INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Finnie]

I think the kids will have fun playing with them over the summer & make them into great pets.

Good plan! They will love the turkeys. I wonder how good turkeys would be at clicker training?

I do suggest protective eyewear though, when cuddling with turkeys. They are even better at dotting your eye than chickens are.

having folks wanting to buy them.

Yes, that is the key! I have 20 poults ranging from under a week to one month old that I have been trying to sell, and the next batch due to hatch this weekend. It's my last batch for the year. The problem is, you have to decide a month ahead of time when you will be ready to quit hatching. I didn't decide until about two weeks later than I should have!

@Indyshent , if your broody hens don't come through for you and you find yourself short on turkeys....

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

View attachment 1439959

I don't know what this cute chicken is a character from, but I thought of you JCHNY2000 when I saw it.

Aww thank you its too cute!

Good plan! They will love the turkeys. I wonder how good turkeys would be at clicker training?

I do suggest protective eyewear though, when cuddling with turkeys. They are even better at dotting your eye than chickens are.


Yes, that is the key! I have 20 poults ranging from under a week to one month old that I have been trying to sell, and the next batch due to hatch this weekend. It's my last batch for the year. The problem is, you have to decide a month ahead of time when you will be ready to quit hatching. I didn't decide until about two weeks later than I should have!

@Indyshent , if your broody hens don't come through for you and you find yourself short on turkeys....

I think the best producers for us were my original bourbon reds. The hen was flat mean and the tom almost as aggressive. She sure hatched me a lot of poults. I had poor luck with the peafowl too and its a shame, really enjoyed them.

 

[Faraday40]

Oh No!!!!
My little cherry bush was due to be picked now but we got so much rain. Today around 6pm I went out there & about 70% of the cherries are splitting! I quickly called the kids & we harvested about 15lbs tonight. I couldn't fit both containers in the fridge, so I had to pit & process about 14 cups of cherries before bed tonight. About 3 cups were made into cherry ice cream/yogurt dessert shakes for the family & neighbors. The other 12 cups were made into cherry pie filling. It's cooling on the stove now & I'll probably freeze most so I can move onto the bigger stock pot full of cherries in the morning. If I can get through it, then I can send the family out to pick more. Normally we harvest the cherries over a 2 week period. (Last pick is always July 2-4th.) I'm afraid that they may be rotting on the bush by Monday,...... so guess what my weekend plans are??

OK, so no cute pics of kids picking cherries, but I can show you the large pot of pie filling:

Also, my garden is still standing water. I've never seen it flooded so long. Normally everything soaks down in 24 hrs but with 2 days of flash flooding all over the area there's nothing to do. I can't even walk back there because most of the backyard is standing water. The chicken tractors are also standing in giant puddles, so everyone's just free ranging with their chicks. (Except Jewel who's eggs are still hatching. I moved her to the big garage brooder = my Peck N Play) Trouble is the one who's especially naughty. She leads her chicks under the fence to the area by the house. (Strawberry garden, herb gardens, flowerbeds = chicken heaven) The chicken run was only 1/2 flooded, but thankfully the sand allowed things to drain already.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

My oldest DB Jack marries today (Saturday) at 64 years old! His new wife-2-B is a very good friend from our campground. (Small world) her daughter was a forum member here for quite a while. I am very excited to have my new sis in law as part of our family. I also see how much they care for each other. Age has no boundaries, am very happy for both of them!
It can stop raining any time now please! Garden is OK but I will not weed in thunderstorms. My waterfowl loves it! My other poultry and livestock are not happy. Goats hate rain so they are all huddling into the shelters. My 2 adult cows hate it but my bull could care less. My younger cow, Pixie is due to calve any day. Had my cow neighbor to look at her and told my vet in case she has issues. We are keeping this bull (Moose) to the early winter to breed our girls back. From there, we will either sell or process him likely late November.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Faraday40
Glad you saw the cherries before it was too late!

It's been raining a lot here too but I don't think we're getting as much as you and @jchny2000 .

Janet - have you heard anything from @SallyinIndiana?

 

[Finnie]

@Faraday40
You have my sympathy! Unexpected cherry cooking until midnight! Probably on top of an already long day. Ugh!

Sorry about all the rain most of you folks have been experiencing. I'm not too far from @jchny2000 , probably a half hour to the west. But our weather pattern seems to be different. Phone app keeps saying rain at one time, and then pushes it back several hours or days. We end up getting much less than predicted. Before that, we had dry 90s for days, and as soon as it did rain, wonderful cool air set in.

Yesterday was great. I was able to weed for a couple of hours and then it sprinkled. Sun came out and dried that so I was able to mow for an hour or so. (Little mower in the smaller fenced chicken areas where pig weed was taking over. Terrible stuff, that pig weed!) As soon as I got done, it poured. For about 10 minutes. Sprinkled a little bit on my way to the grocery store. When I came out, dark clouds but no rain. As soon as I loaded up my car and drove off, heavy rain. Boy was that lucky! Rain was much lighter back at home, so I only got minimally wet bringing the bags in. Apparently it was my day. For once.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Oh my gosh the rain was constant all day long here yesterday. I came home and the duck side was like a spa mud bath. It was so muddy. I am sure The ducks had a blast. The chicken side of the run wasn't much better, but I have more pine shavings on their side to keep it as dry as possible.
We haven't seen this rainy of a season in years.
I have some gnats to contend with in the duck house. I am trying to keep it as dry as possible, but it is almost impossible since I converted the plastic playhouse and have to keep the windows open for ventilation.
I sprayed the walls with some natural product and that seemed to take care of the gnats. I also changed out their bedding and put fresh pine shavings down.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Babies moved out to the barn chick pen today. They had a Premier Heat Plate in their temporary first brood box. When I put them out there I had also added a heat pad brooder that is larger as they'll quickly out-grow the size of heat plate I have. They had never seen the pad brooder before but, interestingly, they chose the heat pad over their familiar Premier. I think it's more cushy. Here's a couple of photos.

The sod was a real hit (as usual). The little fellow in front to the left is a Dominique cockerel. 3 Buff O's and a EE Ameracauna on top of the sod.

 

[Faraday40]

Babies moved out to the barn chick pen today. They had a Premier Heat Plate in their temporary first brood box. When I put them out there I had also added a heat pad brooder that is larger as they'll quickly out-grow the size of heat plate I have. They had never seen the pad brooder before but, interestingly, they chose the heat pad over their familiar Premier. I think it's more cushy. Here's a couple of photos.

The sod was a real hit (as usual). The little fellow in front to the left is a Dominique cockerel. 3 Buff O's and a EE Ameracauna on top of the sod.

What a happy big brooder you have! Your mama heating pad looks just like mine. I have to ask: what's in the pyrex?

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Faraday40
One pyrex had their food.

The other one has peat moss and some dried herbs for a dust bath.

The brood pen is 6'x6'. Then when they're bigger, they can also use another 6x6 (for a total of 6x12) together. The other pen is dog kennel so they have to be older to add that one. The bottom of it is lined with the plastic chicken fencing so they can't get through the holes. But it is not rat/mouse predator proof, of course. Not that I'm aware of any rats out there but there is always a first time so the 6x6 is hardware cloth with no openings large enough for anything to get in.