INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Kiniska]

Hello neighbors! 19 in all, 18 hens & 1 lucky roo named Coal. I'm in Corydon, IN which is so south it's practically Kentcky Just got my first egg!! Very excited about this new adventure. I'm loving it & seem to need what I call "chicken therapy" a few times a day. Which is as you can imagine sitting and watching my chickens free range everywhere & even sometimes talking to them.

Hello! I am really close to you, about 15 min!I am off 66 on the way to Marengo. What breed do you have?

 

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

Hello neighbors! 19 in all, 18 hens & 1 lucky roo named Coal. I'm in Corydon, IN which is so south it's practically Kentcky Just got my first egg!! Very excited about this new adventure. I'm loving it & seem to need what I call "chicken therapy" a few times a day. Which is as you can imagine sitting and watching my chickens free range everywhere & even sometimes talking to them.

Welcome to BYC and the Indiana folks group!!!

 

[PeacefulWalls]

You never know what the day will bring when you wake up in the morning -- I keep finding myself saying this a lot! Yesterday was one of those days. It started by waking up at 6am and hearing a strange buzzing sound. I tracked it down to the basement where it was a deafening alarm sound -- like a really really loud smoke detector. I realized it was coming from our septic tank alarm. We built our house 18 months ago & never had a septic system before. Wasn't quite sure what the alarm meant since I thought it went off when there was no power to the septic & that wasn't the case -- found out it also means the tank is full. We were puzzled at that since we should have had at least 6 months to another year before it needed pumping. My husband went out to check the tank, lifted the lid & it was full to the top! It was too early to call a septic company so we went to do chores. Got to the barn and saw one of our dogs, Olive, was really lethargic & hadn't eaten her food from the previous evening. Something obviously wasn't right with her. She's a 1 yr old English Shepherd. We got a vet appointment scheduled for her & discovered she had overheated & her body was trying to shut down. She got some injections & meds at the vet & we have her in the AC right now. Thankfully we caught it in time & she's getting back to her usual self.

The septic guys came & pumped everything out. They also checked the dousing tank & thought we had a crack in the pipe leading to the leachfield as water kept running back in after the pump ran. So we called our excavator who installed the septic & they came out. Apparently there is supposed to be some back flush & we did not have a crack (whew -- dollars signs just lowered in my mind!) However, something still wasn't right because the tanks were empty & our alarm still kept going off. So they decided it was an electrical issue and they got our electrician out here. He ended up having to dig out the electrical box beside the tank cover because it had gotten buried during the final grading (it was supposed to be sticking up above ground so there was access to it). Finally he discovered (at about 5pm by this time) that we have a bad float in the dousing tank & it wasn't working. He's supposed to be able to fix it late this afternoon. At least the tanks have been pumped empty & we can still use sinks, bathrooms, etc!

Then funny things happened in the barn -- we needed some humor yesterday! Our 4 month old kitten likes to walk on top of the barn stalls. Our daughter saw it walk past one of the fly strip tapes and promptly get its tail stuck to it! She said it was pretty funny watching it try to get unstuck. Then it decided to hang out in the growout coop with my 4 chicks that are about 4 weeks old. It just laid in the middle of the straw & the chicks went about their business around it. Last evening we went for a swim in the pond before closing up the barn. The duck seemed awfully noisy. Went in the barn & discovered they had found or made a way under the door between their coop & the chicken coop. The were running around in circles with the chickens & couldn't figure out how to get back. And there was one lonely duck left in the duck stall who couldn't figure out where everyone else had gone!

Today our fair starts! We got 22 rabbits checked in yesterday (each 4-Her can bring up to 11). Breed ID & Knowledge test competitions happen this afternoon & there is an open ARBA youth show tomorrow where any youth from any county can come & show. I think check-in closes at 8am if anyone wants to come ($2/rabbit) & the show starts at 9am. Sunday is our big fair parade & more competitions next week. The kids are pretty excited it's finally fair time! If anyone does come to the Elkhart Co. fair be sure to stop at the Bunny Hut for food. It's well known that we have great food and about the lowest prices of all the food booths. We serve made to order subs, fresh salads, rabbit noodles, mashed potatoes, green beans, rabbit brats, rabbit BBQ, biscuits & rabbit gravy. We also get fresh cinnamon rolls & doughnuts every morning from the Rise 'N Roll bakery in Middlebury (some of you may have heard of them -- they have quite the reputation for great amish pastries!) Can't wait for the cooler weather to come!

 

[countrychristy]

Oh cool, yeah I kind of know where English is!

 

[MillerBirds]

Hello neighbors! 19 in all, 18 hens & 1 lucky roo named Coal. I'm in Corydon, IN which is so south it's practically Kentcky Just got my first egg!! Very excited about this new adventure. I'm loving it & seem to need what I call "chicken therapy" a few times a day. Which is as you can imagine sitting and watching my chickens free range everywhere & even sometimes talking to them.

Hi Christy,
Welcome! Love Corydon. Such a lovely charming town.I too spend too much time watching and talking to my chickens. Seems perfectly normal here. ;-)

 

[Kiniska]

Oh cool, yeah I kind of know where English is!

We have not lived here long, transplant from Louisville, I am always on the look out for potential partners in crime.

 

[MillerBirds]

Wow PeacefulWalls you had quite a day!! Sorry for all the headaches; hopefully today is much smoother.
So glad to hear about your dog!

Love the Elkhart County Fair. Our business is fairs so we are currently at the Porter County Fair in Valpo. Have a great fair week!

 

[MillerBirds]

I pretty much only use my phone to access this site so I have not fully explored all the cool ways to post.

But I did want to ask Pipd how her dig is?

And M2H glad Violet is still on the mend.

 

[CRSelvey]

Still catching up on posts . . .

Update on Violet, my three month old Lavender with the torn leg tendon:
I let her out sometimes to fluff her wings and walk around. I noticed this evening that she kept looking up like she was looking for a place to roost. I'm not sure what to do about that since she wants to be by Violet at all times.

I don't know if it will help your little Adeline, but I used a dowel from the local hardware store and ran it through the wires of the crate. Because it was round I had to tack it down, but had I been thinking, I'd have used a 1x2 piece of wood that wouldn't spin. I also had a little bird ladder from petsmart for $5 that they could use to get up until they figured it out. Maybe she would like something like that.





jchny~ When the fermenting topic surfaced again, I was going to suggest that interested people "Search this thread" for all of your great advice. However, a live demonstration would be great! Hope you do the fermenting demo following the massacre at racinchickins. Btw, CRSelvey~ I am SO disappointed that you're going to the "other side." haha "Oh, I can pick feathers." How quickly you changed. ; - )

Well, funny thing about that. I re-read what I posted and realized that I cut out a sentence that might have made more sense. I was saying that I was getting conflicted by taking care of this little guy when he was one of the two I was planning to sacrifice at the fest. I have always taken really good care of my pets and this guy was bordering on being pet/being annoying to my girls yesterday. Today I went to check on him and he seemed better so I let him out with the others. No sooner did he go out than he started fighting with the other one I was planning on bringing. He was losing and wouldn't stop. I separated them again. UGH. I really hate to watch things kill each other and yet, chicken is delicious. The grocery store has done funny things to the food chain. I should be able to look at them differently but I think it will take some time.

It will! Already making plans for it! Am thinking it can be in the after 3pm group, so everyone can be a part of it. Am trying to find a bigger pot for the tom turkey that's coming with us, ugh! He is one big boy, and he isn't going to fit into my usual pot for plucking. If anyone has a bigger pot than the typical turkey deep fryer size, please let me know.

They were beautiful dogs.

Thank you. I'm very lucky to have my girl's great-grand puppy now. I still feel connected even if its distant and my Fiona is a joy to be around now.

Hello neighbors! 19 in all, 18 hens & 1 lucky roo named Coal. I'm in Corydon, IN which is so south it's practically Kentcky Just got my first egg!! Very excited about this new adventure. I'm loving it & seem to need what I call "chicken therapy" a few times a day. Which is as you can imagine sitting and watching my chickens free range everywhere & even sometimes talking to them.

Congratulations on your egg!!!

 

[bradselig]

Very cool, I was very intrigued by snakes, kept them for years. My favorite was a Boa named Buddy, who went to live at Potawatomi Zoo when I relocated in the 90s. My reptile vet worked up there so he knew Buddy very well. (And was pleased to get her too) My biggest was a python that was almost 15 feet, but it took 2 adults to manage her. She also went to the vet at the zoo.
I wound up with her from the closed pet store. She had a burn from a hot rock over 5 foot long on her belly and she had to be soaked in antibiotics 3x a day until she healed. Glad she was friendly!

The little "zoo" at a park in Lafayette took in one of my snakes as well. He was a woma python. They are so cool looking! Those heat rocks are nothing but trouble!