Michigan

[Chickmate]

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Chickmate, thank you *so* much for posting those pictures of Otis! ! (Otis is a perfect DDB name, BTW...) I will see if I can find some pics of Walter--I swear he could have been Otis's littermate. (By which of course I mean that Otis was devastatingly handsome). When we were foolishly looking for Walter's owner, one of the things we did was to contact DDB national rescue and we e-mailed a photo of Walter. The guy e-mailed back to say, "Yup, that's a DDB all right, but his nose is too long.". Well, by then we were in love and were unreasonably miffed by this remark. To this day, the "show quality" DDB heads look kind of, hmmm, mutant to us.

Anyway, the DH and I both sighed and smiled over Otis's pictures for a good spell.

Thanks again for sharing.

--Susan

Susan - I would love to see pictures of Walter, I hope you'll post some. I know Otis wasn't a show dog and his nose was way too long to, but to me he was such a handsome dude. He was just a backyard breeder's poorly bred DDB. You would have contacted George Brown at DDB Rescue. I have had contact with him several times; a very nice guy, but he shows as well, so is always looking at the conformation of a dog. Those show people can't help it. I always knew if I had a big ol' dog he would be named Otis, but he also went by Big O, Biggy, and Boogyman. I will always miss him. So nice talking to you about our DDB's!

 

[Opa]

Late morning the young guy (47) that lives across the street came over to visit and look at the clover patch we put in last year to attract deer. He kicked off his shoes to keep them from getting wet. After we decided where we need to reseed I went back to installing the Premier electric poultry fence. He stretched the fence out and I stepped the posts into the ground. When we got to the last post I slipped the top of the post under the hot wire running around the garden. He learned that walking barefoot on wet grass and holding on to a poultry fence that just became electrified isn't a real smart thing to do.

 

[keyt1969]

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Ooo I'd love to have more Welsummers!!! I have two and LOVE them! They are some of my best layers, they're sweet and so pretty! We got them for free when we went to pick up 3 ducks and the guy told us to take them. He said they didn't lay eggs...haha ok!

You're right about gyrations to look in incubators. I have one full of chicken eggs and one with ducks. The one with ducks has several rockin' and pippin' atm, but Aric and I keep taking the flashlight and looking in every time we come in the house it seems! So far it looks like 2 cayuga eggs and 3 Pekin eggs are a go. Others are rockin' but not pippin' yet. Most (except for the ones I think are skovies) are due tomorrow so hopefully we'll see more through the day! Aric's only worry is which one I get to keep. He said I only get to keep one from the first surviving hatch. The rest will go on CL.

The two Aracaunas (from the 6 I had) are doing really well. I put the Old English bantam in with them and they take turns letting the little one sit under their wings. A few times we've looked in and thought the bantam wasn't in there, but he was blended in with their wings because they're the exact same color!

Now that the rain looks like it has stopped, we've continued with our expansion plans. First we'll start with the pond so we can get rid of the kiddie pool. It's too tall for most of the ducks and only the skovies and the farm ducks will use the ramp. Then once I get a little more money we'll expand the runs and move the small coop. I feel bad that I can't do much with my hand in a brace, but now is a good time to get my daughter in some of this. I've started giving her things to do like collect eggs or shut everyone up at night. It's difficult though because part of her disability is getting too frustrated and angry, but so far she's doing a great job!

Speaking of trying to get more money, I am trying to sell my electric wheelchair. I only used it a year when docs thought my foot had to be amputated. The only thing wrong with it is a few light scratches on the paint, everything else looks brand new. If anyone knows someone that needs one, I can send pics and I'm taking offers.

 

[mcbeers]

Just finished building the frames for all the side walls of my chicken run (with free lumber... the best kind). Very excited about that. Wifey is going to be painting them barn red shortly. Then on to assembling the whole thing, and reconfiguring their coop. Can't wait for our girls to have a little more room to roam.

 

[chickflick]

Sam, being the housewife that I am, I used the shop vac to vacumm out the coop. DUH! The leaf blower would be so much faster!

Glad I read your post before I cleaned out my coop. Hopefully will get the coop cleaned soon. Yard is so wet, I hate to add more to it and I want to wash down the walls and nest boxes.
Been busy getting the camper ready for our first trip next week end. It was such a beautiful day. Hope it lasts! Enjoy everyone!

 

[DaughterOfEve]

fifelakelooper, don't let the giving a shot thing freak you out. I started giving our dog his distemper a few years back and it is really easy and helps save on vet bills. Do a couple of practise runs. I must say though that a shot given to my 60 pound lab is a little less daunting that a shot to a tiny chick. I might be practising my aim too!!

The eggs in the LG are all non starters. I suspected it though as I have not seen the two nankins doing the deed yet. I am done collecting eggs on the 24th and will return the hen to her owner with bad news I am afraid. Has anyone ever rented out space in their incubator to help offset the cost of "the chicken habit"? How do you go about it?

I did get some rows planted today despite waking up with a cold this morning. Body aches and all. Well I think I will go vegitate on the couch for a while. Good night BYC Michigan.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

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I hope y'all have good luck with your swap meet

 

[Chickmate]

Woo Hoo! Yesterday I integrated the baby BCM flock into the larger flock and so far it's going great! I'm so happy! I put up a fence divider in the coop that the babies can go through but the big ones can't so they are safe inside the coop. Then I just opened up the run and coop doors and let them all come out and free range all day. It was great to see the babies out in the sunshine catching bugs and eating weeds.

My daughter came over this morning to celebrate her birthday, which is tomorrow and a late Mother's Day. We dug up some of my huge hostas and separated them and moved them to the front of the house where the chickens can't eat them. Then we made a huge new flower bed and took all the sod and extra dirt and put it in the chicken run. She was finding so many grubs in the dirt that she threw them in a pail and had a ball hand feeding them to the chickens. I have some great pictures of her on her hand and knees in the run picking through the dirt with 20 chickens gathered around her waiting for a grub treat.

Right now I'm drinking a great new beer she discovered called Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy. It's made by a little brewery in Wisconsin and it has a natural lemonade flavor to it, very subtle, but SO good. So we're having country barbequed ribs and broasted herbed potatoes with sauted new asparagus for dinner. It was a great day. Plus the weather was fantastic! Any day is a good day when my daughter can visit! We have such a good time together and she's my best friend so we laugh like crazy. I lubs her.

Hope everyone else had a great day as well!

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Dinner sounds yummy, can I come to your house?
I had a decent day today too, sister came over and colored my greys

Tomorrow I may get to meet a fellow BYCer and give him all my extra cockerals.

 

[Stacykins]

Hellllooooo Michigan. Finally. Back living in Michigan. Moved to Escanaba on a rather dreary, rainy day, but it is done.