaimer and hope it reduces the damage. (Please don't hate me?)

***The following message has been brought to you by... er, *ehem*, I mean, what I am about to say is how I feel personally, what works for me, my family, and our lifestyle. It is not meant as criticism directed toward any of you kind people personally. We all make our own decisions based on our own lives, and our own hearts. We do the best we can with what we know, and try to make sure we do know, for ourselves, our families, and the animals in our lives. I am not a judgmental kind of person, though I may be a bit unfairly pessimistic, skeptical, and suspicious.***

Okay, now I am going to speak my mind about those experts, and I will also note that I am not making any comment on what kind of human beings they are, just on what I think of their theories.

That is crazy! And I absolutely wonder where the money comes from. Always wonder where the money is. Vaccinations are BIG business, and BIG money, and factory "farms" / huge commercial "farms" are right up there, too. And they don't want to make things easy for us. I have done a whole goat load of vaccine research, and while I am always open to learning more, it would take some really good sh..tuff... to convince me it's better for the average backyard chicken to be pumped full of disgusting chemicals than to lead a natural life. I think so many other lifestyle factors are far more important in disease prevention and raising healthy birds. (No, I don't vaccinate my children, either.

)

I also think a lot of their info probably comes from, and more closely pertains to, commercial "farming", where chickens are going to be far more susceptible to illness based on their lifestyle, environment, and population.

I don't understand, either, where the idea of keeping all new chickens completely separate comes from, and I would be very interested to hear the reasoning behind that, thank you Chicken Grandma for asking for us.

Everyone I know integrates younger chickens into their "old" flock. As noted by someone else, this also means either you never get new chickens, or it is not possible to free range, which is of considerable importance to me.

As to temps, I do think it is nice for chickens to be a little warmer in the Winter, though I think of it as more of a bit of pampering rather than a necessity if you're staying below 0 for long periods of time. Birds do not experience, or deal with, heat and cold the same way humans do. I question what the "ideal" and stable temperatures are actually supposed to be "ideal" for, and I suspect it has a great deal more to do with egg production ($$$) than it does the actual birds. They are real live animals, for pete's sake, not some sort of laboratory test tube chemical compound that's going to all go wahooey and put a great big hole in the ceiling if the temps drop by 10 degrees.

It's okay, yo can come back out, I'm done now.

I congratulate anyone who read all the way through that rant! Now it is late, maybe tomorrow I will get to make my other random comments on much less controversial topics.

 

[Juise]

To help counter my last post, here are some pictures of my 4 year old enjoying the beautiful weather today! Chasing after her favorite chicken, whom she named Eskaba...

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Eskaba is captured! Wind and sun are making it hard to take a nice picture, but I will take wind and sun over snow and cold for sure.

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And, because the baby was sleeping today for the period of time I had the camera out, here's one of her feeding the chickens kitchen scraps the last time it got weird and warm and sunny this odd Winter.

​

 

[NovaAman]

Ah, they sweet!

Carl is the neighbor.

 

[Mom 2em All]

I am out of chick starter.
This is dangerous.
I have to go to Tractor Supply.

I have to work today. So, I cant go to Tractor Supply. I could go see if the pet store has any chick feed in yet- they sell it in small paper bags when they have Easter chicks...straight run chicks...mainly packing peanuts to the general public as impulse buys...

I have an entire bag of layer PELLETS bought by accident. Nobody here eats pellets.

There sure are a noisy bunch of chicks in my kitchen. I think I could go to Tractor Supply and not buy anything.

Oh..in my grief over the show girls...well, I kinda sorta ummm....impulse bought a couple dozen show girl eggs from Shelly and will now be part of the Easter hatch a long.....

Im going to have a lot of chickens for Chicken Stock....not as many as rbrahmer...but, still...

I also got a home for the beagle yesterday. YAY me.. I hope I made the right decision...but its hard to find someone who understands the breed, and actually likes it. I talked about the beagle to every client I saw for the past week...and yesterday, a client heard me talking to another client who was there with his beagle..and he said he would like her, if I didnt mind that he was going to hunt with her. No, I dont mind- my husband goose hunts with my Golden..I was more concerned that he would care for her, etc...etc etc...and anyhow, he said that his dad had one just like her until someone stole her. Same color. And long story short- the beagle is his now, and no longer has to worry about going back to my neighbor with mental impairment(s),

In other neighbor news- there has been a strange car FULL of people that resemble the people who were at my neighbors that night (um, yeah, I think I did just profile people. sorry). Hanging out at the end of my dead end street. Just sitting there- like they are casing the street. When approached, they take off- drive around the fifteen blocks of our neighborhood, then come back. Police arent interested in coming to see who they are. They said if they arent doing anything illegal, they can be there. It is very nerve-wrecking.

I go talk to the surgeon today. Will report back what he says. All I seem to do now is sleep. Come home from work. I last for about an hour, and then zzzzzz....I have never slept so much before. Well, maybe I did- way back before ever having kids, but not since then. Now, I sleep. I just told my husband it must be boring being married to someone who sleeps all the time. hahhaha. It has been kicking my butt at work, really. I work nights tomorrow and friday. That should prove to be very interesting.

You all have a great day!

 

[DaughterOfEve]

If they are kids parking at the end of a dead end street, I'm guessing they are tokin' on a dubbie together cause they have no where else to. Um, Not that I would know anything about such things.

Coffee is ready and that wind is still whipping out there.

 

[Mom 2em All]

Nah, they are adult men just like the ones who assaulted my neighbor two weeks ago.
The kids around here dont really park to do that- they walk down the road or hang out on someones porch.

 

[DaughterOfEve]

LOL