Any idea what reserve CA in DTW are flying per month hr wise?

This is the real truth, as a street CA you will be at the bottom and first to go if something should happen. Mesaba is kinda the hot place to go at the moment, but don't forget how they got to this point. Mesaba went into a sham of BK thanks to their holding company, got rid of a bunch of avros, slashed wages with the help of a judge and laid off a large number of pilots which many didn't return from furlough. They have a great group of pilots, but don't ignore the recent history.

One fella in our 10/22 group was hired from AE as a "street captain" into the CRJ200. But, as I understand, his deal will be 100 hr as captain, 100 hr as FO, and then he'll act as a line check airman from there after.

Stay Colgan (unless you can't stand it any longer there), and that's coming from a XJ guy...

The list is at 869 right now and you're saying it'll end at 1050?

At the rate we're hiring, that would end this hiring wave alot sooner than I thought.

Is 5 crews per a/c a normal staffing level?

Yea it is about normal...usually between 5 and 6 depending on the model. There still will be attrition, but you only need so many pilots. My friend who is a Mesaba pilot said they staff for 5 crews a plane.

Stay at Colgan, get some PIC time and then apply at the majors. I am one of those MSP FOs who will upgrade next spring and hopefully by then hold MSP as CA.

You seem like you want to avoid reserve as much as you can which is all you would be doing here.