INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

Watching my mousers at work, stalking a victim. It's that time of year when field mice come looking for a cozy winter berth. With this old house, it isn't difficult to find a way in. The mice probably have directional signs pointing the way to our place. They won't find a home here though, with Joey, Leo, and Macaroni on the job!

My cat are house cats and they do catch mice , but they think they are play toys, and half the time let them go. Maybe your cats need to give mine a talking to !!

DH and I worked a little on the new coop today. I did the hard part of holding the wood still while he cut. Then I refilled his supply of screws. The floor is done and a wall framed out but not up.
It is amazing how plans change around here. First I wanted a hoop coop but DH decided to make it like a box. Then we were going to winterize it, but then we got thinking as long as we free range the birds we don't really need a mobile coop. So the plans changed to convert the cube looking box coop to a raised floored coop. Then Dh realized he was going to have to take apart the box coop, I guess after all of his effort making it, he was heart broken. After he finished the floor made to fit the box coop he tells me he is framing up a new coop instead of converting the box coop. He asked if I had any plans made for windows and such. so of course I showed him coop pictures and more coop pictures. Lots of coops and window options. Then we went to Lowes. I sure could use some lowes discounts. Hardware cloth and wood are pricey. Ohh and the bucket of screws wow who would have guessed those would cost over $50.
But the great news is that I should be getting a new coop in a month or so. The bad news is that DH is requesting I draw him pictures of the coop walls with windows and the 2 x4 framing. Took me a while but I have 2 walls laid out in diagram form instead of words. once he saw the pictures he was happy.
Our new coup will have a shape similar to Quinstar's and a few others on here that have the slant roof and raised flooring. The high side will have venting all across the high part of the wall. I need to get a hinged covering, for the extremely cold days but that will wait. I'm thinking of something like Patrick's fold down sections on his coop.

Since I'm still in the planning stages, all suggestions are welcome for coop designing. I'm debating adding real limbs for roosting bars. We do the deep litter so all doors and windows are at least a foot off the floor but I'm thinking of making a section of the back wall drop down. I'm also thinking of putting the chicken door right next to the person door. Then I will be able to see it from my bedroom window.
I'm also looking at the auto open doors. I really want a remote control door. I have not found one yet.

Bad thing about building coops is it never ends, you just keep having to build or buy more !! LOL !! Good luck, can't wait to see it when it is done.!!

I once had a beagle mix Sniffles that my cat Groucho didn't like--he had been really attached to my previous beagle mix that had an unfortunate incident on the road. One day Groucho brought a mouse and laid it in front of Sniffles, who in turn brought one of his toys to Groucho. Calling a truce?

How sweet !!

Just got home from our second trip to turkey run in a month. It's almost a 4 hour drive for us so we are whooped. My in-laws were nice enough to take care of the animals for us for the weekend, and I am happy to report no casualties and no rooster attacks lol. Lavender did really well, and I candeled her eggs to see how the weekend went. I am seeing a lot of movement in quite a few of them. One is very dark and hard to see, and a few are questionable, so I am going to wait and see. Suki the silkie sat on hers all weekend also, except when we got home she was sitting on 15 eggs. Little turd. I am fairly certain most of those aren't going to hatch, so I'll let her go. Sneaky little fluff ball. Hope you all had a good weekend!!! One week from tuesday is hatch day for lavender! I hope all goes well.

I love Turkey run, I'm wanting to go to Spring Mill next !!! We love Parks and Zoos !!

I am soooooooooo pleased to have you back. I am worn out from carrying the insanity load all by myself.

John

Tough Job , but someone has to do it !!!

I just did the eggtopsys on my lastest hatch. I dont think any of the eggs were ever fertilized! Not one egg had a chick developing in it. They all had this inside of it.


Well except for one that had this in it
Did
It smelled so bad I ran to the trash can and almost threw up.

I did not do anything wrong during incubation either. I kept the tempature at 100.5 and humidity at 45 and they during lockdown at 65 range. Did shipping do this to my eggs? or were the eggs never fertilized? Do you think I should Email the seller?

Shipping can do a lot to harm the eggs. Did you see the post on shipped eggs I posted about a week ago ??

I still have 200+ posts to catch up on....have just been so busy. My baby turned 4 Friday! She requested a zoo theme party...then we surprised her with a trip to Louisville Zoo today! It was awesome, even in the rain!!!..
also no eggs and I'm pretty sure ny girls have started giggling.g when I begin peeking in the nesting boxes.

We LOVE Zoos, !!! But haven't gotten away all summer except to the Indianapolis zoo.

I caught this little guy the other day. Isn't he so cute? I have never had any problems with coons. I rehomed him down by the creek.

I use to rehome, but after having a family of coons, kill about 25 birds in one night, Nothing leaves here alive any more !!! I had a friend spray paint every one she caught, a different color, she had one come bad that she dumped 10 miles away !!

I am diappointed that I am not going to be able to show any of AMs at lebanon this year. All but 2 adults are molting. The rooster that isnt molting would get DQ if I showed him and the hen is not very good quality. I do not like her body structure at all. My young ones growing up are not matured both LF and bantam. I would rather wait and have them looking really goid next year though.

It is that time of year, I have feathers every where. It takes LF longer to mature then bantams. Hope to see you there !!

Guys, just so you understand the risks with raccoons. DNR explained to me that if you relocate, a male raccoon will travel as far as 30 miles or more to return to his home.
they can smell where you take them, and will be back.
When I was in animal control, DNR passed the mandate that we could no longer release at state preserves, or parks. No state properties, period.
Many that you see on the road dead are "relocated". They are exceptionally dangerous if cornered. They bite deep, and hold til they tear.
Peoples pet raccoons have been known to turn on them during a breeding season, and shred arms and legs! Its a truly horrible thing to see.
And they can carry canine distemper, and a whole basket of diseases besides. Rabies, Cocci, distemper, intestinal parasites and so many other issues.
They can carry a strain of parasite that enters the eye canal and will eat brain tissue. No kidding, dangerous stuff.
I love raccoons, the kits are precious, I learned the hard way, in the ER, bleeding internally from trying to save kits. I contracted parasites from them.
I am extremely careful about hand washing. the Dr at the ER pointed out it may have been from the steering wheel of the animal control truck.
We had 2-3 officers driving the trucks on shifts. Antibiotic wipes weren't heard of then. I seriously cant warn enough how bad this is.
Took a few weeks to recover. They are overpopulated and becoming a huge health risk to people, pets and livestock.
I love all animals, snakes, skunks, coons, squirrel you name it. Overpopulation of nuisance animals is dangerous to us too.

I agree. Nothing but problems !! Nothing leaves here alive !!

Very envious of everyone and their trips. Would love to buy a camper somewhere on a lake for quick get aways.

Since moving to the states we have never had a vacation. Makes me feel bad for the wee one. With us both being self employed, work is a 7 days a week thing. If its not me it's DH. His mother is going on her yearly trip to Myrle Beach in two weeks and I am covering for a friend at the florist who is taking her grandson or Disney next week.

One day.... Maybe... We can. Just a nice cabin on a lake for a long weekend.

We never get to take vacations either, unless we can be back in the same day. to many animals, and nobody to take care of them. I'm hopeing to cut back and in 3yrs planning on at least being able to get away over night

 

[exop]

Hi everyone, I started a thread for the Lebanon show coming up on the 19th: Central Indiana Poultry Show 2013

Also, is there anyone here who drives from the Lafayette, Attica, Covington, Williamsport, or Crawfordsville area down to the Clay City / Terre Haute area? There's someone in Clay City I'd like to rehome a couple of my chickens with, and before I go the postal service route, I wondered if I could find a human courier

Thanks - exop

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Guys, just so you understand the risks with raccoons. DNR explained to me that if you relocate, a male raccoon will travel as far as 30 miles or more to return to his home.
they can smell where you take them, and will be back.
When I was in animal control, DNR passed the mandate that we could no longer release at state preserves, or parks. No state properties, period.
Many that you see on the road dead are "relocated". They are exceptionally dangerous if cornered. They bite deep, and hold til they tear.
Peoples pet raccoons have been known to turn on them during a breeding season, and shred arms and legs! Its a truly horrible thing to see.
And they can carry canine distemper, and a whole basket of diseases besides. Rabies, Cocci, distemper, intestinal parasites and so many other issues.
They can carry a strain of parasite that enters the eye canal and will eat brain tissue. No kidding, dangerous stuff.
I love raccoons, the kits are precious, I learned the hard way, in the ER, bleeding internally from trying to save kits. I contracted parasites from them.
I am extremely careful about hand washing. the Dr at the ER pointed out it may have been from the steering wheel of the animal control truck.
We had 2-3 officers driving the trucks on shifts. Antibiotic wipes weren't heard of then. I seriously cant warn enough how bad this is.
Took a few weeks to recover. They are overpopulated and becoming a huge health risk to people, pets and livestock.
I love all animals, snakes, skunks, coons, squirrel you name it. Overpopulation of nuisance animals is dangerous to us too.

hey guys! Wanted to throw in about eggtopsies.....
If you want to know, use a good quality ziplock bag, blow air into it .put the egg in question in and zip it shut. be sure to leave some of the bag flat so you can open the egg.
Then you avoid a lot of the stench, and mess involved. It personally gags me immediately

That's the most horrible odor there is! so I have done this to avoid most of the odor.
My biggest frustration is a pipped chick that dies. I want to know what is wrong, how can i correct this, and hope to save the next one.
I lost a guinea keet that pipped this week, partially zipped, and died. after examination, it had severely deformed legs. One foot missing altogether.
Mother nature knows best sometimes. I would have tried to save it, but the end result is always so tragic.
Chippy my crossbeak EE was painful to lose, he was a severe case. Crossbeak seems more common in that breed.
I still have his wry neck brother, crook, who hatched the same week. steals my fries any chance he gets

All of the chicks from my EEs eggs that week had issues, so I feel she was lacking something in her diet, or had a bad scare.
Crook is a "house chicken" till he passes naturally.. All the polyvisol in the world hasn't helped him, so he is a pet.
Any of my birds that show an issue never join my main coop. He is my only permanent "pet bird" right now.
He will tuck his head in his wing and get stuck, cry pitifully till I help him! He hops on my foot every morning when I let him out of his crate.
He gets mealies as treats and flock raiser, fermented since he is a roo. I also let him out with the babies to "free range" so he feels he has a "rooster job".
The new hatches get to go out at 2 weeks in a 25 foot panel of hardware cloth 4 ft high. I make a large circle, for about an hour if its warm and dry.
ONLY if i can stay right there with them. I usually do this for a few weeks as they feather out, to prepare them for joining the flock they belong to.
And of course Butters is always the rooster in charge!

the only reason I didnt just let him/her out in the middle of my yard is because I know one of my dogs would of killed it. I dont wetherit was a boy or girl I was just calling it a he. The creek was around 15 miles away. I did not put him by they road either I took him about a half a mile back, there is a little path you can walk down to get to it. I did not touch him either, because I new that they can carry disease, but I did give him some corn to munch on. I am going to be putting the live trap up soon, as I have no need to catch any of the creatures around here anymore. I am going to be finishing runs this month and next month. I tore down my old runs to restart. All the chickens have to stay in the barn now. The bottoms are going to be secure so nothing can dig under and will have covered tops so that nothing can fly or jump in.

Very envious of everyone and their trips. Would love to buy a camper somewhere on a lake for quick get aways.

Since moving to the states we have never had a vacation. Makes me feel bad for the wee one. With us both being self employed, work is a 7 days a week thing. If its not me it's DH. His mother is going on her yearly trip to Myrle Beach in two weeks and I am covering for a friend at the florist who is taking her grandson or Disney next week.

One day.... Maybe... We can. Just a nice cabin on a lake for a long weekend.

I am envious of the trips too! I have never been to turkey run. I dont usually go far from home. I havent been camping inprobably 3 years. Now is about the time to go to, I like going camping the end of october and novemeber.

You must be out of breath! That's all you could post! Haha
OK, everyone, was it really necessary to repeatedly post CCCHICKENS's nauseating eggtopsy photo??!!

CCCHICKENS~ Good for you for letting him go! Raccoons are adorable although I can understand when people like vickichicki have to kill one that is in her chicken coop! The adult ones can be especially vicious when cornered, so I'm glad vickichicki wasn't attacked.

Haha, come one only one of the picsture was gross.the other one just looked like scrambled eggs lol. If he was terroizing my chickens I can say that he probably would not be alive now. But now with how my runs are going to be set up, it impossible for predators to get in. I am going to finish the run next month and next month, right now the chickens have to stay in the barn. The creek was good 15 miles away.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

My cat are house cats and they do catch mice , but they think they are play toys, and half the time let them go. Maybe your cats need to give mine a talking to !!


Bad thing about building coops is it never ends, you just keep having to build or buy more !! LOL !! Good luck, can't wait to see it when it is done.!!
How sweet !!

I love Turkey run, I'm wanting to go to Spring Mill next !!! We love Parks and Zoos !!

Tough Job , but someone has to do it !!!

Shipping can do a lot to harm the eggs. Did you see the post on shipped eggs I posted about a week ago ??

We LOVE Zoos, !!! But haven't gotten away all summer except to the Indianapolis zoo.

I use to rehome, but after having a family of coons, kill about 25 birds in one night, Nothing leaves here alive any more !!! I had a friend spray paint every one she caught, a different color, she had one come bad that she dumped 10 miles away !!

It is that time of year, I have feathers every where. It takes LF longer to mature then bantams. Hope to see you there !!

I agree. Nothing but problems !! Nothing leaves here alive !!

We never get to take vacations either, unless we can be back in the same day. to many animals, and nobody to take care of them. I'm hopeing to cut back and in 3yrs planning on at least being able to get away over night

I did read some of it but not all i will go back and read it all.

When I sent you a pm asking how long until they are mature I was hoping it would be shorter than my LFs, i feel like a wait forever for them to be full grown. I dont usually show my LF until 7-9 months, some mature slower than others. I will see you there! Now I am just taking some cochins, OEGBs, rose comb brown leghorns, a salmon favorelle, and maybe a few dark cornish. So i total 10-15 birds. I would like to take more but pretty much all the other I have are not full grown yet. They are of decent quality, I am not huge into these breeds so I do not as much what to look for as I would with ameraucanas.

 

[Old Salt 1945]

CCCHICKENS~ Good for you for letting him go! Raccoons are adorable although I can understand when people like vickichicki have to kill one that is in her chicken coop! The adult ones can be especially vicious when cornered, so I'm glad vickichicki wasn't attacked.

I have a farmer friend that invited hunters to his cornfield to shoot raccoons. The cornfield adjoined a creek/woods. There were about 5 acres of cornstalks with no corn. Nearly every tree in the woods had numerous cornstalks hanging from them.

John

 

[gunchief25]

I have a farmer friend that invited hunters to his cornfield to shoot raccoons. The cornfield adjoined a creek/woods. There were about 5 acres of cornstalks with no corn. Nearly every tree in the woods had numerous cornstalks hanging from them.

John

I can remember growing up me and my cousin got anywhere from $45 to $60 a hide. Now you are lucky to get $1 so no one hunts them hardly any more that is why they are so thick.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I have a farmer friend that invited hunters to his cornfield to shoot raccoons. The cornfield adjoined a creek/woods. There were about 5 acres of cornstalks with no corn. Nearly every tree in the woods had numerous cornstalks hanging from them.

John

they dragged the corn stalks in the tree with them? That would be weird to see.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I can remember growing up me and my cousin got anywhere from $45 to $60 a hide. Now you are lucky to get $1 so no one hunts them hardly any more that is why they are so thick.

My dad told me how he used to trap stuff as a kid and how much money he would get for a hide. He used to trap coons, muskrats, so other animals that I can't rememeber the names of.

 

[toodlesmom]

Little Ameraucana Mom: My cats are house cats and they do catch mice , but they think they are play toys, and half the time let them go. Maybe your cats need to give mine a talking to !!

My cats are house cats, too. I don't let any of our many kitties roam outdoors. And the mice serve as wonderful play toys until they won't run any more. Then the cats are sad.

We had raccoons in our attic eaves. DH made repairs and shut them out. They came back and dug a hole straight through the top of the roof above an unused bedroom. We didn't know until rainwater flooded into the dining room below. What a horrible mess!! Had to replace part of the roof, ceilings, part of a wall, carpet, wallpaper. Ugh!
Now they are in our porch roof. I can see their footprints up the side of the house. Grrrrr! I want to trap and drown them, but DH is too kind. He wants to relocate them to a park only blocks away, which is useless. He is half-hearted about catching them. I found he had set the trap with no bait! Sigh. I'd call professionals, if they weren't so expensive. I need some 'coon hunters!

My brother, a carpenter, is going to turn a backyard shed into a chicken coop for me as soon as he has the time. I want triple pane windows and insulation. How do I provide ventilation in winter without causing drafts? Where should it go? Up high? Down low? Both? I read that at least 1/5th of wall space should be open for ventilation. That seems like a lot in winter. Do I still need that with the deep litter method or with poop boards?
We have nearly an acre all together, but we can't really free range with fence on only two sides of the yard and a big garden taking up a lot of space, so I want to add a ginormous run. Should I add a little run where they could be contained? We will need netting over the entire run for the hawks and owls we have, and buried hardware cloth for the raccoons and 'possums. I can't see the shed/coop from the house and I want a Fort Chicken! Since raccoons and 'possums are nocturnal and the chickens would be in the coop at night, do I need to bury the hardware cloth around the entire perimeter of the run or just around the coop? (Guess I might have chickens that camp outdoors like some of you do; then I'd have to do the entire run.) Do I need hardware cloth around the entire run? Does anyone have an automatic chicken door with a daylight sensor? How do you like it? Questions! Questions!

 

[pginsber]

My brother, a carpenter, is going to turn a backyard shed into a chicken coop for me as soon as he has the time. I want triple pane windows and insulation. How do I provide ventilation in winter without causing drafts? Where should it go? Up high? Down low? Both? I read that at least 1/5th of wall space should be open for ventilation. That seems like a lot in winter. Do I still need that with the deep litter method or with poop boards?
We have nearly an acre all together, but we can't really free range with fence on only two sides of the yard and a big garden taking up a lot of space, so I want to add a ginormous run. Should I add a little run where they could be contained? We will need netting over the entire run for the hawks and owls we have, and buried hardware cloth for the raccoons and 'possums. I can't see the shed/coop from the house and I want a Fort Chicken! Since raccoons and 'possums are nocturnal and the chickens would be in the coop at night, do I need to bury the hardware cloth around the entire perimeter of the run or just around the coop? (Guess I might have chickens that camp outdoors like some of you do; then I'd have to do the entire run.) Do I need hardware cloth around the entire run? Does anyone have an automatic chicken door with a daylight sensor? How do you like it? Questions! Questions!

Hi, Toodlesmom.
We use one end of our shed for the chicken coop. It's 8' wide and has a 2' sq barn sash window on the North and South walls, and the pophole is on the East wall. The people door and nestboxes are on the common wall of the coop/shed.
We have ventilated soffits on the outside, and the forth side of the coop (common shed wall) is venitlated to the inside of the shed.
It seems to be sufficient ventilation, without being drafty. Was cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
We have the Ador chicken door, which is automatic, runs on a lantern battery. Photocell allows automatic closing at dusk and opening at dawn. Like it very much.
Best of luck!