Michigan

[chikkaboomboom]

I too let my garden go last fall, so this spring when it dried up enough I burnt it off had a few hairy moments when the wind picked up but all and all it looks really good now, I put down a few inches of composted straw on it last fall then burnt off the top dry stuff this spring, hoping it will help the soil alot ,we have clay and sand and for years and years they grew nothing but feed corn on our land the soils pretty burnt up, but slowly im getting back into shape. Have big gardening plans this spring, we start on our coop tomorrow, wish me luck and not to many busted thumbs, already have splinters from getting the lumber today DH kept saying SQUEEZE the lumber dont STROKE it..LOL.. got a few looks at Lowes..
Hope all have a wonderful weekend!

 

[CricketYang]

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hehhehe stroke.

I hope its going to be a good growing season because I just constructed quite the compost bin/area and am quite proud of myself!! I am also VERY sore and could probably go for a nap right now. Maybe if the weather holds up on Sunday like it's supposed to, I will pull out my new hedge clippers and lop off all that dead stuff that I took mercy on last fall AND THEN COMPOST IT!! lol I've been reading up on the subject and it SOUNDS easy enough, I just have to remember to turn it a few times a week. I hope this compost stuff is all it's cracked up to be!

Also, tonight is lockdown!! I put my ear up to an egg and have already heard some scratching and pecking

 

[Uncle_Bubba]

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Good luck with the lil ones, soon to be wife(I can't spell feioncee') and I have had a couple decent hatches so far this year.

I have a big job tomorrow, its time to clean the grow out boxes for the ducks(again) and the chicks. I realy like the ducks but they are SLOBS! LOL 2 Rouen and 4 Peking make more poo than 25 chickens at the same age. The garage is starting to stink, so it torture the foul day here in Conway Township. Anybody wants to help me torture and abuse the ducks and chicks (as they see it anyway) I'll be out there Saturday sometime after breakfast

Thats planned for in between the rain showers, lot of sticks and stuff that has been left on the lawn from the winter

 

[chikkaboomboom]

Good luck with lock down!!! The plan here is to successfully raise our MPC chicks then try my hand at hatching next spring, if you get a chance pick up some books about chicken tractors, we are building a movable chicken coop with plans on fertilizing the whole yard and garden.

 

[There a chick...]

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I did that same thing last fall...now I am regretting the soggy piles of goo in my flower beds. Sigh...

 

[keyt1969]

What a day.

Started with a phone call that my grandma passed away this morning. I'm glad she passed in her sleep. She would have been 94 in August though so she had a very full life.

SO to cheer myself up Aric and Angellica and I went shopping. Picked up some groceries for ourselves, then a shopping spree at Horrock's for the animals, a spree at Big Lot's, then on the way home spent $30 on about $800 worth of tools (drill, air compressor, arc welder, band saw and a few smaller things) and a nice BIG, thick kiddie pool with slide for my pig and a collector Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls set. Whew. Oh yeah and an Easter bunny toy, play balls with little bells inside for the pig too.

Tomorrow we go back to my best friend's house for barn wood. I have to make a bird feeder for my step mom for Easter then we'll come back to finish putting Bella's run together.

Enjoy the warmer weather tomorrow, I know we will, despite my feeling a bit out of it after losing my best friend today!

 

[Olive Hill]

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I would think they would be fine. But am in no way an expert. Confession: I only really grow edible things. If it's not highly edible it has to be a plant it and forget it forever kind of thing. The only flowers I have are some random Melvia that keep reseeding themselves every year and not requiring anything from me... not even a drop of water when it's drought conditions and 90 degrees. And they do so in the clay soil with no compost. LOL!

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Welcome! I have a gilt named Bridget.

If you try to put the baby chicks with the adult chicks then yes, you very well could have a problem. Adult chicks can and will catch small animals and eat them -- mice, moles, voles, and... yes, baby chicks. It's best to wait until they're a bit bigger and fully feathered first. The disease that someone else mentioned, Blackhead Disease, can be a problem in keeping chickens and turkeys together, but isn't always. The disease doesn't affect chickens, but they can carry and spread it and it can be fatal to turkeys. The pathogen itself lives in the soil -- your soil either has it, or it doesn't -- keeping turkeys with chickens in a mixed flock on soil where the pathogen is present increases the likelihood of the turkeys becoming afflicted. You can contact your county extension office and they should be able to tell you what your chances of having it are and you can go from there. If it is not present in your soil you can keep chickens and turkeys together, no problem. Ours coexist beautifully. HTH!

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Have fun! Your spring annuals should be more than okay to plant at this point. Holding back on the later season stuff is what I've having trouble with. LOL!

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LOL! Too funny!


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Sorry about your grandma.

Please be careful giving the pig anything not specifically designed for livestock. Hogs have extremely strong jaws and are incredibly curious and persistent animals. It would not be unlikely for her to break the balls and ingest the bells within minutes. She may not go right for them if she is still young and timid, but it will not take long. Especially since she is a single. Swine are social animals and when kept alone tend to get into more mischief -- which I would extend as a warning to build a STRONG pen if you do not intend to acquire her a herd mate. Even small hogs are very strong.

 

[bridgetteanne]

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How do i know if one of the hens are Droody???? ( sorry if that is a stupid question but im just getting into this. I have read on coops are getting started. still in the process of learning.)

Bridgette I think you mean "broody". The hen will not want to get off the nest when you go to collect her eggs. She may peck at you or do a sort of snarl sound. If you take her off...she will usually get right back on! When all the others go out into the run...she stays on the nest. That's when you know.....or at least for me it was.
Cricket and Mom --you made me feel better about not cleaning up my garden in the fall. Glad I wasn't the only slacker. I DID get out there today and clean up some of it..

I did mean Broody

thanks so much for you help.

 

[Water Pixie]

Hi All,
Got a question for those who have had to deal with lice. My birds had lice last year but I washed all 30+ of them, two times last year and it was gone but now it is back. I am thinking that I will do the same, Sunday it is going to be in the hight 70's maybe even 80 here. This year I would like to add a powder or a spray to the coop and or birds. I will not use seven does anyone have suggestions?
Thanks,
Dawn

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

I use something called Orange Guard in the coop. I have to special order it from Ace Hardware. I do use sevin on the chickens though.