Michigan

[acechicks]

Question for Michigan breeders: I have been thinking about breeding (selling fertilized eggs). I want to make sure I am well informed before i start. I am wondering on what the requirement for Michigan are? What i should do and know before staring. Thanks for the help!!!

 

[NovaAman]

Quote:
I tried it. I took a bunch of leaves, put them in leaf bags, and decided after the first trial that they are great for the run, not the coop. That's my opinion. The smell was nasty quick.

 

[Bianca67]

Thanks novaAman, wonder if we used leaves with shavings if that might work better and still save some money.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Quote:
Mine are pets, so if they are free range most of the time i am there. If i am busy outside and can't be with them i throw them into a fenced area, that has tree cover and a little house (goats). My dh's family had their (huge) flock free range their whole lives, and lost few mostly because they had dogs free ranging with them. Not all dogs will go good with chickens, however. Some eat them every time you turn your back. Those guine hens are real noisy and definitly are a good idea if you are wanting an alarm! I went to an auction that had a bunch of them in with the chickens and they made such a racket that my ears were buzzing! I keep roosters for protection, but that too has it's drawbacks, though i love mine dearly. I guess the 2 big questions are is this for profit? (cause your time is money and if you are having to stand there every day it kinda looses it's appeal when you could be doing something else) and the second one: Do you have neighbors close? cause chickens travel quite a bit when let loose every day. I trained mine to follow me, and listen, but again mine are pets. Neighbors are usually not too happy with chickens scratchin up their lawn, and pooping all over. (My mom had this problem and now i cannot convince her that chickens CAN be fun)

 

[NovaAman]

That might work...

I saw a bag of corn cob at TSC Friday and was considering that for the ducks since that 25# bag would back up 18 gallons of water... I was thinking of throwing it under the straw and around the water bowl in the coop... Opinions welcome on this ...

holy egg song going on out there... They've all laid already today.. Oh, forget it, its Mr fluffy butt.

 

[LEEHAHA]

Quote:
THX I PUT HER BACK OUT THERE SHE IS WALKING AROUND FINE AND EATING...I WOULDNT HAVE THOUGHT ANYTHING IF HER BUTT WASNT COVERED IN POOP THIS MORNING...AND I DID LUBE HER BUTT WITH OLIVE OIL NOT STICKING MY FINGER IN THERE LOL.....I WILL LET YA KNOW HOW THINGS GO

LIZZZ

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Quote:
THX I PUT HER BACK OUT THERE SHE IS WALKING AROUND FINE AND EATING...I WOULDNT HAVE THOUGHT ANYTHING IF HER BUTT WASNT COVERED IN POOP THIS MORNING...AND I DID LUBE HER BUTT WITH OLIVE OIL NOT STICKING MY FINGER IN THERE LOL.....I WILL LET YA KNOW HOW THINGS GO

LIZZZ

 

[RaZ]

I think that I would pass on using leaves inside the coop.

My main concerns are that if the leaves are whole, they may mat together in clumps and hold too much moisture. Second, I don't believe that the leaves will do much for absorbing odors. Third, they will decompose pretty quickly if they are shredded so the volume will decrease in no time.

For the run, I say get as many as you can. You can never have enough leaves for that. I collected over 50 bags of leaves this fall and dumped them in the run around mid-November. Today, you can barely tell that there were any leaves at all. The nice thing was the depth was about 2 feet deep to start so the earthworms were present for a good long time into December. The chickens liked that little snack.

 

[uchytil]

Quote:
I saw one like that at the North Muskegon Goodwill this weekend. My wife acted like she wanted it but I have too many small animal cages already so I passed on it.

 

[1muttsfan]

Red maples are toxic to horses, not sure about other animals.

I put straw and hay in my run, the chickens love it, and it just disappears on it's own. I know some people rake it out but I never had. The only thing I every have had to remove is corncobs, they apparently do not decompose unless ground up.

I also have a large manure pile - a gift from the horses - and my girls make a beeline for the Giant Pile of Poop as it is rich in worms and bugs. They scratch it all around and make a big mess.