Michigan

[ladyfeather]

Those chicks are really cute!

I am new to chicken care and raising my own food.

We've made an offer on a house in a township and it has over half an acre. I saw people fighting to keep chickens in the area and they are close to allowing it. Now I've read threads on the MRFTA and GRAAMPS overriding their decision even if they deny it. Unfortunately they don't even allow rabbits BUT you can have 5 dogs or cats.Pretty much if it's not a dog or cat you can't have it :/

The new ordinance that will be enacted shortly only allows 3 laying hens, no roosters.

Anyone have any advice? I was thinking of sneaking in 6 and just keeping them quiet and clean. The neighbors next door are moving out, the house on the other side is vacant, there is nothing behind us, private road, and the house on the other side of my moving neighbor is also empty.

The ordinance officer said they don't go around looking but if someone complains they come out and that is why they don't allow rabbits, etc.

It's nice to be here and I can't wait to get going

 

[swampducks]

Yeah, I meant kilowatt hours. I blame it on the sunspots.

These are both close enough to get a very close answer. In my area (and I think most others) electric utilities calculate consumption in KWH !

 

[Juise]

Hello, and welcome! I would suggest calling Destiny Farm and asking them about it, they have been through the entire process and know a lot about it, and the MRTFA and such. On their website they invite people to call if they want to know about it. Their number is [FONT='Comic Sans MS', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=#B91806][B][I]248-789-5384[/I][/B][/COLOR][/FONT] and you can find [URL='[URL]http://www.destinyfarmgardens.com/']their[/URL] website here[/URL].

 

[chickflick]

Ladyfeather! Chatty forum, so beware.

 

[NovaAman]

What a beauty of a day!

Juise, have you finished your tractor? I have Friday wide open. Thought I had tomorrow wide open, but my mama informed me of a 2 pm appt. Joy that. Anyway, I can lend some muscle between 1-4.

I think I might end up culling Veena.. I am going to pack her into Pedals broody coop tonight, an get a poo sample to the vet again. She's now doing membrane free eggs. Even with the extra calcium. Pasty butt big time from the egg whites... Other than that she is running around being her grouchy self to the littles, chowing on every thing... I am stumped. Tail is up, wattles and comb are bright... But I am going to isolate her at night and see about treating her up till she's back to normal... If poo sample comes bag parasite ok, then maybe I will just deal with the poopy butt every few days and let her just do her thing.

 

[Juise]

Not done with it yet, having trouble cutting the extreme angles on the 2x4s that join the top beam. (We are making an A-frame style tractor.) It is very frustrating!! We did end up getting all the supplies for it for free, though, from my father-in-laws excavation "office". So that's cool.

He had a pile of treated 2x4s in the burn pile that had nothing at all wrong with them except for a nick here or there, so I guess cosmetically they are imperfect, but structurally, and for our purposes, they are just fine. They are straight and strong. He also had 2 very large "No Wake Zone" signs in there that he must have pulled down somewhere and are serving perfectly for either side of the tractor coop, with enough left over for the floor as well. There was some tin roofing left here by the previous owner, and that, combined with chicken wire that we already had, means we are not having to spend anything on the new tractor. Not now, at least. We did buy the chicken wire, but even that we bought when Home Depot went out of business, so we got it for 75% off.

I'll let you know how things are going by the end of the week, it will have to be done Friday because we will be leaving that night to go pick up the new chicks.

Speaking of which, we are picking up 8 - 10 week olds from Destiny Farm on the East side of the State, anyone here on the West side, near Holland, want me to bring them something back?

 

[ladyfeather]

Thanks for the welcome! I'll look into that farm and contact them this week. There is a chance they won't accept our offer and we'll be back looking again.

If it's a chatty forum I don't mind, it gives me things to read during the long waits in car pool twice a day.

Right now I am trying to soak everything up on breeds, the best coup for our area, and the goal

Any book resources would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Farmerboy16]

ladyfeather!

Bianca- Yay, that you got the chicks!

 

[NovaAman]

Does destiny have silkies?

 

[swampducks]

Welcome Ladyfeather and the couple of peeps I missed in the last few days.

Has anyone with satellite internet been having trouble getting online yesterday or today? Our neighbor and I were off this morning and here and there yesterday. DH is thinking sunspots. Other than hearing the northern lights might be visible the other night, we haven't heard anything.

Oh and here's another plug for the Michigan thread over at The Easy Garden. For those times when this thread is slow. And YES! I have been here when there have been NO posts. It happens.