Michigan

[RaZ]

Quote:Originally Posted by Chickmate

I have four chicks that are 29 days old today. Two of them have big feet and legs, their combs are turning red already and their little tail feathers are much longer than the other two chick's. The one little guy is so obviously a rooster and the spittin' image of his daddy Joe, I've named him Little Joe (Bonanza!) The other little roo is black with speckles and I think Joe is also his daddy. The other two I'm pretty sure are pullets. Here's Mama with her two boys.




Looking at a barred chicken makes me dizzy.

Even a still photo triggers flash-back like images in my mind.

 

[1 silkie 2]

Hey you are the ones with the uggos

 

[RaZ]

The mode of hatching has nothing to do with it. I've hatched hundreds in an incubator, none of which became human friendly on my watch, because I don't have time to play with hundreds of chicks that I have no intention of having as pets. On the other hand, I've had both broody hatched and incubator hatched chicks that the kids latched onto as "pets" who have become very friendly. If you handle chickens they will be more likely to get used to it; if you don't, they won't. Aside from the occasional strong personality towards one end of the spectrum or the other -- I had a Light Brahma that wouldn't leave me alone despite never having been handled, and an EE roo who was flighty as all get out despite having been handled -- it really is that simple.

Maybe it is just me, but I like the challenge of getting up close and personal with wildlife. Squirrels, rabbits, deer, frogs, toads, even an alligator and a skunk at one time or another. Birds seem to be easy. This picture was one of 5 chickadees that fledged from a nest box I built. Both Mama and Papa watched as each new flyer left the nest and flew right to my shoulder or head.

 

[RaZ]

Hey you are the ones with the uggos

There are no secrets on BYC.

 

[1 silkie 2]

There just so funny and adorable



Thats really cool wish I could get close to wildlife like that

 

[Olive Hill]

Well, according to WILX out of Lansing the long-lead forecast for Michigan for the next 90 days is predicting above average temperatures to continue -- and the meteorologist there "thinks" it will pan out. I hope they're right.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Well, according to WILX out of Lansing the long-lead forecast for Michigan for the next 90 days is predicting above average temperatures to continue -- and the meteorologist there "thinks" it will pan out. I hope they're right.

That makes me wonder what summer will be like. I hate above 80 degrees heat, as I get heat exhaustion very quickly and bad headaches. I hardly do much outside in the summer.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Quote:

March 6th. Does anyone want to leave Grand Rapids area about 10:30a.m. for the Small Flock Poultry Workshop which will take place until about 5pm at M.S.U. in E. Lansing? I do not want to go to the Pullorium Certification Workshop earlier but I would be interested in the Sm. Flock Poultry Workshop.

I would like to go to the Pullorium Certification Workshop, if I do not have to work on that day. I am willing to carpool with someone. Well, I had an interesting night. This is how it went- I had gone to a 3 hour meeting in Grand Rapids with my parents and two of my oldest sisters. We got back home at 9:30, and my youngest sister said that she had fed the calves for us, and I asked her if the peafowl had gone back to the coop, she said ''I don't know, the coop door was closed.'' The wind must have shut it, thus locking the peafowl out. So, I went out with my best spotlight, and our 7 months old puppy to find 7 peafowl. Found a white and a silver pied on the roof of the coop, so got a step ladder to get on the roof. The roof has frost on it, thus it was very slippery. As I got where the birds are, both got spooked, and one slid off on the other side to the ground, and the other slid a bit down on my side. Grabbed that white one and finished sliding off the roof, then put it in the pen. When I went to get the silver pied, I found 4 more peafowl on the wheelbarrow. Made two trips to the coop with them, while almost hitting my head on the electric wire that goes to the calve's fencing.... 1 more to find, a white one, shined the light all over the place, and found it on the old chicken trailer coop's roof. I climbed on the hitch part, and as I made a leap to grab the legs, I slipped a bit and missed, and that scared the bird into flying. It flew unbelievably high and fast due south. I have searched for almost an half hour on two different fields. I could not see when it have flown, for the trailer was blocking my view. The snow had mostly melted, so, it would have been easier to find a pure white peafowl in the dark. But I could not find it. The bird must have flown about a quarter of a mile for me not to find it. I am praying for it to be safe from predators. I will not let the other peafowl free range until the runaway comes back. I am feeling sick over this.

 

[RaZ]

Well that was rather painful. You all know that my computer crashed and I lost my data; the good news is that Geek Squad was able to recover my homework. The bad part was (is) that the recovered data is in the Windows 7 format and my back up computer is pre-XP. So almost all data had to be reformatted and reentered in to the old programmes. With these tired old eyes, 3, 5 and 8 all look the same unless I enlarge the font to something like 113 size.

I miss the large screen, HD display of the new computer. At least I have this old abacus and my slide-rule.

 

[RaZ]

I am feeling sick over this.

Don't give up hope. I'm sure that it will be fine overnight and anxious to get back home in the morning.