Michigan

[RaZ]

Miss a day or 2 and you have several pages to catch up on. We are a chatty bunch.
I was planning on going to TSC tomorrow, I'll get a couple of dime bags of chicken crack as well.

 

[shawnhunts]

Hi folks,
Anyone else from northeasten Michigan? I was given an established mixed flock memorial day weekend. I was given two BR hens on 7-9 I am not sure how old the br hens are but they must be young birds my other birds just chase them. Should I keep the young birds seperate from the older flock? I received layer ration with the br hens but now I wonder if they should still be eating grower? thanks,
shawn

 

[Stacykins]

Quote:
Probably too late now, but definitely a good idea to quarantine new birds, since they could he harboring diseases. A normal bird's immune system keeps things in check, but the stress of relocation can weaken that and they can display symptoms and get your previous birds ill.

Anyhoo, is there a way you can contain the newbies so the older hens can see them, but protects them from getting chased/pecked? Keeping them in sight for a few days to a week allows the others to acclimate to the newcomers and be less aggressive. Some people also try just to slip the new birds in at dusk, setting them on the roosts. This can work or it might not if the older birds see through the ruse (recommended to be out checking the coop at dawn for the slip-in method!).

I am personally introducing a batch of fully feathered chicks to my older birds, today was the first 'free' day with the dominant hen. I locked the chicks in the coop, put her in there with them, and sat to monitor for issues. There were a few pecks and squabbles, but they all settled down. The chicks are locked up in the dog crate again, though, since I don't have total trust yet!

 

[Chickmate]

Quote:
Welcome to BYC shawnhunts!! Great people here!

 

[DaughterOfEve]

Quote:
You can feed grower right up until the first egg shows up. That is the cue I take to switch to layer.

I don't integrate young and old until they nearly the same size. I like to have them where they all can see each other though.

Good luck.

 

[ChicwannaB]

check out my little fisherman...with Gramma in the kayak in the background...

he was so proud of that sunfish.

 

[chicken grandma]

Quote:
How did you take care of those maggots? I have had friends remove them with tweezers and I have had friends use a solution to rinse the area and the maggots fall out. They got that solution from a vet.

It is important to keep the chickens free from poop. Flies get in the poop and lay maggot eggs which then hatch and the maggots feed on the poop and then feed on the live bird.
Any wound or poopy spot on a bird is a fly magnet........

We have taken birds to the laundry room and done a little 'butt wash' to make sure this doesn't happen. Would be good for us to hear how you helped your bird.

Grandma: I'm not sure how the maggots started. I've never seen her with any poop on her, or anyone else around here. She does have a lot of trouble with laying rubber eggs, regardless of the oyster shell we feed her. She had a lot of what looked like egg material seeping out of her vent, so I am guessing she had an egg crack inside. Either way, she was in distress, it was 90 degrees outside, and we're leaving for vacation Thursday. Her comb was almost white, and she gurgled when she breathed. We did what we thought was the humane thing, and put her down. Two days prior, she was up and running around. I think the combination of the excessive heat, and whatever ailment befell her, caused the problem to worsen quickly. On a different day, in different weather, I would probably have given her castor oil, a bath, and a crate to lay in. Hopefully I never see something like that again, though. It's haunting me.

Very sorry about that! I have seen animals with maggots in their fur/feathers come into the vet clinic when I was an assistant. Believe it or not, those maggots are only on the surface. You don't need to give the hen castor oil. Just remove the maggots from her skin and feathers and she will feel a whole lot better. The maggots are attracted to organic material, like in your case - an egg without shell coming out of the vent. We should all keep our eyes on our birds vent area for trouble. We can clean them up and try to rectify the problem for them. Sometimes we cannot. But if it is a bird we value, we can remove the maggots, clean the area and use some antibiotic cream to heal the skinl

 

[Chickmate]

There are no stupid questions, right? OK, how do all of you keep your pine shavings clean between entire coop clean outs? I have installed poop boards under the two main roosts and they catch a ton of poop that would otherwise land on the floor. These help immeasurably, but how do you clean up all the rest of the poop that accumulates each day without throwing out all of your shavings as well? I just did a major clean out to get rid of mites (and they are gone, thank God!) and added six bales of fresh pine shavings about three weeks ago. I have already thrown out at least one bale of shavings while trying to keep the poop cleaned up. I use a leaf rake each morning and try to lightly rake the poop off the top of the shavings without taking too much of the shavings with it, but it's impossible not to throw a lot out with the poop. What do the rest of you do? There's got to be a better way!

 

[chickenhobby1]

Hello I am new to the forum and am just checking things out. I live in central Mi so hello again all, I love chickens and I am an addict to them. I am still learning the site so bare with me? I had a question? I may not be posting this in the right spot but I am looking for some hatching eggs to put in my incubator. I do not want to do the mail order egg deal. I am interested in standard purebreeds, some are copper marons, rirs, jersey giants, lanshens, leghorns, speckled sussex, ameraucana, and more. I do not want all of these at the same time (lol). I am wondering if there are any of you in the central michigan area I could drive to and buy hatching eggs from you? I am not looking for a large number of eggs, im thinking a handful or a dozen would do. Thanks a bunch

 

[CricketYang]

Quote:
Deep litter method?

It seems as though I've been gone for 100 years! Lots of good stuff happening on the farm lately. Finally started delivering the CSA's and the boxes look beautiful! My berries are popping up like crazy and the garden/flowerbeds are a little over abundant (I think it's because I've discovered the power of duck water) The chickens are as happy as they can be in this weather, they've seemed to have slowed down a bit in this hot weather. Hopefully this cool night will help them out a little.

My freedom rangers are about ready to get processed and they are HUGE, well huge for me anyway. We've done CXs in the past but they never got this big. DH wants to hold a few back for breeding but I'm not sure if I want to do it or not, it just seems easier to just get them shipped from PA. I am VERY happy with these birds, way more than with the CXs. No deaths, weird leg problems and even though they're pretty wide they can still run around and act like normal birds. I will definitely be ordering another batch ass soon as I'm finished growing these out. PS.. they don't smell horrible either! They do smell different from normal chickens but it's not a bad scent like CXs.

I hope everyone is having a pleasant summer.