INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Faraday40]

BTW- To eat a fresh turkey for Thanksgiving, when is the best day to process?

Is the processing the same as a chicken? Any advice or websites or instructional videos to recommend?

Also, I have 3 turkeys. The male is going to a friend for breeding purposes. One female = Thanksgiving. The other female will be Christmas. I wouldn't mind growing her out a little more, but would the loneliness be too much for her? Her early life was spent with chickens but for the past month, I've been keeping them in the tractor 24/7. (Too much of a flying risk- even with a clipped wing.) Not sure if she'd be OK either by herself or in the coop. If it would be too stressful for her, I'd rather process both at the same time.

 

[Faraday40]

We want to hatch some fertilized eggs that have been in the fridge awhile. What’s the limits of fridge time before they’re no longer viable?

Basically it's the same as egg on the counter. Store air cell up & rotate/turn to keep yolk in middle. Try to set them within a week - up to 10 days. Warm to room temp before setting. (Try to avoid making it sweat.) A fridge is not the best place to store your eggs b/c the temp is too cold, but we've successfully hatched plenty.

Supposedly, the colder storage may increase the % of female. (Not change the sex, but possibly prevent potential male embryos from developing.) I read that somewhere but never tried it out. Could also be a wive's tale.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

A question for muscovy owners - I have 3 ducks and 1 drake (related). They do well, except one of my ducks are the odd duck out and she gets picked on by the other 2 females.
I am thinking of adding another female so that she might have a buddy. Should I let one if them hatch a brood in spring? Or, should I just look for another female. I wasn't planning on letting them hatch, but it might be fun to do once? Or would adding ducks not solve the problem?

 

[JanetMarie]

A question for muscovy owners - I have 3 ducks and 1 drake (related). They do well, except one of my ducks are the odd duck out and she gets picked on by the other 2 females.
I am thinking of adding another female so that she might have a buddy. Should I let one if them hatch a brood in spring? Or, should I just look for another female. I wasn't planning on letting them hatch, but it might be fun to do once? Or would adding ducks not solve the problem?

One of my ducks was getting picked on by my drake, in pulling out the feathers on her shoulders and making her bleed. It only lasted for maybe two months.

There are 5 young ducks and a young drake now, so it could be possible since there is more activity with them all maybe it has helped take my older drake's focus off picking on that particular female.

 

[Faraday40]

We got our new pup yesterday. A German Shepherd (mom) & Plott Hound mix (dad). He misses his siblings but otherwise is fitting in. He's very curious about the chickens. The chickens completely panicked when we walked him through the backyard on a leash. The yard is already divided into dog & chicken zones, but I hope with training, they'll get along. He's definitely a cuddler, loves everyone he meets, and simply wants to be with us. We're crate training him, so last night was long. He cried for 1hr20min at bedtime & then stopped. When DH used the toilet at 1am, he found the pup running loose. Now we know why he stopped crying. Locked him back up & again he cried for a little over an hour. When we woke up this morning, he was out again. We like the name Kepler (after Johannes Kepler/ laws of planetary motion) because he stays near & orbits us. However after last nights double break out, Houdini may be another option.

Here's our handsome new boy (17 weeks old):

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Amazing that the drakes outnumber the hens by that large of a ratio.

I had 2 hatches this year. Normally I have "hen luck" not so this year! only 2 hens out of 8 ducklings..

Hello I am needing someone close to Muncie, IN to help transport a pair of chickens to Sevierville, TN ! Please help

Good luck! Hopefully you can get a chicken train going!

We want to hatch some fertilized eggs that have been in the fridge awhile. What’s the limits of fridge time before they’re no longer viable?

I have pulled eggs out as far as 2 weeks and they hatched. Not a great rate, maybe 50%

Our pup comes tomorrow when they do the home inspection. As long as there are no potential warning signs (like strong prey drive or other unseen behavioral issue) the dog is ours. If he doesn't work out, I'll let you know.

Unfortunately we can understand some of your hardships. DH's car broke in spring - no money to repair. That leaves us with one working car & a tightly balanced schedule sharing it. Summer was fine, but school is a whole different story. DD has been having some health issues which require several appointments, lots of driving to & from school, appointments, & other activities. Then there's the reg errands & DH's work. DD's main comfort & support through all her troubles came from our wonderful dogs. A month ago we lost both - in 2 days! DS is also very weepy b/c those dogs have been part of the family for longer than he's been alive.

The recent icing on the cake was when a young lady made a left turn from the right lane & slammed into the passenger side of our car. There was a solid white line between the lanes. OK accidents happen - but unfortunate that's our only working car! Her insurance co has an app - but our only smart phone is too old to run the app. Our son's Kindle is the newest device - only 2 yrs old - but they don't have an app for Kindle. Tried to email the pics from my computer - but too large for the adjuster's email account to receive. So without seeing pics of the damage or the intersection, the insurance co said DH is 20% at fault "failure to avoid an accident" and they will only pay 80%. Also, since the car is still drive-able, they will not pay for a rental. HUH!?! Meanwhile the damage prevents the passenger door from opening, so we look like a family of clowns trying to climb up front from the back seat. We cancelled all plans for the past 2 weeks so we only drive when necessary. There's also a rubbing sound when we turn sharp - like backing out of a parking space. I fear we're damaging it further, but we can't do anything until they send a professional photographer out. That will be another week...... 2 weeks have passed already. I really feel like their delays are on purpose to avoid paying out.

OK. My venting is done. Back to better things....

It doesn't make financial sense to adopt a dog right now, but our family really needed some happiness to counteract all the negatives. We've always had a dog or 2, and the house is so quiet without one. Call me lazy but when I accidentally drop a piece of food on the floor, my 1st reaction is to tap the floor with my foot - expecting a dog to come running & clean it up for me. Also, our doorbell doesn't always work. A dog is needed to bark when someone comes. It's also a decent security system (as long as a burgler don't see the wagging tail. LOL) Hoping we can add hawk deterrent to the dog's chores as well. My poor flock has been under attack by this one:
Anyone know the species?
View attachment 1580403
This annoying bird was sitting on top of the chicken tractor yesterday. Our neighbor phoned to let me know & I ran out back. When I was about 25' away, it still hadn't taken off. As I was running toward it I suddenly thought - but what if it doesn't fly away? That's when I picked up a toy shovel & thew it toward the hawk. Finally it flew.... a little. I picked up the shovel & threw it at the bird again. It flew another 15' to another tree and eventually to the neighbor's tree. DS banged on pots for a while & we asked the neighbor to let his dog outside. The hawk reluctantly flew away.

I sold 2 orpingtons today & the 2 seramas leave tomorrow. I love chicks but I'm also glad to be getting the number back down to manageable. The turkeys will also be leaving soon - but in a different way.

That looked like a sharp shinned or similar species hawk. Very bold!

BTW- To eat a fresh turkey for Thanksgiving, when is the best day to process?

Is the processing the same as a chicken? Any advice or websites or instructional videos to recommend?

Also, I have 3 turkeys. The male is going to a friend for breeding purposes. One female = Thanksgiving. The other female will be Christmas. I wouldn't mind growing her out a little more, but would the loneliness be too much for her? Her early life was spent with chickens but for the past month, I've been keeping them in the tractor 24/7. (Too much of a flying risk- even with a clipped wing.) Not sure if she'd be OK either by herself or in the coop. If it would be too stressful for her, I'd rather process both at the same time.

Yes, just like a chicken. I brine mine about 5 days, and they turn out fantastic. I think your hen will be ok alone. When I still had meat turkeys, one tom remained every fall for Christmas.

A question for muscovy owners - I have 3 ducks and 1 drake (related). They do well, except one of my ducks are the odd duck out and she gets picked on by the other 2 females.
I am thinking of adding another female so that she might have a buddy. Should I let one if them hatch a brood in spring? Or, should I just look for another female. I wasn't planning on letting them hatch, but it might be fun to do once? Or would adding ducks not solve the problem?

It might solve it. I usually keep 1 or 2 drakes, and do have fights with girls at times. Especially spring!

We got our new pup yesterday. A German Shepherd (mom) & Plott Hound mix (dad). He misses his siblings but otherwise is fitting in. He's very curious about the chickens. The chickens completely panicked when we walked him through the backyard on a leash. The yard is already divided into dog & chicken zones, but I hope with training, they'll get along. He's definitely a cuddler, loves everyone he meets, and simply wants to be with us. We're crate training him, so last night was long. He cried for 1hr20min at bedtime & then stopped. When DH used the toilet at 1am, he found the pup running loose. Now we know why he stopped crying. Locked him back up & again he cried for a little over an hour. When we woke up this morning, he was out again. We like the name Kepler (after Johannes Kepler/ laws of planetary motion) because he stays near & orbits us. However after last nights double break out, Houdini may be another option.

Here's our handsome new boy (17 weeks old):

Congrats, beautiful pup!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Last few weeks have been crazy busy. We got our old camper home, and after looking at the structure a lot of the water damage is severe. DH is considering re-purposing the frame as a hay wagon. The most we can haul at one time now is 5 round bales, would help us and our neighbor a lot to have a larger trailer.
I'm happy with the chicken numbers going into winter. Should not need to decrease the flocks at all. I do have 5-6 drakes I'm going to process soon.
Garden is done, DH is going to turn the ground sometime this week. Still had several cherry tomatoes the frost got, chickens loved that!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

A little more on garden plans next year. I've spent a lot of time reading books and looking up different ideas for weed issues. I've never seen weeds like we get here, crazy! I set up my goats to clear out part of the garden, mostly the corn, pumpkin and squash plants. I put my older chicken flock on the tomato, pepper and cucumber rows. We are going to turn the soil after I add more goat manure. Till it and then lay down landscape fabric. I loved the trellis garden method this year! Going to add the ground cover and see how it goes next year.
Also got 2 grocery bags stuffed full of seed packets from oldest DD. She is a cook at a nursing home, and they were donated. After several months, the DOR offered the remaining seeds to the staff. Not many tomato but several things I'd like to try, including eggplant. I am very interested in the Hubbard winter squash too. I love okra, and there's a spineless variety in there! I spent a day sorting it all. I'm going to research more online but there is onions, lettuce and greens I can't possibly use before the seed won't germinate. Send me a PM if you might like some free seeds, just pay postage.

 

[Indyshent]

BTW- To eat a fresh turkey for Thanksgiving, when is the best day to process?

Is the processing the same as a chicken? Any advice or websites or instructional videos to recommend?

Also, I have 3 turkeys. The male is going to a friend for breeding purposes. One female = Thanksgiving. The other female will be Christmas. I wouldn't mind growing her out a little more, but would the loneliness be too much for her? Her early life was spent with chickens but for the past month, I've been keeping them in the tractor 24/7. (Too much of a flying risk- even with a clipped wing.) Not sure if she'd be OK either by herself or in the coop. If it would be too stressful for her, I'd rather process both at the same time.

Turkey hens always seem to be in short supply. Have you tried offering them for sale or trade? Turkey boys can be hard to rehome, like roosters, but hens lay the most delicious eggs I've tasted. You could probably find someone willing to trade extra boys (which are getter for eating) for your extra girls. If you want meat, the broad breasted are best anyway, if you can find one at this point or want to try for them again next year.

It's a shame to process pullets, though the market for turkey pullets is smaller. If your girls have Palm lineage especially, they're likely to lay a storm and not be worth the effort of processing.

If you're worried about them flying, you can clip their flight feathers, too. Mine integrated very well with chickens, though some could be bossy at times.

 

[oldrooster]

Last few weeks have been crazy busy. We got our old camper home, and after looking at the structure a lot of the water damage is severe. DH is considering re-purposing the frame as a hay wagon. The most we can haul at one time now is 5 round bales, would help us and our neighbor a lot to have a larger trailer.
I'm happy with the chicken numbers going into winter. Should not need to decrease the flocks at all. I do have 5-6 drakes I'm going to process soon.
Garden is done, DH is going to turn the ground sometime this week. Still had several cherry tomatoes the frost got, chickens loved that!

Save the stuff out of the camper and sell it to someone who wants to live in a tiny house here is a video telling people how to use appliances and such out of a camper in a tiny house.