Michigan

[sj3364]

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So glad to hear this! You're a great chicken mama.

 

[chicken grandma]

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That is awesomesauce

Fantastic! Thank God!

 

[Olive Hill]

If sunflower seed increases the crude protein in your birds' diet then they are eating a deficient diet -- even for maintenance -- to begin with. BOSS contains "just" 15% crude protein. I put just in quotes because 15% is good compared to say, corn which is often 9% and less or oats that range around 11%. But if you're feeding a 16+% diet overall, as most layers require, adding a 15% feedstuff to the mix will decrease, not increase the crude protein level. The extent to which it decreases is, of course, dependent on how much of it as a percentage of the overall diet you feed.


In other news, man did it get humid today! It was such a beautiful first half of the day but I am GLOWING right now. Actually thinking I need to shut the windows and turn the air back on.

And in even more other news, a cat showed up at our house yesterday; a really nice looking, young black, male cat that was obviously SOMEONE'S cat at some point as he is extremely friendly to the point of following us around every moment. The kids took it to my mother-in-law's house since she has outdoor cats (and lives right next door). He clawed her screens to h-e-double-hockeysticks because he wanted in the house all yesterday and today, snuck in the house repeatedly (which freaked out her existing indoor cats) and followed the kids home every time he saw them. You see where this is going, right? So now nameless-black-cat is in my house. Jumping on everything and rubbing on everyone's legs. *sigh* I really hope I don't find out why whomever owned him previously decided owning him was no longer a good idea. Clearly he was indoors at some point given his behavior and obvious preference for being in the house. We'll see how it goes...

 

[chickendales]

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Where?

national poultry show in crossroad indiana

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

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Good luck!

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

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So glad to hear this! You're a great chicken mama.

Fantastic!!

 

[Farmer Andy]

Thanks for the advice Opa. I was able to separate my broody BO from the rest of the girls. I am going to leave the rest of the eggs in there for a couple more days to see if any more hatch. So far just the 2 yellow fluffy ones! Here are a few pictures from our little farm!

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

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Great pictures Farmer Andy! Your birds look great

 

[deekay04]

Hello Michiganders! Im new to chickens in the southeastern are and I love this forum! Most of my chicks are now 7-8 weeks old. I have a vast array of breeds and am getting some barnevelder pullets tomorrow, since the 2 I got in the beginning both ended up as cockerels

I never thought I'd enjoy chickens as much as I do. It's been a blast! Now my family is talking about getting meat chickens to raise in the spring. Any ideas on best breeds?

My egg layers (soon to be

) are as follows:
2 australorps, 2 gold laced wyandottes, 1 silver laced wyandotte, 3 blue laced red wyandotte (1 roo), 1 barred rock, 2 Rhode island reds, 2 Isa browns, 2 leghorns, 5 black copper marans (1 roo), 2 barnevelder roos (soon to be adding 2 pullets), 2 silkies (maybe adding 1 more) and 1 polish. Oh, can't forget my 2 pearl guineas. I had 2 of each breed to start, but I lost a polish and silver laced wyandotte early on, I think to being smushed. I also lost a barred rock a month after I got her when we had that bad heat wave 2 weeks ago. She was sick to start, most likely coccidiosis, even though I did my best to medicate her...but at least the rest of my flock didn't get sick.
Well, nice to chat to all of you!

 

[DaughterOfEve]

welcome deekay sounds like you have quite a starting crew with lots of variety. Loads of fun. We are doing meaties right now as part of my DD's 4H project for the fair in a couple of weeks. We have a local hatchery that sells Jumbo cornish rock cross so that's what we have. We have lost one to heart attack (they grow too big too fast for their hearts to keep up) and had to butcher one early because it dislocated or broke its leg. The rock crosses grow really fast for a good feed to meat ratio but there are health issues that you need to be ready to deal with.

Got a pullet egg from one of my new Nankins today. It was soo cute. I say was because we had blueberry pancakes and eggs for dinner tonight. Yum.