INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

Chaneys Ranch · Dec 18, 2012

HOOSIERS! UNITE!! There are actually 2 older threads for Indiana. Lets get together and make this one active for all of our benefit! After a few confusing months of trying to contact someone to get on Indiana's thread, I've since found out The OP's just aren't active anymore.

This is for those of us that want a place to share local info, from breeders to processors. Food mills, veterinarians that will treat a chicken if necessary. Fun stuff like poultry shows, and just let off steam

if we need to! I started keeping fowl after being away from it almost 30 years. Some of this information was pretty hard to find where I am at, BYC has helped a lot.

Chaneys Ranch · May 8, 2016

I'm not a picture person, but am proud to share my baby girl graduating college this evening. weddings a month away!

bradselig · Feb 16, 2014

Ok, here is my rant about retail bashing. Maybe it bothers me more than most because I actually work in retail.

First let all understand that the minimum chick number is not a store by store policy. EVERY single rural king, TSC, and Big R and a single Family Farm and Home (only one store remotely located to me) have this minimum number of chicks. I have only been to an Orschelns that does not have a minimum. While I don't know the reasoning behind such minimums, it is still policy and to think an employee is going to break policy for you, you are crazy! Why would I risk my job for a customer? Sure you are more than welcome to ask if you can get less chicks, but to start arguing and complaining is flat out ridiculous, IMO. If you don't like the stores policy, then shop somewhere else! Very simple!

For all the "idiots" working in the stores, most employees are hired for areas that are their strengths. Not everyone will be a chicken expert. These stores typically have a lot of specialized areas and to assume every employee is knowledgeable in every area is also ridiculous.

Now, letting a animal become injured and/or diseased and not treating it is not acceptable. As some mentioned, businesses are in it for money (I thought that was obvious), so if you don't like the business take your money elsewhere. But to go in and just become argumentative, loud, and quite honestly a pain in the butt, is not the solution. The vast majority of the time you will be yelling at the messenger who has no control over policies. When customers beat down employees like this, you are just causing the employee to not care and not want to improve him or herself. Why would they go try and help an employee in an unfamiliar area only to get yelled at by a customer?

I know I will try to go above and beyond to help my customers, however I don't do to well when you yell at me. And don't tell me how to do my job. And nots lot forget that I am NOT a dog and will not come to you when you whistle at me! Working in cabinets, I'm dealing with high dollar projects. Things go wrong that are out of my control. If a customer is reasonable I'm more than happy to try to correct the issue, be it compensation or upgrading for same price. However, if you start yelling and becoming unreasonable, my willingness to help is gone! Retail employees are still people and still should be treated as such!

ChickCrazed · Jun 11, 2015

I had the Purdue vet students out to tour my farm this week. It was a really neat experience! The professor picked up the first bird and gave it an exam, and then showed them how to test for AI, MG and possibly one other thing (?) and then they caught each bird and they all got tested and a thorough exam by four vet students. They LOVED the Bielies and we agreed that as chicken royalty the manhandling they had to go through was undignified......lol. It was interesting to see the proper way to hold a chicken for an exam. I will be putting that into practice!

I was able to ask questions about a couple of issues I had noticed, and get answers! She asked to take pictures of some things (my no-crow collar was one of them!) and gave me some pointers on my setup. One thing I thought I would share is that she recommended I put astroturf on all of my roosts including the outside roosts. She said it removes the extra carotin(Sp?) from the bottoms of their feet and helps prevent bumblefoot, is easy to clean and is inert so it is ok if they eat it. I am going to do it and thought I would share! I also talked to her about putting sand in my runs and she said not to. She said that some chickens will eat it and make themselves sick. Interesting! This vet actually holds a patent in in-ovu (in egg) vaccination and said she would show me how to vaccinate for marek's in egg the next time they came out! Super cool!

I asked the professor why it is so hard to find a vet that will see chickens. She said that most schools/professors will only teach vet students who are going to solely specialize in poultry, and most of those vets focus on commercial flocks so backyard flocks are out of luck. She said that since she started teaching at Purdue she has offered a poultry block and has had vet students rotating through. So hopefully in the next few years these vet students will start to scatter throughout the state and we will see more options open up. I thanked the students for getting this experience and told one of them to practice nearby when they graduated

Anyways, just wanted to share the knowledge! I offered to do it on a regular basis and it sounds like I will be having them through once a quarter, when they get the next round of students through. I would recommend anyone that gets asked to do this do so!

cjfox2012 · May 17, 2018

Hey everyone! I'm Chris, I live in Indy with my fiance and our daughter, and I just got my first flock this morning! 1 buff, 1 australorps, and 1 black sex link, all around 4mo. Names TBD as we learn their personalities. I'm excited to be a part of this group and especially excited to finally have my own flock!

Chaneys Ranch · Jul 19, 2018

This is my steer, KC and a friends daughter, Hannah. She showed him in dairy class yesterday at 4H county fair, took 1st place in his class, and 1st in showmanship! Hannah plans to study and become a livestock veterinarian. She also showed 2 of my goats in dairy class, very competitive class in our area.. still took 4th and 6th place. Very proud to know this young lady, and to be able to help her achieve her goals.