INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chic-n-farmer]

i have 2 americanas/EE and i love them idk if the other one is laying but im grtting blue eggs from one and there really pretty but these babys are araconas so idk.. im really excited to see what they look like though

I think you probably have chicks that will be grow up to resemble the ones you already have. It seems like what you bought might have been miss-labeled "Araucana" and that breed is pretty rare. They are a blue egg layer with large cheek tuffs and no tail.

But who really cares what it is called when it lays such pretty eggs! It only matters if you want to show them.

 

[bradselig]

If yoyou are referring to araucanas your chicks are most likely not labeled correctly. If you do a Google search you will see that true araucana are tuffed and rumpless for the most part. Siince your birds came from a hatchery they are most likely EE or Ameraucanas.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Well I think the weather has ended my chance for eggs this week. The birds are 22.5 weeks old and still not laying. Most have bright red combs and are mating well. They will sit in the boxes and roll the wooden eggs around so the eggs are under them but no fresh eggs have appeared. For the most part I have hatchery RIRs. I really thought they would be laying by now.

 

[animallover2202]

either way therre cute

 

[cwaf]

long time, no posting for me! Just a quick update. I have 97% completed a project where I replaced the shed door, aka 'the coop', with 2 glass doors that were tossed out a couple of years ago during a business remodel, and have been languishing in my yard, begging for attention. The doors face the south so on sunny days--like today--the coop really warms up a lot and is very bright. This is perfect for me because I now have 3 different age groups residing in the coop! I have my original 6 that are all 1 year old and prefer to be outside most of the time (except yesterday with all the wind and cold). Then I have the 5 that are now teenagers--almost 9 weeks old, and the six kiddies--4 weeks old. The youngest are in a large cardboard box with the heat lamp (securely hung above) and the top covered with wire shelving to prevent unwelcome guests. The teens are able to roam freely in the coop as well as outside (they are not really doing that, tho!) and are able to run for cover to their area where the larger adults cannot reach them. During the day the adults go outside and the teens run around in the coop and jump up on the roosts.

They also like to crowd into one of the nest boxes! I believe they cracked an egg in there today as I have never had any cracked like this one. I will have to keep an eye on them to make sure they do not start eating them. I also put up a netting fence to keep the chickens from roaming the entire yard so when I start my garden, they will not be scratching up all my hard work! It is difficult for me not to look at more chicks this spring, but I cannot take on any additional ones--yet!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Soooo I joined the fad of the nipple waterers. Made a cool pvc watering system to replace my 1 gallon TSC waterer. I have kept my 10 week old chickens confined to the coop until they roost on their own and the sand bedding is sooooo wet from them playing. I swear they peck at the nipples for entertainment! I need to hang a cabbage from the ceiling to entertain them or something. anyone else use the nipples? They don't drip on their own...the soaked floor is just from the girls pecking..also does anyone keep water in the coop. I've heard of some that keep the water supply strictly outside to prevent excess moisture in the coop...opinions?! will post pics in the morning when it's light out.

I'm way behind reading so hopefully not too late to comment on this (!)

I tried nipple waterers and had the same problem with either too much water dropping or not enough! I finally changed out to cup waterers that work similarly to the nipples but NO MESS OF DROPPED WATER. I'll just put a link to another thread so you can see:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...keeping-thread-ots-welcome/1000#post_10109510
And also: http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/01/comparison-of-poultry-cup-drinkers.html

 

[cwaf]

I currently have water in a 1 gallon waterer in the coop for the adults, a quart plastic jar with single nipple in the bottom hung in both the teenager's area and the kiddy area. I plan on making a bigger system once it warms up using 5 gallon buckets. I tried using a bucket with a pvc pipe coming out the bottom with 2 nipples on it, but it always leaked at the bucket. This time I plan on inserting 3 or 4 nipples directly into the bottom of the bucket(s) and hang in different locations outside and inside the coop. I have never tried the drinking cups, as shown in those photos.

 

[Farmer-John]

Well I think the weather has ended my chance for eggs this week. The birds are 22.5 weeks old and still not laying. Most have bright red combs and are mating well. They will sit in the boxes and roll the wooden eggs around so the eggs are under them but no fresh eggs have appeared. For the most part I have hatchery RIRs. I really thought they would be laying by now.

I live in SouthEastern Indiana and i have 6 month old that have been laying for over a month.. I put a 40watt light bulb in the coo, turn it on to give them extended "day light" approx. 12 hours worth. My old layers which are in a separate coop, mesh wall inbetween coops started producing twice as much before i utilized the extra light. Give it a try, it worked for me.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I currently have water in a 1 gallon waterer in the coop for the adults, a quart plastic jar with single nipple in the bottom hung in both the teenager's area and the kiddy area. I plan on making a bigger system once it warms up using 5 gallon buckets. I tried using a bucket with a pvc pipe coming out the bottom with 2 nipples on it, but it always leaked at the bucket. This time I plan on inserting 3 or 4 nipples directly into the bottom of the bucket(s) and hang in different locations outside and inside the coop. I have never tried the drinking cups, as shown in those photos.

I used 2 different kinds of nipples and really didn't end up liking either kind in the end. They just made such a mess and it really didn't seem like a very natural way for a bird to drink. I love these because they stay clean.

The cup waterers were really made for a pvc pipe system with low pressure. I'm going to cc the whole post here so you get the video and the whole idea. I put them on buckets because I wanted to try to see if I could keep using them during the winter and couldn't figure out a way to keep it from freezing if it was on a pipe. The cups cost me $1.70 each. Great price!

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out a waterer that would accomplish several purposes:

-Didn't want dirty water setting in a pan or bowl at the base of the waterer
-Wanted a waterer that fills from the top; not one that you have to turn upside down to fill
-Wanted it to last for several days before needing to refill
-Wanted it to, with the aid of a small heating device, be useable most of the winter - and hopefully all winter long

I had originally planned on doing the "chicken water nipples" and purchased a couple different kinds to test them. One of the types dropped too much water resulting in wet stinky litter below. It did not leak, just let too much water out when the chickens drank from them. The second nipple I tried didn't let enough water out (!) and the birds got discouraged and didn't like drinking from them. In the end, in my opinion and experience with them, they were an "unnatural" way for a chicken to drink, and they never really liked using them. Not to mention that I couldn't use them inside the coop without having come kind of a "catch pan" below them to keep from having a mess in the litter.

Then...I found the mini cup waterers. These waterers were designed to be used on pvc pipe with a low pressure water hose connected to deliver constant fresh water. I DID NOT want to use them that way as I wanted to be able to use my waterers for winter as well as summer. Obviously a pvc pipe system would freeze up so that was out of the question.

After gathering some information, talking with distributors, and thinking it through a little bit, I decided to try an experiment to see if the waterers could be used on buckets (similar to the nipples - just attached to the side instead of the bottom). [FYI - when I spoke to the owner of Cornerstone where I purchased the cups, he told me he didn't think they'd work on a bucket. He was wrong!] I have been using these on the bucket since late summer and they're working wonderfully! Now, for some photos, videos, and winter assessment:


They have 2 different cup types. I originally bought a couple of each type to compare them.





Cup type A. (So far I like this one best. It is the less expensive at $1.70 ea.) This one PASSED THE FIRST FREEZE TEST.
I purchased these at http://www.cornerstone-farm.com/equipment/poultry-float-valve-226





Cup type B ($3.00 ea. Mechanism is replaceable inside when the internal sealing ring goes bad.) This one DID NOT PASS the first freeze test.
http://www.cornerstone-farm.com/equipment/poultry-float-valve-363



These cups have stems with threads on them. I used trial and error to figure out what drill size I'd need. (Have to apologize that I can't find the size marked down anywhere. I plan to do some more and I can update with the size then.) then I visually marked where to drill the hole in the side of the bucket so that if the bucket was sitting on the ground, the cup would be above the ground. I wrapped the threads with plumbing tape and screwed them into the bucket. Bucket was free from the local supermarket's bakery department.

Note: if you look closely at these, you'll see a rubber ring that's between the bucket and the waterer. I went down to Lowes and bought some O rings that would fit the neck as I thought that might keep them from leaking. Not sure I needed them but I put them on anyway.

On both of these: As the chicken puts their beak in, it moves the nipple and releases more water down. The cups stay mostly empty - it's tripped when they beak in the cup.

Easy to clean out. When stuff gets in the bottom of the cups from their beaks, I either take a wadded up paper towel or an absorbent rag and sop up any water and wipe out the cup. You can also just turn them upside down to dump the water then wipe out. I've found that the amount of water in the bottom of the cup is so little that it doesn't hurt to turn it into the litter at all.




Here's what the bucket looks like. BE SURE NOT TO PUT A TIGHT FITTING LID ON TOP. Same for nipple waterers. If a lid is closed, it creates a vacuum and no water will be let down. KEEP YOUR LID AJAR.




You can see a strange chain up there. The only reason I have it is to keep the birds from jumping on top of the bucket and roosting. I was concerned that they'd jump up there and end up IN the bucket of water since the lid is always ajar.





WINTER TRIAL
For winter, I put a bird bath heater into the bucket. These are thermostatically controlled to come on near 35 degrees and shut off around 40 or so. Here's the bird bather heater looking down into the bucket. You can see a glass pyrex in there. I have since turned the glass upside down and sit the bird bath heater on top of the upside-down glass. This gets it closer to the waterer mechanisms and, I think, gives me a better shot at keeping them from freezing. I like the Pyrex either way so that the heater isn't sitting directly on the plastic.





Current Winter Use Assessment:
-So far I've only had a few nights in the 20's. I had problems with the mechanism inside Cup B freezing; No freezing with Cup A. Cup A wins the freezing test and I've since removed Cup B and replaced it with a second Cup A.

-If there is water pooled in the bottom of the cups it will, of course, freeze. Most the time the cups are almost empty but occasionally they have a little water sitting in the bottom of them. This problem is easily solved if you are out at the coop in the evening after the chickens go to the roost. You can simply twist the cup to turn it upside down to drain the water out. The amount of water is so small that it is not an issue in the bedding.

-My biggest concern was that the mechanisms inside the stem would freeze. So far this has not happened on Cup A with the bird bath heater installed. We have not had SUSTAINED cold weather - only 2-3 days at a time in the 20's. I'll reevaluate after seeing how they do if the temps remain in the 20s or below for longer periods of time.




Here are a couple videos so you can see how they're really designed to be used and get a better idea of how they work: (not sure I'd buy them from McMurray, but they do have the whole system for the pvc pipes)

 

[Leahs Mom]

Messed up and didn't get this in. You can see how they work from the top in this: