INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

That's Hika Ma. He's a little cutie!

I'm starting to think that he's a SHE, though!

O good. I hope eventually I get a chick that looks like her!It would be really cool if her eyeliner stayed.

 

[oldrooster]

Quote:
I have always thought it odd of many people on this site talk down on the ones whom use roosters as meat birds (not the Cornish crosses) because the think it stupid or impracticable to use a run of the mill rooster for meat. many moons ago before sexing of chicks from hatcheries that's what was butchered for meat then the "old" hens (plus any that had genetic, or health problems like a broken leg) I have seen how some use tractors to "mow" their yard with chickens and thought if built correctly they could last for years and still not cost much and a few minutes in the yard everyday you get your yard mowed and you have standard or bantam roosters to turn into meat. sure it's not as much meat on the birds but since in many cases you pay little or nothing for them, and over the lifespan of the tractors and other equipment those are some cheap eats. how much do you spend on your lawn mower? gas? oil for it? how much time does it take to mow? figure it up, I'm sure you will spend about the same or less on those roos and you have the pleasure of home grown food.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I have always thought it odd of many people on this site talk down on the ones whom use roosters as meat birds (not the Cornish crosses) because the think it stupid or impracticable to use a run of the mill rooster for meat. many moons ago before sexing of chicks from hatcheries that's what was butchered for meat then the "old" hens (plus any that had genetic, or health problems like a broken leg) I have seen how some use tractors to "mow" their yard with chickens and thought if built correctly they could last for years and still not cost much and a few minutes in the yard everyday you get your yard mowed and you have standard or bantam roosters to turn into meat. sure it's not as much meat on the birds but since in many cases you pay little or nothing for them, and over the lifespan of the tractors and other equipment those are some cheap eats. how much do you spend on your lawn mower? gas? oil for it? how much time does it take to mow? figure it up, I'm sure you will spend about the same or less on those roos and you have the pleasure of home grown food.

I wasnt talking down on people who butcher their own livestock. They can do whatever they want with it, its their business what they do with their animals not mine nor anyone elses. I was just saying I thought it was inhumane the way hatcheries "butcher" their roosters. I know a lot of people who raise animals just to butcher them, it is a very common thing. I don't because I get eally attached to all of animals. As far as I am conserned if someone feels like having chicken and butchers their rooster, they have the right to do that.

 

[ShawnaScott]

I was upset at the hatcheries, but horrified at the person on BYC who wanted to know the best way to cull day old roosters. They weren't a business and they definately, with a little time and patience, could have found homes/places for the roosters instead of culling. In addition, they wanted the easiest/cheapest way to cull the birds, not the most humane. It just seems that if you're so hard up for $ that you can't spend a few extra bucks to either buy more feed or humanely euthanize, you probably shouldn't have animals.

Shawnascott, 8x10 equals 80 sq ft. For happy chickens, allow 3.5-4 sq ft per chicken. So, 20-25 max for 80 sq ft. For the run, build it big enough for 10 sq ft per chicken, enclosed for predator protection. Don't forget about attacks from above!

Awesome, thank you! But what should I construct in the coop itself? I want to have it set up for maximum hens, just in case I add more! I know they need boxes, but do I put them up a wall? Or on the ground? And how high for the roost bars?

 

[Too Fast]

I was upset at the hatcheries, but horrified at the person on BYC who wanted to know the best way to cull day old roosters. They weren't a business and they definately, with a little time and patience, could have found homes/places for the roosters instead of culling. In addition, they wanted the easiest/cheapest way to cull the birds, not the most humane. It just seems that if you're so hard up for $ that you can't spend a few extra bucks to either buy more feed or humanely euthanize, you probably shouldn't have animals.

Awesome, thank you! But what should I construct in the coop itself? I want to have it set up for maximum hens, just in case I add more! I know they need boxes, but do I put them up a wall? Or on the ground? And how high for the roost bars?

Well. From what I've learned here and at the library, they need 1 laying box per 3-4 laying hens. Seems they treat it like a bathroom, so you don't need one for all. We have 3 boxes, and 6 hens. 2 roosters! I now have a video of the second morning attempts at crowing from our SLW, I'll upload the link in a bit. We have our boxes on the outside of the coop, with a lid for easy egg collection. It is about 8 inches off the coop floor, they measure about 12'' square. Don't want too much room in there, apparently, so they don't walk around and crush eggs. For the roosting bars, we put them up as high as possible but not so high that they'd hit their heads on the ceiling. Allow 8-10'' roosting space per large fowl. We have 90'' for our 8, so plenty. Our coop is about 34 sq ft, so a bit more than 4 sq ft per bird. They seem happy, but they are not fully grown yet. We do have a walking ladder for them to get to their roost, but they also fly up there.

 

[Too Fast]

So check out the pathetic first attempts, lol:

Our SLW, 10.5 weeks old. 2nd morning of crowing, seems louder the 2nd AM. Hopefully he will only crow about 8x each morning, then shut up.

 

[instar8]

Howdy. I'm John Reckel. I am retired and live just outside of Lebanon on 4 acres. Back in about 1975 I raised a bunch of chickens, ducks, pheasants, quail, rabbits, peacocks, and I don't remember what all. Dogs got my peacocks. An owl killed most of the pheasants (I ate the rest). The ducks flew south. A horrible winter combined with the worst imaginable excuse for a chicken coop (I had children and, thus, no extra money) killed most of the chickens. The quail and rabbits escaped into the wild, likely getting strained through coyotes. Lord I was a lousy at animal-raising.

Recently, my middle granddaughter from my middle daughter hatched 6 RIR chicks and raised them all. One turned out to be an aggressive rooster; the rest are hens. My daughter asked me to take it away; she cared not to where. I took it home and dumped it in the barn, wondering how long it would live before being strained through the ever-present coyotes. Two months later, with "Rooster Cogburn" remarkably unstrained, and remembering how much fun I had had previously raising poultry, I placed an order with eFowl.com for:

16 Indian Runner Ducks (6 Blue, 5 Chocolate, 5 Fawn and White),

5 Silver Laced Wyandotte Pullets,
5 Gold Laced Wyandotte Pullets,
5 Black Jersey Giant Pullets,
5 Buff Cochin,
5 Blue Cochin

Shipping of the Ducks was not timely and 1 Blue, 3 Chocolate, and 3 Fawns were dead.
eFowl.com very quickly gave a refund for the ducklings that were murdered by USPS incompetence.

While waiting for the eFowl shipments, I became enamored with the Buff Orpington chicks at Tractor Supply and bought 12.
A month later the duckling survivors arrived.
A week later I bought 4 1-week old guinea chicks. I put the guineas in with the ducks (much larger, it's amazing how fast ducklings grow) and they get along just fine.
A day later the chicks from eFowl arrived. All survived and are cute as hell. They threw in an extra Buff Cochin.

So now it's a week later, and all is well on the bird front. No deaths.

When I placed the order, I immediately started building a chicken house in one corner of the barn. It is 8' x 16' with a raised plywood floor and 7' ceiling. I sectioned it off, temporarily, with 30" high plywood panels with 1/2 for the 6-week old cochins, 1/4 for the ducks/guineas, 1/4 for me to set on a lawn chair and admire my new critters. The 26 baby chicks are in the basement in a cardboard enclosure until old enough to be put in the henhouse.

I made a temporary chicken yard using 2 x 4 x 48" x 100 ft welded wire and T posts. Big enough for now.

I let the Orpingtons out at around 10 AM and close the door at 8:30 PM. I ordered an Add-a-Motor automatic door.

If the temperature is 80 or better, I take the ducks out, but stay with them. They might get through the fence. The Orpingtons are curious, but mostly leave them alone. Except for one hen that pecked them several times. I caught her and snipped off the point of her upper beak with the dog's nail trimmer.

I made up feeders and waterers from ideas I found on the internet. I am in the process of making treadle feeders. I am installing a window fan for summer ventilation controlled by a thermostat. Since I don't have water in the barn, I am putting a 55-gallon plastic drum in the loft to occasionally fill with a garden hose and use gravity to fill waterers. The fenced pasture are will eventually be 80' x 150'.

I now have many more feathered varmints than I planned, but kept getting stuck with the "minimum order" conundrum. We had chickens when I was a kid, so I know how to turn extra chickens into finger-lickin' good meals.

I still want some colored egg layers, Auracana, EE, whatever, but not 5 of each!

So! There you have it. The old coot has gone bonkers. Half-heimers has set in.


Brand new baby Indian Runner Ducks



Ducks @ 2 weeks; Orpingtons at 5 1/2 weeks



Homemade feeder; works well


Ducks & Guineas getting along well


Rooster Cogburn (the mean neighborhood pet) checking out the new kids on the block.


Week old Guineas


Week old ducks and guineas


Yellow=Buff Cochin, Light Blue=Blue Cochin, Smaller Black= Jersey Black Giant,
Black w. brown=Gold Laced Wyandotte, Black w. white=Silver Laced Wyandotte


Another shot of the week-old babies


The blurs are babies flying. Flock record altitude about a foot.
I need taller cardboard or they will end up in the sump pump.


John

John darlin', you crack me up! ;~) if you want some crazy mixed up chicks in the near future, let me know....I'll be trying out broody hens to eventually hatch out expensive "boughten" eggs (like Cream Legbars) cuz incubators just ain't all they're cracked up to be...the eggs they're hatching now are all mixed up between my Ameraucanas, barred rock, Barnevelder and buff Orp hens, and the Barnevelder, splash BLRW and Marans/Am mix roosters. I also have a pair of pure Araucanas, in their own little coop, any girls from them will lay blue(green) for sure. i can pick out the green eggs from the others for a clutch, though since they're mixed, can't guarantee th color of the eggs future hens will lay...unless I find me a good ameraucana roo sometime soon.

I've got a batch hatching today pledged to another IN BYC'r, they're so danged cute I can't stand it...and i've been doing this for 6 years now...my grandgirl and i will love on them for a couple days.

Seems like only yesterday I was advertising to give beautiful Blue Ameraucana roos away...then a sickly, hungry fox started raiding my free-rangers in broad daylight...

Lynn

 

[pbirdhaven]

I'm a bit behind reading posts--think these issues were a few pages back. Anyhow, this is the link to the Lebanon show:

http://ibccn.org/poultry/index.html

The Connersville show is the first weekend in December--at least that's when it has been in the past.

This is the link to Poultry Show Central, which lists shows and swaps:

http://www.poultryshowcentral.com/

 

[oldrooster]

Quote:
Sorry I was not ranting at you I'm sorry about that you interperated my ranting and raving that way, my problem is with those whom talk down or think poorly of those who raise roosters for meat purposes (rather than cornish crosses) and use the roosters that are usually destroyed at the hatcheries and raising them out for meat purposes. I had a couple of people get on my case when I asked a couple of questions about buying one of the hatcheries "rooster"/"fry pan" bargains. I was attracted to the thought of it due to the price of the bird, but after that I started reading up on Cournish crosses here since they where so adiment that they are the birds to raise for meat. to me I would be more apt to raise a rooster for meat as opposed to the crosses for 2 ethical reasons (and everyone's ethics are different) 1. I feel as though upon what I read the cornish crosses (from the mainstream hatcheries at least) are not breed in my way of thinking (breed to in essence sit est and make fertilizer) nothing else causing health problems in them and also a higher mortality rate compared to regular chickens. 2. hatcheries are out to make a buck and that is an amoral fact (niether right nor wrong) but MY ethics tell ME (no one else because I am the one whom I have to sleep with tonight and what bothers me may not bother someone else) I should not fund the production of birds I do not believe in raising (the cornish crosses from big hatchery) while not buying birds that would be destroyed that are bred in such a way I do not oppose to (roosters that are killed for the simple fact they do not lay eggs so they are "worthless" to big hatchery) I would rather buy a rooster special (to allow them to live and in the end die for a meal rather than made into alpo) or perhaps a "ranger" variety if I wish to have a specific breed of bird for bug removal and provide lunch for me later,

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Also, I saw this pic posted on facebook the other day They were looking for names for this little guy. Isn't he cute? I think I might need one, lol.



My wife says this little guy looks like he's having a bad hair day.

John