Michigan

[babigyrl22]

Opa - I sprayed my apple trees when we had that warm weekend. (mine are dwarf babies about 6ft tall) Will I spray them again? Or am I good for now?

Yippie! Off to Holland to the sheep shearing. I hope I am bundled up enough. HUrrah!

 

[1muttsfan]

Good morning Michigan, colder, brisk north wind with a little sun this morning - actually feels like winter for a change.

My apple trees are going to have to wait a few weeks, I am going on a little vacation and will have to take care of them when I get back.

Only 21 days left to set for the Great Easter Hatchalong! Got your eggs in a row yet? Because you could have one of these:

 

[1muttsfan]

Oops, all of a sudden I can't upload pictures. Maybe someone else can post a cute chick pic for me?

 

[swampducks]

Is the damage nightly or every few days? A few years ago when I had ducks that refused to come in off the pond I was losing one every few days, finding the body on the bank minus the head. When we switched to Muscovies we were keeping our ducks in the garage, but Thanksgiving afternoon DH went home to check on things and found all 9 2 month old ducklings dead with bites to the neck. He noticed the corner of the garage door was askew about a couple inches and slammed the door down. I rushed home (we were having dinner with his parents) and set up a live trap in the garage because DH thought he'd heard something. I baited the trap with raw chicken heats (I think). Within 5 hours that mink was inside. He now hangs as a pelt on the fireplace.

I've also read the males have something like a 10 mile range and return approximately every 3 days. That was about right for us. we have been lucky since then, no more problems, so it looks like his mate was not living in our pond. They like really bloody fresh bait though as long as it can get into your coup it's probably going to ignore the traps.

Good luck.

Well I've been camped out in the coop since a little after 6pm. Just came in at almost 3am. Actually stayed pretty warm except for my toes. The neighbor boy that does a lot of trapping came down and helped hubby set up two more traps. We now have 3 different kids out, so hope we catch something. He seems to think a mink is doing all the damage. I'm hoping to warm back up and go back out again. I purchased a battery operated light and left it down there on. If will be just my luck that he will sneak back into the pen while I am in warming up.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Quote:
MG can be transmitted to the chick right in the egg; before it ever hatches, it's already infected.

If my flock has the disease, then I will have to cull all the chicks that I have hatched lately.

From GR Meteorologist, Bill Steffen's blog:



Quote:

Only 35 days until April 1!

I like your wall sillychicken!


Quote:
If the eggs were from somewhere else would the chicks be ok then?

If their flocks are clean of MG, then the chicks will be clean. If I have to start over, I will only buy from MG clean flocks. It will be hard, for 90 percent of the flocks have MG. But its possible to have MG-free flocks as long you maintain bio-security, and buy from trusted breeders, and close your flock to nothing goes in, after you have gotten all the birds that you need. Then breed what you have and build your flock from there. It is hard, but possible.

 

[chickflick]

Love love lolve all the chix pics, and cute dog in the snow... all animal pics!
zephyrcreek sure hope you catch whatever is getting your birds! Just heartbreaking!
Silllychicken, love that wall!!! So cool. When can you come over and do mine? Just love things that are unique.
fuzzy, think the cortisome shot would be a tempory fix. Since I seem to be prone to it, I would prefer the surgery. It's a five min fix. Yes, 6 wks of recuperation, but then I'm done. Heck, even had it in one of my toes. Did you know, folks with hyperthroidisn are more prone to this? Alomg with a bunch of other problemd. Finger is stil quite swollen. And where it bent and couldn't straighten it, now it's swollen and I can't bend it. This would be the last finger to fix. All ohers are taken care of.
Daron, Congrats on your chix and hope your hatch is a good one. Praying the tests come back negative!

Have DH out clearing my chicken run since I can't. I'm so glad, so it sure is a wet and heavy snow.
Have a good day, all.

 

[Opa]

Opa - I sprayed my apple trees when we had that warm weekend. (mine are dwarf babies about 6ft tall) Will I spray them again? Or am I good for now?

Jamie, The oil spray is a pre-emergent spray to kill overwintering insects and their eggs. It is recommended that it be applied prior to the bud swell. Your next spray is orchard spray and is applied after the blossoms start to drop. It is applied repeatedly throughout the growing season with the last application several weeks before harvest.

 

[b737drvr]

Good morning everybody. I have been following the Michigan thread for nearly two months and have finally decided to introduce myself. I am new to country living and chickening, and am just about to place my first chick order. Still trying to decide if I want to hand pick one of this and one of that, or just get a "hatchery choice" in a lot of 25. I don't really want 25 chicks, but have some friends who may take 10 or so off my hands. I had hoped to get the chicks in late March or April, but if I hand pick the breeds, the earliest I can get them is May...just starting the process of converting a little playhouse shed into the coop and run. I hope to post some pics of the construction at some point in the near future. If anybody lives in the Milan area, and would like to show off their coops (and chickens), I'd be happy to come by for a visit to peck your brain (I mean pick). I am pretty clueless about lots of things chicken, so any advice you fellow Michiganders can pass on, will be much appreciated.

Opa - what product do you spray your Apple trees with? We have a couple of apple trees on our property and had a real problem w/ some sort of skin fungus last year. Hoping to do something about it this year.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

No, not yet.

But, I just set 42 of my eggs as a faith that my flock is clean.

Good luck.

Since I have dipped even further under the weather, I will just say:

cute pics
um, brain fog
awful story on the poor girl, it was a stupid candy bar
um, brain fog
snow was a nightmare to drive in, almost lost control once
um, brain fog
I can't remember anything else I was going to comment on

I hope you feel better soon.

Only 35 days until April 1!

Love love lolve all the chix pics, and cute dog in the snow... all animal pics!
zephyrcreek sure hope you catch whatever is getting your birds! Just heartbreaking!
Silllychicken, love that wall!!! So cool. When can you come over and do mine? Just love things that are unique.
fuzzy, think the cortisome shot would be a tempory fix. Since I seem to be prone to it, I would prefer the surgery. It's a five min fix. Yes, 6 wks of recuperation, but then I'm done. Heck, even had it in one of my toes. Did you know, folks with hyperthroidisn are more prone to this? Alomg with a bunch of other problemd. Finger is stil quite swollen. And where it bent and couldn't straighten it, now it's swollen and I can't bend it. This would be the last finger to fix. All ohers are taken care of.
Daron, Congrats on your chix and hope your hatch is a good one. Praying the tests come back negative!

Have DH out clearing my chicken run since I can't. I'm so glad, so it sure is a wet and heavy snow.
Have a good day, all.

Chickflick, I hope your finger will heal soon.

sillychicken, great job on painting!

Good morning everybody. I have been following the Michigan thread for nearly two months and have finally decided to introduce myself. I am new to country living and chickening, and am just about to place my first chick order. Still trying to decide if I want to hand pick one of this and one of that, or just get a "hatchery choice" in a lot of 25. I don't really want 25 chicks, but have some friends who may take 10 or so off my hands. I had hoped to get the chicks in late March or April, but if I hand pick the breeds, the earliest I can get them is May...just starting the process of converting a little playhouse shed into the coop and run. I hope to post some pics of the construction at some point in the near future. If anybody lives in the Milan area, and would like to show off their coops (and chickens), I'd be happy to come by for a visit to peck your brain (I mean pick). I am pretty clueless about lots of things chicken, so any advice you fellow Michiganders can pass on, will be much appreciated.

Opa - what product do you spray your Apple trees with? We have a couple of apple trees on our property and had a real problem w/ some sort of skin fungus last year. Hoping to do something about it this year.

Good morning and WELCOME! b737drvr! You will find that we tend to be very chatty here. Be warned that if you choose the hatchery chioce that you may end up with lots of cockerals. They will be having chick days pretty soon at the Tractor supply stores and Family Farm and Home stores if you have any near you. Also there is the option of buying from a fellow BYC'r. Do you have any ideas of what breeds you are looking for? Also, feel free to check out the links in Opa's, RaZ's or my siggy for information on the upcoming Chickenstock.

 

[b737drvr]

Thanks for the welcome. I would buy a pullet "hatchery choice" vs straight run. Hadn't given buying from a BYC'er much thought. If there was somebody close, I might consider. My original order was going to include one or two of each:
(in no particular order)
Easter Egger/Auracana
Deleware
White Legohorn
Silver Laced Wyandotte
Speckled Sussex
Barred Rock
Red Star/Golden Buff/Cinnamon Queen
RIR
Black Australorp
Welsummer
If I had to pick just two or three breeds they would probably be the top three. Want them only for eggs this year. Next year, we might venture into meat birds. I will put the weekend of June 23 on the calendar...that is so far away, but I would love to come! Thanks again.