Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[mindylee]

Im still around and leark about every other day or so. Just dont post much as i dont have a lot to really say.
I guess I do have some lil news. I was done hatching for the year but i had a bad batch of eggs i bought and shipped in with very low hatch rate earlier this summer. And the breeder surprised me with a free replacement dozen on Saturday. So i have 2 broody hens taking care of them for me until they hatch.
I also am pretty excited about my progress on my chocolate cochin bantams project. I have about 2 dozen now and really like how they are turning out so far.
Otherwise, just not looking forward to the cold that will be here soon.

 

[aart]

I am mostly finished with my new coop to house all the new chickens.

http://homesteaddad.com/2015/12/15/big-coop-recap/

Sweet!!

 

[tororider]

Sweet!!

Thanks

 

[uchytil]

I am mostly finished with my new coop to house all the new chickens.

http://homesteaddad.com/2015/12/15/big-coop-recap/

Very nice....good job! That's pretty much how I build my goat houses. The only thing I would add to your coop Is Fascia and Soffit vents. Instead of foam (which won't keep critters out) the vents (front and back) allow some air circulation through the coop and help keep critters out. I also use the LP smartside...good choice!

 

[tororider]

Very nice....good job!  That's pretty much how I build my goat houses.  The only thing I would add to your coop Is Fascia and Soffit vents.  Instead of foam (which won't keep critters out) the vents (front and back) allow some air circulation through the coop and help keep critters out.  I also use the LP smartside...good choice!

Thanks. The soffit and fascia are part of the mostly finished. It is yet to be done when I can find some more time. I like the smartside, not too badly priced and easy to work with.

 

[1muttsfan]

That's very similar to mine as well, looks very sturdy (and more accurately built than mine), although my ventilation is mostly via the windows, I did not put in soffit vents but as long as the windows are properly adjusted the ventilation is fine. I do leave the pop door open at all times except the very worst of the north/northwest winds, but the coop is several feet off the ground.

Your chickens may find a regular 2x4 roost more comfortable than the roost ladder.

 

[iamfivewire]

sorry about you loosing another chicken to a hawk Mary
:- (

 

[Folly's place]

It's been a busy hawk year; four bantams and one standard hen. Hopefully next year will be better. The winter flock is otherwise fine, but down to ten Belgian d'Uccles, not the best. My new coop setup is GREAT! Mary

 

[RaZ]

It looks like the state bureaucracy is at it again.
Copied from an e-mail from We The People of Mid Michigan.

Update on the situation at Baker's Green Acres. Just received this email:
Living in the state of Michigan is no longer just expensive, it's down right scary!.
View this email in your browser
Please follow this time line of events and then take action!
Many of you have followed the saga of Baker's Green Acres for several years now. Many of you have become customers, buying meat and poultry raised in the sun and fresh air, free from diseases and antibiotics. Some of you have contributed sums of money to the farm, a few of you LARGE sums. Most of this list have held the Baker family up in prayer, asking for God's divine providence to prevail, those involved in trying to destroy a wonderful family brought low, and peace to return to this veteran and his family.
What if I told you that a week before Christmas, Mark and Jill had several state police show up along with the Dept. of Ag. inspectors who issued a search warrant for Mark's property? If you're scratching your head saying, "wait a minute? Straight tails, curly tails, erect ears, floppy ears . . .all of that was decided in court in March of 2014??!!" Yes, we all heard it. Baker's pig are legal! And why not? Feral isn't a characteristic for crying out loud. It is a behavior!
The state veterinarian put enough pressure on just about every butcher within a hundred mile radius of Mark and Jill's and no one would process these pigs. Ok. We're legal, but no one will take them. The Dept. of Ag/USDA put enough pressure on all of the restaurants that bought from Bakers that none of them would continue to buy their meat. (Note: would this be in direct violation of your constitutional right to be involved in commerce?)
Except one. Mark has had a customer in Traverse City for a decade. A couple of weeks ago, in the middle of the day, the Dept. of Ag. showed up and confiscated all of the Baker pork citing that it wasn't properly labeled. (The owner had removed the pork from it's original bag and thrown it away, leaving the extra in a container with no label on it. For this, all of the meat was taken!)
The next day, Mark was delivering a few of his pigs to a local processor who had recently agreed to butcher Mark's pigs. This was a real nice arrangement and Mark and Jill were very pleased with his services. Well . . . the state veterinarian sent this butcher a text just as Mark was walking through the door. It said, "Do you process Baker hogs?" The man asked Mark, "do I process Baker hogs?" Mark said, "yes, you do." Now, if the state vet gets to decide ultimately whether you keep your license or not, would you continue to take questionable animals? Do you see how this is beginning to work? Nothing concrete, just subtle hints dropped to get the results you desire. Boy, it sure is great to be King.
The final straw: A delivery was made to Baker's Green Acres during this same week. The farmer making the delivery asked Mark if the whole dilemma he was involved with the State, the pigs, etc. had been resolved. Mark just chuckled and said, "yeah, I guess so." He said he was relieved and that he had something he had been wanting to tell Mark for months. Seems that one of those really frigid days this past winter, February time frame, this man came to make a delivery when no one was home. However, there were two snowmobiles parked out by the barns, driven up from the back of the property, belonging to two DNR officers armed to the teeth LOOKING THROUGH MARK'S BARNS and headed to the house when this man pulled in with his truck! They intimidated this poor man so badly he kept his mouth shut for months until he thought the situation had been resolved. How is this sitting with you? Imagine pulling into your driveway and finding someone from the government going through your things? Life, Liberty, Property . . . those things are guaranteed to us, but obviously no longer in the state of Michigan.
This brings me to the "MayDay" . . . today, at approximately 9:30 a.m., state police showed up at Mark's along with inspectors from the Dept of Ag. with a search warrant. This is supposedly connected to the illegal pork chop seized at a local restaurant. Mark said that he didn't want the search to begin until some of his friends arrived and it didn't take long and the Gestapo was gone. But they'll be back . . .
YOUR PART: Of course if anyone has a camper and can make it to Baker's that is the best thing you can do. Camp out for a day or two (it's a three day warrant) and be there to witness any of this over-the-top treatment being waged against our friend by a state government that needs to be fired - EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!!!!
Secondly, Senator Darwin Booher, attorney general Bill Schuette, need to have their phones ringing off of the wall and we need to DEMAND AN INVESTIGATION into both the DNR and the Dept. of Ag. actions against the Baker's. Do not stop calling. Call in the morning, call in the afternoon and continue to call until an announcement is made that an investigation will commence into this unlawful, threatening treatment by agencies acting outside of their intended authority.
Senator Darwin Booher: 517.373.1725
Attorney General Bill Schuette: 517.373.1110
We've been scratching our heads wondering why in the world precious tax dollars would be used to send two conservation officers out on snowmobiles to raid someone's private property - when they're not home - and we keep coming back to: were they there to plant something? We are currently looking through the butcher shop, barn, etc. looking for some sort of contraband that could have been left behind by these overzealous state thugs. (I'm sorry, but running around scaring people makes you a thug). And wouldn't that be oh so convenient if now the Dept. of Ag. could find something illegal in one of Mark's outbuildings? or house? This is how the group of men that rushed to the farm to make sure nothing bad happened to the family feel like spending their day. This is how the Baker children, wisked away as Mark fears for their safety, need to spend their day. Jill probably has a lot of work she needs to get done, especially with Christmas next week, but she too is gone as Mark fears for her safety. And Mark . . . I wonder when he was living in the hot arid desert during his deployment to the Middle East ever dreamed that all of the money he was saving in order to buy a farm someday would ever turn into this?
Remember: it's your tax dollars being used to fund this foolishness!
If you are content to let your employees tell you what to do, when to do it, how to do it, etc. do nothing. The water will come and cover you soon. You will drown in a sea of regulations, sickening healthcare and even worse food! If you want to decide what to do with your own property, eat what you desire to eat, come and go without fear of a government thug looking through your things when you're not home - DO SOMETHING!
Send this email to everyone on your distribution list. Get on the phone. Do not stop calling, complaining, demanding, insisting that an investigation takes place immediately. Do this until you get another email telling you that there will be an investigation into these unlawful actions by your state public servants and that Mark, Jill and family are safe.
It is a sad day to be a Michigander . . .
"In Liberty" doesn't fit today, I'll simply sign this,
Tammy

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[RaZ]

Sad news to report.
One of our own has been killed in an accident. I don't have the details other than Mike Beers lost his life in a traffic accident this morning.

Just found this on-line.
http://accidentdatacenter.com/us/mi...sterfield-road-chesterfield-township-michigan
Edited to add.
https://www.gofundme.com/btfk4tqc