INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

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,

o i see now. Talking ober the computer makes it hard to realize if somone is aiming something at you and makes it hard to tell emotions behibd what the person typed. lol no hard feelings. I have absolutley no problemcwith people raising chickens for meat. Altough that isnt what i raise mine for. In fact chicken is one of ny favorite foods as long as it isnt one if my pets lol. I agree that hatcheries are just trying to make money. I actually looked at some fron pan deals before and i found some pretty good deals. I thought about buying dome but then i was like whats the point i know i woukd never be able to bring myself to kill them. Then i woukd just have a bunch of chickens that i cant really do anything with. I am more intovexihibtion chickens so i wouldnt show them. And then they would be taking up space for ny show stock and breeding stock.I just dont like the way hatcheries kill them in my opinion it is very cruel and there woukd probably be many people willing to buy them. Even though they would probably still get butchered at leadt they would get to live part if their life.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Seeing those photos of the chics up on there roost taken from below seems like a good time to catch a quick look at their undersides for any problems--oil leaks or skin problems. Yes ?

Actually a very good chance. Roosting birds usually wont budge.

They are pretty decent flyers. I don't know your living situation. I live a quarter mile off the road I'm surrounded by woods and fields. My guineas free range night and day. We have fences all over for horses and cattle and my guineas always fly right over them. Someone else feel free to chime in here if you no. Iv heard you can house guineas with chickens and put them in a run 6 foot high the chickens can't get out but the guineas can. Is this true? Maybe an inclosed run would be best? Iv never tried to get mine to just stay in 1 yard. Getting them to rooste. That's a completly diffrent battle. Lol I hope this helps some.

Enclosed, or they will get out. I used deer netting over mines fencing and it worked. Stuff was cheap too. I do let them out on alternating days, and they come home and roost.

Quote: They should be in small wire pens, similar to a rabbit hutch but higher off the ground. trying to find good links to share. I am a noob myself

When is the connersville show? That one isnt to far from me. Im allowed more chicks yay for mothers day. But ive got my heart set on some columbian plymouth rock eggs so maybe i shouldnt go it might just get me in trouble.

http://www.poultryshowcentral.com/Indiana.html
the swap meets are on that link also.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I'm in love!

Look at this face!

What a sweetheart!

This is one of my own chicks, loving the foot feathering and I believe it's a girl. It has no comb what so ever. My 11 year olds favorite chick from this hatch.


This chick is my favorite, it's foot feathering is coming in nicely and wish I had a few more like this.

I am in love with the feathering on this chicks feet. It is the best out of all the chicks I hatched out. I believe this one is a boy but it will still be staying here. I just wanted to share some of my babies.

love the adorable babies!

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Originally Posted by PeacefulWalls

About 35 years ago, my wife and I drove down to Louisville and bought 50 or 100 baby quail. They were in a box. We stopped at her Grandmother's house to borrow a canary cage to put them in. I set the cage and box on a ping pong table in the basement and scooped up a double handful of baby quail and put them in the cage. Got another handful to put in the cage and noticed that quail were running all over the table. They didn't even slow down as they ran through the 1/2" spacing of the cage wires. I finally got them all back in the box, but it was hard because I was laughing so hard that my eyes teared up. Added some screen wire to the cage and brought them home.

I enjoyed raising them. I kept them in a covered pen so they wouldn't fly away. It had solid sides and a top covered with 2" chicken wire. There was a snow storm that winter and a drift allowed them to walk up, through the wire and out. Couldn't catch them and they eventually disappeared. I fed them, but by spring they had all disappeared.

Quail are no trouble at all to raise. The only thing to remember is that they are small and adults can get though a 2" hole. Babies can get through a dime-sized hole.

Stop being a grinch and get your daughter a dozen or so. How can you possibly say no to a 14-year old girl? I had 3, I know. Now I have 5 granddaughters. Can't say no to them either.

John

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Took the chicks out back today to play in the grass. They accidentally got out of the dog crate, but I was able to catch all
but the two that were running to the front to go back in the door. Very cute.

I think they are going to be moving out soon. They will be sleeping in the garage with their heat lamp tonight and
I am hoping to get a small tractor like coop put together in the next week. I can always make the really tight winter coop in the next few months
but they are getting bigger and honestly they are starting to smell a bit more than I appreciate in my laundry room.

I think we may be okay to let them free range if they behave as well as they did today.

Also, we got waddles today? those red things under the chin. looks like almost everyone is sporting funky double chins

Aww, i love to see them growing the waddles! How old are they now?

Sad day on the farm. I feel like the worst chicken keeper ever. My little Sparky died today. It was my fault and I feel terrible. Live and learn I guess.

I am sorry for your loss

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

Love the story and the pics John, and welcome if I haven't said it already!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I just read a thread on here about the best way to kill day old cockerals. Among the popular ideas was gassing with car exhaust, freezing, and pulling the head off.

Maybe I'm just being naive, but that just seems horrible. I know most roosters are raised to die anyway, but it just seems so cruel to kill a day old chick! Especially after the article I read where all the male chicks at the egg hatcheries are ground up alive. The person didn't want the chicks because they "cost" too much in feed and they wouldn't lay eggs. It just seem to me that the cost in life would outweigh the cost of feed.

I know, and I can't/couldn't di it. I understand why those that do it, do. I guess my thing is, why not sell as a frypan special? theres one hatchery that offers 200 cockerel for $35 plus shipping. Grinding up alive is just disturbing.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Originally Posted by PeacefulWalls

About 35 years ago, my wife and I drove down to Louisville and bought 50 or 100 baby quail. They were in a box. We stopped at her Grandmother's house to borrow a canary cage to put them in. I set the cage and box on a ping pong table in the basement and scooped up a double handful of baby quail and put them in the cage. Got another handful to put in the cage and noticed that quail were running all over the table. They didn't even slow down as they ran through the 1/2" spacing of the cage wires. I finally got them all back in the box, but it was hard because I was laughing so hard that my eyes teared up. Added some screen wire to the cage and brought them home.

I enjoyed raising them. I kept them in a covered pen so they wouldn't fly away. It had solid sides and a top covered with 2" chicken wire. There was a snow storm that winter and a drift allowed them to walk up, through the wire and out. Couldn't catch them and they eventually disappeared. I fed them, but by spring they had all disappeared.

Quail are no trouble at all to raise. The only thing to remember is that they are small and adults can get though a 2" hole. Babies can get through a dime-sized hole.

Stop being a grinch and get your daughter a dozen or so. How can you possibly say no to a 14-year old girl? I had 3, I know. Now I have 5 granddaughters. Can't say no to them either.

John

wow i need to be asking you about quail John!

Mine should be here any day, and then into the bator!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

http://www.poultryshowcentral.com/Indiana_Poultry_Breeders.html

Its showing the Connorsville date isn't set yet, TBD

 

[itsjustme]

I heard that thats how mad cow disease started. I'm not sure if its true but this is what I was told. Any of the cows that were culled were ground up mixed with feed and fed back to the rest of the cows. It had something to do with the cows ingesting spinal fluids that caused the disease. Like I said I'm not positive its true. I will try to find some info about it. But if it is true is it possible for chickens to develop some kind of disease also? Kinda scary.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I heard that thats how mad cow disease started. I'm not sure if its true but this is what I was told. Any of the cows that were culled were ground up mixed with feed and fed back to the rest of the cows. It had something to do with the cows ingesting spinal fluids that caused the disease. Like I said I'm not positive its true. I will try to find some info about it. But if it is true is it possible for chickens to develop some kind of disease also? Kinda scary.

Exactly, this is why I decided its time to raise my own food. All the weird stuff they feed back to the animals, who knows WHAT we are actually eating. Same with our milk, hence goats in my pasture! The more I read what food, and medications goes into the battery farm animals, the less I want to eat store bought food, or even eat out. I plan to be fairly self sufficient soon, and can avoid everything but vegetables for the table. May do a small garden this year, but it wont be enough to last all year.