Michigan

[RBahmer]

Now on the tractor discussion, GO GREEN, foreign engines or not.

I think both my grandfathers would come out of their graves if I ever drive something that is not Green. My son has a picture from my one grandfather's farm with all of the Deere's lined up in the corn field. He never met my grand dad

, but he still looks at that picture and talks about the tractors almost every day. Great Grandpa would be proud

. I still to this day remember riding shotgun with both of them on the wheel well for hours, I loved everyone of those minutes.

 

[Olive Hill]

The extent to which the human foot can spread to accommodate pressure is incredible. When I was a kid my mom ran over my foot with her SUV. She then yelled at me to "stop making a scene" when I fell to the ground and cried out in agony, but we'll leave the discussion of her maternal instincts to another day.

The point is, after I stopped "making a scene" and got in the SUV "where I belonged" she drove me to the hospital where there was no damage found on the x-rays. Not a crack. I had pretty round bruises all up and down where the beaded straps of my flip flop had been squashed into the top of my foot, but because I was wearing those flip flops my foot was able to expand under the pressure and nothing was broken.

Similarly, my husband has had the weight of a semi-truck flatten his hand without any real, lasting damage for the same reason. He actually was wearing gloves and the ER doctor was afraid to cut them off because he thought he was going to find "hamburger" but they were large enough that they allowed his hand to expand, His, unlike my foot needed a little coaxing to, eh hem, un-expand, but you know... mere technicalities.

That said, sometimes you just gotta have protective footwear and they do make some good boots that do the job quite well. Love my bogs and my Ariats.

 

[NovaAman]

Juise, I'd open half. I have been leaving my coops open all night long now... Even the one with out the run. I just tack up the hard ware clothe and take down the ladder so critters can't climb up and get in...

 

[Juise]

Eeyore -

I tells you, I am not nude!

Yes, any time I have to wear shoes for very long now, my feet ache. I didn't "go slow" either, but I have gone barefoot as often as possible my entire life. I think that warning is more for people who don't do it often, and some people never go barefoot, even in their homes. In that case, you do need to give your feet time to adjust and build the necessary strength to take over.

Olive - As a teenager, I worked several years at a carwash. While prepping the vehicles or towel drying them, I got my feets run over all the bleedin time. People are morons. Why would you decide to start driving your car while a kid is standing there drying it off? I don't know, but an awful lot of people did it. Never broke anything, though, or had any lasting damage. Unless you count the fact that, to this day, I cannot see a Lincoln Navigator without feeling seething hatred.

I do wear shoes when it really is a good idea, I just don't count hiking, walking around, driving a car, etc. among the activities that shoes are prudent notion. I used not to wear them into stores, either, but now, with two kids in tow, I would rather just slip some on for a bit and not have to deal with any extra stress for stupid reasons.

Nova - Good idea, I will take one down. I have been leaving the coop door open all night since Winter gave up, but in the current set up the door opens in and kind of creates a nook in the corner there where their roost is. So while it is very well ventilated, there isn't much of a breeze through the roost area, because it is sheltered on two sides by the corner walls, and then on the third by the door. (Did that make any sense? I am sorry, I am much more comfortable with a piece of paper and a writing utensil for these kind of explanations.) If I take down the winter panels, there will be a lot more wind through there.
So I got my paint, and the lumber I needed for the big roost. Came home to find my mailbox wiped out, though.

Why couldn't they have run into the elderly piece of crap mailbox we had until we replaced it last year? They did bring the mailbox and attached hardware up to the house and left a note of apology including their name and phone number, though, so I am not feeling upset, just frustrated to have another job to do. I am so worn out.

Now I just have to decide whether or not I can ask them for the money to replace the cedar post they snapped in half. We bought a pretty tough mailbox, so it is okay, but ohhh we bought the cedar because it would last a long, long time. I think it was $35 - $40. I totally think they deserve to pay for it... I mean, they had to be driving pretty dumb to hit it. It's not right up to the road at all, and it is a fine day. I can only assume they were not actually paying any attention in order to do so. Texting?

But I feel bad anyway.

 

[BackyardFarmMom]

Should I have the nesting boxes in the coop from day one or should I wait until they can lay?

Love the chicken "work" post!

Use to love no shoes... now I wear them most of the time when I am outside (almost never inside, unless I am going in and out) I was told never to go outside barefoot while I was pregnant... someone freaked me out that I would get worms and somehow hurt the baby... I know seems silly now but after having a miscarrage... I would have stood on my head the whole 41 weeks!

Go blue? Go green? Who cares? They don't do anything for me one way or the other...

 

[ducksunlimited]

Do we have swaps in michigan? i have lotsa babies and some adults i need to get rid of.

1 sebright hen ~ 10 bucks
1 BQ Buff silkie rooster ~ 20 bucks
1 bantam WC chocolate polish rooster ~ 10 bucks
5 bantam WC black 1 month old polish chicks unsexed ~ 5 ea.
1 pair of bantam blue cochins 1 1/2 months old ~ 20 bucks
1 bantam blue cochin cockeral 1 1/2 months old ~ 5 bucks
3 bantam black mottled cochin cokerals 1 1/2 months old ~ 5 ea.
1 pair of bantam phoenix 2 1/2 months old ~ 20 bucks the rooster is silver with gold leakage and the hen is silver with yellow feet but they are darkening a little.

I also have hatching eggs in partridge/grey partridge showgirls and silkies, mottled cochins, bbs cochins, wc cuckoo and black polish and soon lav and lav split silkies.

Email me if your interested! at [email protected]

 

[kimmie6067]

Kimmie, cause "work" involving something you enjoy isn't really called work! Loosing chicks is disappointing, but normal, failure to thrive is a very natural part of living.
Do what Nova suggested to help the chicks along.

You DS, did a nice job on the brooder box!!

Thanks Silly! That is so true even though it's hard on me I still love it! Now say I had to scrub the tub I maybe bellyaching the whole time in my head of course, haha.
I have Save-a-chick in the water, they seem to be doing great now. However, the pasty butt thing is driving me nuts not sure if they have it or it's just poop hanging around for a bit.
I hope I didn't over do it on the brooder box, it's so big I had to get another heat lamp. I will tell him you liked it he will be so happy first time making something like this.

Strange, for some reason I can't get mult-quotes to work properly
Wisdom has more to do with experience and what you learned from it rather than age. During my years as a firefighter and para-medic I was all to often witness to the ills that can be visited on society. Observing how different people handled their situation brought me to the reality and how you chose to face life has as much bearing on the situation as anything.

I keep Poultry Drench on hand to give to newly hatched, shipped, or stressed birds. I think it is probably the best product on the market for those situations.
Opa, I don't know where you get Poultry Drench.

I hadn't thought much about the amount of "work" involved in having chickens and ducks. I do what needs to be done and it's all part of the fun of having pets of any kind. Silly is correct, when you enjoy it, it isn't work.

I wonder how many sacks of feed I've carried in the past year...

Raz, it's so new to me and I want everything to go rght, makes me a little nervous.

What?



ok, I jest..... but that is how I came up with my name.... darn silly chickens!

Ok so what kind of "work" is involved with having chickens?

opening and closing pop doors
feeding and watering everyday
keeping them parasite free inside and out
cleaning coops roosts - daily to weekly
building bigger or more coops (cause the first will never be big enough)
finding someone you trust to care for them if you go on a rare vaca!
watching for predators
shooting predators (in your Sunday best)
dealing with bad neighbors (same as predators, only you can't shoot them)
providing the right env for the coop (ventilation etc)
providing shelter/protection
collecting and eating or selling eggs - everyday
loving
chasing
hatching
brooding
bators (whole nuther list!)
chicks
healing
eating
culling
dying
treats!
roosters........good and bad
saddles
feathers
poop
fun (not to be confused with poop)
BYC
silly chickens! (not me, the chickens)

Oh is that all,

 

[Nigellas]

(yes, the side effect of this is that I have hobbit feet. Whatever.)

LOL, I totally have hobbit feet too. My husband hates them.

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Yesterday we went to a nearby park that has a big river/ponds - There were at least 6 dumped domestic bids there - One of them (A toulouse goose, I think? The one in the middle) was super sad - (s)he kept following me around and was getting chased off by the Canadian geese there. If I didn't have my dog I'm pretty sure I could have easily caught it. There wee a few domestic ducks and another goose for sure - The one in the front here - is it a Toulouse too? It's coloring is different...) Even the duck in the back of this shot was a domestic... Ugh, the dumping.

 

[ducksunlimited]

Thats awful! I hope someone saves them

LOL, I totally have hobbit feet too. My husband hates them.

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Yesterday we went to a nearby park that has a big river/ponds - There were at least 6 dumped domestic bids there - One of them (A toulouse goose, I think? The one in the middle) was super sad - (s)he kept following me around and was getting chased off by the Canadian geese there. If I didn't have my dog I'm pretty sure I could have easily caught it. There wee a few domestic ducks and another goose for sure - The one in the front here - is it a Toulouse too? It's coloring is different...) Even the duck in the back of this shot was a domestic... Ugh, the dumping.

 

[Sara Jayne]

Hi everybody been a while since i was on here just to give an update I'm feeling much better. Tomorrow I get to start building a coop for my lovely soon to be 6 week olds they just wanna be outside all the time now they hate to be indoors. and i have a question If I get silkies chicks now can I put them in with my 2 week olds when I get them or will that be bad Idea?? oh and My little fenced in area is almost to small for JG's now