INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Faraday40]

@Indyshent
Yes, be careful of that one. I had a man approach me at Aldi asking if I would use his Link card to buy groceries & then give him the cash. YIKES! That's fraud & completely against the whole idea of the food assistance program. The man was dressed far better than me and was simply waiting around by the doors while using his iphone. (I'm still using my ancient flip phone. LOL)

 

[Indyshent]

Could use some help sexing a chick, if any of you want to weigh in

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/coronation-mutt.1208529/

 

[nenebynature]

View attachment 1156818 My yellow rosebush pictured in my avatar decided to become a climber. One cane that was growing, and growing finally bloomed. It has the same color and fragrance as before, but a different bloom form. More old fashioned type. I would think it's a sucker cane, but very unlikely that the rootstock is the same color and fragrance. I can't even tell if the bush is grafted, because of the green ground cover around the base.

The rosebush was already on the property when we moved here.

Just thought interesting enough to post.

Gorgeous!

 

[nenebynature]

We live in a residential neighborhood with 1/3 of an acre. No ponds/water anywhere nearby. I used a kiddie pool for the first few weeks and then we put in a 4'x4' "pond." Its two 2x6x8 cut in half with a pond liner. Then I used fence boards, they're like 1/2x2, and trimmed off the top. I have a drain and such going out the bottom because I built it in a highish spot. I'll try to find the youtube video I used for a tutorial. But my four muscovies love it.
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That pond is genius! Well done! I have been wanting ducks ever since I got chickens.

 

[nenebynature]

Pic time!

I really love these two!!!
View attachment 1159382 View attachment 1159392
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Blue Laced orp
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Silver laced orpView attachment 1159396

Black lav split orp
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Penciled Rock
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DD's spoiled silkie striking a pose.
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Such pretty birds. All these pictures are making me have chicken fever again!!!

 

[nenebynature]

View attachment 1163305 This was Abigail one week after I brought her and her brother home last year. I'm sure she was killed by an owl. Now I have to convince the young muscovies to start sleeping in the barn again.

I'm so sorry for your loss

 

[nenebynature]

View attachment 1164048 I think I'll be keeping this guy. His markings are beautiful. I was looking at his wings unfolded last night, and will post a pic when I can get one.

I think it would be interesting to breed him with Dominiques.

Oh my word! He is breath taking!!

 

[nenebynature]

Had a million projects I needed to do and got to none of them.

Speaking of mice, they're migrating inside for the winter and I can't find where they're coming in. We've killed/trapped two so far, but I still can hear them in the living room. Any tips on that? I'm nearly ready for a cat, but DH hates cats.


A couple of years ago I had five cats and a mouse problem. Having cats doesn't guarantee good mousers. Hahhahaa. It was ridiculous. I just found a little mouse in the scratch bin in the garage. Tossed it out with a nit of scratch and the girls took care of it. Maybe you should bhring the chickens inside.

 

[nenebynature]

Rule of thumb: bigger breeds and better quality heritage birds will start laying later. If she's not laying by spring, you might want to take a really good look at her and make sure that you're not expecting eggs from a rooster. Big, heritage breeds can take eight months or more to lay, especially if they're good quality girls. Also, some girls hide eggs. I had a Dark Brahma pullet a few years ago, and I thought she took half of forever to start laying... turned out later that she'd already laid like 40 eggs under a neighbor's bush.

Hhahahahah. I've found eggs in some weird places around the yard.

 

[nenebynature]

Was a pretty epic weekend in our yard. Thought a tarp was a great idea to keep the ladies out of the snow though winter so we put it up Saturday. Thought we angled it correctly for drainage and all my calculations were a lie. I basically nearly destroyed my run. We got a ton of rain over night from the storms and it all gathered in the center. Which pulled my walls in and began to collapse them.

Being the big girl that I am, I couldn't get in to make a hole in the tarp to drain it out. Luckily DH managed to squeeze in and we were slowly able to drain it out. One corner of the wall is slightly damaged, but the nice thing about wood and moisture is you can work to bend it back. [insert bawling embarrassed emoji here].

So we're back to the drawing board on how to afford to cover the run this year, and its looking like its not going to happen. So I'm trying to research solutions for all my winter worries of chickens and snow and


Anyone have solutions for the wetness in runs? I've put in a few bales of straw, but it always manages to disappear into the dirt and we're back to a muddy mess again.

When I (my dad and uncles) added on to my run this summer my dad found metal roofing on the cheap. Someone he knew took it off of a house and we used it on the run. Now my entire run is covered A huge relief! Last year with the smaller run only half of it was covered. the back half was covered in tarps. It was an absolute disaster. I was constantly having to push the water off the top. I don't envy you there. Maybe you can search craigslist or classified ads for roofing materials. You might have to repair holes and patch it together but it would probably be worth it. We filled the old screw holes with silicone caulk.