INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

I placed another order for 25 CX and I'm going to try 10 freedom rangers... I'm anxious to see how they do. So on top of my CX I'll have freedoms, and the bator full of bresse eggs!! On a good note I haven't bought any layers for awhile doesn't that count for something?? Unless Brad comes through with those BLRW chicks

Curious to see what you think of them. They look a lot like "golden comets" to me, but haven't raised them myself yet.

Anyone have turkey or guinea eggs? I'm thinking of trying turkeys. After seeing janets midget whites, I'm loving that size but would consider other heritage breeds (I like royal palms and bourbons as well). For guineas any color is fine. If any hatch I will likely keep the hens and sell the cocks. Definitely wasn't a fan of the males when I had them last time and the hens seemed to stay around and not adventure as much.

Thanks! If you don't find any, I will hook you up

. I keep pearl and lavender guineas. If you raise and handle them from keets, they are totally different.
Midget White are much different to me, I am really pleased with mine. I love my bourbons too, but have to admit the MW have more personality! My little tom is a real goof! The hens "fake" the hiss/peck attack, but pull the punch when i take eggs.So far neither have bit me. Right now both are trying to hatch a golf ball, lol.

Quote: I need a new microwave. My youngest boy discovered the express cook button and tried to reheat his own peanut butter crackers. I've never served crackers hot but I guess he just wanted to try it. PB stained the inside of the microwave walls My poor boy was in tears as he lost his food. He cried more over the food than when he got a splinter from pretending to roast a hot dog on Tuesday.
UGH! Poor guy.

 

[Faraday40]

My latest set of bugs are now shipped and on their way to my mailbox.
With the goats being here all winter, I was fully expecting more flies. So far these little shipped bugs are keeping the flies gone or to a low minimum. My larger duck and teenage chick area still has the most flies of any pen but at least I'm not seeing any large numbers of flies just hanging around the portable pens.

What kind of bugs?

? x 2

We don't get a lot of flies, but I'm interested in learning about this.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

http://www.gofundme.com/ub6d5zs

:-D

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: We figured it out! I wet the feed, used a white plastic spoon. As they were gobbling it down, i lowered the spoon

Haven't been fermenting lately and forgot how much poults like it.

got a quick question? has anyone ever had thick yoke? the eggs look good when cracked open and they pass the float test but the yokes are just thick?

I do have this a lot, and usually they are pretty rich eggs. Duck and goose eggs are like that normally too. Do the yolks stand high?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hello everyone. Just starting our small family flock on our farm near Arcola, in Allen County. I thought it would be great to find others in my area that I might use as a "Mentor." I love this forum and have learn so much already! Jim

and our thread

Any ideas on the best and safest way to clear a 2 week old chicks nostrils? I think the thing buried it's head in the fermented feed. I cleared the outer part of the nostrils but I am guessing it has more in there I can't easily get to and probably sniffed some into it's nostrils. That can't be good for it! The whole beak'face'head had a crust of feed on it. I think it probably buried it's head eating and then fell asleep and that gave the feed long enough to dry in the nice hot brooder. It was trying to rub it's beak against stuff to get it off - I just flaked it all off.

I am ultra paranoid about everything right now! We lost 2 chicks - my DD's precious silkie Monday AM and another, a Buckeye, Monday afternoon. Cocci was the culprit. The one Monday afternoon went so fast. Thought we'd lose another when I woke up Tuesday morning, but it bounced back thank God. Got the meds in the water the night before. I did not use Corrid, I used an herbal remedy called Kocci Free. It did the trick! I just started it too late for it to help the first 2 we lost. So Cocci for the first time and AI hitting IN, I feel like I am on high alert and watching every chick so closely. Analyzing poop - my goodness who knew I'd be so concerned with how poop looks!

I would think a lightly moistened Qtip, or paper towel just dab gently to remove as much as possible.
I am so sorry about your losses, its never easy to find one passed.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Wow, I have missed a lot in the last week. I can't even begin to comment on what is going on with everyone. I hope everyone is well, and those that have had health issues and bad troublesome chicken problems - I wish you the best!

I have really enjoyed the different opinions and ideas, even the little debates. I am a free-ranger person, only in the sense that we originally didn't set up to have all the birds cooped up. And then I went and got all chicken-math crazy. Two years ago, we started with 6 chicks and 2 turkeys, ended up having to put the whole flock of over twenty-some birds after several months of building with "dream breeds" because of coccoidosis. Having to cull those birds was heartbreaking, but just looking at the sickness that was spreading through them made me ache even more. I have determined that fiasco to be poor selling of birds at a swap meet and then poor bio-security on my part. (I didn't think to take a bird from my flock and put it in with the newer ones for awhile before letting them out with the others - no one was sick until after I integrated everyone.)

I cleaned and regrouped after that. Last spring I started with something like 12 chicks again and then met a couple IN BYCers and got birds from them, then chickenfest happened and I got more birds...this spring more...got an incubator...hatched out 1!! Then got some hatching eggs and have hatched 9/12 of those...

I am at around 50 birds right now. Many stay in the main back yard, but my oldest members of the flock go everywhere around our property and even to the horse fields around us and to the neighbor lady because she has started giving them scratch...smart birds.

My dream would be to have at least one large shed-like coop that I can shut the birds in if needed. Right now that won't happen. Having dealt with chicken sickness before, I am on alert for anything else to happen. I take a moment and look at each and every bird every couple days to notice any changes or problems. I know I am doing the best I can for my flock because of what I have learned from everyone on here. I had no idea I would want to learn so much about backyard chicken husbandry. You all have given me great info, a different way of looking at things, and wonderful entertainment!!!

Okay, whew, that was a lot to get out of my brain today. I am sunburned to a crisp, even after applying sunscreen twice. I built a chicken tractor for my meatbirds yesterday, and I'm the one who got baked!!!

I had the little out for some supervised free-range time and at the end of the day when I was putting everything away, my Australian Shepherd, Roxy made me so proud! The week old Marans chicks found their way out of the pen and this is what I found:


The chicks stayed together and Roxy was laying down watching over them! If one went off on its own, she would make it get back to the group. This girl has gone from a chicken-killing pup to the watchful eye of my flock. She even breaks up fights now!

Thats wonderful thats she has become a guardian! Hope the sunburn heals quickly!

havent posted in a while , but have been keeping up reading
wecome to the new people in the group - a great & caring bunch of "extended family" here
sorry for all the illnesses & deaths of the poultry pets - been thru it too & is always difficult
& sorry to hear of personal & family ilnesses
other than that , been busy being overrun with many chickens - need to get rid of a few tho

Good to see you!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Want to say welcome to new members posting on our thread. here is more about who we are

 

[chknbrdr]

My earliest hatched group of chickens from this year are finally beginning to develop enough to sort the keepers from the culls. This is a picture of the birds inside one of our range houses. My final "all breeds" hatch came off yesterday with about 150 or so, we will just be hatching the rare stuff for the next couple of months. I think we are around 600 chicks on the farm for the year. Thank goodness feed costs have gone down over the past couple of years!

Matt

 

[barb s]

ATTENTION ATTENTION

​

CHICKENFEST 2015 UPDATE​

DATE: SATURDAY, JUNE 27TH, 2015

LOCATION: SILVERWOOD MENNONITE CHUCH, GOSHEN INDIANA

TIME: 11:00 AM TO 6:00 PM

DINNER SERVED AT 1:00 PM (STILL WORKING ON THE MENU, BUT IT WILL BE DELICIOUS)

SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES THAT WE HAVE PLANNED ARE:

FF (Fermenting Feed) Demo
Raising Meal Worms Demo
Rabbitry Demo (From picking a rabbit to processing rabbit, and everything in between) presented by Chloe (Zoann's daughter)

Demos we are hoping to also have are cheese making and aquaponics.

EGG TOSS AND/OR BALLOON TOSS FOR THE ADULTS - WINNER GETTING 25.00 PREMIER 1 GIFT CERTIFICATE

EGG TOSS AND/OR BALLOON TOSS FOR THE OLDER KIDS - WINNER GETTING 15.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE UNDETERMINED YET

SIDEWALK CHICKEN DRAWING CONTEST FOR YOUNGER KIDS WINNER GETTING A PRIZE THAT HAS YET TO BE DECIDED.

50/50 DRAWINGS - MONIES MADE FROM THIS WILL GO TOWARDS CHICKENFEST EXPENSES FOR THIS YEAR OR NEXT YEAR'S EVENT.

DOOR PRIZES - 1ST PLACE PREMIER HEAT PLATE, 2ND PRIZE 50.00 PREMIER GIFT CERTIFICATE, 3RD & 4TH PRIZE 25.00 PREMIER GIFT CERTIFICATE.


WE WILL BE ASKING FOR A FREE WILL DONATION TO ALSO HELP COVER EXPENSES.

RSVP ME (BARB S) WITH THE NUMBER OF ADULTS, NUMBER, AGE AND GENDER OF CHILDREN THAT PLAN ON ATTENDING. THE DEADLINE FOR RSVP'S IS MAY 31ST. BUT PLEASE GET THEM TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AS THIS WILL HELP GREATLY WITH THE MEAL PLANNING AND ANY GIFT BAGS, ETC THAT WE MAY PUT TOGETHER.



We are still planning on having Chickenfest 2015. Until the Indiana Board of Animal Health puts restrictions or cancellations on shows, swaps, etc. we will proceed with Chickenfest. We feel that the bio security measures that will be in place will be better than any show, swaps, etc. have. We also feel that having Dr. Geoff Lossie there to give a presentation will help to educate everyone on AI and eliminate alot of the hearsay, rumors and things that are going around.



Here again is the information that I received from him concerning the spread of AI and the proceeding with chickenfest



To be clear, the AI virus MIGHT be better at attaching to dust and feather particles (it is currently just a theory). Right now unfortunately we don’t understand everything about how the virus is spreading (besides wild waterfowl) and what might make these strains different from others in the past.



In terms of still having the poultry fest, the Indiana Board of Animal Health has not placed any restrictions on bird meetings, 4H fairs, or swap meets. However, Dr. Wakenell and I recommend that people not take any of their birds to shows or swap meets. Plus we recommend that you not purchase birds from swap meets, sale barns, or from other sources unless you know the seller personally or have seen their operation.



The biggest thing will be to avoid all contact with wild waterfowl, especially their droppings. So really follow all of the recommendations that were outlined in the handout I sent you before, this will help keep your birds safe.


Sorry for the long post just wanted to get this information out there again.

 

[pginsber]

I'm so heartbroken right now. My incubator wigged out and cooked 50 eggs that were supposed to go into lockdown on Sunday. They included a bunch of Bielie eggs I was hatching for myself, some Marans from EllyMayrans and my silkied lavender ameraucaua eggs that I had shipped in.

This was the first hatch of the year for myself. Now I don't trust my incubator. Anyone close by interested in setting some eggs for me once I re-group? I guess I need to figure out a better incubator situation for next year.

All is not lost! I can't remember what the brown egg was, but these little guys of yours are expected to hatch this weekend. I'm sure they'll have your eyes.

My latest set of bugs are now shipped and on their way to my mailbox.
With the goats being here all winter, I was fully expecting more flies. So far these little shipped bugs are keeping the flies gone or to a low minimum. My larger duck and teenage chick area still has the most flies of any pen but at least I'm not seeing any large numbers of flies just hanging around the portable pens.

We got our first shipment of bugs this week, too. They're still dormant in the wrapper, so I hope they wake up soon!