Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[RaZ]

I have a circular gravel driveway that has a pretty good slope. There is no gravel left and the melt runoff freezes over. After yesterday's 38'. late afternoon rain shower, and snow overnight every bit of it is an ice rink. Paths to the garage and coop are frozen as well. The bright sunshine is deceiving. 15 degrees with a wind chill of 6 according to my weather station. Radio says a rapid drop after 6PM. I'm working the beer tent tonight at Shanty Days from 5 - 8:30. First half as entrance guard/pass checker, then inside the tent as a beertender. I'm sure I'll be freezing me arse off to start then sweltering after. That's how it was last year.

 

[1muttsfan]

-0 again here this am , but warmed right up to 7 when the sun came out. Had to fill the water trough, tomorrow the horses will need a round bale and it is supposed to be just as cold. Chickens are not amused by the cold.

 

[picklestheduck]

-0 again here this am , but warmed right up to 7 when the sun came out. Had to fill the water trough, tomorrow the horses will need a round bale and it is supposed to be just as cold. Chickens are not amused by the cold.

What kind of horses do you have? Yep we are filling the trough today too with buckets loaded in a wagon.

 

[chickflick]

8 eggs out of 11 chickens!
Looked out the window and saw a huge hawk sitting on the ground eating his lunch. Glad the chickens were in!

 

[1muttsfan]

The horses belong to a friend of mine, a big paint gelding and an Andalusian/Paint gelding, good guys. I love having them here, and right now she's out of town so I'm doing chores. They will need hay today.

-7 this morning, brrr

 

[picklestheduck]

The horses belong to a friend of mine, a big paint gelding and an Andalusian/Paint gelding, good guys. I love having them here, and right now she's out of town so I'm doing chores. They will need hay today.

-7 this morning, brrr

Horses are the best! We have four on our property. We board a friends shire cross, and we own an Arabian/Morgan cross, a Tennessee walker/pony cross, and we have an American Paint horse. The shire cross, Willis, is the only gelding....so you can imagine how sassy our herd is lol. But they all are REALLY sweet. I wouldn't trade em for anything!

 

[RaZ]

I had a great time at the Shanty Days beer/music tent last night. The DJ had people dancing all night long with great music played LOUD!
It was darn cold though. I worked the door so I was mostly outside all night.
I left the house at 4PM and the birds were still out. I got home at 8:30 and shut them in for the night. I don't like being away when it is time to shut in the flock but it happens some times.

 

[SillyChicken]

That brief melt off followed by rain and freezing temps have left everything icy! My gate to the chicken yard is frozen shut along with the door to the coop. Luckily I have a second gate in to their yard! but there's no going into the coop for a while now. It's currently snowing again.

Just found out we're having a grand baby girl. Looking forward to her arrival! My DD lurks on the FB version of BYC.. not sure if she is here yet. But she also has the chicken bug! Guess I had some influence after all (at least it was a good one)! Ha ha!

 

[saysfaa]

Apparently this strain of AI is not so terrible for us, but pretty deadly for our poultry. Those turkeys were getting very ill and were tested, and then the flock was euthanized.
I'm worried here, we have lots of Canada geese and ducks coming through. The wild water fowl don't get sick, but our poultry will not do well with this one.
Mary

Does anyone know if it is practical to disinfect a wooden coop if the bird flu does get in? Or whether waiting 100 days to get replacement birds will keep the new birds safe? (I found where the virus can live in manure up to 100 days). I can't find search terms that give me disinfection information for after infection. I just just endless versions of how to disinfect boots after walking where wild birds may have been and how to do biosecurity in general.

 

[saysfaa]

If the chickens sit on top of those nest boxes (need photos!) you could add a solid top anyway. Even a feed bag, attached to the weaving, should do it.
Mary

Update photos
The first two are for scale of the willow. Third is seeing how much bend there is with the bark on. Fourth is my helpers with debarking. Fifth is testing the bend after debarking.... it shows about the same but the picture with the bark is as far as I could get it with a fair amount of effort and the picture without the bark will easily bend at least two or three times further.

The pullets totally freaked out when I brought the withes in and they all hid in the far corner. I just left the bundle leaning across the door (royal pain that is too). For the first day or two, they weren't very eager for recess in the garden side, by today, they were getting more serious about escaping into the garden side for recess. "Escaping" because I've been shooing them back until today. Today, I left the screen door wide open for them and they didn't hesitate. They also aren't bothered by the withes moving over their heads - that part surprised me.

I'm now hopeful that I can build it in their space and replace the crates without any pause in where or how much they lay.