INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

M2H you have more willpower than me! If you ever do need a truck let me know. We will be glad to help out

We have that big dually, I can't drive it (massive monstrous thing UGH) but DH would do it for you.

So, everyone on our thread..
I want to say a huge THANK YOU to racinchickins for our fantastic get together this summer, again and I can't tell you all how much we enjoyed it.
I hope to keep arranging more get togethers. Anyone in the south or north part of the state, shout out if you have ideas!
Next summer, I would love to set up a get together at our campground in Liberty.
The owner has a nice barn on site for gatherings!
We spoke a few weeks ago, he isn't opposed to the "demo" ideas ~ even on processing if we need to do another session.
He loves pickled quail eggs, so am buttering him up hehe

His family has kept poultry in the past and he likes the idea.
Brookville lake is just beautiful, and there is swimming, fishing, hiking, biking, horseback riding and camping there too, along with several other activities.
Couple different state properties locally offer different levels of camping from primitive to class A RV facilities.
I am throwing it out here now, shout out if you are interested! My group there are mostly retirees, but I am sure some will join in the fun

 

[vickichicki]

I have a question.

With the new arrivals pending would I be best to build a temp wall around the broody moms?

The enterance to their coop is around 8 - 10 inches off the ground, instead of the wall should I just build a tall lip to the exit so they can not get out without making a leap of faith, which I know won't take long.
I am worried if they get out of the coop they won't be able to get back in. Not opposed to building a temp ramp for them in a few weeks to make getting back I easier. With the height of the enterance the ramp would have to be several feet long to accomidate easier walking for the angle. Not sure the babies would work that out.

Can not believe I am feeling so panicky over make sure the coop is baby proof. Already going to have to put up some additional chicken wire at the bottom of the existing fencing as they sure could make their way out right now.

 

[toodlesmom]

Fluffy Feathers Feature Film
A close-up look at English Orpingtons

My son, Max, took this video on his new iPhone5s that has an improved slow motion video at 120 frames per second. It's perfect for examining the fluffy feathers of English Orpingtons! He posted the video of my English Jubilee and English Chocolate bantam orps on youtube:

Jchny~ Nice Birthday surprise! Fancy Turkeys! Now you'll have to hit the poultry show circuit.

Darth~ I will PM you about gas chamber info

Nice youtube flick of your orps. Their motion is especially interesting when slowed down. Now I want a Jubilee of my own!

 

[danand]

Vicki- for my Millies, which are in a dog kennel, I lowered the barrel they nest in and put a sheaf of hay for the ramp. And I also put the plastic chicken wire all the way around the pen since they fit thru the kennel fence. Now they are all big I've left the fence but raised the barrel back up, and it has a wood ramp.

 

[Leahs Mom]

VC - are these with a broody mom? She'll take care of them if you let her.

I had an area in my coop that the kiddos and mom could stay separate for a few days. Then when it came to them being able to come and go, I had a lot of old logs laying around on the property. I use them to make little steps up to various things, laying on their sides.

There is a short wall to keep the deep litter inside so I laid various things - logs, bricks, etc...whatever I had around so they could get up and down when they were just learning. It doesn't take long for them to get the hang of it and not need them at all.

Here are some photos from last winter (btw, these chicks were hatched when the weather was 19 degrees. They were totally raised by mamma out there, no heat.)

You can see the gate to the right between the 2 sides. Note the little "star steps".


Had those on the other side too so they could hop up on both sides.










Here's Miss Gray sitting on the divider between the 2 sides when she was a little older... maybe 4 weeks. I put duct tape on the top since the hardware cloth had it's sharp edges and I didn't want them to injure their feet.





I used to have a ramp to go in and out of the hen house but I removed it. All the chickens would slide on it and I thought that it might be a cause of foot injury - including bumblefoot. So...had some old logs on the back of the property that need to be burned. Brought some up and made what you see in the photos. Have had much less foot injury since.






This is what I used to use. I had put those logs to the right at first just for the babies. Then I finally removed the ramp altogether and now only use the logs like I show above.

 

[toodlesmom]

How 'bout some silliness to start off the day?

GLAD THESE AREN'T MY ROOSTERS! (Thanks to Quailsong for sharing in another place.)

Wow! With our noise ordinance, that second rooster would be instant soup! Without our noise ordinance, I'd love to have him sing regularly for my nasty neighbor to the west! (Yes, I'm sorry to say, I am just that spiteful. But you would have to know my neighbor , the nephew of Beelebub, and all the awful things he has done to the neighborhood.) The first rooster is just funny. He sounds like he is laughing at a good chicken joke.

 

[toodlesmom]

PIPD - Your chickies are beautiful and grow more so with every month!

 

[toodlesmom]

Little Chance is walking!!! He is the little black one by his momma head. Still has his hobbles on until tomorrow because he is still wobbly.

Hurrah!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I have a dog kennel run outside the hen shed. I can keep it closed when I don't want them to free range, or open the gate to let them out to range.

Since chicks are small enough to go through the mesh in the fence, I lined the bottom of it with plastic chicken mesh fence.

I cut the fence in half lengthwise so I had 2 pieces that were 25 ft. long and 1.5' tall. (My kennel is large so I had to get 2 rolls of the fencing and use part of the second roll too.)

Then I used zip ties to attach it to the kennel. I left about 4" laying on the ground so that they couldn't get under it.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT PREDATOR PROOFING. IT IS JUST USED TO KEEP CHICKS FROM GOING THROUGH THE FENCE WIRE.






At each gate, left an overlap to cover the opening around the gates so they couldn't get through there. Attached so that the curl of the fence is the right direction on each side. The gate is the only area that doesn't have a 4" piece laying on the ground. (So that it can open easily, of course.)









Outside the kennel over where they range around is a fence that the littles were also going through and under. My husband had a bunch of the wire shelving that he nabbed when someone was throwing it away. We zip tied it to the bottom of that fence to keep them from getting separated from mamma. (If you look at the 2nd photo above, you can see that fence beyond the dog kennel.)

This photo is looking through the dog kennel and over to the range area where you look through the permanent fence with the shelving unit zipped to it. I can use the weed wacker on that shelving without cutting it like it would if I used the plastic there.




Here's a photo this morning of mom and kids over on the ranging side. They are 6 wks. this weekend.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

This morning I woke up with a spider right by face! I;m not afraid of spiders, but when they are that close to my face I am. They say people swallow 7 spiders in their sleep in their life time. That could of have been one of my seven!