I'm from Michigan

Hi all!
I'm from mid-west Michigan just a little north of Grand Rapids.

So where are you?

Yeah Michigan!!!

I live in southwest MI, in the Kalamazoo area.

Next...

Hi Caleb!

Im in Hannibal Missouri... quite a ways from Michigan...

Mah...how cold do you get there in the winter?

Any Hoosiers?... or is this an M-state club? LOL

Well, I'm a Michigander.....but I'm a Hoosier by birth - from South Bend. Go Irish!

Hi Vicky!

So...how 'bout all that SNOW outside??? It just doesn't seem to be giving us much of a break this year...

Tell me about it!
We have well over a foot of new snow and more due this weekend.
My hubby and son snowblowed most of the morning and afternoon. Crazy! I think we've been spoiled the last several years or so with mild winters and now its payback time

Just a suggestion...
each state represented here should start its own listing.

Hey Mah why is there big empty spaces under these few sentence long posts?

Cottage Rose wrote:Tell me about it!
We have well over a foot of new snow and more due this weekend.
My hubby and son snowblowed most of the morning and afternoon. Crazy! I think we've been spoiled the last several years or so with mild winters and now its payback time

Haha...the last few years when I would come back home from school (in South Carolina) for Christmas break I always wanted a lot of snow to go skiing and snowmobiling...I think 2 years ago I came home and it didn't snow at all for the whole month I was home...it was just gray and nasty...I was sooo bummed! But yah, now it's payback time...lake effect style!
I'm already sick of shoveling...but I try to remind myself of all the fun you can have with the snow. There is another perk: now I can track who's running thru the yard eating my plants and checking out my chickens! They better be careful cuz I know where they live now and I can follow them to their little homes....mwahaha! lol

Ya I've been seeing little mousy tracks around the waterfowl shed. Last winter I was over run with them because I always had feed set out for the birds. Now I just feed what they will finish off before night fall but still some grain gets spilled on the floor and attracks the vermin.
Time to set out the d-Con

Well the weather her right now is 0F but with the wind chill it got -40F yesterday! So the winters here are very cold and the summers are very hot

Ok Vicky...maybe we shouldn't have been joking around about winter payback!
Wow...snow, sub-zero temps, drifting snow, slush, ice, and now a high of 65 forecasted? all in the same week?
I'm looking forward to the day when my birds can see the outside world again!
Happy Holidays everyone and be safe,
Caleb

65º???!!!!
When is that suppose to happen?!
I just checked the local weather forecast and it said 53º by tomorrow then back in the 30's through Tuesday.

Ok, so maybe not EXACTLY 65 degrees...that's what I heard my parents saying earlier. According to weather.com the high for tomorrow is supposed to be 61 degrees (Kalamazoo area)!!!

LUCKY YOU!!

Well the snow is back!!!

Earlier this week when the sun was out and the ground was still clear my hens and I worked on our free-ranging skills! (Gotta get our practice in before spring hits, ya know! ) I was very impressed...they did a good job...stayed close to the coop and barns and even followed me around a bit. They were getting frisky too...one would take off running, then fly up and cackle really loud, then the others would follow. Some ran around with their wings stretched out like airplanes...so funny! Wish I had the camera along.

Having poultry is fun!

Caleb

If you think chickens are fun just wait until you get some geese and/or ducks.
Both can be very comical and always amusing....but geese by far as they're most interesting and entertaining.
Geese are total klutzes and stumbling over their own feet and don't try to herd them into the coop after dark because they're blind as bats and will walk right into a wall.
Don't even try to talk on your cell phone around your geese because they think you're talking to them and will carry on great and often loud conversations with you, so much so that you can't talk on the phone.
I also enjoy their bursts of joyful energy when they run around in circles, wings skyward, often falling on their faces and then stop as sudden as they started.
Very goofy birds.

Hey Vicky,

Hope your birds are doing well in these cold temps!!!

I thought the weather would affect my hens a little more...but no, they're happy as ever...

Hi Caleb!
All the critters are surviving this awful weather. I dread doing chores.
The chickens don't want to go out but the waterfowl go out everyday. They even go in the kiddy pool! I have to bust out the ice out everyday but as soon as I fill it up they jump in.
BRRRR!!!!!!


THINK SPRING!

So how is everyone doing at your place Vicky? I'm glad spring is getting closer - it's almost March!!!

Hey Caleb! I'm counting the days!
But the cold weather is relentless.
The geese are starting to breed and lay eggs.
Time to get the incubator out.
Not a chore I look forward to but it will be
fun to have goslings again.

Caleb, please send me an email.
I deleted your email addy.
cottage_rose_garden@hotmail.com

Ok Vicky, I sent ya an email!

Yeah, the snow is still hanging around...but it seems a little more bearable now knowing that spring is around the corner. I've been working in greenhouses too, so that helps!

Thats good to hear that the geese are laying...do they go broody right away? Or do they keep laying as long as you take the eggs out?

I think some of my BO hens are showing signs that they will be broody here some time. Oh yeah, and I should be getting some more hens soon...that should be fun!