Michigan

[Opa]

I've found that frozen poop is one of the few things I like about this cold weather. I use a stiff 3" putty knife to pry it loose, then pick up large chucks and toss them in a bucket. Two 5 gallon pails later the dropping boards are clean. Since it's been a week since I last performed this odious task I guess you know what I will be doing later this morning.

 

[3forfree]

Mom2, my pits will always wait till I or wife gets up to go outside. the youngest (2yo) has been laying by the incubator since friday night when the eggs started hatching, they peep, he whines.

 

[snowflake]

sometimes if you miss an hour or 2 it is like reading a novel


Good AM to all, got the chickens watered,feed,and let out, hey spread in the yard and poop boards cleaned off. Load of laundry in the drier and another in the wash, 2 toilets cleaned,1 to go. Now it is my turn to sit down with my glass of Kefir and catch up on last nights posts..
Before I start catching up I would like to earn another seat on the buss. Been puzzling over this for a while, ..closed flock means nothing in nothing out.... so how do you expand your flock with out in-breeding to the point of birth defects? OK I will go back & read now. Some mentioned Farmboys sign, got to go back & see.

welcome to those in and out of MI. We are not a closed flock

 

[Mom 2em All]

welcome to those in and out of MI. We are not a closed flock

Thanks Yeti...nice to know others have the same issue!
Mom2...I have the Octagon also by Brinsea...with auto turner and auto humidity. It is just great!! I bought it last spring and hatched out my jersey giants and English Orps with it. I plan on hatching out some of their eggs when I return in May. Good luck...you will love it!

I am eager to try it out- but if it works well, I may find myself with too many chicks in the house...

Mom2, my pits will always wait till I or wife gets up to go outside. the youngest (2yo) has been laying by the incubator since friday night when the eggs started hatching, they peep, he whines.

aren't they just the best breed? Mine can be as dumb as dumb can be, and he is definitely a thief- anything left on the counter or table without supervision is his..but he is completely absolutely devoted to me, and is constantly rightherenexttome.

 

[taprock]

Yes my house is all electric BUT we do not turn the electric heat on in the winter except my bedroom because I can't afford to get sick. We use propane heaters in the winter. Even in the summer my bills are between $400 something to $500 something. And like I said, there is only 2 of us.

I was just reading last nights talk on electric. We are at the tip of the mitt. We have geo-thermal heat generated by electric, electric hot water heater, stove, and dryer along with two kids who just don't get turning out lights, our last bill was $266. We do not have Consumers. We did before we moved a year and a half ago. The old house which still has power to it cost $70 a month and no one lives there.

 

[Mom 2em All]

Welp.

I just put the eggs in the bator- but I am not going to put much hope into them.
Out of 24, two were broken- appears to be from expansion, not from being crushed- the box was beautfiully packed and no dents.
I put 14 in the incubator- and over half of those have questionable air cells. The rest had detached and multi air cells. Like tiny bubbles throughout.
Of the 14, some have almost nonexistent air cells.

*sigh*.

 

[Mom 2em All]

I was just reading last nights talk on electric. We are at the tip of the mitt. We have geo-thermal heat generated by electric, electric hot water heater, stove, and dryer along with two kids who just don't get turning out lights, our last bill was $266. We do not have Consumers. We did before we moved a year and a half ago. The old house which still has power to it cost $70 a month and no one lives there.

I have a gas dryer, gas stove, gas furnace.
Five- most of the time, six, people living in the house. And two aquariums in the house.
My electric/gas bill for the past two months-
478.78 and 394.00

 

[3forfree]

I am eager to try it out- but if it works well, I may find myself with too many chicks in the house...

aren't they just the best breed? Mine can be as dumb as dumb can be, and he is definitely a thief- anything left on the counter or table without supervision is his..but he is completely absolutely devoted to me, and is constantly rightherenexttome.

2 years ago we had a pit bull rescue here at my house, we went through about 50-60 dogs of all sizes and colors, not one was a problem. We rehomed all of them and the new owners would write to us and say how happy they are with the new dog, also about how obedient, and easy to train. My old dog is 11 now and he's the best dog I've ever had. 2 of my dogs are in my avatar, the small brown one was a rescue, we had him and 8 of his brothers and sisters at the same time. The grey and white one is my pup. 2yo and 80lbs.

 

[snowflake]

Agreed on them being crooks though. I made a complaint about our meter four years ago. Took them two just to send me a letter saying they refused to investigate. Still haven't. Four years ago our bill shot up and has stayed up. But what are you going to do? They've got you bent over and handcuffed down and they know it.

were do you live? Our daughter lives in Grant and some times I think her neighbor must be plugged into her house. She gets those huge bills also, heats with propane but everything else is electric

Solar panels?

That made me think of a time about 20yrs ago when solar panels were new to homes and we had a sales man come to the house, We laughed at him cause we hadn't seen the sun in 3 months. This year they would have been nice.

Night Mom. I remember when I was little and would get cold upstairs in our old house I would creep into my parents bed and snuggle up to my Dad who was also a furnace. He would pretend he didn't know I was there but would always give this big fake snore and hug me close because he knew I was cold. In the morning he would kid my Mom that she had put a big ice cube in the bed.

Chickmate thanks for sharing reminded me of my parents, I miss them a lot.It was always cold upstairs. my dad liked to sleep with a window cracked(fresh air don't ya know keeps you from getting sick) we had seven kids and my sister & I shared a bed she was older. To this day I think she is a saint for all she put up with from her little sister.

Okay, this is a long shot but anybody in or near the area where Ionia/Clinton/Gratiot/Montcalm counties meet missing a black lab -- or know someone in that area who has and therefore might be missing a black lab? Sweet, young, female. Probably a mix as she's got a bit of a blocky head and white patches on her neck and chest. If so let me know. I know there aren't any active members in the area but also know we get lurkers so... PM me please if you happen to have a lead.

Olive what a cute pup, if you don't want her and can't find a home lit me know,youngest son would like a yellow lab but maybe he wouldn't mind a black

How do you remove poop from poop boards when it is FROZEN solid onto the boards. ? I would need a chisel and hammer! I have to wait until days of 32 or higher come and then scrape. This is the first year I've used "poop boards".....just wondering. I dropped off my RV coop and flock to my friend/chicken sitter and hated her seeing frozen poop covering the boards. We don't head for Florida until Wed. so I'm going tomorrow or Monday to her house to scrape off the poop boards while it is warm and show her my poop scrapping technique!

fife, I put hay mix from the floor on my poop boards. summer and winter. makes for easy clean up. jus role the whole mess up and drop it in a bag. put fresh hay out on floor for them to scratch in. I have pine shavings & hay on floor.

Mom2, my pits will always wait till I or wife gets up to go outside. the youngest (2yo) has been laying by the incubator since friday night when the eggs started hatching, they peep, he whines.

how cool, you don't have to watch, you have an automatic hatch alarm

Just looked out at the run. & the hens are walking on the hay path from the sheltered area to the dog house in the run. they hate the snow but love congregating in the dog house. some kind of meeting place, must be were they go to tell secrets. ....Don't wish the cold away to soon it helps to kill off parasites.

 

[snowflake]

just went & checked out the coop section. I have a mac lap top, with safari, coop choices all come up and I can click on any of them & my selection comes up