INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Thunder Chicken]

Must be a day for first eggs. We found our first one today as well. Was beginning to give up on the girls. That is my husband's hand by the way, so the egg is much larger than I expected for a first go.

I can almost guarantee two yolks in that.

 

[Kiniska]

I can almost guarantee two yolks in that.

Interesting, I'll let you know what I find.

 

[Webechickens]

...

Must be a day for first eggs. We found our first one today as well. Was beginning to give up on the girls. That is my husband's hand by the way, so the egg is much larger than I expected for a first go.

I can almost guarantee two yolks in that. [/quote Isn't it fun?! We had one like that last week.

 

[gunchief25]

Here's Rangi and friends today at 4 months old!

The girl herself, Rangi the Ancona!

The lovely Ihi the Golden Campine:

The always graceful, Huka the Silver Lakenvelder:

Destined for stardom, miss Roha the Exchequer Leghorn:

The simply gorgeous Whiri, my pretty Light Brown Leghorn:

The sassy Egyptian Fayoumi, Marama:

And Mr. Po, who I had a disagreement with earlier this week, though he seems to have cooled it for now:

ETA: Oh, and I didn't get a picture of Hika Ma because he's turned into a big pain in the rear. :/

pretty birds

 

[gunchief25]

Must be a day for first eggs. We found our first one today as well. Was beginning to give up on the girls. That is my husband's hand by the way, so the egg is much larger than I expected for a first go.

What a nice surprise for a first egg.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I have a pair of great horned here that's been around for years. They have taken some of my CX in the past. Then, I learned about coop tractors, netting and motion lights.
Motion lights do help with them. Netting on all the coops helps a LOT more.

You know whats ironic? The only adult chicken I have laying right now is the one that I gave antibiotics to for the foot, and I have to pitch her eggs for 21 days. I'm only 7 days in. The others are in molt, strike, or whatever. lol Figures.

2 of the five pullets I bought from Rural King this year are laying. One in the coop and one behind a board I have laying against the back of the house. I watched the day she picked that spot. She was pacing in front of the coop but the door had blown shut. I saw this when I pulled in from work. So I ran over and opened it up, but by then she started looking for a spot elsewhere. My pullets are over 21 weeks now. I wonder how many of the others have picked spots I haven't found yet? I have an EE, a SLW, and a light brahma not in action. I figure the brahma is still too young, but I bet at least one of the other two are laying some where!!! Rascals!

It will make you crazy! I had one egg today from well over 200 birds. Roosters go this weekend, and any mean hens. I do know several people and family have a "not laying" problem. Is it the cold spell then so terribly hot? Now cold again? Who knows. I am offering all my excess hens on craigslist. if they are not taken they will go to the freezer too.

Quote: Hehe

They are Yorkshire, had a real hard time finding them too. jsummers and I went in on some, she went and got them in the wee hours of the night! I Just FYI everyone pork is probably going up! there's a shortage of feeder pigs this year. I have paid as low as $15 for a weaned 8 week old. Not happening this year. These were $25 best price we saw! Yorks have been my best pig so far as far as weight to feed ratio.
Berkshire didn't do well at all. Hereford were better but does not compare to yorks.

Quote: Hehe.. yep more yorks, love em! have a breeding pair now. going to add several gilts as I find them! 1 boar is good for up to 16 sows, so Wilbur is my best friend right now.

He will learn that Mom is the boss.

Quote: Wilbur my boar already knows I am the food person. If i go near him he squeals so LOUD! And if I don't have food, he is NOT happy and squeals LOUDER!!! I love the piglets, so much fun!

They do NOT like baths! But so pink and cute now lol. Charlotte my gilt is more timid but likes ear scratches and corncobs. but, they all do! Blanket and Bacon are the food pigs.. (Pigs in a blanket) and the new Bacon is the 4th. They are sooo adorable! I can hardly leave them alone. They are just adorable babies.

Well my broody did really well. On day 21 6 of the 9 eggs hatched. Mamma is doing a fantastic job with those babies crawling all over her and still sitting on the other eggs. The other 3 do not have any cracks in them yet, so I will give them another day or 2. I only candled them on day 10 and all showed signs of progressing, so it's still a waiting game. Here's my new babies.

Oh what a good mama! Chicks are just precious

I give the eggs 5 days if there's no obvious smell, or on candling I look for moving liquid and fuzzy darkness in the egg.
If its not fertile or living by then it gets tossed.
By the hatch date you can still see movement or internal pip on the hatch. If there's a lot of space ( a lot ) the eggs not going to hatch same for no movement after 5 days.
I can't count for sure, but with all my birds I bet I hatched close to a 1,000 eggs this year. Next year I will add a sportsman cabinet.
Dunno maybe more. If there's a situation with my parents I blow off the records until I can update it all.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I have a good one to tell you guys on the USPS.

I shipped eggs to 2 different people the same, day to the same town. Lady 1 pms to say she got her eggs, but PO asked if she knew this other person, who also got eggs from the same person (ME) They said eggs had been sitting there for a week. A lie as they were mailed the same day and both boxes arrived in 2 days.

Lady 2 did recently move, but has been getting mail there for over a month. So I pm lady 2 to tell her her eggs are sitting in the PO. They even left a package pickup notice in her mailbox. But when she went in the next day, they told her they had already shipped them back to me. because nobody by that name lived at that address, So who did they think they'd been delivering mail to ??? They couldn't even hold them for 24 hrs????

Well I just got the eggs back today. !! They supposedly shipped them back on the 29th. of aug..so it took just about 2 wks for them to get back to me??? Can we Say ROTTEN. !!! LOL !! I'm not even going to open it, They can just go straight on the burn pile.

so I shipped her another box, and this time we put call for pickup !!

Thats so typical. They do NOT like me much at the Local PO. I call them a LOT the day before, and am there at 5 am so my eggs or babies do not get lost!

This showed up on my FB. Is it real or just some scare tactic?
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/usda-allow-china-process-chickens-ship-back-u-214500281.html

Reading more about it. Guess I wont be buying popeye's or lee's, KFC anymore. GMO and weird food continues to get worse.

Quote: I am totally addicted to all the wonderful. caring people I have met on this forum. Learn something new every day.

I had some better luck this morning. I went down to check on the broody hen that was pecking her first chick, and there was peeping coming from under her. She was just sitting there with that glassy contented broody look. So I decided to take a chance. I got yesterdays chick out of the emergency brooder, and slid her under momma. The chick immediately popped out from under her peeping and ran around in front of her. She immediately started chirping and cooing at it, then nudged it back under her. When she did so, I could see that the other chick was still in the egg and that was where the peeping was coming from.

So, it appears momma's issues may have been caused by being around all the other chickens when the chick hatched. Shame on me for putting her in that situation in the first place. It looks good that i'll have a second chick and a happy family by the time I get home from work today. If so, I'll get some pics if possible.

I'm really excited that I may now have a proven broody that I can use for future eggs! I have a second one sitting on a wooden egg, but she hasn't shown quite the dedication the first did. As soon as I call the birds and start throwing out scratch, she's off the nest and running around trying to get her share. If she gets her act together, I may throw a set of trial eggs under her (and get her separated from the flock much sooner!)

So glad she is improving as a mom! Less stress must have been the answer.

 

[toodlesmom]

Can someone please tell me where i should post, that i am looking for a good quality Barred Rock Rooster? I am From Clinton County Indiana (Central) Indiana. I have 30 hens mostly Barred Rocks and no rooster.. and I am new to Chickens this is my first year.. All is going well I just would like to have a Good Rooster to breed with my hens so that my son has Better than Rural King chickens to show at the fair for his first time next year.. My apologies if this is in the wrong spot, I am lost. Thank you for your help, Jeremy

Welcome to the thread! You can post most anything here, we aren't picky

I am searching for BRs too, so I will gladly share when I find them!

hoping we find some for your son soon!

jchny2000 and HappyHappyhappy -

I found a chicken farm near C

 

[toodlesmom]

Quote:
ARGH! My laptop is being REALLY uncooperative this evening!

jchny2000 and HappyHappyHappy - There is a farm near Salem, IN which sells heirloom chickens, including Barred Rocks. I would like an HBR hen, but they sell their chicks straight run and I can't risk getting a rooster. Maybe we could work something out, perhaps go in together on some chicks?

This is their website:http://www.akershatcheryandeggs.com/home

They have other chickens I am interested in, including Frizzled Buff Orps, Lavendar Orps, Heirloom Rhode Island Reds, and Welsummers to name a few.
Let me know.

Sally

 

[Mother2Hens]

Thunder Chicken~ Re your nice fenced-in yard . . . Jchny had a good point about you placing patio furniture or some foliage for your chickens to hide in. They feel safer if a large bird flies over or if they hear a dog, etc. if there is something for them to quickly hide under. You could always use portable things like a box or lawn chair or wheel barrel, etc.
CRSelvey posted: This morning my DH told me he thinks the dogs name is Max. Really???? I did not see that coming.

You are a good person for saving that dog. If the dog gets on your husband's nerves, you could offer to find it a home if he would agree to six more chickens. When a stray striped tabby cat showed up several years ago, I knew he was a keeper when my husband started calling him Tiger.

Btw, my dear son Max (he was actually named after a beloved cat) installed a new hard drive in my iMac. Yay! I had to spend ten hours catching up on work-- that's why I am just now looking at the thread. Boo!
Originally Posted by Old Salt 1945
Please don't tell these goofs that some young animals eat their mother's excrement to populate their intestines with the bacteria of the mother.

Actually, those animals are pretty smart. Humans have to pay for fecal transplants to relieve intestinal ailments.

Originally Posted by Too Fast
I was watching one of John's favorite survival shows . . .
Originally Posted by Old Salt 1945
I actually did watch this show......for about 5 minutes. What a bunch of idiots!
I think you're right, Too Fast. Even though he denies it, we shouldn't be surprised when Old Salt is on an episode of Doomsday Preppers. I figured that's why he's always talking about increasing his flock. Poultry Shows, he says. Right!
Personally I have seen a few parts of the Doomsday show and I feel so sorry for the kids of these crazy people. The kids are constantly terrified that something horrible is going to happen because that's what their parents tell them! I call it child abuse/torture.
Originally Posted by Old Salt 1945
The way I have settled on killing them is to hold by the feet, step on the head and pull sharply to break the neck and immediately chop off the head with a hatchet and block of wood. This seems to me to be the least painful to the chicken. I don't mind killing animals, but can't abide causing more pain than is absolutely necessary.
I think the chickens probably die from fright from your method of humane killing.
Quinstar~ Congrats on your first egg! It bet it was Lavon's because she looks like she's pregnant again. And she's wearing one of those color-coded gang bracelets.

Also, IMO, if an animal died of unknown causes, I want to get that body off my property as quick as possible and away from the rest of the flock. I'm sure if it was a communicable disease the rest of the flock has likely already been exposed. But I'm not going to risk it. If a bird dies or needs to be culled, they are wrapped in black trash bags and placed in the freezer until trash day. I don want to be burying any diseases that could possibly remain in the soil for months and infecting other birds.
Yes, it must be frozen. I know that because when my son Max was at Purdue, we had one of his rats in the freezer for a while. Her name was Edie. : - )