Michigan

[RIRJen]

Quote:

Hello I was wondering if there were any Malay breeders in MI? I have a couple bantam malays but I bought them from a dishonest man who said they had no defects but they really had split wing (a disqualification), which I didnt know about at the time. I like showing and would like to do my best to improve the breeds I own, and split wing is nearly impossible to breed out. But I love the malays and would love to find some show or breeder quality birds (or eggs).

I believe there were a ton of Malay's at the fowlfest spring show...might want to make a trip to Alma later this month to take a peek! If you get ahold of the people putting on the show they will send you an exhibitor list with who's showing what...might be easier to prearrange something.

 

[RIRJen]

Ok...so my Georgia silkie eggs are in the hatching bator now on lockdown and we're still waiting for signs of piping from the 1st batch. lots of shaking...no pipping yet. Almost all of my silkies are going broody on me...which sucks cause it's cutting back on my eggs and I want to show them at the end of the month and can't do that if they've lost condition from wanting to sit. Any tips on getting a broody to knock it off?

 

[sarah92480]

Good night everyone!

 

[Shamrock4]

Hello I was wondering if there were any Malay breeders in MI? I have a couple bantam malays but I bought them from a dishonest man who said they had no defects but they really had split wing (a disqualification), which I didnt know about at the time. I like showing and would like to do my best to improve the breeds I own, and split wing is nearly impossible to breed out. But I love the malays and would love to find some show or breeder quality birds (or eggs).

I believe there were a ton of Malay's at the fowlfest spring show...might want to make a trip to Alma later this month to take a peek! If you get ahold of the people putting on the show they will send you an exhibitor list with who's showing what...might be easier to prearrange something.

Thanks I am showing birds there so i was planning to look for some. wasnt expecting much though this is good news!!
Congradulations on your silkies hope everything goes well!
Also I just put my broody hens out in the yard for a few days but not sure what kinds of predators you have around plus i dont know exactly how easily silkies get dirty (my broody hens are usually wyandottes and cochins so they keep pretty clean if its not muddy).

 

[Chickmate]

So, how is everyone doing with their chickens and these terribly cold nights we've been having in MI? Where I am it is going to get below freezing tonight again. Luckily, my six chicks are only about a week old. I am about to move them into a bigger brooder, and hopefully in a few weeks it will finally be warm enough to take them outside to explore. What night temperatures do you look for when you decide to move chicks to the outdoors permanently, and do you bring them back in if it randomly gets super cold at night, like it tends to do in Michigan?

On another note, I gave my little peepers a roosting stick for the first time yesterday. Within literally thirty seconds of it being in there, they were fighting for perching rights. Pearl, one of my barred rocks, won yesterday, and it looks like she won the roosting stick again today. I'm not surprised - she seems to be the boldest out of them all, and one of the biggest as well. She will march up and peck me every time I go to pick up one of the other chicks, so she's got quite the personality so far.

Hello sweetpea! Welcome! I had four chicks hatch on Jan. 19 out in my coop under a broody. Of course, she was keeping them warm, but they did fine out there. I think they are hardier and healthier if you don't coddle them too much. Last March when it was really cold I had just gotten my week old chicks from TSC. I kept them in a stock tank brooder with a heat lamp on them in the coop. Again, they did fine as long as they had the lamp to cuddle under. After they are fully feathered and the temps are at least 50, they should be fine. Bringing them back in to a warm house after they have acclimated to being outside at night is not good for them. Once you take them out you should leave them out. It's such fun to watch them do chicken things like roosting and playing keep away when they're still so tiny. Good luck with them.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Shamrock4, I had hatchery stock Malays for a bit, and thought that they were really cool. Don't have any of them now. Would like a pair just for eye candy.

Here is the pair of Malays I saw at Crossroad show last fall, they were huge!!!

 

[RaZ]

So, how is everyone doing with their chickens and these terribly cold nights we've been having in MI? Where I am it is going to get below freezing tonight again. Luckily, my six chicks are only about a week old. I am about to move them into a bigger brooder, and hopefully in a few weeks it will finally be warm enough to take them outside to explore. What night temperatures do you look for when you decide to move chicks to the outdoors permanently, and do you bring them back in if it randomly gets super cold at night, like it tends to do in Michigan?

The generally accepted rule of thumb is to start at 95 degrees at first week and drop 5 degrees each week after that. If I remember correctly, you want night time temps to be no lower than about 50 degrees before they go out.

On the other hand, I put my chicks out last week but they have a heat lamp in the coop if they want it. They are about 6 weeks old now. They have feathered out, but to be honest, I didn't check under their wings when I put them out. They have been venturing outside during the afternoons the past few days and it really hasn't been all that warm.

When I checked on them around 9:00 pm, they were sleeping in a group about 3 feet away from the heat lamp. Ambient temperature in the coop is 55.

With your chicks only being a week old, I think you have another 4 weeks or so before they go outside.

 

[Shamrock4]

Thanks for the pictures!

Um I was just wondering, why are you rebuilding your farm?
It reminds me of my family, we got hit with a tornado last year!

 

[Ferrret]

Watching the kissing parrot video reminded me of something I wanted to ask here.
Does anyone living up around the Petoskey area know if the pet store Tropic Cove takes in rescue animals to find new (better) homes for them?

BF and I were up North to see my family for Easter and during the day Friday we went up to Petoskey to wander around and shop a little. We stopped by Tropic Cove because he likes fish and they usually have some nice tropical fish, and they had a large number of parrots in the shop. Five or six macaws, a couple cockatoos, some other birds I'm not sure the name of, very colorful parrots. It seemed like far more than what a small shop like that would have as regular stock, and a few appeared a bit rough and scared of people so I am assuming at least some of them are birds that were given up by the owners or brought in by a rescue group.
The shop seems to be taking decent care of them, they all have large cages, they are brought out to a series of perches so they can stretch and play, and they get interaction with the other birds. I hope the workers are socializing them when there aren't customers in store, but I can't really say for sure. I'm always a bit leery of pet stores because you can never be sure that the staff knows how to properly handle all of the animals they get.
They do have the birds priced so that someone can't just walk in and buy one like a toy. I hope someone with enough time and money to offer proper care will adopt at least one of the birds and give them a nice home. Anyhow, I figured maybe someone here might know if they take in rescue animals or not.

 

[Shamrock4]

the crossroads show was amazing