INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Faraday40]

OuR 1920's headress! Thanks @ellymayRans

Love it! In fact, I'm going to borrow that idea to make similar, smaller hairpieces for DD's upcoming dance recital. The girls' costumes are peacock-like.
(not my DD, just a pic of the costume)

 

[Indyshent]

Does anyone have any suggestions of a good egg laying breed? We have barred rocks and road island reds, our RIR lay very well, our BR less so...I really like my RIR's but am so overy their meanness! They are snit's to the others

Leghorns. Lay like bosses, rain or shine, all year. They're smart, wily, funny birds who can seemingly get into or out of anything. They're feed-efficient and cost-effective but have a reputation for being flighty. I've never had a Leghorn which could compete in the meanness category versus reigning brass-plated ladies. They never seem to be top or bottom in larger hierarchies but always hold their own.

For docility, try Orpingtons or Brahmas if you're not worried about eggs as much.

EE tend to have a lot of Ameraucana and Leghorn blood, but they're mutts, so you never really know what you're going to get. I have small EE which lay about average, gigantic EE who lay small eggs sparingly and middle weight birds who lay huge eggs almost daily. They're Forrest Gump's box of chickens.

 

[Jntnrmn]

Leghorns. Lay like bosses, rain or shine, all year. They're smart, wily, funny birds who can seemingly get into or out of anything. They're feed-efficient and cost-effective but have a reputation for being flighty. I've never had a Leghorn which could compete in the meanness category versus reigning brass-plated ladies. They never seem to be top or bottom in larger hierarchies but always hold their own.

For docility, try Orpingtons or Brahmas if you're not worried about eggs as much.

EE tend to have a lot of Ameraucana and Leghorn blood, but they're mutts, so you never really know what you're going to get. I have small EE which lay about average, gigantic EE who lay small eggs sparingly and middle weight birds who lay huge eggs almost daily. They're Forrest Gump's box of chickens.

Thank you, it is egg laying indeed we want as we have several family members enjoying our egg donations..just feeling tired of the reds being such snots to the others

 

[Leahs Mom]

So far my Buckeye ladies are very gentle personalities but I have no idea how they'll do on the egg laying.

@Indyshent
When you recommend the leghorns, are they a breed you've gotten at the farm stores/hatchery birds or are you referring to breeder/heritage birds?

 

[iamfivewire]

We have 4 Leghorn hens
Ours are of the "hatchery/production" type
They lay eggs a lot - some that are too big to fit into a carton.
I had read alot of negative reviews about them, as being crazy-hyper & could be aggressive , tho the ones we have aren't like that.
They are "higher energy" than some of our other breeds, but not as much as many of the reviews seemed to imply.

If you want to "add a little fun" from a Leghorn flock, you can breed the hens with either a real Ameracauna or Cream Legbar rooster - the pullet offspring will lay blue shell eggs

 

[Finnie]

OuR 1920's headress! Thanks @ellymayRans

Good job, that turned out awesome!

 

[flyladyrocks]

One of my new girls, Wallaby, already has a problem- she was not like this yesterday - it seemed to happen when the little tooth on the end of her beak fell off, or that was just coincidence! See supposedly hatched March 1, arrived at store the 3rd.

This is different than I remember with my other cross beak - I think - but it's been a couple years so I don't remember exactly. I thought there was more of a hook at the end that caused the misalignment . This just suddenly seems like the lower beak is being pulled.

So- what do I do? Do I trim and file the top beak like I did previously, or trim some of the bottom too? @kittydoc any advice since you instructed me last time? Anyone else feel free to chime in!

Thanks!

 

[kittydoc]

Hey@flyladyrocks, I'd take the most off the top beak with a file, and only file the bottom if it is wider than the upper beak. The upper should be just slightly wider than the lower. Fixing damage is the same no matter what the cause. Same principles. Keep me posted.

 

[kittydoc]

So my chick sale fell through and I have the following English Orp chicks available:

2 blue cockerels, Cogburn grandsons
1 true black cockerel, Cogburn grandson
Single barred chocolate cuckoos, male and female
Solid chocolates, 1 cockerel and 1 pullet
A likely double barred chocolate cuckoo cockerel (will throw all cuckoo offspring except with blues)

Blue and black boys very reasonable. The older blue is mellow with a very nice comb. The black is big with a fair comb. Their daddy is Cog Junior, a very nice roo like his father. I expect they will be great flock roos. Their mothers are Fancy Chick or Fancy Chick crossed to Cogburn.

If you want to breed chocolates, it's best to have a chocolate roo or else you won't get chocolate pullets until second generation if you only have chocolate pullets. You can breed them with blacks to improve type. I am keeping a gorgeous black cuckoo cockerel split to chocolate that has a 5 point comb, thanks to his black mother. His girlfriend will be a blue splash pullet. I'm also keeping a third generation lavender pullet.

A lot of lavenders are in the incubator this time. Not many blues or chocolates but they are starting to lay again slowly. PM me for more info. @Mother2Hens has solid and cuckoo chocolate pullets from last year. I have and new roo and more hens this year.

I'm having more medical trials for my back soon and would like to get these chicks sold soon.

I am NPIP certified and vaccinate against Marek's disease.

 

[JanetMarie]

My Dominiques have been very good layers. Good personality, active but not flighty. They were hatched last April and started laying pullet eggs in the fall, stopped laying for about a month over the winter, and started laying again in January. Now I'm getting some double yolker eggs from one of them. I wasn't able to keep a Dominique cockerel, because of aggressiveness.

The Dominique cockerels were the worst to process of any chicken. They ate a lot, and put a lot of energy into crowing and growing feathers, so difficult to clean out the body cavity. Regardless, it is a breed I would like to always keep some of.