Michigan

[NovaAman]

WOW! I can't believe all the posting today! I just read 6 pages since my last post. Usually its a page or to, but I guess with the ugly day, there really was nothing better to do that come on BYC and chit chat.

I had an interesting night. About 6 tonight, I see that the neighbors chickens are all still out in the yards, (i say yards, because they travel like mine) and the coop door is shut. They can not get back in. I tell my mom, that was very not normal, but when I go out to close up my coop for the night, I'd check to see if they got back in. Well at 7:30, my mom reminds me that I hadn't shut my coop yet. I normally do about 7 15. So I turn on the deck flooders and go on out. I look over and I don't see any chickens standing on the coop step, but I see funny white shapes perched in the wood pile. SO, I go over, and ALL the old birds are huddled, in places all around the coop. Neighbors not at home at all to get them in. Again, NOT NORMAL. I opened the coop door so they could go in. Its dark out, so I can not see if they've gotten their feeders and waterers filled. The little coop needed to get closed up too, so I closed that one up first, and nope, that feeder was dang near empty, but again it is dark, and I can not see to get into the feed cans to fill, so, good thing they don't much at night right? Well, I closed up those girls first, since they could get in their coop, and then went back to the big coop hoping that these silly birds will have realised the door was open and went in. DID THEY? OH heavens NO. SO, here I am being a chicken wrangler and catching chickens. LOL. Tossing them in the coop. Even caught the big rooster! AND that mean sucker scares me. They all just sat there, docile as lambs while I collected them one by one and tossed them in the coop.

Now as I sit here, I hear the neighbors dogs barking, so they must have just gotten home. I don't know if they realised that their birds could not get back in the coop tonight... And I really hope everything is ok. Again, that is totally not like them at all.

The lady who was supposed to come and look at the cat never showed up. The lady who was supposed to come and adopt the cat, never showed up. SOOO, I think we will probably just keep him and put a litter box in the garage and a hidey box so he can stay warm enough in the winter along with out indoor out door cat. They are both in the garage right now, so at least I know he'll have company and not be alone. There are nice window in the garage to see out of, so they will at least have a veiw. And it never really gets below about 50 in there... Until I open it up to get snow blower out. SO, that previously shown cat is still available. I believe she/he is fixed and front declawed...

 

[RaZ]

Long day at school and I'm pooped. Was just going to read a few posts and call it a night. No such luck, ya'll were quite chatty today. About 4 pages worth since this morning.

Since there are several new people here, I'll repost my request for help for one of my assignments.

Can you tell me where you are located and if chickens are allowed where you live?
Town name.
County.
Legal, not legal or limited in some way (number of birds or square footage).
All responses are confidential. Please reply to [email protected]

BSLs are steady layers and the Buffs have been eyeing the nest box quite intently.
So I'm starting a pool; when will Crispy or Extra Crispy produce an egg? I say Halloween.

 

[chicken grandma]

Quote:
I'll guess November 1st Raz.

 

[ksl42]

Quote:
I have 3 black Jersey Giant pullets (5 months old) I've been trying to sell. ($10 each). They are the last of the excess we have from our spring hatches. I've had a couple people interested who then decided not to come. Someone else is supposed to come get them Wed. (10/26/2011) after work, but we'll see. If they don't come, do you want me to let you know? We are east of Richmond, just north of 31 Mile between Gratiot and I-94.

ksl42 - Does you husband work at the Fair Haven Elevator? Sounds like the three Jersey Giants I just mentioned above! I'm assuming you are a woman, which may be wrong. I asked him if he was on BYC and he said no, he does all the building and hard labor and his wife does the research, etc. on the chickens.

Jenerva - yes, that's my husband! Small world! Actually it's the New Haven Grain Elevator he's at. He just started working there a few weeks ago. He's been out of work for 3 years. We did sell the pullets tonight. Finally, someone showed up that said they were going to come!

Yeah, he gets to do all the hard work to take care of the chickens and build new quarters for them. I have all the fun on BYC (I'm a lurker, hardly ever post). I don't have the strength or balance to carry the waterers for everyone. And then when winter comes, I can't get out there because I'm afraid I'll slip and fall. I have problems with my feet. I'm diabetic and have neuropathy in them. He's been very good about taking care of all of them. I get all the ideas of how to do things and then discuss plans with him, and then I'm real good at supervising the projects. Now he's trying to adapt to getting things done around the house and with the birds now that he's back working almost full time. It's taking a lot of readjusting and we're still working on it.

If we're able, we plan to have more chicks to sell in the spring. Heritage Rhode Island Red, Black & Blue Jersey Giants, BLRW, Buff and BBS Orps. Keep us in mind if you're looking for any new chicks next spring.

Right now, we have 7 Muskovy ducklings (black & white) that a mama surprised us with just about a week ago. We can't keep any more ducks over the winter. If anyone is interested, they are only $4. They are just a week old and I can't believe how much they've grown already. So cute! Send me an email if you want pics.

 

[NovaAman]

ok, nov 4

 

[Opa]

Tonight BYC became a little smaller. A dear friend, Ranchhand has pasted and her passing leaves a great hole. While she lived in South Carolina she would occasionally post on the Michigan thread. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/search.php?search_id=1500472970 I will miss her.

 

[NovaAman]

ksl42, take care of those feet. I have a friend who is 38, diabetic since she was 8, and she's got neuropathy too. Stubbed a toe at the wound clinic, got gangorhean(sp), dang near killed her, and lost her leg from just below the knee. Who would have thought one little stubbed toe. They took off that toe, but the infection had already spread to the neighboring toes, and so they tried vancomyacin, and had such a bad reaction it shut down her lungs and then her kidneys and put her in a coma for about 3 weeks, and life support. She only just came home from the hospital friday past. SO, take care of those feet... Where steel toed shoes!

 

[NovaAman]

Quote:
Sorry for you loss there Opa. And condolences to all BYC friends of hers.

 

[Olive Hill]

So sorry to hear about ranchhand.

HH -- The hovabator is very easy. You'll love it. I have the same set up and it's a matter of setting it and forgetting it. For 21 days or less.

Diana -- I agree, ISAs are fabulous birds. Egg a day gals and nary a complaint out of them about anything. My favorite hen of all time was an ISA.

 

[teeville5]

Quote:
Fresh lard makes the best baked goods you'll ever eat. It can be used in any recipe where you would normally use shortening or butter. You can use it to grease your baking pans, use it to make stir fries, etc instead of oils. There's a solid case to be made for the health of lard over other options, too, but I won't bore you with it. You can do additional research if you're interested.

You can also feed it to your birds. Or the wild birds over the winter.

It is an incredible salve for dry, chapped skin.

And on and on the list goes.

We save and render our lard and encourage our customers to use their lard as well, but to each his own.

Oh no, don't misunderstand me. I'm not opposed to using the lard where we can, just in cookies. I don't know anything about any health properties it may have and being ignorant about it, I've always associated lard with bad. We bought our farm 2 years ago so this is our first set of pigs (& chickens) and I'm still learning as I go.

Raz, November 6