INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Mother2Hens]

Originally Posted by kabhyper1 Booker is cute and so are your other fluffies, but Where is Gus, your handsome Art Deco rooster?
Originally Posted by MrTattoohead

Here's two of our three girls. The Jersey Giant is named Kung Pao, and the Barred Rock is Bang Bang.

Once again, I'd like to thank the folks on here for trying to help out with the one we lost. I guess we ***ked it up somewhere along the line. Life can be a real punt in the crotch some days. Anyway, Kung Pao and Bang Bang say hi! We'll get a pic of Orange up this weekend so you can see that we're not complete hacks at keeping chickens healthy.




Good looking chickens! . . . and nice choices-- I have a BJG & BR, too.

Yes, the avatar image? That's why they call me Mr. Tattoohead...

I am curious-- since the avatar looks like it has a motion blur, I can't tell which part of your head has that image. Is it a Chimera?

 

[gunchief25]

All 6 of my younger hens are laying now. I took their small coop out of the run today and come bed time they were a bit confused at first, but finally figured out they had no choice but to go to the roost in the big coop. (wiping tears) They just grow up so fast.

Don

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Hey hatchers!

What thermometer & hygrometer are you guys using?

I don't want to have to buy several to get one good one.

John

 

[Mother2Hens]

Originally Posted by Old Salt 1945
Drat!!!!!! I wish you had said something earlier. Just this morning, I shipped 47 chipmunks to you that I live trapped.
Please give them a good home, yours perhaps.

John

Old Salt~ I will give them a good home if my cats don't beat me to the mailbox!

M2H, that was pretty hilarious about the kitten! Problem is the only time she stays still for a picture is when she is lounging. Otherwise all I get is a black blur.

Kiniska~ Haha I thought you were going to say to John: "Love a man that loves his Mom."
Abour your kitty-- I was a crazy cat lady before I became a crazy chicken lady, so I know that cats are usually in the horizontal position!
pipd~ Frou-Frou must like cooler temps. She probably doesn't want her eyeliner to run. You'll need to add central air to that new coop you just built.

toodlesmom~ Good point about wondering if other BYCers outside of Indiana have had chickens with Marek's symptoms. I never seem to have the time to check out the main BYC site. I'm glad we haven't scared you away from having chickens this spring. At least you're getting a realistic, well-rounded view into the ups and downs of raising them so you'll be prepared.
Btw, Cute chicken joke by your son when he was little! There's just something funny about classic chicken crossing the road jokes. Here's one that I ran across recently:

 

[Mother2Hens]

All 6 of my younger hens are laying now. I took their small coop out of the run today and come bed time they were a bit confused at first, but finally figured out they had no choice but to go to the roost in the big coop. (wiping tears) They just grow up so fast.
Don

gunchief~ Awww. They do grow ridiculously fast. Tonight I was going to put my two orp pullets who are nearing egg laying age in with the Mean Hens instead of having them in the run part of the coop (it has a perch and I have a tarp over part of it to be more like the enclosed part). . . but I put it off for another night. Every night the two roost in a bush and I have to take them out and put them in the coop. I'm planning on doing the "middle of the night thing" where I'll move them next to the Mean Hens in the middle of the night when it's dark and confusing. Then they're supposed to wake up together and everything will be find and dandy. Hard to believe, but I guess it's better to try that than to put them in during the nightly fight about who is sleeping where.
bradselig~ I found the perfect specimens to add to your chicken hoard collection.

 

[toodlesmom]

Bradselig - Eee-yuck! Talk about a face only a mother could love! Why those Madagascar Gamefowl make your Naked Necks look positively gorgeous!

Mother2hens - Literally LOLed at your cartoon! No, I haven't been scared off - yet. I think the first challenge to my chicken dreams was your chicken's leg mites. UGH! That sounded pretty bad for both the bird and you. (By the way, is she cured of them now?) After raising three boys and a girl with all their attendant messes and illnesses, a few chickens should be doable. Right? Now that the kids all have grown and moved out, I'll fill my empty nest with chickens! And cats! (We have lots of cats.) I'll be the neighborhood Crazy Cat and Chicken Lady!

Indiana BYCers - If you have a small diverse flock, when you acquired your first chickens, did you get them all at the same time from the same place, or did you get them one by one from different hatcheries? Was it difficult to get them all integrated together?

I can't find everything I want at one place. I would really like to have an Heirloom Rhode Island Red. They are so much more pleasant than Production RIRs, and they will lay eggs over more years, too. But I'm having trouble finding a hatchery that will sell me a sexed chick or a pullet.

Akers Hatchery in Salem, IN sells Heirloom RIRs and BRs, as well as Frizzled Buff Orps, and Lavender Orps, among others. The Lavender Orps at $7 are their most expensive chicks. (Compare with $30 at Meyer!) Would any of you chicken people who would want roosters be interested in going in with me on a batch or two of chicks? I am interested in all four of these breeds, but only need one (female) of each. Our chicken coop should be done in November, so any time after that is fine with me. (Early spring?) My husband and I could do the driving and bring them back to Indianapolis to be distributed. Let me know.

 

[bradselig]

4 ccl out, one started to pip but humidity got way to high over night due to them hatching and it got stuck and died. These are the kind of numbers i expect with shipped eggs! Also have one Swedish flower out. Since the humidity got so high I'm worried about the remaining eggs. Today is only day 20 so time will tell if they are still good.

 

[gunchief25]

[COLOR=006400]gunchief~[/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]Awww. They do grow ridiculously fast. Tonight I was going to put my two orp pullets who are nearing egg laying age in with the Mean Hens instead of having them in the run part of the coop (it has a perch and I have a tarp over part of it to be more like the enclosed part). . . but I put it off for another night. Every night the two roost in a bush and I have to take them out and put them in the coop. I'm planning on doing the "middle of the night thing" where I'll move them next to the Mean Hens in the middle of the night when it's dark and confusing. Then they're supposed to wake up together and everything will be find and dandy. Hard to believe, but I guess it's better to try that than to put them in during the nightly fight about who is sleeping where.[/COLOR] [rule][COLOR=A52A2A]bradselig~[/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]I found the perfect specimens to add to your chicken hoard collection.[/COLOR]

It really wasnt all that hard getting them to go in. I set the light in the coop to come on at bed time for 30 minutes...thank you whoever posted that idea on here... and they finally just went in. I have had them in the same pen with the older hens for a couple of months just in their little coop. The older girls and rooster would push them away for awhile. Since I have been letting them out to free range in the yard every afternoon, both little flocks have pretty much come together as one and all are getting along great. There was a little bit of a scuffle last night as to who was going to sleep where on the roost but After maybe 30 minutes or so they settled down.

 

[Too Fast]

so for you that are getting such a setup, are you worried about neighbors complaining? After all it has to be louder than a rooster or dog.

Our neighbors are far enough away I won't have to worry. Thankfully we do have a lot of buffer in my backyard.

Listen I am going to the Indy Irish Fest tomorrow. While I am gone, please do not go over 200 posts. If you get that far, just call a time out until Sunday ok? I don't want to miss anything while I'm enjoying the good music.

Ain't that the truth! I haven't checked in about 36 hours and I'm way behind, about 125 posts.

Actually his neighbors get a better view from their house vs watching their tv, and they have friends come over too. So far all of his neighbors think its cool and have not complained. He can set it up to use head phones with it as well. It does put some light out too, but so far for him, no problems with it. He takes it down when hes done and sets it back up when he wants to.

'I pick things up and put them down'. Remember that Planet Fitness funny commercial? I like the idea of the portability.

 

[goodb]

It really wasnt all that hard getting them to go in. I set the light in the coop to come on at bed time for 30 minutes...thank you whoever posted that idea on here... and they finally just went in. I have had them in the same pen with the older hens for a couple of months just in their little coop. The older girls and rooster would push them away for awhile. Since I have been letting them out to free range in the yard every afternoon, both little flocks have pretty much come together as one and all are getting along great.
There was a little bit of a scuffle last night as to who was going to sleep where on the roost but After maybe 30 minutes or so they settled down.

When I first integrated my two flocks, it was a struggle to get the younger ones in the coop. The first night I had to manually put almost all 15 in. After that it was 12 and then each night the number got progressively smaller until they all went in on their own. The entire process took about a week. The only issues I have now are that the older ones still bully the younger ones when it comes to eating and the two groups aren't fully integrated yet. Although I have been noticing the EE hens spending more time with the younger ones. I foresee a time when this will settle as the younger birds will get larger than the older ones.