INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[racinchickins]

Hi,

If anyone has any Muscovy hens they are looking to get rid of, I am in the market. My 3 girls are not enough for two drakes. Every time I turn around one of them is pinned to the ground. I've also noticed my chicken hens are starting to give the drakes a wide berth when they meet. Prefer lavender or barred, but at this point I'm not too choosy. My only hard and fast criteria is no males

Patrick

 

[Indyshent]

Hi,

If anyone has any Muscovy hens they are looking to get rid of, I am in the market. My 3 girls are not enough for two drakes. Every time I turn around one of them is pinned to the ground. I've also noticed my chicken hens are starting to give the drakes a wide berth when they meet. Prefer lavender or barred, but at this point I'm not too choosy. My only hard and fast criteria is no males

Patrick

All I have are pied, but @LonelyPageTurne has black pied which are at least known to be split to lavender. Mine probably are too, but I don't know. I have three hens and one drake. Two of the hens could feasibly go to a new home, but my daughter has nonsensically latched onto one hen and the drake.

 

[BackyardBitten]

Hi friends!
I have not been on here in quite a long while and I have missed it so much! In fact, I think it said my last post was May 2014! Any hooo....
Unfortunately, I am chickenless and have been for quite some time

I live out my chicken fantasies by reading various poultry magazines lolol. I miss the sense of community on here that everyone brought to forum, so I hope you all don't mind if I live vicariously through your pictures and posts. I ended up giving my entire flock to my sister who lives in Mooresville. She ended up being cleaned out by various preditors and also the lack of an LGD whilst living in the country. I have really bad chick fever at the moment, but I will just have to let go. I am hoping to get back to keeping some hens probably within the next year or so if things go according to plan as far as finding a place to live.

While I was away, I have done some short term mission work in Haiti with our church and also recently I have tried to start up a side photography business doing what I love, portrait photography ( I am for hire if anybody needs me lol). We added a little wiener dachshund to our family back in August and she is a hoot! She is a miniature long-haired and weighs all of 5lbs sopping wet at 6 months old. This is my first time having a wiener dog and everything they say about them is pretty much true, from being little clowns, to getting into pretty much everything. Our other dog who is older has had to get used to her a little bit and there are some days when her patience is thin, but I don't blame her. Well, I don't want this post to run too long so I'm sure I will be on here from time to time to get re-aquainted with everyone! Everybody have a great weekend!

 

[amwchickin]

I have 6 days until my silkies and sizzles are to hatch. I finally got the humidity pump going. My engineer brother took a look at things and got it going for me!

6 out of 7 are going. The air sacks look odd, but the rest looks good!

 

[Indyshent]

Hi friends!
I have not been on here in quite a long while and I have missed it so much! In fact, I think it said my last post was May 2014! Any hooo....
Unfortunately, I am chickenless and have been for quite some time

I live out my chicken fantasies by reading various poultry magazines lolol. I miss the sense of community on here that everyone brought to forum, so I hope you all don't mind if I live vicariously through your pictures and posts. I ended up giving my entire flock to my sister who lives in Mooresville. She ended up being cleaned out by various preditors and also the lack of an LGD whilst living in the country. I have really bad chick fever at the moment, but I will just have to let go. I am hoping to get back to keeping some hens probably within the next year or so if things go according to plan as far as finding a place to live.

While I was away, I have done some short term mission work in Haiti with our church and also recently I have tried to start up a side photography business doing what I love, portrait photography ( I am for hire if anybody needs me lol). We added a little wiener dachshund to our family back in August and she is a hoot! She is a miniature long-haired and weighs all of 5lbs sopping wet at 6 months old. This is my first time having a wiener dog and everything they say about them is pretty much true, from being little clowns, to getting into pretty much everything. Our other dog who is older has had to get used to her a little bit and there are some days when her patience is thin, but I don't blame her. Well, I don't want this post to run too long so I'm sure I will be on here from time to time to get re-aquainted with everyone! Everybody have a great weekend!

Welcome back!

I have 6 days until my silkies and sizzles are to hatch. I finally got the humidity pump going. My engineer brother took a look at things and got it going for me!

6 out of 7 are going. The air sacks look odd, but the rest looks good!

It'll be a miracle if any of the 41 in the borrowed 'bator hatch, and they've been in less than one whole week. It got up to 110 and down to 90, and the humidity is generally around 50-60% but has been between 40 and 100-or-so%, Good thing I didn't pay any money for these eggs and they're all BYM, I suppose. I'm pretty darn sure at least one is completely infertile, but I figured I'd give Saphira's egg a chance anyway and hope against hope somebody made it with the poor gal

Saphira's a BBW turkey hen who's suffering a terrible case of double bumblefoot. I've ordered (unbelievably, prohibitively expensive) Tricide-Neo to see if it'll help. Kind of himming and hawing about if we'll need to put her down (that's just how awful, deep-seated and long-lasting this infection/injury has been). Poor girl's trying to give motherhood a go and hoarding eggs in my garage.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hi everyone, its been a while since I've been here. Just wanted to share you, that I lost all but 5 chickens and 1 turkey yesterday in a stray dog attack. 4 chickens survived, and I had 1 inside from a previous injury. I do still have 1 turkey not accounted for, so I'm hoping she flew away, my other turkey is outside and starting to call, but really just putting a small effort into it, I think shes still in shock. The 4 hens that survived won't come out of the coup, even to eat, so I had to feed them inside this morning. I'm still in shock myself. I caught the dog. Actually yelled the command leave it, and he dropped the 4th hen from his mouth and came and sat next to me at the gate. So I leashed him and left him attached to the fence post, and went to help my girls. Birds were just flopping everywhere, and others were already dead. Lost 9 hens and 2 turkeys. The dog had a collar on, which had his contact info on it. Which of course I didn't realize at the time. I crated him and stuck him in the garage while I tended to those I could. Got a hold of his owners about 3 hours later and took him home. He was several mile away and across a major highway. He took off running and mom just figured he'd come back. She didn't even go looking for him. ****** me off for sure. She compensated me $100 for my birds. I just really want that dog to have a fence or run, told her to make it happen or if it happened again her dog wasn't coming home. He jumped my 4' chain link to get to my girls, I saw where he tried getting under my fence, and was unsuccessful so he just jumped it. It's so dang quiet out there this morning. So my question that I have is for my girl that's been inside the house for a week recouping. How do I get her back outside with these temps? And will it mess up the girls outside with everything that's happened? Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Deb

Now is time for sure. @Leahs Mom posted great ideas, Hope she integrates smoothly.
I start

Hi everyone! I had no idea so many on here were from Indiana! I'm from Greene County. It's the county west of Monroe (Bloomington). I got 2 ducks last year for my child around Easter, which he [in]appropriately named fluffy and chicken. Lol. From there, we just decided to get a few chicks...and now have 13 chickens. We had more, but a not-so-awesome fox around here just about cleared out my flock. It's too funny how it all starts with a duck. Now we're looking to grow the flock, next year get some pigs and possibly lambs. Anyway, hi everyone!!!

Welcome to our thread! Theres a few of us keeping hogs, I raise Hampshire and hamp crosses. @LonelyPageTurne I are looking for lambs too, hope someone speaks up.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hi,

If anyone has any Muscovy hens they are looking to get rid of, I am in the market. My 3 girls are not enough for two drakes. Every time I turn around one of them is pinned to the ground. I've also noticed my chicken hens are starting to give the drakes a wide berth when they meet. Prefer lavender or barred, but at this point I'm not too choosy. My only hard and fast criteria is no males

Patrick

I am sure I have a couple more black, pied or barred or both. I will try to do a round up, and figure out whats still here. I really do not want 10 Musovy hens and thats what I am estimating I have.

Quote:
Every one you have may be split to lavender. My Lavender drake was dominant.

Hi friends!
I have not been on here in quite a long while and I have missed it so much! In fact, I think it said my last post was May 2014! Any hooo....
Unfortunately, I am chickenless and have been for quite some time

I live out my chicken fantasies by reading various poultry magazines lolol. I miss the sense of community on here that everyone brought to forum, so I hope you all don't mind if I live vicariously through your pictures and posts. I ended up giving my entire flock to my sister who lives in Mooresville. She ended up being cleaned out by various preditors and also the lack of an LGD whilst living in the country. I have really bad chick fever at the moment, but I will just have to let go. I am hoping to get back to keeping some hens probably within the next year or so if things go according to plan as far as finding a place to live.

While I was away, I have done some short term mission work in Haiti with our church and also recently I have tried to start up a side photography business doing what I love, portrait photography ( I am for hire if anybody needs me lol). We added a little wiener dachshund to our family back in August and she is a hoot! She is a miniature long-haired and weighs all of 5lbs sopping wet at 6 months old. This is my first time having a wiener dog and everything they say about them is pretty much true, from being little clowns, to getting into pretty much everything. Our other dog who is older has had to get used to her a little bit and there are some days when her patience is thin, but I don't blame her. Well, I don't want this post to run too long so I'm sure I will be on here from time to time to get re-aquainted with everyone! Everybody have a great weekend!

Great to see you, welcome back!

I have 6 days until my silkies and sizzles are to hatch. I finally got the humidity pump going. My engineer brother took a look at things and got it going for me!

6 out of 7 are going. The air sacks look odd, but the rest looks good!

Great news humidity pumps working,

sending hatching vibes!

Quote: I hope Saphira's egg hatches too. It would make me rethink a lot of plans on my turkey flock. And I hope she gets better soon, fingers crossed.

hatching vibes your way!

 

[Mother2Hens]

I’m back! I’ve missed everyone, and I have missed keeping up with our newsy thread. I’ve had a bad couple of months—like a gray cloud constantly overhead. But as I always say, things could be much worse. I’m just glad to have the holidays over and be back on a normal schedule.

The following long, painfully detailed story is therapy for me to write and hopefully, some of you can benefit from the healthcare information. The moral is to carefully check over your chickens each week.

My chickens had been doing well, but two days ago I found my beautiful Eliza dead. It appeared that she had been dust bathing. It was odd because that’s where and how I found one of my former Silkie chickens dead. In the past, some of our members have said that it’s not uncommon for a chicken to have a heart attack during a dust bath. I’ve read about that, too, but it seems odd.

That may have happened, but I am sad to admit that her death likely could have been avoided if I had been more observant. I spend time outside with my flock every day, so I have no excuse. A couple of weeks ago, I had noticed that she sometimes limped. I even checked the bottom of her feet several times looking for signs of bumblefoot, but for some unfortunate reason, I didn’t notice that she was getting scaley leg mites. I’m quite familiar with them since many times I’ve treated my Barred Rock, Tweedy, for scaley leg mites by covering her feet and legs with VetRx and/or olive oil. I’ve also repeatedly “sterilized” the coop and have followed other advice. Early this past week, I finally noticed the mites are Eliza’s legs; one leg looked particularly bad. I put oil on them two nights in a row, but on Wednesday morning, Eliza couldn’t stand up so I took her to my avian vet (who has chickens and runs a wild bird rehab clinic). I wasn’t sure if Eliza had injured herself or what. Dr. Gormley felt that her scaley leg mites were the cause. He invited me to look at a scraping of the mites under the microscope. I thought they looked like tiny, flat turtles. He gave Eliza an injection for pain and a dose of Ivermectin antiparasitic. I was sent home with Ivermectin doses for my other seven hens (and directions not to eat their eggs for a week).

As a rule, Orpingtons are docile, but Eliza was an exception to the generalization. She had always been very nervous and dramatic. She was especially dependent upon calm and sensible Adeline, my Jubilee Orp, to keep her grounded. With Adeline, Eliza felt more confident (I don’t think she realized that she was the largest chicken!) Eliza was sweet, and I loved her big, dark, and expressive eyes.

Normally I would bring an ill/injured chicken inside (along with a buddy) to recuperate, but I felt like it would be stressful for Eliza. I mentioned it to the doctor, and he said she should be fine as long as she had heat. I heat the coop anyway, so that wasn’t a problem.

After we had returned home, I sat with her in the sunny flower bed for twenty minutes while the other flock members foraged. Best friend Adeline stuck close by. When I put Eliza in a nesting box in the coop, she started eating and drinking. I hooked up a sheer curtain, so she had some privacy, but could still see Adeline perching. The next morning when my DH unlocked the coop at 8:00 am, he said that Eliza seemed fine and was eating/drinking from the bowls in the nesting box. When I went out at 10:00 am, at first I thought Eliza was having a dust bath because two other chickens were next to her dust bathing. Then I noticed that she wasn’t moving, and she looked like she had been dead for maybe an hour. I wondered if she slipped and fell from the top part of the coop to the bottom because her neck looked a little twisted. Then I pictured how she’d twist her neck like that when dust bathing, so I figured that she had a heart attack. I also checked to see if it looked like she had been attacked by flock members for being weak, but I didn’t see any signs. If I had only kept her inside...if I had only noticed her leg mites earlier. Death by negligence. I feel horrible.

I laid Eliza on the patio for a few hours so that all of the chickens could see her (I buried her without the chickens watching!) I was afraid Adeline would be traumatized seeing Eliza’s body, but she seemed to understand. The day before, my youngest DD was home when I had taken Eliza to the vet. Lauren said that Adeline “screamed and screamed” when I left with Eliza. Two years ago, I had to have poor Adeline’s best buddy (lavender Orp) put to sleep for a leg injury. Adeline called for her for several days. I got Bonbon, my bantam chocolate Orp, to be Adeline’s new buddy and they were very close until Bonbon had chicks from hatching eggs. By then, Eliza (given to me by a kind past member) was old enough to be introduced to the flock. Eliza latched onto Adeline right away, and they became fast friends.

This evening, Adeline and Bonbon perched next to each other like old times. With bad weather approaching, I cleared out an area in the garage, put a tarp down, and DH put dry straw on top. The flock can hang out there during the cold days ahead.

(I found the gravestone online and added the info— art therapy!)

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

@Mother2Hens I am so sorry to hear she passed. I have had one die in the middle of a dust bath too. I also had a BA die sunbathing! When I first put all my australorp out, they were a tight knit group and copied each others activities. After a couple cloudy days, we had a warm sunny day and all 16 were sprawled out, soaking in the sun. One just didn't wake up. There are so many internal things we can't see also. Don't blame yourself mites are a common problem. Sometime life events just cause us to not see things right away too.

 

[farmguy2007]

Been a long time since I been on and active! Glad to see fellow Hoosiers still hangin at BYC,I'm I finish a second coop build and run. Looking for a Hoosier who maybe has a younger hen ot two for sale,may also be interested in a roo if he strikes my fancy an he is free or cheeeep lol...hope some one out there can help,I don't mind traveling and they will be going to a good 3.5 acre home out in country! Thanks folks FG07