INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

@jchny2000

I know it's hard when you're in the process of taking care of parents (ask me how I know...) Anyhow, wanted to just say thank you for caring for your parents while you are able. You'll look back and be glad you did after all the unknown is known.

Thank you. Yes you know too

We are day by day now. I don't sleep much. I am online researching every little thing. And question it too.Some of my parents care givers really do not like me! My usual comments are WHY NOT?
They are 83 dad and 81 for mom now ages. There's issues I am addressing and some things, well you know. Quality of care, availability. Why are our seniors with ample resourses being denied care.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Question, but I won't be back on for a few days probably to see your answers.

Anyone raise Khaki Campbells? If so, your experience, please.
-Do they really lay as well and prolifically as they say?
-How do you keep their winter home from becoming a nasty mess?
-Do they go outside in the winter or want to stay under shelter?

I have had them. Pekin do so much better. Khaki were not as good a layer and quite the mess UGH they were not as friendly. I found pekin to be a better duck for our needs. The drakes seem to think chickens are ok and the few I had killed hens trying to breed them. I no longer keep them.

 

[joshuajarrett]

Anyone selling ducklings are have a wait list?

 

[JanetMarie]

Question, but I won't be back on for a few days probably to see your answers.

Anyone raise Khaki Campbells? If so, your experience, please.
-Do they really lay as well and prolifically as they say?
-How do you keep their winter home from becoming a nasty mess?
-Do they go outside in the winter or want to stay under shelter?

I don't have Khakis, but have Muscovies, and can comment on their winter care. Although this is the first winter with ducks, I may find better ways later.

The floor of their house, which a section of the barn, is concrete. I use a one gallon stainless water dish. At first I used a two gallon stainless dish, which gave them more water to splash around, but going down to a one gallon dish is less mess. If they're kept in all day the dish is filled two or three times a day. At the end of the day, after everyone has gone to bed I dump everyone's water out, and clean up all the wet shavings, and apply clean, dry shavings.

I don't mind having to replace the wet shavings every day, because it goes into the garden, and will be useful there.

My males have not tried to mate with the chickens. They prefer to hang out with their own kind.

 

[jen214]

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for online ordering from hatcheries. I've not ordered chicks online before and am not sure which hatchery to go with. I am planning to buy a few different breeds, but am not especially concerned that that be breeder quality. My 3rd grader is wanting to show production poultry in 4-H this year. I will need them to be delivered around the last week of February so they will be close to 6 months for the fair. Thanks for any advice!

 

[Faraday40]

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for online ordering from hatcheries. I've not ordered chicks online before and am not sure which hatchery to go with. I am planning to buy a few different breeds, but am not especially concerned that that be breeder quality. My 3rd grader is wanting to show production poultry in 4-H this year. I will need them to be delivered around the last week of February so they will be close to 6 months for the fair. Thanks for any advice!

You may want to ask around at the big farm stores in your area. Here in IL, my friend & I went to "Farm and Fleet" where the min chick order was only 5 of a particular breed. They use Cackle, which has pretty good stock, and the price on the store's order form was less per chick than if we ordered directly. (then there's shipping & "small order fee - which we avoided all together by picking them up at the store.) The big chain stores can order in bulk & must get deep discounts. (Or they use their chicks sales as "loss leaders.") Our 6 chicks were kept in back away from public. The store called as soon as the chicks arrived & we picked them up a few hours later. No causalities during shipping & all were in good health.

To put it in perspective, we put our 6 chick order in online at Cackle & the price came to $59.72. By ordering & prepaying at the store, our grand total (with tax) was $19.26. (less than $10 for my 3 rare breed chicks!)

Because you want to order more & also want the common breeds, the cost difference may not be as great. The stores usually have "chick days" in the early spring, so that's another way to get cheap chicks. We found that each store has diff rules & often the employees don't know much about the chicks. (It all depends who's working when you're there. LOL)

 

[MikeTodd]

Well, we officially have an OliveEgger in the mix. Three in three days (only two are shown)!

 

[jheasley]

I started taking care of my parents in 2002, For about 18 months my father was in and out of nursing homes. He passed away January 24, 2004 @89 years old. In 2006 I started working part time to be able to care for my mother at home, In 2012 I took off work entirely to care for my mother, on September 10, 2015 my mother passed away at home at 95 years old. Reason I have went into so much detail, is I've gained a lot of knowledge over the years and would be happy to talk and give guidance to anybody in need. It's an interesting journey, but well worth it

 

[Mother2Hens]

Hi everyone!

I’ve been having a new, weird, bad chicken experience. My six-month-old Bielefelder, Frieda, (from @kittydoc ) ate some pieces of “my trademark” perch covers made from black memory foam-like pipe insulation covers. I’ve been using them to cover the perches for several years and have never had a chicken nibble on them. Frieda has been perching on them for several months and never pecked them. Then, when I had a house full of relatives staying here for Christmas, Frieda decided to start munching on the foam. Normally, I am in and out of the coop each day cleaning, etc., but I hadn’t checked it for two days. The night after Christmas, I noticed some clear, "anonymous" poop with tiny black dots on the concrete walk. Then I noticed pieces of a perch missing, so I promptly removed the covers.

The next day I saw that Frieda wasn’t acting like herself. She stayed with the flock but wasn’t very active although she was eating and drinking. I brought her to my veterinarian that afternoon, and luckily she pooped tiny black dots on the table upon arrival. The vet didn’t find any other issues after examining Frieda, but because of toxic chemicals in the insulation, he used a feeding tube to put activated charcoal in her crop. (For reference, the vet bill was a very reasonable $35). It’s been a "wait and see" situation. So far, so good although I worry about unknown damage from the toxins. She’s still been pooping black dots but has been eating and drinking well.

After the vet visit on Monday, I decided to put Frieda in the spacious basement pen with the two frizzles (from @ellymayRans ). The frizzles were rather wide-eyed at first when a giant chicken moved in! lol. For a month now (except for some extremely cold days), the frizzles have been going outside with the rest of the flock for part of the day. I’ve been waiting for some mild nights in a row to move them in the big coop. When the frizzles are in the walk-out basement pen, the hens often sit outside of the sliding glass doors—flocking together! This evening, when it was time to go in, Frieda walked to the basement door—guess she likes it, and I’m keeping her there until she feels back to normal. I can tell that she is feeling better, but still recovering.

So, of course, I feel horribly guilty as we parents of chickens and other animals feel when something happens, especially something preventable. I don’t know why Frieda chose foam. I always have plenty of food and water at different locations and give them healthful treats while observing them, so I know she wasn’t hungry. The only stressor that I can think of to cause Frieda to start eating foam suddenly is that all the chickens began laying around the same time a couple of weeks ago—except for Frieda because she’s the youngest of the outdoor flock. My three 4½ year-olds hadn’t laid for several months, and when they began laying again, the three Orp pullets all started laying. We went from famine to feast! I don't know if all that laying stressed her out or what, but we are rooting for her.

As a chick, she was very skittish and hard to get to know, but Frieda turned into a docile pullet, which seems to be a common behavior pattern for Bielefelders. I've never seen her peck any of the others—she's a real sweeatheart.

Just took this photo of Frieda on Thursday. She looks healthy!



The Frizzle Girls always are close together in one big pile of crazy feathers. When they're in their basement suite, I have a radio on for them. For a couple of weeks, I made them listen to a Christmas carol radio station every day. LOL Before their bedtime, I put on some public radio classical sounds. They're probably ready to kill me. Haha


Here's Frieda's BFF "Hadley" perching in the chickens' favorite Korean Spice Viburnum shrub,
which offers much more cover in the warm months.


Behind the shrub is the chickens' club house—a section under the deck that provides safe hiding from hawks. On a few of those December days when the temps were in the low teens, I added a heat lamp over their hang out. In the past, when it's been snowy and cold, I've made an area in the garage with a heat lamp. Large umbrellas are good for wind and rain.


4½ year-old Smalty and 6 month-old Frieda were just down the hill a bit.

 

[kittydoc]

@Mother2Hens, I learned the hard way several years ago that chickens LOVE Styrofoam! We have Styrofoam insulation on a few doors to roots in our main coop, and quickly discovered their proclivity for it. Fortunately none became ill, but treated foam could certainly cause illness. The pipe stuff no doubt has additives to make it hold its shape and make it less brittle. Crazy chickens, once they explore a substance and find Styrofoam, they really go after it and it must be removed.

I sure hope Frieda makes a full revovery! How are your chocolate and chocolate cuckoo Orps? The cuckoo girl I kept is such a doll. I purchased a new chocolate cuckoo cockerel from Papa's in California to replace my mean roo of last year, but none of his female offspring have been afflicted with his attitude. The new boy is almost as beautiful but very mellow. I have a pen with 5 birds for my chocolate and cuckoo breedings, and will do some pair breeding with my blue girls to get some mauves as well.

My SGDs have started to lay! They are very easy going and sweet now that they are at POL. The pullets are their adult color, but not the cockerel yet. Probably next year.

Cogburn still reigns over the layer flock, Roadrunner from @jchny2000 over the lavenders, and Junior (Cogburn's son) over the blues. My cockerels need names (SGD and chocolate cuckoo Orp).

Our layers are aging, so we have 15 black Australorp pullets in the garage! I know there are hybrid layers that are super layers, but they burn out young and/or have more medical issues. Our original Australorps laid 5-6 eggs per week when young, and were hardy. I'd rather have heritage breeds most of the time for that reason.