INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Indyshent]

My pipping started end of day 21 start into day 22 and kept hatching until day 24. I'd gladly sell you these little boogers if you were closer.

I've got birds coming out of my ears I feel like.

I did manage to sell my lavender drake over the weekend and have someone coming to buy Salt and Pepper this afternoon, so those are 3 big mouths less to feed. But I still have four 2 month old EEs and 9 twoish week old OEs. On top of everyone else.

My silkies have finally started laying! No one's gone broody yet, but we're maybe two weeks into laying. I'm hoping to let them hatch their own eggs next spring. Other than them, the marans are molting and finishing molting. I'm hoping one of them will start soon. One EE is laying, and she's laying double yolkers quite often, is that normal? And my other EE hasn't started yet even though she's 9 months old. I'm hoping she doesn't wait until spring to start. Baking season is here, I need those eggs!

Watch the laying EE for prolapse. They tend to do that and/or burnout sooner if they lay double yolks frequently. Also, it's hard to hatch double yolkers.

Your non-laying EE might have some slower growing breed in her background, especially if she's on the bigger, heftier side. Might wait til spring, but I wouldn't place bets on her not doing it sooner. If she has more heritage bird in her background, she might lay later too.

 

[kanina]

Watch the laying EE for prolapse. They tend to do that and/or burnout sooner if they lay double yolks frequently. Also, it's hard to hatch double yolkers.

Your non-laying EE might have some slower growing breed in her background, especially if she's on the bigger, heftier side. Might wait til spring, but I wouldn't place bets on her not doing it sooner. If she has more heritage bird in her background, she might lay later too.

I'll keep an eye out for prolapse, her double yolkers are noticibly different. The laying and non-laying EE are sisters, hatched the same day from same batch, which is why I don't understand why the non-layer isn't laying. I took a few different pictures for size comparison. The back really washed out the color in the eggs which I find insane.

Here's a normal egg from her next to a double yolker.

Double and normal on the left with my Silkie eggs on the right. The silkie eggs are much smaller than they look in this picture, bad angle.

How they fit in the carton. The silkie eggs are difficult to get out because they sit so low.

And my favorite, I can hardly close the carton this egg is so big.

 

[hbrown322]

Hey! I thought I would share this with you guys as posting on Facebook hasn’t been successful. My aunt found this sweet girl back in october. She is a pit/lab mix. We have posted on Indy Lost Pets, twice, with no responses. She is about a yr old, smart & energetic. Needs training & stimulation or she will get herself into mischief! The vet does not think she is spayed & recommends updating her vaccines as we don’t know her medical history. My aunt already has two dogs & doesn’t really have the means to keep her. Is anyone interested, or know anyone who might be interested?

 

[hbrown322]

@hbrown322
Sorry so long in reply. Been gone for a bit!

Would pine shavings work? (I use them for chicks in the brooders & in the nest boxes)
Yes, you can put your pine shavings right out on the run. It does help if you have some larger chips also, as they keep it from matting down. After a good amount of chips, the pine shavings will work better for you.

How about mulch that you would find at a garden center/lowes etc (or are these typically treated)?
I would avoid the garden center chips. They can have contamination and are sometimes dyed for color, etc., as well as other treatments. An example of contamination: Back after hurricane katrina, they chipped and sold those trees as mulch up north here. But the waters were contaminated and lots of people got green algae/fungus growing up their vinyl siding from the chips. No telling what else was lurking in those waters. And I imagine they'll do it again after the latest hurricanes.

You never really know where they are coming from. Some of them are cedar which is inadvisable for use in chicken yards and houses.

So...my vote is to stick with the tree service if you trust that they'll bring you only good wood and nothing poisonous or sprayed.

Does the deep litter method smell? Or turning it & adding to it regularly prevents the smell from occurring?
No. Not smelly at all.

The birds will usually scratch through it on their own, and any rain you get just soaks in and takes the poo with it. If you start with pine shavings that are fine, it will be a little more challenging to get it started and keep it from matting down. That's why I really like the CHIPS as a good base. But if you spend a little time initially keeping it moving, I think it can be done with the shavings. Throwing some feed, mealworms, etc. down for them to scratch through should help.

Do you have a roof over the run? I’ve heard that “open air” runs and deep litter method do not work. I follow “two creative chicks” on Facebook and they use large pine chips for their open air run. They said they turn it every once in a while, as the hens tend to kick it all in one area & that they hose it down if/when needed.

 

[hbrown322]

It’s been a really long time since I’ve been on! I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!!
After processing my two silkie roosters I ended up with three new chicks (chicken math‍). A Cuckoo maran, EE & a barred rock! They are about 5 weeks old & have just recently been moved out with the big girls (separated with chicken wire). These three put me at 13, one over the City limit, but my neighbors are pretty laid back when it comes to my chickens, so I think it’ll be alright.
I’ve been dealing with an opossum who is after my chicken feed & a raccoon determined to rip the roof off my henhouse. The opossum is getting big enough that it struggles to squeeze through my hardware cloth, but is still young enough that it doesn’t realize there are chickens inside the henhouse. My rodentproof feeder is not opossum proof. So I went to Lowe’s today to buy reinforcement equipment. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to reinforce everything tonight before it gets dark! I had a stand off with the opossum last night and the raccoon early this morning. Anyway, here’s a few pics of the flock including the three new chickies. Hoping they are all hens. I’ll try to get individual shots tomorrow to post to confirm!

 

[kanina]

@hbrown322 Love the pics, can't wait for more! GL on your predator problem, yikes!


I have a buttload of chicks for anyone interested. Please PM me if interested.

4 EEs 2mo (pullets) and 9 OEs 2weeks old (straight run). I'm willing to travel within reason, I need to unload some. Someone please help

 

[Indyshent]

Rehomed a bunch of birds via Craigslist and unloading on @jchny2000 over the past few weeks. David Bowie is going to live with her daughter... my yard is less funny for not having him, and I think Optimus might be missing him too. They were raised together since Bowie was a day old chick. OP has been crowing... a lot... since Bowie left.

One of the younger guys (Wun Two) has recently learned to crow too, but Horns and the son of OP (looks like OP over mottled Breda) haven't started yet. Haven't heard Pookie (Silkie rooster) crow yet, but I'm sure he'll get to it quickly.

Down to three chicks, two CX, five pullets, one pair of white Silkies, one pair of turkeys, three cockerels, and Optimus Prime now. Boy heavy but with the way the dog is, I figured I needed spares. Going to need some glamor shots of these up and coming cockerels too because I think they're pretty. Should probably get some nifty pop culture references primed for naming too.

Think Horns and the new black cockerel are half brothers. I tried to set all the Breda eggs I could get. Both have her lower tail carriage, thin builds, light leg feathering. Going to have to check Horns earlobes because if they're white, he's certainly hers. Other than the Leghorns, she was the only white lobed girl I had). If they're red or between red and white, then we know his non-Leghorn parent had red or pinkish earlobes. In either case, it's tempting to dig through pop culture to find half brothers, especially if they're related to Optimus Prime.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Yes, it is an open air run, no top except for a tarp on one part to get out of the sun or rain.

 

[kanina]

@Faraday40 How's the hatch going?

 

[Faraday40]

@Faraday40 How's the hatch going?

Definitely having ups & downs with this hatch!

Set 4 eggs under Cookie (one was a silkie pullet egg which I doubted was fertile)
Went to candle & found 5 eggs. ????? Three were developing, so I tossed 2.
Around day 12, Cookie got off nest for 5 hours b/c she returned to wrong nest. (Temp was around 35'F !)
Candled at 2 weeks & all 3 orp eggs looked OK.
Then the "Cookie crumbled". She got off the nest & never returned.... but our inexperienced broody silkie pullet took over.
Tues was day 21 = Nothing (Not surprised)
Wed morning, I saw a pip. BUT Eggs were cold & the silkie was walking around.
I put her back on the eggs and hoped for the best. Last night I heard peeping but still felt 3 eggs.

This morning = one black orp chick
+ 1 pip hmm Perhaps the same egg as yesterday) + 1 egg
My silkie pullet stayed on the nest this morning, so I'm hoping for more hatching later today.