INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

How did I miss this picture !! Love it. I remember playing in the mud as a kid, actually I think my mom had a picture that looked a lot like this one !!! LOL !

 

[pginsber]

Since I haven't seen any dumb posts today, I'll go ahead and be the first one.
We have a broody laying on 3 eggs. Last night was the 7th day, so we went to candle her eggs. Surprise! She had 6 eggs under her.
The 3 donated unfertile eggs look identical and would seem to be from the same pullet, so in theory, the oldest one would have been under her for 3 days.
Here's the dumb post of the day: Is is safe to eat the 3 unfertilized eggs she's been gleefully sitting on for 3 days, or would it be better to throw them out?

 

[Urbanmom519]

First time outside, and they wouldn't venture out of the box, silly girls. they are feathering fast!

 

[Old Salt 1945]

My A&M are destined for the freezer. Hateful, nasty lil things, they attack my arms and hands when i refill the feeders and gather eggs. They bite and hang on! it doesn't hurt, but gees, bite the hands that feed you

! Getting away from that breed altogether.

What's A&M?

John

 

[Old Salt 1945]

You have my full undivided attention, I will be looking into it! I bet fermenting will make the smalls much better too!

Does it matter what wires hook up where on the switch? I am completely electric illiterate! I know red is hot black is negative.. that's about it.

Pendleton area should have a grain elevator. Ask around for one that does seed cleaning. They will have the cleanings and/or smalls. I didn't put fermenting together with smalls in my mind, but absolutely a great idea.

Your fan could be either AC current or DC current.
AC is 110 volts of alternating current. It's the stuff that comes from your wall plug. One side is ground and the other side is hot. You can tell which is which by grabbing first one then the other while touching a metal pipe. You have the hot one when you notice your eyeballs pop out and your hair frizzle. This is how frizzled chickens are made.

DC is direct current, like your car or flashlight battery. Much safer. It has a positive and a negative side.

Electricity flows from one wire to the other. If either wire is not connected, the flow stops. On/off switches are designed to do just that. That's how you turn your house lights on and off.

It doesn't make any difference which wire you interrupt, so just pick one. Cut the wire in two and insert the on/off switch.

If you have not idea how to do that, take the incubator top to a Radio Shack and describe what you want to do. If the Radio Shack has no knowledgeable people, go to your high school and talk to the shop teacher about what you want to do and ask if they have a student that can do it for you. If you hit a dry hole on that, drive to Lebanon and I'll do it. Of course, a Lavender Orpington hen as a bribe would help to grease the skids (for me, not the Radio Shack guy).

John

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Since I haven't seen any dumb posts today, I'll go ahead and be the first one.
We have a broody laying on 3 eggs. Last night was the 7th day, so we went to candle her eggs. Surprise! She had 6 eggs under her.
The 3 donated unfertile eggs look identical and would seem to be from the same pullet, so in theory, the oldest one would have been under her for 3 days.
Here's the dumb post of the day: Is is safe to eat the 3 unfertilized eggs she's been gleefully sitting on for 3 days, or would it be better to throw them out?

Do what my mother always did. We kids were the egg gatherers. We weren't the best at finding eggs on the first day. She never knew when we might have brought in a week old egg.

For that reason, she always cracked eggs, one at a time, into a cup or small bowl. If it was good, it went into the food. If it was bad, it went into the garbage. Worst that could happen is a bad smell. Or the unsightly "bloodspot" from a fertile and started egg.

John

 

[Old Salt 1945]

The older I get, the dumber I get.

I made my 7-slot nest box and mounted it to the wall on 3 90-degree shelf brackets. They are rated at 75# each. I figured that was good for 225#. It worked well and left the floor clear.

The younger batch of Wyandotte, Jersey Black Giants, and Cochins liked it and roosted on top of it. I thought it was cute and put some hay on the top to give them a comfy place to lay.

Today I went out to check the chickies and look for eggs and found the nestbox on the floor. Idiot! It seems that 50# nestbox + 20# hay + 25 4# chickens exceeded the capacity of first one, then the other, then the other of the shelf brackets. Cascade, kind of like the World Trade Towers in NY.

I straightened the brackets, set the empty nest box on the brackets and watched a duck limp out from under. The poor thing had been trapped for who knows how long. I got the nest box re-attached and added a safety rope just in case until I can do it right. I had two hens that were trying to get in the nest boxes while I was securing it. I went away for 1/2 hour and came back to find 2 eggs in it.

I have Indian Runner Ducks. 5 are drakes and 3 are ducks. Of course, the injured one is a duck. She made it out of the hen house and out to the kiddie pool. She moves around on her legs with some assistance from her wingtips. I'm hoping it is just sprain or long time immobilization that is causing the problem.

I understand that a gravity front passed through the Lebanon area last night, causing scattered spurts of unusually high gravity. That's probably what caused this. It couldn't be the chickens growing heavier over time. Naaaaahhhhhh. Gravity spurts, that's it.

John

 

[Mother2Hens]

What's A&M?

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Some time back folks were talking about processing a chicken. This is my favorite video on the subject. We went to visit some folks that had experience and they let us each process as many as we wanted. It wasn't as bad, nor did it take as long as I thought it would. Their method was very similar to this but we plucked by hand (no fancy-pants plucker). If I were doing 30 at a time it might be worth it.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Lots or wonderful photos as I was catching up!

Brad - those game birds are amazing looking.