INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Urbanmom519]

hogster 160 thanks for the suggestion, I wasnt wanting chicks, being my first flock I'm scared about winter so close, but the closest rural king to me is an hr away, but they do have Ameracunas, so with this site and the internet I'm hoping they will be ok, just really hoping I get all female! now to tread up on chick raising! is 5 a good number to get, I only wanted 3 laying hens, but since they are so little I know they need each other. thanks for everyone's help!!!!#

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Well, to my surprise, my red sexlink girl Flicker is circling the home page.

I find it interesting that they would use her picture to link to a post about determining which hens are laying since she was actually late to mature and didn't even lay until her second summer.

My son saw your hen last night on the home page. He asked why is that hen trying to fly? I was so surprised, I was not even thinking he could tell the hens from the roos yet.

I need advice! What do you do when you have flock members with different dietary needs?
With all the discussion about different foods, I need advice please:
My five hens are given layer food, access to oyster shell and grit, they free-range and get healthful treats like sunflower seeds, blueberries, grapes, etc.
Jersey doesn't lay real eggs (just imaginary ones)
Jersey, SLW, and EE just started molting this week. RIR and BR are either light-molting or not molting yet.
Do I still feed them layer food?
Meanwhile, my two 6 mos. old orps should be laying anytime. I recently took them off their chick food (even though the directions say to give it to them until they lay) since they're mixing with the hens, so they're eating the hen diet listed above.
It seems like because of the free ranging and healthful treats that the hens and the orps don't even eat much of the layer food.
If you had my flock what would you feed them?
Thank you for any input!

I would feed an all flock or a non medicated grower or since you have some in molt you might consider the high protein meatbird crumbles but they cost more money. I would still have the grit and oyster shell available. Growing feathers takes lots of protein and nonlaying chickens don't need as much calcium. You may notice that your chickens don't eat as many scoops of the chicken feed if you switch to a higher protein feed. I noticed a slight drop off but I was feeding close to 20 chickens when I switched. I also noticed the higher the protein in the bag, the more scoops of feed I got. So weight wise I know my chickens were eating less pounds of feed per day. BUT they did increase their oyster shell intake some. Still I have not finished 50 pounds of oyster shell in over a year.

hogster 160 thanks for the suggestion, I wasnt wanting chicks, being my first flock I'm scared about winter so close, but the closest rural king to me is an hr away, but they do have Ameracunas, so with this site and the internet I'm hoping they will be ok, just really hoping I get all female! now to tread up on chick raising! is 5 a good number to get, I only wanted 3 laying hens, but since they are so little I know they need each other. thanks for everyone's help!!!!#

I'm sure there will be hens for sell at the upcoming shows. There is one tomorrow in Blommington and one Oct 19th in Lebanon. Then some of the TSC stores have parking lot swaps. But one does need to be careful when buying an adult bird. Inspect the hen and ask lots of questions. One of the reasons I started off with chicks was because I did not know enough about chickens to be able to inspect or even come close to asking good questions. We got chicks as late as Oct last yr. I have an order of chicks coming from Meyer next week. They will be fine outside once they are fully feathered around 4-6 weeks.

 

[Quinstar]

Wow, I'm in love!
http://www.rarebreedauctions.com/au...a-chicks-day-old-dan-powell&auction_id=115911

Stop it!!!! Never mind. Buy them and breed them! My Brahma is the sweetest girl in my flock and these are just gorgeous!



And... One of my EE girls just started laying! Extremely light blue but I think it's just gorgeous. First time I've ever actually seen a blue egg. I was really surprised that an EE was the second to start laying since everything I read said they tend to start laying late. Excited to see what I find today!

 

[hogster160]

hogster 160 thanks for the suggestion, I wasnt wanting chicks, being my first flock I'm scared about winter so close, but the closest rural king to me is an hr away, but they do have Ameracunas, so with this site and the internet I'm hoping they will be ok, just really hoping I get all female! now to tread up on chick raising! is 5 a good number to get, I only wanted 3 laying hens, but since they are so little I know they need each other. thanks for everyone's help!!!!#

Depends on the size of your coop and run area really. The "standard" seems to be 4 square feed per bird inside, and 10 square feet outside of run area. Let that the be the deciding factor on how many you get. Since it is an hour away, I would call them and see if you can pay for some over the phone to save them. I believe there is a 6 chick min in the state of Indiana. I also believe they sell the chicks as straight run, I would ask them if its straight run or pullets. With straight run there is a 50/50 shot (or better) of getting cute little boy chicks. Do you live in the city, or can you have roosters where you are? Also, you will need a brooder box, bedding, heat lamp, food and waterer, chick starter.

Find out how old they are, in my area they appeared to me to be a week +. They should be able to tell you when they got them in. Then set the brooder up. They will need to be fully feathered out before they go outside. Depending on breed, that can be up to 4-6 weeks of age. Which they will need to be inside. Its not impossible to get chicks this time of year, just takes a little more doing to get them ready to go outside as it will be colder.

If you ever have any question, just ask. The people on BYC, and this thread in particular, are so friendly and helpful. Lots of experience people here who are will to teach. And this thread runs so fast, if you are gone for a couple of days, you may have 25 pages to read. It can get crazy.

Best of luck to you and your chicks,

Deb

edited typos

 

[hogster160]

Stop it!!!! Never mind. Buy them and breed them! My Brahma is the sweetest girl in my flock and these are just gorgeous!



And... One of my EE girls just started laying! Extremely light blue but I think it's just gorgeous. First time I've ever actually seen a blue egg. I was really surprised that an EE was the second to start laying since everything I read said they tend to start laying late. Excited to see what I find today!

Congrats on the blue egg! My EE was the first to lay, I want to say she was like 4 months old. She lays a green egg.

Deb

 

[Quinstar]

Congrats on the blue egg! My EE was the first to lay, I want to say she was like 4 months old. She lays a green egg.

Deb

Wow, that's early! My girls are about 5 months old I think. Only 2 out of 8 are laying. Possibly 3, but I think it's only 2.

 

[CRSelvey]

If I had your flock I'd put them on an all flock or starter/grower feed and offer oyster shell for calcium supplement. You've got enough birds that aren't laying that they don't need the extra calcium in the layer feed. I have my flock on an all flock feed just for my rooster

Chicken Education

that's funny! CE=continuing education I have to have 16 hours every 2 years to keep my vet tech liscence current and I missed last year so...

Thank you M2H for asking about CE. I was wondering the same thing. In my house, if I were gone, my kids would probably eat fast food more than I'd like , stay up too late, their clothes wouldn't match, but they'd have a really good time. This is what happened the last time I went somewhere and left the kids at home:
They lived and I only had to soak that dress for about a week.

Wow, I'm in love!
http://www.rarebreedauctions.com/au...a-chicks-day-old-dan-powell&auction_id=115911

You are infectious with all this chicken talk. They are so pretty.

Double Yolk Weekend (Makes more sense that saying Doubleheader

)
Hope to see some fellow BYCers!
DH and I are going to the Bloomington poultry show depending on the time (we're an hour behind). I know it starts at 9:00am and I thought I read it was open all day, but I just read something else that sounded like everyone leaves after the judging! Does anyone know? I will PM pbirdhaven because I think she is showing there. We're going to IU under the guise of visiting our younger daughter, so I'm hoping we can stop by the poultry show. Saturday evening DH gets his turn when we attend the football game. The next day we're going to Indy under the guise of visiting our older daughter and we'll check out the Coop Tour. The weather sounds like it will be great. I am still worrying about what shoes to wear that I can spray Clorox Clean-up on. I don't have any white plastic shoes!
Name Tag for Bloomington Poultry Show & Indy Coop Tour
I made a 3" x 4" name tag that people can use if they wish to identify themselves at the events this weekend. It's interactive: you can use a red marker to fill in your county!

This is just an idea if people want to look for Indiana BYCers. Just click on the image, "save as" NameTag to your desktop or wherever to print it off. Don't make me be the only one wearing it!

September 21 • Saturday
Southern Indiana Poultry Show
Monroe County Fairgrounds
5700 West Airport Road
Bloomington, IN
9:00am -



September 22 • Sunday
Indianapolis, Indiana
Pre-sale tickets are $8 at naptownchickens.org; day-of tickets run $10. A portion of proceeds will fund the installation of a fully furnished and stocked coop at a local school. There will be 12 “show coops” on display. This is an “open-house” style event and can be explored at your leisure by bicycle or car.

I don't know if I will get to go to the poultry show, but we are trying to figure out the logistics for going to the game as well. My MIL called and offered us free tickets if we can get them from her and make it back in time for the game. I hope you have a great time visiting your daughter.

 

[Urbanmom519]

Depends on the size of your coop and run area really.  The "standard" seems to be 4 square feed per bird inside, and 10 square feet outside of run area.  Let that the be the deciding factor on how many you get.  Since it is an hour away, I would call them and see if you can pay for some over the phone to save them.  I believe there is a 6 chick min in the state of Indiana.  I also believe they sell the chicks as straight run, I would ask them if its straight run or pullets.  With straight run there is a 50/50 shot (or better) of getting cute little boy chicks.  Do you live in the city, or can you have roosters where you are?  Also, you will need a brooder box, bedding, heat lamp, food and waterer, chick starter.

Find out how old they are, in my area they appeared to me to be a week +.  They should be able to tell you when they got them in.  Then set the brooder up.  They will need to be fully feathered out before they go outside.  Depending on breed, that can be up to 7-8 weeks of age.  Which they will need to be inside.  Its not impossible to get chicks this time of year, just takes a little more doing to get them ready to go outside as it will be colder. 

If  you ever have any question, just ask.  The people on BYC, and this thread in particular, are so friendly and helpful. Lots of experience people here who are will to teach.  And this thread runs so fast, if you are gone for a couple of days, you may have 25 pages to read.  It can get crazy. 

Best of luck to you and your chicks,

Deb

,



my run is 5' by 10' my coop had 2 nesting boxes, I ordered it online, it said it was able to accommodate
4-6 birds, rural king didn't say anything about a min I had to get I said I may get 5 because I was wondering about the hour drive home to help chances of survival the manager said they should be fine, the more the warmer they will stay, I am not allowed roosters,

 

[EmSteele]

My chickens have kept me from smothering my DH in his sleep a few times. An hour out with them just calms me down.

Hmm...you may be on to something!

"Husband, if I don't get some new Chickens soon, I might just smother you with a pillow!"

I'll let you all know how that works out! :-D

 

[hogster160]

Wow, that's early! My girls are about 5 months old I think. Only 2 out of 8 are laying. Possibly 3, but I think it's only 2.

She did wait about 3 weeks before her next egg tho, then she got serious, she lays about 5 eggs a week. I'm not complaining.