INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Old Salt 1945]

135 posts in 22 hours 16 minutes.

They were coming so fast, I wasn't sure I could catch you.

Like the 1957 Buick stopping for gas. The attendant says "Hey, buddy, could you shut off the engine? You're gaining on me".

John

PS. It occurs to me that the above joke is dated. Back then, you didn't pump your own gas, the attendant did. The 1957 Buick was a notorious gas hog, about 7 mpg. Fortunately, gas was about 20 cents per gallon.

You can still get gas for 20 cents per gallon, if you pay with silver dimes which are worth about $2.00 each. Things don't cost more. The money is worth less.

John

 

[kabhyper1]

135 posts in 22 hours 16 minutes.

They were coming so fast, I wasn't sure I could catch you.

Like the 1957 Buick stopping for gas. The attendant says "Hey, buddy, could you shut off the engine? You're gaining on me".

John

I think we need a closed group fb page. It would be a lot more organized. Individual posts would have spaces for their own comments. I have a farm page if everyone wants to use it. But I think It would have to be set up as a group. It is really nice having you all on here though. You all have helped us through a lot of chicken issues.

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Thanks John. You don't think 6 months is too young to brood? Health wise for her anyway?

There are people on here that know more about it than I do, but they haven't answered you. If they disagree, they should "speak now or forever hold your peace".

I really doubt that it would cause any harm. Chickens lay eggs to produce babies. We intervene and eat those eggs. If she is broody, her nature is saying, "I am ready to make babies".

Like I said before, make sure she has feed and water readily available. Shove a bunch of eggs under her and let her have at it.

If you find cause to change your mind, you can always yank the eggs and toss them. Or pull the chicks and brood them.

Eggs are not gold. Whether you eat them or let a hen try to hatch them, you are putting them to your use. Either is valid.

Let the hen decide whether or not she will make babies.

Just my thoughts............

John

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

M2H: OMGosh--how cute! Bonbon looks sweet. Is she the only bantam in your flock?
We have a black orp bantam (Peanut) and I think she's the boss of the flock of 7. She's half the size of the Barred Rock and Cuckoo Marans, but chases them away from the treats.

Question on Broodiness:
In a flock of 7 pullets, one CL is very broody. Will she eventually stop on her own? How long does Broodiness last?

can be as long as a month! really depends on the hen tho. Betsy, my GLW went a month, killer psycho Bunny, EE, just as long! My BA hens, had 3 girls all go broody at once!
Aall 3 quit after a week. They wont be a year old til december but may not have anything to do with it.

I will give a quick run down and hopefully I can dig through the posts and answer stuff later this afternoon (I claimed a day off today for housework and Vicki time).

I am loving all the pictures. With some being on my fav list.. Rangi naturally... although Bonbon is ranking higher every time I see her

I am saddened to hear about the recent outbreaks with certain birds. I am hoping they will be isolated occurrences and every ones flock will be shining come spring. After all I will need to replenish my flock soon and I am done buying them from hatcheries and would prefer to stick to people breeding locally.

I too have been suffering a major lack of eggs, on the positive side the new layers are filling in where needed. With my 9 big girls I am getting 4 eggs a day, normally one of those is broken. Also having an issue with them no longer laying in their boxes, might throw that out there for suggestions later.

May have some question later on Olive eggers.. one of my EE's is currently laying an 'army green/ dirty green' style egg, like to know thoughts on that.

Still roo less for my darling bantam cochins. Found a guy in Pittsboro with a blue rooster, but with working too much having trouble committing to getting there. Frustrating.

Anyhoo, that is all I have for the moment. Heading out to work (even though it is my day off) to go clean some stuff up. I WILL be back on later to plague you all with my postings

miss ya, take some time for you too!

hoping you find a new roo soon. Sounds to me like you have an olive egger, congrats!

john and kabhyper1-BTW forgot to say so glad some more people on here started hatching. It is a lot of fun. And if you think chicken math is bad now it gets 10x worse when you start hatching. I am sure Brad and Janet would agree with me on this one lol!

I started last year in April after not owning birds for close to 30 years. We got 6 chicks, 6 gosling, 4 ducklings.
I have 3 full incubators, (1 for hatching) and brooding around 18 chicks, 6 turkey poults, 39 quail chicks, 3 guinea keets and 5 peafowl!
Glad I have the office trailer! 1 large room is brooders only, makes it so nice!

260 birds later, I have a "want list" a mile long! Seriously tho, I am retired and have to home for my parents care, so it fills my day.
Feeds our family and makes my parents happy to hold and fuss over the new babies.

Quote: It would not work for me to "rent" for sure. I want to know the animals here are healthy, well fed and socialized.
I know people use goats and even pigs to clear large areas, but biosecurity would be a huge concern for me, where was that goat last week...
Especially after this piglet scare, I will raise my own from now on.
Pigs are an added benefit, they also turn the land, great for a garden spot in the future, and well fertilized!
I bet theres a lot of memories for your Dad, I love listening to my Dads stories too. He used to ride on the young bull calvess, on my grampa's farm! oh my, thats crazy!
Goats are fantastic, easy keepers and are like a dog if you get wethers, or does. Really enjoy them!
My doe Sugar will rest her head on my lap and sleep while i rub her ears. Also the cheapest livestock to keep IMO.

 

[kabhyper1]

Hahahaha

 

[Old Salt 1945]

This photo is presented for documentary purposes and is not intended to depict any persons, real or imagined. Nor should this presentation be construed to represent any comment for or against any situations encountered in life or imagined life situations for the purpose of any and all or even somewhat real or proposed comfort of situations of relevance to other situations or places of interest in any manner.

John

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: think a lot of us worry on it because we get concerned if birds are ill. I keep eggs to eat, then hatch what we don't need for food, choosing the eggs from my best birds to hatch.
Production has been so low, I had to buy store eggs

Thats flat gross, not OK and I almost couldn't eat them! Love a few hardboiled as a quick meal, or over easy with red pepper, yummy

Thanks bradselig and CCCCCCCCHICKENS. i never would have found that.
So sorry to hear about the piggies Janet. Hope the rest of them get better for you quick!

Thank you all, I am still very upset over it. Scours takes a week or more to show usually. Comes from cold, damp conditions and dirty bedding.
It can also be in the ground from previous pigs. Cattle can also get it.
Very similar to Cocci. It will also kill a healthy animal without symptoms from what I am reading.
Heat lamps are cheap. so is bedding... compared to losing an animal.
Off my soapbox lol! The other 3 are doing great, bounced back very well and Wilbur is a doll.
He has started to climb on my leg when i put the FF in their dish,
(stopped that fast, not ok when he can get several hundred pounds, ugh!)
Charlotte is half his size but is just a sweetie.
Blanket is doing ok but needs to be stronger, will pay close attention to him until he improves.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Wow, thats awsome your daughter learned well! It did bother me some. I guess it always does, no matter what animal it is.
We have been talking rabbit about again, and may go ahead and get a few. I used to hunt every year, my favorite game animals were rabbit and squirrel.
None of them left here due to predators.My land up in lake county both were plentiful.

I'm struggling with a broody right now too. I have a Phoenix pullet that is getting pretty determined. I just had one hatch out a couple eggs, and she is turning out to be a great mom. But I'm really not up to hatching out some more mixes that will be 4+ weeks younger than the newest two. I just don't want to have so many different age groups that I need to keep separate. So I decided to try to break this one, as I don't want her to get too far out of condition with colder weather coming. I've been taking her off the nest every time I'm out there, and I removed all the wooden eggs that were in the nest boxes. We are on day 3 so far, and no change in broodiness yet.

ugh, no kidding, I stopped hatching all but guinea and quail. Guinea will probably stop anytime, its past season.
Until I have more pens I am not adding birds unless its just a one in a million opportunity.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Ive gotten 6 eggs from my tolbunt pair and so far 5 have been infertile! I just got the 6th egg today so it will go into the incubator tonight. Surely they will be fertile eventually lol

How old is your roo?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Here are some pics of the new chicks with mama enjoying the day