Michigan

[FlyingFChick]

Welcome to the Michigan thread, Jennifer! Everyone is so nice here! Hope you find some yoopers to connect with! My BIL is an honorary yooper as he went to Tech for 4 years. He still has an accent!!

 

[wyliefarms]

Quote:

We are done with a batch of 25 Cornish X and 40 more are being put in the mail today. 12 of these meat birds will be going to the Livingston County fair as 2 of my daughter's projects in July.

Our meat chickens are just fed 20% broiler feed the whole time we have them. Takes about 7 weeks for 5# processed birds and a few more weeks for the larger birds (which I like with our family of 7). I have heard of folks feeding turkey grower that is 27% or so to start with, then after a few weeks switch to the broiler 20%. They finish faster that way.

Do you have any layers? Please do tell

Sarah

 

[just_chicken]

Quote:
Thanks for the info on the turkey grower. I bought some, got nervous, didn't use it. maybe next time. it's stored well. We're using the 25% unmedicated chick starter, and I *think* we may use it the whole time, but we also might switch to the 20% for the last few weeks because we don't want the poor things to grow too fast!
We don't have layers, I'm not ready to 'winter over' anything. We just moved into our house in November, and in addition to the chickens, we've been putting in our biggest garden ever, and asparagus and raspberries. We have no small plans! It's been a blast, but so much work. Once we process for the first time, we'll see if we stick with it. I'm determined to be able to do the entire proceces, I hope my stomach holds out!

Do you direct market your birds and use the pre-ordering system along with *free* processing? Any problems are are you still new, too. Would you mind if I PM'd some of these questions to you?

Thanks much! Jennifer

 

[briana1975]

Good afternoon all. We now have 5 poults hatched maybe 6 by the time I am done posting. They are Bourbon Reds and Sweetgrass. I was bringing them all to chickenstock, but after losing Daisy to something, I am keeping 2 sweetgrass and hoping for a female.

We are close the the Toledo Zoo. I really like it. A Family membership with them gets you in free to a lot of zoos. Detroit and Binder.

Binder Park is our favorite zoo. It's been a few year since we have been there though.

 

[Olive Hill]

Welcome to BYC, Jennifer!

Do you have specific questions about MI law and meat birds or just chickens in general?

We live in the lower peninsula -- too cold for me above the bridge

-- and raise several hundred chickens for meat each year. We used to raise Cornish X, but have since switched to an entirely dual-purpose, heritage breed based flock. We feed a 22% custom milled ration, no medication, no animal by-products added from brooder to freezer. Plus the birds free range dawn to dusk. 10% loss is rather large -- especially with such a small batch. Were the chicks showing any symptoms prior to passing? Maybe we can help you figure out what went wrong so it can be avoided in the future.

 

[just_chicken]

Quote:
I sent you a PM, I hope you don't mind. - Jennifer

 

[wyliefarms]

Quote:
Thanks for the info on the turkey grower. I bought some, got nervous, didn't use it. maybe next time. it's stored well. We're using the 25% unmedicated chick starter, and I *think* we may use it the whole time, but we also might switch to the 20% for the last few weeks because we don't want the poor things to grow too fast!
We don't have layers, I'm not ready to 'winter over' anything. We just moved into our house in November, and in addition to the chickens, we've been putting in our biggest garden ever, and asparagus and raspberries. We have no small plans! It's been a blast, but so much work. Once we process for the first time, we'll see if we stick with it. I'm determined to be able to do the entire proceces, I hope my stomach holds out!

Do you direct market your birds and use the pre-ordering system along with *free* processing? Any problems are are you still new, too. Would you mind if I PM'd some of these questions to you?

Thanks much! Jennifer

We sell by word of mouth and I inculde processing in my purchase price. Feel free to PM.

 

[wyliefarms]

Quote:
With the membership we just bought, we only get 50% off at other zoos

 

[briana1975]

Good morning to me....

I woke up with my darn eye stuck shut!! Looks like pink eye.

Waiting to get into Dr.

Sarah did you get your membership at Binder or Toledo? Toledo mailed us stuff for a memebership and it had a list of zoos that you can get into free with their membership. One year Detroit wasn't on the list. I heard something about an animal on loan died.

Gotta go get the kids on the bus and hopefully into the Dr.

I am gonna give them a couple more days, but it looks like only 6 poults hatched out of 14 eggs.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Speaking of yoopers, if you get to the U.P., try out Gar Lyn Zoo. It's fairly small, but it has a nice variety and even has silkies running amok. Here are some pics from when we went last summer. It's right on US-2, between Manistique & St. Ignace

Any of the mid-Michigan/northeastern lower MI people know where I can join a goat/cow share? I'm missing my raw milk.