Michigan

[chickflick]

Quote:
I'm supposed to ask them ?

 

[RBahmer]

Quote:
I was wondering if you could tell me where you got your Black Copper Marans? If my chicks don't hatch I will be looking to buy a few. Thank you.

 

[ChicwannaB]

Quote:
Holy Bologna. I'll have to get you to come up here and put my small window in the east side of the koop for me, I think If I can bring up the daylight in there a bit, I'll bring up my egg #'s. 2 from each of the last 2 days. Both from the Brahma's, and nobody seems to be molting.

 

[RaZ]

Hi Folks,
Often I attempt a measure of humour in my posts. This one is not.

I always check after dark to make certain that everyone is in the coop and tonight was no different. All 6 hens were in and clucking like they normally do.
I checked the food and water supply and saw a few smears of blood on the waterer. This had to have come from the combs of the big girls as the 2 BLA combs are virtually non-existant.

Sure enough, one BO and one BSL show a little bit of black tissue on the tips of their combs. Looks like a touch of frostbite to me. The entire flock was outside all day long in temperatures in the mid-30's to low 40's, with humidity of around 40%, (I have a weather station that I like to play with).

Now here is where the chicken "groping" comes into play...I got the Bag Balm from the house and went back out to treat the affected girls and was able to treat each girl with a coating of balm. I also coated the unaffected 2 as a preventative. Since the chickens are used be touched, they were not stressed at all. While treateing each hen, I took the time to check vents, feel crops and check overall physical conditions of the birds. All that time, the girls were making their contented coo/purr sound that they make.

Even though this is serious, there was a bit of humour. Gravy, one of the BLA's, dipped her beak into the tin of Bag Balm and came out with a big goober on her beak. Again, thanks to "groping", she let me wipe her face clean.

I'm not too worried about serious or permanent damage, but I'll keep checking on their condition and monitor the temp and humidity levels of the coop and outside run.

Now here is my main concern...Could contact with the waterer resevoir been the root cause of the frostbite? It is a plastic gallon container with the red base trough. Is there a better water supply that prevents the combs from touching a cold surface? The 2 hens with frostbite have quite large combs.

ETA: Is there a water system that keeps the combs out of the water? I know there are nipples but I have not used them before.

 

[Chickmate]

Quote:
I was wondering if you could tell me where you got your Black Copper Marans? If my chicks don't hatch I will be looking to buy a few. Thank you.

I got my FBCMs from Jerry Canfield in Ada. He is a BYC member and his e-mail is [email protected] and his phone is 616-284-7098. Wynette who is a BYC moderator also sells Marans.

 

[1muttsfan]

Raz is there any metal they might have contacted? A feeder maybe?

 

[yorkchick]

Quote:
Opa, I am from Ann Arbor but am familiar with most of SE Michigan and frequent Detroit suburbs.

There is a place in Brighton that I've found which builds coops and has chicks for sale, and they seem like really great people. Has anyone gone through a place in Brighton?

Hello, KeepsPeeps! Welcome! I have a Ann Arbor address, but it's the very western edge of Scio Township, Dexter schools. We have 10 acres zoned agricultural. We moved here about 3-1/2 years ago, and my main objective in moving was to have enough land to be able to have farm critters. (My DH's goal was some crazy dream of a bigger, nicer house that wasn't built in the 1850's like our last house. That's so obviously of minor importance, but he's not afraid to exercise veto power... which is why we live in the Brady Bunch's house on 10 acres of swamp instead of the 20 acres of pasture and woods and a real red gambrel-roofed barn that I really wanted... but I digess. As usual).

Anyway, the house and acreage we bought are on a private road with a road owner's association. We were assured that this only coverd road maintenance. After much delay, when we were almost at closing, we finally recieved a copy of the association bylaws and rules. Turned out there were rules about all sorts of things, like you can't have any vehicles parked in the open--must be inside a building. This was a problem as we had three cars at the time and the house has a two car garage. We almost walked away from the deal. But sadly, my DH was in love with the house (truly, 70's style, nice if you like that sort of thing I suppose). And there was nothing in the rules about livestock, which was my concern. The road association agreed to give us a waiver to park one car outside. Whoopee.

Then when I first got my baby chicks, the road association president came to us and said someone on the road, who did not want to be identified, had concerns about the chickens, as he or she had had a "bad experience" with chickens as a child and had "caught a disease" from them. Now we all know that there are a few bad things transmissible from chickens to humans, but then stay on your own 10 acres and don't come near my chickens, thank you very much. The association president was all self-important about it all, kind of pushy that we had to have some sort of compromise on all this, "so we can all be happy." And also the anonymous complainant wanted to know what other animals I was planning to get (no doubt to get in early on complaining about them). And I was all like, "This is my one dream of my entire life, I spent months researching properties and laws, I will promise to follow the township rules and keep any animals responsibly but that's all I'll limit myself to." I did suggest the scenario where if it had been the dream of my life to adopt, say, older foster children and I had bought this house in order to do that, would it be within the rights of my neighbors to say something like, "Well, I caught a disease from a foster child once, and what other ethnicities of children is she planning to adopt?" Madame President got all huffy about this and said "children are different!" But I was only trying to make it clear how strongly I felt about my animals. Anyway, legally the association has no say in what I have here, although I suppose a vote of the members could change the bylaws. But we are on good terms with most everyone (still don't know who caused the original fuss) and most of the neighbors seem to be inclined kindly toward my chickens and now the geese.

So that's my road association story. Does your neighborhood agreement specifically ban chickens? Are you within the Ann Arbor city limits and working on having chickens as provided by the Ann Arbor laws? I don't know all the specifics of that but I believe you must get the agreement of all the neighbors whose property touches yours. Good luck!

I'm guessing the place in Brighton that you refer to is Destiny Farms? Mike from there built my coop. It's solid. It does have some design elements I'm less than crazy about. But I didn't know what to ask for/insist on back then. I had asked for a bigger coop, and eventually was talked into this one. But like I said, built very solid.

I got my original chicks from My Pet Chicken. They do have a lot of variety at Destiny Farms, but don't sell their chicks sexed (or their methods, shall we say, are not as accurate as vent sexing). But I believe they will take the cockerels back.

There are numerous members on here that sell hatching eggs/chicks/older birds when available. So stick around the Michigan thread, everything you need is here! And then some!

 

[Chickmate]

Quote:
Frostbite? It hasn't been that cold yet, at least not here. I have a couple of hens with a few small black spots on their combs, but they haven't grown or bled so I didn't worry about it. If it is frostbite I doubt they would get it from touching a very cold plastic surface. Metal yes. When you started your post I was prepared for a dog or neighbor attack, something SERIOUS. I do believe Mr. RaZ that you are going to be an over protective Daddy.

 

[RBahmer]

Quote:
I was wondering if you could tell me where you got your Black Copper Marans? If my chicks don't hatch I will be looking to buy a few. Thank you.

I got my FBCMs from Jerry Canfield in Ada. He is a BYC member and his e-mail is [email protected] and his phone is 616-284-7098. Wynette who is a BYC moderator also sells Marans.

Thanks. I have been put on his list.

 

[RaZ]

Quote:
It's not the cold so much as the humidity. Even at moderate temps (30's) there is a possibility of frostbite when you factor in the humidity and the wind chill. All three conditions were present today so that is what I suspect was the causal factor, but I'm not 100% certain.

The known facts are no metal surfaces to contact with; blood on the plastic water containers where a comb would likely touch when the hen drinks and the 2 hens with the large combs have black tips on their combs. It may just be a coincidence. But... Anytime one sees blood where it shouldn't be should investigate where it may have come from. Thus, blood on the water container made me take a close look at the critters that use it. I don't think I'm being over-protective; I think I'm being pro-active in finding the cause.

The good news is that no chicken seems to be adversely affected but I would rather error on the side of caution as I am a steward in the welfare of the animals I share my home with. A little bit of balm on their combs is easily done, even if over-reactive.

I should also note that the egg that Gravy gave me today had a smear of blood on the shell, so the blood on the waterer really stood out. Maybe that led to an acute awareness of anything amiss, but I'll stand by my position of due viligence in caring for my little flock.

On the other hand, perhaps I can exploit this situation and get one of those coeds to come help me with a chicken boo-boo. And this time I can ask them out.