INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[browncow15]

Hatch day came early! 3 of my 4 eggs in the incubator were pipped when I went to bed late last night. This morning the 2 BLRW are zipped and out soon. The 2 CCL are both pipped!

No idea what's going on under my broody!

 

[Dish chickens]

Cogbutn, my English black split Orpington roo, has found out that life is VERY VERY good for sweet mannered boys. He is now rotating time with his lav harem (which produces 100% fertile eggs and darned near 100% hatches, all season long, in my hands and with @Faraday40 , too. Now he is splitting time with the 4 lav girls and 3 English blue Orps. They just recently came out of quarantine.

One has permanent torticollis, which kinda bothers me because the kid who sold them to me outsmarted me and held her in a way that she keeps her head straight. She is not seriously impacted by it, and does just fine doing all the things that hens do. Her name is Twisty. I assume she had an infection or nutritional deficiency that was not addressed soon enough that left her with a mild but permanent case. It gives her character. She lays, she squats to be bred, and she is a sweet girl, so she stays.

The second blue girl now has a name (Ellie, after Ellie Mae Clampett and perhaps even @ellymayRans!). It took me a while to realize that she picked up some fishing line and got it entangled on one foot, and it cut the top of her foot as well as almost cut off her outside toe. I am glad I am a veterinarian in these circumstances. Hubby and I got all the fishing line off, washed it, dug all the poop and dead tissue out of it, hit it with hydrogen peroxide, then ointment, a Telfa pad, Vet Wrap, and covered it with a plastic sandwich bag and more Vet Wrap. She is also getting penicillin injections. She is more comfortable on the foot, but it is still swollen and the first bandage change smelled bad, like anaerobic bacteria. Wash, rinse, repeat, but I left some air holes in the baggie this time and used a freezer bag that is more durable than a sandwich bag. She will get a third change tomorrow. It does appear to be healing, unpleasant odor aside. There was no drainage anywhere, and the top looks quite good. This is going to be a process. However, Cogburn does not discriminate and he nailed her within 5 minutes of being moved into the Blues breeding pen.

All three girls (one still does not have a name, and I am not doing any more "color" names). Who wants to name my third blue hen? We have Ellie, Twisty, and ???. Ellie and the unnamed girl are very, very large. All three got their rears trimmed for Cogburn's benefit. They are at least as fluffy as the Jubilee hens were, if not moreso.

Photos of some chicks will follow shortly. Need to get some of the little buggers in front of a camera!

Still have four Jubilee chicks for the modest price of $25 each, with Marek's vaccination. These are the LAST I will have this season.

And last, but not least, there's more cases of AI but not in any new states today, just new locations in MN, SD, and maybe WI?? I will be so happy when I can stop reporting this stuff, but I feel a duty to keep all of us informed. This is a tight group and no one wants to see anyone lose their birds.

I vote Nellie or Misty

on the name
thank you for the AI up date

 

[Bawk]

Good to be aware. Wonder the number for this state.

This was just posted on FB,



Round Lake IL Area - Chicago Land Urban Chicken Keepers (CLUCK) 8 mins · Relevant to the previous post, we're passing on some information from Lauren Draper Fleming: "ATTENTION ALL CHICKEN OWNERS: I found three dead birds on my property within 2 days (a starling, a sparrow, and a robin). After several calls trying to get them tested for Avian Bird Flu I talked to Tim White, US Dept of Agriculture, in Springfield, 217-241-5732. He was very helpful and informative. He told me the following: Tim White said to keep the dead birds in a ziplock in my freezer. They are not picking them up yet. If there are 5 dead birds in my area to pick up within a week or two they will pick them up. He thanked me for "being on top of things" and told me to spread the word --- IF YOU FIND A DEAD BIRD (any kind) CALL HIM. They are watching this closely due to the quick spread of Avian Bird Flu. Tim White also said ABF (Avian Bird Flu) is usually not found in Robins, sparrows, and the like. They have found it in waterfowl, hawks, etc. so far. But, in the last few weeks they are getting reports of Robins, Sparrows, etc coming up positive. They think it is spread by droppings AND airborne particles ("on the wind"). If anyone finds 5 or more dead birds in an area the Dept of Agriculture will pick up those birds immediately."

 

[browncow15]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[chickiefreak]

Hey guys just got some pictures of our chickens:

This is fluffy butt (Nina)

This is Clara

This is rose

This is Rhonda

This is Rhoda got my first photo bommer today!

This is punzie ( Rapunzel)

And last but not least queen Elizabeth

They will be 1 year in 5 days!!!

 

[raisinemright]

Does anyone know the name and number to the poultry processing place in Goshen? There was s post about it changing names awhile ago but I have lost that post??

 

[PeacefulWalls]

Does anyone know the name and number to the poultry processing place in Goshen? There was s post about it changing names awhile ago but I have lost that post??

yup -- I posted it. Here is the info again:
Roland's Chicken Butchering, 24454 CR 142, Goshen, IN, 46526, phone: 574-354-1246

 

[flyladyrocks]

Who stole Spring??

I need some advice. I put my older chicks outside on the porch in a large brooder this week (to make room for the new little ones!) and then it got really cold. It is supposed to go down to 32 tonight. I am wondering if I need to bring them inside.

The brooder is enclosed except the part where I have 2 heat lamps, and the side against our windows so I can keep an eye on them and check the thermometer (and watch chick TV!). It has been staying between 60-62 degrees in there today during the day, the warmest it has gotten outside today is 48. I will cover the side against our windows with towels tonight (which I've done the past 2 nights). They have done okay the past 2 nights but it did not get down to freezing!.

We keep our house at about 65. This evening I may warm it up to 67-68 b/c I am having trouble keeping the little chicks at the right temp and they seem to do better, once the sun goes down, if the house is a little warmer.

Do I bring them in? They are about 5 1/2- 8 weeks old. They do huddle up to sleep, which they normally do except the one I think is a roo. He usually sleeps on the perch but has not been. These past couple days since it got cold he is snuggling with everyone. They are not as active as normal, but they are moving around and eating a ton. They are a little puffed up on and off but not all they time. With the back open I know they are getting drafts but those will be cut down once I cover the back. But it also is going to drop to freezing so...

What should I do- I need some expert advice!

Also, an unrelated comment - my parents are coming here, from Michigan next week. My first thought - "Ooo I wonder if Birdman has anything they could bring with them." Then I realized how horrified they would be at adding to my menagerie and transporting chicks across state lines. SIGH.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Who stole Spring??

I need some advice. I put my older chicks outside on the porch in a large brooder this week (to make room for the new little ones!) and then it got really cold. It is supposed to go down to 32 tonight. I am wondering if I need to bring them inside.

The brooder is enclosed except the part where I have 2 heat lamps, and the side against our windows so I can keep an eye on them and check the thermometer (and watch chick TV!). It has been staying between 60-62 degrees in there today during the day, the warmest it has gotten outside today is 48. I will cover the side against our windows with towels tonight (which I've done the past 2 nights). They have done okay the past 2 nights but it did not get down to freezing!.

We keep our house at about 65. This evening I may warm it up to 67-68 b/c I am having trouble keeping the little chicks at the right temp and they seem to do better, once the sun goes down, if the house is a little warmer.

Do I bring them in? They are about 5 1/2- 8 weeks old. They do huddle up to sleep, which they normally do except the one I think is a roo. He usually sleeps on the perch but has not been. These past couple days since it got cold he is snuggling with everyone. They are not as active as normal, but they are moving around and eating a ton. They are a little puffed up on and off but not all they time. With the back open I know they are getting drafts but those will be cut down once I cover the back. But it also is going to drop to freezing so...

What should I do- I need some expert advice!

Also, an unrelated comment - my parents are coming here, from Michigan next week. My first thought - "Ooo I wonder if Birdman has anything they could bring with them." Then I realized how horrified they would be at adding to my menagerie and transporting chicks across state lines. SIGH.

The biggest things beside temps ~ fright can produce a pile that smothers one. For some reason sometimes the first cold spell frightens chicks. I have had the pile issues most often in the fall when I would try to hatch out a Sept batch of chicks and move them out mid Oct.
Then there is the drafts. Drafts can cause a chicken to hide in a place but not be able to stay warm or for the pile to take place if all of the chicks find that one draft free place.
Chickens won't move much in the dark so keep their light on in case a draft comes they will make the effort to move a bit and not freeze.

As long as they are fully feathered out they will be fine ~ that phrase does not always apply if the chicken is frightened or can't get out of the drafts.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

home made stuff update.

We are currently using the homemade soap I made and everyone likes it but it has it faults. One batch is a bit soft another too hard so it cracked itself. The brown soap somehow became low lather and not a kid favorite.
For now I have enough soap to last a while and I have learned a bit about the various oils so I'll try more and different recipes in a few months but for now the soapmaking is done.

Cheese making. I still don't have a goat proving milk, it will be at least 2-3 more weeks. I went ahead and ordered cheese cultures and salt to try with cows milk from the store. I spent quite a bit of time this morning making a cultured mozz. cheese. It looks nice and has the right color but it lacks taste.
I also now have about 1.5 gallons of whey sitting in my fridge waiting for me to decide what I want to do with it. The recipe says it is a sweet whey but it sure does not smell sweet. It smells very much like greek yogurt without any flavors added. I used a bit to make a fruit smoothie and that went over well with DH. But a gallon and a half turned into fruit smoothies would be a lot of smoothies.