Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[tdhenson86]

Spring sounds like its here! Song birds singing this morning and a big male turkey flirting with his ladies in our back yard.

I think we're almost there. One more cold spell and hopefully, we're on the home stretch.

 

[minniefarm]

Just sitting here thinking about all that I need to do today is getting me tired before the day has even begun. I need to clean the dropping trays in the coop and also clean the nest boxes. I've got 14 chicks in a brooder sitting in my workshop and they are starting to stink the place so they need to be taken out while I replace the shavings.

Also the apple trees need to be pruned and sprayed. That project alone is going to take several hours. Yep, it's going to be a long day.

When I told my husband all that I had planned for today, he went back to bed! LOL I'm planning on pruning and spraying the apple tree tomorrow, sometime between church and Easter dinner. I better get a move on. So much to do and I am burying a friend from church at 11 am today. Rest well Chuck, your fight was long and hard. I know God is holding him now in his loving arms.

 

[Whatshisface]

Just sitting here thinking about all that I need to do today is getting me tired before the day has even begun.

I hear that, I'm wishing I was back at work. Rake the lawn and put new grass seed down, help daughter with a business plan for her business class (because she wants to use an old business of mine for the plan), set up the pop-up and see how it survived the winter...

 

[Wrightsx4]

I just wish the snow would finally melt so we could even think of starting yardwork! I only have patches of bare ground against the house and under the pines. We need a warm rainy day here.

 

[1muttsfan]

Opa, what do you spray with this time of year?

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Can't help loving on my boys, by the time they and i know they are boys they've already grown- all my babies are handled very much. So they pretty much come running and wait around my feet with the girls to be picked up.

I seem to have the opposite effect on roosters, the less i handle the more aggressive they end up. Don't know why, just is.

I've only had 3 roosters out of 8 get "mean" to me, the first was my pet who ended up getting tormented at a year old by the neighbors kid; the second was a rooster i took in that was just hitting 8 months, i think. That one decided to attack me when i was sitting down one day, so he went because i wasn't losing an eye for a stupid roo that i was trying to save. He didn't have hens because the couple times i tried to give him one he violently pecked the back of her hed when he tried to mate, and i wasn't risking it. The third was my dominant millie roo, and i wouldn't really class a couple half-hearted ankle kicks as mean. I just picked him up and used my meanest voice and that was that, didn't do it any more. The others weren't as gentle with the hens as i'd like; one outright started killing songbirds! Aggression to other birds i don't tolerate, no matter what. I even went as far as to select the roosters who were able to tolerate other roosters as well. ( Can't eliminate the instinct to fight completely, but i can try, right? ) The ones i have kept are now the sweetest most biddable boys, both to me and their hens.

Since my hens seek me out for attention, i think that the roosters who were scared of me were scared with the attention to their hens; the roosters who accepted me and sought me out were usually front of the pack for treats/ handling. (I always give the rooster and the dominant hen first dibs on treats, as respect) Roosters share, anyway. The other roosters would give a warning call and try to drive the hens away, i didn't appreciate that at all.

For hens/ roos both I pretty much move slow and try to understand what the birds are trying to get at when they are communicating with me; Lots of treats. I move slow and easy, and when i pick up to feed treats i am very careful to see that they relax. Especially if they got spooked when i picked them up; I will cup their head with my hand or cross my arm against their neck to simulate either a mother's wing (cupping) or neck to neck hugs (seen rarely but have seen chickens do). I make sure they are relaxed BEFORE i put them down, and lower slowly to re-inforce that it was a non-hostile event. My chicks are hams and stay that way; my adult purchases relax eventually into the life of ease. Once i see a bird is no longer scared of me, then i allow for the bird to decide whether he/she wants held; each bird has their own preferance (daily, weekly, in some cases hourly )

 

[RaZ]

Opa, what do you spray with this time of year?

I don't know what Opa uses. But I've been doing a bit of research on Kaolin, which is an organic clay that can be sprayed on fruit trees. It is a bit pricey but after I get some more data I just might plant some fruit trees again.

 

[dascountry]

I just wish the snow would finally melt so we could even think of starting yardwork! I only have patches of bare ground against the house and under the pines. We need a warm rainy day here.

Same here....to much snow on the ground yet to consider yard work. Now cleaning the coop is another story. Was able to get to that a couple days ago.

 

[chickflick]

Another beautiful day! Try and enjoy. Stop and listen to the song birds as you do your chores!

 

[Lisa and girls]

Ugg. I'm waiting to do the deep clean. I wish I had a hazmat suit for it. It gets so dusty! Even with spot cleaning every day. I always wear a 3m painting mask that makes me look like darth vader and freaks my girls out. Either it's the mask or them wondering where I'm taking all their hard earned dusty bedding off to. They act like its the end of the world.