INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Mother2Hens]

Originally Posted by pipdzipdnreadytogo

And a funny chickening story from my neck of the woods, I brought Margaret, my Silkie, inside for a visit because she squatted and it makes me happy. Well, my brother's girlfriend, who seems determined to hate my sister but be best friends with me, was outside with me when I caught Margie and decided to bring Roha inside as well. She came right over and stuck Roha right next to Margie, at which point I backed off because the other pullets are mean to poor little Margaret.
So after a brief visit, we went back outside and I put Margaret down. And then brother's girlfriend put Roha down right next to Margie.

I started to tell her that she shouldn't've done that because now Roha will probably chase poor Margie off, when Margaret flared her hackles and grabbed onto Roha's comb! That little spitfire started a fight with Roha! I couldn't believe it! Anyway, though Margie started the fight, Roha finished it and ran her off like I thought she would. I just thought it was funny that I was trying to protect little Margaret and she ended up acting out like that.

Silly girl!

pipd~Haha I can just picture that scene! That sounds like my (neutered) cat, Diablo. If he's outside having a stand-off with the neighbor's cat, he wails like he is dying, but when I go outside to his aid, he suddenly becomes fierce.
Here he is wearing a chicken hat. He would really be humiliated if the neighbor's cat saw him dressed like a chicken.

Oh, and if you post some recent pictures of your Orpington ladies I can give you my best guess at how close to laying they are. I'm betting it'll be a while, though, because as I understand, English Orpingtons (and especially Jubilee Orpingtons) are slow to mature.
Thanks for the offer! I realized that it's been over a month since I took photos of them (page 1370). I will take some tomorrow since it's supposed to be nice and sunny.
kabhyper~ You must be in heaven with all those darling, fuzzy chicks to play with!

ellymayRans~ Please post a pic of your sizzle. I fell in love with some I recently saw on CL and was so tempted to get them.
Last night, I opened a July/Aug copy of Hobby Farms "Chickens" magazine that I bought at RK over the summer. The first thing I saw was an ad for the Lebanon chicken show! Weird coincidence. Then I read that if a hen carries a copy of the frizzle gene, it's possible that she can look normal and then, after a molt, the new feathers are frizzled. That would be a surprise!

 

[toodlesmom]

Sounds like everyone had a good time at the show, despite the weather. I'm surprised that more poultry didn't get adopted! How did you do with your sales, those of you who were selling?

Kab - Sweet chickies! You will have to do a group shot when the hatching is completed.

Questions!

Anyone here use poop boards? Do you find them worthwhile? Do they make cleaning easier or more difficult?

If you do use them, what do you do with the floor? Sand? Deep litter? Both? Neither? I was planning on stapling down a sheet of linoleum to the floor to keep the wood floor from rotting, and putting sand or deep litter over that. Any cons to that?

The person I am buying my orps from recommends that roosts be no higher than 2' because the birds are so heavy. Wouldn't that put the poop boards at 1'?

Don't the chickens walk through the poop boards to get to the higher roosts?

How high should roosts be for other really large heritage chickens?

Several people using poop boards recommend using Sweet PDZ on the boards to make cleaning easier and odor less noticeable. Anyone here tried that?

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Old Salt, since you were the official Lebanon greeter, you were supposed to stay at the picnic table the entire time to personally welcome everyone.

Love the picture.

Inside the show buildings, it was almost comfortable. Outside at the pavilion, the wind and chill had me looking for my mukluks.

I don't blame anyone (including me) for not staying at the table for more than a few minutes. Boooooooorrrrrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnnnngggggg.

John

 

[Too Fast]

Sounds like everyone had a good time at the show, despite the weather. I'm surprised that more poultry didn't get adopted! How did you do with your sales, those of you who were selling?

Kab - Sweet chickies! You will have to do a group shot when the hatching is completed.

Questions!

Anyone here use poop boards? Do you find them worthwhile? Do they make cleaning easier or more difficult?

If you do use them, what do you do with the floor? Sand? Deep litter? Both? Neither? I was planning on stapling down a sheet of linoleum to the floor to keep the wood floor from rotting, and putting sand or deep litter over that. Any cons to that?

The person I am buying my orps from recommends that roosts be no higher than 2' because the birds are so heavy. Wouldn't that put the poop boards at 1'?

Don't the chickens walk through the poop boards to get to the higher roosts?

How high should roosts be for other really large heritage chickens?

Several people using poop boards recommend using Sweet PDZ on the boards to make cleaning easier and odor less noticeable. Anyone here tried that?

We use poop boards, and it is helpful. We did just that putting some linoleum to the floor. However, my girls have been roosting outdoors in the (very secure) run area, and we've only had to clean it 5 times or so. It is easy to do with the linoleum. Our board comes out thru about a 2'' opening under the coop roost area, theydo walk thru it a bit but not any more than the rest of the coop, and it is lined with litter over the top like the rest of the coop. Our poop board is just above the floor, with the roosts about 2 feet over that.


Other things we do:


^^^On October 5th, we went camping and really got rained out with the Cub Scouts. I am the Cubmaster of our Pack 494.
Before the rain fell for 18 hours, lol.



^^^October 12th, at the Rennisiance Festival in OH. My 8 y. o. son Kyle is in that picture, with is new skull walking staff/sword.



^^^Yesterday, I was leading the pack of cars for our annual Fall Mystery Cruise, too bad about the wet weather yesterday. There would've been 10 more cars, at least.



^^^last night, some of the girls were discussing how to get to the new fruit hanging in their run. They do enjoy jumping for it!


Going to make a delicous omelette right now, and oh yeah, GO COLTS tonight!

 

[zippy722]

Sounds like everyone had a good time at the show, despite the weather. I'm surprised that more poultry didn't get adopted! How did you do with your sales, those of you who were selling?

Kab - Sweet chickies! You will have to do a group shot when the hatching is completed.

Questions!

Anyone here use poop boards? Do you find them worthwhile? Do they make cleaning easier or more difficult?

If you do use them, what do you do with the floor? Sand? Deep litter? Both? Neither? I was planning on stapling down a sheet of linoleum to the floor to keep the wood floor from rotting, and putting sand or deep litter over that. Any cons to that?

The person I am buying my orps from recommends that roosts be no higher than 2' because the birds are so heavy. Wouldn't that put the poop boards at 1'?

Don't the chickens walk through the poop boards to get to the higher roosts?

How high should roosts be for other really large heritage chickens?

Several people using poop boards recommend using Sweet PDZ on the boards to make cleaning easier and odor less noticeable. Anyone here tried that?

I use poop trays as well. Oh my mercy!!!! It makes clean up so much easier. After I put on my rubber gloves, I lift out each of the trays and take them to the compost pile. I then fill them back with shavings and voila! My roost is about 2 feet off the group, and the poop trays are about 4-6" below the roost bar. There is another support bar that is a bit lower that some of them use as a step up, others just hop directly to the ledge of the poop tray or the roost itself. One thing I learned though. The roost bar isn't centered over the tray, thinking that the chickens would face forward and poop would be more towards the wall. Not so much. So once in a while, there is poop that goes to the floor, bypassing the poop tray. The picture below is when the coop was being built, but you can see that the bar isn't centered. I also sprinkle some DE on the new shavings. And depending on the weather, I am cleaning the trays about every 3-4 weeks. Hope this helps.

 

[browncow15]

Update: my babies had bloody poo for the third morning in a row yesterday and were acting a little off so I decided to go ahead and treat with the Corid. No bloody poo today and they're enjoying the sunshine outside.

Sounds like everyone had fun at the show yesterday. We spent the day putzing around the house, then went to a bonfire in the evening. Hope everyone is enjoying the sunny day today!

 

[Delawaremommy]

We went to the show. My DH was in weather shock and didn't wear a coat!! It was 80+ in Brazil when he left! Al the birds were gorgeous!! DH wants ducks now!! I want a couple turkeys and sabastapole geese!! Soooo many chickens to choose from. We did stop by the table but it was a bit late , and cold, and had everything to see. Did see Peabirdhaven and also a neighbor of mine that was showing. All of my LF seem so small now! And after seeing certain breeds up close it easy to see the difference between barnyard and show birds!!

Ok so now that the DH thinks the call ducks are fun.....who has them? And what do they need, different than chickens? And there were some beautiful turkeys there too!!!

I ended up going by myself and had fun. Glad to put a face with Happyhappyhappy and his son who was very into finding new birds from what I understood. I believe one of everything was what I heard! I have to agree however! I did find out that two of the breeds I have been eyeing come in banty. Both the Faverolle and Sicilian Buttercup. Also saw a Coronation Sussex and am in total love. Picture a large white bird with a pastel grey head and hackles!!! Gorgeous. So Now I am on a mission. I want to locate chicks from the buttercups and faverolles as well as Delaware Banties. Someone out there has them I am sure. Or I could get adventurous and try breeding them from scratch. Barred Rock roo banties and New Hampshire hen banties make the sport rooster and then breed back to New Hampshire hens. Both will take a while I'm sure but I got names for the Faverolles and buttercups as well as seeing the 4-hers Delawares that were better than the ones shown in the open show IMO. Left a message that I would be interested in chicks or hatching eggs and to have him call me. (Thanks to 3H's idea.)
I did not come home with any birds (even though there were many pretty ones for sale) although if the person selling the trio of Banty barred rocks had been around and been willing to let just the hens go I would have.

Update: my babies had bloody poo for the third morning in a row yesterday and were acting a little off so I decided to go ahead and treat with the Corid. No bloody poo today and they're enjoying the sunshine outside.

Sounds like everyone had fun at the show yesterday. We spent the day putzing around the house, then went to a bonfire in the evening. Hope everyone is enjoying the sunny day today!

hope your babies continue on their way back to health!

 

[Leahs Mom]

This has to be a record. No posts for almost 4 hours

 

[kabhyper1]

This has to be a record. No posts for almost 4 hours

I would but, I'm still waiting on chicks lol. 10 have hatched, one died after hatch, waiting on the other 4, which are the ones she stole, so today is day 21. I have 7 in the house. Two under momma and 4 due to hatch. I' just waiting to see what morning brings. You can tell me what color the little guys are if you want, lol, I have a partidge and blues and blacks and whites, but there are 3 that are a mystery. I posted a video yesterday of them.

 

[bradselig]

The very faint "partridge" patterned chicks may be porcelains.