INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

I'm not going to lie, it's pretty bad! LOL. We were trying to drive it from their old place to ours and were nervously watching the roof bend and buckle in the wind. I can only pray we get the new coop built before any determined predators come along!

LOL, I have been thru that a time or 2 when we move sheds.

Here are our kiddos post hawk. They seem to be fine.
Dirty Godiva and Gus

Our heros with their girls

Snickers the Minorca and the red twins.



The other protectors

Watching over the chickies from a distance.

Nice sunny day for the little guys

The little ones

The hero Blueberry
My pretty little comb-over sporting Peaches

Lovely flock and the alpaca are adorable!

Just wanted to introduce myself! New Hoosier Chicken hobbiest. I am partnering with a friend in our new chicken enterprise. My farm is in between Lebanon and Sheridan Indiana, north of Indy. We were just given four hens and a small chicken tractor (currently dubbed Chateau Duct Tape We are in the process of building a new, sturdy coop (as my nice crafty neighbor has time to help). Once the coop is ready we will want to add a couple hens to our small flock. Our free hens seem to be old and crusty and aren't producing much

I also have four horses and four dogs on my four acre slice of heaven.

And so glad you have joined us! Love the tractor name

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
Oh my, she is lucky you were there!

I agree 100% dubbing of anything is cruel, unless its medically necessary.
I can't think of a medical problem that it would be either.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I'm working on my coop page, but I'm not nearly finished yet (trying to draw general floor plans of all the rearranging we did between when the original part was built and now). I thought I'd share a couple picures taken with my good camera, though.

The original coop and the addition, with my little feed shed to the right. (Oh, and a Frou-Frou bird standing in front.)




The addition:




The chicken door with more detail on the latch (horrible, messy painting, I know--we are far from professionals):





The carabiner is to keep anything from popping the door open in the night:




And just because, a view of the back of the chicken yard:

Love the wooded area, And I am so borrowing some of your ideas... ok stealing

Thought I would share my repurposed futon frame. The futon itself was shot. A piece of ply wood, some egg crate foam, a few metal machine screws, some outdoor furniture fabric and voilà. Snazzy doggie bed. $30.00 total. Now if Lucy the lab will just share.

AW I love the idea!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

It's late, but I want to go ahead and post these lousy photos of Adeline the Jubilee and my still unnamed English Bantam Chocolate Orpington. The lousy photos make her look blackish; she's a rich dark brown compared to Adeline's reddish brown. They're both four months old. They wanted to come in the house, so I let them in to take a few photos.

I still would like input about whether these two can integrate into my flock of five grown hens or if Bantams only hang out together or what.

Both girls are so pretty

! Your lil chocolate is cut as a button!
Eventually they may be fine, its a watch and see situation. You may just need to give them a little more bonding time and go from there.
Keep up the daily socializing tho, it will make a difference.

A couple of months ago, I think in May, I found a skinny, stray dog at my front door. My sister and I took her in and gave her food,water, and a bath. We couldn't keep her because she showed aggression to our dog. Well of my sister's friends had lost her dog a few months ago. My sister called her and asked if she would take and she gladly said yes. When we gave her a bath we found this huge tumor on her side. We told my sister's (Deb) friend about the tumors and she still took her in. Before we took the dog to her new home we called the vet and the shelter to make sure nobody had a missing dog and nobody did. We took her to her new home and Deb had to wait a week till she could get the dog to the vet ( We named her Mazy). One week later The vet gave us the age she that she was (8 years) and found 4 more small tumors. Of course Deb was going to have the tumors removed but her age prevented that. And now currently to this day, Mazy passed away today. I'm happy she lived her last months peacefully, but I forgot to mention I figured out she used to be someone's dog. Mazy knew the command paw and more and enjoyed sleeping on my dog's bed before we took her to deb's. We think her original owner abandoned her after they found out she had cancer. It just kills me how some people can just abandon there pets, but then again I don't have full solid proof. I thought I would share this story with you guys.

It is very sad. You would not believe how many people look at a pet as a disposable item. The numbers are just heartbreaking.
I used to do interviews for adoptions at the shelter. A common question was "have you owned other pets?"
I turned several down because of some if their answers! Like - My last dog started to chew or he peed on the floor.
I took him to the pound. I don't have time to mess with training.
Or, I saw this new breed like the one that you have, and I am going to get rid of the dog I have now. Its not a puppy and its boring.

DECLINED!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Rooster?

Hen? Note the long tail feather. The lack of full tail is confusing me.

Obvious size difference, but I still have not heard anything from 'him' and no eggs from 'her'

My boys aren't crowing yet either, but you have them pegged pefectly. I will be very surprised if they aren't. Looks like the roo has the pointy saddle feathers coming in too. Her tail feather is a bit odd, but one of my girls does have longer tail feathers too. I will get close ups of the saddle on one of my boys, and some head shots too. Pics probably wont be great all I have is my phone camera.
If anyone wants Lavender orp cockerels I have a few too many. BYC'ers can have one for free.
If no one is interested will post on craigslist friday.

So my lavenders are at 20 weeks and I still do not have crowing, but nor have I seen any eggs. Going to post some newer photos later and have the guessing game played. I think I have a pullet and roo, however my 'pullet' has some curled tail feathers. With my 'roo' he did not have a tail until recently, just decided he did not want one I guess. My sexing is based on comb growth.

I have 1 laying, she started around 25 weeks i think.Orps seem to be late bloomers.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Okay, so my original 4 girls are 23 and 26 weeks old. I believe my three sl/wyandottes are laying, but they are very small eggs, like the size my silkie lays (when she lays, we have had her for almost 2 months and she layed three eggs the first week and then nothing. But that is another question all together) Anyway they are small eggs. I am not getting them everyday yet either. I have 6 laying hens and I get maybe 2 or 3 eggs a day. I have 3 newer younger girls that don't lay. My large cochin hasnt layed yet as far as I know and she is 23 weeks.. Do any of you have experience with this or have had these breeds where you could explain the dynamics to me? I believe Godiva layed today and my EE Peaches. I went out at 3ish and there were two big eggs in the boxes. My younger girls do not lay eggs that big. Like I can barely close the carton big.

Congrats on the big eggs! Sounds like pullet eggs on the little ones, they will gradually get bigger.

Sexing ducks.

Some time back, someone asked about sexing ducks. Mine seem to be having fun doing it themselves. Repeatedly.
My Indian Runner ducks are 3 1/2 months old. The males have curled tail feathers. The females do not.

Male (Drake).


Female (Duck).


Ducks having fun.


When I first got the kiddie pool, it was too high for them to get in and out. I put stepping stones around it, but they were too stupid to use them. So flipped it over and ran my circular saw around it at a 7" depth setting. Now they have no problem. Not much room in those little heads for brains.

The fawn & white duck just got gang raped by the 3 drakes in the pool.

John

Run ducky RUN!

Some of you have expressed an interest in the doings of Weed Wacker Jimmy.

When I first got him about 7/9/2013:


Here's what he looks like on 8/20/2013:


He uses his right leg now, but only gingerly.

John

He is just stunning, what a lucky fella to have found you

Quote:
I fully agree you do not want to upset some one who may have a missing screw. Next add to it is age and everything changes. Based on his age he has seen quite a lot, wars, protests, world altering events. Now add that to any mental problems and he may on an extreme level decide you are an enemy that needs dealing with.
A completely different approach would be to seek help for the man. Family and social services can force a better living arrangement if he is not properly being cared for in his own home and he is not able to do it on his own. Animal control might help the dog situation but leave you with an angry mental old man. Now if the Family services people get the old man to move in with family or into an assisted living kind of care, then his dog would leave too and you could end up looking like the really nice lady on the block with a caring heart.

Very good points.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I'm thinking of driving 400 miles round trip to get a pair of 3 1/2 mo. Cream Legbars. This is probably an idiotic thing to do.

Please, someone give me a better alternative. Save me from myself.

John

Ohhh you got it bad! Sorry, there is no cure for you.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Just posting some pics from my flocks as requested

wow loved all the pics!!!!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
only use food grade, the pool DE is dangerous for your birds. TSC has it in 25 pound bags

Quote:
I am so glad, I sure like Merlin! He is night and day difference from Red. I can pick him up any time, and he is very sweet and friendly.
He is learning to free range, sorta, he wont wander far from me.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

My girls are all over the page. 2 huge eggs yesterday and this morning I opened the coop to find one small one in the box, one by the food, and one soft small one in the run that apparently popped out in the excitement of being let outside.

This whole beginner layers thing is kinda comical

. I edited this because I just went out and found a big egg and another small egg. The big pink one is Peaches the EE, it was in the box. The little one I found looks just like the other 3 from this morning aside of the soft one. It was laying in the run too. This is the first time they have layed out of the box. Must have been a long line to the boxes this morning.

SO...5 eggs today out of 9 girls. Hmmm lol.
Here are my eggs from this week... like I said all over the page.

very nice lineup! love colorful eggs

Hi everyone! We are back from vacation. Glad to see there are so many new people joining!!

Has anybody heard from Crafty chick? About her DH?? Updates?

Sorry to hear about everyone's losses. We can all relate.

Old salt- I was going to tell you to go for it and do the drive for those chickens, and my retort was that you are retired and have the time!! But maybe you should wait and get the right ones!!

Cccccc- I got DE at Tractor supply. They have a small thing for maybe $12 and a larger bag for 20.

hope you had a great time!
I was over 200 posts behind so am playing catch up!
Bruce is awesome and just a doll!